Alex McKnight 6 - Ice Run by Steve Hamilton

Author:Steve Hamilton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Minotaur Books
Published: 2010-03-31T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

Batchawana Bay was a small town, probably the kind of place where everybody knew everybody else. It wasn’t that far away. In fact, it was closer than Blind River. After I cleared the bridge, all I had to do was head due north on the Queen’s Highway instead of east. The snow was piled high to either side, but the road itself was clear. I figured I could get there within half an hour, easy.

I passed through Soo Canada, then hit the open road leading north through Heyden and Goulais River. There was nothing to see but white fields and trees bending under great weights of snow, until I finally began to see the frozen expanse of Lake Superior to the west. It was Whitefish Bay, my end of the lake, but seen from the wrong side. I had come all the way around the bay because I was worried about Natalie, because she was heading into a tough situation and most of one day had passed and I still hadn’t heard from her. That was all it took.

I would have driven a lot farther. I knew that. I would have done just about anything for her on this cold winter’s day, even with the bruises still fresh on my face, with my ribs still hurting and my knee still stiff. Jackie was absolutely right about me. But I couldn’t change that. That was the way I was, for better or worse.

As the town of Batchawana Bay got closer, I started to wonder why Natalie’s mother was living there. I had been up here before, and it had struck me as one of the loneliest places I had ever seen, the Canadian equivalent of Paradise, Michigan. Of course, maybe that’s why she liked it. I’d been down that road myself.

I figured the simplest thing to do would be to stop in at the most likely bar, ask if Grace was around. If it was her regular place, somebody would know her. Hell, everybody would know her. If it wasn’t, I’d just go on to the next place.

I stopped at a gas station near the public docks. As I stood pumping the gas, I breathed in the cold air and looked out at the bay. The ice stretched as far as I could see. Next to the station was a restaurant, with a long row of windows running along one side. In the summer, it would be a nice place to sit and watch the boats on the water. Today it looked like a nice place to stay warm and get quietly hammered.

I paid the man for the gas and moved the truck to the restaurant lot. When I opened the door, three men looked up from the bar.

“Afternoon, gentlemen,” I said. “How’s it going?”

“Not too bad,” the first man said. He had two empty shot glasses lined up in front of him. A cigarette burned in the ashtray. “Don’s in the bathroom, so you’ll have to wait a minute.”

“Does Don run this place?”

“No, he just cleans the bathrooms as a hobby.

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