“Still looking for the Path of Souls.”
“Even though I’m Ojibwe, I admit that I’ve always thought the idea of actually crossing to the other side, walking some spiritual path, was just a metaphor. Now I wonder. And I think about Fawn, whoever she is, or was, and it saddens me to think of her as lost.”
“I’ve been to a lot of burial ceremonies, traditional Anishinaabe, Catholic, Protestant. They all have one thing in common, it seems to me. They help us say goodbye. Part of it, I’m sure, is just support in our grieving and a way to move on. But I’ve always thought that there is this something that connects us to the spirit of the dead, this something that assures us of a life beyond this world, a better existence. If my grandson is somehow more in touch with that something, maybe he can help lost souls like Fawn.” Cork took a deep breath. “It is, as Henry said, a heavy burden for the little guy.”
Theresa reached out and placed her hand gently on his arm. “And for those who love him.”
They arrived at the double-trunk birch, and as Cork climbed into his Expedition, he got a call on his cell phone.
“Monte and I would like to have a talk with you as soon as possible,” Daniel said without preamble.
“Fine. I’m on my way back to Aurora now. Let’s meet somewhere. Not Gooseberry Lane. The news vultures could still be hovering.”
“How about the sheriff’s office?” Daniel suggested. “Marsha Dross might like to be in on this, too.”
“Where are you?”
“Driving back from the Three Rivers rez. We should be in Aurora in about an hour.”
“I’ll call Marsha and meet you there.”
He dropped Theresa Lee at her home, then just to satisfy his curiosity, he headed to Gooseberry Lane and paused at the intersection up the block from his house. There were no media vans in evidence, but that didn’t mean someone wasn’t still staked out somewhere waiting to pounce. He drove on.
“The body in the cabin has been officially identified as that of Olivia Hamilton. Now that she’s been found, the FBI is withdrawing their agents. From now on, BCA is in charge,” Dross told them after they’d gathered in her office. “Although they’re focused on the Hamilton girl, they’re willing to give us any help they can regarding the body in the blueberry patch. There’s still no confirmation that it’s Fawn Blacksmith. I’ve requested BCA obtain dental records, if possible, for comparison.”
“The beaded bracelet the buried girl was wearing nails it for me,” Daniel said. “Daisy Blacksmith told us she gave her granddaughter a bracelet that she’d beaded herself.”
“Of course, we’ll need to show Daisy a photo of the bracelet to confirm they’re the same,” Agent Shirley said.
“BCA should check with the North Regional Juvenile Detention Center,” Daniel said. “Fawn spent time there.”
“Also, there’s a school for problem kids where Fawn spent some time,” Monte Bonhomme threw in. “I can check with Chris Hayner, see if he knows the name of the place.”
“From everything we learned in Deer County, I think we can operate on the pretty solid assumption that it’s Fawn,” Agent Shirley said. “Except for the location of the bodies, I just can’t see a connection with the murder of Olivia Hamilton. But there’s got to be one.”
“Erno Paavola didn’t operate much with money,” Cork said. “He did a lot of bartering. If he paid me in blueberries, chances are he paid someone else in the same way.”
“So,” Dross said, looking glum, “there could be a lot of folks in Tamarack County who know about that blueberry patch.”
“But not a lot who’d know about that bunker under Paavola’s cabin,” Daniel said.
“Which brings us back to Mathias Paavola, who’s dropped off the radar,” Cork said.
Bonhomme said, “Tell me about your investigation of the night Olivia Hamilton went missing. Any indication at all that Paavola was at the Howling Wolf?”
“We got the call at eleven twenty-three P.M.,” Dross began. “Altercation at the bar. By the time my guys responded, the worst of it was over. Cy Cedarholm, who owns the bar, didn’t want to press any charges. But that was when Harvey Green, the kid who brought Olivia Hamilton there, claims to have lost track of her. Claims he looked high and low before going back to the camp.”
“But he didn’t report her missing?”
“Not until the folks at the camp became aware that Olivia was gone. The kid might not have fessed up except another counselor ratted on him. We leaned on Green hard. It was clear the kid probably didn’t have anything to do with her disappearance aside from helping her sneak off to the Howling Wolf. He told us she seemed pretty comfortable with the rough crowd there.
“The problem is that we don’t really have a good idea who all was at the bar that night. We got a list of sorts from the bartender and the barmaids. Some of them were regulars or semis at least. And we can’t be certain we got every name in that biker gang from Fargo. Pretty uncooperative bunch. So…” Dross shook her head. “We could well have missed someone. But that’s as far as we got before the Feds and the BCA came in and took over the investigation.”
“I’ve got the photo Paavola’s sister gave me,” Cork said. “Why don’t I have Cedarholm and whoever was working there that night take a look, see if they recognize Paavola and if they saw him at the bar when Olivia Hamilton was there.”
“If he was there that night, it might explain Olivia Hamilton, but what about Fawn Blacksmith?” Agent Shirley said.
Cork shrugged. “Pull one thread, maybe it’s attached to another.”
“I’m going with you,” Dross said.
“I’ve been thinking about Fawn Blacksmith,” Bonhomme put in. “Her grandmother told us that before she went to that school for problem kids, she’d been living in a house with a bunch of druggies in Duluth. I’m wondering if she might have gone back after her release from the detention center. I’d like to know about that house and who was in it. I’ve got a friend in Duluth PD. I’ll give him a call, see if he can track down an address for me.”
“I can’t help thinking maybe there’s more that Waaboo might sense at the blueberry patch,” Daniel said. “Something that might help us understand what happened to Fawn.”
“He was just out there yesterday,” Cork said. “You can’t be serious about taking him back.”
“He was at the cabin yesterday. That was about Olivia Hamilton. This is about Fawn. The blueberry patch is where Waaboo touched her spirit.”
“Jenny’ll kill you.”
“I think I have to try.”
“What do you want written on your headstone?”
“Maybe I can enlist Uncle Henry’s help.”
“Now I’m thinking two headstones,” Cork said.
