Kirk Russell: Night Game

Marquez backed away, walked to the truck where Hawse and several others were cutting the duct tape wrapped around Durham’s neck and the headrest. Someone called out “He’s alive.

We’ve got a pulse,” and paramedics rushed forward. Marquez watched them extract him. He’d been gutshot. His shirt, coat, and pants were soaked with blood, a lot of it already dry and black.

Turning back to Sophie’s body, he saw Kendall leaning over, pulling a handgun from her waist. He removed the clip, bagged the gun, and looked at Marquez. “Insane. All of this is insane. You tell me why she did that.”

Because she couldn’t face what came next. Because of the things she’d done and what she’d become, what there was no returning from. Because she’d probably showed Nyland where Vandemere was doing his research and may have been there when he was shot. “I want to get them to check Durham’s arms for wounds,” Marquez said.

“He’s just barely hanging on,” Kendall said. “You know that’s Vandemere’s truck she’s driving. They painted it, put different plates on it.”

Marquez nodded. He’d figured it out a few minutes ago. He walked over to one of the paramedics, a husky bald man, leaned near him to say, “There may be another bullet wound on one of his arms.”

Durham wore an expensive-looking down parka, North Face logo on it. The paramedics slit each arm down the inseam, cut his shirt off. There weren’t any wounds on his arms, only the one shot to his lower abdomen.

One of them glanced up at Marquez, said, “You owe him a coat.”

“Will he need it?”

They were pumping fluid into him, Durham ghostly, his face slack. Hard to believe he’d make it. Marquez watched as they started moving him, looked in the truck again, and then straightened as it started to rain. Sophie’s body was getting photographed. Her hair glistened.

“She must have shot him before taping his head,” Kendall said.

“He’s got a good-sized lump on his temple.”

“Doesn’t matter, he isn’t going to make it.” Marquez saw Troy starting to drift back, heard Kendall mutter, “He looks like he knows something.”

“Are you going to try to do anything out here with the truck?”

Marquez asked.

“Not with the rain. We’ll close it up and tow it in.” Kendall nodded toward Sophie and asked, “Did you know that was coming?”

“No, but I have a sense of what she was missing inside.”

“I’ll tell you what Durham is missing inside, a couple of quarts of blood.”

They both turned as Troy argued with a deputy, Troy trying to get through.

“You’ll have to wait to see her, Mr. Broussard.”

“I don’t care about seeing her. I want to talk to him.”

He’d looked their direction so Kendall walked over, said, “What is it?”

“Not you. Him.”

Marquez walked over, and Troy spoke as though he’d rehearsed what he had to say.

“I don’t care much for you or any of you people, but I know what you’re after and I’ll lead you out there. God didn’t put bear on earth to be in cages.”

“Where is it you’re going to lead me?”

“Nevada.”

“Give me an address.”

Marquez wanted to phone ahead. He wanted to secure the area around the ranch, enlist the help of anybody they could get in Nevada.

“I know where it is, that’s all.”

Marquez and the team followed Troy’s old truck down a long dry desert road outside Minden, Nevada. Well short of the ranch, Troy pulled over and parked. His truck canted steeply, two wheels in a dusty ditch. He lowered his window but didn’t get out.

“Those buildings up ahead. He’s there. That’s his car and you’d better be damn careful.”

“What’s your role here, Troy?”

“If I had any part of it, would I bring you out here? Let’s just say he’s asked me to, but the law says I can’t trap or hunt.”

Marquez looked at him, thinking, You did anyway, didn’t you . He looked out across the sage and tumbleweed and knew they’d never nail Troy for it. If there was any chance of that, Troy wouldn’t have led them out here, and the question now was why had he. Must see Bearman as a competitor or has some other grudge against him .

From here it was roughly three-quarters of a mile to the house.

He saw the car Troy meant but couldn’t tell the make from here, amazing that Troy could. The nose of a car was visible around the back of the main building.

“The boy you killed up in the mountains brought me out here.”

“Nyland?”

“Yes.”

Funny, Nyland had said the opposite, but it could wait. Marquez glanced at Troy again, wondering if the old man was hoping they’d get killed approaching the buildings.

“Are there bears in those Quonset huts?”

“There are. Those aluminum buildings have bear in cages all lined up. I figure you and I are even now.”

“Do you feel anything for her?”

“I lost my little girl a long time ago.”

“And around town they say you know how you did it.”

“Sophie was a born liar, no different than her mother.”

Marquez watched him drive away and four Nevada police approach, dust roostering up behind them. He put on a flak jacket and briefed the Nevada officers on what he thought they were going to find. Another attempt was made to contact the ranch by phone and after that failed, someone spotted a man standing out in front of the house.

“That’s Ungar,” Marquez said, after lifting binoculars. “That’s who we’re looking for and he sees us.” Ungar didn’t move, stood frozen facing their direction. “He’s not sure what to do now. I think we can drive down there.”

Marquez rode in the lead vehicle. The Nevada officers took over as they parked near Ungar, asking Ungar if he was armed and Ungar shaking his head no, turning around, raising his arms so they could check him.

“I solved it for you,” Ungar said as Marquez walked up.

“What did you solve?”

“What you’re looking for is in those aluminum Quonset huts. My cousin called, gave this address, and I decided to check it out before calling you. There are twenty bears in there. I counted.

There’s a little Chinese man in feeding them. He doesn’t speak a word of English. I was just about to drive somewhere my phone will work and call you. How’d you find this place?”

Marquez let Ungar walk with him to the Quonset huts. A crowd of officers flanked them, two Nevada wildlife officers close behind Ungar. Sunlight reflected brightly off metal roofs ahead, and yet, the day was cold, the rain over the mountains to the west approaching, wind blowing hard. He watched Ungar’s black hair whip across his forehead, no cap this afternoon, no sunglasses, a shiny black leather coat. As they reached the first hut a small man in black baggy pants, black shirt, sandals, showed briefly at the door before retreating.

“What’s his name?” Marquez asked Ungar.

“Han.”

Marquez swung the door open, called to Han. He was maybe seventy, didn’t seem to speak any English, spoke rapid Cantonese that Ungar responded to.

“I barely know any Chinese,” Ungar said. “But I told him not to move, that you’re the police.”

“Don’t say anything else to him.”

Marquez left him with the state troopers and Nevada Wildlife, left him explaining how he’d helped California Fish and Game solve this case.

Marquez walked through the thick bear smells. It was so different from the cold sage-laden wind outside. The metal walls and roof creaked in the wind as he counted. Twenty, same as Ungar had claimed. Heavy stainless cages, thick, the same water trough system, same cages as Johengen’s. He looked at each bear, the catheters, eyes staring at him, then walked back.