Steve Hamilton - Misery Bay

“So what about that list I found at Wiley’s house? Where did it come from?”

“It was just three names, right? Steele, Haggerty, and Razniewski. No Maven.”

“Yeah?”

“Think about it.”

I did. About a minute later, I let out a long breath and banged my good hand on the glass beside me.

“The agent who came out to question him,” I said. “He told them those names. Wiley didn’t know anything about it until then.”

“I’m not sure if he told him the specific names or not, but it doesn’t even matter. If he just said there’s been some former state police officers killed up north, Wiley could have found out the names on his own. It’s not like they were secret.”

“You’re right. Just search through the newspapers up here for the last few months. He’s writing the names down. They start to look familiar-Steele and Haggerty, at least. So then he looks through his old court records and makes the connection.”

“He knows his grandson is still up here…”

“So he starts thinking, what the hell’s going on? Maybe he even calls him?”

“Maybe. Either way, he ends up down in his basement. That’s when he sees exactly what his grandson’s been working on.”

“What about the fire?” I said. “Do you think Bergman set it to kill his father?”

“I don’t know, although it’s kinda funny how that fire happened right as he was going away to college,” she said. “And if you think about it, that kid sure had a gift for making crimes look like something else.”

“Yeah, I wouldn’t bet against it.”

Another mile of silence.

“So that’s how he dealt with his life,” I said. “He turned it into a movie.”

“If it’s a movie, it’s not really happening.”

“God damn…”

“The scene with Olivia Maven got ruined, by the way.”

“Yeah?”

“The film was overexposed.”

“I think that was my fault,” I said. “Too bad.”

She looked over at me. “Your scene, on the other hand, came out just fine.”

“So you told me. Did you and Agent Fleury have popcorn while you were watching it?”

“I’m glad you can joke about it.”

“What else am I going to do?”

Another minute of silence.

“I have it on my laptop,” she said.

“What?”

“That old film is fragile, so we made a digital copy. I can show you it if you want me to.”

“Are you serious?”

“It’s up to you. You’ve earned the right to see it.”

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

It felt like I’d been gone a long time, even though it was only a matter of days. Most of the snow was gone now. She drove up my road, past Vinnie’s cabin, then past my first cabin.

“What’s the matter?” she said.

“Nothing.”

“Are you sure? You tensed up like you were in pain. Do you need your pills?”

“I’m fine. Really.”

She shook her head, probably thinking I was just acting like a man again. I didn’t want to get into the whole story with her.

She went up to the end of my road and stopped in front of the last cabin. I got out and felt a little dizzy as I walked across the muddy ground to the front door. She grabbed her laptop bag from behind the seat and followed me. I held the door open for her. When she was inside she stood around for a few moments, not looking entirely comfortable. Eventually, she took out her laptop and plugged it in.

“You’re the one who told me not to look at those crime scene photos,” I said.

“Yeah, but if you hadn’t, he might still be out there killing people.”

“Well, I’ll tell you what,” I said, coming closer to her. “I don’t think I need to see the film of myself almost dying. I was there, and that’s probably enough.”

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

“So as long as you’re here, what else can we do?”

I stood there looking at her. Eventually, I took another step toward her and felt a little dizzy.

“Alex, are you okay?”

When I opened my eyes, Agent Long was right there in front of me, holding both arms.

“Ouch,” I said. “Watch the left side there.”

“I think you need to lie down.”

“No, I’m okay now. I promise. For real this time.”

Her hand was still on my arm. My good arm. As I looked at her face, I felt a huge relief. I was glad she was there with me. I was glad she looked so good in that moment. I was glad I had at least half a working body left.

Then I laughed. It was hilarious to me that I was alive. That I managed to come through this and that now I was here in my cabin with this woman…

“What are we doing here?” she said.

I pulled her close to me. She smelled good. Better than good. This was the first woman I had touched since… well, since the thing that had happened in that first cabin. She wasn’t resisting me. She was responding and I wanted to keep going, and then anything that happened after that we’d have to figure out when we got there.

Then I passed out.

By the time I came to, Agent Long had called Agent Fleury. He said he’d be there in an hour.

“Call him back and tell him to meet us down at the Glasgow Inn,” I said. “We need to have that drink, at least.”

So she drove me down to the Glasgow and I introduced her to Jackie and Vinnie. I asked about Vinnie’s mother and was glad to hear she was feeling a little better. Then we had some real Canadian beer and when Fleury got there, I made sure he had one, too. When they were ready to leave, I came out to the parking lot and I took Agent Long aside for a moment.

“Sorry about the clumsy pass,” I said to her.

“That’s all right,” she said. “You’re in a compromised state. Maybe next time it’ll work out a little better for both of us.”

“You’ll come back up here sometime?”

“Maybe. Or maybe you can look me up if you ever get back to Detroit.”

“I’ll do that,” I said, “but on one condition.”

“What’s that?”

“We can do dinner, but promise me one thing. No movie.”

She laughed at that. “It’s a deal.”

“Okay then, take care of yourself, Agent Long.”

“Call me Janet.”

She kissed me on the cheek and got in the car. Agent Fleury was already behind the wheel. I waved to them as they took off.

Then I went back inside and collapsed by the fire.

“I suppose you’ll be expecting me to bring your dinner to you,” Jackie said.

“You are a perceptive man.”

He walked away swearing at me. Things were already feeling normal again. The snow would finally melt for good. The summer would come. It would last for what would feel like five minutes, then the air would turn cold again. The lake would turn back into a monster. The snow would come to bury us and once again we’d ask ourselves why we lived up here. But we wouldn’t leave.

None of us. Not Jackie, not Vinnie, not Leon, not Chief Roy Maven. Not me.

We would never leave this place.

The next morning, Vinnie came to the cabin early. He didn’t knock. He just came in and made himself at home.

“What’s going on?” I said, moaning as I turned over the wrong way.

“We’ve got lots of work to do today.”

“That’s what you think. I’m not doing anything.”

“Okay, so I’ve got lots of work to do today.”

“Vinnie, what are you talking about?”

“We’re reclaiming your first cabin, Alex. You’ve avoided it long enough.”

“No. Forget it.”

“You can’t stop me,” he said. “That’s the genius of my plan. You can complain all you want today, but in the shape you’re in? What are you gonna do, kick me?”