Day of the Dead - J. A. Jance [0]
J. A. JANCE
This book is dedicated to the memory of
bestselling American storyteller Harold Bell Wright,
who, in the early 1900s, realized that if they weren’t
written down, the ancient stories of the Tohono
O’odham people would be forever lost. It is thanks to
him that many of these stories remain.
Contents
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PROLOGUE
It was Monday, so Benny Gutierrez was fighting a hangover—a…
One
They say it happened long ago that I’itoi, Elder Brother, came…
Two
Under a clear blue April sky, Brandon Walker swam his laps…
Three
While bustling around in the kitchen, gathering glasses…
Four
At the end of a long, sleepless night, Erik LaGrange sat…
Five
Great Spirit always carries a bag with him. That way, if he…
Six
Lani Walker stepped out of the steamy shower and toweled…
Seven
At six o’clock in the morning, with the sun barely up, a cold…
Eight
At eleven o’clock on Saturday morning, Sue Lammers went…
Nine
After a while, I’itoi woke up. Elder Brother laughed when he…
Ten
It was just after noon when Larry Stryker came home from a…
Eleven
After a time the children and the butterflies came back to I’itoi,…
Twelve
Brandon sat in the Suburban outside the supermarket,…
Thirteen
Andrea Tashquinth climbed into Brandon’s Suburban and…
Fourteen
They say it happened long ago that the Tohono O’odham first…
Fifteen
Their long-established division of labor meant that Gayle…
Sixteen
Leo Ortiz snored the night away while Delia Ortiz…
Seventeen
As time went on, the hunters brought their families along when…
Eighteen
They say it happened long ago that an Indian man and his…
Nineteen
Brandon dropped Emma at the hospital’s front entrance.
Twenty
But even with all the Indian mother’s care, her baby seemed to…
Twenty-One
Brandon and Diana were both sleeping soundly the next…
Twenty-Two
Brian’s initial call to Yuma didn’t go well. It took hardly any…
Twenty-Three
The dead baby was so small that they could not place her kneeling…
Twenty-Four
The Baboquivari High School gym was filled to overflowing.
Twenty-Five
The woman dropped her own cradle blanket and ran to the…
Twenty-Six
When it came to the Ten O’Clock News, Larry Stryker…
Twenty-Seven
Feeling all his sixty-plus years, Larry left Gayle’s office and…
Twenty-Eight
Minutes after Gayle left the Medicos lot, Brandon spotted…
Twenty-Nine
Brian Fellows had heard the expression “watching a train…
Thirty
Then, after a time, the woman heard someone speaking very,…
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Prologue
NOVEMBER 2, 1970
It was Monday, so Benny Gutierrez was fighting a hangover—a serious hangover. He had gone to the dance at Crow Hang on Friday and then spent all of Saturday and Sunday timed-out with some of his buddies over at the Three Points Trading Post just east of the Papago Reservation boundary. Now, as he halfheartedly dragged the plastic trash bag along Highway 86 west of Sells, what he wanted in the worst way was a hit of fortified wine—the drink everyone on the reservation called Big Red. But he’d settle for a beer.
First, though, Benny had to make it through the day. He had to work. That was the deal he’d made with Robert and Doreen, his brother and sister-in-law, after Esther had kicked him out. If he’d work, Robert and Doreen would give him a place to stay—a bed, anyway—and that beat sleeping on the ground. In the summer the ground wasn’t bad. Even when he and Esther had still been together, he’d slept outside a time or two—in his truck sometimes, or else on the ground. But the credit union had repossessed his pickup, and Esther had sent him down the road. Now, in early November, it was way too cold to sleep outside at night, even in a truck.
Benny didn’t rush. There was no reason to hurry. The Tribal Work Experience Program didn’t pay enough to make working hard worthwhile. When one bag was full, he dragged that one over to the pile he was gradually accumulating. Across the