around the place. I had a friend up the road named Vinnie LeBlanc who could keep an eye on things for a couple days. He was a Chippewa Indian, a member of the Bay Mills tribe. Like most of the Chippewas around here, he had a little French in him, a little Italian, a little God knows what else. He worked as a blackjack dealer at the Bay Mills Casino, and during the hunting season he’d sometimes act as a guide for some of the men who rented my cabins. He knew how to play up the Indian thing when he was leading a bunch of downstaters through the woods. And of course he went by his Ojibwa nickname, Red Sky, because as he himself had said many times, who’s going to hire an Indian guide named Vinnie?
I pulled in next to my cabin and got out of the truck.
When I went to the door, I saw something on the step.
It was a rose. A single blood red rose.
I picked it up. I looked around me. Just pine trees. Nobody would have seen him put this here. I looked around on the ground. No footprints, no tire tracks.
I opened the door and looked inside, letting out my breath as I saw that my cabin was empty. There was no sign of forced entry, but you never know. I checked the phone. No messages.
A single red rose. It made me start to think of something, but I couldn’t quite get to it.
Or maybe I didn’t want to get to it. Maybe I didn’t want to make the connection.
I was about to crush the rose, but then thought better of it. It’s bad luck to destroy a rose. Somebody told me that once.
I put the rose in a glass of water, packed my bag, went back outside, and locked the door. “I’m going to have to miss your phone call tonight,” I said to the wind. “Whoever you are, if you call me in the middle of the night, you’ll just hear the phone ring four times and then you’ll get the answering machine. Maybe I should change my message. ‘If you’re a homicidal maniac calling to fuck with my head, please press one. Everyone else, please press two.’”
I went to the truck and sat in the driver’s seat for a few minutes. Finally, I got back out of the truck and went into the cabin.
I dug through the back of my closet, throwing clothes and boots in the air until I found what I was looking for. I put a bullet in each of the six chambers and stuck the gun in my belt.
CHAPTER SIX
“ God, this feels so good, Alex,” Edwin said. “I feel like a free man now.” He was sitting in one of the overstuffed chairs in front of the fireplace, his feet up on a leather hassock, brandy snifter in one hand, a cigar in the other. I was sitting in the other chair, looking into the fire. I had a brandy, too, but I had taken a pass on the cigar. “It’s kind of funny, isn’t it,” he said.
“What’s funny?”
“The way things work out. Something so… horrible. And yet it turns out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s like, have you ever seen a top spinning, and it starts to get wobbly and out of control?”
“Uh-huh?”
“And then it runs into something, bam, and suddenly it’s spinning smoothly again? That’s what happened to me.”
“Okay,” I said. “Good.”
“No, I mean it,” he said. “I have absolutely no urge to gamble anymore. It’s completely gone.”
“If that’s really true, then I’m glad, Edwin.”
“Of course it’s true,” he said. He got up to put another log on the fire. There was a deer head with a twelve-point rack mounted on the wall above the fireplace. I wondered if there was anyone in this world who would think for a second that Edwin had shot that animal himself.
When he sat back down, he said, “So, are you going to tell me what’s going on? Why did you want to know about the last time I saw Tony Bing?”
“Edwin, let me ask you something first. Have you seen anyone around lately who seemed strange or suspicious in any way? Someone who may have seemed to be watching you or following you around?”
He thought for a moment. “No, I don’t think so. I mean, I haven’t noticed anyone like that. Should I be keeping an eye out?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Just be aware. And be careful.”
“What’s this all about, Alex?”
“I’m not sure, Edwin. I don’t want to alarm you more than I have to. And I certainly don’t want to scare your wife or your mother. Let’s just say that I have reason to believe that there might be someone out there who’s watching you, or watching me, or both. Someone who might have been connected to that murder.”
“Does Chief Maven know about this?”
“He knows,” I said.
We both watched the fire for a minute.
“Is there any chance of you going back down to Grosse Pointe for a while?” I finally asked.
“Do you think we should?”
“It might be a good idea.”
“I don’t want to leave,” he said.
“What if I really thought you should leave, Edwin?”
He let out a long stream of smoke. “We’re not leaving, Alex.”
“Okay,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say.
We sat there in silence again. A log popped and sent a spark into the room. Edwin sat there watching it fizzle on the carpet, burning a little black hole. He made no move to stop it. He’d probably just call someone the next day and have the whole room redecorated. “I am glad you’re here, though,” he said. “I was just about to apologize for my mother.”
“She’s just looking out for you.”
“I know,” he said, “but I thought it was so silly, making you stay here tonight.”
“It’s not a problem.”
“Although I have to say, if this is what it took to finally get you over to dinner…”
“The dinner was great,” I said. “Your mother is quite a cook.”
“Well, I’m just glad that I could get you and Sylvia in the same room for a while. I know how it is between you two.”
My heart skipped a beat. “How do you mean?”
“Alex, I’m sure you’ve noticed. Sylvia has this thing about you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I hope you don’t take it personally. She’s always had this thing about certain types of men. I mean, just from the way you look, the type of man that you seem to be. A big tough guy. She never really warmed up to you before, and I felt bad about that. But anyway, I think she got to know you a little better tonight. And I think she really likes you now.”
Sylvia had been nothing but charming all through dinner. It was an incredible performance.
“Where did she run off to, anyway?” he said. “She’s probably with my mother somewhere, plotting against me. You know how women are, eh?”
“I’m right here, darling,” she said. We both turned to see her slip into the room behind us. She had a robe on. It was the same robe she had on that first night, the first night I ever touched her. It opened up at her neck and clung to her in a way that made me want to throw my drink at her.
“Are you coming to bed?” she asked, running her hands around Edwin’s neck.
“Wow,” Edwin said. “You look fantastic. I’ll be right up.”
She turned and looked at me. “Good night, Alex. I hope you can make yourself… comfortable.”
“Don’t worry about me,” I said.
When she left, Edwin stood up and put out his cigar. “I’ve been neglecting that woman,” he said. “But no longer, Alex. It’s all part of the new Edwin.”
