William Krueger - Copper River

“You didn’t,” Charlie told him. “And here I am.”

Ren stood up, tears trailing down his cheeks. He turned away and ran toward the cabins.

“Ren,” Charlie called.

“Let him go,” Jewell said. “He’ll be all right.”

Cork watched him stumble away. “Jesus, I feel like a murderer.”

Jewell put her hand on his arm. “Give him some time. He’ll understand.”

Ned Hodder said to Charlie, “Where were you hiding?”

“In one of the summer homes on the river. I broke in. I guess I’m in trouble, huh?”

Hodder gave it almost no thought at all. “Under the circumstances, I think we can square things pretty easily.”

Jewell closed her medical kit. “Ned, would you call DNR and let them know what we’ve got here. Have them pick up the cougar’s body.”

“And how about getting a fucking ambulance for me?” Vernon Mann cried.

Cork’s leg finally gave out. He sat down with his back against the tree where Ren had hung. Dina sat beside him.

“I guess we’re even,” she said.

“Even?”

“I saved your life, now you’ve saved mine.”

Cork heard sirens coming from the direction of the Copper River Club: the state police responding to Hodder’s call.

“We’re not done yet,” he said.

Dina closed her eyes and tilted her head as if listening to a distant song. “I know.”

By 9:00 P.M. the authorities were gone. The state police had taken custody of Gary Johnson. They also took Vernon Mann to be treated for his wounds from the cougar attack, then to be booked. Olafsson headed back to his office in Marquette looking weary at the prospect of the paperwork ahead of him but buoyed by his understanding of how all the tragic events in his jurisdiction were tied together. He’d even agreed to allow Charlie, for the moment, to stay with Jewell while things got sorted out legally. Two officers from the Department of Natural Resources had taken the dead cougar away. Ned Hodder stuck around.

Jo had called to let Cork know she and the kids were safe. They were all at the duplex with Rose and Mal. Boomer Grabowski was there, too. He was just as big as she remembered him.

“What are you going to do?” she’d asked. “You’re not going to just hand yourself over to Lou Jacoby?”

“I don’t know yet, Jo.”

“The police can help, can’t they?”

“If Jacoby wants me dead or my son or the pope for that matter, he’s got the money to make it happen despite the police. At this point, there’s only one way to deal with Jacoby.”

“Cork, I know you’re angry, but listen to me a moment.” She was struggling to remain calm, he could tell. Probably she was fighting back tears. “The Jacobys have hurt us enough. I can live with the rape and everything else that’s happened. I can’t live without you. Come home, sweetheart. We’ll think of something together.”

“I can’t do that, Jo.”

“Is Dina there?”

“Yeah.”

“Let me talk to her, okay?”

He gave Dina the phone. She listened and nodded. “That makes two of us. Don’t worry, Jo. He’s sometimes a little too noble, but he’s not dumb. We’ll see you in the morning, I promise.”

She handed the phone back to Cork.

“I love you,” Jo said. “I miss you.”

“I know. Same here.”

“Then come home.”

“Kiss the kids for me,” he said.

He had hung up before Jo could say more. For a while after that, he didn’t talk to anyone.

Charlie had disappeared into Ren’s bedroom, and the sound of their voices occasionally drifted through the cabin. They knew about the horror at Calvin Stokely’s cabin and were processing it, Cork guessed. He drank strong black coffee from a mug, preparing himself for the long drive ahead. Dina sat on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest, the firelight etching shadows across her face. Ned and Jewell sat on the sofa, almost touching.

“It’s time,” Cork said at last. He took a final gulp of coffee and set the mug on the table.

“I’m going with you,” Dina said.

“We’ll be walking into a real mess.”

“Like we haven’t already?”

“Thanks,” he said.

“You’re leaving?” Charlie stood near the kitchen. Cork hadn’t heard her come in. She was staring at Dina, looking worried. “For good?”

Dina got up slowly. “For a while.”

“But you’ll come back?”

“You want that?” Dina asked.

Charlie looked down at her hands and spoke softly. “Yeah.”

“When this business down in Illinois is finished, I’ll come back.”

Charlie raised her eyes, hopeful. “Promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

“How’s Ren?” Cork asked.

Charlie shrugged. “You know.”

Jewell stood up. “Let me have one last look at that leg, Cork. In the bedroom.”

She got her medical bag and Cork followed her to the guest room. She closed the door. He dropped his pants and sat on the edge of the bed. She knelt and examined his wounds.

“The new stitches are holding,” she said. “No infection. Let me clean them again, then promise me that when you get to Chicago you’ll see a physician.” She opened her bag.

“I’m sorry, Jewell. I was wrong coming here,” Cork said. “I thought it would keep my family safe and wouldn’t threaten you and Ren. I couldn’t have been more wrong.”

“I don’t mind how it’s worked out.”

“We were lucky.”

She looked up into his eyes. “I don’t think so. I believe we were guided by a wiser hand than we realized.”

He winced as she took a cotton ball soaked in hydrogen peroxide and wiped away ooze that had crusted over the line of stitches. “I’ve got a friend, an old Ojibwe Mide named Henry Meloux,” he said.

“Meloux? My mother used to talk about him. Fondly.”

“A wise man. He told me once every falling leaf comes to rest where it was always meant to.”

“You haven’t come to rest yet.” She finished with his wounds and laid her hand against his cheek. “You’ll be careful?”

“Of course. And I won’t be alone.”

“Dina.” She seemed comforted by that. “When it’s done, let me know that you’re safe. And, Cork, let’s be family again.”

“We never stopped.”

She closed her bag. Cork hiked his pants up and they returned to the main room.

Ren was waiting. “I didn’t mean to be, like, such a…you know.”

“It’s okay,” Cork told him. “I feel bad about killing the cougar, but I’d do it again in a heartbeat if it meant saving you.”

The boy thought about it. “I guess that’s being a man, huh?”

“I don’t know about that. It’s what I’d do, is all.”

“If it was you, I guess I’d do the same.”

Cork put his hand on Ren’s shoulder. “I’m sorry my situation got you in serious trouble. I made a mistake, a pretty big one.”

Ren waved off the apology. “It’s okay. I just wish you didn’t have to go.”

“But you understand?”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll be back. A lot, I promise.”

Ren tried to smile. “You want to see something?”

“Sure.”

He led Cork to his bedroom and picked up the big drawing pad from his desk. Cork studied the fine line sketch of Ren’s hero White Eagle swooping out of the sky over a rocky shoreline that was clearly a Lake Superior landscape. He was pleasantly surprised by the figure of White Eagle, whose face now very much resembled Daniel DuBois, Ren’s father.

“He would have liked this,” Cork said.

The boy held the drawing in his hands and nodded. “I know.”

When the Pathfinder was loaded, they gathered on the porch of Thor’s Lodge.

Ren stood next to Dina, eyeing her shyly.