The Big Thaw

Just as Linda Grossman got to the porch door, she turned, looking toward Gabriel. That's when she spotted George. That's also when she screamed, and started to bring up her gun. Things happened very, very fast after that. In the space of two seconds…

Hester stepped out of the porch door of the Grossman house and slammed into Linda, pitching her to the ground.

Carrie stood in the door, and screamed, 'Mommy!'

Gabriel knocked Volont down, and stepped toward Linda Grossman, bringing his gun around toward Hester.

I fired two rounds at Gabriel, and missed. He shifted his aim toward me.

And George stepped out from the side of the barn, and fired once. There was a flash of pinkish halo around Gabriel's head, in the bright sunlight. He went to his knees, and pitched forward, facedown into the mud and snow. It was freaky, seeing him do that and make no attempt to break his fall. He was dead before he hit.

Hester, firmly pressing Linda Grossman's head into the snow with her knee, pointed her gun into the shed. 'Come out, now!'

I stepped around the tire as I saw Harvey Grossman emerge from the shadows. His hands were in the air. I advanced slowly toward him, pointed my gun at his chest. 'You're under arrest!'

In the silence that followed, Volont expressed his gratitude to George. 'You fucking idiot! I needed him alive!'

If George had decided to shoot again, I wouldn't have stopped him. In the distance, I could hear the wop, wop of Huey rotor blades. Closer, I could hear Carrie crying and screaming at Hester.

'Don't hurt my mommy, you… you damn cop!'

Epilogue

As far as the Beauregard goes, there was some truly great TV coverage, with her being pulled to shore by the two diesel locomotives. Endless interviews with the 'survivors.' A great print article by Nancy, with exclusive photos by Shamrock. The two of them covered the entire event, with a little help from their friends. If they ever were really angry at me, it didn't last too long. They sent me a tin of cookies with a note. WE FORGIVE YOU. JUST DON'T LET IT HAPPEN AGAIN. It was signed NANCY & SHAMROCK.

I'll tell you, they got some great photos of Adams and me at the stretch van.

ATF had a bomb team search the General Beauregard just as soon as the last person came off the boat. There were no more bombs. The marine engineers told us that if the railroad yard diesels hadn't been ready when they were, we likely would have lost the boat, and most of the passengers. Points to Lamar on that one.

At any rate, Cletus got two years for conspiracy. A plea bargain. He claimed he'd been duped. I sort of think that he was. Well, with a lot of his own effort.

Blitek was charged with attempted murder, but skated on a plea of insanity. Honest. I couldn't believe it. As far as I'm concerned, he was inept and fearful, not suicidal. But the prosecutor said we wouldn't be able to prove who he was trying to kill, since he hadn't actually killed or hit anybody. My argument was that we couldn't prove he was suicidal, since he was still alive. Prosecutors have no sense of humor. I'm told that all Blitek does at the Mental Health Institute is argue politics with the doctors.

Freddie, the poor devil who started the whole thing off by missing his cousins, got a five-year suspended sentence for burglary. One of the few plea bargains I agree with. And I know Fred. We'll probably get him for burglary again someday. He won't be able to help it.

Freddie's aunt, the mother of the murdered Colsons, came to see me. She wanted to know what the man was doing in the house, when he killed her sons. Why he was there in the first place. I finally told her that he was a burglar, too, but a much more dangerous one than her sons.

The best news, from an evidentiary point of view, was that we finally had access to the real fingerprints for Gabriel. We were able to match them as far back as an ejected rifle cartridge found at the Stritch farm where the photographer was shot. Finally closed that case.

Both Harvey and Linda Grossman told us that Gabriel had, indeed, killed the two boys at the farm. He had thought they were cops, and never changed his mind. Harvey 's in prison, doing an armed robbery stretch for the boat business, time plus fifteen years for having the handgun in his possession. He was, it turned out, a convicted felon. Federal. Volont had been onto him from the start, and made sure Gabriel was able to recruit him. Seemed kind of unfair to me. After all, he never would have been there in the first place if it weren't for Volont. Linda got a twenty-year suspended sentence. Her daughter, Carrie, was the main reason for that.

I never told anybody what Volont told me about the devices Gabriel wanted to buy. But I watch the news every night, waiting. Somebody, after all, has probably purchased them by now.

Volont said that when he was at the body of the first surveillance agent, he could hear somebody say, 'He's where?' inside the shed. Turned out that Carrie was on the phone to her dad, telling everybody where we were. That's why he jumped over the snow pile. When he did, he just about landed on the second surveillance agent's dead body. Gabriel had apparently killed him just before we got there. As Volont was checking the body, Gabriel was behind him. Must have been quite a surprise.

Oh, one more thing. George told me that Volont was really mad at him. Kept making the claim that he could have gotten the gun away from Gabriel, and it wasn't necessary for George to shoot at all. Right. The thing was that, this way, we all damned well knew where Gabriel was now. For the first time.

The thing that bothered me most, though, was the hurt look on Hester's face when Carrie was yelling at her. She deserves so much better than that.

Glossary

AG: Attorney General, either State or Federal

ATF: Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, sometimes referred to as BATF, a bureau under the U.S. Department of the Treasury

CIA: Central Intelligence Agency. An agency of the U.S. Government

COMM: Police Radio call sign of the Communications Center in Nation County

DCI: Division of Criminal Investigation. A Division of the Iowa Department of Public Safety

DEA: Drug Enforcement Administration, an agency of the U.S. Government

DIA: Defense Intelligence Agency, the Intelligence analysis section of the U.S. Department of Defense

DNE: Division of Narcotics Enforcement, an agency of the State of Iowa, and an offshoot of DCI

DNR: Department of Natural Resources, an agency of the State of Iowa

FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, a bureau of the U.S. Department of Justice

ISP: Iowa State Patrol, the uniformed division of the Department of Public Safety

ME: Medical Examiner

NASA: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NRO: National Reconnaissance Office

NSA: National Security Agency

SA: Special Agent, either of the Iowa DCI or the FBI

SAC: Special Agent in Charge, either of the DCI or the FBI

SO: Sheriff's Office