As he’d been doing for some time now, he’d parked his Land Rover a couple of blocks away so that he could slip into and out of the sheriff’s department without the media spotting him. When he got there this time, however, he saw that he’d been found out. A silver Escalade was parked behind the Land Rover, and as Cork approached, Kenny Yates stepped out. He wore a sanded calfskin leather jacket and leather gloves. Although it was overcast, he had on an expensive pair of shades.
“The Jaegers would like to see you,” he said, blocking Cork’s way.
“Fine, but I have a couple of things I need to do first.”
“They would prefer that you come right now.”
“They would, huh?” He looked up into the big man’s face, into his own reflection in the lenses of the sunglasses. “I was under the impression that you didn’t work for the Jaegers. You work for the Littles.”
“Consider it a request from Mrs. Little then. But the Jaegers’ll be there, too.”
“All right. I’ll follow you.”
“I’d prefer you rode along with me.” Yates finally took the sunglasses off, and Cork saw that his eyes were troubled. “Got something I want to say to you.”
“All right. Let me call home first.”
He checked in with Jenny. Everyone was up, and everything was fine, and Cy Borkman, God bless him, had shown up of his own accord and was having a plate of pancakes and eggs at the kitchen table even as they spoke. Jenny relayed a message from him to Cork: Do what you have to. The home front is secured.
Yates drove, but not a direct route to Jubal Little’s place on Iron Lake. Cork waited for him to say what was on his mind, but it was clear that Yates had to work up to it. Cork figured it must be something pretty hard, considering all the posturing and now all the delay.
They came to a stoplight, one of only three in Aurora, and Yates said, “It’s like this. No matter how it turns out, Camilla’s going to be hurt.”
So it’s Camilla now, Cork thought. What he said was, “Jubal’s dead. What could hurt her more than that?”
Yates shot him a cold look. “It’s going to all come out about Jubal and that Indian woman, isn’t it?”
“I’m not sure I know what you’re talking about, Kenny.”
“Don’t play stupid, Cork. I’d hate to see Camilla have to go through the public shit bath that would result if the press found out why Jubal came north.”
“Kenny, you have no idea why Jubal really came north.”
“To fuck the Indian woman.”
“The physical thing was part of it, I’m sure, but there was something else, something much deeper going on. In a way, I think Jubal was looking for wholeness of spirit. I think that’s what he was really after.”
“Doesn’t matter what he was really after. Those reporters, if they get wind of this woman, won’t be saying he visited her for wholeness, believe me.”
“I’m going to do my best to keep anyone out of this who doesn’t have to be a part of the public story. Once again, I’m giving you my word.”
The light turned green, and Yates pulled ahead.
“Okay, something you maybe ought to know, Cork. That bullet hole through your windshield? You got a lead on the guy who fired it?”
“Not yet.”
“Check this out. Yesterday afternoon Nick Jaeger leaves the house. He’s carrying a piece, a rifle. Gets into his Mercedes and takes off. Doesn’t come back for maybe three hours. Brings the rifle with him back into the house. This morning Camilla tells me he’s heading down to the Twin Cities tomorrow. Not even sticking around to see the end of the investigation into Jubal’s murder.”
“A pressing appointment?” Cork asked.
“Right,” Yates scoffed. “Him and Jubal used to hunt together. Black powder, muzzle-loaders, that antique gun shit. Jubal told me that Nick Jaeger was the second best shot he’d ever seen.”
Cork said, “Let me guess. Jubal was the best.”
“There’s a gun case in Jubal’s house,” Yates went on. “It’s locked or I would have checked to see if any of his rifles had been fired recently. Maybe it’s something you ought to think about. That’s all I’m saying.”
“Why would Nick Jaeger try to kill me?”
Yates pulled into the drive of Jubal Little’s lake home. “You’re the P.I. You figure it out.”
Jaeger’s Mercedes SUV was parked in the drive, and Yates pulled up behind it. They got out, and Yates walked ahead. Cork saw a curtain in a front window drop into place. Yates opened the door for Cork and ushered him inside.
“In here,” Alex Jaeger called from down the hallway.
“They’re all yours,” Yates said and bowed out.
Cork walked to the den, where he’d faced the Jaeger family the day after Jubal died. They’d scattered themselves about the room like throw pillows, Alex standing by the fireplace, Nick at the liquor cabinet, and Camilla sitting demurely on the brown leather divan. When he came in, they watched him like a caribou might track a nearby wolf.
“Thank you for coming,” Alex said.
“With all due respect, Kenny didn’t give me much choice.”
“I’m sorry, Cork,” Camilla said. “Kenny’s… well, Kenny takes his job seriously. I don’t know what I’d do without him.”
A fire crackled away in the fireplace, and the room felt too warm.
“Mind if I take my coat off?” Cork asked.
“Be my guest,” Alex said. He waited until Cork had slipped off his jacket and laid it over the back of one of the plush easy chairs, then he got down to brass tacks. “Is it true they’ve arrested the man who killed Jubal?”
Cork didn’t answer immediately. He took a moment to study each of the Jaegers carefully. Alex stood erect, almost imperious, and Cork could see him commanding men in uniform, or standing before legislators and speaking to them in a way meant to bend them to his purpose. He was born to lead, or at least held himself as if that were the case. Nick dropped ice into a glass and poured in some Johnnie Walker Blue. He seemed more intent on his liquor than on what was occurring in the room, but it was, Cork thought, a studied gesture. And then there was Camilla, who sat lovely and attentive and with a lingering air of sadness about her, and who seemed to Cork to be somehow at the apex of this familial triangle.
“Why am I really here?” Cork said.
“I don’t understand,” Alex replied. “It was a simple question.”
“And one you already know the answer to. You’ve been inside this investigation from the beginning. I don’t know how, and I don’t care, but everything I know about it, you know, too. So what is it that you really want to ask me?”
Nick glanced up from his glass of scotch and locked eyes with his brother. Camilla looked down at her hands, which were folded in her lap.
“All right, here it is,” Alex said. “How much will it cost us to make sure that you say nothing to the press about Jubal and this Indian woman?”
“Ah,” Cork said. He thought a moment. “How much are you willing to pay?”
“I assume you have a number in mind.”
“Make an offer.”
“All right,” Alex said. “Five hundred thousand dollars.”
Cork smiled. “What is it you’re trying to protect? Jubal’s name? The Jaeger name?” His eyes swung toward Camilla. “Or just protective brothers trying to stand between their sister and the bullies of the world? I don’t want your money.”
Camilla spoke up immediately. “I told them you wouldn’t accept something like this, Cork. They wouldn’t believe me. And honestly, I don’t care what people might say about Jubal and Winona Crane. I know the truth, and that’s what’s important to me.”
Alex said, “The truth? Hell, Camilla, the truth is that the guy’s been unfaithful to you for years with this woman.”
“We had an understanding about her.”
