She rattled the cuffs around, and then pulled them tight.
“Gannon killed him. He flew him up there and killed him. He shot him right in the back. While I stayed behind, not doing a damned thing.”
I let the silence hang there for a moment, not sure if I should say anything. “Do you have any idea what this is all about?” I finally said. “I mean, once it was done, he was afraid of what your partner would find up there. That almost makes sense. But to kill those other men like that in the first place-”
“We don’t know, McKnight.”
“Those men were all from Detroit. You’ve got no idea how they figured into this?”
“Not right now.”
“This isn’t over,” I said. “We’ve got to find out what happened.”
She looked at me. “I’m not going to talk about this anymore. You need to go home and get well. And cooperate with whoever you need to, back in Michigan.”
“I’m free to go?”
“Yes, you are.”
“And Vinnie?”
“Yes.”
“I lost my partner, too,” I said.
She took a moment to think about it. “When was this?”
“In Detroit, when I was a cop. My partner and I were both shot. He died. I didn’t. I spent a lot of time blaming myself.”
“So you’re saying you know how it feels.”
“Yes.”
“I shouldn’t have hit you before,” she said. “But if I don’t get out of here right now, I swear I’m gonna do it again.”
“I understand.”
“Like hell you do,” she said. And then she left.
Chapter Twenty
An hour later I was standing. That was my big accomplishment so far that day. It felt like somebody had put needles all over the floor, but I was on my feet and that meant I could move around and maybe even get out of there. I was slowly walking around the bed when Guy and Maskwa appeared in the doorway. Maskwa came right up to me and grabbed both of my arms.
“Alex,” he said. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m standing,” I said. “That’s enough for right now.”
He kept studying me. “You look terrible.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “Have you seen Vinnie?”
“Yes. His face-”
“He was actually very lucky. Although I’m sure he doesn’t feel that way.”
Maskwa looked at his grandson, then back at me, shaking his head slowly. “We are so sorry,” he said. “We were trying to do the right thing.”
“I know, Maskwa. Nobody could have imagined this.”
“The constable wouldn’t let us fly back to get you. He told us he was going to go get you himself.”
“He may have saved your lives.”
He looked at me close. “DeMers. That was his name, right?”
“Yes.”
“I still can’t believe it.”
“At least we found Tom,” I said. “At least we did that much.”
“You are a good friend, Alex. And now Vinnie needs you more than ever. Time will heal his body, but his spirit… It is very sick. You must know that.” “We’ll take care of him,” I said. “I will, and his family.”
“Good, good. And if you ever need anything from us. Anything. You call us.”
“There is one thing.” I said.
“Anything.”
I gave him my keys. “I left my truck at your house.”
He laughed. “Of course. We’ll bring it over.”
While I was waiting for them, I asked the nurse for something to put on my feet. She brought me some slippers that looked like folded-up old newspapers, maybe size 15 or so. They barely fit on my swollen feet. After a couple more minutes of practice, I went padding down the hall at one mile per hour until I found Vinnie’s room. Fortunately, it wasn’t hard. The entire Hearst Medical Center might have had ten rooms total, and Vinnie’s was two doors down from mine.
He was lying on the bed when I came in. The whole right side of his face was bandaged, and his feet were propped up in the air, just like mine had been. He was staring at the ceiling.
“Vinnie,” I said.
He looked over at me, then down at my feet. “Nice slippers.”
“Are you all right?”
“Never better.”
“Vinnie, I’m serious. Are you okay?” If his spirit was sick, like Maskwa had said, I couldn’t see it.
He sat up in the bed. “They told me your feet were twice as bad as mine. We’re gonna have to get you some better boots next time.”
“Next time, eh?”
“I promised to buy you a beer,” he said. “Let’s get out of here.”
We found our clothes, signed some papers, and then waited for a prescription for Vinnie. An hour later, the staff sergeant came to see us one more time. He asked us a couple more questions, nothing he hadn’t asked before. He seemed reluctant to let us go, but finally he did. We stood by the front door, waiting for Guy and Maskwa to bring the truck around. It was a decent day for October in Ontario-no snow, no rain. The temperature was even above freezing. It made it a little easier to walk outside in our cheap slippers when the truck showed up. We said goodbye to Guy and Maskwa again, and then we were finally on our way home. It was hard to feel the pedals under my feet, but I made do. As we left the medical center, I couldn’t help noticing that the flag was flying at half-mast.
“Do you think you should call home?” I said.
“The constable told me she already called them yesterday.”
“She called your mother?”
“Yes, she did. She told her I’d be home soon.”
“Wait a minute,” I said. “How come they’re not here?”
“What do you mean?”
“Your whole family. I’m surprised they weren’t camped out in the parking lot.”
“I didn’t want them to come up here,” he said. “I’m not ready to see them yet.”
“Well, it was good of her to call your family. Especially after what she went through herself yesterday.”
He looked at me. “Are you surprised?”
“No. She just didn’t seem very happy with us today.”
He looked back out the window. “Can you blame her?”
“That reminds me,” I said, picking up the phone. “Remember we had all those messages? As long as we’re still in town, with the cell tower…” I turned on the phone and checked the missed calls.
“Twenty-seven calls in all,” I said. “They just kept calling me.”
“When was the last call?”
“Let’s see. Yesterday. Around two o’clock.”
“None since then? They just stopped?”
“Yes.”
“They must have found out,” he said. “That guy who called you, didn’t he say he was Red’s brother?”
“Yeah, he did.”
“So I guess I know how he feels.” He kept looking out the window.
“Yes,” I said. “I suppose so.”
He didn’t say anything. I kept driving. I couldn’t help thinking about the man’s voice, the faraway voice of Red Albright’s brother-he had come all the way up here himself, just as we had done. He just wanted to know what the hell was going on. I couldn’t blame him for that, despite his lack of manners. He just wanted to know.
And now he did.
Home was eight hours away, down the same roads we had already driven on, through the same trees. It was only a few days before, but now it all felt different. The whole world had changed.
Vinnie slept for a while. He almost looked peaceful, until I’d hit a bump or until his mind would cycle through all the things he’d seen and he’d wake up with a start.
“Alex,” he said, more than once, with a sudden panic in his voice.
“It’s okay, Vinnie. We’re almost home. Go back to sleep.”
I stopped at a gas station in Wawa. I got out and pumped the gas, standing there in my cheap slippers and my coat covered with dried mud. I shifted my weight back and forth from one burning foot to the other. When I paid the man, he looked at me like I was a mental patient.
The day dragged on. I kept driving. I was tired, but I’d be damned if I was going to stop anywhere short of home. From Wawa we drove south along the shores of Lake Superior, around Batchawana Bay, into Soo Canada. We were so close to home now. All we had to do was get over the bridge.