Yellow Medicine

by Anthony Neil Smith

  The knife and gun were gone. Even my truck was a crime scene. I couldn’t report it, not with all the evidence I’d never logged in, all the leftover meth crystals from when I was holding onto some product as collateral until I got what I wanted from a dealer. I’d need to clean the fucker up fast if I wanted to cover my ass, but there was no way to be sure I’d get it all. I didn’t have time. And whoever stole my knife and gun probably knew that, too.

  I drew my icy sidearm. Reflex, anger, whatever. Thought maybe I’d left it in George’s ice house on that northern lake. But I hadn’t used my knife that weekend. I didn’t take it out of the truck, never told him I had it once I discovered “ice fishing” meant sitting around a hole, drinking, and talking about the weather.

  Then I remembered those headlights at the end of my driveway the night before. The paranoid side of me must’ve been right after all. The headlights had been a distraction while these guys jimmied the lock on the back door of the garage.

  Before I got too far ahead of myself, I closed the garage and headed inside to Drew. She wasn’t asleep, but her eyes were very heavy. She’d had to walk pretty far without her jacket to make it to my place, only to find it dark, empty, and locked. Still, she waited. I was her only option, it seemed. Safer than going home.

  Yes, I was proud of her, worried about her, heartsick. Guilty. I’d have to tell her about Ian. She would resent me for keeping that from her overnight, but I hoped not for long. Sleep was out of the question. I had two runners in my head—find Ian and Heather and the sons of bitches who took them, then figure out a way to come out of this clean.

  I put my hand on Drew’s shoulder. She was still shivering. “You can have the bed, sugar. I’ll camp out on the couch.”

  Her fingers reached for me, coiled around my wrist. “Don’t leave me alone, Billy.”

  I stood there with her nails denting my skin for quite some time, feeling waves of warmth off the stove, the chill of the drafty house at my back. I was standing right where they clashed.

  “Okay, kiddo. You’re with me tonight.”

  NINE

  I didn’t touch her.

  Well, I held her, my arm wrapped around tight as she lay against my chest, needing the sleep. I wasn’t even tired. Adrenaline, fear, like I’d been plugged into a battery. Almost like a meth addict. I kept vigil, ignoring my duties. When the phone rang at eleven, I grabbed it only to keep from disturbing Drew.

  “You’re still sick?” Layla. That night’s dispatcher called in the heavy guns to scold me.

  “I can barely leave the toilet before another run hits.”

  “What the hell did you eat?”

  “Roast beef sandwich. Must be E coli. I’m sorry I forgot to—”

  “Yeah, yeah, you’re lucky Jason wanted some overtime. Go fix your bowels.”

  After hanging up, I stopped looking at the clock. The guys in the diner weren’t very good at keeping a low profile. Why would they come to me in broad daylight, make a public bribe? And why go after the people close to me? Could be I was seeing it from the wrong angle. Drew came to me about Ian, but before I’d even talked to him, there were those headlights.

  Did Ian ask Drew to bring me in? Did the Asians ask him?

  Drew shifted her body. Her leg slid against my thigh, and I felt my dick shift, grow. She made a little noise.

  “You up?” she said, a sleepy growl.

  “No. Go to sleep.”

  Not another word. Her body sweating, breath hot on my skin. It should be like this forever. No chance of that, though. Protecting her meant giving up the Lone Ranger routine. That meant telling her the truth. That meant losing her.

  I was a goddamned walking Greek tragedy.

  *

  A bitter drive to Marshall the next morning. After I told Drew my plan, she didn’t say another word. I’d mapped things out as far as I could and hoped they’d be distracted enough not to tie up loose ends. I think Drew was beginning to hate herself for trusting me.

  While Drew showered earlier, I had taken the blonde girl’s head in the windbreaker and threw the thing into the middle of the Minnesota River. I thought about tying on two chunks of concrete from the foundation of an old storage shed, but if things went bad, I didn’t want that thing anywhere near my property. As it splashed down into the slushy waters, I thought of all I’d forgotten—Your DNA is on the head, too. And the cold water will preserve all the trace…

  I braced my arm on a tree thin as a skeleton. Took in a scared breath of freezing air and let it burn my lungs. May the fish find the head quickly and pick it clean. The girl’s parents would demand a better answer once they found out she was missing. I wasn’t going to help give it to them.

  Earlier, while the cruiser’s engine warmed up I admitted to Drew that I’d lost Ian. Had gone to find him, but it was too late.

  She shrank into the couch. “Why didn’t you keep him with you? What…why…is he…?”

  “I don’t know. I’m sorry. I didn’t think anyone was looking for him, didn’t think they’d get to him on school grounds. Jesus.”

  “But I asked you. I said he was in trouble.”

  “Not this much, though.”

  Her hands were balled into fists on her lap. The towel on her damp hair slipped to the floor. Without make-up she was like a girl from those old paintings, an innocent milkmaid. Her eyes betrayed just how shaken she was. I moved to take her hands but she jerked away.

  “What do you mean, ‘not this much’? What did you find out?”

  “Some nasty guys tried to move into the area and merge some meth labs into one solid operation, bully the others.” It was only half a lie. “Ian lost some product, so the brand was a punishment from their own country.”

  “They’re not American?”

  See? One little goddamn slip. Let’s paint that one over, too. “Chinese, drug tong. Gang.”

  She hugged herself, then reached down for the towel. Her hair was a natural mess, the stage colors washed away. My chest ached. I didn’t want to be in the same room when she figured out how much of this was bullshit.

  After a long stretch, the only sound the wood stove popping here and there, she said, “There’s no way he’s still alive. That’s what you think.”

  “Can’t say that for sure. Maybe they want to—”

  “He’s dead.” Tears. “My God, he’s dead.”

  “Listen…” I didn’t have an ending for that thought. “I’ll tell you what I plan on doing in the car. Last night I made some mistakes but it was because of you. I realized what was happening and came to find you. I saw your car on the way to The Cities. You’ll tell the cops what happened at the warehouse word for word except you leave out how you stayed with me last night—”

  “Stop, okay? Just…not now.”

  I changed into my uniform from the night before. We waited for her hair to dry. Then we drove.

  *

  It got tricky from there. No more sneaking around. I couldn’t afford to fuck it up any more than I already had. At the girls’ res hall I had to pull the same stunt on the desk girl except that this time, I had to use my real name. It was a different girl, and there were more people around. I told her she should probably call the head of Res Life. So she did.

  The woman was younger than I expected. Short brown hair with a perfect nose and mouth. She wore slacks, jacket, blouse, told me I’d interrupted a meeting. Not friendly. Neither was I.

  “You shouldn’t even be here,” she said after hearing the edited story--I wanted to pick up Ian, he wasn’t here the night before. I decided it wasn’t worth bothering everyone in town. But since he still hadn’t called or shown up at his friend’s dorm, well, okay. She turned to the girl at the front desk. “Call Public Safety, tell him to call the local police.”

  I said, “Look, let’s go knock on the door before we go overboard. Maybe it’s just a false alarm.”

  “These kids have rights, you know.”

  “I’m not violating—”

&n
bsp; “Don’t even finish that sentence. I can’t believe this.”

  The lobby was filling with girls in pajamas and sweats. Some with booksacks slowed down on their way out. I asked, “What’s your name?”

  She looked down at her name tag, then back at me. Stone-faced.

  “All right, sure, sorry. Sienna. Okay. Can we talk in private for a moment?”

  Crossed arms, a sharp glance at Drew, at the assembled girls. She told them all, “This is none of anyone’s business. You need to get ready for classes.”

  Some cleared out. We walked away from the desk, near the couch in a central lounge area. I told Sienna, “You don’t want to get all self-righteous when everyone knows the back door to this place is propped open twenty-four seven. How many guys spend the night here? Are you turning a blind eye?”

  “I don’t need a lecture from you.”

  “Oh yes you do, Miss. See, that same door lets in more than these girls’ fuckbuddies. I’m sure you tell their parents that their precious babies are safe and sound in this fortress they pay so much for. Should we bring that up when the police get here? Should we wait for all the paperwork to be in order before checking to see if these kids are okay?”

  The heat showed on her face. Tight lips. Eyes unblinking. She called over the desk girl, whispered something that I caught the tail-end of, “…close the back door. Get rid of the can. Make a sign that says that it must remain closed at all times. Tell Mr. Luverne to meet me at the room.”

  Then to me, “Let’s take the stairs.”

  *

  Sienna knocked loudly. Knocked again. “Heather? Grace? Wake up.”

  Nothing. Another knock. “I need you to open the door. I don’t care who’s in there. It’s urgent.”

  Still nothing. Sienna almost knocked again, but then opened her fist, laid her palm on the door.

  I couldn’t re-lock it after picking it the night before. All part of the act. “Let’s take a look inside.”

  “I don’t know.”

  A very subtle move, that was all it took, just letting my fingers brush over the leather pouch containing my handcuffs, unsnapping the flap. She sighed and found the right key, slid it in. Looked confused. “It’s open already.”

  Sienna turned the handle and pushed the door open. The room was exactly as I’d left it. I walked in ahead of her, stood between the two beds, turned in a lazy circle, hands on my hips. When I faced the door again, two more people had arrived. One was a strong bald guy with a thick neck. He wore a suit coat over a pale green shirt, no tie, and held a walkie-talkie in his hand. He said to Sienna, “This him?” Then to me, “Excuse me, sir? Could you come talk to me first?”

  Behind him was Michelle, the girl who’d worked the desk the previous night. Jesus, how’d she get here so fast? Jackhammers pounded my bladder.

  I played my part, though. Turned on the voice of authority. “Let’s get everyone to stay out of this room. We need to report these kids missing.”

  The security guy said, “You sure about that?”

  My shoulders drooped. I wanted to sit down. “Yeah, pretty fucking sure.”

  TEN

  Here’s what I told them:

  Ian was being pressured by some meth cookers to sell their stuff to college kids. He didn’t want to risk it, so he came to me. I convinced him to get involved and keep me informed so we could nail the bastards. Problem was that Ian was kind of stupid. He lost a batch. They hunted him down, gave him a beating. I left out the branding. I left out Drew, too. You could see relief in her face when I did, but also some tension when she realized how easy lying came to me. I said that the beating was enough for me to go after the guys, but I wanted Ian safe first, to testify. He said he would stay on campus with friends until I could pick him up.

  “After coming here last night, I went back to Yellow Medicine County and looked for him there, talked to a few people. I thought he was hiding from me, or partying, whatever these kids do. It didn’t occur to me until this morning that maybe they’d gotten to him.”

  We sat in the lobby of the dorm, all the girls cleared out except for Drew and Michelle. I had already confused her enough on the way down from Heather’s room.

  “You said you were here to pick up a witness.”

  “Yeah, exactly.”

  “But that you were from the local police. You said you were Officer Van Dovercooke or something like that.”

  The fact that she nailed it meant she’d taken the offer for a ride-along seriously. Shit. I had hoped it wouldn’t stick in her mind. Too bad she was turned on by cops.

  The big bald head of Luverne had looked at me funny, spoke to Michelle. “Is that what he said?”

  “No, no, you must’ve misunderstood. I told you to call Officer Van Dovercooke—actually I can’t even remember if that’s his name. We just got to talking at a bar. Anyway, yeah, you should always call the local cops if you need help.”

  “You said I could go out on your shift, though.” Michelle all frustrated, too smart for her own good. Great. Jesus. Now Sienna and Luverne and Michelle were looking at me funny.

  I shrugged. “I’m always glad to offer that to a smart girl who’s interested in studying law.”

  That got a headshake from Luverne. He blew out a long breath. “What an asshole.”

  On the couch, we waited for local police. Public Safety still asking accusing questions. “Did you even think of contacting us? At least tell me you were ignorant of the law rather than ignoring it.”

  And: “You knew something was wrong last night and sat on it? You think that was the smart play, Deputy?”

  And: “Can I have Deputy Van Dovercooke’s number? What’s his first name?”

  I fudged through, tried to make it look like I wanted to avoid extra paperwork. A couple of times, he asked Drew why she was here, and I shut him down fast. “She’s also a witness. Can’t talk without her lawyer.”

  “How convenient for you.”

  “Why don’t you suck my cock, Mr. Clean?”

  He smiled. “Would you like that, Deputy Lafitte?”

  When the local cops tapped on the glass doors with their flashlights—just to make more noise—Sienna stepped over to let them in. Two uniformed officers, one a lieutenant, walked in that lazy way we all did with their hands on their belts. Bulky jackets took away from the power, but you had to go for warmth over swagger. They weren’t alone, and I wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. Right behind them was the sheriff, my fucking ex-brother-in-law. It didn’t feel like we’d been sitting here long enough for him to make the drive, but there he was.

  He nodded around. “Gentlemen, Ladies. Billy.”

  Sienna found an errand to get rid of Michelle, who was still looking at me as if I’d stood her up for prom. Her own fault, a fool for the bad boys. The lieutenant introduced himself, just another Scandinavian name I had no idea how to spell. He suggested we move this discussion to the police station while his officers secured the scene, scraped together some clues to the kids’ disappearance.

  Might as well get this part over with. “When you check the sheets, Heather’s sheets? You’re going to find traces of, um, me.”

  “You contaminated the scene? Looking for a lead on their whereabouts? We can sort that out.”

  “No, I mean. I mean on the bed, around the room. My hair, fingerprints. I met Heather yesterday. I was here.”

  Caught Drew out of the corner of my eye. The angriest stone cold face I’d ever seen, like she’d crack her teeth if she bit back the tears any harder. She crossed her arms and walked off on her own.

  I shouted after her, “Hey, we didn’t do anything!”

  “Unbelievable,” Sienna whispered, shaking her head.

  I wasn’t listening to the lieutenant’s reasonable admonishment about mixing my personal and professional lives. Public Safety wanted to break me in two.

  “Lock this bastard up! There’s your suspect right there!”

  “It was just a talk.”

&nb
sp; One of the cops huffed. “From what I hear, you’re a pretty active talker, Deputy.”

  I motioned the other officer towards me. He kept his face hidden from the others, flashed me a Way to go grin. I asked, “You’ve heard of me, right?”

  “Shit, you’re all we talk about.”

  “Good or bad?”

  “How do you get away with it?”

  “Do me a favor.” I lifted my chin towards Drew. “You see that girl walking off? She’s important. I need you to take care of her.”

  “You giving me permission?”

  I lowered my voice. “You touch her, you get plowed under a soybean field. And I’ll get away with it, too.”

  That rattled him. He tried to think of a comeback. Instead, he stood frozen in a staredown.

  I blinked. “Go. Her name’s Drew. Do your job. Don’t disappoint your wife.” I flicked his wedding band. He shoved the hand in his jacket pocket and went after Drew, who was now out of sight.

  Graham was at my side a moment later, landed a helpful hand on my shoulder. “Can’t say I’m happy to hear all this. We’ll have to have a long talk after they’ve questioned you.”

  “Who says they’ll release me?”

  “I say. I’m not going to let them humiliate you. Go, answer some questions, and if they start playing games we walk. You can get a lawyer. Right now, let them find those kids. Tell them everything you know.”

  If I told them everything I knew, Graham wouldn’t be so quick to pull my ass out of the fire. Still, I’d been wrong about him. Thought he would fold to procedure and properness at even the hint of impropriety, ex-brother-in-law or not. Graham might be a straight shooter, a by-the-booker, but I didn’t realize how loyal he was. Almost inspired me to tell the truth.

  Almost.