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Authors: Steve Hamilton
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could speak.
“I don’t know exactly who is helping them. I’m not going to speculate. But I think I heard a voice in the background. Somebody who didn’t sound like Buck. That’s all I can say right now. When I know something else for sure, I’ll tell you. I promise.”
I leaned back in my chair. I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Look, you’re an ex-cop,” he said.
“Yes. Long time ago.”
“Doesn’t matter how long, you still think like a cop. I get that. Believe me, I’ll probably be the same way myself when I finally hang it up. But right now, I need you to stay here close to home, and to keep your eyes and ears open. Are we clear?”
“I’m not sure what I’m gonna see or hear. Aside from Vinnie’s truck coming up that road…”
“I’m dead serious, Mr. McKnight. If you see anything suspicious. Somebody you’ve never seen before. You know, just nosing around maybe.”
“Nosing around.”
“Yes. Nosing around. You see somebody like that, I need you to call me.”
“Chief, who are we talking about that would be—”
I stopped myself. I waved it away and made myself take a breath.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll call you if I see anything unusual.”
“Thank you. I’m going to go now. For right now, I’m afraid all we can do is wait.”
He got up. He shook my hand. He put his hat back on and then he left.
I went outside and stood there in the night air. I listened to him drive away. That word still ringing in my ears. Wait. My least favorite word ever.
“Vinnie LeBlanc,” I said. “Wherever you are, you might want to think about staying there. Because the next time I see you I’m going to kick your ass.”
CHAPTER SIX
There was a time when Vinnie and I weren’t speaking to each other. A young Ojibwa woman had asked me to help her, and I tried to do that. But because she was a member of the tribe, it was the tribe who came to her in the middle of the night. They took her away, they helped her, and yeah, I suppose she was probably better off with a whole community on her side instead of one aging ex-cop.
But they didn’t tell me. That was the thing that burned me. I still haven’t forgotten it, and I don’t imagine I ever will. Vinnie wasn’t one of the men who actually stole her away, but he knew about it. He had to know. Even now, if he were here, I could ask him about it one more time and once again he’d try to deny that he had one hundred-percent knowledge of what had happened. But there would be no point in doing that because it would just push us back, closer to that point where we couldn’t be in the same room together.
In the end, we got over it. We got over it the way men get over things, not by talking things out heart to heart but by working on something together. He showed up one day to help me rebuild the cabin at the end of the road. The next day he showed up again. By the time the walls were up, we were talking again and eating dinner at the Glasgow. Which is a good thing because it’s hard to avoid a man when he’s your one and only neighbor.
That feeling, though … Damn it all. That feeling of being the outsider, of being totally excluded from everything that’s going on around you, even if you want to help. Even if you know you can help. That’s the feeling that always stayed with me.
Now here was Vinnie, hiding away somewhere with his wayward cousin. Obviously in some sort of trouble. If the situation were reversed, he’d be the first person I reached out for. We’d been down enough roads together over the years. We’d faced so much trouble. So much death and brutality. Hell, the man had once taken his own blood and painted stripes on my cheeks. Like we were brothers.
So when it’s his turn to be in a real jam, what does he do? He sends a message to the rez. I get it thirdhand, almost as an afterthought. Tell Alex I’m okay. Tell him not to worry. As if he’d even think for one second that would be possible.
Not to worry.
“I don’t know exactly who is helping them. I’m not going to speculate. But I think I heard a voice in the background. Somebody who didn’t sound like Buck. That’s all I can say right now. When I know something else for sure, I’ll tell you. I promise.”
I leaned back in my chair. I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Look, you’re an ex-cop,” he said.
“Yes. Long time ago.”
“Doesn’t matter how long, you still think like a cop. I get that. Believe me, I’ll probably be the same way myself when I finally hang it up. But right now, I need you to stay here close to home, and to keep your eyes and ears open. Are we clear?”
“I’m not sure what I’m gonna see or hear. Aside from Vinnie’s truck coming up that road…”
“I’m dead serious, Mr. McKnight. If you see anything suspicious. Somebody you’ve never seen before. You know, just nosing around maybe.”
“Nosing around.”
“Yes. Nosing around. You see somebody like that, I need you to call me.”
“Chief, who are we talking about that would be—”
I stopped myself. I waved it away and made myself take a breath.
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll call you if I see anything unusual.”
“Thank you. I’m going to go now. For right now, I’m afraid all we can do is wait.”
He got up. He shook my hand. He put his hat back on and then he left.
I went outside and stood there in the night air. I listened to him drive away. That word still ringing in my ears. Wait. My least favorite word ever.
“Vinnie LeBlanc,” I said. “Wherever you are, you might want to think about staying there. Because the next time I see you I’m going to kick your ass.”
CHAPTER SIX
There was a time when Vinnie and I weren’t speaking to each other. A young Ojibwa woman had asked me to help her, and I tried to do that. But because she was a member of the tribe, it was the tribe who came to her in the middle of the night. They took her away, they helped her, and yeah, I suppose she was probably better off with a whole community on her side instead of one aging ex-cop.
But they didn’t tell me. That was the thing that burned me. I still haven’t forgotten it, and I don’t imagine I ever will. Vinnie wasn’t one of the men who actually stole her away, but he knew about it. He had to know. Even now, if he were here, I could ask him about it one more time and once again he’d try to deny that he had one hundred-percent knowledge of what had happened. But there would be no point in doing that because it would just push us back, closer to that point where we couldn’t be in the same room together.
In the end, we got over it. We got over it the way men get over things, not by talking things out heart to heart but by working on something together. He showed up one day to help me rebuild the cabin at the end of the road. The next day he showed up again. By the time the walls were up, we were talking again and eating dinner at the Glasgow. Which is a good thing because it’s hard to avoid a man when he’s your one and only neighbor.
That feeling, though … Damn it all. That feeling of being the outsider, of being totally excluded from everything that’s going on around you, even if you want to help. Even if you know you can help. That’s the feeling that always stayed with me.
Now here was Vinnie, hiding away somewhere with his wayward cousin. Obviously in some sort of trouble. If the situation were reversed, he’d be the first person I reached out for. We’d been down enough roads together over the years. We’d faced so much trouble. So much death and brutality. Hell, the man had once taken his own blood and painted stripes on my cheeks. Like we were brothers.
So when it’s his turn to be in a real jam, what does he do? He sends a message to the rez. I get it thirdhand, almost as an afterthought. Tell Alex I’m okay. Tell him not to worry. As if he’d even think for one second that would be possible.
Not to worry.
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