I nodded. “Too drunk to drive but not too drunk to function at a wedding reception.”
“Exactly. Put all that together—high blood pressure, man in his late 50s, booze, and dancing, and you know what you get?”
“A fatal heart arrhythmia?”
“You got it. About as natural a cause as it gets.”
I felt a sense of relief even though I didn't know Liselle well enough to have a reason to feel it. “Thanks, Ray.”
“No problem, Nate.”
A thought occurred to me. “Why did you call? I would've gotten the report eventually.”
“I’ve been getting calls on this twice a day for three weeks, mostly from out of town folks acting like they can order everyone around.”
“That sounds annoying.”
“I’m not going to miss them. I'm going to call Pearson now and be done with it.”
I chuckled. “Calling him second?”
“Did I mention I really don't like getting prodded?”
“I’ll keep that in mind, Ray. Take care.”
“You too. Say ‘hi’ to Mr. Second Place for me.”
As we hung up, I thought for a moment. I knew the Phillips kids had an ax to grind with Liselle and I knew they wanted to blame her for his death but that should be the end of it. No matter how mad Bre Phillips was that her dad was dating someone her own age, there was nothing there.
I decided to call Liselle to give her the good news. She didn’t answer so I left a message for her to call. I found that I was glad to be able to tell her that this was over.
At the end of the day just before I left, my phone rang. It was Liselle. “Hey, Nate,” she said. “Sorry it took me so long to call you back, I was in the air.”
“You’re here already?”
“I flew into Detroit actually. I have some sites to check out here then I’ll drive to Carrefour late tonight.”
“Really? Sites in Detroit?”
“That’s where it started, in some neighborhoods near the ports where the ships carrying stow-away insects docked.”
I heard the bustle of the airport in the background. “I won't keep you. I got some good news today and wanted to let you know.”
“What's that?”
“The toxicology report came back. There was nothing unusual in it. The coroner is going to confirm that it was natural causes.”
There was a pause before she said, “I’m not surprised since that's what it was but I'm glad the Phillips couldn't buy a different result.”
“We have a good man up here. That was never a concern.”
“Money can warp the natural order of things, Nate. I’m glad it didn’t here.”
“Well, that should be at the end of it. Pearson is aggressive but there's only so much he can do with a report like that.”
“That is good news. So are we still on for the site visits tomorrow afternoon?”
“We’re on. Where should I pick you up?”
We made arrangements and then we hung up. I decided that was enough for the day and I went to the Brickhouse and then the Railcar and then home or, as I like to call it, Friday night in Carrefour.
The next afternoon I drove over to the biology building at the University, which was on the Ohio side of Carrefour. I texted Liselle that I was there then watched as students went in and out. A minute later, she walked out. The student traffic at the door stopped for an extra beat, then started again.
She was dressed for the field, wearing faded blue jeans and a blue shirt along with hiking boots, and carried a backpack over one shoulder. She pushed her hair back and waved.
I got out of the Jeep and opened the rear hatch. After we exchanged greetings, I pointed at the backpack.
“Thanks,” she said and handed it to me. The weight of it dipped my arm a little bit. “Geez,” I said. “You got a body in there?”
She raised one eyebrow. “I'm a little sensitive to that kind of joke right now.” Her eyes indicated she wasn't.
“Right. Bad form.” I opened her door and she seemed surprised for a moment and then climbed in. I shut it and went around to the driver side.
“How’d the meetings go?” I said.
“Great. Two different professors made time for me this morning so it was worth the trip for that alone. They had some thoughts about where to go today too. They knew about Sarah’s work, by the way, and spoke highly of her.”
I nodded. “So where are we going?”
She pulled out a map and handed me one side. We held it up and she pointed.
“Sarah mentioned a heavy concentration here between Portage Lake and Round Lake. And then there was another grouping here, where they tried clear-cutting by Twelve Curves trail. Then I thought we could finish up at the Groves.”
“Sounds good. Those are all within the state park.” I took a last look at the map then pulled out of the lot. “It'll take forty-five minutes or so to get to the first place.”
“No problem.”
We exchanged pleasantries about flights and the hotel, and places to eat dinner when you were in the Carrefour. Finally, she said, “So that was good news about the toxicology report.”
“It was. Although I really didn't expect anything else.”
“I was a little worried,” said Liselle. “The Phillips are pretty powerful in Missouri.”
“I got the impression that they tried to throw their weight around up here but I think they just irritated the coroner.” I remembered Ray’s description of the daily calls. “Have they tried to contact you?”
“The family? Not since they told me that I wasn't welcome at the funeral.”
“That seems harsh.”
Liselle shrugged. “We hadn't known each other that long so I guess I shouldn’t be upset about it.”
“But still. I get it.”
“And I would've liked to have taken in Mac.”
“Mac?”
“The dog Rich adopted at the benefit when we met. I don't know what's going to happen to him. I’ve reached out but the family's ghosting me on that.” Liselle looked up at the sunroof and said, “Do you mind?”
“Not at all.” It was sunny that day with a crispness to the air that spoke of football and turning leaves. I hit the button and a rush of sunshine and cool air filled the cab.
Her hair whipped around and she smiled. “That's better.”
We crossed the state line, then left northern Carrefour and soon the hills began and the trees crowded close to the road. Liselle's mood lightened with each mile until finally, when we reached the parking lot of the state park where we were going to hike to our first site, she seemed almost joyful. We got out of the car and I offered to carry the backpack which she accepted.
As we started up the path, I knew exactly where Liselle wanted to go since Sarah had taken me there before. Liselle seemed hyperaware of everything and at one point said, “It's just so green here.”
“More than Missouri?”
“We’re in the middle of the Great Plains. Once you get out of the woods, a lot of the grasses are prairie brown. Here, it's green wherever I look. It's beautiful.”
“We are spoiled a little bit. In the summer and fall anyway.”
We didn't have to walk much longer before we came to the first area, a spot where the ash trees were scattered individually among pines and maples and oak. I stepped aside and let Liselle go to work.
I wasn’t sure exactly what she was doing but it seemed like she was inspecting trees and cross-referencing against something on her tablet. Every once in a while, she would take a picture with her phone or scrape away some of the bark on the dead ash tree with a small knife.
It felt strange. I had walked this path with Sarah many times and seeing another woman going from tree to tree doing some of the same things with the same passion was a little disorienting. The constant sense of loss I felt rose up then but it was tempered by the memory of the time we’d spent here.
After a time, Liselle was done and asked if I could gu
ide her to the next site. I led her past seven of the path’s Twelve Curves to a small creek whose name escaped me but whose peaceful sound I recalled. Again, the dead ash trees were scattered among others that were thriving. Liselle went about her work again, which seemed to involve jumping back and forth across the water to measure the distance between dead trees with a nifty little laser. I took a seat next to the creek and watched it run. Sarah and I had eaten lunch here once and I remembered why we’d liked it.
Sometime later, I can’t tell you how long, I felt a light touch on my shoulder. I looked up and saw not brown hair and brown eyes, but pale blonde hair and the lightest green. “You good for one more?” she said.
I smiled. “Sure. The Groves?”
“Please.”
I stood and brushed off. “It’s on the other side of the park. We'll head back to the car and drive over there.”
We didn't say much as we walked back. I was thinking and she was doing something on her tablet. Finally, she slipped the tablet into her backpack and said, “I appreciate this.”
“No problem.”
She looked over at me. “Is it hard?”
“To go for a walk on a beautiful day? No.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
I paused. She seemed serious so I said, “A little. But it makes me feel close to her.”
Liselle nodded as if she understood. “The woods can do that.”
We walked back to the car and didn't say much more but the silence was pleasant as opposed to uncomfortable.
What would been a long trek on foot was a short drive in the car over to the trail that led to the Groves. We parked and she accepted my offer to carry the backpack again before we headed down the path into the trees. We passed the white pines and the sugar maples but stopped at the black cherries, where she took pictures and made notes on her tablet. I was about to ask why when I heard a sharp crack and a scream.
We both stood straight up, waiting. I couldn’t tell which direction it had come from. Then a second scream ripped through the woods, raw and anguished. This one didn't stop. A moment later, two voices joined the screams.
The first voice was yelling for help.
The second voice was yelling, “James!”
I took off running up the path toward the voices of my nieces.
And the screams of my nephew James.
13
When I came to the grove of dead ash trees, I shouted, “Taylor! Page!”
They didn't hear me but they kept screaming. Their voices seemed like they were coming from the lake so I left the path and ran toward them. Three bikes laying on their sides told me that I’d guessed right. I kept running and yelled again. This time the girls heard me and yelled, “Over here! Over here!”
I dodged through the dead trees as their voices grew closer until I finally found them. When I did, though, it took me a moment to process what I was seeing.
Taylor and Page were standing on either side of what looked like a long, thick tree branch. Both girls were yanking at it but it wasn't moving. As I came closer, I saw that it wasn’t a branch but half a trunk of a dead ash tree, split right down the middle. Then I heard more screaming and saw that James was underneath it.
I hopped over the side and saw that James’s leg was caught beneath the tree trunk. Every time he moved, he screamed again.
“Uncle Nate, Uncle Nate, Uncle Nate,” said Page.
Taylor kept pulling at the branches.
James kept screaming.
“Girls,” I said and put a hand on each of them. “Stop.”
They stopped.
I crouched down and put a hand on James's chest. He kept screaming and thrashing with his hands. I took a quick glance at the tree trunk. It was huge and it was laying squarely on the lower half of James’s left leg.
“James,” I said. “James, it's me. James, I need you to calm down, buddy. James can you hear me?”
James screamed again.
“Hey, Troll! It’s Uncle Nate.”
James screamed again, but then his eyes opened and he looked at me and I could see a little bit of the panicked haze clear. He cried and he whimpered and he nodded his head, but he stopped screaming.
“That's a boy. That's a boy, James.” I kept my hand on his chest. “Can you feel your leg?”
My nephew nodded as his screams descended to sobs and tears poured out the sides of his eyes.
“I know it hurts but we’re going to take care of it, okay?”
He nodded and kept crying.
“I need you to listen to me, Troll. Can you hear me?”
He nodded.
“I need you to hold still, okay? I'm going to get this trunk off you but I need you to hold still. Do you understand?”
“It hurts, Uncle Nate,” he said around sobs.
“I know. But trolls are tough.”
I looked up to tell Liselle what I was going to do.
She was gone. I didn't see her anywhere.
I swore and turned back to my nieces. “Girls, I want you to listen to me. I'm going to lift this trunk and I need the two of you to James under the arms, okay?”
The girls nodded, all eyes.
“If I say pull, you pull him out. But gently, understand?”
Taylor nodded. Page was crying now. “Page,” I said.
She looked at me.
“It's worse for him. I need you to be tough.”
She nodded.
“I know you're scared, but it's going to be all right.”
She nodded again.
“I mean it. What does Pops say?”
Page didn’t stop crying but she said, “A shepherd takes care of her flock.”
“That's right. And we're going to take care of James. Ready?”
I went down to one end of the tree and bent down to get my arms around the jagged, dry trunk. I didn't know how much it weighed and I was worried that I was only going to be able to move it a little. It was going to have to be enough.
I bent down and wedged my hands underneath the trunk. I gathered my legs under me and prepared to lift. “Ready, girls? On three—”
“Wait”!
I looked over my shoulder. Liselle was running through the woods, her blonde hair flying behind her as she ran between the dead trees and leapt over falling brush. She sprinted up to us, her arms full of flowers.
I stared at her “What—?”
“I’ll tell you after we get this off him.”
I nodded. “Girls, you grab James under the arms. This nice lady is going to hold James’s leg.” I looked at Liselle. “Ease him out when I lift the tree?”
She nodded, dropped the flowers next to James, and guided the girls to either side of my nephew before she looked up and nodded. I crouched down into a deep squat, burrowing my hands into the grass and dirt to get my arms around the trunk.
“Ready, girls? 1-2-3!”
I lifted. At first, I didn't think it was going to budge, but then it rose, slowly, an inch, a little more, and I decided I was going to have just enough juice. I gathered myself, exploded upward, and then drove the tree forward with my shoulder like it was a football block. I sprawled face first into the dirt, pushing the tree away as I fell. It moved about three feet, which was just enough. I scrambled up and back over to James.
Liselle was crouched over his left leg, blocking the girls’ view. Taylor and Page each held one of James’s hands and were saying over and over that everything was going to be all right. I ran around to the other side of Liselle and I saw that it wasn't all right. It wasn't all right at all.
James’s leg was broken clean through. Bone was sticking out of the skin from each direction and his leg was bent at an angle as if he now had another knee in the middle of his shin. It wasn't spurting blood, but it was oozing. An awful lot.
Liselle was cradling the leg, trying to keep it still. “Bring me the flowers and give me your pullover,” she said.
I didn't hesitate. I grabbed the flowers, which looked li
ke weeds you could find in any Michigan ditch, and yanked my pullover off. I gave her the flowers and I gave her the pullover and I handed Taylor my phone.
“Call 911, Honey,” I said. “Tell them that your cousin’s hurt on the path in the ash section of Grove State Park and that we need an ambulance right away.”
Taylor dialed and I turned back to Liselle. She'd laid out my pullover and was crushing the flowers on top of it. “Put some of those on his leg,” she said. “Then we'll try to immobilize it.”
I started crushing flowers and sprinkling them on his leg.
“No, right in the wound,” she said.
I raised an eyebrow.
“They’ll help stop the bleeding. Get them right in there.”
I put the flowers in the wound, avoiding the jagged bone that stuck out on either side.
Liselle was done. She had my jacket filled with crushed flowers. She looked at me, eyes intent. “You need to lift his heel and straighten his leg. I'll slide the jacket underneath. Then we’ll tie it off to keep it from moving.”
I heard Taylor begging the 911 dispatcher to hurry. I knew it was going to take time to get to us.
I nodded. “James? I'm going to move your leg.”
He shook his head. “Please don’t, Uncle Nate.””
“It’s going to hurt for a second and then it won’t hurt as much.”
“Don’t, Uncle Nate!”
Page grabbed his hand. “It’ll be okay, James.”
Sometimes a warning just makes it worse. I gave Liselle a nod, grasped James’s heel as gently as I could, and straightened his leg.
He screamed with a rasp that went straight through my spine.
I didn't have to hold his leg up. The second Liselle saw me move, she whipped the jacket under the leg and immediately tied the sleeves over the top as I tied the tails at the bottom. We pulled the edges in the middle together and I slid my belt underneath it so that we could keep it together. I tightened it, not enough to cut off circulation but enough to hold the whole compress in place. Liselle had one too and she gave it to me and I did the same thing with it.
“Are they coming, Taylor?” I asked.
She nodded.
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