“What difference does that make?”
“Come on, Katie… I’m sure you can guess how I feel about that crap.”
“Oh, that’s right. Baptiste the abolitionist. No indentures allowed. Must be tough being stuck up here with the hillbillies.” She threw her hands up in the air. “It’s nothing to do with me. I didn’t make the decision.”
“I know you didn’t,” I said, trying to sound like I could relate. “I just don’t know how you guys do it.”
“You have no right to judge us…”
“That’s not what I mean. I just don’t understand how you can even make that work. Why bother getting someone to sign their life away? It’s not like that piece of paper means anything.”
“You’d be surprised,” Katie said. “Those damned indenture docs have a lot more power than you’d think.” She turned and looked out the window at the endless snow. “It runs both ways, you know… it’s a promise from both sides.”
“Yeah… I’ve seen that kind of paperwork before… ten years of service in exchange for ten years of food and shelter. Just no specifics on what that service might be.”
“Can we not talk about this, please?”
“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
“Bullshit… you want to make me feel guilty. But you have no idea what it’s like for me.”
Katie didn’t seem like the type of person who cried easily, but I could see that she was on the edge of something.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was out of line.”
“Yes, you were.” She tried to smile but it didn’t take. “Like some kind of asshole or something. Let’s just find something else to talk about.”
“Sounds good to me.” I smiled. “So… do you know much about Stems?”
“Wow… another great topic.”
“I’m just asking. I’m a lifelong learner.”
“Stems is a problem that doesn’t have a solution. He shoots at us one day and pretends he’s our best friend the next.”
“If he’s the one doing the shooting.”
“Are you saying that we’re shooting at him?”
“That’s not what I mean. I have a feeling that someone’s been doing their best to make it look like they’re killing on behalf of Ryan Stems and the Mushkegowuk Nation.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
“Of course not.” She was getting upset again.
“I didn’t mean anything by it, Katie.”
She took a sip of her coffee and scrunched her face from the taste. “So, like… a false flag,” she said.
“Impressive…”
“Oh, I forgot… little girls don’t know how to read books or anything…”
“Yeah… okay…”
“It wouldn’t make sense for a gang of marauders to go to the trouble, would it?”
“Probably not. It’s not like we’d be so intimidated by painted helmets that we’d just give up.”
“So who? One of the families around here? Someone further away?”
I shrugged. “Sons of Flesh?”
“Or Detour Lake?”
“There’s too many to choose from.”
“It’s great to be popular. Either way, it’s backfiring.”
“What do you mean?”
She looked away. Her fingers started tapping on the table. “I don’t know…”
“No… you know, Katie.”
She gave me a slow and heavy sigh. “My father’s been talking to Stems.”
“Talking?”
“Protection. I don’t know if we’d be a full-on part of the Nation or whatever…”
“You can’t be serious. All the work you guys have done and you’re just going to hand it over?”
“All the work we did with our indentures, you mean.”
“I can’t believe your father would do that.”
“I don’t know. I’m not at the meetings. I’m not in charge of anything, Baptiste. For all I know, I’m just talking out of my ass…”
I couldn’t help myself. “Tell me more about this ass of yours…”
I heard Graham’s voice on the handheld. “Baptiste… you there? Over.”
I grabbed it and pushed to talk. “What’s up, Graham?”
“You need to get over here… over.”
“Okay… north shore, right?”
“North shore… probably four cottages from the end of the road. Over.”
I turned to Katie. “I guess we should both head over there. You okay with that?”
“Okay,” she said. I could tell that she was worried.
“I’m sure everyone’s okay… I know Graham… that was his ‘you need to see this’ voice.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Graham was standing by the road when we arrived. From what I could see, everyone else was still hard at work.
“What’s going on?” I asked him as Katie and I stepped out of the Walkers’ van.
“You guys aren’t being honest with us,” Graham said, glaring at Katie.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“Come on… we’re not idiots.” He looked over to me. “They’ve already gone through these cottages, cherry-picking the best supplies.”
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“They did a crap-poor job of hiding it. Every cabinet and cupboard I’ve seen has been ransacked… what’s left is obviously less valuable than whatever they’ve already taken.”
“That’s a pretty big accusation,” Katie said. “Even if stuff’s missing, how can you be so sure that we’re the ones who took it?”
I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t trust the Walkers, obviously, and certainly not Livingston. But Graham seemed to be making some pretty big assumptions.
“Can I talk to you for a second, Graham?” I asked.
“I’m going to go inside and look around,” Katie said.
Once she’d left, Graham grabbed me by the arm.
I’ve rarely seen him that angry.
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I don’t have enough information, Graham.”
“So you can’t just trust me on this.”
“Come on, man… I know Livingston’s a shit, but I still don’t see how you can know for sure that they’re screwing us.”
“You know they are.”
I nodded. “But maybe it’s not going down how you think. And confronting them like this… I’m not sure it’s the right move. What did you say to Livingston?”
“I called him out on it. I told him that I could tell he was trying to put one over on us.”
“Dammit. You’ve put me in an awkward position here.”
“What’s awkward? You need to back me up.”
“I don’t think I can, Graham. Now isn’t the time for this.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Nothing’s changed… we need to take what we can get here. Anything’s better than jack shit.”
“It’s not worth it. We can’t just sit here and take it up the rear for a few measly bags of rice.”
“It’s more than just a few bags of rice… there’s no way they managed to empty out everything of value from fifty-some cottages. Look… you need to drop it.”
“Come on, Baptiste.”
“Please… just drop it. You don’t need to play nice… just don’t be a dick about it.”
“No way… I’m not going to drop it. This is bullcrap and you know it.”
I grabbed him by both of his arms just below his shoulders. “You need to drop it, Graham. Trust me on this. Please.”
I could see that he wanted to keep arguing with me; I just held onto his arms for a moment, looking him right in the eye. I wasn’t trying to intimidate him; I know Graham better than that. I was trying to show him just how important it was for him to let it go.
He shook his head and sighed.
“Please,” I said again.
“I can see you don’t have my back on this. Too busy chasing another pair of tits.”