The Glacier Gallows
Page 26
“I guess that’s one good thing that’s come out of this whole mess,” said Cole. “One more bear alive and roaming the wilds.”
“That’s the way it was meant to be,” said Joe.
“I’M GOING TO wait in the truck,” said Walter. The back of the truck was loaded with lumber and other building materials. Cole and Joe walked toward the ramshackle trailer on a back street of Browning. Joe went to the door and knocked.
Mary Crowfoot answered. She looked at each of them. “Oki,” said Joe. “Is your grandmother home, Mary?”
Mary moved back from the door and the two men stepped inside. Cole noted that little had changed in the trailer. The room was dark but warm, and a television flickered in the corner.
Charlie Crowfoot’s grandmother emerged from her room. She wore a heavy sweater. Cole and Joe both said hello.
Cole prepared to tell his lie. “Mrs. Crowfoot, the police didn’t allow me to hold on to the note that you gave me, the one that was with Charlie’s things.”
She looked down at her hands. Cole knew that the fake suicide note would haunt the old woman’s nights, and after a long conversation with Joe, they had decided that they would not return it to her. “What do you want, then?” she asked.
“My brother and I have a week off from our jobs. We have a load of lumber and other materials in his truck. We would very much like to help you rebuild your home, if that’s okay with you.”
WITH GRATITUDE
I’D LIKE TO THANK SERGEANT Tom Sheifert of the Glacier County Sheriff’s Department, Officer William Little Plum of the Blackfeet Law Enforcement Services, and Supervisory Special Agent Joseph Lewis, Office of Public Affairs, Federal Bureau of Investigation, in Quantico, West Virginia, all of whom helped me understand the complicated jurisdictional issues surrounding law enforcement in Montana and on the Blackfeet Reservation. I also received help from officials in Glacier National Park, for which I am grateful.
Thanks to forensic ID specialist Corporal Fred Ridding with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Lethbridge, Alberta, who explained the procedure for handling a body located in a wild, remote area.
Thanks to Brian Webster, a visitor safety specialist with Parks Canada, for filling in the gaps in my knowledge around rescue and body-recovery procedures in national parks.
I have had the pleasure and privilege to work with many activists and Blackfeet community leaders over the last two years as they struggle to protect their land and their culture along the Rocky Mountain Front of Montana. I am deeply humbled by their resolve and grateful for their support.
Like every book, this one required extensive periods when I was locked in my office or away doing research, ignoring other pressing matters. My deep gratitude goes to my family, especially my wife, Jenn, for her support and patience.
Thank you to those resolute booksellers across North America who continue to stock my books on their shelves. Thanks once more to Ruth Linka, Frances Thorsen, Cailey Cavallin, Pete Kohut, Emily Shorthouse, Vivian Sinclair, and the entire team at TouchWood Editions. Writing a book is a team effort, and they are one hell of a great team to work with. It’s a privilege to work with such wonderful people.
STEPHEN LEGAULT is an author, consultant, conservationist, and photographer who lives in Canmore, Alberta. He is the author of eight other books, including the first three installments in the Cole Blackwater mystery series, The Vanishing Track, The Cardinal Divide, and The Darkening Archipelago, as well as The Slickrock Paradox, the first book in the Red Rock Canyon mystery series, and The End of the Line and The Third Riel Conspiracy, the first two books in the Durrant Wallace mystery series. Please visit Stephen online at stephenlegault.com, or follow him on Twitter at @stephenlegault.
Other books by Stephen Legault
Carry Tiger to Mountain: The Tao of Activism and Leadership (2006)
Running Toward Stillness (2013)
THE DURRANT WALLACE SERIES
The End of the Line (2011)
The Third Riel Conspiracy (2013)
THE RED ROCK CANYON SERIES
The Slickrock Paradox (2012)
THE COLE BLACKWATER SERIES
The Cardinal Divide (2008)
The Darkening Archipelago (2010)
The Vanishing Track (2012)
The Glacier Gallows (2014)
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The Third Riel Conspiracy
by Stephen Legault
It is the spring of 1885 and the Northwest Rebellion has broken out. Amid the chaos of the Battle of Batoche, a grisly act leaves Reuben Wake dead. A Metis man is arrested for the crime, but he claims innocence. When Durrant Wallace, sergeant in the North West Mounted Police, begins his own investigation into the man’s possible motives, he learns there were many who wanted Wake dead. What Durrant uncovers is a series of covert conspiracies surrounding Metis leader and prophet Louis Riel. And, during the week-long intermission in Riel’s trial, he sets a trap to find Wake’s true killer.
The Third Riel Conspiracy is the second book in the Durrant Wallace Mysteries, a series of historical murder mysteries set during pivotal events in western Canada’s history.
Copyright © 2014 Stephen Legault
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (ACCESS Copyright). For a copyright licence, visit accesscopyright.ca.
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LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Legault, Stephen, 1971–, author
Glacier gallows / Stephen Legault.
(A Cole Blackwater mystery)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77151-058-5 (html).—ISBN 978-1-77151-059-2 (pdf)
I. Tit
le. II. Series: Legault, Stephen, 1971-, Cole Blackwater mystery.
PS8623.E46633G53 2014 C813’.6 C2013-905982-2
Editor: Frances Thorsen
Proofreader: Vivian Sinclair
Cover image: Steven Gnam, stevengnamphotography.com
Author photo: Dan Anthon
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support for our publishing activities from the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, and the province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.