Presumption Of Death

“Yeah. I went up there that day,” Wish said.

Nina punched his arm. “I’ve advised my client not to speak. I know you consider him a suspect for the arson fires. He was Mirandized on the way here.”

“Your client went to a clinic to get treated for burns,” Crockett said. “That’s how we tracked him down. We know he went up there to set fires.”

“Not true!” Wish said. “I went up to the ridge that night because…”

“I told you in the car,” Nina said. “Now are you listening, Wish? Exercise your right to remain silent. Don’t say anything.”

Crockett said, “We have the autopsy report. We know what happened.” He said the words provocatively.

“Autopsy report? Did someone die? Da

“For the love of… keep quiet, Willis!” Nina said. She couldn’t remember ever saying his formal name out loud before, but circumstances demanded serious measures.

He closed his mouth, but he was stu

“Massive skull fracture,” David Crockett a

“What!” Wish said. “Is it Da

“Well,” Crockett backpedaled. Still looking at Nina, he said, “He was up on the ridge with your client setting a fire, wasn’t he?”

Wish jumped up. His metal folding chair clattered to the ground. “No!” he said, and Nina realized he was beyond control.

“Da

“We have a witness,” Crockett said.

“A witness to what?” asked Nina, to keep Wish from opening his mouth again.

“To the arsons. Our witness has ID’d Da

Wish stood up. “He would never…”

“We have a witness,” Crockett said. “Oh, and…” he said, directing his comments to Nina, “your client is under arrest.”

“For what?” Nina asked.

“Trespassing.” Crockett smiled. “He was up there ru

And so he had.

6

“S ANDY’S ON A PLANE TO SAN Francisco,” Paul a

Hitchcock ate noisily from his bowl. They had just taken him for a good walk. “She lays over two hours and then flies to the Monterey airport. She’ll get in about six.”

“I heard the phone. Thanks for getting up-I just couldn’t.”

“She became somewhat exercised when she heard her son was spending the night in the clink after coming to us for help. Must have been difficult. First he calls and he’s alive and safe. She calls Joseph and everybody sighs with relief. Then she hears that he’s been arrested.”

“Nothing else we could have done. Is she staying with us?”

“She harrumphed and said no way. She said she’d be fine. But I said I’d meet her and cook her di

“Great,” Nina said. “I’ll polish up the silver. Queen Victoria is coming.”

“She won’t care about the place. She just wants to see Wish. What time is the bail hearing?”

“Two o’clock.”

“You going to get him out?”

“If they haven’t added the felony charges.”

“How’s the rash?”

“The rash? Oh, the rash! Well, what d’you know. I didn’t itch all last night.”

“Miracle of modern drugs,” Paul said.

“I’m going to be very careful of poison oak in the future, Paul. I don’t want the rash, and I definitely don’t want the prednisone.”

“You did have your ups and downs. Is all that going to change to tranquility now?”

“Absolutely,” Nina said. Paul laughed.

By nine-thirty they were both dressed and the living room looked acceptable for the formidable company they expected later. They went out on the deck and sat down in the metal chairs. Nina said, “Call the meeting to order.”

“I vote we drive out to Carmel Valley Village and talk to Da

“The police may be there.”

“So? That ever stop you before?”

“Why don’t we try calling him one more time?”

This time Nina got a message. It said, “This is Ben. Call me on my cell phone.”

She recited the number to Paul, then called it.

“Sí?”

“Mr. Cervantes?” She heard voices and clattering sounds.

“Who is this?” A soft voice, with a Spanish accent.

“My name is Nina Reilly. I’m a friend of Wish Whitefeather’s. Da

“Yes?”

“I need to talk to you. It’s important. Could we meet somewhere?”

“Why do you want to talk to me?”

“It’s about Da

“Right now is not a good time. Friday the thirteenth is turning out to be as unlucky as the superstition says.”

“Anytime today.”

“I’m sorry. I have to go. You can give me your number-”

“Have the police been in touch with you?” Nina said. “About Da

She heard a sigh. “I am with an officer right now. I am at the county morgue in Salinas and they are about to have me look at-I have to go.”

“Mr. Cervantes, please stay right there and I will meet you in an hour. I’ll wait for you outside.”

“You are not a polite person.”

“You will want to hear what I say.”

“Bien. You can wait for me.” She heard a click.

For more than an hour, they waited, watching the people walk in and out of the buildings, talking little, leaving the car windows open to the sun and the breeze. Finally they saw a handsome Mexican-American man in a cowboy hat, white shirt, and jeans coming down the steps toward them. Paul and Nina got out and they shook hands.

His face betrayed nothing and he displayed no interest in Paul’s una

“We could get in my Mustang,” Paul said. “Good air-conditioning.”

He shook his head. His expression said, I don’t know you.

“The law library inside?”

“I’m not going back in there. Come on.” He led them down the street and Nina noticed his narrow waist and good build. It was her curse to react as a woman to every man she met close to her age.

He ducked inside a short doorway on Main Street near the old Cominos Hotel. A dive, she thought, dark, with red-pepper lights decorating fake cacti along the wall and a long bar holding up two guys playing some kind of dice game. The owners hadn’t felt any need for tables, so she took a bar stool beside Paul.

“Corona,” Cervantes said on the other side of Paul, his voice still soft. Nina ordered a ginger ale and Paul asked for water.

“You probably think I’m a boozer,” Cervantes said. “I need a drink right now, that’s for sure.”

“What happened inside?” Paul asked.

“I saw my nephew all burned up, that’s what happened.” He tipped back the beer glass and set it down and heaved a sigh.

So it was official. The body was Da

“Da

“My brother’s son. He was only ten years younger than me.”

“I’m awfully sorry,” Nina said.

“That’s tough,” Paul said.

Cervantes turned on his stool to look at them, finally, and Nina saw that his eyes were red-rimmed. He loved him, she thought. She felt torn between sympathy and a dawning suspicion. He had lived with Da

“I gave him that concho belt. Last Christmas. The one they showed me. Twelve conchos, black leather. Some of them were gone. Otherwise I don’t know if I could have recognized him, he was so burned up. Poor Danito. God have pity on him.”

“We went there yesterday, to see if it was Wish,” Paul said.