The Poacher's Son

15

When I awoke the next morning, I found Sarah already sitting up beside me, propped against two pillows. I had the feeling she’d been studying me while I slept.

“How long have you been awake?” I asked.

“Not long.”

“You fell asleep pretty fast.”

She gave me a weak smile. “I thought I heard an owl last night.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“It sounded like an owl. It was in the pines right outside the house.”

“Did it keep you awake?”

“No.”

I slid up beside her.

“Mike,” she began. “I don’t know what happened last night.”

“I got you drunk and took advantage of you.”

She rolled her eyes. “Give me a little credit. I was the one who came over here. You don’t think I figured this might happen?”

“You figured right.”

She rested her head on my shoulder. “This is so confusing.”

“No, it’s not.”

“What do you mean?”

“It means this was a one-time thing. We both know it. So let’s quit pretending.”

She sat up. “Why are you being such a jerk all of a sudden?”

I had no excuse for myself-except that in my messed-up logic, hurting her now seemed kinder than hurting her later. And I would hurt her later. I’d already proven that.

“I’m just being honest about the situation.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means I’m not going to quit my job.”

“I never asked you to.”

“When you were living here, all you did was complain about being lonely and poor. You kept harping on how little money we’d ever have and how we’d never be able to travel abroad or have a nice house like Amy’s. And you’re right. We’ll never have those things. Maybe you should just find yourself a corporate lawyer to marry, like my mom did.”

She stood up. She looked blowsy and bed-headed and absolutely beautiful in the morning sunlight. “Fuck you.”

Outside I heard tires rustling on dry leaves, a vehicle coming down the dirt drive.

“Someone’s here.” I scrambled out of bed and lifted the curtain.

A green patrol truck came to a stop behind mine. Kathy Frost climbed out. From her expression I couldn’t tell whether she was bringing me bad news or good.

“Who is it?” Sarah asked, wiping tears from her eyes.

I pulled on a T-shirt and a pair of boxers and hurried out of the room.

Kathy did a double take when I yanked open the door. She looked me up and down, a smile spreading across her face at the spectacle of me in my underwear.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“Good morning to you, too. Isn’t that Sarah’s Subaru?”

“She’s here. So what?”

She cocked an eyebrow. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

I stepped outside quickly, forcing her to move back. Then I shut the door behind me. “What’s going on, Kathy?”

“I just wanted to let you know I checked our trap this morning.”

“You what?”

“Yeah, I was up early. So I decided to drive over and have a look. No luck, though.”

“I didn’t ask you to do that,” I snapped.

“What’s the big deal?”

“It’s my fucking responsibility.”

“Cool down, Undershorts. I just figured you had enough on your mind without having to worry about a stupid bear. I thought I’d help you out.”

The door opened behind me, and Sarah came out. She’d dressed quickly and hadn’t even bothered to put on her sandals but clutched them tightly to her chest. “Sergeant.”

“Hi, Sarah. I didn’t know you were here.”

“It’s all right. I have to leave, anyway.”

“Sarah,” I said.

She brushed past me. “I’ve got to get out of here,” she said, climbing inside her car. “I should never have come back.”

“Don’t leave like this.”

She started the engine and put the car in reverse. She backed up so fast I thought she was going to clip Kathy’s fender. I watched the dust rise behind her as she disappeared down the drive.

“Ouch,” said Kathy.

She was still standing there when I closed the door.

I waited until I heard her truck leave before I sat down next to the telephone. I punched in the number and waited. The phone rang for a good two minutes before a man finally picked up. “Rum Pond,” he said.

“Brenda Dean, please.”

“Who’s this?” It was Russell Pelletier. I recognized the smokestrained voice.

“It’s Mike Bowditch.”

“Mike,” he said. “How are you holding up, kid?”

“Is Brenda there, Mr. Pelletier?”

“Afraid not. The police wanted to talk with her, so she went in to Flagstaff first thing this morning.”

“She’s with the police?”

“Yeah. They sent a car out for her. Left me to wash all the fucking dishes.”

So Detective Soctomah had brought her in for questioning. Presumably she’d given my dad an alibi for the night of the murders. But unless she had proof, there was zero chance of them believing her. In fact, based upon my testimony about that message my dad left on my machine, the one with the woman’s voice on it, they probably viewed her as an accessory.

Pelletier broke the silence: “Your old man really fucked up this time.”

“How come you didn’t tell me you were at that meeting at the Dead River Inn?”

“How’s that?”

“I saw your picture in the paper. You didn’t tell me you were there.”

“The whole town was there. What the hell are you implying?”

“Maybe you know what really happened that night,” I said.

“I’ve got dishes to wash.” He hung up before I could say another word.

Was Russell Pelletier one of the men my father suspected? I had no way of knowing. It was true that I’d always disliked the sporting camp owner with his drooping mustache and perpetual cigarette. And he certainly had cause to want Wendigo chased off-more cause than my father did, at least on the surface. He was facing the loss of his business, his way of life. He definitely had a motive to murder.

Not that he would admit anything to me. Why had I provoked him? Any chance I might have had to get information out of Pelletier was gone now, and with Brenda Dean in police custody I was at a definite dead end. If I drove up there, Lieutenant Malcomb would have my badge, and without that, what good would I be to my dad?

I had no choice but to go out on patrol. And hope that something happened that would map out my next move.

Maine used to be famous for its cool summers. Now it seemed that every August came with an actual heat wave. Hello, global warming.

This day was another scorcher, ninety degrees in the shade, which meant no fish biting on the lakes, which meant fewer fishermen to check but lots more recreational boaters. I drove around to the various public landings with the air-conditioning at full power and the police radio turned loud, listening for anything that might indicate a break in my dad’s case. And I did my best not to dwell on Sarah’s expression as she drove off this morning.

Then, in the afternoon, I stopped at the municipal boat launch at Indian Pond and there was Anthony DeSalle’s black Suburban in the parking lot.

Through my binoculars I saw his big powerboat floating on the water. I should’ve known I might run into him again. He’d said he was renting a house on Indian Pond, and it was only logical to conclude that he intended to make use of his boat again while he was on vacation. Sooner or later we were bound to cross paths.

Maybe he figured he’d scared me off by filing a complaint. Maybe he figured I would leave him alone now.

Fat chance.

I nosed my truck into a parking space facing the water, rolled down the window, and waited. The smell of the lake drifted in, a languorous odor of algae blooms and gasoline from outboard motors.

When I finally saw DeSalle’s boat headed in, I felt a surge of adrenaline. I climbed out of the truck and walked to the end of the ramp.

DeSalle was at the helm, and his son was with him. There was another man in the boat this time, dark haired and deeply tanned. He had a thick chest, big arms, and spindly little legs, all shiny with suntan oil, and he wore a red bathing suit and a gold chain around his neck. The little boy, I noticed, wasn’t wearing a personal flotation device.

“Maine game warden. I need to inspect your boat, please.”

“I don’t believe this bullshit,” said DeSalle.

The other man hopped over the gunwale into knee-deep water and splashed ahead of the boat, guiding it with his hand into the shallows. He came right toward me, but I held my ground at the base of the ramp.

“What’s your problem?” he said. His eyes were so brown they were almost black, and his breath smelled of gin.

“I need to inspect your boat, please.”

“We saw you watching us,” said DeSalle. “You’ve been waiting here for us to come in.”

“Just doing my job, Mr. DeSalle.”

“The hell you are.”

DeSalle pointed his finger at me. “This is fucking harrassment.”

“If you have a problem with me, Mr. DeSalle, you can make another complaint.”

“Screw you,” said the other man.

“What’s your name? I want to see some I.D.”

He threw back his head and laughed. “You want to see some I.D.? Here it is.” He grabbed the crotch of his bathing suit and squeezed.

I took a half step forward.

“Knock it off, Frank,” said DeSalle. He nodded his head in the direction of the parking lot.

A car had pulled up without my hearing it, and a man and a woman were busy removing a pair of river kayaks from its roof.

“You want to inspect my boat, Officer?” said Anthony DeSalle in a loud voice, loud enough for the couple to hear, “Go right ahead. Be my guest.”

“I want to see your I.D. first,” I said to the man he’d called Frank.

“Sure thing, Officer.”

He reached over the gunwale to pick up a flowered shirt. His wallet was in the pocket. The name on the driver’s license was Frank Nappi, of Saugus, Massachusetts. He also had a valid fifteenday Maine fishing license.

DeSalle held up a piece of paper. “Here’s my registration-which you’ve already seen-unless it expired since two days ago.”

The registration was in order, of course. There were sufficient PFDs in the boat now, and the fire extinguisher was approved and fully charged. There were three fishing rods in the stern, but no indication that they’d caught any fish or used illegal tackle.

When I looked up, DeSalle was leaning against the dashboard with his arms crossed and a smug smile on his face. “I talked with your lieutenant. You’re in a shitload of trouble.”

“How old is your son, Mr. DeSalle?”

The smile left his face. “He’s ten. Why?”

“He doesn’t need a fishing license,” said Frank Nappi.

“You’re right, Mr. Nappi. He doesn’t. But he is required by law to wear at least a Type III personal flotation device while on board a watercraft.” I removed my citation book from my pocket and stepped back from the boat. “I’m citing you, Mr. DeSalle, for operating a watercraft without proper safety equipment.”

“You think you’re pretty tough, don’t you, fucker?” said Nappi.

“I’ve heard enough out of you, Mr. Nappi.”

“Warden?” The voice came from the top of the ramp where the couple with the kayaks were waiting for us to move so they could put in. I had only glanced at them before, but now I recognized the young woman as Dot Libby’s youngest daughter, Ruth, the pudgy waitress from the Square Deal Diner. “Mike? Are you all right?”

Seeing her did something to me; all at once the fire seemed to go out in my brain. Just the sound of a woman’s voice did it.

Suddenly it was over.

Nappi seemed to know it, too. When he turned back to me, he was still sneering, but the muscles in his arms and neck seemed to relax.

“I’m fine, Ruth,” I said, keeping my eyes on Nappi. “Thank you.” Over my shoulder, I said to DeSalle. “Your driver’s license, please, Mr. DeSalle.”

This time he gave it to me. I wrote up the ticket and held it out for him. He grabbed the paper from me and said in a soft voice, “Your career is over, asshole.”

I climbed to the top of the boat ramp and stood beside Ruth Libby and her boyfriend while DeSalle and Nappi loaded the powerboat onto the trailer. All the while, the boy, forgotten by his father, watched me. I couldn’t tell from his expression what he was thinking. Maybe he wanted me to rescue him, maybe he wanted to kill me. The blood was still pounding in my ears, very loud. I knew my face was red with it, too.

“Those guys were rude,” whispered Ruth’s boyfriend.

“They’re pricks,” said Ruth. “We missed you the last few days at the diner, Mike.”

My mouth tasted of the dirt-dry parking lot. “I’ve been busy. Tell your mom I’ll be around one of these days.”

“Tell her yourself,” she said.

My pager went off as I was sitting in my parked patrol truck, trying to get my paperwork together while I cooled down. I didn’t recognize the phone number that came up, but I dialed it, anyway. The department didn’t reimburse us for cell phone calls, even when they were made for job-related reasons, but most of the wardens I knew continued to carry personal cells and pay for the privilege out of their own pockets.

“This is Mike Bowditch with the Maine Warden Service. You just paged me.”

“Thanks for returning my call. My name’s Rob Post, and I’m a writer with The Portland Press Herald. I’d like to speak with you about your father.”

“I’m on duty, sir.”

“Your father is the suspect in a double homicide and the subject of an international manhunt. Can’t you take five minutes to talk with me? I think your family should be given an opportunity to respond to the things being said about him.”

I closed my eyes and leaned back against the seat. “I have nothing to say.”

“It will help your father if you talk to me, Mike,” said Post.

I laughed.

He knew he was losing me. “I understand you were present at the search scene last night. How did it feel being a warden involved in hunting for your own father?”

“Don’t call me again, Mr. Post.”

“Do you think he killed those men?” he asked before I hung up.

I looked out through the windshield at the mirror surface of Indian Pond, the pearl-gray sky above. My brain could scarcely form a thought-it felt like it was wrapped in cotton batting. I drove back to my empty home.