Homefront. Part 33

"You gotta identify yourself," the kid said uncertainly as he turned around. "Can't just-"

Gator took a step forward and swung the pipe, slamming it in a short, powerful arc into the back of the kid's right thigh just above the inner knee.

"Ow, s.h.i.+t." He crumpled to his knees.

"Belly up against the wall, motherf.u.c.ker!"

"Okay, okay, G.o.dd.a.m.n-" The kid scooted on his knees and hugged the wallpaper, digging his fingers into it. He was gasping, no, sobbing.

What a p.u.s.s.y. "Now, put your arms straight back, palms up. Do it!"

"Am I under arrest?" He extended his arms, hands shaking.

Gator tested an old chair, decided it would hold his weight, and sat down. "Name?"

"If you're a cop, you gotta identify yourself, don't you?"

"I don't see any cops. You see any cops?" Gator said amiably. "Just you and me. n.o.body else for miles."

"Oh, s.h.i.+t. It's you." The kid's voice began to shake. He cast a furtive look over his shoulder, trying to make out the dark shape behind the bright multiple halogen bulbs.

"Turn around. Keep your hands straight back. Now, what's your name?"

After a long moment the kid said, "Terry Nelson."

"Any relation to Cal Nelson?"

"My dad."

"Cal was a year ahead of me in school. He still work for the power company?"

"Yeah."

"He know you're into this s.h.i.+t?" Gator aimed a kick at a can of paint thinner, sent it cras.h.i.+ng across the floor into the wall.

"Aw s.h.i.+t; it is is you," Terry said hopelessly. you," Terry said hopelessly.

"I asked you a question."

"My dad and me ain't talked much lately." From trembling lips, Terry's voice sounded lost, confused. Like a child's.

Gator let him build up his shakes for almost a minute, then he said, "Okay, kid, since I knew your old man I'm gonna give you a break. So turn around and sit down." He'd been through this routine with local kids four or five times in the last year. He really enjoyed this part; first he'd jack 'em up, then let them down a notch on the hook. He extended the pack of Camel Reds. "You want a cigarette?" Uncle Gator.

Terry took a cigarette from the pack with shaking fingers, leaned forward, and accepted a light. He puffed and huddled, drawing up his knees, wrapping his arms around them.

"You got a problem, Terry," Gator said.

"I wasn't gonna sell it. I just needed a little for-"

"I mean the hot plate, dummy. You're not thinking too clearly, are you? What the h.e.l.l were you planning to plug it in to? Power's been off here for years. s.h.i.+t, your dad probably shut down the line."

Terry puffed nervously, his face twitching in the circle of halogen light. "Last time I was here, I thought..." His voice ended in a tic of nerves that distorted his face.

"When's the last time you got high?" Gator asked.

Terry's shrug collapsed into a shuddering spasm. "Don't know. Couple days. Over in Thief River."

"Tell me about the last time you were here. You weren't alone, were you? And you didn't use a hot plate."

"I don't feel so good," Terry muttered.

"We'll get to that. Now who were you here with?"

"You gonna let me go?"

"Depends. One way you can walk outa here. Another way, we call Keith Nygard."

At the mention of the sheriff, Terry attempted to concentrate. When he furrowed his brow, it looked like he was herding a scurry of tiny mice under the skin of his cheeks and mouth, struggling to get them corralled in his twitchy eyes. "We had a camp stove, I guess."

"Who's we?"

"Aw s.h.i.+t, man."

Gator held up his cell phone. "Works real good, now they built the towers for the summer folks. Got Keith's number right here in my phone book. All I gotta do is poke my finger. Gimme some names, Terry."

"They're my friends," Terry sniveled.

"p.i.s.sant little tweaker like you got no friends. All you got is that pipe. Now take your time and think. While you're thinking ponder about Keith's jail. Not much to it. I hear it's kinda grim." Pause. "I'm waiting."

"Danny Halstad and Frank Reed," Terry said glumly.

"They local?"

"Danny's a senior. Frank graduated last year."

"Guess you guys didn't get the word, huh? This Danny-he bringing s.h.i.+t into the school?"

"No way. Everybody knows about the people you-" Terry panted, dry swallowing, then gulped, "who burned up."

"What about outsiders, say from Beltrami or Red Lake, coming in to these old houses on Z, cooking?"

Terry violently shook his head.

"Stand up," Gator ordered. Terry scrambled to his feet, bent over, rubbing the back of his leg where Gator had laid the pipe. Gator put the light in his face. "Push up your lips so I can see your teeth and gums."

"Huh?"

"Do it."

Apprehensively, Terry manipulated his lips, revealing a grimace of teeth.

"Don't look too bad, you ain't that far gone. You could rehab your a.s.s. You ever think of that?"

"Ah, sure. All the time." Terry bobbed his head in a comic attempt to placate the dark forceful presence behind the flashlight.

Lying little s.h.i.+t. "Good. But first let's get something straight." Gator sidestepped, stooped, and s.n.a.t.c.hed up the can of paint thinner he'd kicked. He put the flashlight under his arm, twisted the cap, then splashed some of the liquid on Terry's chest. "I'm gonna keep this can and put your name on it. I catch you stinking up my woods cooking meth, you're gonna drink this whole half gallon."

The stark reek of mineral spirits underscored Gator's words as he capped the container and lowered it to the floor.

"I won't come back, honest to G.o.d," Terry stammered as a glimmer of hope quivered in his dilated pupils.

"Right. Look, Terry. I'm going to give you some advice. If I was you, I'd get in that Nova and drive straight to Bemidji. You know that big Target store north of town?"

"Yeah. In the mall. I been there."

"To the Sudafed aisle, smerfing for precursor, huh?"

"Drive to the Target store," Terry said solemnly, like he could see it s.h.i.+mmering in the darkness.

"You go in and walk to the back where they keep the electronics. Where they got the big color TVs. Find one of those new flat screen plasma jobs. Easy to carry. If they got it chained down, go to hardware and pocket some bolt cutters..."

Gator lowered the flashlight so the beam tiled up, revealing the shadowed planes of his face, making it into a stern disembodied mask.

"...check the price tag. You want one that costs over $500. That'll put you in felony theft. You grab that set and run for it through the back doors, into the warehouse."

"s.h.i.+t, I'll never make it."

"That's the whole point. It's a cla.s.sic cry for help. h.e.l.l, they'll do a drug screen and stick you in county for six months. Beltrami's a Holiday Inn compared to Nygard's dungeon. They got programs, counseling. Get a dentist to check out your teeth. Could turn your life around."

Then Gator grabbed Terry's arm and shoved him toward the floor. Terry panicked at the touch, the downward movement. "Please..."

"Pick up your s.h.i.+t," Gator said, not hiding the disgust at this kid's callowness. "Go on."

Terry scrambled on the floor, grabbing at items. His hand hovered near the pipe. Gator's mashed the heel of his work boot down, crus.h.i.+ng it. "How much money you got?" he asked.

Terry stood up and held out the crumpled bills. Four singles, some change. Gator palmed his wallet, selected a twenty, and handed it to Terry.

"What's this?"

"Gas money. Get some McDonald's. A malt."

"Ah, thanks," Terry mumbled, staring at the bill.

Gator took Terry by the arm and walked him to the swaybacked porch. "One last thing."

"Sure, anything," Terry said, antsy, seeing his car just thirty feet away.

"Say, 'Who was that masked man,'" Gator said, "What?" Terry's voice cracked wide open with fear, sensing some freaky trick coming just as he was about to get free.

"C'mon. It's just words. Say it."

Terry swallowed, took a breath, and said, apprehensively, "Who was that masked man."

Gator smiled. "Good. Now get the f.u.c.k out of here." He shoved him hard and sent him sprawling off the porch into the snow. "Run, you little s.h.i.+t. Run for your life," he taunted as he put the light on him.

Terry scuttled on all fours, gamboling through the snow. Got to his feet, surged for the car, hurled open the door, and jumped behind the wheel.

Gator watched the kid fishtail the Nova, h.e.l.l-bent with a twenty in his hot hand, heading for the nearest dealer who'd sell him a chunk of ice. But probably not in Glacier County. The kid would get high and embellish the story. Tell 'em to keep clear of those spooky woods where n.o.body lived but crazy cousin-killer Gator Bodine. And the wolves.

And that's just how Gator wanted it.

He went back in the house, shone the light at the cook ingredients strewn on the floor. Leave it. Give Keith the names. Plan it so they're sitting in his office, talking, when Broker goes down. Leave it. Give Keith the names. Plan it so they're sitting in his office, talking, when Broker goes down.

That'd work.

Chapter Thirty-eight.

Griffin studied the squat gray building just fifty yards away, checked the road, then, seeing no headlights, left cover and jogged leisurely toward the shop. He had no preconceived plan; it all depended on what he found. Freeform. The thing would dictate its own course. just fifty yards away, checked the road, then, seeing no headlights, left cover and jogged leisurely toward the shop. He had no preconceived plan; it all depended on what he found. Freeform. The thing would dictate its own course.

He went right to the front door, twisted the k.n.o.b, and went in; knelt, unlaced his boots, stepped out of them, and did a fast walk-through in his socks. The square cement-block building was divided roughly into three rooms. In front, the office took up a part.i.tioned corner and contained a desk and shelves with this open alcove at one end with a bunk and an exposed toilet.

The office door opened into a machine shop area with a steel lathe, milling machine, metal saw, grinders, and a drill press.

The second room was the garage. A disa.s.sembled rust orange tractor was raised up on blocks and bottle jacks. A tall tool caddy on casters was positioned next to the tractor; lots of drawers, with a workbench on top. Looking around, he saw a wire-feed Mig welder, welding tanks, an air compressor, and a big Onan diesel generator. Gaskets hung on the wall next to a Halon fire extinguisher. Lots of wood blocks, a few jack stands. What you'd expect to find in a mechanic's shop.

Griffin briefly inspected the part.i.tioned storeroom between the garage and the paint room. It contained a paint gun, two protective suits with breather masks connected to filter packs, and buckets of paint. Last, he walked through the paint room. The walls and floor and ceiling were rainbow-mottled with spray from the paint gun, as was the sink and a long worktable with a wide elaborate fume hood that he a.s.sumed led up to the blower exhaust fan on the roof.

He walked up to a small color snapshot taped over the workbench: palm trees, a sand beach, sea blue water, and surf that looked like ocean. He shrugged and walked back through the shop into the office, taking his time now. He noticed two things. There was a pile of rags under the desk and two bowls; one with a residue of milk, the other with cat chow.

And on the desk, a blue-green pamphlet caught his eye, lying on top of a pile of tractor magazines. Tropics View Tropics View under a red logo. He opened it and thumbed through. It was a brochure for a puddle-jumper airline that catered to Belize, on the east coast of Mexico. under a red logo. He opened it and thumbed through. It was a brochure for a puddle-jumper airline that catered to Belize, on the east coast of Mexico.

He put down the brochure. Nothing in the shop struck him out of the ordinary; the paint room could could be dual use. Okay. Teedo said that he'd seen Gator moving boxes and drums with his Bobcat, to the barn. be dual use. Okay. Teedo said that he'd seen Gator moving boxes and drums with his Bobcat, to the barn.

Griffin put his boots back on and walked to the barn.

The hayloft was vacant, so Griffin went to the lower level and pulled open the tall, stout sliding doors. The bas.e.m.e.nt floor was walled in two broad stalls; the one on the right was obviously used as a parking garage for Gator's truck and was empty except for a battery charger and plastic gallons of wiper fluid and antifreeze.

The other stall looked more promising. He searched inside the door jam, found an electrical box, and flipped the switch. A chain of four overhead bulbs came on, illuminating a long interior s.p.a.ce. A working tractor with a snow bucket and the Bobcat were parked alongside a huge white oblong tank on wheels. "Anhydrous" printed in blue on the side. Stacks of yellow bags; rock salt. A bank of chest-high feed bins made of heavy three-quarter-inch ply lined the entire length of the part.i.tion to the right.

The long bas.e.m.e.nt ab.u.t.ted cattle pens and a lean-to that was open to the fenced pasture. He saw half a dozen heavy green plastic fifty-five-gallon drums arranged in the corner of one of the pens. Inspecting the drums, he found them empty and clean-smelling, like they'd been scrubbed with disinfectant.

Griffin was running out of places for Gator to hide things. Briefly he considered digging through the tangled tractor graveyard in back of the shop. Then his eyes settled on the row of plywood bins. He walked over and lifted one of the lids. Immediately he stepped back, making a face at the stench. It was heaped with blackened s.m.u.tty feed corn, garnished with a jumbo decomposing rat sprawled next to green poison pellets. He went down the line, opening the lids. Five in all; another corn, a barley, two oats, all of them years gone to mildew and rot. A remnant of the hobby farm that had been here.