Page 134 of The Instruments of Darkness

“How reliable is the witness?”

“She’s a drunk who once managed to set herself on fire with denatured alcohol. That aside, she’s more reliable than you might think, with an enviable memory that goes back years, decades.. But even combined with what you told me, it’s not halfway enough to get a warrant, not for a property outside my jurisdiction. But I was considering taking a trip up there tomorrow, once I’ve made the requisite courtesy calls to local law enforcement, and assuming Maynard doesn’t show up in the meantime, which he may well do.”

“Who’s the law in Gretton?”

“A constable, Poulin. He has full investigatory and enforcement powers, murder excepted.”

“Have you had dealings with him?”

“A few, but nothing consequential. My opinion, not for circulation, is that he’s spent too long up there. I don’t think he colludes in permitting lawbreaking so much as fails to see much of anything at all. If I’m arriving into his jurisdiction, I’ll be obliged to inform him, but I might test the ground with the sheriff’s office and the state police first.”

I decided to be open with Drummond. If things went south, he’d find out soon enough.

“We’re out by the Michaud property,” I said. “The man we’re looking for came to Gretton in search of that same blue Chrysler.”

“Shit,” said Drummond. “Look, I need to send this up the chain before we act, and that’s not going to happen before tomorrow morning.”

“Last time I checked, we hadn’t been deputized. I’m not sure the chain applies to us.”

“Don’t be obtuse. It’s already dark. You step onto that land now and you could legitimately be shot as trespassers. Jesus, if you three arrived uninvited in my yard at any hour, I’d shoot you on principle. Is it going to hurt to wait till there’s light in the sky?”

I muffled the phone with my hand.

“No point in being shot at if we don’t have to be,” said Louis. “I’ve been shot before, and didn’t enjoy the experience.”

“You’re getting old,” I said.

“It comes with not getting killed. As for you, if someone decides to shoot you, they’ll have trouble finding a spot that doesn’t already have a hole in it.”

“Angel?”

“I’m going to die somewhere,” he replied, “but I’d just as soon it wasn’t out here in the dark.”

“What about Reggio?”

“If he did go onto that property,” said Louis, “and asked the wrong questions of the wrong people, he’s already dead. If they didn’t kill him, he’s either alive there or alive someplace else, and that situation is hardly in danger of imminent change. In other words, us stumbling around at night isn’t going to improve matters. But if you’re intent, I got nothing better to do.”

“The moment Drummond starts reaching out to local and state law enforcement,” I said, “word will spread. I’ve never met the constable around here, and have no idea of his loyalties, but we can’t rely on his discretion when it comes to the Michauds. If we wait, we do so only until predawn, then we go in.”

“I can live with that,” said Louis, and Angel concurred.

I returned to the call.

“That took a while,” said Drummond.

“The perils of living in a democracy. We’ll wait.” It was the truth, but also kind of a lie. We would wait, but not for Drummond.

“You make it sound as though you’re doing me a solid,” he said. “And there I was thinking it was the other way around.”

“Don’t get all mushy. You can thank me later.”

“I’ll add it to my list of things I look forward to doing, right below donating a kidney.”

“That’s the spirit,” I said. “Be a giver.”

CHAPTER LXXXVII

From his hiding place on the Hickman holding, Ellar Michaud watched Antoine Pinette’s vehicle arrive at the camp. The lights strung from the trailers revealed the patched paintwork, and now here was Pinette himself stepping out from behind the wheel, accompanied by a younger man whom Ellar had seen around town with Pinette and Lars Ungar. There was some resemblance between Pinette and his companion, Ellar thought, even if the boy looked softer around the edges.