— Niko and Tracey must figure out what to do with Bayless and his mysterious duffle —
Reynolds looked at Niko for a long time and shook his head. “Don’t they say a Chamonix never lies?”
“They do.” Niko chuckled, but it sounded forced.
Reynolds began walking again, moving into the yard, scanning as strolled, as if looking for shark’s teeth on a cold beach. “So you’re saying you didn’t hear any shots in the past hour or so. The reports say they were over by the river … where you were.” He was circling towards the tarp.
“Damn Sheriff. I hear shots out here all the time. They don’t really register with me, you know?”
“Well, that makes sense most of the time Niko, but this was a bunch of handgun shots fired off in succession.”
“Shots are shots.”
“I don’t buy that,” Reynolds was next to the trap, eyeing it. Niko’s pulse increased and his face felt hot. “You know what hunting shots sound like and what handgun shots sound like.”
“Sure, sure.” Niko paused, unable to focus on his words as he watched Reynolds stand and scan the yard, standing just feet from Bayless’s still warm body.
Good god. How is he not looking under that tarp already?
“I’ve heard plenty of hunters in my time, but I really don’t have that much experience with handguns.”
“That seems unlikely.”
“You saying I’m lying?”
“No, just hiding something.”
“Now that I think of it, I did hear some shots out there, but I just figured someone was having a bad day hunting or it was a couple dumbasses firing at tin cans or something.”
Reynolds had stepped closer to the tarp. He looked at Niko.
“You mind if I — ”
At that moment, Bob the bear came waddling out of the brush, moving towards Reynolds, who was now also close to the fish cleaning table.
Reynolds startled and ran a few steps towards the street.
“God damn Niko. There’s a bear in your yard.”
“He thinks you have fish. He’s hungry.” Niko was laughing. “He’s harmless. Didn’t know you were that worried about bears.” Bob, seemingly disappointed, was already walking back to the bushes.
Reynolds was flattening his shirt with his hands. His interrogative tone was gone.
“Alright then. I’ll be around town checking things out, but if you think of anything more about those shots, just let me know.”
Reynolds left, and Niko walked back to the porch where Tracey was sitting, staring intently at nothing in front of her face. They sat for some time in silence, and the sun was gone, and the moon rose up, and they could hear the bears rustling in the bushes, but none came into the yard, as if they knew this was different. That something significant had happened.
“Why did you lie?” Tracey asked.
“I knew you wouldn’t let me go.”
She turned to him. “I know why you lied to me, and we’ll deal with that. But there is a damn body in the front yard that you just lied to the police about. What about that Mr. Harvard genius?”
Niko stammered and looked down and began to apologize.
“If you even think about saying you’re sorry right now, I will burn the fly shop down. I need answers, not apologies.”
“I just didn’t think it was a good idea to tell Reynolds.”
“Why not? Some guy tried to kill us and a wild bear killed him. We won’t get in trouble.”
“It’s not that.”
“Am I missing something?” Tracey’s voice was clear, but her hands were still shaking.
Niko told her the story, everything that happened out there. Bayless’s coldness and precision, his satellite phone call, the ruthless message on the other end of of that call.
“We get the police involved, go on record, and whoever was on that call will know exactly who to look for,” Niko said.
“Goddamn it Niko. Why didn’t you just listen to me?”
“Like you said, we need to figure what to do with the dead body, the money, and that damn bag before we get into that.”
Tracey looked at the floor of the porch and rocked back and forth on the bench, her legs pulled up to her chest.
“The police can help.”
“It’s too much of a risk.”
She didn’t respond, but Niko could tell she was listening.
“We need to hide it all. The gun, the bag, the money, and the body.”
“Hide a body Niko? Who are you?”
“Just trying to put this behind us.”
“That’s what got you into this mess. Trying to fix things without actually dealing with them. Without figuring it out. Have you even looked into the bag?”
Niko took a deep breath. “I haven’t. I don’t really want to know what’s in there.”
“You can’t pretend it’s not there.”
“I’ll just take it all back up the river and get rid of it. It never happened.” Niko was leaning forward now, his hands on the sides of his head. Tracey was looking at him.
“Let’s just tell Reynolds you were in shock and now you want to let him know what happened.”
“That won’t work. You didn’t hear that phone call. This has got to go away. Plus if we tell anyone that Big Berry Dumpling killed a person, they’ll euthanize all the bears.”
Tracey paused. “Using the bears is low.”
“It’s true though.”
Tracey stood up. “I don’t care if you’re too scared to look in the bag.” She walked across the yard and pulled the blue tarp from Bayless’s body. She bent over and picked up the bag. Niko looked on as she returned.
“Let’s see what the big deal is.”
She unzipped the bag. “A gun, a silencer, two more clips of ammo, tons of cash.” She rummaged through. “A mask, gloves and foot booties? This guy was a psycho,” she whispered.
“Be careful.”
“Of what?”
“I don’t know. Whatever is in there.”
“It’s not a snake Niko.”
She pulled a folder from the bag and opened it. She read, and her eyes widened, and Niko grimaced.
“It is probably better not to look,” he said.
“You’ve got to face what you are up against or it’ll sneak up right behind you.”
She read on, paging through documents and pictures, looking back into the bag.
“There must be two hundred thousand dollars in there.” She handed him a set of keys.
“Shit.”
Tracey looked from the documents. “It doesn’t happen often, but you’re right. We should hide the body.”
She held the folder out to him. “Some pretty powerful people are listed in here. They’re doing all kinds of bad things. All the pages are on the same letter head though.”
“We can’t deal with all of that right now. If you agree on taking care of this ourselves, that’s enough for me.”
“Well, get to it then.”
“Get to what?”
“The body. We can’t leave it sitting here. Reynolds almost tripped over the damn thing while you stammered like a child.”
Niko went to work, running on instinct. He went to the fly shop and opened the cash drawer and pulled the envelope that Bayless had given him just days before. It felt like years.
He ran back to the yard and pulled the tarp from the body to assess the full situation. He didn’t know what to feel. A death touches you whether you want it to or not.
He tried to wrap the tarp all the way around the body, tight enough to hold any fluids, but his hand was throbbing and clicking audibly. Tracey watched him curse his hand.
“Damn it. I’ll help you.”
“No, I’ve got this.”
“By now I would think you learned you can’t do things on your own. You’re not a twenty-five year old dirt bag fishing guide anymore. Anything you do affects me.”
Niko just looked at her, his eyes tearing up.
“Plus you can’t do anything with that mangled hand of yours.”
“Fine.”
They rolled the body and Tracey tied it off with some old fly line that was piled up under the fish cleaning table.
Niko pulled the truck into the yard and they lifted the body into the bed, put the money and the folder in the bag, and stuffed the whole thing under the passenger seat. Niko drove across the street, and they unloaded the body.
It was just sitting in the middle of the garage floor looking very much like a body wrapped in a tarp.
“What now?” Tracey asked.
“Take it way out there tomorrow morning.”
“We can’t just leave it here. Anyone can see it through the window,” Tracey said.
“Under the workbench?”
“I guess.”
They pushed the body as far under the table as they could, and then placed bins and crates in front of it.
“Back to the launch. I hope the boat is still there.”
The drift boat was pinned on the upstream side of the mooring posts, just where Bayless had left it. They dislodged it and pulled it to the trailer and took it back to the fly shop.
They skipped dinner, as neither was interested in eating. They showered and put their clothes directly into the washing machine before climbing into bed. Tracey pulled the cover to her chin and turned away from Niko as he turned to the wall, each knowing sleep was impossible. They didn’t discuss plans, but they knew they would rise before first light and run back up the Nagadan.
At some point in the night Niko turned his head and whispered, “You sure you want to go?”
“Yes.” Tracey spoke into the dark without moving.
Niko turned back and picked up his phone, careful not to let Tracey see the light of the screen.
Meet me at the shop at dawn. One of those times.
The eastern sky was deep purple when they walked from the house, and Mossy was waiting in the shop parking lot.
“What’s he doing here?” Tracey asked.
“I asked him to help.”
Tracey stopped walking. She put her hand on Niko’s chest. “Why the hell would you have Mossy get involved?
Niko raised his swollen hand. “How are we going to do all of this when I can only use one hand? You ever dug a hole big enough for a body? We have two of them to deal with. Can’t just leave Baptiste out there to rot.”
She raised her eyebrows. “Have you ever dug a hole big enough for a body?”
Niko didn’t answer the question. “Mossy will make things a lot easier.”
“Can we trust him with this?
“I trust Mossy with my life. We’re fishing buddies.”
Tracey shook her head. “No time for your stupid jokes.”
“I’m serious.”
Mossy waived and Niko continued across the street. They shook hands.
“Thanks man.”
“Don’t even mention it.”
Tracey walked up. “Mossy, I’m not sure you know what you’re getting into. You can — ”
“Don’t need to know. Niko said he needed help.”
“That is very kind, but this is … well, very illegal to be honest. I’m not sure you want — ”
Mossy laughed and slapped Niko on the shoulder. “It’ll be like old times. Come on, they say illegal things are better done in the dark. Best get movin before that sun gets high. What we hauling boss?”
“It’s in the garage,” Niko said. Mossy turned and walked towards the shop’s garage. He was whistling.
Tracey looked at Niko. “Old times?”
Niko sighed. “Mossy was never just a fishing guide down in Florida.”
“What does that mean?”
“He did all sorts of things to make money. Some not so legal. I helped him out a few times when he got jammed up.”
“Were you ever planning on telling me all of this?”
“This is not the time. I promise I’ll tell you anything you want to know when we get back. We have things to figure out though. Reynolds will be back, and he will be looking around.”
She crossed her arms. “Fine.”
Mossy was already gassing the boat from one of the tanks Niko kept in the garage.
“Can you take care of that?” He pulled a bin from under the workbench and pointed at the blue bundle.
“For sure,” Mossy said. “You want to know any details?”
“Just make sure he won’t be found. There’ll be more than police looking for him.”
“Got it.”
“His vehicle is out front too. That needs to get out of here.”
“Torch it?”
“No, just get it somewhere it won’t be found.”
“You got keys?”
“On the bench.” Niko pointed to the set Tracey had found in the bag the day before.
“Consider it done.”
“Appreciate it Mossy.”
“Drop in the bucket.”
“I got a few other things to take care of, but let me know if anything goes wrong. Otherwise, I’ll see you down at the brewery tomorrow night.”
“For sure. Be safe out there.”
“You too.”
Niko walked back to Tracey, who was still standing outside arms folded. “Mossy’s got Bayless. We have Baptiste and the bag.”
She walked to the truck in silence and climbed in. Niko followed and began backing out. Mossy had the tarped body in a wheelbarrow already and was carting it across the driveway.
“You cold?” Niko asked.
“No.” She pulled her jacket tighter.
Niko turned the heat up in the cool morning air. “We’ll drive way up there. From the last launch we should be out and back before dark,” Niko said.
“I said I wasn’t cold.” She turned the fan off.
“I don’t even know how to apologize for all of this, but right now I just need your help.”
“Oh, you know how to ask for help? Didn’t think you had that particular skill.”
“I said I was sorry.”
“For what?”
“For all of this. For going out on the river. For lying.”
“Damnit Niko. You don’t even know what to be sorry for.”
“What’d you mean?” Niko was speeding now.
“What was all that about old times?”
“I told you I would tell you after we figured all this shit out.”
“That’s how you always operate. You think you can figure everything out and then deal with talking about the problems. You want your cuts to heal up and then put the stitches in. It doesn’t make any sense.”
“What do you want then?”
“I want to know why you know how to hide a body. And what you and Mossy did that was so crazy, and anything else you have been keeping from me for all of these years that we have been together.”
“Fine. You really want to know?”
“Yes Niko, I don’t know how I can be more clear than that.”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“Try me.”
Niko slammed his hand on the wheel, and they were silent for a few minutes. He slowed the truck back to the speed limit, and then started talking. His voice shook and his eyes teared up. He didn’t have the courage to look at her. He told her about meeting Mossy, about his time in Florida, and then all of the other places he had been, and about all of the things he had done — the bad and the worse. The things he had never told anyone, even Mossy. The things he told himself he would take to the grave. He talked for an hour without stopping. He was sure she’d be done with him anyway, so he might as well get it all out. When there was nothing left to say he stopped and drove and waited. He still couldn’t look at her. The road was tight and bumpy by then. They pulled to the last boat launch, and Niko stopped the truck.
“You’re an idiot Niko.”
“What? I pour my heart out, say all those terrible things, and you call me an idiot?”
“Why didn’t you tell me all of this before?”
“I knew you would just run away.”
“Jesus Niko.”
“What?”
“None of that is really that bad. I thought you were a murder or something.”
“Not that bad. Really?” Niko looked at her and smiled a little.
Tracey shrugged. “I mean it’s not great, but you didn’t do anything unforgivable.”
Niko started laughing. “Holy hell. I should have told you a long time ago. I feel better already.”
“You’re impossible.”
“Chamonix men are complex.”
“Well, this is no time to try to be funny. We still have a body and a bag of all sorts of bad stuff to deal with, and I’m still mad at you anyway.”
“I know.” Niko was still smiling.
He backed down the launch and went about the business of preparing the boat, like he had done a thousand times. This time though instead of loading rods, he loaded a shovel and a pick axe. Realizing the task at hand brought him back to reality, and the weariness of his recent stress wore on his soul, but the setting did not match the mood. The feel of clean river water on a summer Maine morning and the vanishing dew — it all almost felt normal when Niko smelled that first puff of diesel fuel.
They rode up the drainage and onto the Nagadan to the rocky flat where Niko and Bayless had camped. They hiked back into the woods, following the winding path. The late afternoon rays seeped through the canopy, and it smelled of spruce. In the daylight with Tracey next to him, it felt almost pleasant, much different than trailing Bayless through the same woods in the dark.
When they approached the cabin, Niko became quiet and he slowed his pace.
“I don’t think you want to see what’s in there. Maybe you can just help with the hole and I’ll get the body in and covered up?”
“That’s not how this works Niko. We do this together.”
Niko opened the door and the stench made him dry heave. Tracey walked in without hesitation.
“Maybe you need to start on the hole while I deal with this,” she said.
Baptiste’s face was too damaged to recognize, and Niko never could remember much from that afternoon as he and Tracey dragged the corpse from the cabin and buried him as deep as they could thirty yards into the brush, careful to redistribute the forest duff over the freshly disturbed area.
“You want to say anything?” Tracey asked.
Niko paused, looking down. “Just thanks and I’m sorry.”
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“Perhaps.”
They returned to the cabin, and Niko tidied the place without knowing why. He poked around, looking for something that might tell him more about Baptiste, but it was all so anonymous, probably an intentional move. Niko considered how hard it must have been to live in a place for so long while avoiding leaving a personal mark. Were there pictures Baptiste would have liked to hang, books he left on a shelf somewhere else? Niko pulled a rug over the blood stain as Tracey watched him.
“How long were you here?”
“About a week or so.”
“What was he like?”
“Quiet, kind. I don’t know much else. Seemed afraid of the outside, like something was coming back for him.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I know, but it just feels like it. It always does.”
“Richard was not your fault either.”
“I know.”
“I don’t think you do.”
Niko was looking at the bag sitting by the door.
“You want to leave it here? Hide it?”
“Maybe it’s better to keep close. In case we need it.”
“You want more about what is in there?” Tracey asked.
“Not now, maybe soon. I don’t feel right knowing it all. Baptiste died for it, and I don’t want to jinx that for him.”
“I don’t think you know what jinx means.” Tracey picked the bag up.
“Sure I do.”
“Well, just let me know when you want to look. We can see together.”
They walked from the cabin, and headed towards the boat. They rode the Nagadan River downstream on the edge of daylight, the sky orange and the summer warmth fading, and the air was still. The river moved, but it was slick and calm like glass, and Niko felt home there, and he felt like himself again, even as he looked at all the spots he had slept out and suffered on his way back twice now. And each time he had gotten in trouble out there, it was Tracey or the thought of her that saved him, but now she was next to him, in the boat, and the river was calm and low and the rocks were easy to see.
It was dark when they finally made it home.
“That’s not good.”
“What?” Tracey asked.
Niko pointed to Sheriff Reynolds’s truck parked outside of the fly shop. Niko pulled up, and Reynolds walked from around back of the shop, his flashlight scanning back and forth.
“Can I help you?” Niko called out.
“Where y’all been?”
“Just out for a ride.”
“How’s the hand?”
“Hurts like hell.”
Reynold shined the light on his hand. “It don’t take a doctor to see that thing is broken. You went out for a ride all day before getting that set?”
“He has always been as stubborn as hell when it comes to doctors,” Tracey said as she walked around the truck. “I told him to go in this morning, but he just wanted to run the river. I didn’t want him out there alone.”
Reynolds forced a smile with his mouth while his eyes stayed hard. “Best get that thing set Niko, don’t want those bones healing up in the wrong spot.”
“Will do. What you looking for around back?”
“Oh, just wanted to see what was around.”
“Let me know next time. I’ll give you a tour.”
“Kind of you.” Reynolds turned and walked towards his SUV. Just before getting in the vehicle, he turned back. “It’s probably nothing, but I thought I’d ask if you’ve seen a guy named Bradley Bayless around here.”
Niko looked at Tracey for a moment, and then back at Reynolds. “Bayless?”
“Yea. Bradley Bayless.”
“Uh, he stopped by a few days ago to try to get on the schedule. Didn’t have any open slots. Haven’t seen him since.”
“No slots? I haven’t seen you with any sports recently?”
Niko laughed. “I guess I should be more precise. I didn’t have any spots for him. Seemed a little stuck up when I talked to him.”
“Did you send him to anyone else? Know where he headed off to?”
“No. Just told him I was busy. Why you asking?”
“Well, we can’t seem to find him.”
“What do you mean you can’t find him? Why’re you even looking?”
“He’s missing, just thought you might know where he is.”
“How do you know he isn’t just hiking or hunting something? Maybe he left town.”
“We got a call from a friend of his. Said he was here and he was supposed to check in and he didn’t.”
Niko paused, considering the “friend” who would be making that call.
“Well sometimes people get a little delayed out there.”
“Yes, I guess they do sometimes. You’d know all about that huh?”
“I would.”
“Wasn’t there an SUV parked in your lot yesterday?”
“Sure. Some guy bought a few dozen flies and then wanted to fish. I told him he could hike on down to the creek and get as many little brook trout as he wanted.”
“Ahh,” Reynolds nodded. “You remember the tags on that vehicle?”
“I don’t Sheriff, sorry.”
“I feel like they were out of state, but I can’t be sure. Anyway, where did Bayless want to go with you?”
“Up the Nagadan drainage. I told him I didn’t have time for that.”
“Dangerous up there,” Reynolds said.
“Only if you take it with you. Nice country otherwise.”
Reynolds nodded his head. “True of most things I guess. Well, if you hear from Bayless, you let me know.”
“Don’t know why I would, but of course.”
Bob and Big Berry Dumpling had emerged from the brush and were across the street licking the table.
Reynolds shined his light on them. “I thought you said you were going to move that table. Those bears are a damn liability.”
Niko began to speak, but Tracey cut him off. “If he said he’ll move the table, he will. A Chamonix never lies. We’ll get it fixed up in the fall when the fishing dies down.”
***
About a week later, a SUV with Diplomatic tags pulled into the fly shop parking lot. The driver held his phone, a twinkling light in the dark Maine night.
Ladawambuck ain’t much.
A reply: Don’t get ahead of yourself. Just get what we need and get out.
Niko watched the vehicle from the bedroom window. His rifle was leaning on the sill.
. . .
The end … of part 1