“What are we doing?” I said. The lights were on in the shop, but I couldn’t see any movement through the front windows.
“I just wanted to know where this place was,” she said. She leaned forward on the steering wheel. “Not the busiest place in the world.”
Just then, one of the two garage doors started to open. The rattle was so loud we could hear it inside the Jeep. When the door was chest high, a man ducked down under it and stepped out into the lot. He was a big man. He wore a down vest over flannel and denim. He had a bright white cast on his right hand.
“That’s the younger brother,” she said. “What was his name? Marty?”
“That’s him.”
The man looked up at the snow falling all around him, shook his head, and ducked back into the garage. The door kept opening.
“So let’s go,” I said. “Let’s go talk to him.”
“No way, Alex. We’re not doing that tonight.”
“Why not?”
“Well, first of all, there’s no way I can do this if you’re around.”
“Excuse me?”
“Look at you,” she said. “Look at your fists. You’re ready to fight him, and you haven’t even gotten out of the car yet.”
“I’m not going to fight them, Natalie. How dumb do you think I am?”
“Admit it, Alex. You want to bust him up so bad right now. It’s all you can think about.”
I took a long breath, making myself wait a few seconds before I said anything. “What you said before, about men…”
“Yes, exactly.”
“If I said the same kind of thing about women… You know, women in general do this or that…”
“I’d smack you, I know. This is not about that, Alex. If you and I go walking up there, those guys aren’t going to talk to either one of us. They’ll see you and they’ll get their hackles up right away.”
“If we just explain to them-”
“That you really didn’t make their father walk out into the snow? Sure, that would work.”
“Natalie-”
“I’ll come back by myself,” she said. “I’ll try to approach them the right way, maybe flash the badge at them. See if I can get them talking.”
“These are not nice people,” I said. “I don’t like the idea of you coming here alone.”
“Tough shit, Alex. Now tell me how to get to the Woolsey’s house. I assume it’s back this way somewhere?”
She pulled a U-turn and went back the way we came, toward downtown. I stared at her.
“Which way, Alex?”
“Straight for a while. Then take a left on Ashmun.”
A few minutes later, we were on the other side of town, parked in front of the Woolseys’ house. The last time I had been here, I had plowed the driveway and asked to talk to Chris, and had gotten nothing but a blank look from Mrs. Woolsey. Of course, that was before I had learned she was Simon Grant’s daughter.
“Okay, I got it,” Natalie said. “I’ll come talk to these people, too.”
I knew better than to say anything.
“I’m getting hungry,” she said. “How about you?”
I kept looking at the house.
“Come on,” she said. “You pick the restaurant. Anyplace except you-know-where.”
“You don’t like the service there?”
“No, I don’t like the fact that my father was killed there.”
“I’m sorry,” I said. I needed another pain pill. “I don’t know what I’m saying.”
“It’s all right, Alex. I’m sorry, too. But you know I’m right about this.”
“The Antlers has good hamburgers,” I said. “Go back toward downtown.”
“Now you’re talking.”
She swung the Jeep around. When we got to the Antlers, we grabbed a table. The waitress did her best not to stare at my beat-up face. Natalie sat across from me, marveling at all the stuffed animal heads on the walls.
“Charming place,” she said.
“Unless you’re any wild animal in North America, yeah.”
We ordered cheeseburgers and beer. The more I thought about what she had said, the more sense it made to me. With me along, the Grant brothers wouldn’t say a damned thing. Of course, I wasn’t going to admit she was right.
“What’s the matter?” she said.
“I’m fine.”
“You’re getting tired.”
“No, I’m fine.”
“You’re still not well yet. You should be taking it easy.”
“I’m okay, Natalie.”
She looked at me again and shook her head.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I think you’re right. I am tired.”
“Do you have your phone with you?”
“Yeah.” I reached into my coat pocket and gave her the phone.
“I should check my machine,” she said. She held the phone in front of her, took a deep breath, and then dialed. I watched her as she entered her code and then listened to the messages. The waitress brought us our beers.
After a full two minutes, she turned the phone off and put it down on the table. “Should you be drinking beer, Alex? With the painkillers?”
“Did your mother call?”
She nodded.
“And?”
“She said she can’t wait to see me again. And that she quit drinking.”
“Did she say anything else?”
“No, just that she wants me to come over as soon as possible.”
“Where does she live, anyway?”
“North of the Soo,” she said. “Up in Batchawana Bay. I figure I’ll have the advantage now. I’m assuming she’s pretty drunk right about now, having left that message about quitting.”
“Why do you have an advantage if she’s drunk?”
“When she drinks, she loses her edge, Alex. Her lies are so ridiculous, you can see right through them. I remember once she actually told me that my father wasn’t really my father at all. You want to know who my real father was?”
“Who?”
“Pierre Trudeau.”
“The old prime minister?”
“That’s the one.”
I tried to stop myself from smiling.
“It’s okay,” she said. “You can laugh. What else can you do?”
“Natalie, I’m sorry you have to deal with this.”
“I do want to ask you one favor,” she said. “I know I’ve already put you off once tonight…”
“Twice, actually.”
“I’m just thinking-”
“You don’t want me to go with you when you see your mother?”
“There are reasons why I haven’t seen her in five years, Alex. The lies are just one part of it. I had to stay away, for my own health and sanity. She’s toxic to me. I don’t want to inflict that on you, too. Besides, she was pretty young when she had me.”
“So?”
“So if you do the math, she’s not that much older than you are. She’d have something colorful to say about that, believe me.”
“Natalie, there’s nothing your mother can say that’s gonna bother me. You’ve already told me not to believe a word she says anyway.”
“It’s going to be hard enough seeing her,” she said. “I’m just asking you, let me do it alone this time. The next time, you come with me. I promise.”
“All right,” I said. “I understand.”
She picked up her glass and clinked it against mine. I was about to lean over and kiss her, but then the bells went off. They’ve got these bells behind the bar that are loud enough to give you a heart attack, and they set them off a couple of times every night, with no warning. I had forgotten all about the damned things. The only good news was that I had already drained most of my beer, so Natalie didn’t end up wearing too much of it. She laughed. It was the only real laugh I had heard in the short time I had known her. The way things were headed, I had to wonder when I’d ever hear it again.
After dinner, she drove me back to Paradise. We didn’t talk much on the way. As we passed Jackie’s place, I looked at the warm light in the windows and wished we were headed there for the rest of the evening, to sit by the fire with hot drinks before going to my cabin. Instead, she was going to leave me here alone, then drive all the way back to Canada.
When she pulled onto my access road, I saw that it had been plowed. Good old Vinnie. My truck was outside my cabin, no snow on the windshield. We must have just missed him. He was probably at the Glasgow, wondering how long I’d be away.