Les Pastner was under the hat, and he slept with his eyes open. He looked like a lizard-man. How did his peepers not dry out? My scream startled him awake, and he jumped off the couch, pulling a shotgun from the crease between the back and seat cushions.

“I am ready. What in the hell, I am ready!”

I jumped back and threw my hands over my head. “It’s me, Les! Mira! From the library. You can put the gun down.”

Les kept his head moving, searching for enemies in the corners. When he found only me, he lowered the gun and scratched his head. It was then I noticed he’d been the recipient of a really bad haircut that left him bald in spots but otherwise completely intact.

“Whaddya want, Mira?”

I lowered my hands. “I just have a couple questions, Mr. Pastner. For the paper. Do you have a minute?” Having a gun pointed at me made me feel like throwing up, but I needed to take advantage of the situation. I lowered my shaking body into a chair and realized I had no idea what to ask him.

“Jeezus. You scared me near half to death.” He scratched at his head, his close-set eyes still looking erratically around the room. Up close, he reminded me a little of Mickey Rooney.

“Yeah, likewise.”

“You should know better than to sneak up on a man like that. It’s probably best you go.”

“Just a couple questions, Mr. Pastner. What was Brando Erikkson doing here last night?”

Les ran his fingers over the bristly peaks and valleys of his haircut and reached down for his hat. “We was working out a business deal.”

“About what?”

“About none of your business.”

“Are you bothered that Chief Wenonga is gone?”

Les walked over to me and made a shooing motion. “I already talked to the police about Chief Wenonga. I sell meat and RVs, not statues. Got no use for ’em.”

I had no choice but to stand, but I took my own sweet time moving toward the door. “Did you know that another Indian disappeared today, this one a real human from the parade?”

That gave Les pause. “When was that?”

“Not fifteen minutes ago.”

“Well, you saw me, here, asleep. Right?”

“Just now, yeah, but I don’t know what you were doing fifteen minutes ago.”

Les stopped herding me out and reappraised me. “Well, maybe we can make a deal. Maybe I can tell you something about Chief Wenonga gone missing, and you can remember you’ve been here for fifteen minutes.”

I crossed my fingers behind my back. “Sure. What do you know about Chief Wenonga?”

“I know Dr. Dolly Castle been in town for two days, and if what you say about the parade today is true, two Indians have gone missing in as many days. That’s the tree you should be barking up.”

“Are you saying Dolly knows where Chief Wenonga is?”

“I’m saying you should keep your eye on her.”

That was a pretty lame quid pro quo, but since I had no intention of lying for Les, I suppose it was a fair exchange. He apparently thought we were done because he was shooing me out again.

“You know where Brando is staying?”

“A cabin right north of town.” Up this close, Les smelled lonely, like the inside of a pumpkin.

“What about Dr. Dolly Castle? Where’s she staying?”

“She’s out at the motel.”

Now I was completely outside, the bright sunlight all but melting my skin. “So you didn’t take the Chief.”

Les Pastner looked me squarely in the eye. “I have no idea where Chief Wenonga is.”

I had enough experience with the gray side of the truth to know I had just been blown off with a non-lie, but before I could follow up, Les slammed the door in my face and slid the lock loudly into place. It was then that I heard the sirens coming toward me. I was exposed, with a closed metal door in front of me and the nearest cover a fleet of rusty Winnebagoes forty feet away. I opted for false bravado and strolled toward town, the bill of my borrowed Twins hat tugged low. As the sirens approached, my strides grew longer. I could almost see the navy blue of the squad cars by the time the RVs were ten feet away, and I couldn’t keep my cool any longer. I squealed like a boy and dove under an ancient GMC Mini Jimmy Motorhome, scraping both knees, just as a police car tore out of town on 78 and ripped up 210 toward Fergus Falls. Something big had just happened in Battle Lake.