“Why?”
“Because we could tie him to the deaths of Olivia Hamilton and the Indian girl. When we were married, I told Liam about Uncle Erno and his crazy belief in the end of the world and about that room under his cabin.”
“Did Liam kill them?” Daniel asked. When she didn’t reply, he directed his next question to Paavola. “Did you?”
“I had nothing to do with it. That was Adrian.”
“Adrian Lewis?” Daniel asked.
“Yeah.”
“Why did he kill them?”
“I told you, I got nothing to say.”
“What do you know about this, Irene?” Agent Shirley said.
“Only what Matt told me.”
“And what was that?”
“That Lewis went into a rage and killed the Indian girl. Liam told Matt and Lewis to get rid of her body. Matt thought nobody would ever find her in that clearing with the blueberries.”
“Shut up!” Paavola snarled.
“It’s over, Matt. You have to face up to it.”
“What about Olivia Hamilton?” Daniel said.
Irene Paavola took a deep breath, as if what she was about to say wasn’t easy. “Matt told me that this Lewis drugged her and took her to the cabin. He killed her there. He told Matt and Matt told Liam and they tried to clean up the mess. Then that boy who apparently has ESP or something got involved and Liam got scared. He was afraid he’d get connected to everything, so he was going to kill the boy before he, I don’t know, before he sensed everything or whatever. Matt thought Liam was losing it and maybe would come after me.”
“Because you knew that Liam knew about the room under the cabin and might talk to the police?”
Irene nodded. “That’s when Matt brought me here. Forced me to come, really.”
“For your own good,” Paavola snapped. “Hell, he was on his way to kill you. That’s why he set up that little rendezvous at your place. You were all decked out for him and hot to trot. You’re lucky I got to you before he did.”
“Were you helping Liam Boyle traffic young women?” Agent Shirley asked Paavola.
The man didn’t say anything.
“He was,” Irene said. “I’m so ashamed.”
“You had no idea?”
“Of course not. I’ve spent my life trying to keep kids from falling into the hands of predators like Liam. And Matt. Jesus, Matt, how could you?”
“I did my best to keep them from getting hurt,” he shot back. “Without me around, Adrian would’ve been a monster with them. And some of the pipeline guys, they could get rough. I swear to God, I tried my best.”
“How did it all happen?” Monte asked.
Again, Paavola was mute.
“It was Liam,” Irene said with obvious distaste. “He groomed the girls. I had no idea, I swear it. As nearly as I can tell from what Matt’s told me, he was trafficking in Duluth first. Then the pipeline project began, my brother got a job, and Liam recruited him. Matt let his coworkers know about the service Liam was providing. And Matt knew this Lewis person, who kept the company from bothering the operation. According to Matt, he also provided a trailer or something where the girls were kept and did their work.”
“And you had no idea?” Agent Shirley said. It was obvious that she had trouble believing this.
“Matt and I haven’t communicated much in recent years.”
“What about your ex-husband?” Daniel asked.
“Liam… well.” She looked down at the old floorboards. “He’s hard to explain.”
“Candyce Osterkamp gave us a pretty good idea of his particular kind of charm,” Agent Shirley said.
“I swear to you, I never had any idea he was involved in something like this.”
“Somebody shot and killed Adrian Lewis yesterday,” Monte said.
“That had to be Liam,” Irene said. “Matt was here with me.”
“You own a Remington thirty-aught-six,” Monte said to Paavola.
“What of it?”
“Lewis was killed with a Remington thirty-aught-six round. Earlier today, an empty box of that same caliber cartridge was found in trash from your apartment.”
“Boyle,” Paavola said, his voice hard. “He took the rifle from my place in Dahlbert. I went back for my PlayStation and my rifle, but it was gone. My police scanner, too. That son of a bitch. I’ll bet he was going to try to frame me for whatever he had in mind, then kill me and Irene so we couldn’t talk.”
