Read Online Northwest Angle by William Kent Krueger - Free Book Online Page A

ran along one side of the shelter. “I don’t know if they got it before they killed her. Whatever it was, they didn’t think it was in the cabin.”
    Jenny was wiping the baby’s bottom. He endured her ministrations without complaint. “Why do you say that?”
    “They didn’t toss the place. Except for the damage from the storm, everything was pretty orderly.”
    “Were they looking for the baby, maybe?”
    “Possible, I suppose.”
    “It’s also possible that they weren’t looking for anything. Maybe they just did it to her out of pure psychotic cruelty,” she said bitterly.
    “That’s possible, too,” he said. “Except that the killing itself looked professional, like a hit.”
    “Who would want to execute a teenage girl? And why?”
    “I’ve got no answers, Jenny. But the whole reason she was there was to keep her hidden.”
    “How do you know?”
    “There was a perfectly good woodstove in the cabin, but it hadn’t been used in forever. Why? My guess is so that there wouldn’t be any smoke rising up to give away the cabin’s location. Only one bunk in the room, and that just large enough for one body, so she lived there alone. But it’s clear that someone’s been keeping her supplied. They could’ve been helping her stay hidden. Or,” he added, “they could have been keeping her prisoner.”
    “No bars that I saw,” Jenny said.
    “The confusion of this lake itself is probably enough to keep someone trapped here, especially if there’s a baby to consider and no boat available to get you safely away.” Her father shookhis head, clearly troubled, then went on. “There’s another thing. It looked like her breasts were full of milk. Out here, breast-feeding would make the most sense. So why all the baby formula?”
    “Maybe he was allergic to her milk,” Jenny offered. “It happens sometimes.”
    “I thought about that,” he said. “But there’s another possibility. It could be that whoever kept her here needed a way to feed the child after she was dead.”
    “They planned on killing her but leaving him alive? Why?”
    “Why any of this? Your guess is as good as mine.” He sounded angry. He rubbed his eyes a moment, seemed to gather himself, then spoke more evenly. “I’d say she’s been dead a day, more or less.”
    “Which means this little guy didn’t eat for a long time. No wonder he’s been so ravenous.”
    She’d finished the changing and took the baby in her arms, where he nestled easily against her breast.
    Her father watched her and nodded. “You have a way with kids. Your mother did, too. She could take a crying baby, anybody’s baby, in her arms, and within a minute, that kid was all gurgles and smiles.” He thought a moment and added with a laugh, “She could take opposing counsel apart pretty ruthlessly in about the same amount of time.”
    Jenny glanced from the baby to her father. The darkness in the shelter was growing deeper with the approach of night, and he was darkening with it. “How long?” she asked. “Until someone comes?”
    “I don’t know. I just hope, when they show up, they’re the good guys.”
    “What if they aren’t?”
    He turned his face in the direction of the damaged cabin, invisible on the other side of the outcropping. “You’ll need to be able to keep the baby quiet.”
    “Babies are unpredictable, Dad.”
    “The kinds of men who do the kinds of things done back there in that cabin aren’t. They hear that baby, they’ll come for us all.”
    “Maybe they won’t be back.”
    “Maybe,” he said.
    He stood, though not fully because of the low pine bough canopy.
    “Where are you going?” she asked.
    “To the top of the outcropping here. If someone comes, I want to know it.”
    “Are you kidding? It’s so quiet you can hear the dark sliding down the sky. If anybody comes, you’ll know it, Dad.”
    “Just want to be sure. Need anything before I go up top? Bottle cleaned or a diaper rinsed out? I did a lot of that