Page 85 of God’s Country

“You, Adam? You okay?”

“Not a scratch on me, Sheriff. But it was pretty hairy there for a while.”

Dross eyed the two dead men. “The Kennedy brothers. Patrick,” she said, indicating Stan. “And Michael,” with a gesture toward his brother.

They had real names. They weren’t just two-dimensional, clownish images of men.

“Doc,” the sheriff said, and our county coroner began to go about his work.

“I’ve let your family know,” Dross said. “Rainy; Jenny; Waaboo; your sister-in-law, Rose; and the two boys are at home. Stephen; Daniel; and your brother-in-law, Mal, are with a team searching way south of here. We’ve radioed them as well. Late yesterday, one of the search parties stumbled onto Cordell Bishop and two other people you and the Kennedy brothers crossed paths with.”

“Tucker Jackson and his daughter, Leticia. Are they all okay?”

“They were medevacked out and everyone’s doing fine.”

Azevedo waded to the Beaver, retrieved his camera, and began snapping photos of the scene.

“There’s a dead man on Big Woman Lake,” I said. “Courtesy of the Kennedy brothers.”

“I think I know who it might be,” Dross said. “A man named Blake Carver. He was supposed to exit the Boundary Waters yesterday but never showed. His family called it in. We found his Jeep still parked in the lot at the entry point.”

“A family man,” I said.

“He’s a minister. Was a minister. In the Boundary Waters on a spiritual retreat.”

“He approached those two men with kindness in his heart. And look where that got him,” I said.

Dross studied me. “We need to get you out of here. Adam, will you fly him?”

“Sure.”

“We’ll get full statements from you both later.” She looked at me again, this time with compassion I could see but couldn’t respond to. “You need a bath, a good meal, and a good sleep.”

She was right. But I needed a whole lot more than that.

Rainy was waiting for me at the seaplane base on Iron Lake, where Adam Beyer moored his Super Cub. I stepped onto the dock, and she swept me up in her arms.

“I prayed and here you are.”

“Prayed to God?” I asked. “To the Creator? To Ares?”

She stood back and looked at my face without understanding. “Ares?”

“God of war, right? That’s what it was, Rainy, a war zone.”

“You survived. Come,” she said, taking my arm in hers. “Let’s get you home.”

How many times while I was out there with the Kennedy brothers did I imagine being home? But the idea felt different to me now. It felt as if I was going to bring something unholy into a place that had always been like the vault of my heart. I held back.

“What is it?” Rainy said.

“I need to see Henry.”

“It’s late, Cork.”

“I need to see Henry,” I said again.

“All right. We’ll go.”