Steve Hamilton - Blood is the Sky

The man looked at Vinnie, like he was really seeing him for the first time. It was something I’d witnessed before, many times. Some people look at Vinnie and see an Indian right away, like those idiots in the bar in Wawa. Others don’t see the Indian in him until he points it out.

“He did look like you,” Gannon said. “God damn.”

“He never came back home,” I said. “That’s why we’re here. He should have been home four days ago.”

Gannon looked at Helen and then shook his head. “I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about that. I flew them back out and they left. And fast. Lord knows they had nothing to load except the gear they were carrying. They were all driving this big SUV thing.”

“A Chevy Suburban,” Vinnie said.

“Yeah, a black one. Looked brand-new. They all piled in and left. Like I said, they were out of here by noon. Plenty of time to get back to Michigan the same day. If they didn’t feel like driving all the way back to Detroit, I suppose they would have spent the night somewhere.”

“My brother lives in the U.P. They would have dropped him off that night.”

“Yeah, they would have. Like you say, that same night.”

“He never came home,” Vinnie said.

Gannon threw up his hands. “I don’t know what to say. Although, come to think of it-”

“What?”

“Oh, I’m just trying to remember. On their way out, this Albright clown was saying something about how they didn’t get their moose, and they were in no hurry to get back home. So maybe they’d have to go have some fun somewhere else.”

“Like where?”

“He didn’t say. I was just assuming he meant they’d hit some casinos or some clubs or something. I didn’t think much of it at the time.”

“Do you have a phone number for this Albright?” I said. “Or an address?”

“He paid with a Visa number,” Helen said, “so I don’t have a check. I’m not sure he ever gave me an address.”

“You’ve got to have his address,” I said. “That’s just normal business practice, isn’t it?”

She looked at me, and then at Gannon. “I’m not sure we even qualify as a business right now.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean to criticize. We’re just trying to find out what happened to Tom-” I caught myself. “Uh, Tom’s brother.” Real smooth, Alex.

She shook her head and looked through another pile of papers. Finally, she came up with a three-by-five card. “Here’s his phone number.” She read off the same cell phone number Vinnie already had.

“You don’t have anything else?” I said. “Not even another number in case of emergency?”

“Just this one,” she said.

Vinnie ran one hand through his hair. “What do we do now, Alex?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Let me think.”

Gannon stood there watching us. Helen was staring at the floor. It seemed ridiculous that we’d drive all the way up here and then leave so quickly.

“We’d appreciate any other help you can give us,” I said to them. “Do you have any idea where they might have gone, if not straight home?”

“Well,” Gannon said. “I know what their first stop was gonna be. They ran out of beer their last night on the lake. Just one more thing they were complaining about.”

“They were all drinking beer?” Vinnie said.

“Sure seemed to be. All five of them arrived pretty well lubricated, I remember that. Happens when you get Americans up here drinking Canadian beer the whole way.”

“Are you positive they were all drinking?” Vinnie said. From the sound of his voice, he was already resigned to it.

“I know how many cases of beer we flew in with,” he said, “and how many empties we brought back.”

Vinnie seemed to lose his steam right about then. There didn’t seem to be much left to say, so I thanked them for their time, and asked the man if he could help get my truck back on the road.

“You go on outside,” he said. “I’ll take care of these guys and then we’ll go pull you out of the mud.”

Vinnie didn’t say a word as we went back down the rickety front steps and walked by the other hunting party. They were all standing around the butcher shed, these unshaven men with filthy sweatshirts and unwashed hair.

Four days ago, another group of men came back looking the same way and then disappeared off the face of the earth.

Or at least Tom did.

And two other men came up here looking for Albright. We were a day behind them.

As Vinnie and I walked up to the vehicles, I turned to look back at the lake. I saw a man standing on the dock, a man I hadn’t seen when we first came down. He was young, and had the kind of dark features that left no doubt in your mind. He was an Indian.

“That must be the guide,” I said to Vinnie.

He turned, and squinted in the last light of the day reflected off the water. “Where?”

“Right there,” I said. But as I looked again, the dock was empty.

The sun was going down when we left. It was a short ride in Gannon’s jeep, not enough time to have a real conversation. But Gannon had something to say to us. “This is it, guys,” he said. “We’re done with the lodge business. It just doesn’t make sense anymore. Less and less hunters, and the good hunters aren’t passing it down to their sons anymore. It’s just drunken jackasses now.”

He let that one hang for a moment.

“Not to say that about your brother, you understand. The more I think about it, yeah, maybe he did stick out, eh? Maybe he wasn’t a jackass like those other guys.”

“Just tell me one more time,” I said. “You brought them back Saturday, around noon, and then they drove away.”

“Kicked up some mud on their way out,” he said. “They were moving.”

“And you have no idea where they might have gone, if not straight home.”

“No sir, I really don’t. I’m sorry.”

That was about it. A few seconds later we got to my truck. Gannon backed up his jeep to it, looped a chain around my trailer hitch, and had me out with one pull. It was obviously something he’d done before.

I thanked him. He left. We got in the truck and got the hell out of there. Vinnie didn’t say anything. He kept working his hands together into fists, then letting go.

“What do you want to do?” I said. I was heading back to 631. Unless he had some other idea, I assumed I’d just be pointing us south and heading home.

“I don’t know,” he said.

“Who do you think those other men were? The ones looking for Albright.”

“No idea. Somebody else who was expecting them home a few days ago.”

“That had to be them at the bar in Wawa,” I said. “The guys who broke that joker’s nose.”

“We’re on the same trail,” Vinnie said. “And anybody coming up here pretty much has to stop in Wawa. It’s not such a big coincidence.”

“We’ll keep trying Albright’s number,” I said. “When we get home, maybe we can find out his address.”

He didn’t say anything.

“Using his cell phone number, I mean. There’s got to be a way. Hell, if you want, we can even go down there.”

“All the way down to Detroit?”

“It’s eight hours back to the Soo,” I said. “What’s another six hours?”

He shook his head. “I can’t believe he was drinking.”

“You don’t know that for sure.”

“Of course he was. Those men were in that cabin for what, seven days? With how many cases of beer?”

“If it was you,” I said, “would you drink any of it?”

He looked at me.

“I’m serious,” I said. “Would you?”

“I haven’t touched alcohol in eight and a half years,” Vinnie said. “You know that.”