“No fair,” I said. “You’re cheating.”
“Nobody said I had to drive like a civilian.”
“He’ll still make it. I know he will.”
We passed the Garden River First Nation. I looked at my watch. It was 3:45. Leon hadn’t been on the case for more than thirty minutes.
“I’ll take dinner first,” she said.
Then the phone rang.
“Hello, Leon,” I said as I picked it up. “What took you so long?”
“I’ve got something,” he said.
“What is it?”
“You said early 1973, right?”
“Right.”
“How about a few minutes into the year?”
“How do you mean?”
“It was New Year’s Eve. He died just as 1972 was turning into 1973.”
That stopped me cold. New Year’s Eve. I thought back over all the jumbled references Mrs. DeMarco had made to New Year’s Eve.
“It happened here in the Soo,” Leon went on. “Just like you said. You want to know exactly where?”
“Yes, tell me.”
“Right outside the Ojibway.”
“My God.” I looked at Natalie. She was back to her straight-ahead stare.
“I’ve got the old news article here,” he said. “Reynaud was found around the corner, right next to the building, on Water Street.”
“On the side overlooking the locks?”
“Yeah. He was shot in the back of the head. They never found out who did it.”
“No leads even?”
“No, at least there aren’t any mentioned in the paper. You’d have to talk to the police about it. Maybe somebody remembers the case.”
“Okay. Can I get a copy of that article?”
“Of course. You never bought a fax machine, did you?”
“Why would I buy a fax machine?”
“Just stop by the motor shop,” he said. “I’m here for another hour.”
“Thanks, Leon. I really appreciate it.”
I hung up the phone. I told her everything he had given me.
“So I lose,” she said. Then nothing else. She just kept driving.
We rolled through Soo Canada, then crossed the International Bridge. High above the St. Marys River, I looked down at the locks and the thin stretch of rapids between the Canadian and American sides. The whole scene was cast in a gray, muted light, the clouds hanging low and dark over our heads. The snow would start falling again. It was just a matter of time.
When we cleared customs, I gave her directions to the motor shop on Three Mile Road. As soon as we got out of Natalie’s Jeep, I saw Leon coming out to meet us. I made the introductions.
“Pleased to meet you,” Leon said to Natalie. He bowed a little bit and did everything else but kiss her hand. “No wonder Alex is so loopy these days.”
“Leon, the only thing making me loopy is my concussion. Now who’s this guy over at the newspaper who can-”
I stopped and looked into the showroom.
“There’s like a dozen people in there,” I said. “Don’t you have to go back in?”
He took a quick glance behind him. “They’re fine in there. Everybody’s just looking.”
It made me feel a little guilty again, taking up his time like this. But he was already off and running.
“I’ve got a copy of the article right here,” he said. He took a piece of paper out of a manila folder.
I took it from him and started to read it.
“Leon,” I said. “This isn’t a fax. It’s a photocopy. How did you-”
“I ran over to the newspaper office and got it. Only took me a minute.”
I shook my head and kept reading. It was a front page article dated January 1, 1973, with the same lighthouse that had been on the masthead of the Evening News since forever. The headline read “Canadian Man Slain,” and the text went on to describe the discovery of a frozen body on Water Street, behind the Ojibway Hotel. The man was identified as Jean Sylvain Reynaud of Blind River, Ontario. His wallet was still on his person, robbery ruled out, no suspects at the time. It was all pretty straightforward reporting, and I wasn’t sure if it gave us anything we could use. Except for one detail.
“Leon, it says here he was seen drinking in the hotel bar that evening. I don’t remember there being a bar in the hotel.”
“There was, way back when. I remember my dad going in there when I was a kid.”
“Where the dining room is now?”
“Yeah, I think it was on that side of the building. They redid the place a couple of times since then.”
I passed the paper to Natalie. She read through it quickly and gave it back to me. “Shot in the back of the head,” she said, “behind the bar. That doesn’t sound like he was protecting somebody.”
“No,” Leon said. “Did you have reason to believe he was?”
“Just part of my mother’s story,” she said. “Another lie.”
“I’m sorry,” Leon said to her. “This can’t be easy.”
She pulled her coat closer to her body. “I’m okay.”
“Leon, how can we find out more about this?” I said. “You think the police record is still lying around somewhere?”
“I’m sure it is,” he said, “in some storage room. Probably take forever to find it. You know any old Soo cops who might have been around back then?”
“You don’t suppose…”
“One way to find out.”
“Sure,” I said. “This’ll be fun.”
“You know, if you’re talking about the seventies, you’re going back to a pretty strange time around here. Like I said, I was only a kid then, but I heard about it later.”
“What do you mean?”
“You gotta remember, the air force base was still open then. There were a lot of men stationed up here. You add up everybody, I think it was like ten thousand. That’s a lot of people, Alex. With a long hard winter. You can imagine…”
“So you’re saying, what, there were a lot of prostitutes around, and what else?”
“You name it,” he said. “You remember what happened to the chief of police up here.”
“No, what?”
“He was arrested by the state police for taking bribes from the Detroit Mafia. I forget what year that was.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said. “I was downstate back then.”
“What my grandfather said about this town,” Natalie said. “I guess he knew what he was talking about.”
I looked at the article again. “It’s hard to even imagine.”
A man stepped out of the shop and stared daggers at Leon’s back.
“I think you’re wanted inside,” I said. “Thank you again, Leon. You’re the best.”
“Yes,” Natalie said. “Thank you. Alex told me you were a good partner.”
That seemed to make Leon’s day, even though he was headed back inside to deal with an unhappy boss.
We got back in Natalie’s Jeep. “So now what?” she said.
“Take a right here,” I said. “It’s time for you to meet somebody.”
