Virgil softened up a notch: "Zoe…"

"She was here two summers ago, in August. And some other years, I think. She went to the Goose, she met Wendy, they talked," Zoe said. "There's this big country-western place near Iowa City, called Spodee-Odee. It's pretty important, you know, as a showcase. Lots of big bands play there. Willie Nelson used to play there and Jerry Jeff Walker. Those Texas guys."

"Okay."

"So she… I mean, Constance… knew the guy who owns the place, whose name is like, Jud. That's all I remember. But they were supposed to be pretty close, and she told Wendy that if Wendy wanted to do it, she'd, uh, recommend the band to Jud. Actually, she didn't like the band so much as Wendy. You know, her voice. She was right-the band back then sorta sucked, but they're a lot better now."

"So she was going to get Wendy a gig," Virgil said.

"More than a gig. A big deal, really. If you play Spodee-Odee, I guess, it's like a badge. You're that good," Zoe said.

"Who would have a problem with that?" Virgil asked.

"With what?"

"With Wendy getting a gig in Iowa City?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. Why would anybody have a problem with it? It's a good thing."

"But now we have another woman who was going to do a good thing for Wendy, and she's also murdered," Virgil said. "Right?"

"Right," she said.

"Was Lifry gay?"

"I think so," Zoe said. "I never met her. She was out of my age range. But, that's what I heard."

"From who?"

"I don't know. Wendy, maybe," she said. "Wait: I don't want to get anybody in trouble. I don't know who I heard it from, but I remember that I heard it."

"Okay. From what you know, then, she was right down the line, like McDill," Virgil said, ticking the points off on his spread fingers. "Gay, stayed at the Eagle Nest, talked to Wendy about her band, went to the Wild Goose. And was murdered."

"Yeah, but… not murdered for quite a while after she was here," Zoe said.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Virgil asked.

She looked up at him and misted up again: "Because… I was afraid that this is all going to blow into the newspapers and television, as some kind of perversion thing, lesbians killing each other, and drag the Eagle Nest down. I was worried about Margery. She's worked her whole life to build up that place, and if it turns out that killers go there, or killers stalk her customers… See?"

"Not exactly," Virgil said. "I would have found out sooner or later, and your not telling me delayed things by a couple of days. That's all it did. Let the trail get a little colder."

"I'm sorry," she said. "I'm sorry."

VIRGIL GOT DAVENPORT, who was out for a nighttime walk with his wife. Virgil told him what had happened, and said, "I've got to get down to Iowa City. There's no airline that will get me there faster than a car would, but it's nine hours, and I don't want to drive nine hours, and nine hours back. Can I rent a plane? It's maybe a grand."

"Is it absolutely necessary?"

"It's pretty necessary," Virgil said.

"Tell you what-drive down here, bag out in a motel, and I'll get Doug Wayne to fly you down first thing tomorrow. Tell me a time."

Wayne was a highway patrolman who'd flown Virgil on other trips. Virgil glanced at his watch, did some arithmetic, and said, "Seven o'clock tomorrow morning at St. Paul."

"I'll call somebody right now. You're still in Grand Rapids?" Davenport asked.

"Yeah."

"Okay, uh, you'll be here by two. Five hours of sleep. That good enough?"

"That's fine," Virgil said. "Listen, call the patrol and tell them I'm coming down I-35 with lights. If they'll let me roll, I can get an extra half-hour."

"Plan on it. But I'll call you."

ZOE SAID VIRGIL could drop the boat in her driveway, and when that was done, he headed back to the motel, told the clerk to hold his room, got his bag, and took off. Davenport called as he was pulling out of the parking lot, said, "You're clear all the way down, but don't hit any deer or you'll be all over the place. You're not pulling a boat, are you?"

"No, I'm not pulling a boat," Virgil said. "Why're you always so suspicious?"

" ' Cause I got you working for me, for one thing," Davenport said. "I talked to Doug; he'll be ready to fly at seven o'clock."

Then he was driving fast through the starry night, past the hamlets and small towns and widespots, Blackberry, Warba, Swan River, Wawina, Floodwood, Gowan to the Highway 33 cutoff, south to I-35, then hammering down I-35, into Minneapolis by one o'clock. He crashed at the Radisson University, with a wake-up call for six-thirty.

Thought little about God that night; but, still, some.

WAYNE WAS IN HIS FLIGHT SUIT, reading a Walter Mosley paperback and eating a peanut butter cookie. Virgil came in, five minutes late, and Wayne said, "We're rolling."

They were in the air in ten minutes, heading for an airport south of Cedar Rapids. Hertz had promised to have a Chevy Impala waiting for him.

"So tell me about what happened after I dropped you off last time," Wayne said.

Virgil told him about the shoot-out in International Falls, about who did what, and how they set up the ambush, and about the Vietnamese team coming in, about the firefight at dawn.

"Man, people were so proud of you guys," Wayne said. "Nobody was talking about anything else. Fucking North Vietnamese commandos, man, and you guys took them down."

"Didn't feel proud at the time," Virgil said. "Still don't. And we missed their main operator."

"That chick. Yeah. But man, that was something…"

ON THE WAY DOWN, passing from cell tower to cell tower, Virgil talked to the chief deputy for Johnson County, whose name was Will Sedlacek, and who said the sheriff was fishing in Minnesota. "If you tell me he's in Grand Rapids, I'll kill myself," Virgil said.

"I don't know where Grand Rapids is-I thought it was in Michigan, to tell you the truth-but he's on Lake of the Woods."

"That's quite a way from Grand Rapids," Virgil said. "Look, I'll be down there at eleven, and I need to talk to somebody about the murder of Constance Lifry and this country-western bar you got down there-"

"The Spodee-Odee," the deputy said. "Tell you what: call me when you get here, I'll take you over and talk to Jud."

"Deal," Virgil said.

Two hours to Cedar Rapids, clear skies all the way. Wayne said he'd catch a movie up in Cedar Rapids. He'd brought a bag, and was prepared to stay overnight, if Virgil had to.

"I don't think we'll have to," Virgil said. "I mostly need to look at the case file and talk to a few people, and we're all set up on that."

SEDLACEK WAS A BURLY, dark-haired man who pointed Virgil at a visitor's chair and asked, "Have any trouble finding us?" and half listened to Virgil's reply as he poked a number into his office phone and said, "He's here," and hung up.

"Yeah, I got tangled up by the river and went the wrong way around the university… nothing to speak of," Virgil said.

Another deputy stepped into the office, carrying a paper file, and Virgil stood up to shake hands with Larry Rudolph, and they all sat down and Sedlacek asked, "What the heck happened up there?"

Virgil ran them through it, both men listening closely, and when he finished, Rudolph said, "That's a hell of a coincidence, if it's a coincidence, but boy, it doesn't feel like our guy. Our guy did it with a rope, up close and personal. Gun's a whole different thing."

"Both wound up dead," Sedlacek said.

"Yeah, but I know what he means," Virgil said. "I'll tell you what: I've got all this stuff in my head, not much of it written down yet, so if it's okay with you, I'd just like to go through your file and see if anything pops up."

"Okay with us," Sedlacek said, "but, there's not much there. I mean, all the reports and everything, but we never got the first hint."