It was pushing midnight when I finally hit St. Ignace. I wasn’t sure where the hell I was going, but I knew there had to be a parking lot somewhere on the shoreline. I worked my way south, staying close to Lake Huron until I finally found the parking lot they used for the ferries in the summer. Now there were about a dozen vehicles in the lot, all covered with snow. There was no sign of Vinnie, or anyone else for that matter. It was the loneliest place on earth, because who’d be stupid enough to go out on the lake on a night like this?
I stopped the truck and kept the engine running. I put my head against the steering wheel and felt everything start to spin around me.
Just close your eyes for a little while, I thought. Save your strength.
A sudden knock on my window woke me up. Vinnie looked in at me. I checked my watch. It was twelve-thirty.
When I opened the door, I saw that he was wearing a snowmobile suit. Behind his idling truck was a double trailer. I got out and watched him back both machines down the ramp.
“Vinnie,” I said when he was done, “you brought two sleds.”
“That’s right,” he said. “You think I’m gonna let you go alone?”
“I appreciate it, but listen-”
“We’re losing time, Alex. Don’t fight me. Just get your suit on.”
“I don’t need a suit.”
“See, you need me already. If you don’t put this suit on, you’ll be a Popsicle by the time we get across.”
I took the suit from him and slipped it on. It was big enough for two of me. “Whose is this?” I said.
“It’s Buck’s. It’s big on him, too. Here’s your helmet.”
He handed me a snowmobile helmet with a visor. When I put it on, I was sure I looked exactly like an astronaut.
“Alex, are you gonna tell me why we’re doing this?”
“At least one of the Grant brothers was out there today,” I said. I pointed to the east. Somewhere out there the island lay embedded in ice and covered by the darkness. “Now Natalie’s stepfather is there. The man who was supposed to be dead. I think Natalie’s probably out there, too.”
“Good enough for me. Let’s go.”
“One second,” I said. I went back into the truck, unlocked the glove compartment, and pulled out Leon’s Ruger. He had left it with me when we went up to see Sergeant Moreland. I had lied about it both times I crossed the border. Now I was glad I had held on to it.
“I don’t have a gun,” he said.
“I hope you won’t need one.”
“You know exactly where we’re going?”
“I just follow the trees to get out there, right?”
“Yes. I mean once we get to the island…”
“The Grants’ house,” I said. “That’s the only place I know.”
“Okay, then,” he said. “Lead the way.”
“Whatever happens, I owe you big.”
He gave me one nod of his head, then flipped down his visor and got on his machine. I did the same. It was already idling with a low growl, making me feel like I was sitting on some kind of wild animal.
Lights, I thought. Where the hell are the lights? I fumbled around with the buttons for a few seconds until Vinnie reached over and hit the switch on the left handle. The lights were shining on the back of his trailer until I finally gave it some gas and pulled away, heading toward the end of the lot. The headlights reached out into the night now, finding only snow on the ground, then snow in the air, and beyond that nothing but darkness.
I drove off the end of the lot, quickly losing any sense of perspective. It was just a vast slope of snow, leading down and down until it was flat. I had no idea if I was on land or water. I wasn’t seeing any markers, either. I kept pushing the damned thing forward, trying to spot something in front of me. Anything. I kept bogging down in the deep snow, until I finally figured out that speed was my friend. I twisted the throttle back and stayed up on top of the snow, even though I had no idea where I was going.
I saw an arc of light to my left. Vinnie was breaking off and heading on a different course, so I swung over that way and finally picked up the line of trees. I fell in behind him, content to let him lead the way for a while. One tree flashed by, then another, then another. Vinnie was kicking up a great white cloud behind him. It was starting to stick to my visor. I tried to wipe it off with my left hand, which sent a bolt of pain through my neck.
The next thing I saw was a tangle of bare branches and then everything was turned upside down.
When I opened the visor, I was looking straight up at the falling snow. My neck hurt like all hell, but aside from that I seemed to be fine. The snow had acted like a big pillow. I heard Vinnie circling around. He pulled up next to me and helped me to my feet. I looked over and saw the tree lying sideways. It was just as Leon had told me, an old Christmas tree that somebody had stuck in the snow. In the glare of Vinnie’s headlights I could still see some tinsel hanging on the branches.
“You okay?” he said.
“I never hit a tree in the middle of a lake before,” I said. I rubbed my neck as I got back on the snowmobile. Then we were off again.
The snow seemed to get even deeper as we worked our way toward the island. I could feel the treads fighting hard to move through it. The wind rushed by. Five miles, I thought. It’s only five miles.
The ride seemed to last forever. The snow kept falling, as though it would never stop. If the trees hadn’t been there to guide us, I would have sworn that we were lost, riding around in great looping figure eights all over the frozen surface of Lake Huron.
Finally, a great mass started to take shape ahead of us, darker than the night itself. It grew larger and larger, until we could make out buildings and the faint glow of streetlights.
We rounded a corner by the big wall of boulders that formed a breakwater during the summer months. We rode right up past the docks where the big ferries let off the passengers, on the east end of Huron Street. At least we were right in town this time and didn’t have to ride all the way down from the airport.
We hit a big bump as we rode up onto the street level. There was probably some official snowmobile ramp somewhere else, but that was the least of our problems. I headed down the middle of Huron Street, Vinnie right behind me. The street was empty. It looked even lonelier than the last time I had been there.
One hotel in the center of town seemed to be open for business. Every other building was dark, until we got to the restaurant at the end of the street. I pulled over and came to a stop in front of it. Vinnie pulled up beside me. There were a dozen other snowmobiles parked along the street here. It was obviously the only place to be on a February night on Mackinac Island.
I got off the sled and stretched for a moment. I was stiff and cold, even with the space suit on.
“Is this where we’re going?” Vinnie said. He took off his helmet and shook out his long hair. The snow clung to his suit, making him look like a walking snowman.
“No, it’s up the hill,” I said, pointing to the road that led up to the Grand Hotel. The huge building looked even more foreboding at night. “I just wanted to stop for a second, so we can figure this out.”
“What’s the plan?”
“I’m not sure if we should take the machines all the way up,” I said. “The noise will give us away.”
“There’s a few other snowmobiles here. We won’t be the only people buzzing around.”
“You may be right,” I said. “Although the house is way up there, just past the Grand Hotel. Everything’s locked up tight.”
“If it’s on the main road, I’m sure the riders go up there. Even at night. You know how it is.”
“You’re right,” I said, remembering all the times I had lain awake at night, swearing at the snowmobiles tearing down the trail behind my cabin. “It would be a long hard walk in this snow, too.”
“You need something before we go up?” he said, nodding toward the front window of the restaurant. “Some water? Some food in your stomach?”
“No, I’m good,” I said, which was far from the truth, but I didn’t feel like waiting another minute. I took one glance inside the place, seeing the warm light, the men sitting around the fireplace, other men drinking at the bar. It made me feel even colder.
“Okay,” he said, putting his helmet back on. “Let’s rip it up.”
I brushed the snow off my helmet and lifted it over my head. Then I stopped dead.
“Alex,” Vinnie said from behind me. “Are you all right?”
Inside the restaurant, sitting against the back wall…
It was Natalie.
I didn’t believe it at first. I thought maybe after everything that had happened that day, I was having some kind of hallucination. But then she moved. She looked up and took a quick scan of the room before going back to her drink. It was her.
“Alex, what is it?”
“She’s here.”
“What?”
“She’s here,” I said. “Come on.”
He looked confused as all hell, but he put his helmet on his sled and followed me into the bar. From one second to the next, the air felt seventy degrees warmer. It smelled of cigarette smoke.
“Gentlemen!” the bartender called to us. “Wipe off the snow please!”
I ignored the man. I walked through the room in my ridiculously large snowmobile suit, leaving a trail of snow with every step. The faces were all turning to look at me, but she hadn’t seen me yet. She didn’t know I was twenty feet away from her and closing in.
She didn’t notice me until I was standing right next to her. When she finally looked up at me, it all hit me at once. This was the woman I had spent every waking hour worrying about, the woman I had almost killed myself trying to find. Now here she was, sitting at this table. The light picked up the red in her hair. She stared at me with those green eyes until finally she cleared her throat and spoke.
“You’re here.”
There were seven or eight things I wanted to say. I picked one. “So are you.”
“Hello, Vinnie,” she said, looking past me. “Did Alex drag you all the way out here?”
“He didn’t drag me,” Vinnie said.
“Natalie,” I said, “everyone’s been looking for you.”
“Who’s everyone?”
“All the police in Michigan and Ontario. Your old commander. Me.”
“I haven’t been gone that long.”
“Natalie, he’s alive.”
“That suit’s a little big on you,” she said.
“You already know that, don’t you…”
“Yes.”
“And your mother…”
“Don’t, Alex. Please don’t talk about that, okay? I’m trying to hold everything together here.”
“I was there,” I said.
She looked at me. “You saw her?”
“Yes.”
“I shouldn’t have left her alone,” she said. She looked at the bottom of her glass. “By the time I got back, it was too late.”
“For God’s sake, what’s going on?”
She didn’t look up.
“Natalie, please,” I said. “Tell me why you’re here.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” she said, standing up and grabbing her coat. “I’ll let our old friend Simon Grant tell you.”