William Krueger - Purgatory Ridge

Cork sat on the edge of her desk. “Nothing I couldn’t handle.”

“She also said some people talked to you about running for sheriff.”

“Yes.”

“When were you going to tell me?”

“After I’d thought about it some.”

“This morning, you promised me we’d think through something like this together.” She could feel the anger rising, her voice growing taut. She didn’t want to be that way, but she couldn’t seem to stop herself.

Cork’s response was edged with anger, too. “I told you we’d talk before I decided anything, and I haven’t decided anything.”

“Cork-” she began, but before she could finish the phone rang. They both looked at it. It stopped immediately, which meant someone else in the house had answered.

She moved away from the door, her eyes scanning the shelves of law books that lined the walls. No answer there, she knew. She wanted to walk toward Cork, to put herself nearer to him, but there was something unyielding inside her that kept her from it.

“I just…” She faltered, tried again. “I’m just afraid-”

A knock at the door interrupted her. “Mom.” It was Annie, speaking from the other side. “The phone’s for you.”

“Can you take a message?” Jo called back.

“It’s Sheriff Schanno. It sounds important.”

“I’ll take it in here, honey.”

Jo headed to the desk. Cork moved himself out of the way.

“Yes, Wally?” She listened a moment. “You’re sure?” A moment more. She closed her eyes. “I understand. And thanks.” She hung up.

“What is it?” Cork asked.

“They’ve positively identified the body at Lind-strom’s.”

“Who is it?”

Jo took a deep breath. “Charlie Warren.”

DURING SUMMER IN THE NORTH COUNTRY, the sun seemed to linger forever. The light near dusk was like one final exhalation that breathed gold onto the pines and tamaracks, the birch and aspen, and everything seemed to hold very still as the sun let out its long last breath. Cork loved summer evenings in Tamarack County, loved those moments when the earth itself seemed to pause in its turning. Yet, as he drove to the Lindstrom mill and saw the light on the trees and heard the hush of the woods, inside he felt none of the serenity these things normally brought to him.

Jo hadn’t wanted him to come, but he’d made her understand there was no way she could keep him from it. She hadn’t said a word the whole way. Outside the gates of the mill, a few protestors still lingered. They sat comfortably on canvas chairs and talked, their protest signs lying in the long rye grass beside them. Cork recognized the kid who’d been at Sam’s Place and the woman with the cane who’d accompanied him. Isaiah Broom was there, too. They stopped their talk as Cork drove by, and they eyed him as if he were the enemy.

Gil Singer, the deputy at the gate, let them through easily. As he had earlier that day, Cork parked beside the Land Cruiser Wally Schanno drove. There were a few other vehicles, mostly county sheriff’s cars. The mill seemed pretty much deserted. Schanno stood near the burned-out cab of the logging rig. He was leaning a bit, and he reminded Cork of a stiff old tree in a hard wind. As Cork approached with Jo, he saw that, in fact, Schanno was bent to listen. From beneath the blackened chassis, two legs protruded.

Cork started toward the rig, but a voice behind him called him back.

“Can’t go there, O’Connor.” Karl Lindstrom was wearing the same clothes he’d worn that morning. He looked beat. His eyes were deep-sunk in their sockets. His stiff, military bearing had wilted visibly. “Nobody goes beyond this point except the police.”

Schanno looked up and, seeing the small gathering, came over. “Cork, Jo.”

“Long day, Wally,” Cork said.

“Yeah.” Schanno looked over the burned area in back of him. “Had my men out here most of it, and Alf Murray’s volunteers, doing a quadrant search.”

“Did you find anything?” Jo asked.

“Lots of pieces of things.”

“No other explosive devices?”

“No.”

“Thank God for that,” Lindstrom said. “But I’ve still got to shut the mill down for a couple of days at least until they’ve finished with the investigation and we can get this mess cleaned up.”

Cork turned back toward Schanno. “Quick ID on the body, Wally.”

Schanno poked a thumb north. “Found Charlie’s truck parked in the woods half a mile that way. I had the medical examiner compare his dental records with the victim’s teeth.”

“Do you have any idea why Charlie Warren would have been here, Mr. Lindstrom?” Jo asked.

“You mean besides blowing up my mill?”

“I wouldn’t make accusations at this point,” Jo cautioned. “You didn’t know Charlie Warren.”

“Right.” Lindstrom gave her a sour look. “The only time I ever spoke with him, he told me basically I was about to stick my financial dick into Grandmother Earth, and if I did, he would see to it that it got cut off.”

“Charlie Warren was outspoken,” Jo said, “but he wasn’t a violent man.”

“Then you tell me what he was doing out here, Ms. O’Connor.”

Cork asked Schanno, “Did you talk with the night watchman?”

“At length,” Schanno replied. “He makes his rounds every hour. Carries a key that has to be turned in alarm boxes at various locations. He was about halfway through, on the far side of the mill, when the blast occurred.”

Lindstrom said, “Harold Loomis’s job is to prevent vandalism and major theft. This is a big mill. It wouldn’t be hard for one man to climb the fence and hide himself.”

“Did you check the perimeter of the fence?” Cork asked.

Schanno nodded. “Nothing conclusive. Ground’s too hard for prints.”

Jo asked, “Has the medical examiner determined the cause of death?”

“Asphyxiation. Then he burned.”

“Trapped in the explosion,” Cork guessed.

Schanno gestured vaguely in the direction of the debris. “When that LP tank went, it demolished the shed instantly. Whatever he was doing inside, Charlie was caught.”

“For Christ’s sake, he was watching the truck where he’d planted his damn bomb,” Lindstrom said.

Cork gave him a hard stare. “I know it looks pretty bad, but anybody who knew Charlie Warren wouldn’t believe for an instant he’d do something like this.”

Jo changed the subject. “Have you told Charlie’s daughter, Wally?”

“I sent Marsha Dross out before I called you.”

“That brings up an interesting question, Sheriff,” Lindstrom said. “Why did you call Ms. O’Connor?”

“Jo’s the attorney for the Iron Lake Ojibwe,” Schanno answered with an obvious effort at patience. “I also called George LeDuc. I believed these people had a right to know this particular development.”

“Okay.” Lindstrom seemed to accept it, although not happily. “Then what about him?” He jabbed a finger at Cork. “What’s he doing here? Unless you’re allowing him privileges in some ex officio capacity, he’s got no business here.”

Schanno didn’t seem to have an answer for that one. He said, “Look, Karl, it’s been a long day for you. I suggest you head on home and get some rest.”

“I’ve got a cot in my office. I have no intention of leaving here tonight.”

Schanno looked at Cork and Jo. “Maybe it’s time you left.”

For the moment, Cork ignored him and watched the legs under the burned chassis grow into the whole body of a man who stood up and came toward them. He was a lanky fellow with an affable smile and a dark, receding hairline. He wore a short-sleeved denim shirt and jeans, both smudged heavily by soot.