“Whenever you are.”
“Zippy could hold down the fort,” LuJean said.
Monte shook his head. “I need you here.”
“Do me a favor, then,” LuJean said.
“What?” Monte replied.
“You get this Billy Bones, you bring him here. I want to personally kick him in the balls.”
Agent Shirley said, “I understand the feeling, but we’ll let the law do that. You’ll get a visit from BCA today. They’ll be following up on a discussion I had with them last night about what’s gone on out here, the shot at Waaboo and the shooting of Lewis. Be helpful.”
“Always am with our fellow law enforcement agencies.”
“Feel free to tell them where we’ve gone,” Monte said. “But don’t say anything about kicking Billy Bones in the balls, okay? If we get him, I don’t want any claim of police brutality.”
Desjardins shrugged, then said unconvincingly, “You’re the boss.”
They took Monte’s cruiser and headed south toward Bixby and Sizemore School. As they drove, they went over what they knew and what they suspected.
Mathias Paavola was the most likely link to the blueberry patch and old cabin. Paavola and Lewis were connected at the very least through their drinking together at the Howling Wolf, but probably also through their work on the pipeline. If Fawn Blacksmith was being trafficked, it might well be that she was being used to service the men working the pipeline, a common circumstance in places and on projects that involved a lot of manpower. If someone had been grooming her for trafficking, Billy Bones seemed to be the likely candidate. The most promising lead on how he’d managed that seemed, at the moment, to be Sizemore School.
There was another wrinkle. Irene Paavola was still missing.
“Maybe her brother was afraid of what she knew and that she might talk to the police,” Daniel said.
“Cork and Marsha Dross questioned her,” Agent Shirley pointed out. “She didn’t seem to be able tell them much that was helpful except how to track down her brother.”
“That doesn’t mean she didn’t know more,” Monte said.
“If her brother grabbed her, what are the chances she’s still alive?” Daniel asked.
“We don’t really know Mathias Paavola or what he’s capable of,” Monte said. “If he was involved in the death of Fawn Blacksmith and Olivia Hamilton, he could be capable of anything.”
The day before, they’d been directed to talk to Candyce Osterkamp, who, apparently, was close to Irene Paavola. She’d been gone picking blueberries that day, but she was at work at the school when Daniel and the others arrived. They tracked her down to a flower bed filled with an array of blossoms.
“My butterfly garden,” she explained, rising from where she’d been at work on her knees, a little trowel in her gloved hands. She wore a broad-brimmed straw hat that shaded her face. She was sixtyish, slender, smiling. “What can I help you with?”
They introduced themselves and showed their IDs. “We’re trying to track down a man who may have worked here at one time,” Agent Shirley explained. “Does the name Billy Bones mean anything to you?”
Osterkamp furrowed her brow and thought, then shook her head. “I can’t say that it does.”
“What can you tell us then about Irene Paavola?”
A darkness crossed her face that had nothing to do with the shade from her hat. “She’s still missing, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” Agent Shirley said.
“Liam,” Osterkamp said, as if the name were foul.
“Liam?” Monte said.
“Liam Boyle. Her ex-husband. There’s a snake who’ll charm your panties off.”
“Tell me about him.”
“Dark, handsome, smart. Devious. Mixed heritage.”
“Mixed?”
“Ojibwe and Irish. He doesn’t talk much about his Ojibwe side, but Irene’s told me he’s kind of superstitious in that he believes in signs and portents and spirits and such.”
“We were given to understand that they divorced because of his drinking.”
“That’s not why they divorced. Well, maybe part of it. But mostly it was because he could be cruel. Abusive. There’s something dark and scary at the heart of that man. I told her to stay away from him.”
“But she continued to see him?”
“Irene is a pretty smart cookie, but some women have a weakness for a certain kind of man. She couldn’t live with him, but she couldn’t live completely without him either. So, yes, she still sees him from time to time.”
“Any idea how we might contact Mr. Boyle?”
“You could check with Edie in the office. She’s in charge of personnel. She might have an address or phone number for him.” In response to their questioning looks, she said, “Liam worked here for a while. He was down on his luck. Uber driver or something. Irene gave him a job. Groundskeeper, facility maintenance, that kind of thing.” She thought a moment and added, “There’s another possibility, I suppose.”
“What’s that?” Daniel asked.
“She still owns the house she grew up in. Never goes there, but she hasn’t sold it, as far as I know. If she’s afraid of Liam, I suppose it’s possible she’s hiding there.”
