“This man right here.” He pulled the gun away from his head.
“He did it for his brother,” I said. “And for your brother. And the other men. And me. He saved my life.”
The man let go of Vinnie. He bent over and put his hands on his knees, the gun pointing at the ground. He took a few wet breaths through his nose and shook his head. “Is that it?” he said. “Is that all there is? What was this guy’s name again?”
“Gannon. Hank Gannon.”
“He did all this by himself?”
“We don’t know that,” I said. I figured, what the hell, go ahead and push your luck. “Maybe you can help us figure it out.”
The man stood up straight and looked me in the eye. “What do you mean?”
“We’re just wondering. If somebody else was involved, maybe it was one of the other men in the hunting party. Or at least somebody else that you’d know about.”
He thought hard. He looked past me, at the big man standing behind me. “What do you think, Jay? Who could it be?”
I sneaked a look at him. He was standing there with both hands on his gun. He was looking at the ground. “I’m just thinking,” he said.
“What?”
“You know.”
“No, man. Are you serious?”
“What are we talking about?” I said.
The sudden look on his face told me I was pushing it a little too far.
“Never mind,” I said. “We just want some answers. As much as you do.”
“Well, don’t you worry about it,” he said. “If we find out there’s somebody else still walking around, we’ll make that person pay. Believe me, we’ll turn them fucking inside out.”
He stood there for a long time, breathing hard and shaking his head. The big guy crossed his arms and looked around at the trees. I wasn’t sure what to do. Ask them if we could go? Invite them down to the Glasgow for a drink?
“I was supposed to be up there,” he finally said. “Those guys never go hunting without me. Until this time.”
It made sense. That’s why there were five men instead of six.
“I should have been there,” he said. “I should be in the ground with Red.”
The big man looked at the sky and shook his head.
“I hope you guys understand why we’re here,” he said. He put the gun back in his coat. “I’ve been going a little crazy ever since I found out. I just have to do something about it, you know what I mean?”
“Yes,” I said. “I understand.”
“We drove all the way up there,” he said. “And then all the way home. And then when we heard… Fuck, we drove all the way here. We waited around for you. This is some kind of little shit town you got here.”
He looked down at Vinnie’s feet. “What’s with the slippers?”
“It’s a long story,” I said.
“Yeah, well, we got some things to do now. We gotta go talk to some people. Let’s get out of here, Jay…”
They went back to their car.
“Hey,” he said, standing in the glare of the headlights. His voice caught as he asked us his final questions. “Is it true what they said? Did my brother really get set on fire up there?”
“Yes,” I said. “They were burned.”
He stood there for a long moment, looking up at the sky.
The big guy spoke up again. “They were burned, Dal.”
“Yeah, I heard the man.”
“I’m just saying-”
“That’s enough. Let’s go.”
They got in the car and drove it around the truck. Their wheels spun as they edged off the road into the heavy grass. For a moment I thought we’d end up standing in the mud in our hospital slippers, trying to push them out. That would clinch the evening, right there. But then the wheels found purchase and they were free. I watched the glowing taillights as they turned right onto the main road and were gone.
“Are you all right?” I said.
Vinnie stood there holding on to the side of the truck. “Yeah, I’m just fine,” he said. “That was actually a good warm-up.”
“How’s that?”
“Tomorrow will be worse,” he said. “That’s when I’ve got to face my family.”
Chapter Twenty-One
When I woke up, it was snowing. It was a light October flurry, nothing to get the snowplow out for. The clock said 12:34. I did the math and figured I’d been sleeping for about fourteen hours. It didn’t feel like nearly enough.
My feet hurt when I put them on the cold floor. But I could walk a little better. I wasn’t ready for the decathlon, but at least I could start getting around again. I took a long hot shower, shaved six days of beard off my face, and got myself dressed. I put on clean white socks and very carefully stepped into a pair of old shoes.
As I fired up the truck, it felt strange not having Vinnie sitting there next to me. When I drove down my road, I noticed that his truck was gone. He must have been over at his mother’s house. For a second I thought I should go over there myself, but then something told me I should leave them alone for one day, at least. I hoped it wasn’t just me being afraid to face Mrs. LeBlanc.
I went down to the Glasgow Inn. Jackie looked me over like I was the walking dead and made me a cheese omelet with five eggs. He served it to me with a cold Canadian as I put my feet up by the fire. If he had asked me for everything I owned, I would have given it to him right then.
“I’ve already heard the basics,” he said as he sat down next to me. “Hell, it was on the front page of the Soo Evening News. Are you gonna tell me the rest?”
I spent the next hour going through the whole story for him. It felt good to tell him, like maybe I was almost ready to let go of it. Almost. When I was done, he got me another Canadian and I fell asleep in front of the fire.
When I went back home, I still didn’t see Vinnie’s truck in his driveway, but there was a note from him pinned on my door. “Service for Tom,” it read. “1:00 tomorrow. See you there.”
I drove down to the end of my road. The blue tarp was still tied tight over the walls we had started. The center post we had stuck in there was doing its job, letting the light snowfall glide off to the ground.
I can’t believe it, I said to myself. I actually started building this cabin. In October. That’s how crazy I was.
I checked the other cabins on my way back. Two were still occupied, the other two empty. In both cases, the men had left while I was up in Canada. And in both cases, the cabins were spotless and money had been left in envelopes. Bow hunters, I thought. God bless them.
There was a message on my machine when I got back to my cabin. The two men from the FBI were checking up on me, wanted to make sure I was back in the country. I called the number they left, and told them I was here in Michigan and not planning on going anywhere. That seemed to satisfy them for the time being. They knew where to find me if they had any more questions. I tried to ask the man a few questions of my own. He told me they were working hard on the case but didn’t have anything to say about it yet.
I went back down to the Glasgow for dinner that evening. I ate sitting by the fire again, and as I sat there feeling a hell of a lot better than the day before, I couldn’t help thinking about it. Again. Five men dead, a vehicle moved several miles. Somebody else had to help Gannon do this. But who?
And those men from last night, the big man, Jay, and Red’s brother-what was his name? I replayed the whole scene in my mind. Dal, he called him-the man with the look in his eyes like he’d be capable of anything. And the way they were talking. I tried to remember it, word for word.
What?
You know.
No, man. Are you serious?
These men knew something. At least they had an idea. If anyone could lead us to the answers, it was these two men.
So rest up, Vinnie. We’ve got some work to do.
I went to bed early that night, and slept in again the next morning. I almost felt human. I was able to put shoes on my feet without incident, and I could even walk around a little bit without feeling like I was ninety years old. I put on my old black suit, spent a few minutes tying my tie, and then drove down past Vinnie’s house. He wasn’t there, so I headed over to the reservation. There were a lot of cars at the Cultural Center, so I knew I was in the right place.