The Pot Thief Who Studied Billy the Kid (46 page)

“So,” I continued, “I figured I would tip the BLM about him. Maybe they would arrest him for breaking ARPA and NAGPRA, and in the course of their investigation, they might find out
something about Carlos
.”

“So why didn’t you just tip the BLM and let them handle it?” Susannah asked.

“Because as I kept
telling you,
there was no evidence of any crime. I was only guessing that
El Raton
had stolen artifacts from that site, and a judge won’t issue a search warrant based on a guess.”

“So you wanted to see for yourself.”

“I figured I’d visit on the ruse of needing a guide. If I saw any artifacts, I could report it to the BLM and maybe a judge would issue a search warrant
s
ince they would
h
ave an eye
witness. I fig
u
red I’d be there five minutes, tops.
I never even considered that it might b
e
risky.”

Susannah said, “Even though
El Raton
is in jail, we still don’t know
for certain that
he enticed Carlos into being crucified or even if Carlos was really the dead guy.
If
they can’t prove anything about Carlos,
m
aybe
El Raton
will
get off.”

I shook my head. “No way, they have an airtight case for attempted murder – mine.”

I turned to Susannah and
s
aid for about the hundredth time, “You saved my life.”

“Yeah
. N
ow I’m responsible for you.
So I can
’
t l
et you endanger ynt size="+ourself by
d
riving an old Crow
n Vic. I know how to handle the
oversteer
. Y
ou don’t. On top of that, you have your Bronco back.”

“So you’
re not going to honor our wager?
”

“I am not.”

“Thanks.”

“I’m not even going to ask,” said Martin
, and he signaled Angie for a second round for the three of us
.

48

“
Ay oo you seh I mu no lie you?”

Sharice laughed and said
,
“I say you must not like me because first you wear
a cast which limits us to
kissing and now you’ve injure
d
your lips, so we can’t
do even
that.”

Dr. Batr
es returned to remove the clip.
“You’re lucky to have me as your dentist. Repairing the same tooth twice is difficult.”

“No as difficu
h
as bwaken it twice,” I replied.

He laughed and departed.

Sh
aont>
said she was due a coffee break, so we went to the
staff
room
which
had
one of those
high-tech
coffee maker
s where you insert a small sealed plastic container,
and the machine sucks out whatever is in there and turns it into coffee.
The advantage of those machines is you can select all sorts of coffee. But what’s inside those little plastic things?

Sh
arice
selected Ita
lian E
spresso and
laughed when I selected Jamaican Surprise.

She asked me to tell her how I was injured
. When I reached the point in the narrative where I discovered that Father Jerome was a Dominican, she smiled and asked, “Do you know what Dominicans are called in Canada?”

“Dominicans, eh?”

“
No, silly. They’
re called
the
‘
Black F
riars’.
”

“Because of their
cappa
nera
.
”

“Right.
And the
Carmelites
are called the
"White Friars" because of the white cloak which covers their habit.
”

After I finished my story, s
he handed me the little baggie with the travel-size toothpaste,
tiny
spool of floss and two toothbrushes,nt>

“
Let me guess,” I said. “I
get two toothbrushes because it’s my second visit in a month
, and I get plain black and white because I complained about the bright
o
range one you tried to pawn off on me the last time.
”

“Not even close.”

“Hmm. One toothbrush is from the Domin
i
cans
and one is from the Carmelites.”

She shook her head.

“Okay,” I said, “I give up.”

“
The white one is yours. The black one is mine. You can keep it at your
place just in case.”

“So after my lips heal and my cast comes off—“

“Maybe. But there’s something I’ll have to tell you first.”

49

W
hen I opened for business that afternoon, I sold two pots.
Maybe that pent up demand thing does sometimes work
.

I was behind the counter watching a tall man
dressed in
blue jeans and
a pearl-button
ed
western shirt examine the pot I’d made based on the shard.

He
finally
tu
r
ned my way. “Is this genuine?”

“
Absolutely. I know that because
I made it.”

“Hmm. I thought it was old.”

“I made it to look old.”

“It’
s
a copy of an ancient pot?”

I nodded.

“I like the design,” he said. “I’ve never seen one like it.”

I retrieved the shard from my workshop and handed it to him.”This is from an ancient pot
. I’m certain it’s pre-Columbian.”

“So this was your pattern.”

“And my inspiration.”

“Where did the shard come from?”

“Here in New Mexico.”

He smiled. “And that’s as specific as you’re going to get.”

I nodded again.

“This isn’t old, but it is one of a kind
,
”
he said, mostly to himself.
”How much is it?”

I
had been
trying to decide that
a
while
back
when I realized the pot I made and the one Father Jerome brought me were not from the same tribe.
That took my thoughts down another path, and I had never come back to the matter of price. I normally price my cop
i
es at ten percent of what the original is worth. If I had the entire pot of which the shard was a piece, I would ask fifty thousand for it.

“Five thousand,” I said.

“That sounds high for a copy.”

“
Like you said, i
t’
s unique.
”

“So it is.” He thought for a moment. “Throw in the shard, and I’ll take it.”

Now it was my turn to think. It
didn’t take me long to decide.

“I can’t do that.”
I said.

“Why not?”

“I have
other plans for it.”

“You want it as a model for further copies?”

“No.”

“I’ll give you three thousand for the pot.”

“You think the shard is worth two thousand?”

“Not by itself. But it makes the pot more interesting beca
use it’
s the genuine piece from which the pot was designed. It would be worth five thousand to me to be able to display them together.”

“Sorry, but I can’t sell the shard. And I can’t take three thousand for the pot.”

“
Thirty five hundred
cash
. Final offer.”

“Sold.”

As I was boxing up the pot, its new owner asked what happened to my face.

“
I was
dragged
down a rough trail to the spot where that shard was found.”

He shook his head in wonderment. “Surely there must have been an easier way to get there.”

I’ve
been known, after making a sale
, to close the shop for the rest of the day
in celebration
. And also because what are the odds of my making two sales in one day? But I stayed open and did just that.

A tourist visiting with her college-aged daughter bought the pot craft
ed by
the woman in La Reina. I had it priced at twenty-five hundred and she bargained me down to two thousand. I was easy because I empathiz
ed with her as a fellow tuition-
payer and because I already had
thirty five hundred
in the till.

“Do you mind if I inquire about your injuries
?
” she asked as I was running her credit card.