Coyote Gorgeous (7 page)

Who is
it?
"
He blinked in the rays
of morning sun streaming through the skylights of the living room.
Yawning, he stretched but sharp pain shot up his arm and shoulder,
folding him in two. Blood streaked his left arm.

He lay on the brown leather couch, his
clothes in disarray. Not again! And this time he was hurt and
bloody.

The doorbell kept ringing, hurting his
sensitive ears.

"
Go
away!
"

A stench filled the house, the
sickening, coppery sweetness of blood. The viscous liquid oozed
from a puncture wound in his upper left arm. Through the glass pane
of the living room, he saw the tall, skinny silhouette of Darryl,
his agent, climbing the three steps to the back deck. Wearing
designer jeans and tan polo shirt, Darryl knocked on the glass door
then opened it and walked inside.

Why the hell hadn’t he
locked that door last night?

Darryl stepped into the
living room, staring at the floor.
"
There is red paint on your
parquet.
"
Looking up, he
raked his short sandy hair.
"
And you look like shit.
"

"
I feel
worse.
"
Propping himself on
his right elbow, Kaletaka sat up. His whole body ached.

"
What
happened?
"
Chirpy as usual,
Darryl went straight to the kitchen, dumped the old coffee in the
sink and prepared a fresh pot.
"
Did you drink too much and get into a bar fight? Not a good
idea with your low alcohol threshold.
"

"
I had dinner
with Madison, the cute ranger I told you about. Then I left the
house. The very sight of her rifle chilled me like red hot metal
plunged into cold water.
"
Prying away long black tresses stuck to the skin, Kaletaka
probed the sore spot and winced.
"
You know me and guns.
"

"
I
know.
"
Darryl made a
deafening racket in the kitchen, looking for mugs.

Fresh blood soaked
Kaletaka’s fingers.
"
After
that, I remember nothing.
"

The coffee percolated, the aroma
making Kaletaka sick to his stomach.

"
That drunk,
uh? So, how was dinner? Spill it.
"
Darryl’s smile vanished as he walked into the living room cup
in hand, and looked at Kaletaka. He made a disgusted face.
"
Looks like you were stabbed in the
bicep.
"

"
It’s
probably nothing, or someone would have taken me to the emergency
room.
"
But the wound pulsed
with fire.

"
Unless there
was no one to take you to the hospital.
"
Darryl took a long gulp of coffee and shook his
head.
"
One of these days
you’ll die on these little outings by
yourself.
"

"
You have a
vivid imagination.
"
Kaletaka
forced a chuckle, but if, as he suspected, he was a skinwalker, he
would have stood alone. The very idea of contributing to such evil
made his skin crawl.

Darryl pointed to the
wound.
"
You should clean that
up before it gets infected.
"

"
Right.
"
When Kaletaka
stood, the wound pounded with each heartbeat and more blood oozed.
He felt faint and his head swirled.
"
By the Great
Coyote!
"

Darryl grabbed his good
arm.
"
Easy does it, man. Let
me help you.
"

"
Thanks.
"
Kaletaka
leaned on his friend.

Darryl set down his cup
and helped him remove the vest.
"
Can you climb the stairs?
"

"
Not sure I
can.
"
With Darryl holding his
good arm, Kaletaka lumbered up the steel and glass stairs along the
wall. By the time they reached the top, he panted from the effort
and leaned on his friend as he crossed the bedroom to the master
bath.

After washing off the
blood, Kaletaka examined the wound in the bathroom mirror. A round
entry wound.
"
This is not a
knife, but a gunshot.
"

Darryl frowned, staring in
the mirror.
"
Are you
sure?
"

"
Positive.
"
Turning over
to check the back of his arm, Kaletaka saw no exit wound.
"
And the slug is still inside. It’s
a big bullet, too.
"
The kind
that could have come from Madison’s rifle
?

"
That’s
serious, man. You should see a doctor.
"

"
No
doctor.
"
Kaletaka never did
trust them.

"
Could your
ranger with a gun have shot you last night?
"
Darryl grinned.
"
Did you give her reason to?
"

"
I told you,
I left, then I can’t remember.
"
Kaletaka’s irritation hardened his tone. He shivered at the
thought of what might have happened.
Who,
other than Madison, had such a gun? And
who
would want him dead?
Kaletaka had no enemies.

Darryl shook his
head.
"
Let me drive you to
the emergency room, man.
"

"
No. With
this kind of wound? They’d have to call the police. I like to stay
as far away from law enforcement as possible.
"
Kaletaka washed the area with soap and water,
wincing at the sting and the lancing pain whenever he touched his
arm.

Darryl hovered behind
him.
"
But you need medical
attention, maybe even surgery.
"

"
It’s a flesh
wound, not life-threatening. I can extract the bullet
myself.
"

"
That’s
crazy.
"
Darryl nervously
raked his sandy hair.
"
You’ve
never done it before.
"

"
Yes I have.
My brothers used to run into trouble with the Reservation police
all the time.
"

"
But doing it
on yourself? That’s harsh, man.
"

"
I can do
this.
"
Out of a bathroom
drawer, Kaletaka took the knife with the turquoise handle he’d made
as a teenager.
"
Just don’t
let me pass out.
"

Darryl nodded gravely, he
looked pale.
"
Wait. I need
more coffee for this. Want some?
"

Kaletaka shook his head and regretted
the sudden movement.

Darryl disappeared and his steps
clanged down the glass stairs.

Kaletaka grabbed the
candle from a floating shelf and the black matchbook next to it.
Striking a match, he lit the candle then held the knife blade over
the flame to sterilize it. He bunched up a clean washcloth from the
stack on the counter and stuffed it in his mouth. Bent over the
sink, he took a deep breath and dug into the wound. The cloth
muffled his scream as the blade prompted acute pain and more
bleeding.
Great Coyote, please help
me
.

Kaletaka delved deeper into the gash
and labored on the wound with stern resolve. Sweat dripped from his
brow. His eyes watered, and he clenched his jaw. When he stopped to
catch his breath, Darryl returned with two mugs of coffee and set
one for him on the granite counter. Kaletaka ignored it.

Darryl’s pale face turned
whiter.
"
If you don’t mind, I
can’t watch that without hurling. I’ll be in the bedroom if you
need me.
"

Kaletaka nodded and
removed his gag.
"
Wimp!
"

After Darryl left again, Kaletaka
staunched the blood with a towel, then bit on the cloth and kept
digging. Finally, he reached the bullet. One more grating of blade
on bone, and he nudged the projectile loose. Slowly,
excruciatingly, he drew the metal lump through the flesh wound and
brought it to the light.

The misshapen, bloody slug dropped and
pinged into the soap dish.

With a sigh of relief,
Kaletaka spit out the waded washcloth.
"
It’s done, you can come back
now.
"

Darryl appeared, coffee
mug in hand and grimaced.
"
At
least all that bleeding will prevent infection. What are you going
to put on it?
"

"
I usually
prefer natural remedies.
"

"
Like the
Aloe Vera you smear on your burns from hot
metal?
"

"
But this is
a gunshot. It calls for white man
medicine.
"

Darryl looked almost green
now.
"
I don’t feel so
good.
"
He ran to the toilet
and vomited.

"
Wimp.
"
Setting his jaw
again, Kaletaka emptied the bottle of peroxide on the wound. It
hissed and foamed, stinging as it flooded the hole. The bleeding
stopped. After applying antibiotic cream from his emergency kit, he
called to Darryl.
"
Can you
help me here?
"

Darryl stood, wiping his
mouth with the back of his hand.
"
Sorry about that, man.
"

"
Help me pull
the edges of the wound together and pinch them into place with
butterfly stitches.
"

"
You think
that will hold?
"

"
I can only
hope.
"

It took several stitches. Then with
Darryl’s help, Kaletaka covered the area with gauze and tape to
protect the wound from outside contamination.

Flexing his arm gingerly,
Kaletaka tested the stitches.
"
Good work
...
for a
wimp.
"

Darryl made as if to punch
the wounded arm, stopped mid strike and smiled devilishly.
"
Say that
again?
"

Kaletaka chuckled.
"
It doesn’t hurt as much now, at
least as long as I remain still.
"
He swallowed a handful of Tylenol with coffee to dull the
pain further.
"
Now I have to
clean up the blood from the leather couch.
"

"
I can do
that.
"

"
Thanks. I’ll
check the backyard.
"
But
Kaletaka would look for clues of what happened last night.
"
I have no idea where I left my
motorcycle.
"

*****

Madison felt guilty as she pushed open
the door to Jake’s office. She’d botched the job once again. She
expected Jake to welcome her with a snarl after her preliminary
report. Instead, she found him legs stretched, feet on the desk,
hands locked on his chest, seemingly in good spirits.

Jake grinned suggestively,
as if he enjoyed his authority over her, and motioned to the chair
across from him.
"
So, you
shot the bear? Congratulations.
"

She sat with reluctance,
hoping this wouldn’t take long.
"
My report never mentioned a bear. Even in the dark, it didn’t
look like a bear to me.
"

"
What else
could it be?
"
Jake rose and
went to close the door of the small office.

"
Dunno. Never
seen the likes of it.
"
Madison resented his patronizing attitude.

"
You saw the
animal, tell me what it was.
"
Jake returned to his chair. He was handsome in a blond,
blue-eyed jock kind of way, but he didn’t have the feral grace of
Kal, not to mention the kindness, the manners, and the respect Kal
showed her.