Shut up, she said.
HAROLD HANKS WAS A GANGLY, RAWBONED MAN who wore a billed hat over plaid shirt, jeans, and boots, and though hed spread out on a couch, he looked as though hed be even more comfortable standing in a ditch somewhere. He was drinking a Welchs grape soda from the can while he paged through a copy ofGuns amp; Ammo.
Anything good? Sherrill asked, tipping her head to look at the magazine cover.
Some. But its mostly pistol bullshit… Youre Miz Sherrill.
Yes. And this is Chief Davenport. Sheriff Krause saysyou saw somebody up by the Kresge place.
Yeah, I guessbut I didnt tell anybody about it in no bar.
Did you tell anybody about it at all? Lucas asked.
No, I never did, Hanks said. No reason to. Just somebody in the woods during deer season. Only saw him for a minute. And see, I was up on the south side of Kresges place, way around from the driveway. I didnt even think of it being up that far… I never put it together.
So whatd he look like? The guy you saw?
Bout what youd expect at that time of day, that day of the year. Blaze-orange hat and coat. Carrying a rifle.
Couldnt see his face? Sherrill asked.
Nope. He was wearing a scarf.
A scarf?
Yeah. Covered the whole bottom part of his face. His hood covered the top part of his face, down to his forehead, and the scarf came right up to his eyes.
Wasnt that a little weird? Sherrill asked.
Nope. It gets damn cold out there, sitting in a tree.
Big guy? Lucas asked.
Hanks thought for a minute, then shook his head: Mmm, hard to tell. I only saw him from about the waist up, walking along back in the trees. Not real big. Maybe average. Maybe even smaller than average.
Lucas looked at Sherrilclass="underline" Have you seen McDonald?
She shook her head. Not yet.
Six-three, six-four, maybe two-sixty.
Wasnt anybody that big, Hanks said, shaking his head. With them coveralls and the blaze-orange coat, a guy that big would look like a giant.
Did you hear a shot before you saw him?
Heck, it was a shooting gallery out there. I was wearing blaze orange myself, just to stand in a ditch. I was happy to get out of there alive. But there was a shot, sort of close by, and in the right direction. About five, ten minutes before I saw him.
Thatd be right, Lucas said to Sherrill.
Sherrill nodded and went back to Hanks. But thats all. Just a guy in orange. Nothing distinctive?
Hanks shrugged. Sorry. I told the sheriff I couldnt help much.
Didnt see any cars coming or going?
There were a couple of trucks and maybe a car or two. I dont know. I wasnt paying any attention.
What were you doing out there, anyway? Lucas asked. Six-thirty, on a Saturday morning?
Aw, theres this place called Pilot Lake, full of city people. They got maybe fifty phones around the lake, and some idiot put their exchange right on top of a spring. About once a month, the whole damn place goes down and then they all raise hell until somebody fixes it. Its a priority for us, until we can redo the exchange.
When did they go down?
About ten oclock Friday night.
Including Kresges place?
Nope. Hed be the next exchange up the road. Like I said, I was on the south side…
Okay. Lucas thought for a moment, then asked, Whatd the scarf look like? Black? Red?
Red, Hanks said. He scratched his jaw, thinking about it. Or pink.
What else? Was it wrapped on the outside, or inside…? Insidelike he covered his face, then pulled the hood up over.
Okay…
They dug for another five minutes, running him through it again, but came up with nothing more, until they both stood up. Then Lucas asked, Where would this guy have been walking to? Assuming he had a car?
I dont know, Hanks said. His eyes drifted off to the ceiling. Probably… well, he could have been heading back to the Kresge cabin. He was sort of going that way, in a roundabout way.
Could he have been going anywhere else?
Not that I know of.
How about this Pilot Lake place?
Nope. I was on that corner and he was walking… He made a hand gesture, like a time-out signal. This way to the access road.
Perpendicular, Sherrill suggested.
Yeah. Like that, Hanks said.
You didnt hear a car start?
Nope. But I was quite a way from the house, and I was wearing my hat with earflaps… So I probably wouldnt have.
Pink scarf, said Lucas.
Pink scarf, Hanks said.
WHATS THE PINK SCARF? SHERRILL ASKED, AFTER they let Hanks go. They were sitting alone in the canteen, eating Twinkies from the coin-op.
Susan ODell wears a kaffiyeh as a scarf. Its pale red and whiteshe was wearing it when I saw her Saturday.
Whats a kaffiyeh?
You know, one of those head wraps like Arabs wear, Lucas said. Like whats-his-name, the Palestinian guy, always wears.
Oh, yeah. Him. But his is black and white.
Theres another kind thats red and white. And it would look pink from a distance, or pink and white.
He said pink.
ODell said she never left her tree before seven-thirty, when she shot her buck, Lucas said. Then she gutted him and dragged him up to the trail and sat down next to her tree to wait until nine, which was the agreed-on time to take a break. Didnt go anywhere.
I think its the car thats interesting. If there wasnt a car, it almost had to be one of those guys. Whoever it was had to know the Kresge place pretty well, and theres no way you could walk in from very far away.
Yeah, but hes pretty shaky on that car stuff, Lucassaid. ODell would have been walkingawayfrom her tree stand if she was going in the direction Hanks said she was. She was definitely at her tree when Bone came by to pick her up at nine oclock.
Maybe we push Miz ODell, Sherrill said. See which way she goes.
Not yet, Lucas said. I want to go back up there, to Kresges, look around. And we need to know more about the bank-merger ideaof the three realistic candidates to run the bank, we have accusations against two of them, McDonald and ODell. All the accusations came in anonymously, from women. At least, we think the accusation pointing at McDonald came from a woman… So the question is, are they legit? Or are they meant to drag ODell and McDonald into an investigation that would eliminate them from contenders to run the bank.
You mean, by Bone? Or somebody working with Bone?
Id hate to think so, Lucas said. Because I kinda like the guy. But all of them are smart and tough. And the stakes are pretty big. Bone would be looking for an edge.
So we push Bone.
Lets wait before we push anyone. Just a day or two… Let me get back up north.
Want me to come?
Lucas looked at her as he finished his Twinkie. If you want to. If you stay out of my goddamned life while Im trapped in the car.
She flushed and said, I meant what I started out to say, before we got sidetracked. If you still want her, youve got to get off your ass and go after her. If you dont, youll just… drift away. And youll never know for sure that its over. If you go after her, youll know pretty soon whether theres any hope.
Ill think about it, he said.
So when are we going up north?
Tomorrow, Lucas said, looking at his watch. Weshould have some biographical stuff about the people McDonald supposedly killed: Lets take a look at that.
THEY WERE SIX BLOCKS FROM POLICE HEADQUARTERS when Sherrills telephone chirped. She fumbled it out of her jacket pocket one-handed, said, Yeah? and then passed the phone to Lucas. Sloan, she said.
Lucas took the phone: Whats going on?
I solved the Kresge case, Sloan said laconically. I had a little break from the Ericson thing, and I thought I might as well clean it up.
Thats good, Lucas said. Its a burden off my mind.