Donald Harstad - The Big Thaw

I drove us directly to Borglan's house. No vehicles. I called dispatch, and they said there had been no answer yet. I got out, and went to the door and knocked several times, calling out Cletus's name as well. Satisfied there was no one home, I slipped a copy of the search warrant into the sliding door. The legal requirements had been satisfied.

I thought it best if we started where the two brothers had, so we linked up with DNR officer Sam Younger near the Borglan place, and I took everybody to where the tracks began. I explained to Sam that we wanted to try to discover how many people had made the track. It was a good thing that I'd seen them the day before, because the snowplows had been by again, "dressing" the edges of the gravel road, and the deep ditch was now completely filled with road snow. Although we were just able to make out the disturbed area on the other side of the barbed-wire fence, where the tracks led over the hill, it didn't look too promising. Well, as they say, you gotta try. We waited for Art to pull a pair of black five-buckle overshoes over his wingtips. They had N C JAIL hand painted on the sides. Ah, yes. Don't worry about Art. He'd also apparently borrowed one of the quilted, knee-length coats the prisoners wear when they go out for exercise in the winter. Mustard-colored. He cut a fine figure.

"You look like a North Korean soldier," I said. He glared, but didn't say anything.

Crossing the ditch was especially difficult for those of us who were a bit heavier than the others. I was treated to the spectacle of Art virtually walking straight to the fence line, while I was knee-deep in snow.

"Hey, Houseman," he said, "how's the low-fat diet coming?"

I would have done something cute, like answer him, but I was too out of breath.

Sam, the Department of Natural Resources officer, responded for me. "It's all the damned rice those North Koreans eat," he said.

We grouped at the fence, and Sam Younger scrutinized what he gamely referred to as the track. "You know," he said, "there really isn't a hell of a lot left, is there?"

"It might help," I said, "if you see it in an angled light, like early evening."

"I'm sure," he said. He looked over at Art. "Is there any magic sort of thing you people do to lift tracks from under snow like this?"

"Nope."

"Well, then," said Sam, "all we can do is see if the tracks diverge into three separate sets as they go… How far is the farmhouse?"

"About three-quarters of a mile, just over the hill, here," I said.

Art propped his arm on the fence post, and took three or four photos of the very faint track leading up the hill. It was hard to see among the trees and large limestone outcroppings on the slope of the hill. He wanted photos before we crossed the fence and tracked the area up.

We crossed the barbed-wire fence, and followed the track. My over the hill comment had made it sound so simple. Actually, the hilltop was divided, and we had to go down a long reverse slope, and back up again before we reached the crest that allowed us to see the house. The track split into two distinct portions three times in that distance. Never into three, though.

Worse, on the way down to the house, it split into two discernible depressions, and they stayed that way for about a hundred yards, until we lost them in the multitude of tracks made yesterday and since. Just the way two men, walking together, would approach their target. Walking parallel, with about a fifteen-foot separation.

We stopped in Borglan's yard. There were now two cars there, and a pickup truck. Cletus Borglan opened the door just before I got there.

"What do you want?"

"We just wanted to let you know that we were done with the tracks," I said. I watched him eye Sam. Cletus was one of those who had no time for the DNR, especially their Fish and Game officers.

"Did you think they took a deer on the way?"

"No point in being sarcastic, Cletus," I said. "We were just trying to learn something from their route."

He looked at me with cold, unblinking eyes, and it was very much apparent that he didn't believe a word I was saying.

"Right," he said. "So, if they were burglars, how come there's nothing missing?"

"Well," I said, "I don't think…"

"We aren't allowed to discuss a current investigation," interrupted Art, quickly. "Everything must be held confidential while the investigation is active."

I had been about to say that they hadn't had a chance to take anything, but Art was right. Technically, anyway. It's just that the official confidentiality thing sounds so much like an attempt to conceal something. Besides, there was always some slack you could let out, but apparently, Art didn't want any going toward Borglan. I wasn't about to be so unprofessional as to argue the point in front of Cletus. Although, come to think of it, I wouldn't have been so unprofessional as to interrupt me, either.

"'Investigation'?" asked Cletus, just as two men I recognized as being area farmers came to the door behind him. "Isn't that just another word for cover-up?"

"Cletus," I said, grinning, "I just wish I knew enough about what happened to know what should be covered up." I shook my head, and glanced at Art. "Anyway, just wanted to make sure you got that copy of the search warrant, and answer any questions you might have."

"Nothin' personal," said Cletus, "but I'd just as soon ask my attorney."

"I would, too," I said, turning to go. "That's what you pay 'em for." As I was turning, I could see through the sliding glass doors, and became aware that there were at least two other occupants of the house. As I walked away, I heard Cletus say, "That one's a deputy, and one is a damned game warden." I began to suspect that one of the unknowns might be his attorney. I didn't look back, because when there is a bit of tension in the air, looking back after you've done what you've come to do can get you into an argument. But I was certainly glad I'd dropped the search warrant copy off before we went for our walk.

The consensus among us was that we had achieved very little. This was expressed by Sam Younger as we walked back to the cars.

"Well, shit…"

We parted company with Sam, who had to go on a deer-poaching call. I was sorry there hadn't been anything more for him to get his teeth into.

Back in my car, Art and I did some serious thinking. I could remember very clearly that there had been no other car tracks when I drove into the Borglan yard the day before. With what I'd say was a high probability that there were two sets of tracks going from the roadway, over the hill, and to the farm, I just couldn't see how it was possible for Fred to have gotten there to do the deed.

"Simple," said Art. "One of the brothers was already there."

Well, I have to admit, I hadn't thought of that possibility. "Why?"

"Don't know, yet," he said. "But I'll figure it out."

"Well, one thing's for sure," I said. "Somebody was already there. Any way you cut it. It could have been Fred, too, for that matter. Could have been."

So. Two sets of tracks going in. Two dead bodies, both shot in the head. They hadn't killed each other, nor had they killed themselves. No obvious involved weapon at the scene. (There wasn't a.22 in the gun cabinet. All shotguns and larger caliber handguns.) No spent shell casings, which indicated to me a revolver. The mess pretty much cleaned up. The bodies put in the shed, covered with a tarp, as if awaiting disposal at a later date.

"Who do you think was going to go back and dispose of the bodies?" I asked of no one in particular.

"Fred," said Art. Instantly. "Probably as soon as he got a buddy to help." He paused for a second. "Or, maybe, if he wasn't able to get a friend to help him out, that's why he just gave up and went to the cops?"