He eyed them implacably as they approached on foot. The dog looked at them the same way.
“You really a vet?” Monte asked.
“Fourth Stryker Brigade, Second Infantry Division. We were the last to leave Iraq.” He stated it simply but with a note of pride.
Daniel wanted to ask about the path that took him from Iraq to signing on an interstate ramp in Duluth, but he knew being Indian meant that, even with a history of military service, there were still a thousand roadblocks to a decent life. And maybe the alcohol odor coming off Blue explained a lot.
Monte said, “I understand you crash at that house in Lincoln Park.”
“What of it?”
“Been there awhile, right?”
“What’s it to you?”
“Remember a girl named Fawn Blacksmith?”
From the shadow that the bill of the ball cap cast across his face, Blue eyed Monte, then a car passing on the street. “You’re scaring away my daily bread.”
“Smoke?” Daniel took out the pack of Newports he’d put in the pocket of his uniform blouse to replace the pack he’d given the kid at the house. That got a smile from Blue, who took it, opened it, tapped out a cigarette, pulled a lighter from the pocket of his shorts, and lit up.
“Do you remember Fawn Blacksmith?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah,” Blue said blowing smoke toward the sky. “I remember Fawn. Pretty kid. Good heart. What’s this about?”
“She’s dead.”
Blue’s face barely changed, but Daniel thought he saw a flicker of the man’s eyelids. “How?” Blue asked.
“Someone killed her.”
“That’s tough.”
“When did you last see Fawn?”
Now the man’s face changed, grew wary. “You think I killed her?”
“No. But we’re trying to find out who did.”
Blue lifted the bill of his cap, wiped at his brow, set the cap back on his head. “She was at the house when I first got there. Then they busted the place and we all split. Couple of weeks later, I went back. New people kept showing up. Maybe six months after that, Fawn shows up again. This time she’s got a boyfriend.”
“Name?”
“She called him Billy Bones. Don’t think that was his real name. Older guy. He didn’t live at the house. He just picked up Fawn. Whenever he dropped by, he didn’t pay much attention to me or the guys. He was interested in the girls. My guess, he was pimping her and looking for more. Then Fawn’s gone. Heard she got busted for selling it. I never saw her again.”
“This Billy Bones, what did he look like?”
“Claimed to be Indian. Could have Indian blood in him, I guess. My age, maybe a little older. Flashy. Good dresser. Smooth talker, at least to the girls.”
“Did he manage to sweet-talk any of them into selling it?”
“After Fawn was gone, he didn’t come around anymore.”
“What’s your dog’s name?” Daniel asked.
“I call him Mizheekay.”
“Turtle,” Daniel said.
Blue smiled. “Yeah, he don’t move so fast anymore. But let me show you something.” He reached into the dirty pack at his feet and pulled out a folded sheet of what looked like drawing paper. He unfolded it and held it up for them to see.
“That’s you,” Agent Shirley said. “With your dog. It’s quite good.”
“Fawn drew it. That girl had talent, potential. Just, well, never had the chance to go anywhere with it. Same as so many of us.”
As they turned to leave, Daniel pulled a twenty-dollar bill from his wallet. “For Mizheekay.”
Blue ran his hand gently over the dog’s fur and said to Daniel, “Miigwech.”
CHAPTER 29
The address for Adrian Lewis the Hibbing chief of police had given Dross was at the end of a road called Orchard Lane a couple of miles outside town. It was easy to see where the name came from. Although pines grew on the east side of the road, the west side was lined with apple trees. As she and Cork drove toward the address, they passed a man in a straw hat standing at the edge of the orchard, a twelve-foot pruner pole in his hand. He gave them a cordial wave as they went by.
The house was a brick rambler in a sea of weeds. They parked in the driveway, got no answer to their knock. The doors were locked, the windows curtained.
“Looks like nobody’s lived here in forever,” Dross said.
“He’s been seen around, so he’s got to be living somewhere,” Cork said. “What say we talk to his neighbor?”
