Annie peered deeply into Maria’s dark eyes. “What would you do if someone tried to kill me?”
“That is not a thing I think about.”
“Think about it now. What if whoever fired that shot broke into the house right now, what would you do?”
“I would cover you with my body to protect you.” Maria leaned down and kissed her.
Now Annie’s smile was real. “I’m sure you would.” She slowly sat up. “I want to talk to Henry.”
“We shouldn’t leave.”
“It’s broad daylight. I’m not going to let Adrian Lewis or anyone else keep me caged up here. I’m going to Crow Point.”
“To what end?”
“Maybe an exorcism.”
“What?”
“This anger. This hopelessness. This fear. This hell that’s inside me now.”
“You think your friend can remove all that?” Maria shook her head. “You expect too much of him, I think. And of yourself.”
“Doing anything is better than doing nothing. Are you coming?”
“As your father said, we should travel as a pack. You go nowhere without me.”
There was a plaque hanging on the kitchen wall that Cork had made from a slice of sanded and varnished black walnut. It had several hooks on which all the O’Connors hung their vehicle keys. When he took off with Marsha Dross that day, Annie’s father had left his Expedition parked in the driveway and the key hanging from the plaque. Annie took the key and left a note of explanation.
In the heat of the day, the street was empty. The Expedition was like an oven, and Annie drove at first with the windows down. After the intruder in the night and the shooter that morning, she was hypervigilant, keeping an eye to her rearview mirror for anyone who might be following. She saw no one. After a while, she raised the windows and let the air conditioner do its work.
“It is not so humid here as home,” Maria said. “But it is just as hot.”
“Feeling homesick?” Annie asked.
“We have many problems, but it is still my home. You have never felt homesick in Guatemala?”
“Sometimes. But I’ve had you for comfort.”
“And here, I have you,” Maria said. She gazed out her window as they headed away from Aurora and north up the shore of Iron Lake, which was dotted with summer homes and resort cabins. “What is winter like?”
“Cold. Snowy. Quiet. Most of the places you see are empty in winter.”
“I would like to see the snow someday.”
“You can if you stay.”
Maria said, “We have not talked about going back. What will you do after your brother’s wedding?”
“I don’t know.” Annie took her eyes off the road and looked at Maria. “If I stay, will you?”
Maria’s gaze swung away from the lake, which showed itself in blue flashes through the trees. She smiled lovingly at Annie. “Donde tú vayas, yo iré.”
“Whither thou goest, I will go,” Annie translated. “I feel the same way.”
“Then we still have much to talk about,” Maria said. “But first, let’s see about this exorcism of yours.”
The moment they broke from the trees and stepped into the meadow on Crow Point, Annie saw Waaboo running toward them through the tall grass and wildflowers. He wore shorts but no shoes or shirt, and his skin was the tan of deer hide.
“He said you were coming,” Waaboo told them breathlessly.
“Who?” Annie asked.
“Mishomis.”
Annie smiled. The old Mide was well known for this bit of what seemed like second sight. He’d explained it to Annie once, saying simply, “The woods speak of visitors. I listen.”
They followed Waaboo back to the old man’s cabin. Jenny was with him, inside the simple one-room structure. It had been a long time since Annie had actually been in Meloux’s cabin, but she wasn’t surprised to see that it hadn’t changed. A deer-prong pipe still hung on a wall, along with a pair of ancient snowshoes and a page from an old Skelly calendar with an illustration of a pretty young woman in short shorts showing a lot of bare skin as she bent under the hood of a sedan to check the oil. Annie had never asked Meloux why he hung on to that calendar page, but she knew there had to be a reason. There was also a gun rack that cradled a rifle as old as Meloux.
“Just like you said,” Waaboo blurted when they entered.
“Boozhoo,” the old man said in greeting.
“Boozhoo, Henry,” Annie said.
“Will you sit?” The old man held his hand toward the two empty chairs at his table.
“Where’s Prophet?” Annie asked.
