Steve Hamilton - Ice Run

I had one lousy American beer in the fridge. I killed that, then opened up a bottle of Wild Turkey. I remembered the bottle we had shared at her house. This is Natalie’s brand, I thought. I wondered if she was drinking some herself that day, maybe sitting at that big table in the empty dining room with her mother. I wondered if she was feeling bad.

Here’s to you, Natalie. Here’s to you.

I would have sat there all day, just like that. I would have drunk. I would have filled up my ice bag. I would have counted the minutes until I could take my next pill. That would have been the whole day, right there.

But then it started to snow.

It snowed hard enough that I had to make a choice. I could stay inside all day and let it bury me, or I could go out, no matter how bad I felt, and fight it.

What’s it gonna be, Alex? I looked in the mirror. What’s it gonna be?

I threw my coat on, went outside, and fired up the truck. I ran the snowplow up and down the road a couple of times, then switched to the shovel. The hard work made me feel sick to my stomach, but I kept going. I punished myself. When I had the last cabin dug out, I leaned over and threw up like Mount Vesuvius all over the snowbank. When I was done, I shoveled it all away and covered it up with more snow.

Then I figured, what the hell. I’m going to Jackie’s.

He dropped his towel when I stepped into the place. He stood there looking at me for a long time, then he just shook his head and asked me if I wanted an omelet.

“That would be just what the doctor ordered,” I said. “I’ve got a pretty empty tank right now.”

“I see you didn’t listen to anything I told you the other day.”

“I listened, Jackie. I really did.”

“She dragged you right into it, didn’t she? Who was it this time? The same three guys?”

“No, just one,” I said. “I’m sure he’s looking pretty bad, too.”

“This isn’t a game, Alex. You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

“You may not have to worry anymore.”

“What are you saying?”

“If you don’t mind, I’d rather not talk about it right now. Let’s just say that Natalie and I are taking a little break again.”

I couldn’t tell if he was buying that one, but he made me my omelet and brought it over to me by the fireplace. When I was done eating, I put my feet up. I almost started to feel a little better than miserable.

Vinnie came in a little while later. He stood over me, studying my face like an insurance adjuster examining a car wreck.

“Alex,” he said, “you’re not that good-looking when you’re healthy. You can’t afford to keep making things worse.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I knew you’d make me feel better.”

“You gonna tell me what happened this time?”

“Eventually. If you sit here long enough.”

“Sounds like a plan,” he said. He sat down in the other chair and put his feet up next to mine. His face was windburned, and now that he had taken the tape off his ear, you could see where the bullet had ripped off a good chunk of it. Between the two of us, we must have looked like the unluckiest pair of losers in the whole world.

Our luck turned even worse when the door opened. Michael Grant stepped in, brushing the snow off his shoulders. He was holding a hat. The hat. He looked the place over, stopping when he saw me sitting there by the fire.

“McKnight,” he said as he came over to me. There was a big purple bruise on his left cheek, and he had a shiner around his right eye. But aside from that he didn’t look half as bad as I did. It didn’t make me any happier to see him standing in my bar.

“What are you doing here?” I said.

I didn’t bother to stand up. But Vinnie did. Grant gave him a cool, even look and introduced himself. “Alex and I had a little episode yesterday,” he said.

“What about at the funeral? Was that an episode, too?”

“No,” Grant said. “That was a very bad day for everyone.”

“Vinnie, sit down,” I said.

He did, with obvious reluctance.

“I asked you what you were doing here,” I said to Grant.

“I came to give you this,” he said. He held up the hat.

“I don’t want it,” I said.

“I figured Ms. Reynaud might.”

“I wouldn’t know. You’ll have to ask her.”

He looked down at me. “You’re making this hard, McKnight.”

“How did you even know I’d be here?”

“You’re in the book. When I drove by, I recognized your truck out front.”

I took the hat from him. “Okay, I’ve got the hat. You can leave now.”

“I need to talk to you. Maybe your friend can excuse himself for a minute.”

“Maybe his friend can kick your ass all the way back to the Soo,” Vinnie said.

Grant put his hands up. “I came to talk,” he said. “That’s it. I don’t want any more trouble.”

“Then you picked the wrong place,” Vinnie said.

“All right, take it easy,” I said. “If the man has something to say, let him say it.”

“Can we talk outside?”

“So we can freeze to death?”

“This’ll only take a minute, McKnight. It’s about Ms. Reynaud.”

I was about to tell him I was officially not interested in that topic anymore, but I figured it was none of his business. “You’ve got one minute,” I said.

“Don’t go out there,” Vinnie said.

“It’s okay,” I said. “I don’t think he’s gonna try anything stupid. Not on my home field.”

“Just sit down here,” Vinnie said, getting up. “I’ll be over at the bar.”

Grant didn’t look happy about it, but when Vinnie left us alone, he sat down in the empty chair across from me.

“You spend a lot of time here?” he asked.

“You’re wasting your minute.”

“Look, we don’t have to have a Kodak moment here, okay? Let’s just say I feel bad about the way things have happened.”

“That’s big of you.”

“You never went over to Marty’s house.”

“No,” I said. “I didn’t.”

“I called him, told him to expect you.”

“Yeah? Sorry if he was disappointed.”

“I told him what you told me, about Natalie Reynaud in Blind River. I asked him if he knew anything about her. I also asked him if he was in Batchawana Bay that day.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he was up there. You were right.”

“Did he say why?”

“No,” Grant said. “He said he’d tell me about it later.”

“Did he?”

“That was yesterday. I haven’t heard from him since.”

“Since yesterday?”

“I called his wife. Marty never came home last night. Never called. Nothing. He just disappeared. I’ve been looking all over.”

“So why did you come here?”

“I’m worried, McKnight. I’m running out of ideas. You remember what I was telling you about the devil of Blind River?”

“Yeah.”

“I was thinking your friend Natalie might know something,” he said. “Have you talked to her about this?”

“Not today.”

“I thought the two of you were close.”

“Your minute just ended.” “He said one more thing, McKnight. I think it’s important.”

“What did he say?”

“He said he didn’t know the devil’s family still lived in Blind River.”

I thought about that one. It found its way into my gut and started eating at me.

“Grant,” I finally said, “are you telling me-”

“I tried to look her up, McKnight. She’s not listed. I had no idea how to contact her.”

“I’ll call her right now,” I said. I told him to stay where he was, then went to the bar and grabbed Jackie’s phone. Vinnie and Jackie were both there, watching me. I gave them a little nod of my head and dialed.