“I saw you finished the blanket,” I said. “For Tanner. It’s beautiful.”
Mama started to come in and out then, mumbling about how sorry she was and how things were going to be different from now on. She was dry enough to dress so I got her out of the tub and slid on her jeans. I pulled her sweatshirt on and was startled by a glaring sliver of scalp—a wide, bone-white shore between patches of hair.
I tried to help her to her feet. I wanted to get her to the couch in the living room, but Carletta begged me to let her go.
“Just let me sleep, baby,” she said.
It might sound bad, but I quit struggling and set her down right there on the tile floor. If there was one skill Mama had it was sleeping anywhere her head dropped.
I left Mama and took Jenna down the hall to the bedroom, wrapped her in Tanner’s blanket, and set her down on the carpet. She was burning up with fever but the blanket’s fit was perfect and I thought it might help her to sweat it out. I sat down beside her and watched her breathe. I put my finger to her cheek and I started to cry. Portis was gone.
Chapter Fourteen
The first thing Shelton did when he returned to the farmhouse was tend to Kayla. He needed to keep her down, but decided to bypass the V and go a subtler, more gentle route.
He stopped at his secret drawer in the kitchen for a joint, then sat beside her on the floor and crossed his legs Indian style. He put his fingers to her pulse and felt the faint trace of a beat. He loved her, loved her so much it made his heart hurt, put an honest-to-God ache in his ribs.
The Talking Heads sang, Check out Mr. Businessman . . . He bought some wild, wild life.
Shelton lit the joint and took a drag, but it was only to generate some smoke to blow in Kayla’s direction. So she might be warmed and comforted in her sleep. So if she woke to the waiting terror she might have the edges of it blunted, if only for a moment.
He turned her over on her back, ran a finger down her cheek, and then blew a line of smoke into her mouth with a kiss. He watched it expel through her nose, then she coughed and some trailed out that lovely part in her lips. He kissed her forehead and then heard the phone buzz. It was Clemens.
Shelton wasn’t used to Rick’s boys calling him up on the phone and the truth was he was a little flattered by all the attention. He picked up and Clemens was breathing hard on the other end.
“We got bodies up on this hill,” he said. “Somebody burned to death. My money’s on Arrow McGraw, and Portis Dale is lying dead at the bottom of the hill by his truck. He was gut shot and there ain’t no baby.”
“There’s no baby?”
“Baby is gone.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you know?”
“’Cause it was gone when I got here. Didn’t leave no note.”
“Portis is dead?”
“Stone cold.”
“Did you shoot him?”
“No. I found him like this.”
“Krebs said you planned to kill Portis Dale.”
“I did not.”
“Krebs said you borrowed his six-shooter and were ready to pull if needed.”
“Well,” said Clemens. “It sounds to me like we know who killed Portis.”
“Fucker lied to me.”
“Krebs is a piece of shit,” Clemens said. “I’ve warned you about him before.”
“So what happened to Jenna?”
“I don’t hardly want to say.”
“I think you should.”
“I don’t have any way of knowing really.”
“You got to say it, Clemens. Whatever it is.”
“I’m worried is all,” Clemens said. “I started thinking like maybe that Wolfdog took the baby. Dragged it off and God knows what. Portis usually does have that Wolfdog with him.”
“You think Wolfdog took the baby?”
“I think,” Clemens said. “But I don’t know.”
“Jesus, Lord,” said Shelton.
“I’m heading over right now,” Clemens said.
“To where?”
“The farmhouse.”
“For what?”
“We need to sit down and figure this thing through. We got dead bodies up here, Shelton. We can’t just leave them out.”
“I’m not home,” Shelton said, and looked out his window at the raging snow.
“Where you at?”
“Charlevoix the Beautiful.”
He supposed it was as good a place as any to pretend to be.
“Doing what?”
“Talking to some folks, might know something about this baby.”
“There ain’t nothing else to know. That baby is somewhere up in the hills.”
“That’s why you got to keep looking.”
“I plan to,” Clemens said. “But we’ve got to get a few things sorted first.”
“Like what?”
“Like, did Rick say any particulars on that reward?”
“Particulars?”
“I guess what I’m asking is, is this a dead-or-alive situation? In terms of the baby’s condition?”
“Condition?”
“I hate it has to be this way, but it’s a question needs to be asked.”
“You are a piece of freeze-dried shit, Clemens. You are worried about money while a baby has gone missing.”