Blood Hollow

25

On his way out to Sam’s Place the next morning, Cork dropped by Jo’s office. She’d already talked with Edith Lipinski.

“She was curious about my interest in her New Year’s Eve party,” Jo said, “but I explained that I was trying to find out who knew about the party at Valhalla and how. I wanted to talk to any teenagers who’d gone to her party instead and see what they might know. It was thin, but she bought it. Turns out there weren’t any teenagers there. And she does have a guest list. Two, as a matter of fact. One for all those who were invited and one for those who actually came.”

“Bless her anal-retentive little heart,” Cork said.

“I asked if I could look at them, hoping there might be some parents who had kids at Valhalla that night. She agreed to let me pick them up later this morning when she’s back from her hair appointment.”

“I’m the only one at Sam’s Place today. Hard to get away. Any chance you could bring them out and we could look them over together.”

“I think I can swing it.”

The telephone began ringing as he unlocked the door of the Quonset hut.

“Sam’s Place. Cork speaking.”

“So how are things in Nowhere, Minnesota?”

Cork recognized the irreverent gravel of Boomer Grabowski’s voice.

“Compared to the old days on the South Side, generally pretty quiet, Boomer. How about with you?”

“No complaints.”

Boomer and Cork had been cops together in Chicago, working out of the same South Side district. Cork had moved to Aurora, his own choice. Boomer had left, too, forced out by circumstance rather than choice. He was a big man, from a family whose men had always worked the steel mills. His body was like something that had been forged out of iron. But it was only flesh and bone, and most of the bone in his right leg had been smashed in an accident during the high speed pursuit of an armed robbery suspect. Boomer had been forced to retire on a medical disability. Retirement, however, was not in keeping with Boomer’s temperament, and he’d opened his own shop.

“How’re things in the Windy City?” Cork asked.

“Wouldn’t know. I’m calling from Miami. I just checked my messages back at the office and heard your vaguely familiar voice.”

“Vacation?”

“You kidding? Who’s got time? So what’s up?”

Cork filled him in on Mal Thorne, and asked Boomer if he’d check on the priest’s background. Anything he could find out about his time in Chicago and before, if possible.

“You really think this priest has something to do with the girl’s murder?”

“Just checking out all the possibilities, Boomer.”

“Yeah. You were nothing if not a thorough bastard. How soon you need it?”

“The sooner the better.”

“Look, I’m down here for a week. You want somebody on it before that, I can make some recommendations.”

“I think it’ll hold for a week.”

“Tell you what. I’ll call when I’m back in the office. If you’re still hot for me to trot, I’ll hop right on it.”

“Thanks, Boomer.”

“Thank me after I’ve done the job. And after you’ve seen the bill.”

Jo showed up a little before one o’clock, just as Cork was finishing with the lunch rush, and she gave him a hand, taking orders at the window while he worked the grill. By one-thirty, the line had vanished. Jo took from her briefcase the list of guests who’d attended the Lipinskis’ party and handed it to Cork. He laid it on the stool the girls sometimes sat on when things were slow.

“What are we looking for?” Jo said.

“Anyone who might have had a connection with Charlotte.”

“Someone young?”

“In the kind of relationship we’re considering, age probably wasn’t a factor.”

They went down the list silently. The third from the last name caught Cork’s eye.

“Son of a gun,” he said.

“What?”

“Arne and Lyla Soderberg.”

“What about them?”

“Think about it for a minute, Jo. Tiffany and Charlotte were friends. Or something close to it. Tiffany told me that because Fletcher Kane acted creepy, any sleepovers they had were at Tiffany’s house. Maybe something got started there.”

“Arne Soderberg and Charlotte Kane?” Jo made a sour face.

“It’s not such a stretch,” Cork said. “Stay with me on this. Lyla and Arne have a troubled marriage. No secret there. When Charlotte’s body was found on Moccasin Creek, I saw Arne’s face. All horror. I chalked it up to the fact that as sheriff he was still pretty green. But what if it was the shock of seeing someone he was involved with lying there dead?” Cork stood up, feeling a little fire in his gut, the spirit of the hunt awakened.

“You don’t think Arne killed her?”

“I don’t know. He could certainly have been her lover though.”

“What about Fletcher Kane?”

“I’m not forgetting about him. But there’s a possibility here that definitely needs exploring.”

“The truth is you don’t like Arne Soderberg any more than you like Fletcher Kane.”

“I don’t like a lot of people. I don’t suspect them all of crimes. But a few more answers might tell us if we’re on the right track.”

Jo said, “What do we do?”

“I think you should have a talk with Edith Lipinski, find out if she remembers Arne making phone calls, when he left the party, anything that might be helpful.”

“In order to get the lists, I had to tell her about the calls from her home. She’s not stupid. If I start asking about our sheriff, she’s liable to put two and two together very quickly.” She laid her hand very lightly on his arm. “Cork, we need to be careful. The town is seriously divided. People have stopped talking to me, to one another. I’ve had some clients threaten to withdraw their business.”

“You fought for the Iron Lake Ojibwe for years. You’ve been threatened before.”

“It’s not the threats. I don’t care about that. I just think we need to be sensitive to the ripples we send out. If we point fingers and we’re wrong, we may hurt innocent people, and folks here will remember that a long time.”

“If we turn our backs, won’t we remember that longer?”

“Who said anything about turning our backs? Just do what you do quietly, that’s all I’m saying.”

“I’m not discreet?”

“Sweetheart, when you get hold of something, you’re a pit bull.”

“I am, huh?” Actually, he felt a little flattered. “All right. But we have to do this quickly, too, Jo, before Arne realizes we’ve got him in our sights. Maybe while you talk to Edith, I ought to talk to Lyla-discreetly-to see if I can finesse anything useful out of her. Sound like a plan?”

“A plan,” she agreed.

He shut the serving window and put up the CLOSED sign.

Cork drove south out of Aurora, then turned west onto County 7. After a mile and a half, he approached a small billboard that read WEST WIND GALLERY, RIGHT 500 FEET. He took the turn and followed a graveled lane through a stand of poplar.

The West Wind Gallery was an old barn that had been converted into a showplace for the art of Marion Griswold, a professional photographer. She was often commissioned by big magazines like National Geographic and Outdoor Life. Framed and in numbered editions, her photographs were sold in the gallery, which she owned with her friend Lyla Soderberg, and also in galleries in the Twin Cities and in Santa Fe. Her work had been collected and published in exquisite editions designed to elevate the appeal of any coffee table. A wood-burned sign hanging beside the door indicated that the gallery was open from noon until 6:00 P.M. every day except Wednesday.

Marion Griswold lived in a log home of recent construction east of the gallery. It was a lovely two-story structure that had a shaded porch hung with geranium pots. The photographer’s dusty Jeep Wagoneer sat in front of the house. Cork had expected Lyla Soderberg’s gold PT Cruiser to be parked at the gallery, but it wasn’t anywhere to be seen. A little bell above the gallery door gave a jingle as he stepped inside.

A voice sang out from a back room, “Just a minute. Be right there.”

Cork was the first to admit that he didn’t know art. But he knew what he liked, and he liked the photographs of Marion Griswold. She shot the great Northwoods. Wild streams, autumn foliage, wolves with breath crystallized on a subzero day. She was able to capture what his heart felt when he was alone in the woods, and he admired that.

“Cork,” she said, smiling as she came into the main gallery showroom. Her hair was black and cut very short, which Cork figured was a benefit when she was out in the wild, tramping through underbrush looking for a good subject. Her body was wiry and tanned and full of energy barely contained. She wore cut-off jeans, a high-collar white shirt with the tail out, and tennis shoes without socks. She carried a large framed photograph that she leaned against the counter where the cash register sat. “Haven’t seen you here for a while. Not since you bought that piece for Jo. She like it?”

“It’s in her office, dazzling her clients.”

“I like to hear that. What can I do for you? Interest you in another piece?”

“Not today, thanks. I’m looking for Lyla. I thought she’d be here.”

“Normally. But Tiffany’s graduating tonight, and Lyla’s out shopping. Planning on whipping up a special dinner for the occasion. Anything I can help you with?”

Cork recalled seeing Marion’s name when he and Jo had scanned the guest list. “Maybe,” he said. “I wanted to talk to her about the New Year’s Eve party at Mayor Lipinski’s place.”

“The night Charlotte Kane was killed.” She gave him a look that told him she was pretty but not stupid.

“That’s right. I’m hoping to help Jo put the whole night in perspective. I’m trying to find out if any of the parents whose children were at Valhalla knew about Charlotte’s party.”

“Not Lyla, I can tell you that. She thought her daughter was at a sleepover. Those girls were clever. Gave Lyla a cell phone number to call to check on them that night. You know how unreliable cell phones are up here in the boondocks. Of course, when Lyla did call and couldn’t connect, well, that’s just technology in the deep woods.” She laughed, a soft liquid sound. “Bright girls.”

“So Lyla didn’t call Valhalla directly?”

“No reason to. She didn’t know they were there. Till the next day when everybody realized Charlotte was missing, and Tiffany confessed to her little ruse.”

Cork sauntered to the counter and eyed the framed photograph Marion had brought with her. It was a teddy bear in a garden.

“Going for the domestic look?” he asked.

“A graduation gift for Tiffany. That bear is her favorite. I shot it in Lyla’s garden.”

“Nice,” Cork said.

“Nice? Art is passionate, art is touching, art is orgasmic. But art is never nice.”

“Orgasmic?”

“You have no idea.”

“You wouldn’t happen to know when Lyla and Arne left the Lipinskis’ party, would you?”

“Couldn’t say about Arne. Lyla left at ten-thirty.”

“You’re sure?”

“Positive. I gave her a ride.” Marion stepped back and cocked her head as she appraised the teddy bear among Lyla’s flowers. “She and Arne got a little of Wil Lipinski’s rum punch under their belts and started taking mean little potshots at each other. Nothing deadly, but Lyla’d had enough of it long before midnight. When she started to leave, she discovered that Arne had taken the keys to her car. He wouldn’t give them back. Told her she was in no condition to drive. Frankly, he was right. I offered to give her a lift.”

“Home?”

“That’s what she wanted, but I saw how upset she was, so we came out here, rang in the new year, and then I took her home.”

“And Arne kept the car?”

“He did.”

“What time did you drop Lyla off?”

“Twelve-fifteen, maybe.”

“Was Arne home?”

“I don’t recall seeing the car. Could’ve been in the garage, I suppose.”

“Were there lights on in the house?”

“I don’t believe so.” She fisted her hands on her hips, squinted at Tiffany’s gift, and shook her head. “Nice?”

Cork said, “Isn’t shooting a teddy bear a little dull for you?”

Marion favored him with a tolerant smile. “If you look at life with the right attitude, Cork, nothing’s dull.”

Cork met Jo at her office.

“Did you get anything from Edith?” he asked.

“Enough to be enlightening. Lyla and Arne had a bit of a tiff, and they didn’t go home together.”

“I know. Marion Griswold gave her a lift. Arne kept the car.”

“Lyla told you?”

Cork shook his head. “Marion. What else did Edith say?”

“Not long after Lyla left, Arne made his apologies and he left, too. Get this, Cork. She said Arne seemed distracted, not his normal glad-handing self. And he asked to use her phone a couple of times. Said he wanted to check on his daughter but his cell phone wasn’t going through. She directed him to the phone in her husband’s study, off-limits to the party.”

“Marion said she dropped Lyla off at home a little after midnight. She didn’t see any indication that Arne was there.”

“Okay.” Jo put her hands together and bowed her head a moment, thinking. “Arne left the Lipinskis’ house shortly before eleven. It’s a good half-hour drive out to Valhalla. Around eleven-thirty, Charlotte told people she was going snowmobiling. But probably she went out to the guesthouse to meet her lover.”

“Arne.”

“Maybe. I’ve been rereading the statements of all the kids at Valhalla that night. Sid Jankowski and Evelyn Foley said that when they went to the guesthouse a little after one ‘to be alone,’ they heard the snowmobile taking off, and Charlotte wasn’t in the guesthouse when they got there.”

“The time frame works, Jo.”

“Everything we have is circumstantial, Cork.”

“Not everything. We have a trump card. The pubic hairs the M.E. combed off her body. Suppose they match Soderberg’s?”

“Unless we can actually put Arne at Valhalla that night, I don’t think we have enough to compel him to submit to a DNA test.” For a minute, Jo stared out the window. Then her blue eyes widened and she said, “Oh, my god.”

“What?”

“Tiffany Soderberg.”

Jo grabbed a stack of manila folders from a corner of her desk. It looked like the same stack she’d taken to bed with her the night before. She thumbed through quickly, found the folder she was looking for, and opened it. She flipped a couple of pages and scanned the text.

“Here it is. In her statement, Tiffany says she got to the party early, around nine, and that she got a ride to and from Valhalla with Lucy Birmingham. She didn’t drive herself.”

“So?”

Jo held up her hand, indicating Cork needed to be patient. She located another folder and flipped through the pages, found what she wanted. Her finger followed the text as she spoke. “In his statement, a young man named Peter Christiansen says he didn’t arrive at Valhalla until eleven. He wasn’t going to stay at the party long. About twelve-fifteen, he tried to leave, but couldn’t because his car was blocked by Tiffany Soderberg’s car. He went back to the party looking for Tiffany, couldn’t find her, drank another beer, and when he went outside again, her car was gone, and he left.” She looked up at Cork. “If Tiffany didn’t drive there, why did he think it was her car blocking him in?”

Cork thought a moment. “Because it was clearly a Soderberg vehicle.”

“And what Soderberg vehicle really stands out?”

“Lyla’s gold PT Cruiser.”

“Let’s find Peter and make sure that was the car.”

“Then what?”

“Then we visit Arne and if necessary, play our trump card.”

They located Peter Christiansen at the Iron Lake marina, where he had a summer job. After he confirmed the information they needed, they headed to the sheriff’s department and caught Soderberg just as he was leaving his office. He seemed in a particular hurry.

“Clocking out already?” Cork cast an obvious look at his watch.

“My daughter’s graduating tonight, O’Connor.”

“A big celebration?” Jo asked.

“Lyla’s got a special dinner planned. So whatever it is you want, it’ll have to wait until tomorrow.”

“I don’t think this one can wait, Arne,” Cork said.

Jo touched her husband’s arm. “Of course it can. Congratulate Tiffany for us, and tell her we wish her good luck. We’ll come back in the morning and talk.”

After Soderberg had gone, Cork turned to Jo. “What was that about?”

“If he is the one,” Jo said, “this may be the last good time he and his family have together for a long while. We can wait until tomorrow, can’t we?”

They left the sheriff’s department. In the park across the street, the crowd had thinned considerably in the summer heat. A few blankets were still on the ground in the shade of the trees. Music played on a boom box, but softly. A red helium balloon had escaped, and its string was snagged in the branches of a maple. Cork watched the balloon pull gently at the end of its tether. The late afternoon was still, like a held breath. All of them, those who waited in the park hoping for a miracle that would free them from their own tethers, whatever they were, looked toward the jail that held Solemn Winter Moon.

“Come on,” Jo said. “Let’s go home.”