Nevada Barr - A Superior Death

“Yup. She wasn’t eaten at all. She wasn’t even dead. She was only hiding.”

“Once Roberta made a formal missing persons report to the police, they started looking. Donna got nervous and came back to Houghton to get Bertie to hush things up. Scotty was-” Christina shot a look at her daughter. Ally seemed absorbed. “Beating Donna.”

“I guessed that.”

“Oh. Anyway, Donna told Bertie it was only when he drank and it wasn’t too bad-”

Anna snorted her disgust.

Chris touched her arm. “We don’t all have the courage of a lion or a big gun to back it up with.”

“I know,” Anna apologized. “Go on.”

“Then he started having-” Again the look at her daughter. Ally showed no sign of interest. Chris continued in a lowered voice: “Impotency problems. The beatings got bad then. Denny’s wedding really set him off. I guess he thought Donna was pining or something. He beat her bad. She ran off. Pizza Dave found her and took her to Thunder Bay in his boat.”

“In the taxpayers’ boat,” Anna corrected. “Dave doesn’t own a boat. It’s a firing offense. That must have been why he didn’t tell me what had happened to Donna.” Then she remembered the short exchange over the racket of Dave’s tractor. He had tried to tell her Donna was all right.

“Donna asked him not to tell anyone,” Christina said. “She was afraid Scotty would find her.”

“And Scotty told lies because he was afraid we’d all find out his pretty young wife had run out on him.”

“Donna’s staying with her sister,” Chris finished. “Bertie was going to help her with the divorce papers and everything.”

“The old stallion is destined for the glue factory,” Anna said unsympathetically.

Around four o’clock Christina and Ally deserted to go shopping. They placated Anna with the promise of another visit the following day before they started the long drive back up to Houghton.

Anna was left with her new pajamas, two glossy fashion magazines, a bundle of mail Chris had brought down from the park headquarters office in Houghton and, because Chris truly loved her, a Leinenkugel smuggled in past what Christina had been sure were vice cops in the uniforms of hospital orderlies.

Camouflaging the beer in a moderately clean sock, Anna began to sort through her interoffice mail. Lucas had put out another FYI memo regarding the status of the Denny Castle murder. The case had been officially closed with the arrest of Patience Eva Bittner on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, assault on a federal officer, theft of federally protected historical artifacts, vandalism, and diving without a permit. At the bottom of the memorandum, written in the Chief Ranger’s hasty scrawl was a note: “Carrie Ann’s been shipped off to her dad in Redwood, CA. J.T. offered to look after her till plane time-” Anna smiled. She’d read enough of Lucas Vega’s memos to recognize the dash. He used it as a literary version of putting his tongue in his cheek.

Anna shuffled through the tedious bits: a flier announcing the July 25 Chrismoose festivities, a copy of the Superintendent’s schedule, minutes from the last safety meeting. Government offices always seemed anxious to put in writing and circulate all information of no interest or value. The important things had to be discovered through the grapevine.

A plain white envelope with “PIGEON” printed on it in block letters looked promising. Anna ripped the end off and tipped the contents out into her lap. There was a clipping from the Duluth paper with a yellow Post-it note stuck to it. “WHATEVER WE CAN THINK UP, SOMEBODY IS OUT THERE DOING IT. F.S.”

Anna removed the note and read the clipping. Federal Agent Frederick Stanton had made his drug bust. He’d nailed the captain of the Spirogyra on two felony counts. The man had been purchasing peyote for resale as part of the entertainment experience on Spirogyra party excursions, and, as a sideline, transporting cocaine across international boundaries.

“Go Frederick,” Anna said. She had nothing against the Spirogyra , but the excitement generated by the bust would knock the 3rd Sister out of the local gossip ring. Hawk and Holly deserved a break.

The following morning Anna was told by her doctor that she’d be incarcerated in Hennepin County Medical Center for another day and a half. On hearing the news, it was her intention to give way utterly to sullen peevish depression. The ninth-floor nurses were spared this event by the arrival of Christina and Ally. They brought in apple turnovers and fresh-ground deli coffee just as Anna was preparing to complain about her breakfast.

When they left, she was in such a good mood it lasted till her next visitors arrived in midafternoon.

As Student Conservation Associates, Tinker and Damien had only a six weeks’ long season. They’d come to Minneapolis to catch a plane to Damien’s mother’s place on Nantucket Island.

“Nantucket,” Anna remarked. “So you did know how to drive a boat.”

“Yes. When we didn’t hear from you, we fetched Pizza Dave,” Damien told her.

“He was the largest person we could think of,” Tinker explained.

“Large,” Anna agreed.

For a time they sat in silence, Tinker in the chair, Damien perched on the arm, Anna, resplendent in her Garfield pajamas, propped up on pillows.

In an urban setting, without their uniforms, the two interpreters looked ordinary: like elves in a shopping mall or water sprites in a horse trough. The island itself was the magic; Tinker and Damien just the dwellers therein. Anna was aware of a feeling of disappointment.

“We’ve got winter jobs in Everglades National Park,” Tinker said. “There’s magic there.”

Anna smiled. “If that fails, you can always get on with a traveling show, reading people’s thoughts.”

After due consideration, Damien declared: “Too dull.”

Another long but in no way awkward silence passed. “I’m sorry about Oscar,” Anna said finally.

“Yes,” Tinker returned. “He was the purest of bears.”

Another silence began. Anna didn’t know quite where to look. Funerals, memorial services-dead people-were hard enough to deal with. Dead teddy bears presented a whole new realm of social obstacles.

“He was pure,” Damien mused. “But there are compensations. Now that he’s part human he’s thinking of taking up whiskey to keep his more esoteric vices company.”

“Human?” Anna repeated stupidly.

“We got most of his sawdust back,” Tinker explained patiently. “Your dive suit caught almost all of it, but it was pretty well soaked with blood.”

“We dried it out in our fruit dehydrator.” Damien picked up the thread of the story. “Stuffed it back in and sewed him up. He’s got a scar on his chest, but Tinker tried to keep the stitches small.”

“Oscar’s a bit vain,” Tinker confided.

Anna fingered the wound on her own chest. “During bathing suit season, he and I’ll stick together,” she said. “Is he… here?” She felt absurd at the hope she heard in her voice.

“He sends his regards,” Tinker apologized. “He wanted to stay at the hotel.”

“Nothing personal,” Damien put in quickly. “He thinks the world of you. It’s just that our room has a color TV.”

“Ah.” Reality was becoming less and less important to the conversation. Anna changed the subject. Brightly, she said: “So, tell me what’s happened on the island. Did they find somebody to run the lodge? Has Carrie left for her father’s? Did Scotty ever get the fog-sensitive engine on the Lorelei running again?”

“Didn’t you hear the big news?” Tinker asked cautiously.

Anna thought she was the big news.