Blood Is the Sky: An Alex McKnight Mystery (10 page)

Read Blood Is the Sky: An Alex McKnight Mystery Online

Authors: Steve Hamilton

Tags: #Mystery, #Thriller, #Suspense, #Adult

BOOK: Blood Is the Sky: An Alex McKnight Mystery
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“You can call me Claude, all right? Will you do that?”
I hesitated. “Claude—”
“We’re on the same side, eh? All of us, including my partner. We’re just trying to find those men.”
“Okay.”
“Okay, nothing. Why don’t you try cooperating for a change, eh? Do you have any idea how much trouble you’re causing?”
I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Just sit tight here for a minute,” he said. “I’ll be right back.” He walked away, shaking his head.
Vinnie was already sitting down on one of the two beds in the cell. There was a small sink between them, and a metal toilet. I sat down on the other bed. It was softer than I thought it would be. As holding cells went, these were deluxe accommodations.
“What the hell is going on?” Vinnie said. “It’s like he’s Jekyll and Hyde or something.”
“Son of a bitch,” I said.
“What?”
“I know what he’s doing.”
“He’s trying to trick us? Set us up for something?”
“No,” I said. “Not at all. That little show in the room, that was for his boss, the staff sergeant. The guy must have been behind the glass.”
“What are you talking about?”
“DeMers is springing us,” I said. “Don’t you see? He ran us through the wringer because he had to, just on the face of it. But now he’s going out of his way to get us out of it.”
“Why would he do that?”
“Because we’re such nice guys.”
“Seriously, Alex.”
“I don’t know, Vinnie. He’s been a cop a long time.
He must know we’re being straight with him. So he blows off a little steam and then he does the right thing. He’s gonna kick us out of here.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Remember the last time you were in jail?” I said.
“What about it?”
“It was a crappy cell, you had three strangers in there with you, and your face was a mess.”
“I remember.”
“You’re moving up in the world.”
“Is that supposed to be funny?”
I sat back on the bed and leaned my head against the hard wall.
“Let me ask you something else,” I said. “Why would that van be ditched in the woods like that?”
“DeMers was right about that road,” Vinnie said. “It’s not on the way to anywhere, except the reserve.”
“When you were looking through those wallets, did you happen to notice if the cash was missing?”
He looked up at me. “There was no cash.”
“How about credit cards?”
“Those were gone, too.”
“You think it’s a coincidence Guy’s mother was acting so strange?”
“That doesn’t make any sense,” he said. “If he was involved in this, he wouldn’t dump that vehicle a mile from the reserve.”
“No, not if he had a choice. Hell, I don’t know.”
Vinnie stared at the floor. “How long do you think we’re gonna be here?”
“I’ll bet you he comes back in five minutes,” I said.
He was back in four. Reynaud was with him.
“Ready to go?” he said as he opened the cell door.
“You guys don’t know how to play this game,” I said. “This cell feels like a three-star hotel.”
“You should see the food,” he said. “Same stuff we eat in the cafeteria.”
“Canadians,” I said. “You probably give them beer, too.”
DeMers slammed the door shut and led us down the hall. “What are you guys gonna do as soon as you get outside?” he said.
“Is my truck here?”
“We towed it over, yes.”
“Then I’m gonna get in and drive home.”
“Good man,” he said. “If you don’t, God help me, I’ll find you and kick your ass all the way home myself.”
I smiled at that one. Reynaud smiled, too. Just a little bit.
“That’s not meant to be funny,” DeMers said. “I’m doing you a favor here. Don’t make me regret it.”
“We’re going,” I said. “And I suppose we owe you some thanks.”
He shook it off. “Thank me by never letting me see your face again.”
When we hit the front door, we could see that the world had changed in the past hour. It was late in the afternoon, and there was snow in the air. The wind was swirling it around in every direction. It hit us when we opened the door. As we walked to the truck I took one last look behind me. They were both standing there watching us through the glass. I gave them a little wave, but they didn’t wave back.
I fired up the truck and got us the hell out of there. The town was right on the highway, so it was just a matter of pointing us west, back to 631. We’d take that south and if we made good time, we’d be home by midnight.
“It’s too bad you won’t see her again,” Vinnie said.
“What do you mean?”
“Constable Reynaud. She’s strong and quiet, like a wolf.”
“You’re so full of it.”
“Myeengun. That’s the Ojibwa word for wolf.”
“Thank you.”
“Shit, I should call home,” he said, picking up the cell phone and turning it on. “We actually might have a signal here.”
“There must be a cell tower in Hearst. Better call now before we get too far away.”
“It says you missed seven calls.”
“Are there any messages?”
“No, the little envelope thing would appear, right?”
“Right.”
“No, no messages. They must have called and hung up.”
“It’s probably your family,” I said.
“Yeah, probably.” He dialed the number and waited. A few seconds later, he had his mother on the phone. He described what we had found, and how he didn’t know what it meant yet, and how everyone was looking for them and she shouldn’t let herself imagine the worst. I could tell by the look on his face that she was already doing just that.
At that point, Vinnie listened to something his mother was saying, and didn’t seem to like it. “They did what?” he said. “How could you let them do that? You didn’t have to let them, even though they asked.” He rubbed his forehead while he listened some more. “No,” he said. “No, no, no, no. Oh, God.” It went on that way for another minute or two, until he finally told her we were on our way home and that she should just sit tight until we got there. Then he hung up.
“What’s going on?” I said.
“The Michigan State Police came to the house already.”
“That was fast.”
“They told her about the vehicle, and they asked her a bunch of questions about Tom. Then they asked if they could search his room.”
“And she said yes.”
“Of course she said yes. It wouldn’t have occurred to her to say anything else. And none of my uncles were around.”
“Did they find anything?”
“A bag of marijuana.”
“How big?”
“Not big at all. But under the circumstances—”
“I thought he was clean now.”
“Yeah, well, I guess he was still smoking a little weed now and then. Just to mellow out. That’s exactly what he would have told me. Just to mellow out.”
“How’s your mother doing now?”
“We’ve got to get home, Alex. She doesn’t know what to do with herself.”
“We’re going,” I said. I pushed the pedal down. The snow was still swirling around in the air, making crazy designs all over the road, but it wasn’t sticking yet.
“By the way, those calls on your cell phone, they weren’t her.”
“No?”
“No. You want me to check? You’ve got call history, right?”
“Yeah, but you’ve got to go into the menu and turn that little wheel. Here, let me have it.”
He handed me the phone. Before I could do anything, it rang in my hand. I looked at the display. The call was coming from a 313 number. That meant Detroit, although if it was a cell phone, the caller could have been anywhere
at that moment. I hit the button and said hello.
“Who is this?” It was a man’s voice.
“This is McKnight,” I said. “Who is this?”
“Somebody left a message on Red’s machine,” the man said. “They left this number.”
“That was my friend,” I said. “We were trying to find out if he’d gotten back home yet. Who am I speaking to?”
The signal wavered. For a few seconds all I heard was static, until finally the voice broke through again. “The police said they found Red’s van in the woods up there. You wanna tell me what’s going on?”
“That’s what we’re trying to find out,” I said. “Are you gonna tell me who you are or not?”
“Red is my brother, all right? Now just tell me what the fuck is going on up there.”
“You gotta talk to me first,” I said. “You’re one of the men who came up here, aren’t you? Are you the guy with the big nose?”
“Friend, you are really pushing your luck. You know that?”
“You were up here, looking for Albright,” I said. “Where are you now?”
The line was silent for a few seconds. I wasn’t sure if I was still connected. Finally, the voice came back on. He spoke slowly, as if he could barely control himself. “I will find out who you are. And I will break every bone in your body. You got that? Every fucking bone in your body. And when I’m done, I’ll go back and break every bone again. Okay? Are you hearing me?”
He said a few more words, but I didn’t catch them. Then the signal went out for good. I threw the phone on the seat.
“What was that about?” Vinnie said.
“One of those other men who were up here,” I said.
“He said he was Red’s brother. He must have gotten into Albright’s phone messages.”
“What did he say?”
“He just wanted to know what’s going on up here. You should’ve heard this guy, Vinnie. I gotta tell ya, this is getting worse by the minute.”
“His brother’s missing. I can relate to that. Of course he’s gonna be mad.”
“No, it’s more than that. He sounded like the kind of guy who gets mad for a living.”
“Meaning what? You think Tom got hooked up in something?”
“It doesn’t look real good right now. You’ve got to admit it.”
He didn’t say anything.
There was no need to push it any further, so I settled in for the long drive. The snow started to let up. I drove for a while, never thinking about looking in the rearview mirror. Up here, you don’t even need one.
I heard the buzzing noise, then finally looked up and saw the motorcycle closing on us from the rear. My first thought was the police—this was DeMers coming to hunt me down like he said he would. But no, he’d be the last man on earth to get on a motorcycle.
My second thought was the phone call. Red’s brother had connections in Canada, and this was his way of letting us know he didn’t appreciate my attitude.
The motorcycle moved over to the other lane and drew even with me. The rider gestured for me to pull over. He had a black helmet on, so I couldn’t see his face. But I recognized the blue-and-white coat. I pulled over.
The motorcycle fishtailed as it came to a stop in front of us. The rider got off and walked over to us. He shook his hands. With no gloves, they must have been colder
than hell. When he got to the truck, I rolled down my window. He took his helmet off.
“You always drive that fast?” he said. He had long dark hair, dark eyes, and the wide cheekbones of a full-blooded Indian. He looked in past me at Vinnie.
“You must be Guy Berard,” I said.
If he was surprised, it didn’t show. “You’re McKnight and LeBlanc. I’ve been trying to catch up to you ever since you left the police station.”
“How’d you know we were there?”
“I saw you guys on the road,” he said. “Where that van was. I saw the police take you away.”
“Yeah? And how did you know who we were?”
He gave me a slight smile. “My mother told me all about you.”
“You were at home, weren’t you,” I said. “How come you were hiding from us?”
“Can we go talk about this somewhere? I’m freezing my ass off.”
“What do you know about the men on the hunting trip?” Vinnie said.
Guy looked past me again. The two of them stared at each other for a long moment. “You’re the brother.”
“Yes,” Vinnie said.
“We need to talk,” he said. “Follow me.”
“Why should we?” Vinnie said. I was surprised at the hard edge in his voice. “If you know something about my brother, just tell me now.”
The wind came up again. It kicked up a riot of snowflakes. Guy buried his hands in his armpits.

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