a mug that smelled faintly like ginger. “You both go. Franklin, I’m counting on you to make sure the land is clear. Bear, move your big old head: I need to give Miss Lydia here her supper.”
Alsop didn’t speak while we walked back to the Impala. We moved quickly, more quickly than when I’d been trailing Bear: the dog had been following a straight line that led through thick ground cover, but Alsop knew a trail.
When we were about twenty feet from the road, Alsop put a hand on my shoulder to make sure I understood his signal to stay still and be quiet. An instant later, he disappeared into one of the prairie swales.
The moon was in its first quarter, but the clouds were heavy enough that the prairie was as dark as if it were the outer reaches of the galaxy. I wanted to be bold and decisive, to take action, move forward, but I felt unmoored, unhinged.
Alsop reappeared as silently as he’d gone. “You’re clear, at least as far as the next intersection. Before you take off—who told you how to find Cassie?”
“Eddie, at the Ellsworth body shop.”
“I guess that’s okay. I know him, or his brother.”
“Yes, you went to high school with his brother,” I agreed.
“Eddie is still the kid brother, wanting attention. I hope he isn’t that chatty with everyone,” Alsop said.
I hoped so, too, but I only said, “Before I go, where is Coop?”
“Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you, but I don’t know. He brought Lydia into Cassie’s place, made sure she was going to survive, at least for the near term, and disappeared. Three days ago, if you’re wondering.”
He stopped for a minute. “I believe you are not trying to bring harm to Cassie, or me, or the prairie, but you are so ignorant—about the land and about us—that you’ll do damage without meaning to. That’s almost worse than coming out here intending to do harm. I’m begging—imploring—you not to come back. Cassie’s place is hard to find, but not impossible, and if someone is following you, they’ll find her.”
He melted once more into the darkness before I could respond.
47
Asleep in a Boat
The drive back to Ellsworth on the unlit country roads intensified my loneliness. It embarrassed me that I felt aggrieved with Bear for choosing Lydia over me.
I didn’t know if Lydia was safe at Cassie’s, because I didn’t know what was keeping Devlin & Wickham interested in her whereabouts. The Salina cops might not know specifically where Cassie’s prairie house was, but if Devlin & Wickham asked them to hunt for Lydia, they’d get on Cassie’s trail easily enough.
I wasn’t just lonely, but also frustrated to the point of tears that I didn’t have the resources to keep Lydia safe. The Canadiens could help look after Bernie. Hopefully Angela would be safe in Shreveport, but this dark expanse of land made me feel puny, ineffectual.
I started singing to hold my tears at bay. I was trying to learn “Tradimento,” by the Baroque prodigy Barbara Strozzi, and I was having trouble with the key shift at the end of the first stanza. Focusing on the music kept me going until I reached the lights of Ellsworth, such as they were.
The rain had stopped by the time I reached Tales of a Traveler. I parked at the edge of the lot and walked the few blocks to a restaurant with a full bar.
The restaurant menu ran heavily to steaks and burgers. The talk of the massacre and Cassie’s revulsion made me squeamish about looking at meat. I ordered vegetable side dishes, all grown by local farmers, the menu promised, but the steaks made me remember the food I’d bought earlier. There was a steak for Bear still in my motel room refrigerator. Maybe I’d leave it there in the morning for the next guest. I also had his blanket and bowls, but he seemed fine at Cassie’s without them. I’d take them back to Chicago and give them to Coop when we finally connected.
My whisky came and I sipped it, relishing the warm gold taste, while I checked my messages. I had forgotten Peter’s WhatsApp message, letting me know he’d arrived in Ankara.
I tried to sound upbeat in my reply. Lively day on the Great Plains. I talked to people who knew Lydia and met people who are trying to preserve the ancient prairies. I hope you had fun, too.
It was almost five in the morning in Ankara. If he had