Thumps stood outside the Aegean and waited for Cruz to explain.
“Nothing to explain,” said the man from Pie Town. “Good bet that Gage is right and Dalca is dead. Good bet that Para Bellum got what they wanted and killed him. I doubt we’ll ever find the body. So, I might as well go to the party.”
“And then home?”
“And then home.”
“Which is where, exactly?” “Here and there,” said Cruz.
“Here and there.”
“Gage?”
“Gage hasn’t done anything illegal. She can come and go as she pleases. She gets herself killed, that’s on her.”
“Let’s say I don’t believe you.”
“You are one suspicious gringo.”
“What about the Vault? What about the money?”
“Gone,” said Cruz.
“Maybe Gage has the code. She probably helped Dalca set up the Vault.”
“You think we didn’t look at that?” Cruz hooked his thumbs in his jeans. “We’ve been watching her since Black Ice was shut down.”
“What about Para Bellum? They killed Dalca.”
“Except Dalca is officially dead.” Cruz started for the car. “And the only person who has actually seen him alive is Gage. You see the problem?”
“The guys who killed him saw him.”
“And they’re not going to mention that to anyone, are they?”
“So, we have a dead private investigator . . .”
“Natural causes.”
“. . . and a dead Black Ice operative . . .”
“Who was supposedly already dead.”
“. . . a former Black Ice operative who isn’t going to help bring her colleague’s killers to justice.”
“You mean the same colleague who was going to sell her to the guys who killed him?”
“. . . a wounded ninja assassin.”
“Yeah.” Cruz rubbed his leg. “That part sucks.”
“The party will cheer you up. With any luck, there’ll be doughnuts.”
Cruz stooped at the car. “On second thought, how about you drop me at the house?”
“You’re going to pass on a party? Free food? Good company? No dead bodies?”
“I’m tired,” said Cruz. “My leg is throbbing. I’m grumpy. I wouldn’t be good company.”
“You’re always grumpy. You’re never good company.”
“I’ll just grab a hot shower, relax, watch television.”
“Can you feed the cats?”
IT WAS AFTER five when Thumps turned off the main road and started down the side of the coulee to Moses’s place, easing the car in and out of the ruts that had started to form. He had once asked Moses if there was a difference between coming down through the ruts and just driving off the cliff, and the old man had told him that coming down the road was slower.
In the distance below, Thumps could see a large jumble of cars jammed up against the trailers. He didn’t think that all of Chinook was here.
And then again.
THERE WERE SEVERAL tables stacked with food and coolers. Al was working the grill of a makeshift barbecue. Someone had a portable CD player going, and Dolores Cardoza, Gabby Santucci, Beth Mooney, and a mismatched cast of couples were dancing under two large cottonwoods that had been strung with lights. Deanna and Cooley had brought the Jenga tower along, had it set up on a stump.
Duke was off to one side, throwing sticks for Howdy, who lay on his belly, content to watch them sail off into the grass.
Moses Blood was sitting in a lawn chair by the firepit. Claire Merchant was sitting next to him.
“Ho.” Moses held out his wrists. “The law is here. You’ll never take me alive, you dirty mouse.”
“Rat,” said Claire. “Dirty rat.”
“You’re a nice surprise,” said Thumps.
“You sure it’s not a mouse?” said Moses.
“As well as a nice party.”
“I’m too old to go to a party,” said Moses. “So they brought the good times to me.”
“More space out here.” Claire shaded her eyes. “And it’s going to be a beautiful evening.”
“Where’s Ivory?”
There was an explosion of shrieking downriver by the big S bend.
Claire smiled. “Wutty is showing the kids how to hit a golf ball.”
“Do you know,” said Moses, “that golf balls don’t float?”
“I do.”
“And do you know that golf balls are also good at hiding in plain sight?”
“I do.”
Moses shook his head. “I’m embarrassed to say that I did not.”
Claire stood, brushed off her jeans. “You want to go for a walk or you want to eat?”
“Walk,” said Thumps.
“Right answer,” said Claire. “Let’s go upriver.”
“Because Wutty and the kids are downriver?”
“And people think you’re just a photographer.”
Claire didn’t take Thumps’s hand, and she didn’t take his arm. She walked by his side, close enough so he could feel the heat of her body. Thumps followed her down to the river.
“You hear that?”
Out of the coulees on the far bank. A thrilling, raspy scream, sharp and brittle.
“Red-tailed hawk,” said Claire. “Probably a male. Warning us off. We’re in his territory.”
“Maybe he’s just happy to see you.”
“Or maybe he’s just trying to scare up a meal.”
Thumps picked up a flat stone. “How was Alberta?”
Claire nodded. “Good. I got to see relatives I haven’t seen in years. Cousins. Couple of uncles. A crazy auntie. Ivory was a big hit. Everyone took turns spoiling her.”
“Any news?”
Claire took a deep breath. “No. We saw the specialist. Have a date for a bunch of tests. Everything is still up in the air.”
Thumps skipped the stone across the water.
“You’re probably wondering what we’re doing back here.”
Thumps tried his best red-tailed squawk. “Me and the hawk are happy to have you back.”
Claire tried her best not to laugh. “God,” she said, “that was awful.”
Thumps picked another stone. “Everybody’s a critic.”
“And who taught you to skip stones?”
“I’m a good stone skipper.”
“You’re average,” said Claire. “A good skipper gets at least four skips out of a stone. You only get two.”
“And you can do better?”
“Certainly.” Claire bent down, searched the riverbank. “First thing you have to do is find a good stone. That’s half the battle.”
Thumps held a stone out. “Like this one?”
“Too heavy,” said Claire. “And too thick.” “This one?”
“Better,” said Claire.
Thumps waited.
“The adoption hasn’t been finalized. You knew that. And as it turns out, that’s a good thing.” Claire fired the stone into the river, five skips before it sank. “That’s how you do it.”
“So, she’s a Canadian citizen.”
“Alberta resident, as it turns out. Her legal address is with her uncle in Calgary. Means she has access to the health care system there.”
“Better than here.”
“Anywhere is better than here.”
“So, when do you go back?”
“It’s getting cold.” Claire put her arm around Thumps’s waist. “Maybe you’d like me to hold you.”
“What’s that red-tailed going to think?”
“We’re not going back.” Claire put her head against Thumps’s chest. “Not right away. Not until the tests. And then we’ll return.”
“Okay.”
“This is our home. Our friends are here. Here is comfortable. Took me a couple of days to figure that out.”
“You missed all the excitement.”
“You mean the dead private investigator and the kidnapped secret agent? Duke and the dog?”
“Howdy.”
“Did Howdy really eat detergent pods?”
“Roxanne fill you in?”
“Deanna,” said Claire. “Cruz okay?”
“It was just a flesh wound.”
“Which is the general definition of a bullet tearing a hole in your body.” Claire took a breath. “Do you know who shot him?”
“Not yet.”
Claire stepped away, picked up a stone, flipped it out across the water. “Ivory missed you. Duke asked her if she’d like a dog, and she said she already had one.”
Thumps tossed a stone into the river, where it sank immediately.
“So, you’ll go back and forth to Alberta as needed.”
“That’s the plan,” said Claire. “And when we do, I’m hoping you’ll come with us.”
“Is this where I find that horse to ride to the rescue?”
“I missed you as well.” Claire gave Thumps a quick squeeze. “But I’m hungry. We had breakfast in Lethbridge. Probably time I ate again.”
“Maybe the hawk and I could find you a rabbit.”
“My hero.”
AL WAS SQUATTED next to the stump with the Jenga tower. Ivory was standing at her side.
“You’re supposed to make it fall down,” Ivory was telling Al.
“Don’t think that’s the idea,” said Al.
“But it’s fun.” Ivory pulled out a block from the centre, and the tower collapsed. “See.”
“Hi, sweetie.”
“Mom!” Ivory skipped across the yard, leaped into her mother’s arms. “Hello, Dog.”
It was impossible, but it seemed as though Ivory had grown in the time she had been gone.
“Did you miss me?”
Thumps smiled. “I did.”
“Mom missed you.”
“I missed her.”
“Are you going to stay with us?”
“I think we better get your mom something to eat.”
Al started putting the pieces back on the stump. “All this reunion is sweet, but maybe you can help me set this back up.”
Thumps held up his hands. “Don’t know how.”
“I’m thinking there’s a moral in here somewhere, but damned if I can find it.”
“What’s on the grill?”
“What you’d expect,” said Al. “Grilled stuff.”
Thumps caught Duke and Howdy coming back from their game of fetch.
“What kind of dog doesn’t chase sticks?”
“Smart kind?”
“Very funny. Where’s the ninja assassin?”
“My place. Recovering.”
Duke snorted. “From what? He didn’t do anything. Except screw up.”
“He did get shot.”
“Oh, yeah.” Duke gave Howdy a vigorous rub. “That.”
Howdy rolled over in the grass, moaning. Duke bent over and rubbed him some more.
“He’s got his appetite back,” said Duke. “Ate one of my workboots. Not going to miss the big dummy.”
“You’re taking him back to the shelter?”
“You know how many times I’ve had to clean my side window after he finished licking it?”
“You can’t take him back to the shelter.”
“You want him back?” Duke waited. Waited some more. “Then it’s the shelter.”
“Sheriff DreadfulWater.” Brian Little Horse and his uncles, Elmer and Elroy, came out of the merriment with hamburgers and soft drinks.
“It’s Temporary Deputy Sheriff DreadfulWater,” said Duke. “You guys want a dog?”
Elmer bent over, picked up a stick, tossed it into the prairie grass. Howdy was up and off like a shot, hitting the stick almost before it landed.
Elroy nodded. “That’s a good dog.”
“Except we already have two,” said Brian. “Now, if it was a horse . . .”
“Your dogs lick car windows?”
Brian smiled. “It’s really gross, isn’t it? Like hard lard. Remember that car? The one that belonged to that detective?”
“Private investigator,” said Duke.
“Side window was a real mess.”
“You ought to see mine,” said Duke. “Side windows, rear windows. Likes to hang his head out and lick the side mirror.”
“The trick,” said Brian, “is to start with a razor blade. Get as much as you can off that way, before you hit it with glass cleaner.”
Thumps turned to a sudden clamour. Wutty Youngbeaver was coming back from the river, dragging a troop of kids behind him. Jimmy and Russell, Stas and Rawat were sheep-dogging the perimeters, as the kids leaped about and ran off in all directions.
“Wutty, Wutty, Wutty, Wuuuuuttyyyyy!”
Rawat arrived out of breath. “Such a day. So exciting.”
Thumps nodded. “Hear Wutty did pretty good.”
“Three birdies in the first seven holes,” said Rawat.
“Then par, par, par,” said Stas. “Then bogey, bogey, bogey.”
“The fourteenth hole.” Rawat shook his head. “So close.”
“But Mr. Wutty does not listen to caddy,” said Stas.
“The 7-iron,” said Rawat. “I suggested the 7-iron.”
“The fourteenth hole,” said Stas. “Was Dostoevsky short story.”
“The 8-iron was not enough.” Rawat sighed, his eyes sad. “So, I will say no more about it.”
MOSES WAS SITTING alone, a blanket over his shoulders.
“In the old days,” he said, stretching out a hand, “there would be tipis and horses. Now there are trailers and cars.”
Thumps sat down next to the old man. “Times change.”
“People are much the same. Babies grow up. Children become adults. Old people die.”
“You want some tea?”
“If I could live again, I think I’d like to be a tree. A cottonwood. So I could live by a river.”
“You already live by a river.”
“Is Claire going to forgive you?”
“For what?”
Moses shrugged. “We try hard, but we always wind up doing something wrong.”
“We?”
“Men,” said Moses. “We’re not as smart as we think we are.” Claire appeared with Ivory and two hot dogs. “Anyone hungry?”
Moses grinned. “Is that for me?”
“If you want it,” said Ivory. “The other one is for Dog.”
“Good,” said Thumps. “Because I’m starving.” “Mom tried to eat it.”
Claire rolled her eyes. “We should get going. This one needs to be in bed.”
“Do not,” said Ivory. “Is Dog coming home with us?”
“If he wants,” said Claire.
Thumps took a large bite of the hot dog. “Yes,” he said, “he does.”