"You want John to sell out his friends," Louise said bitterly. "Sell out the people."
"We don't want any more murders," Lucas said. "That's all we want to do. We want to stop them."
Louise Liss had been pressing her hands to her cheeks as she listened to the pitch; now she dropped them into her lap. It was a gesture of either despair or surrender. Lily leaned closer to her. "Hasn't your family paid enough? Your husband is going to prison. He'll never walk again. You don't see the people who are behind this thing, you don't see those people in prison. They're still out walking around. Walking around, Louise."
"I don't know anything myself…" she said tentatively.
"Could you talk to John?" Lily asked gently.
"It would really be good if he could just give us a few names. We don't need a lot of details, just a few names. Nobody would have to know, even," Lucas said.
There was a moment of silence, and then Louise said, "Nobody would have to know?"
"Nobody," Lily said flatly. "And it would save your family a lot of grief. I hate to bring this up, but I noticed that Harold was a very good-looking youth. I mean, if they put him in the prison up in St. Cloud, with some men who have not had sexual relationships in a long time… Well."
"Oh, no, not Harold."
"It's not like they really have a choice," Lucas said. "Some of those guys up there are bigger than football players…"
When Louise had gone, Lily asked, "How bad do you feel?"
Lucas cocked his head and rolled his eyes up, as though thinking about it, and said, "Actually, not that bad."
"I don't feel that bad myself. And I think we should. It makes me a little sad that we don't feel worse," Lily said. "We're missing some parts, Davenport."
Lucas shrugged. "They got worn off. And…"
"What?"
"It's a game, you know," he said, testing her. "You can't back off in a game and win. You either go balls to the wall, or somebody takes you out and you're no good anymore."
Louise Liss was back from the hospital an hour later.
"I had trouble getting in," she apologized.
"Did you talk to John?"
"Yes… you'll help Harold?"
"If you help us, Mrs. Liss, I'll do everything I can to see that Harold is released," Lucas promised.
"It's some people named Crow," she said in a low voice. "They may be brothers or cousins. They're big Dakota medicine men."
"Dakota?" asked Lily.
"That's Minnesota Sioux," Lucas said. "Where are they at?"
"I wrote it down," Louise said, fumbling a piece of paper out of her purse. It was the corner of an envelope, with a street address. "He thinks this is right…"
"Are there any more killings planned?" Lily pressed.
"All he would give me are the names and that address," Louise said. "I think it might kill him, just doing that."
"Okay, that's fine," Lily said. "We'll see about Harold tonight. We'll call on the telephone."
"Please," Louise Liss said, snatching at Lily's coat sleeve, "help him. Please?"
"The Crows? He said the Crows?" Larry Hart was astonished.
"You know them?" asked Daniel. Lucas was in a phone booth. Daniel, Anderson, Sloan and Hart were in Daniel's office, using a speaker phone.
"I know about them." There was a long pause, as Hart thought it over. "God damn. I might even have seen them once. They're famous. Two old men, they travel around the country and up in Canada, organizing the Indian nations. They've been on the road all their lives. Aaron is powerful medicine. Sam is supposed to be brilliant… Jesus, you know, it all fits. They'd be right."
"What was that on their names? Aaron?" Anderson asked.
"Aaron and Sam. They supposedly come through the Cities a lot. It's like their home base. They have a son here, you see him from time to time. I went to school with him, years ago. Shit, you might even see the Crows from time to time, but I wouldn't know them…"
"What about the son?" asked Sloan.
"The son is a freak. He has visions. He doesn't know which one of the Crows is his father. They were both sleeping with his mother that winter… That's how he got his name, Shadow Love, love-in-the-shadows… it's like an Indian joke, based on his mother's last name. He's supposed to have some of the power of Aaron…"
"Wait a minute, jvait a minute," Lucas said. "Shadow Love?"
"Yeah. Skinny guy…"
"With tattoos. God damn." Lucas slapped his forehead. He took the phone away from his mouth and spoke to Lily. "We got them. These are the right motherfuckers." He went back to the phone. "Shadow Love's the guy I saw with Yellow Hand, before Yellow Hand was killed. Sonofabitch. Shadow Love. And two guys named Crow?"
"Yeah." Hart sounded distant, almost pensive.
"All right, listen," Lucas said. He hesitated a moment, trying to remember each step of his brief encounter with Shadow Love. "All right: Shadow Love's got a South Dakota driver's license and it's in his own name. I looked at it and that's how I remember the name, because it was so strange. And I don't know why, I can't remember, but something he said made me think he'd done time in prison. Harmon, can you run that down? Check with the NCIC or whatever?"
"I got it," said Anderson.
"We'll get some guys on the way to that address, check it out," Daniel said. "We ought to know something in an hour."
"Call us," Lucas said. He gave them his room number. "We'll get something to eat, then I'll be in my room."
"Soon as we know," Daniel promised. "This is fuckin' great, you two. This is what we needed. We got those motherfuckers."
"That's Minnesota Sioux," Lucas said. "Where are they at?"
"I wrote it down," Louise said, fumbling a piece of paper out of her purse. It was the corner of an envelope, with a street address. "He thinks this is right…"
"Are there any more killings planned?" Lily pressed.
"All he would give me are the names and that address," Louise said. "I think it might kill him, just doing that."
"Okay, that's fine," Lily said. "We'll see about Harold tonight. We'll call on the telephone."
"Please," Louise Liss said, snatching at Lily's coat sleeve, "help him. Please?"
"The Crows? He said the Crows?" Larry Hart was astonished.
"You know them?" asked Daniel. Lucas was in a phone booth. Daniel, Anderson, Sloan and Hart were in Daniel's office, using a speaker phone.
"I know about them." There was a long pause, as Hart thought it over. "God damn. I might even have seen them once. They're famous. Two old men, they travel around the country and up in Canada, organizing the Indian nations. They've been on the road all their lives. Aaron is powerful medicine. Sam is supposed to be brilliant… Jesus, you know, it all fits. They'd be right."
"What was that on their names? Aaron?" Anderson asked.
"Aaron and Sam. They supposedly come through the Cities a lot. It's like their home base. They have a son here, you see him from time to time. I went to school with him, years ago. Shit, you might even see the Crows from time to time, but I wouldn't know them…"
"What about the son?" asked Sloan.
"The son is a freak. He has visions. He doesn't know which one of the Crows is his father. They were both sleeping with his mother that winter… That's how he got his name, Shadow Love, love-in-the-shadows… it's like an Indian joke, based on his mother's last name. He's supposed to have some of the power of Aaron…"