Brian Freeman - Thief River Falls

Lisa shook her head. She thought about this brave, foolish kid, going off on his own in the minutes after his mother had died. She could imagine the panic he’d left behind at the hospital. It wouldn’t be hard to find out where this had all happened, but even when she did, she realized she would be sending him back to nothing. He was right. They would give him to strangers. And it still didn’t explain how he’d found himself in the middle of a murder scene, with people who wanted him dead.

“Where did you go?”

He pointed out the window. “There were train tracks near the hospital. A train was stopped there, and some guys were hanging out. I asked them where the train was going.”

“What did they say?”

“Canada. They said the train was going to Canada. I thought, that’s what my mom wanted. She wanted me to see Canada. I figured she was telling me what to do. Like she’d sent the train for me. So I decided to get on.”

“What were you planning to do when you got there?”

“I don’t know. Mom made it sound really pretty, and I just wanted to see it. So I walked next to the train until I found a car that was open, and I climbed inside. The train started up again right after that. As we left, I could see lots of people outside the hospital. Doctors. Nurses. Police. I figured they were looking for me, so I hid, and nobody saw me. I stayed on the train, and it started going faster. It was great. Way better than being in a car.”

“How long were you on the train?”

“All day.”

“What did you see?”

“Oh, lots of things! Lots of cows and sheep. We went over a lot of rivers, too. We stopped in some towns. Not big towns. Not like a city. We kept going and going, but eventually it got dark, and it started to get colder. And it started raining outside, too. Pouring. Then we stopped again. I kept waiting for the train to start, but it didn’t. It just sat there. I figured maybe we were there, you know? I figured we were in Canada. So I got off the train. I saw a couple men hanging around, and I thought about asking them where I was, but I figured they’d start asking me questions, and then they’d send me back. I didn’t want that.”

“You stayed here?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember what you saw near the train? Do you remember where you were?”

“I saw a plane,” Purdue said. “A plane landed right over my head. I thought it was going to land on top of me.”

“You were near the airport,” Lisa murmured. “There are railroad tracks just east of there. Where did you go then?”

“I walked. I don’t know for how long. I started across some fields, and after a while, I got to a river. I couldn’t get across, so I walked next to the water. It was still raining, and I was soaked. I was getting pretty cold and tired, and I was scared. And I missed my mom, you know?”

“I know.”

“I found a little house,” Purdue went on.

“Like a cabin?”

“I guess.”

“Where was it?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know where I was, but I was still right near the water. I thought I could hide in there for a while, but somebody was inside. A man. He must have heard me, because he came outside, so I hid in the weeds on the riverbank.”

“What did this man look like?”

“I told you before — he was big, like a football player.”

“What did he do?”

“He looked around and then he went back inside. I was going to keep going, but that’s when I heard the other men. They were coming through the woods and whispering to each other. I thought they would see me, but they didn’t. There were four of them, the man with the red hair and the two policemen. And the old man. They went right up to the door of the little house, and they went inside. I heard a big fight, and then they dragged the other man out. That’s when everything happened. They tied him up and gagged him and then they — they started doing things to him.”

“Oh, Purdue.” She knew so much more now, and yet she also knew nothing at all. “You told me before that the men found you. They hurt you. How did you get away from them? How did you escape and find your way to me?”

The boy shook his head. “I don’t remember. Really, Lisa, I’m telling the truth. I don’t remember. It’s like one minute I was in the woods while they were killing that man, and then the next minute I was hiding in the truck. And then I was looking up and seeing you in the window of your house. In between, it’s all just fuzzy.”

“That’s okay. You’ve given me a lot, Purdue. This will help me solve the mystery. I just want you to remember one more thing for me.”

“What is it?”

She smiled at him. “Your name. What’s your name? I’d like to call you by your real name.”

The boy was quiet for a while. This was an easy one, compared to everything else he’d told her. She expected to see his face break into a broad grin, like a child reaching out his hand and seeing a butterfly land on it. But it never did. Instead, his head snapped sideways so that he didn’t have to look at her.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know.”

“Really? Are you sure?”

“I don’t remember my name,” he insisted.

“That’s okay. Don’t worry. You’ll stay Purdue for a little while longer.”

Lisa squeezed his shoulder to make him feel better, so that he knew she didn’t blame him. And she didn’t. The trouble was, it was painfully obvious that he was lying to her. His shame was written all over his face. This was more than just keeping a secret. This was an out-and-out, pants-on-fire lie.

He did know his name, and he didn’t want to tell her what it was.

Why would he hide something like that?

Lisa showed Purdue the secret hiding place in the basement. It wasn’t much more than a crawl space, a gap above the foundation and underneath the floorboards where Madeleine had stored her handmade Christmas decorations. The boxes were still there, labeled in her mother’s spidery handwriting. Behind the boxes, there was just enough room to slither in and hide, which was what Lisa and Noah had done as kids.

“If you see anyone outside, you run downstairs and crawl in here,” she told him. “I’ll be back real soon.”

“Okay.”

She felt a twinge of concern at leaving him behind, but she knew he would be safer at home than with her. She grabbed her mother’s old winter coat from the hall closet, and she ventured out into a white world. The snow continued to fall, with the wind swirling it into a tornado. The blizzard was blinding, but that helped her stay concealed. If she couldn’t see ten feet in front of her, then neither could anyone else. Including the people who were looking for her.

The weather was keeping most of the town inside. She didn’t see anyone as she hurried into the wind toward the end of the street, where the Camaro was hidden in her neighbor’s yard. Before she took the car out, she wandered across the grass to the railroad tracks and stared as far as she could in both directions, which was like staring into a dense fog. If she followed those tracks for several miles, she would pass east of the airport, which was where Purdue told her he’d gotten off the train.

Under her feet, she could still feel the vibration of the train that had passed a few minutes earlier. Like a restless teenager, she stood in the middle of the tracks and then walked south, all alone in the storm’s cocoon. She knew that one of the town’s many cemeteries was to her right, but she couldn’t see it. On the left were trees and open land, all invisible. It was easy to let her imagination run wild, and that was what it did.

She heard a voice in her head. Noah’s voice.

Lis, what happened? Tell me what’s wrong.