Chapter 39

Canada, Twenty-Eight Years Ago

“Your brother died so you could see many beautiful days like this.” Noshi said to the boy.

“Uh, uh. He fell down and got hurted and he died. That’s all.”

“No, no. His spirit knew the avalanche would come. Your brother made a big sacrifice so you can grow up to do great things. You will honor him. It is an insult to Sheshebens to refuse his heart.” Noshi paused. “Our people tell the story of an ancient legend. Do you want to hear it?”

The boy nodded…

Northern California, Present Time

Dishes were piled so high in Maggie’s kitchen sink that some had fallen and broken into pieces on the floor. Ants partied on the stove. Roaches scuttled under the refrigerator. The floor was so filthy it could double as fly paper. Piles of dog feces hardened in the living room, and Samantha’s cat box overflowed. Burrito wrappers, dirty glasses, mugs, some with moldy coffee still in them, covered every surface of every piece of furniture in house. The bed had not been slept in for quite some time, but on the couch was a sweat-stained pillow, a wadded up filthy cat hair-covered comforter, and crumbs of stale food. The vase Maggie threw after her last phone call with Jake was still exactly as it was when she threw it, shards of crystal scattered everywhere.

Maggie’s hair was matted. Her head looked like it was covered in bad dreadlocks. She stank of sweat and booze, and her clothes were so covered with bits of dried food, coffee stains, and wine spills it was nearly impossible to tell what color she wore. She looked as though she’d lost fifteen pounds, gaunt, vacant eyed, and pale.

Chester whined when everyone entered. He walked out the door, tail between his legs, and lifted his leg on the now dead Hawthorne sapling. Samantha crawled under the couch. There were dozens of ravens perched on every outside sill, and the house siding beneath the windows was covered in bird feces. Maggie didn’t care.

She let Cathy lead her to the bathroom and strip off her foul clothing. Cathy ran a hot shower and practically pushed Maggie into it. “Wash your hair real good. I’ll find a comb to see if I can’t get out those tangles.”

When Maggie at last emerged from the bathroom, she looked and smelled better, Happy, Jake and Danny had already grabbed trash bags, brooms, mops, buckets and were busy scrubbing. Happy opened all the windows. “Jesus, it stinks in here.”

“Sorry, everybody. I’ve been so focused on the case, I guess I forgot to take care of a few things.”

“Have you even fed Chester and Samantha? What about the chickens?” Danny said.

“I’m not a complete ditz,” Maggie said. “Of course they’ve eaten.”

Jake hauled out a huge garbage bag full of trash. When he walked back in he said “Everyone, continue with the clean-up, I’m taking Maggie for a hamburger. She and I need to talk.”

Maggie climbed into Jake’s truck. “Jake, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be, so, well, you know. I guess I can be difficult.”

“Difficult? You are a complete pain in the ass.”

Maggie looked the other way, not wanting Jake to witness her shame, her exhaustion.

“The thing is,” Jake said. “You’ve got some sort of sixth sense or women’s intuition, some damn thing. I don’t know about these spooky dreams and other weird stuff I can’t explain going on with you, but there’s something to all this. You were right about the Sorenson twins, Bird and Flower, whatever. It doesn’t make any sense how that works…”

Maggie turned back to Jake. “I don’t know how it works either, and I don’t believe in supernatural woo-woo crap. You know that. But I guess whatever is going on…the dreams…I’ve learned not to blow it all off.”

“What I’m trying to say, I can see that you are determined to solve these cases, and I’m thinking you might have some psychic…”

“No way. I’m not a flaky fortune teller, Jake. This weird stuff has been happening to me since I was a kid, and it’s nothing I can control…I want…”

“Would you shut up and let me finish what I’m trying to say?”

“Sorry.”

“What I’m getting at is that we all have hunches and feelings, like I got a feeling that Mingan is somehow involved in all this. If he’s not our guy, he’s part of this, and I want to find him as much as you do. Besides that, I intend to fry the asshole for what he did to you.”

“Tried to do to me.”

“Okay, you’re tough, Maggie. We all know that. But the point is…”

“Yeah, about that. What is your point exactly? You’ve been yammering on for ten minutes and I still don’t know. You’re worse than a teenage girl talking in circles for half an hour. Why don’t you say what you want to?”

“Goddamn it, Mag. The point is I’m going to help you. The other point is…well…”

“Yeah?”

“The other point is…I’m in love with you. Have been for a long time. There. Said it.”

“I know.”

“Well?”

“Well what?”

“Well, will you go out on a real date with me sometime, like to dinner or whatever?”

“Sure.”

“Really?”

“I said ‘sure.’ Didn’t you hear me?”

Jake smiled.

“Let’s catch this kid murdering psycho first, though, okay?”

“Okay.” Jake’s smile grew so big Maggie thought he’d crack his face.

*

Maggie was happy. She still grieved Sally’s death, and she was more determined than ever to find the killer and to solve the case, but she felt good. Dr. Ochoa told Maggie she was making great progress and reduced her sessions to once weekly. Dawn worked hard and kept Mama’s going full steam. Things were terrific with Danny, Cathy, Jimmy and the girls. Sunday dinners were the highlight of Maggie’s week. The raven dreams were a nightly occurrence, and were mostly about the cabin and the blonde haired monster. She recorded them in a journal on Dr. Ochoa’s recommendation, and shared them with Jake. The two of them tried to locate the cabin. Maggie sensed it, but after driving around the woods for hours, not even a deer path leading to a cabin. Nothing.

Although they had yet to go on their date, Jake and Maggie met every day at The Dandelion for lunch. Missy reserved a table near the back for them. Since Mingan jumped bail leaving the God-fearing members from Wicklow Christian Church in a lurch, and after the arrest of the two idiots who vandalized Maggie’s truck, none of the “good Christian folk” harassed Maggie any longer. Best of all, agents Thompson and Marley left town, and continued work on the lead in Canada. “Good, those jerks can annoy the Mounted Police for a while. I’m so glad they can’t be in two countries at the same time,” Maggie said to Jake over a bowl of The Dandelion’s homemade chili.

Their work on the case progressed at a nice pace. Happy took an active interest in the investigation.

“I guess that boy really wants to win the election,” Jake said.

One afternoon, Happy encountered the two hunched over a computer screen, “You two are getting close, eh?”

“Yup,” Maggie said.

“How close?”

“Real close.”

“I think it’s Mingan,” Happy said. “It adds up. As soon as he disappeared, no more missing kids.”

“Could be,” Jake said. “I’m leaning toward Mingan, too, but she’s not so sure,” Jake pointed his thumb toward Maggie.

“Once you find him, we’ll all know, I guess.´ Happy said to Maggie. “You’re closer to discovering where he ran to?”

“Not really.”

“But, good news is we’ve got a strong lead on where the killer kept the kids,” said Jake.

Maggie and Jake decided it was best to keep her dreams about the ravens under their hats. No one would take them seriously. “It’ll jeopardize our investigation if it gets out that your dreams are our primary source of clues right now,” Jake said to Maggie over one of their Dandelion lunches.

“Let me know how I can help. It would be great if we could catch that bastard before year end,” said Happy.

“Keep things going around here until we do catch him, and focus on winning the election. That’s all the help you can give to us right now,” Jake said.