The day passed slowly. Nina had once again been recruited to serve the Redding Castle. Meanwhile, I was left to my own devices. I went for a run in the morning, yet did not encounter Madison Zumwalt or Eden or any of the other Reddings. Later, I kayaked around the entire lake.
I passed the compound owned by the Sons of Europa again. A new sentry had been posted on the dock. It occurred to me as I slid past him—he actually smiled and gave me the Minnesota wave—that he wasn’t there to frighten his neighbors after all. He was there to protect himself and the rest of the Sons from his neighbors. Think about it—he wouldn’t need to stand guard if he and the Sons weren’t being threatened, would he? Therefore, standing guard proved that they were being threatened. Simple cause and effect. It was one of the psychological tactics used by manipulators to ensure obedience by their followers, which made me both respect and dislike Conrad Fredgaard all the more.
When I finally returned to shore, I found Nina taking a break on the patio. She told me that two more people had called to cancel their reservations, but that all of the vacated spots had been snapped up by customers from an ever-expanding waiting list.
“So, there’s that,” she said.
I continued to wander about the property, even drifted behind the General Oglesby Cabin to check out the old honeybee hives again. Apparently, Mr. Doty was doing the same thing. He had opened the door to the battered shack and was looking inside when I arrived. He closed the door and gave it a shake as if he were half expecting it to fall down.
“They don’t build them like that anymore,” I said.
“Prefab crap,” he said. “Was here before my time.”
“Yet it’s still standing.”
Mr. Doty shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it.
“Them hives…” He moved to one and gave it a rap with his knuckles. “I don’t know. Miss wants to know what I think; if all of this can be fixed back up, but I don’t know. I think she should talk to Miss Anna is what I think. Miss Anna knows bees.”
“Not Big Ben?”
“He’s a seller, not a worker.” Mr. Doty chuckled to himself. “Queen bee not a worker bee. Miss Anna was the worker; did all the learnin’ ’bout how to do what needed to be done. ’Sides, Miss Anna don’t live so far away she can’t help out if we need it; give us instruction. So, Chief of Police—what she gonna do about the cross, you know?”
“I haven’t heard.”
“She still thinks it was me, don’t she?”
“I haven’t heard,” I repeated.
It wasn’t the answer Mr. Doty wanted to hear. He stared at me for a few beats, the muscles in his jaw pulsating as if he had something to say. Apparently, he thought better of it, though, because he moved swiftly past me and up the narrow path that led through the band of trees back toward the castle.
I lingered in the meadow to survey the small sea of yellow, white, purple, and blue wildflowers spreading out before me. At least until I caught sight of a few honeybees floating dangerously close by and I decided that that was enough nature for today.
It was nearing two in the afternoon when the SUV arrived. Olivia Redding must have been expecting it because she was waiting in the parking lot. Cassandra Boeve and Veronica Bickner were both greeted with handshakes, not hugs, and I was wondering if that was for the benefit of anyone who might be watching, like, I don’t know, me.
The rear hatch of the SUV was opened and Cassandra and Veronica slid out what looked like a two-foot-high model mounted on a three-foot-square base covered by a white sheet. Olivia helped by grabbing up a black leather art portfolio and a stand used to display the visual aids that were carried inside the portfolio. Together, they walked slowly to the entrance of the castle, Cassandra and Veronica behaving as if one false move would invite catastrophe. I was standing inside the lobby and watching through a window. When they reached the door, I opened it and held it open as they passed through.
“Need any help?” I asked.
Cassandra gazed at me, an expression of alarm on her face.
What? Are you afraid I’ll peek under the sheet? my inner voice asked.
“We’re fine,” she said.
“This way,” Olivia said.
The women climbed the carpeted stairs, heading for which room I couldn’t say. I wasn’t invited to the presentation; only the Sibs.
“I’m afraid we’re going to have to wait a while before you can begin,” Olivia said. “Turns out Carly is going to be late. I don’t know why. Probably getting another tattoo on her ass.”
A short time later, the three women appeared on the patio. They secured an empty table and beverages were ordered and served. I sat close enough to them that I could overhear their conversation while pretending to fiddle with my cell phone. Only they didn’t talk about the upcoming presentation or the events of the past twenty-four hours or even their own personal relationships. Instead, they discussed the education system in general and Redding High School in particular and how important it was for students to have a normal, uninterrupted school year. It reminded me of conversations I’ve had with my closest friends where hockey and baseball were usually the major topics because what else were we going to talk about, our hopes and dreams?
Eventually, Big Ben Redding appeared. He moved to where the women were sitting and, without asking for permission, pulled a chair from a nearby table and joined them. They didn’t seem to mind. All three women smiled as if there was no one else they would rather talk to and I flashed on what Anna Redding had told me about Big Ben’s “outsized charisma.”
“We’re still waiting on Carly,” he said. “My guess, she’s either having her hair done or she’s cleansing her karma.”
“How do you clean your karma?” Olivia asked.
“You sever ties with toxic people, take responsibility for your mistakes, and perform actions that nourish the spirit,” Veronica said. “Also, you have to forgive people. That last part’s the hardest.”
“You sound like you speak from experience,” Ben said.
“It’s a small town, there’s not a lot to do.”
I was trying hard not to laugh for fear that they would discover that I was eavesdropping. They might have figured it out anyway.
“McKenzie,” Ben said. “How often do you cleanse your karma?”
“At least twice a month whether it needs it or not,” I said.
That brought a small chuckle from everyone except Cassandra Boeve.
“You’re McKenzie?” she asked.
“I am.”
“I read in the Bulletin that you were interested in buying the castle.”
“If I may quote my wife—”
“Nina Truhler?”
“Don’t believe everything you read.”
Cassandra nodded as if she thought that was sound advice. By then Eden and Alexander Redding had joined the group.
“I thought we were meeting upstairs,” Alex said.
“Carly,” Olivia said as if her name alone explained everything.
“What a pill,” Alex said.
Eden bent down to my chair and gave my shoulders a hug from behind.
“McKenzie,” she said.
She kissed my cheek and then rubbed it to remove the lipstick stain she put there.
“Eden, we need to stop meeting like this,” I said.
Cassandra and Olivia glanced at each other and quickly looked away, indicating if only for an instant that they shared more than business.
“How goes the battle against the forces of evil?” Ben asked.
“If more people would join the battle there might be less evil to fight,” Eden said.
Olivia wagged a finger at her.
“Good point, SIL,” she said.
Eden’s eyes widened as if the abbreviation for sister-in-law was a term of affection that she didn’t often hear.
“Where’s Carly?” This time the question came from Marian Crawford. She stood in the middle of the patio, her hands on her hips, and swiveled back and forth like she was trying to remember where she had set her bag. “I told her I could give her a ride.”
“I think she wants to make a grand entrance,” Ben said.
“As usual,” Anna Redding said.
She moved past Marian and claimed a small table off to the side of where Ben, Olivia, Cassandra, and Veronica were sitting, angling her chair as if it was her job to chaperone the table.
“I take it Ed’s not going to make it?” Alex asked.
“He’s at home getting ready for the harvest,” Marian said. “The GDUs are higher than normal for this time of year and if the weather holds, he said he wants to be in the fields early, as early as tomorrow. There is much to prepare, he says.”
“What are GDUs?” I asked.
“Growing degree units,” Anna said. “They’re used to calculate the amount of heat needed for corn and soybean plants to reach maturity over time.”
“If you’re so smart, Annie, why are you teaching at some small-town college?” Carly said.
She was standing in the doorway between the castle’s dining room and patio. Her hair was styled, her makeup expertly applied, and she was wearing a tailored short-sleeve dress with a round neckline and swinging skirt; white polka dots shimmered against the glossy, wine-colored fabric.
“SMSU is an integral component of the Minnesota State College and Universities System, not that you would know,” Anna said.
“You look nice,” Marian said.
“We’re about to win the lottery,” Carly said. “I thought I’d dress for the occasion. The rest of you look like you’re getting ready to work the fields with Ed.”
“Only if I get to drive the tractor,” Olivia said.
“Combine,” Marian said.
“Combine,” Olivia repeated.
“Well, let’s get to it,” Ben said. “Are you ready?”
Cassandra nodded that she was. Everyone stood.
“Care to join us?” Eden asked.
“I’d love to,” I said.
“No,” Anna said.
She moved directly to the entrance of the castle as if she intended to lead the way. Carly jumped in front of her. Eden patted my shoulder.
“Sorry,” she said.
Eden joined the parade into the castle. Big Ben remained behind as if it was his job to herd stragglers. Veronica Bickner entered the castle right before him. Ben caressed her round behind with his big hand. Veronica gave him a hard look with an expression that I translated to mean “I want you to keep doing that, only not now.”
A moment later, I was alone on the patio. Yet only for a moment. Jenness Crawford emerged from the castle followed by Nina. Jenness didn’t speak a word. She quickly moved across the patio, down the concrete steps to the lake, and along the dock to the benches at the far end of it. She sat and stared at the water.
“Moment of reckoning,” I said.
Nina took the chair next to mine.
“Jen didn’t want to come out on the patio while the Boeve crew was here for fear of saying the wrong thing,” she said. “She’s feeling very anxious.”
“I get that.”
“What do you think?”
“If I were a betting man…”
“And you are.”
“I’d wager that Jen’s going to ask you for a job by the end of the evening.”
My opinion was reinforced ninety minutes later when the Redding siblings gathered on the patio again. They were smiling and nodding their heads and chatting as if they all actually agreed on something for a change.
“That was an excellent presentation,” Big Ben said.
“Thank you,” Cassandra Boeve replied.
“Yes, excellent,” said Marian.
“Thank you.”
“Four-point-six million dollars,” Carly said. “More than I expected.”
The figure caught the attention of two couples sitting at a table not far from where I was. A woman bent her head to the others and mouthed the words, “What did she say?”
“Shh,” Alex said.
“And don’t forget the artwork,” Carly said.
“Shh.”
“It’s not a secret, is it?”
“For the time being it is.”
“Besides, we don’t need you shouting our personal business across the patio,” Anna added.
“Fine,” Carly said. “But I’m going to tell Maddie.”
“Maddie’s family,” Alex said, as if that made all the difference in the world.
“Jenness hasn’t made her presentation, yet,” Anna said.
“Puh-leez,” Carly said.
She produced her cell phone and crossed the patio to make her call.
“I should pack up my things,” Cassandra said. “Get out of the way.”
“I’ll help you,” Olivia said.
The offer was met with a broad smile.
“I hope to hear from you soon, Mr. Redding,” Cassandra said.
“Are we going to start that again, Cassie?” Big Ben asked. “I’ll call you tonight one way or another.”
He was smiling. Which caused both Cassandra and Olivia to smile. Surprisingly, Veronica was not smiling. At least I was surprised. When Cassandra and Olivia left the patio, she followed dutifully behind as if she had nowhere else to go.
“I’m guessing it went well,” I said.
Eden Redding took a chair at my table. There was a pitcher of Summit Ale and a couple of glasses in front of us. I didn’t ask for the extra glass when I ordered the pitcher. The waitress just assumed I wouldn’t be drinking the entire thing alone. Silly girl. ’Course, Nina had been sitting with me when I placed the order. That was immediately before she returned to the James J. Hill Cabin to work remotely on her own business instead of the castle’s, for a change.
Eden gestured at an unused glass.
“Help yourself,” I said.
She filled the glass with beer and drank half.
“How’d it go?” I asked.
“Carly thinks she’s about to become a millionaire.”
“Is she?”
“After everything is settled and the art is sold, it’ll probably be closer to a million and a half.”
“That’s a lot of money.”
“Plus it’ll be considered part of our inheritance from Tess’s estate, so we won’t need to pay taxes.”
Eden drank the rest of the beer and set the glass down.
“I need to think,” she said.
Eden rose from the table and crossed the patio. She ended up leaning against the fence at the top of the bank and looking out at Lake Anpetuwi. Alex joined her there.
After a few minutes, Olivia returned to the patio.
A few minutes later, Jenness Crawford appeared.
“I’m ready,” she said.
“Good.” Big Ben moved to her side and turned to face the patio. “Everyone?”
“Let’s get this over with,” Carly said.
An hour later, the mood had changed dramatically.
I was still sitting at my table and reading a Jess Lourey novel on my phone when Olivia Redding stalked across the patio toward a small table at the far end. A waitress approached almost immediately. Olivia barked out an order before she came within ten feet.
“Amaretto,” she said. “One ice cube.”
By the time Olivia’s drink was served, Eden and Alex had appeared. They were both carrying beverages in their hands; apparently they had stopped at the bar before stepping outside. They settled at a table as far away from Olivia as possible while still remaining on the same patio.
Next came Carly. She seized a spot directly between them, her gaze shifting from Olivia on her left to Eden and Alex on her right.
“What. In. The. Holy. Fuck?” she said.
“Watch your language,” Alex said.
“Fuck you,” was Carly’s reply. “You just pissed away one and a half million dollars. Are you fucking insane?”
“I explained my reasons,” Eden said.
“Who gives a shit about the goddamn Sons of Europa? They’re assholes.”
“Someone has to stand up to them.”
“It doesn’t have to be fucking us. And you.” Carly turned her wrath on Olivia. “What the hell is going on with you?”
“Shut up, Carly.”
“Don’t tell me to shut up. Tell your prick husband.”
Olivia rose from her table and crossed the patio. When she was within striking distance, her hand came up and caught Carly flush on the jaw. Carly’s head snapped back. She fell off to her side, yet managed to maintain her balance. Her own hand came up to caress her face. The look of fear in her eyes—I didn’t know if it was caused by the blow itself or by how quickly Olivia had delivered it.
She’s hit people before, my inner voice told me.
I came out of my seat and rushed between them, feeling very much like a referee at a hockey game.
“Whoa, whoa, ladies,” I said.
“You hit me,” Carly said.
“You’re lucky I don’t kill you,” Olivia replied.
“Kill me?”
Carly leapt toward Olivia, hands extended. Olivia went into a defensive stance, her elbows tucked in; her knuckles facing the sky.
Yeah, she knows how to fight.
I managed to keep between the two women.
“Ladies, ladies,” I chanted. “Calm down.”
“McKenzie.” Anna was standing in the doorway with Marian Crawford and Jenness. “Surely you must know that the worst thing you can tell someone in the throes of strong emotions is to calm down. It sounds like you’re dismissing the reasons they’re upset in the first place. I say, let them fight.”
Olivia spun around and marched back to her table.
“If you were anywhere near as smart as you think you are, Annie, you’d stop talking and listen once in a while,” she said.
“Hear, hear,” Eden said.
The expression on Anna’s face reminded me of the one on Carly’s right after she was slapped.
“I don’t mean to divide the family,” Jenness said.
“The family was divided long before you were born,” Alex said.
“Saving the castle—it should help keep us together.”
“Let’s hope so,” Big Ben said.
He squeezed past the trio standing in the entrance and started moving in a straight line toward Olivia. Carly pulled his arm.
“Why?” she asked. “Just tell me why. Speak to me like—like I’m a stupid child and all of you are trying to humor me.”
Big Ben wrapped his little sister in his enormous arms and pulled her close.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I am so sorry for the way I treated you when we were young; the way we all treated you. We should have done better. We should have—we should have done for you what we’re doing for Jenny now. We should have given you a chance. That’s why I voted against the development. I wanted to give Jenness her chance to make the castle pay. If she can’t—the castle’s not going anywhere, like Anna said. The property, Lake Anpetuwi, it isn’t going to lose its value. If anything, it will only increase in value. Give Jenness six months to see if she can save the castle. One hundred and thirty-eight years it’s been the family home. My God, it must be worth it, don’t you think?”
“No, no, no.” Carly pushed herself out of her brother’s arms. “You said you should have given me a chance when we were young. Give it to me now. Do you know what I can do with one and a half million dollars?”
“You mean besides squander it?” Anna asked. “Sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll?”
Carly spun toward her older sister. I couldn’t see her face; only her hands as they clenched and released. A moment later, Carly pushed past the trio still standing in the doorway and disappeared inside the castle.
“Carly, Carly,” Marian called. There was no response. “Why did you say that?”
“Olivia’s right,” Big Ben said. “You’re not very smart, Anna. You just have a lot of letters following your name.”
Anna’s response was to turn around and disappear inside the castle, too.
“I didn’t want this,” Jenness said. “I just wanted—I wanted to do what Tess asked me to do when she first hired me. Save the castle.”
“Oh, honey.” Marian ran her hands up and down her daughter’s arm, and then pulled her close. “It’ll be fine, you’ll see.”
“Dad isn’t going to like this.”
“It’ll be fine.”
And they, too, disappeared inside Redding Castle.
Ben moved next to the table where Olivia was sitting. She pretended not to see him standing there.
The volume of the music piped onto the patio suddenly seemed to increase—Ray Charles singing “It Had to Be You”—and for a moment I actually wondered if Big Ben had a remote in his pocket or if it only sounded louder because we were watching so intently. He offered Olivia his hand as if he were asking her to dance.
“They’re playing our song,” Ben said.
“Since when?”
“It could be our song if you let it.”
“You’ve shared yourself with too many women, Ben.”
“Yet I always come back to you. Truth is, I never actually leave. Besides, what about all those men—and women—that you’ve dallied with?”
Olivia’s response was to sip more of her drink.
Big Ben continued to offer his hand.
“You weren’t really planning to live in Redding, were you?” he asked.
Olivia shook her head.
“No,” she said. “At least not anymore.”
“Well, then?”
Olivia rose slowly from her seat and took Ben’s hand.
“Why are we married, anyway?” she asked.
“For fun and profit,” Ben answered. “But mostly for the fun.”
At first, they stood apart as they swayed to the music. Only, as the song continued, they moved closer and closer until there wasn’t any distance between them at all. They danced as one while Duke Ellington covered “I Got It Bad (and That Ain’t Good)” and slid into full swing mode for “On the Sunny Side of the Street” by Louis Armstrong, two well-matched partners who anticipated and complemented each other’s moves, both of them laughing. I didn’t know if they loved each other, yet watching them dance it was clear to me that they liked each other immensely; that they reveled in each other’s company, even when they slow danced to Earl Hines’s piano version of “Blues My Naughty Sweetie Gave to Me.”
“Hey, Ben?” Alex called from the edge of the patio. “Who’s going to tell Boeve?”
Ben and Olivia stopped dancing.
“I guess I should,” Ben said.
“No,” Olivia said. “I should.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I suppose now’s as good a time as any, too.”
“I could go into town with you.”
“No, I’ll see you later.”
“When?”
“Ben, this is going to be either a very short conversation or very long. You know what I mean.”
“Good luck.”
“I could say the same thing to you. Don’t you have a call to make?”
“She’ll get over it.”
“We’ll see.”
All of the Reddings finally abandoned the patio. As if on cue, other guests began to fill it, claiming tables in anticipation of the setting sun. Nina appeared and seized the vacant chair next to mine.
“I am both shocked and a little dismayed,” she told me.
“Why?”
“My staff seems to be running my business very well without me. My assistant manager actually told me to relax, they had this.”
“I heard that you’re not supposed to tell people to relax.”
“What should you tell them?”
“Have a drink?”
“Sure.”
I signaled a waitress and ordered Dracula wine. While she was waiting to be served, Nina asked, “So, anything interesting happen while I was gone?”
The water on Lake Anpetuwi at 11:00 P.M. was as smooth as glass, a pitiful cliché, of course, but appropriate when you consider how still and tranquil it was. Nina and I had commandeered kayaks and paddled a few hundred yards from the shore so she could show off her knowledge of the constellations to me, especially the water constellations.
“There’s Capricornus, the sea goat,” she said. “You can see Pisces the fish and over there, that’s Aquarius, the water bearer. You can barely see it because it’s so dim but—can you see where I’m pointing?—that’s Piscis Austrinus, the southern fish.”
No, I couldn’t see where she was pointing. I could barely see her. The night sky might have been filled with billions upon billions of stars, as Carl Sagan once said, but it was also moon-free at that time in September. What’s more, nearly all of the lights belonging to the homes located on Lake Anpetuwi had been extinguished including most of the lights in Redding Castle; the lake and shoreline were virtually invisible. There was one light glowing over the castle’s patio and another much weaker lamp posted at the foot of the concrete staircase leading to the lake, although I suspected they were placed there less for illumination and more as a beacon that would allow late-night adventurers, like Nina and I, to find our way back home.
Yet, while I could make out only a dim outline of Nina and her kayak, I could see the planet Mars exactly where Nina had said it would be—I knew it was Mars because it was red—and Saturn to the right of Mars and the great star Antares—at least I think it was Antares—below and between them. Together the three bodies completed a triangle. I asked if it had a name.
“I think they just call it the Triangle,” she said. “It’ll disappear when winter comes.”
After a few more pleasant moments of drifting together on the lake in the dark, we began to paddle toward the lights. When we were close enough, I used the flashlight on my cell phone to get ourselves onto the dock in one piece and secure the kayaks.
“I’m almost sorry that we’re leaving in the morning,” Nina said. “I like it here now that there’s no drama.”
From the castle I heard a distinct pop.
“What was that?” Nina asked.
It was followed by two more pops in quick succession.
I was looking at my cell phone so I knew the exact time—11:17 P.M.
“Is someone shooting off fireworks at this time of night?” Nina asked.
“They’re gunshots,” I said. “Stay here.”
I started sprinting up the concrete steps toward the sound. I could hear Nina behind me.
“Here we go again.”
I dashed up the steps, across the patio, and into the castle. I stopped in the lobby and listened hard for any kind of signal that would tell me where to go. I heard it in Jenness Crawford’s voice.
“Ben, Ben!” she shouted. “Olivia?”
I climbed the stairs and moved quickly down the second-floor corridor. Jenness was dressed as I had seen her two nights before in gym shorts, a T-shirt, and nothing else. She was standing outside her grandmother’s bedroom now used by her aunt and uncle. I watched her pound on the door.
“What’s going on?” she asked. “Ben? Let me in. Please.”
“What happened?” I asked.
“I don’t know. I heard loud voices and then I heard—McKenzie, I thought they sounded like gunshots.”
“I heard them, too.”
“I can’t get in.” For the first time, I noticed that she had a large ring of keys in her hand. “The room is locked from the inside like—like when Tess … McKenzie, what should I do?”
“Stay here,” I said.
I quickly made my way back down the corridor to the stairs leading to the lobby. I found Nina in there.
“Dammit,” I said. “I told you to stay on the dock.”
“You didn’t actually think I would, did you?”
I shook my finger at the lobby floor.
“Stay down here,” I said.
“Sure.”
I moved through the front entrance and ran in the direction of the barn. On the way, I thought I might be better off if I searched halfway down the bank in front of the castle, only this time I found the twenty-two-foot aluminum ladder exactly where it was supposed to be, hanging from hooks on the side of the barn.
I pulled it off the hooks and headed back toward the castle. I was no longer running; a forty-pound ladder is apt to slow you down.
I circled the castle until I found Tess’s balcony. I extended the ladder and propped it up against the railing. I climbed it—without looking down—and hoisted myself over the railing onto the balcony. I went to the window. It was closed. I slid it open and climbed inside the room.
His body was the first thing that I saw, lying on the floor next to the bed. He was wearing pajamas beneath a knotted robe; his clothes soaked in blood. I moved to his side and placed two fingers against his carotid artery. It was a useless gesture, just the same. Big Ben Redding was dead. You could see it in his opened, unblinking eyes.