“I remember. You stopped Stephen from getting arrested.” Annie looked around in a sudden panic. “Where’s the other one?”
“Other one?”
“The one who tried to arrest me and my brother.”
“Lewis? He was fired.”
“Why?”
“I reported him. He’d already been a pain the ass, but that screwup with you and your brother was the last straw.”
“He was here.”
Carlson scowled. “You saw him?”
“Just before I… just before everything…”
“Was he in his uniform?”
“Yes.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“I thought he was going to. Then I blacked out.” Annie closed her eyes a moment. Her head no longer hurt, but she felt exhausted, drained. It was like that after an episode. “Where’s Stephen?”
“I don’t know,” Maria said. “We got separated.”
“I need to be going.” Deputy Carlson peered with real concern into Annie’s eyes. “You’re sure you’re all right?”
“Yes,” Annie said. “And thank you.”
The deputy hesitated a moment before leaving. “Look,” he said to them. “Not everyone wearing a badge thinks what’s going on here is right. I’m concerned about our environment too. It’s just… well, I’ve got a job and a duty.”
“Thank you for your kindness,” Maria said.
Deputy Carlson tipped the brim of his hat, then left the birch trees.
Now Annie could hear more clearly the sound of voices, distant, still raised in shouts of protest.
“It’s not over?” she asked.
“For you it is. We’ll find the others and get you home.”
“My shoulder bag,” Annie said, suddenly remembering.
“It’s here.” Maria gave it to her, then took her hand to help her up.
But Annie didn’t move. “I was a star athlete in high school. Did you know that, Maria? I wanted to be the first female pitcher for the Minnesota Twins. Now look at me. I can’t do anything without stumbling or blacking out.”
Maria kissed the top of her head. “You are strong. And you are beautiful.”
“I don’t feel that way.”
“It is how I see you. It is how I will always see you. Come.”
But before Annie could rise, she had a sudden realization that made her grip Maria’s hand fiercely. “Lewis,” she said.
“What about him?”
“Maybe he was the one in the truck outside our house last night.” She looked up into Maria’s dark eyes and felt herself go rigid with a combination of rising anger and deep concern. “There’s nothing but hatred in that man. If it was him, he knows who we are and he knows where we live.”
CHAPTER 22
It was early afternoon when Cork headed back to Aurora. Jenny wanted to stay with her son, so Cork left Crow Point the way he’d come, in the company of Theresa Lee.
“Did you get what you needed?” he asked as they walked the long path to the double-trunk birch.
“There’s something unique about that place. It comforts the soul.”
“Henry says it’s always been that way, the reason it called to his spirit in the first place.”
“Your grandson seems happy there. Which is good. He has a lot he’ll have to deal with in his life. I hope Henry stays alive long enough to help guide him.”
Cork smiled. “We all hope Henry will live forever.”
They were quiet for a long while, letting the feel of the woods, the calling of the birds, the sunlit darting of insects fill their senses. The walk to and from Crow Point had always been a time of contemplation for Cork.
“Your little Waaboo told me that Fawn is still trying to find her way to cross to the other side,” Theresa said.
