Manitou Canyon (14 page)

C
HAPTE
R
26

D
eputy Pender was at the contact desk. He buzzed them through and took them back to the sheriff's office. Marsha Dross was sitting at her desk, bent over a topographical map of the Boundary Waters. She looked up when they walked in, and Rainy saw clearly in her drawn face the deep concern she felt.

“Only one chair,” she said, nodding to the empty seat on the other side of her desk. “You'll have to fight over it.”

Daniel and Stephen insisted Rainy take the chair, and they stood flanking her.

“Three disappearances. And not a clue where they vanished.” Dross sat back. “Azevedo's still looking. He's camping out at Raspberry Lake tonight. Tomorrow I've got Search and Rescue on it and dogs coming in, but somehow I don't think they'll turn up anything.”

Rainy knew that Marsha Dross's concern wasn't just professional. Cork had hired her when he was sheriff, the first woman law enforcement officer in Tamarack County. She'd once taken a bullet meant for him. And he, in turn, had saved her life. What bound them, bound all those in the room, was powerful. They'd shared their lives with one another. They shared a common history and, in a way, a common heart.

“Whoever they were in those canoes, they were after Lindsay Harris, not Cork. The only common thread at the moment seems to be the family tie,” Daniel said. “I don't want to seem cold-blooded, but Harris is a very wealthy man. What did the kids have to gain if their grandfather died?”

“A reasonable question. And one I looked into myself when Harris went missing.” Dross sat back. “They inherit. They inherit everything.”

“Were they close, grandfather and grandchildren?”

“I only know what I observed, and their concern for their granddad seemed real enough.”

“Trevor Harris is an actor,” Rainy said.

“And his sister is missing now, too,” Stephen said. “If she never shows up, he's the only heir left.”

“He didn't go into the Boundary Waters with Cork and his sister,” Daniel pointed out. “You have to ask yourself why.”

“And,” Rainy added, “how was it that whoever took Cork and Lindsay knew they were coming?”

They all fell silent, mulling over these things. Then Daniel asked, “Where exactly was Trevor when his grandfather disappeared?”

“Fishing,” Dross said. “Alone. Same with his grandfather. As I understand, it was a kind of contest between the two of them. Apparently Trevor bet a thousand dollars that he could land a bigger fish than John Harris. According to Lindsay and Dwight—”

“Would that be Dwight Kohler?” Stephen said.

Dross nodded. “He was their guide in the Boundary Waters. According to Lindsay and Dwight, they went entirely different directions on Raspberry Lake. Trevor paddled to the east end of the horseshoe and his grandfather headed west. An hour later, Trevor came back with a whopper of a walleye. Dwight snapped a photo of him with his prize.” She got up and went to one of the file cabinets along the wall, pulled open a drawer, and drew out a photograph. She brought it back to the desk. It was a shot of Trevor Harris holding up his prize catch, a huge grin plastered across his face.

“Big fish, all right,” Stephen said.

“So it would appear that Harris couldn't have had a hand in his grandfather's disappearance,” Daniel said.

“That's right.” Dross took back the photograph. “And the
granddaughter was with Dwight the whole time, so we didn't really look at her either.”

She started toward the file cabinet with photograph in hand, but Daniel said, “Mind if I hang on to that?”

The sheriff handed it over. “I don't know what good it'll do you.”

Daniel tapped the photo. “I'd like to know what bait our actor used to catch this big fish. Maybe Dwight can tell me.”

“So where do you go from here?” Rainy asked the sheriff.

“The blood samples we took on Raspberry Island are being analyzed. We'll have the blood type by morning. DNA'll take a while.”

“But at least you'll be able to tell if the blood type matches Cork's,” Rainy said.

“Or Lindsay's. We've already secured that info. In the meantime, we'll do a thorough search of Raspberry Lake, see if the dogs turn up anything tomorrow. You're welcome to go along if you'd like.”

They looked at one another, and Daniel finally answered for them. “I think we've got things here to see to. But you'll keep us posted?”

“Promise,” the sheriff said.

* * *

At the Four Seasons, Nadia, the desk clerk from Romania who'd been there the day before, when Rainy and Daniel were looking for Trevor Harris, told them he'd gone out not long before.

“Dinner?” Stephen asked.

“I suppose eating is one of the things you can do at the casino,” she said.

As they drove out of town toward the Chippewa Grand, Daniel said, “What kind of man gambles when his sister is lost in the woods?”

“My first guess would be someone addicted,” Rainy replied.

“Another might be someone who didn't particularly care about his sister but put on a good act,” Daniel said.

Rainy shook her head. “I think that's a harsh judgment. When I was with him today, I didn't get a sense of callousness. And he seemed truly alarmed today when he saw the blood.”

“You're always looking for the best in people, Aunt Rainy,” Daniel said.

“No. I'm always looking for what balances them, good and bad. Maybe Trevor Harris has a gambling addiction, but that doesn't mean he's the kind of young man who'd want his sister dead in order to get rich.”

“But what about his grandfather?” Stephen said. “Is Trevor capable of doing the old man in? Any feeling there, Aunt Rainy?”

“I don't know how he could have been involved. He was fishing in a whole other part of the lake when his grandfather went missing. Let's talk to him before we make any assumptions. I think it's best to keep ourselves open to all possibilities.”

The casino was hopping. The slots were busy, singing their siren songs to a milling crowd. Trevor Harris was at a high-stakes blackjack table. He had an enviable stack of chips in front of him. Whether he'd bought them all or had won them, Rainy couldn't have said. But in the minute or so that they stood watching before they approached him, he won and then won again, and his stacks grew. A young woman playing next to him, a redhead in a studded, black leather vest, reached out and ran her hand down his arm. When he looked at her, she gave him a big maroon-­lipped smile and said, “Just trying to pick up some of your luck, honey.”

To which he replied, “Take all you want, love. I've got plenty to spare.”

She laughed in a way Rainy knew was meant to be seductive. Trevor Harris smiled back in a way meant to say he was interested. And Rainy worked at putting all this together in a way that might help her better understand the young man before she made any judgments. In her head, she could hear Henry advising,
Patience.

“Daniel!”

They turned and watched a handsome man in a dark business
suit stride toward them across the casino floor. He held out his hand as he came, and Daniel grasped it when they met.

“Ben,” Daniel said. “Good to see you.”

“I thought you didn't gamble,” the man in the dark suit said.

“I don't. Just here to talk to someone.”

“Who? Can I help you find them?”

“We've found him,” Daniel said. He nodded toward Trevor.

“Oh, you know Mr. Harris?”

“You know him, too?” Daniel said.

“High roller, that one.”

“And quite lucky,” Rainy said.

“This is my aunt Rainy,” Daniel said. “And a friend, Stephen O'Connor. Folks, this is Ben Trudeau. He manages the casino.”

They shook hands, and Trudeau asked in a guarded voice, “Is Mr. Harris a friend of yours, Daniel?”

“I wouldn't say that,” Daniel replied. “We have a mutual family interest.”

Trudeau watched Trevor Harris win another hand. “He is, as you say, extraordinarily lucky. So much so that I have him under surveillance now. He knows it and doesn't seem to care. I don't believe he counts cards, but I think he must be playing some kind of system to be winning so consistently. We just haven't been able to figure out what it is. But we will. We always do.” He smiled at Daniel. “If you'll excuse me, I have things to see to. If you need anything, Daniel, just let me know. A pleasure meeting you all.”

He continued across the casino floor and was lost among the machines there.

“How do you know him?” Stephen asked.

“I spoke at a conference here a few months ago, a bunch of Twin Cities businesspeople looking to invest in Native initiatives. I talked about the importance of enterprises focused on protecting the environment. Ben was extremely supportive, and we got to know each other pretty well.”

“Is he Shinnob?” Rainy asked.

“Odawa. He works for a First Nations company out of Canada.
They train people to run casinos, and they consult on casino issues and management. Lots of experience, apparently.”

Rainy knew that the Chippewa Grand had been through many management changes over the years. Along with the benefits of the gambling revenue had come all the dark temptations that shadowed big money. There'd been corrupt practices in the running of the casino, lingering questions about the financial records, the distributions, the hiring practices, how cleanly the games themselves were operated. Rainy almost never came to the casino. She was among those who felt it was a corruption of spirit to profit from the weaknesses of others, or even from their careless excesses. She knew, too, that there were plenty of Native folks who took the money from their tribal allotment and simply fed it right back into the same machines that had generated it.

Stephen and Daniel flanked Trevor Harris, and Rainy stood behind. Daniel put a hand on his shoulder. “We need to talk.”

Trevor looked left, then right. “I'm kind of in the middle of something here.”

“Something really good,” the redhead sitting in the next chair said. “Shame to break his streak.”

“Won't take long,” Stephen said.

Trevor stood. “Mark my place, Krystal,” he said to the dealer. “I'll be right back.”

They walked away from the table and gathered near the bar in an area that was not so busy or noisy. Harris looked tired. They all looked tired. It had been a long and emotionally exhausting day.

“Is it about my sister?” Trevor asked. “You've got some word?”

“Nothing new,” Daniel said. “We're just trying to sort a few things out.”

“Like what?”

“Tell us about your grandfather.”

“What do you want to know?”

“What kind of man is he?”

“Rich.”

An interesting first offering,
Rainy thought.

“Hard to get along with?” Daniel asked.

“Depends. There are areas neither of us go.”

“I mean in general.”

“He sure didn't get rich bending over backward for people.”

“Enemies?”

“Probably, but I wouldn't know about that.”

Rainy said, “The areas neither of you want to discuss, can you tell me more about those?”

“Look, I already gave all this information to the sheriff when my grandfather went missing. It didn't help us find him, and I don't see how that's going to help us find Lindsay.”

“We're trying to see this puzzle in a different way, Trevor,” Rainy explained. “Every piece, new or old, that we can put into place helps.”

He thought it over and shrugged. “I disappoint him.”

“Why?”

“For one thing, I'm an actor. To quote my grandfather, ‘Nobody makes money as an actor.' For another, we're very different people. He's spent his life in places like darkest Africa and the Amazon and the Outback. Manly stuff. Me, I like air-conditioning and a soft bed.”

“What were you doing going with him into the Boundary Waters?” Stephen asked.

“I thought, I don't know, that maybe it might bring us closer. Lindsay loves the place. And Grandpa John grew up here. Seemed like it might be a way to connect before it was too late.”

“That's what you wanted?” Rainy said. “To connect on a deeper level?”

“I don't have much family. Or even a sense of family, really. That's a lonely feeling.”

Daniel brought out the photograph of Trevor and his prize fish. “Did you think this might help connect?”

“Worth a try, I figured.”

“Nice catch,” Daniel said. “What did you use?”

“A rod and reel.”

“I mean at the end of your line. Live bait? A lure?”

“A lure.”

“What kind?”

“I don't remember. I'm not really much of a fisherman. That was kind of beginner's luck.”

“It was a competition of some kind with your grandfather, right?”

“That's right.”

“His idea?”

“Mine. He does a lot of deep-sea fishing from his homes in San Diego and Maui. Always bugging me to go with him. He's never understood that it doesn't appeal to me.”

“Have you been to the Boundary Waters before?” Daniel asked.

“That trip was my first.”

“What made you decide to try your hand at casting a line?”

“Honestly, I finally just got fed up with his constant sniping at me to man up.”

“I understand you bet him a thousand dollars. A lot of money. Considering the nature of the enterprise, your odds weren't good.”

“I never said I was a great gambler.”

“You seem to be winning big here.”

“Winning—or losing for that matter—goes in streaks. I'm having a good streak.” He eyed Rainy. “So, how is this helping us find Lindsay?”

“Your grandfather was a distant figure,” Rainy said. “At least in your life. But I believe there's an important connection between your grandfather and your sister that's at the heart of their disappearances. Do you have any idea what that might be?”