He put his hands up to stop me. “If you’re involved in some relationship with Officer Reynaud, that’s none of my business,” he said. “Never mind what I’d say to my own daughter about it, who happens to be around the same age.”
I shook my head and looked away.
“But enough of that,” he said. “When she’s back home safe, then you and I might talk a little more, eh? Right now, I’m sure you’ll agree, our first priority has to be finding her.”
“Of course.”
“Naturally, we’re also trying to find the man who tried to kill you. His brother, too. I’m told that’s the person you were both looking for when you came up here?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“I’d like you to tell me everything that happened,” he said. “I know you’ve already been through this.”
“You want to hear it yourself,” I said. “I understand.”
“Take your time.”
I went through it one more time for him, starting with Simon Grant in the hotel and ending with the scene in the barn. He listened carefully to every word. Even though he had a pad of paper and a pen, he never wrote anything down.
“Go back to Marty Grant,” he said when I was done. “You say you saw him in Batchawana Bay?”
“Yes, when I went up looking for Natalie and her mother.”
“You have no idea why he might have been up there?”
“No, I don’t.”
“And you have no idea why he might have gone to Natalie’s house, assuming he did?”
“No, other than what his brother said about the devil of Blind River.”
“The devil of Blind River,” he said. He slowly tapped on the pad with his pen.
“I’m thinking that had to be Natalie’s father.”
“But you never talked to Grace Reynaud about this?”
“I never talked to her about anything,” I said. “I never got to meet her.”
“At least not alive.”
“No,” I said. “Not alive.”
“We’ve been in contact with the police in Soo Michigan,” he said. “Apparently you know the chief down there, Roy Maven?”
“We go way back, yes.”
He came as close to a smile as he was going to. “So I hear. In any case, they’re looking for both of the Grant brothers down there. They’ve spoken to the rest of the family, but they’re not getting much cooperation.”
“I’m not surprised. They seem like a pretty tight family.”
“Apparently, they told Chief Maven that they weren’t going to say a word to him. That’s exactly how they put it.”
“As opposed to telling him that they had no idea where either of the brothers were?”
“Right. It sounds like they know something, but they’re not talking.”
“Have you checked the hospitals? I was talking to the doctor about that gun, the way it exploded. Michael Grant is probably hurting pretty bad right now.”
“Naturally,” he said. “But we haven’t heard anything on that yet. We haven’t found your truck yet, either.”
“So what’s next?”
“I’m going to give you my card,” he said, reaching into his pocket. “I’m going to put my home number on the back. If you think of anything else that might be helpful, call me immediately.”
“That’s it?”
“An officer will take you back to Michigan,” he said. “You’ll need to call someone to meet you at the bridge.”
“You came a long way just to hear my story.”
“I needed to see you in person,” he said. “You said you were an old cop, right? I’m sure you can understand.”
“I suppose I can.”
“Natalie Reynaud is one of my own. You know that.”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“If anything happens to her…”
He didn’t say anything else. He didn’t have to.
He called an officer to come pick me up. While I was waiting, I gave Vinnie a ring on his cell phone again. He didn’t answer. So I called Jackie at the Glasgow.
“Jackie,” I said when he picked up. “Is Vinnie there?”
“Alex, you damned fool, what the hell is going on there?”
“I’m coming home, Jackie. I’ll explain everything.”
“I told you, God damn it. Did I not tell you this would happen?”
“Yes, you did. Let me talk to Vinnie now.”
“You don’t have the sense God gave a turnip, you know that? I’ll be waiting right here, Alex. I’m gonna kick your stupid ass all over this bar.”
Good old Jackie, I thought. He knows me too well.
“Jackie, is Vinnie there or not?”
“No, he’s not. I haven’t seen him since yesterday. Do I need to come get you?”
Wait a minute, I thought. Wait one goddamned minute.
“Alex, are you there?”
“Yeah, sorry. I’m here.”
Jackie knows what I’d do to help him out. Him or someone else I cared about. That’s why I got the big lecture in his kitchen.
“I’ll come pick you up,” Jackie said. “Just tell me where.”
“No need,” I said. “I’ve got a ride. I’ll see you soon.”
“The cops are bringing you all the way over to Paradise?”
“Yeah, no problem. I gotta go, Jackie. See ya soon.”
I hung up.
“God damn,” I said. I went to the window and looked out. It wasn’t snowing. “God damn, it’s the same thing all over again.”
It all came back, the last time someone had done this to me. Jackie had been in real trouble, and he was about to do something incredibly stupid. He was going to try to take matters into his own hands.
He didn’t want me to be a part of it. He pushed me away. He told me he didn’t need my help, that I’d just screw everything up, as always. That I should just stay out of his business.
It hurt me when he said that. It was supposed to hurt. He was driving me away, for my own good. Because he knew if I got involved, I’d go all the way down the line with him, maybe even farther. I’d be in just as much danger as he was.
“Did you do the same damned thing, Natalie? Is that why you pushed me away?”
I went back to the pay phone and dialed a different number. A man answered with the name of the motor shop and asked how he could help me.
“I need to speak to Leon Prudell,” I said. “Is he there?”
A few seconds later, he was on the phone.
“Leon, it’s Alex. I know I’ve been asking you for a lot of favors lately…”
“Name it.”
“I’m in Soo Canada right now. I was hoping you could pick me up at the bridge.”
“What happened, did your truck break down?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “I’ll tell you when I see you.”
“I’m on my way,” he said. “You want me to come right now?”
“You think you could run home first?”
“I guess so. Why?”
This is why I was calling him. Besides the fact he could get up here a lot faster, besides the fact he was my ex-partner-Leon Prudell always had the right tool for the job.
“I’ll wait for you on the American side of the bridge,” I said. “Bring a gun.”
I stood outside the little duty-free shop, a hundred feet from the toll-booth. My head still hurt. My neck still hurt. It was too cold to be standing outside, but what the hell. I wanted to be cold. I wanted the wind to hit me in the face, maybe knock some sense into me.
Natalie needed my help. She pushed me away and I let her. Now she was gone.
I looked out over the edge of the bridge. The St. Marys River was frozen and covered with snow. Beyond that was the lake, where the ice ended and the water began, water so cold it would kill you in a minute. It would pull you down all the way to the bottom, to the hard granite, a thousand feet deep. Nobody would ever see you again.
It’s too easy to disappear around here, that’s the thing. If it’s not the lake, it’s the land around it, nearly three thousand miles of jagged shoreline, the trees, the empty places, the great wild north all around you, with an international border running through the middle. In the winter you can walk right across the ice, start the day in one country and end it in another.
I remembered all the people who had vanished up here, intentionally or not. All the people I had known myself, even Jackie for a few horrible hours, until we rode out onto the lake to find him.