The next page began with the usual predisposition probe information. The nature of the investigation: “Illegal Night Hunting / Possession of Deer, Moose, and Bear. Illegal Sale of Game.” It gave the specific address of the subjects targeted.
PIERRE P. MICHAUD
D.O.B.__________
223 Allagash Road
St. Ignace, ME 04778
ROLAND J. MICHAUD
D.O.B.__________
225 Allagash Road
St. Ignace, ME 04778
Seeing two names there surprised me. My understanding was that Pierre Michaud had been the sole focus of Pellerin’s investigation. I hadn’t realized that his son Roland had been viewed as anything more than an accessory.
Angie Bouchard’s boyfriend had been one of the prime targets.
Not only that, but father and son had been next-door neighbors. The way I understood it, the fire that had consumed several buildings in St. Ignace had started because Pierre had rigged his house to explode when the state police tossed flash-bang grenades through the windows. It was a planned diversion to facilitate his escape into the woods.
The grenades, used by police to startle and scare, were not meant to be incendiary devices, but they had somehow ignited a ferocious blaze. Roland’s house, being adjacent to his father’s, must also have burned to the ground in the conflagration.
The father might be dead, but the son was very much alive, and that was good news for my investigation. I had no information about where Roland Michaud was currently living, but it wouldn’t have surprised me if he’d returned to the St. Ignace area. His father had been the poacher king of the St. John Valley, and he was the heir apparent. Bullies, in my experience, almost never left the safety of their home turfs.
I wondered if Charley had found Roland yet. So far, my friend hadn’t followed the pattern I might have predicted. He hadn’t sought out Angie Bouchard. Nor had he been in touch with Kellam. What was the old man even doing?
I pictured the figure I’d spotted along the lakeshore. If it had been Charley, what purpose could he have had in spying on us? Let alone in revealing himself to me.
I searched deeper into my memories and recalled the silver Jeep as it had passed me on the Rocky Brook Road. The license plate had been so muddy it was unreadable. It had been far dirtier than the rear bumper itself.
The realization took hold: The plate had been deliberately obscured.
Someone was following me.
Again, my thoughts ran to Charley. I had been on the lookout for a green Ford Ranger. Where might he have obtained the Jeep?
I picked up my cell and typed a text to Molly Francis.
Her phone must have been cybernetically attached to her body because her response was instantaneous:
How did u no my gramp drives a silvr jeep?
Either Nick Francis had tailed me into the woods from Presque Isle or he had loaned Charley his vehicle so my friend could pass unnoticed through the County.
To my knowledge, Nick Francis hadn’t been involved in the raid on St. Ignace. He had been the Passamaquoddy police chief at the time, focused on tribal problems in distant Washington County.
And yet he had withheld information from me about lending his Jeep to Charley. He had alerted Kellam to my arrival for reasons I still didn’t understand. No doubt he had fed me lies back at the truck stop, too. Nick Francis might well be a friend of Charley’s, but I would be a fool to trust the man.
I sat up past midnight, reading the files.
Kellam had let Ferox out to guard the house. From time to time, I would hear the clicking of the Cane Corso’s nails in the hall. The massive dog would approach my door and sniff at the crack. Having it roaming the sleeping house made me wish my room included a bedpan.
I performed an internet search to satisfy my curiosity.
Ferox was Latin for savage. And the basis for the English word ferocious. Why was I not surprised?
The lengthy document began with a synopsis written by Scott Pellerin. Law enforcement officers are taught to write in a blunt style devoid of personality or affectation, but Pellerin had managed to smuggle some of himself into the summary.
SYNOPSIS:
In August 20__, I, Inv. SCOTT M. PELLERIN, was assigned to conduct a Special Investigation Probe on a father and son, PIERRE P. MICHAUD and ROLAND J. MICHAUD, both of St. Ignace, ME. The men have significant criminal histories and are suspected of currently engaging in serious class D illegal hunting crimes (SEE CRIMINAL HISTORY AND WCID REQUEST SUBMITTED BY DEP. WDN CHASSE LAMONTAINE). Another son, ZACHARIE P. MICHAUD, is a convicted felon and is suspected, in addition to illegally hunting, of committing the class C felony of possessing a firearm. Family and associates of the MICHAUDS are also suspected of violating serious wildlife hunting laws and nonhunting crimes, including class B felonies related to the import and sale of drugs, as well as multiple violations of the federal Lacey Act for transportation of illegally killed wildlife across international boundaries. Under the direct order of LT. STANLEY GALE KELLAM, I was instructed to contact the MICHAUDS as an operative in a covert capacity to determine if the suspected illegal activity was presently occurring and ongoing.
On 08/28/20__ through 09/01/20__, I met and spent time with PIERRE P. MICHAUD DOB ___, ROLAND J. MICHAUD DOB___, ZACHERIE P. MICHAUD DOB___, EMMELINE T. BOUCHARD DOB___, and JON J. EGAN DOB ___, and other associates. During these interactions, the MICHAUDS told me several stories regarding their having committed serious class D illegal hunting crimes. These crimes included acts of night hunting deer, illegally killing bear, killing moose in closed season, hunting under the influence of intoxicating liquors. Discussions regarding other non–fish and wildlife crimes included growing large amounts of marijuana, smuggling marijuana across the international border into New Brunswick, Province of Canada. On the evening of 08/31/20__, ROLAND J. MICHAUD invited me to shoot a ruffed grouse (illegal to hunt except from Oct. 1st through Dec. 31st). The
