Free Die a Stranger by Steve Hamilton

I mean, come on.
    *   *   *
     
    When the chief’s taillights disappeared down the road, I went inside and sat back down in that same chair. I ran over everything in my head. Finally, when I thought I might punch a hole right through the table, I got up and went through my desk instead and found a business card. I dialed the number.
    “Agent Long. What.” The voice of a woman who had been in a deep sleep just a few seconds ago.
    “Hi,” I said. “It’s me, Alex. I woke you up, didn’t I?”
    “Alex? What time is it?”
    “It’s about midnight, I think. I’m sorry.”
    “It’s okay. I have to be up in five more hours anyway.”
    She laughed, and something came all the way through the phone line, over all those miles, and went right through me. Agent Janet Long of the FBI, stationed in Detroit. We’d spent all of two weeks together, when she had come up here to help track down a killer. When she had left, I had promised to call her sometime. I never did, until now.
    You are a goddamned fool, I told myself. All this time you could have reached out, and you pick now, in the middle of the night. Just because you can’t think of anyone else.
    “I’m sorry,” I said. “I shouldn’t have called. I mean, I should have called. But not like this. I should have—”
    “It’s okay, Alex. What’s the problem? I can tell you’re upset.”
    “I just need to talk to somebody. I’m going to go crazy if I don’t.”
    “So talk.”
    “You remember Vinnie LeBlanc,” I said.
    “Your friend, yes. I met him at that bar.”
    “He’s gone. He and his cousin. They’re in some sort of trouble.”
    “What kind of trouble?”
    “I just broke a promise, by the way. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. But I figure you don’t count.”
    “Thanks a lot.”
    “No, I mean, being on the job and all. Which, by the way…”
    “Yeah?”
    “Tell me everything you know about this thing that happened up here. At the Newberry airport.”
    “Whoa,” she said. “Time out. Are you serious?”
    “I’m not saying they’re involved. I’m just asking you to tell me what you know, beyond what was in the paper. I know five men were killed, but—”
    “Alex, if they’re not involved, why are you asking me this?”
    “I can’t see Vinnie having any connection to this, but as far as his cousin goes…”
    “Do you think he was there? At the airport?”
    “I can’t rule it out. I mean, I didn’t think it was possible, but I guess I don’t know him that well. If he was actually there, well, let’s just say it would explain some things if he was.”
    “You need to talk to somebody up there,” she said. “Right away. If you have any information that could—”
    “I already have, okay? There’s a new police chief on the rez up here. He was just sitting right here at this table. He knows everything I do, and in fact, hell, he’s the one who received the message from Vinnie.”
    “What kind of message?”
    “Just that they’re both okay. As if they were, I don’t know, hiding out and figuring out what to do next? I’m not really sure, but that’s the only scenario I can imagine.”
    “So you’ve had no contact with Vinnie yourself?”
    “No,” I said, tapping my fingers on the table.
    “And that bothers you,” she said. “You want to go get yourself right in the middle of it, don’t you?”
    “It wouldn’t be the first time. We seem to do that for each other.”
    She laughed again.
    “This is so weird,” she said. “I was just thinking about this case when I went to bed, and then you wake me up to talk about it. I’m not dreaming, right?”
    “So you do know about it.”
    “Of course I do. Marijuana flying in from Canada in the middle of the night? People shooting each other?”
    “So it did come from Canada. I was reading about that last month. This isn’t the first time, right?”
    “No, I should say not. It’s almost impossible to stop them, unless we want to station somebody at every