A retired farmer sitting two stools down from Barb set his newspaper aside and leaned over Barb’s shoulder. “Barb had us take a vote on Alaska or the Canadian Rockies. I think Alaska won.”
“Alaska? I was thinking we’d go to the North Shore of Lake Superior. There’s a lodge in Grand Marias with hot tub rooms that look out over the lake.”
An old man and his wife brought their check to the cash register a few feet down the counter from Sandy. The man paid the bill and the woman tapped Sandy on the shoulder. “You know,” the woman said, “you’re both in your 30s and neither of you have been married. I think you should try an Alaskan cruise to celebrate finding the right person this late in your life.”
“I can’t believe this! You really did take a vote,” Sandy said as he looked around at the patrons who were all smiling at him.
“Oh, settle down,” the old woman said. “She’s happy and she’s sharing it with us. We all had fun. You know, she’s really proud of you, too. You’re the nicest guy she’s ever dated.”
Sandy started to laugh. “You really told all these people all that?”
“Yes,” Barb said. “I’m really excited. Is that bad?”
Sandy took her face in his hands and kissed her. “It’s okay.”
“So, we’re going to Alaska?”
“I’ll see if I can make arrangements Monday, but this is really short notice. If I can’t arrange Alaska right now, will Grand Marais be acceptable until we can plan a cruise at our leisure?”
“I haven’t been to either place, so they’re both okay.”
Someone behind Sandy uttered, “Cheapskate,” just loud enough for Sandy to hear.
Floyd drove home and found Mary curled up on the couch with a romance novel. “If you let me put dry clothes on,” Floyd said, “I’ll take you out to supper.”
“I don’t really need supper. We ate so much at the shower that I’m still full. There are some sandwiches in the refrigerator if you’d like them for supper. I wrapped them up so they wouldn’t dry out.”
Floyd disappeared down the hallway. “Are you talking about those tiny ones without crust with lettuce hanging out the edges?” he asked from the bedroom.
“Those would be the ones.”
“I think I saw Spot eating them in the yard.”
“Floyd Swenson! You didn’t feed them to the dog!” Mary yelped as she jumped up from the couch and looked out the window, searching for the dog.
Floyd emerged from the bedroom in a dry shirt and pants. “No, but I was just about to if I was going to be forced to eat them for supper.” Floyd pulled a golf umbrella from a peg on the basement stairway. “I thought I’d drive down to the Kaffe Stuga for a burger and a piece of homemade pie.”
“You’re driving all the way to Harris for pie?” Mary asked as she set her book on the end table and slipped on her shoes.
“I’m going mostly for the ride. I’ve got a bunch of things inside my head that need to get discussed.”
“You wait one second, Floyd Swenson” Mary said, standing akimbo. “Let me make this perfectly clear. We are not driving all the way to Harris with you talking about grisly murder pictures and bouncing around ideas about blood…and cop stuff…and other things that give me nightmares.”
Floyd pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry if I give you nightmares. It’s just that you’re so easy to talk to, and when we talk things get clearer for me.”
Mary gently pushed him back and held him at arm’s length. “You sure can come up with a great line sometimes. You know what Pam told me? She told me that the other deputies ask if you’ve been smoking pot out of the evidence room when you start philosophizing to them.”
Floyd gently took her elbow and steered her to the door. “That’s only Kerm Rajacich, and he’s more of a knock-’em-down-and-drag-’em-off guy, rather than a philosophy guy.”
Mary planted her feet when they reached Floyd’s truck, and wouldn’t move. “I’ll go, but there will be no discussion involving blood or bodily fluids. Is that understood?”
“No bodily fluids discussion. That’s fine,” he said as he held the door for her.
As they pulled out of the driveway, Floyd explained, “I’m sure Aaron Roberts was left for dead outside a cabin on Passenger Lake after Ken Solstad…” Mary glared at him in anticipation of the next words. Floyd hesitated. “After Ken hurt him, he left Aaron for dead. Aaron’s girlfriend went back and found Aaron huddled against the side of a cabin. She broke into the cabin, got Aaron warmed up and fed him some Spam. When she went back the next day Aaron is gone. We have a report of an ATV stolen from a neighboring cabin. It was abandoned near Round Lake.”
“Wow, Ken was pretty calloused about the whole thing,” Mary said. “I can’t imagine many people would hurt a friend and then leave his body for someone to find in the spring.”
“Ken was a piece of work,” Floyd said. “He manipulated everyone into going drinking with him, raped his girlfriend, assaulted his buddy and left him for dead. I don’t know if he grew up that way or if the Army affected him. At this point, I guess it doesn’t make a lot of difference.”
“Okay,” Mary said, “so you’ve got Aaron warming up in a cabin. His girlfriend goes back the next day expecting to find him and she finds the place empty. The question is: Did Aaron steal the ATV and if he did, why did he ride it to Round Lake? Maybe it wasn’t Aaron who stole the ATV. Maybe he tried to walk to a main road. Maybe his body is in a ditch along the way, or maybe he got disoriented, wandered the wrong direction and got lost in a swamp.”
“Those are real possibilities, but most of those bodies show up during hunting season or when someone’s dog brings a bone home.” Floyd drove a few miles in deep thought.
After his silent contemplation, Floyd said, “There has to be something at Round Lake that drew him there.”
“Is there a way to find out?”
“There’s always a way to find out. All it takes is patience and looking under the right stone.” Floyd said, pulling off the interstate at the Harris exit, “That means asking a lot of people a lot of questions they don’t want to answer.”
“Pam was injured in a standoff with some drunk yesterday. Is she better?”
“That drunk was Aaron Roberts’ father and it turned into more than a standoff. Pam had reason to believe that his wife had been injured and he wouldn’t let his wife talk, so Pam called in reinforcements and there was a scuffle in the house. Pam got knocked down and has a sore back and twisted ankle.”
“Was his wife injured?”
“She had a couple of cracked ribs. Pam took her to a safe house for battered women. She’s blaming herself for being depressed and causing her husband’s anger that led to her beating.”
Mary was going to ask another question as Floyd pulled into the gravel parking lot alongside the restaurant, but hesitated. “I just realized something,” she said.
“What’s that?” Floyd asked as he locked the truck.
“You just fed me the juiciest gossip in the county and I can’t tell a soul about it, can I?”
“Nope. It’s just like when we were talking about the creepy guys who lived behind your mother’s house when you were a kid. It’s all confidential.”
“Well, that stinks. Can I at least admit that I know it when someone else tells me about it?”
Floyd opened and held the door for her and replied. “No. You’ll have to act surprised and interested, and whatever you do, don’t correct the facts during the discussion.”
“Being around you can be a real downer. One night you tell me horrific stories about bloody pictures and rape evidence that leaves me with nightmares. The next night you feed me hot gossip and tell me not to share it.” Mary slid into a booth and leaned forward to ask, “What if I forget that I’m not supposed to know and something slips out?”