Hillerman, Tony - [Leaphorn & Chee 13] Read Online Free PDF Page A

specialized
in mammals and insects. She was working r the Indian Health Service, but
actually I think it's ore for the Arizona Health Department. The environment
division. They call her a ‘vector control specialist.' I imagine you would know
about that?"
    Leaphorn nodded.
    Mrs. Vanders made a wry face. "She says they actually call her a
'fleacatcher.'
    "I think she could have had a good career as a tennis player. On the
tour, you know. She always loved orts. Soccer, striker on the college
volleyball team, hen she was in junior high school she worried about being
bigger than the other girls. I think excelling in orts was her compensation for
that." Leaphorn nodded again.
    "The first time she came to see me after she got this, I asked for her
job title, and she said 'fleacatcher.'" Vanders's expression was sad. "Called herself that, I guess
she doesn't mind."
    "It's an important job," Leaphorn said.
    "She wanted a career in biology. But 'fleacatcher'?" Mrs. Vanders
shook her head. "I understand that she and some others were working on the
source of those bubonic plague cases this spring. They have a little laboratory
in Tuba City and check places where the victims might have picked up the disease.
Trapping rodents." Mrs. Vanders hesitated, her face reflecting distaste.
"That's the flea catching. They collect the fleas from them. And take
samples of their blood. That sort of thing." She dismissed this with a
wave of the hand.
    "Then last week, early in the morning, she went to work and never came
back."
    She let that hang there, her eyes on Leaphorn.
    "She left for work alone?"
    "Alone. That's what they say. I'm not so sure."
    Leaphorn would come back to that later. Now he needed basic facts.
Speculation could wait.
    "Went to work where?"
    "The man I called said she just stopped by the office to pick up some
of the equipment she uses in her work and then drove away. To someplace out in
the country where she was trapping rodents."
    "Was she meeting anyone where she was going to be working?"
    "Apparently not. Not officially anyway. The man I talked to didn't
think anyone went with her."
    "And you think something has happened to her. Have you discussed this
with the police?"
    "Mr. Peabody discussed it with people he knows in the FBI. He said they
would not be involved in something like this. They would have jurisdiction only
if it involved a kidnapping for ransom, or"—she hesitated, glanced down at
her hands—"or some other sort of felony. They told Mr. Peabody there would
have to be evidence that a federal law had been violated."
    "What evidence was there?" He was pretty sure he knew the answer.
It would be none. Nothing at all.
    Mrs. Vanders shook her head.
    "Actually, I guess you would say the only evidence is that a woman is
missing. Just the circumstances."
    "The vehicle. Where was it found?"
    "It hasn't been found. Not as far as I have been able to
discover." Mrs. Vanders's eyes were intent on Leap-horn, watching for his
reaction.
    Had they not been, Leaphorn would have allowed himself a smile—thinking of
the hopeless task Mr. Peabody must have faced in trying to interest the
federals. Thinking of the paperwork this missing vehicle would cause in the
Arizona Health Department, of how this would be interpreted by the Arizona
Highway Patrol if a missing person report had been filed, of the other
complexities. But Mrs. Vanders would read a smile as an expression of cynicism.
    "Do you have a theory?"
    "Yes," she said, and cleared her throat. "I think she must be
dead."
    Mrs. Vanders, who had seemed frail and unhealthy, now looked downright sick.
    "Are you all right? Do you want to continue this?" She produced a
weak smile, extracted a small white container from the pocket of her jacket and
held it up.
    "I have a heart condition," she said. "This is
nitro-glycerin. The prescription used to come in little tablets, but these days
the patient just sprays it on the tongue. Please excuse me. I'll feel fine
again in a moment."
    She