bitterbrush?”
“The silence. It was after three-thirty. Construction had stopped for the day. No roaring bonegrinder. Some bones were uncovered. May mean a burial. Wouldn’t that be great? We’ll get Greeley shut down yet.” Al laughed, a nasal but infectious whinny. “The Boys will not be pleased.”
One of the many mysteries of Mesa Verde was that so few Anasazi burial sites were found. Some remains had been uncovered in sealed and abandoned rooms in the dwellings and some in the midden heaps below the cliff dwellings, but no burial ground had been discovered and surprisingly few individual sites for a society of near ten thousand souls that had flourished for more than five centuries.
Talk of the pipeline put Anna in mind of her housemate. “Al, Jamie was on duty in Cliff Palace when we had that medical this morning. Lately she’s been dropping heavy-handed hints that something’s going down on solstice. Is there anything I ought to know?”
Stinson threw back her head like Barbara Stanwyck in Maverick Queen and snorted a laugh. “The less law enforcement knows, the better I sleep nights.”
Anna laughed with her, partly at the sentiment and partly at a mental image of Al Stinson as Queen of the Cattle Thieves. Amid the merriment she found herself wondering if the maverick queen could swing a chain as well as a lariat.
“If you hear anything that sounds like it could get somebody hurt or fired, let me know and I’ll see if I can’t fulfill my role as Professional Party Pooper.”
“Better you than The Boys.”
BY the time Anna wandered into Administration it was after four P.M. and people were stirring to leave for the day. The receptionist’s desk was tidied and, engrossed in a phone conversation, she barely gave Anna a nod.
Anna fetched the procurement forms from the storage room in the basement. On her way back she stopped in the doorway of Patsy Silva’s office.
The superintendent’s secretary kept her office in a state of impressive order. Plants in macramé hangers, pictures, and a stained-glass image of Kokopelli, the flute player, in the window kept the orderliness from being oppressive.
“Hills could use your decorating service,” Anna said as she leaned against the door frame.
“Hills could use a bulldozer,” Patsy replied with a smile.
“How’s it going? I didn’t get a list of times and places for paternal visits so I just assumed you and Tom worked it out.”
Patsy turned away briefly, fussed with some papers. Anna tried to read the expression on her face but it was too fleeting.
“We’re doing okay,” Patsy said.
“Any more gifts of the weird persuasion?”
“Only this.” Patsy produced an extra bright smile as she held up her left wrist for inspection.
Anna whistled long and low. The watch Patsy wore was—or looked to be—fourteen-carat gold with at least a carat’s worth of diamonds sparkling around the face. Even with the union doing its fiscal magic, the watch must have cost Silva a month’s wages.
“Tom?”
Patsy nodded and Anna caught the expression again. This time she pegged it: embarrassment. Evidently it wasn’t all gifts Patsy took offense to. Only cheap ones.
“Good for you.” Anna glanced at her own Wal-Mart special. She’d managed to kill enough time. In six minutes she was off duty. The 10-343 had been effectively avoided for one day.
She called Stacy on the radio and he brought the patrol car to give her a lift to Far View. He still wore a haunted look and drove through the empty parking lot with the same hunched intensity as when weaving down a narrow road with lights and siren blaring.
“What happened to Bella?” Anna asked to make conversation.
“What do you mean?” Alarmed, Stacy lost his inward look. “Did something happen to Bella?”
“Drew was on the carry-out. Wasn’t he baby-sitting today? I just wondered where he’d stashed her.”
Visibly, he relaxed. “Bella stayed at the fire dorm watching cartoons
“The silence. It was after three-thirty. Construction had stopped for the day. No roaring bonegrinder. Some bones were uncovered. May mean a burial. Wouldn’t that be great? We’ll get Greeley shut down yet.” Al laughed, a nasal but infectious whinny. “The Boys will not be pleased.”
One of the many mysteries of Mesa Verde was that so few Anasazi burial sites were found. Some remains had been uncovered in sealed and abandoned rooms in the dwellings and some in the midden heaps below the cliff dwellings, but no burial ground had been discovered and surprisingly few individual sites for a society of near ten thousand souls that had flourished for more than five centuries.
Talk of the pipeline put Anna in mind of her housemate. “Al, Jamie was on duty in Cliff Palace when we had that medical this morning. Lately she’s been dropping heavy-handed hints that something’s going down on solstice. Is there anything I ought to know?”
Stinson threw back her head like Barbara Stanwyck in Maverick Queen and snorted a laugh. “The less law enforcement knows, the better I sleep nights.”
Anna laughed with her, partly at the sentiment and partly at a mental image of Al Stinson as Queen of the Cattle Thieves. Amid the merriment she found herself wondering if the maverick queen could swing a chain as well as a lariat.
“If you hear anything that sounds like it could get somebody hurt or fired, let me know and I’ll see if I can’t fulfill my role as Professional Party Pooper.”
“Better you than The Boys.”
BY the time Anna wandered into Administration it was after four P.M. and people were stirring to leave for the day. The receptionist’s desk was tidied and, engrossed in a phone conversation, she barely gave Anna a nod.
Anna fetched the procurement forms from the storage room in the basement. On her way back she stopped in the doorway of Patsy Silva’s office.
The superintendent’s secretary kept her office in a state of impressive order. Plants in macramé hangers, pictures, and a stained-glass image of Kokopelli, the flute player, in the window kept the orderliness from being oppressive.
“Hills could use your decorating service,” Anna said as she leaned against the door frame.
“Hills could use a bulldozer,” Patsy replied with a smile.
“How’s it going? I didn’t get a list of times and places for paternal visits so I just assumed you and Tom worked it out.”
Patsy turned away briefly, fussed with some papers. Anna tried to read the expression on her face but it was too fleeting.
“We’re doing okay,” Patsy said.
“Any more gifts of the weird persuasion?”
“Only this.” Patsy produced an extra bright smile as she held up her left wrist for inspection.
Anna whistled long and low. The watch Patsy wore was—or looked to be—fourteen-carat gold with at least a carat’s worth of diamonds sparkling around the face. Even with the union doing its fiscal magic, the watch must have cost Silva a month’s wages.
“Tom?”
Patsy nodded and Anna caught the expression again. This time she pegged it: embarrassment. Evidently it wasn’t all gifts Patsy took offense to. Only cheap ones.
“Good for you.” Anna glanced at her own Wal-Mart special. She’d managed to kill enough time. In six minutes she was off duty. The 10-343 had been effectively avoided for one day.
She called Stacy on the radio and he brought the patrol car to give her a lift to Far View. He still wore a haunted look and drove through the empty parking lot with the same hunched intensity as when weaving down a narrow road with lights and siren blaring.
“What happened to Bella?” Anna asked to make conversation.
“What do you mean?” Alarmed, Stacy lost his inward look. “Did something happen to Bella?”
“Drew was on the carry-out. Wasn’t he baby-sitting today? I just wondered where he’d stashed her.”
Visibly, he relaxed. “Bella stayed at the fire dorm watching cartoons
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