I stood over him, watching. I wiped the blood off my nose. He kept sucking air, trying to get something into his lungs. He sat down on the cement floor. Finally, he was able to speak.
“Enough,” he said. “God damn, enough.”
“Just stay right there,” I said. “Or I’ll kick your head in.”
“What the fuck. God damn.”
“Where does he live?”
“You can’t.”
“Where does he live?”
“I’m telling you, McKnight, he’ll kill you.”
“Sure, whatever,” I said. “Just tell me where he lives. He needs to tell me what he was doing up there.”
He was still breathing hard. “You still haven’t told me what you’re talking about.”
“Natalie was up there,” I said. “That’s where her mother lives.”
“Natalie who? Who are you talking about?”
“Natalie Reynaud. The woman who was with me at the hotel that night.”
“That night…” he said. “She was with you?”
“Yes,” I said. “I went up there looking for her, because I hadn’t heard from her since yesterday. Before I could find her, I saw Marty at the gas station.”
“No, it must have been someone else. What would he be doing up there?”
“It was him.”
“Just hold on,” he said. “There has to be some explanation. What did you say her name was again?”
“Natalie Reynaud.”
“Reynaud,” he said. “Reynaud.”
“You recognize the name?”
“Reynaud,” he said. “Yeah, it’s familiar.”
“Your father apparently left that hat for Natalie,” I said. “Do you have any idea why he might have done that?”
He stayed there on his butt. He shook his head slowly and didn’t say a word.
“The hell with it,” I said. “I’ll find his house.”
“Where does she live?”
“Excuse me?”
“Natalie Reynaud. You said her mother lives in Batchawana Bay. Where does Natalie live?”
“A little town,” I said. “A couple of hours northeast.”
“Blind River?”
That stopped me cold.
“Yes,” I said. “How did you know?”
“That’s where the devil lived.”
“Say that again?”
“The devil of Blind River,” he said. “That was something my father used to say. That’s where I remember the name. Somebody named Reynaud was the devil of Blind River.”
“When did he say this?”
He shook his head. “I don’t know. It was… toward the end there. When I’d go see him. I thought he was just talking nonsense. He was sort of getting that way.”
That made me think of Mrs. DeMarco, all alone in her house, living in some phantom version of the far past.
“What else did he say, Grant?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Tell me.”
He thought about it. “He didn’t talk to me much. He spent a lot more time with Marty the last few years.”
“So maybe Marty has more of the story, you’re saying.”
He pushed himself up off the floor. “You can’t do that, man.”
“Says who?”
I was waiting for his last run. When he came up at me, I spun him around and sent him right back into the workbench. He hit the thing hard and started an avalanche of tools.
“You might as well give him a call,” I said. “Tell him I’m coming.”
I left him there to dig himself out from under the tools and went back outside. The cold air stung my face like all hell. I was still bleeding. When I got to the truck, I was already starting to feel dizzy. As the adrenaline slipped away, I held on to the door handle, hanging my head, watching the drops of blood collect in the snow.
I got in the truck, grabbed an old fast-food napkin and held it against my eyebrow. I closed my eyes and took a few long breaths. Time to call Leon, I thought. He can find out where Marty Grant lives. The phone rang just as I picked it up. I looked at the incoming number.
It was Natalie’s.
“Hello!” I said after I fumbled to hit the talk button. “Is that you?”
“Alex, what’s the matter?”
“Where are you?”
“I’m at home,” she said. “Why are you breathing hard?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “But you first. Tell me what’s going on. Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she said. “I’m a little tired, but-”
“Where have you been? You never called.”
“Alex, you knew I was seeing my mother last night. I stayed over there.”
“Okay,” I said. I tried to make myself slow down. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to sound crazy about it. But I saw Marty Grant today. He was in Batchawana Bay.”
There was a long silence on the line. “Say that again, Alex. Marty Grant is one of the two brothers…”
“The younger one, yes.”
“And you saw him in Batchawana Bay?”
“Yes. I don’t know what he was doing. I still haven’t talked to him yet.”
“What were you doing up there?”
I hesitated. “I told you,” I said. “I was worried about you.”
“So you drove all the way up there?”
“It’s not that far. It’s closer than your house even.” Now that I was saying it out loud, it was starting to sound a little ridiculous.
“So what, you saw Marty Grant, but you didn’t ask him why he was there?”
“I didn’t get a chance. I followed him back here.”
“Where are you now, Alex?”
“I’m in front of the Grants’ place,” I said, looking out at the building.
“You’re not going to do something stupid, are you?”
“Too late. Look, Natalie-”
“Alex, I can’t believe you.”
“Just stop,” I said. “This is coming out all wrong. After everything that’s been happening, you gotta understand… I thought you were in some kind of trouble.”
“Alex…”
“What’s happening with your mother, anyway? How did that go?”
Silence.
“Come on, Natalie. Please tell me.”
“It wasn’t good,” she said. “It really wasn’t. I mean, I thought I knew just how bad it could be, but… my God.”
“What is it? What happened?”
“I wouldn’t even know where to begin. I’m too tired to think about it right now. ”
“You want me to come over?”
There was another long pause.
“She’s here, Alex. I brought her with me.”
“She’s there right now?”
“I couldn’t leave her in that house. I had to either try to clean the place up or just bring her here.”
“So the two of you were already gone,” I said. “If Marty Grant was going up there to find her…”
“We weren’t there, Alex.”
“So I’ll come on over. I’ll bring some food.”
“No,” she said. “Please. Give us a little time, okay? I don’t think she’s ready to see anybody yet. And I need to get some sleep so bad right now. I was up all night. I think I should just call you tomorrow.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I’m sure,” she said. “What are you going to do now?”
I was afraid to say.
“Alex, I want you to go home. If you go find Marty Grant right now, you’re going to get into big trouble.”
“I want to know why he was up there. Don’t you?”
“Alex, listen to me. I can’t imagine why he’d go up there looking for my mother, but if that’s what he was doing, then we’ll get to the bottom of it. We’ll do it the right way, okay? I’ll call him and see what he says. If I don’t like what I hear, then I’ll contact the police in Michigan.”
I let out a long breath. I couldn’t think of a good argument.
“You can’t be the one doing this, Alex. You know that. You’re the one they assaulted. If they’re up to something else, I swear, I’ll be even more mad than you are. I’ll come down on them like the hammer of God. Just promise me you’ll go home now and I’ll call you tomorrow. Okay?”
“Damn it, Natalie.”
“Promise me.”
“I’m going.”
“Promise.”
“I promise,” I said. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Alex.”
“Natalie?”
“What?”
“The hammer of God. That’s a good one.”