Murder Grins and Bears It by Deb Baker Read Free Book Online Page B

much all his life. Piles of dirty dishes lined the counter
and the kitchen table was littered with tools, cans of bug spray,
and other health hazards.
    Walter scratched his long scrawny beard,
took a sip of his coffee-laced brandy, and asked about my
husband.
    “ Barney’s been dead a few
years now, Walter. You remember, don’t you? You came to the
funeral.”
    “ Oh, ya,” he said. Then
waited.
    Small talk is an art in the Michigan U.P.,
since most things that happen here are small. Long silences are
okay, too. Most of what’s said will be said again tomorrow. The
weather, gardening, and the no-good federal government are all good
topics, interspersed with pauses and throat clearings. It’s our way
of life.
    Only I wasn’t here for small talk.
    “ A warden was killed
yesterday. You hear anything about that?”
    “ Just that he’s dead,”
Walter said.
    “ Who told you?” I sipped my
coffee, noticing Cora Mae hadn’t touched hers. She slid her chair
back as far from the table as possible.
    “ The Detroit boys came in
from the bait pile early yesterday. They knew.”
    “ You’re still renting out
bait piles to out-of-towners?”
    Walter nodded.
    “ Where are they
staying?”
    “ I’ve got a trailer out
back.”
    Leasing chunks of land to hunters is common
practice around Stonely. There aren’t many jobs to speak of, and
taxes have to be paid on the properties, so some people have
resorted to renting to the city boys, most of them coming from
Chicago or Detroit. However, it’s not a popular way to add income,
and those who do it generally don’t make announcements to the
community.
    “ My grandson seems to be
missing,” I continued. “Anybody around here see him?”
    Walter shook his head back and forth. He
rolled up the sleeves of his worn, red flannel shirt and took a
long gulp of his coffee. I noticed red welts skittering over his
arms.
    “ Looks like you got
yourself into a mess of stinging nettles,” I said.
    “ I was sicklin’ brush over
on the side of the south fence, and must’a got in it there. Didn’t
even notice till I was done. Stuff runs for miles all along the
fencing on that side.”
    Stinging nettle can grow as tall as a large
man. It looks wispy and harmless along the edges of clearings,
snuggling up against fences and outbuildings where people tend to
walk. Then it waits patiently for some poor sucker to come wading
through it. If you rub up against it, small hairs poke through your
exposed skin injecting formic acid, the welts leap up, and the
itching starts and goes on forever.
    I heard you can boil and eat the new growth
of a stinging nettle--that could come in handy if you were lost and
starving. Boiling supposedly neutralizes the acid. Of course, you’d
need a pair of gloves to pick it and a pot to boil it in, which
aren’t convenient items to locate out in the woods.
    Lost and starving reminded me of my
mission.
    “ I need to find Little
Donny,” I said, draining my coffee. “Maybe the Detroit boys know
something useful. How many piles are they sitting on?”
    Walter scratched his welts. “Three. But
they’re buried deep. Can’t drive your truck in.”
    “ No, but your ATV ought to
do just dandy.”

    ****

    The ATV was painted in camouflage, or camo
as we like to call it. Brown with large green leaves. And it roared
like a souped-up racecar down the path Walter had pointed out to
us.
    “ Hang on tight,” I called
over my shoulder to Cora Mae as I opened up the machine on a
straight stretch. “Let’s see what it’ll do.”
    I was having so much fun, I almost blew
right past the first bait pile.
    Pre-work is everything in bear hunting.
Since a bear travels in a circuit ranging from several days to
several weeks, a hunter tries to hold him in an area as long as
possible by enticing him with tantalizing treats. The smellier, the
better.
    I smelled the pile before I saw it.
    Pulling over, I crawled off the ATV,
adjusted my oversized weapons handbag on my shoulder,