“You couldnot.”
“I’d be a great priest.”
“You aren’t ordained.”
“Can’t be that hard.”
“You didn’t go to seminary.”
“School of hard knocks.Seminaryof hard knocks. Whatever.”
“Vow of celibacy.”
“. . . damn.”
Selena put her face in Copper’s side and laughed weakly, because she couldn’t think of what else to do.
“Barn owls,” said Father Aguirre musingly. “Why barn owls, though?”
“Had to use owls at night,” said Grandma. “I’m not saying whoever did this is a daylight creature, but I’ve got my suspicions.”
The light flickered off the priest’s glasses as he peered over the skin. “I’m not finding anything,” he said finally. “Whoever did this must have left a bit of themselves in the skin, but don’t ask me where. A little bit of fur or a drop of blood could hide in all this fluff, and I’d never find it.”
“Or a pinfeather,” said Grandma grimly.
“From a different kind of bird? Maybe. I’m a priest, not an ornithologist.”
Grandma Billy scowled. “Don’t you have a book about it? You got all those field guides and stuff back in your office ...”
Aguirre looked frankly skeptical. “I don’t think there’s a field guide on earth that could identify a feather that size. Assuming there’s even one here.”
Selena kicked herself internally, as if she were an engine that was too slow to start. “Are you saying abirdmight be angry with me?”
“Bird spirit, anyway,” said Grandma Billy.
“Isupposeit could technically be a feathered serpent,” said Father Aguirre, “but it would be a long way out of its home territory. And from what little I have read of those, I do not think it would be sending owls to stare at you. No, this is probably a local spirit. Have you walked anywhere in the desert recently?”
Selena shook her head. “I went down the road maybe twenty minutes,” she said. “And back to town, and up the hill with you. I’m not really ... it doesn’t feel safe.” She waved her hand in the direction of the desert.
In truth, she was afraid that Copper would find a rattlesnake and get bitten before she could do anything, but if she tried to explain that, someone was undoubtedly going to tell her that rattlesnakes were fine as long as you were careful, and then she’d have to pretend to be convinced and she didn’t have the energy.
“You know perfectly well who it probably is, Father,” said Grandma Billy.
“I’m sure I don’t—”
“Oh, don’t give me that crap.”
The priest took off his glasses and cleaned them. “As I was saying, I’m sure I don’twish to speculate. Out loud. Where someone might be listening.”
This shut Grandma up for almost a minute.
“Wait,” said Selena, processing this. “Are you saying that you twoknowwho’s doing this?”
“Knowis a pretty strong word,” said Grandma. “I got an idea. I’ve been wrong before, on occasion.”
“Father?”
He sighed. “Your aunt had some friends,” he said. Grandma Billy snorted explosively, but Father Aguirre stared her down. “Sometimes friends get ... jealous.”
