by Jay Forman
“Huh.” He didn’t believe me, I could tell. “So tell us what’s happening in Webequie. Any news on Ross’ killer?”
“No.” I couldn’t just leave it at that. I had to give him something. “They found out who scalped him, though. A kid from Wunnumin.” The instant that word left my mouth I wished I could suck it back in again. “That’s where you were doing your research, isn’t it?” I kept talking before he could start. “Your research fascinates me, actually. I’d love to hear about it. Have you ever seen a Sasquatch in person?”
Please, please, please, let Frazer be the kind of person who liked to talk about himself. If he focused on his story he might not be as interested in mine.
“Yeah, I’ve seen two.”
“When I was in Thunder Bay the park superintendent showed me some heat-and-motion sensing cameras that they put on trees to record animal movements. Do you use those, too?”
“I use them, but they’re not very useful. The Sasquatch is very intelligent. They watch us just as much as we watch them. If they see you setting up a camera they’ll take care to stay away from it. You have to be really on the ball to outsmart them. One time …”
And he was away! I breathed a sigh of relief as Frazer started rattling on about his research, the footprint moulds he’d made, the hair samples he’d had analysed in a lab, the piles of Sasquatch scat he’d collected …
“What’s scat?” Maybe it was something only Sasquatch’s made?
“Poop. It can tell us a lot about the Sasquatch – its size, its diet … Shouldn’t you be writing some of this down?”
If it was a real interview the answer to that question would have been yes. But it wasn’t a real interview and the only papers I had on me were Aileen’s claim forms. “If it’s okay with you, I’d prefer to record this.” I’d draped my parka over my lap when I sat down in one of the chairs at their camp and turned it very slowly to get to the pocket where my cell phone was, hoping that the claim forms in the other pocket didn’t make too much noise. Just in case they crinkled I coughed loudly as I pulled my cell phone out.
“I don’t mind.”
“Did you bring the chief’s satellite phone with you again?” Aileen finally said something.
“No.” I wish I had! “I broke it when you and I switched seats when you were taking me back to Webequie. I stepped on it. I really should pay more attention to where I put my feet, I’m a complete klutz. Like when I slipped on that bag of claim tags that were lying on the bottom of the skiff.”
Again, my mouth had worked faster than my brain. I blamed it on the shock of seeing how little life my cell phone battery had left. If I ended up needing the compass I’d have to find a way to wrap this interview up fast.
“What claim tags?” Aileen asked me, but she was looking at Frazer.
“How do you know about claim tags?”
“The mining up here is such a big part of the people’s lives that I’ve had to learn a bit about it so I can write about it intelligently in my article.”
If Aileen hadn’t known about those tags in the boat, they had to be Frazer’s – not hers. He must have left them there when I commandeered the skiff to get back to Webequie.
“Will mining affect the habitat of the Sasquatch? Or its migration pattern? Do they migrate?” I forced myself to stop babbling and hoped, with everything in me, that Frazer would take the bait.
“Sasquatch migration is a hot topic.” Hooked him! “There is some evidence that they migrate south in the winter to get to better food sources, but there’s also evidence that they make dens much like bears. I lean more toward the nomadic theory. So will mining affect them? Probably. But if they’re already on the move who’s to say how much it will affect them?”
He’d stopped talking. It was up to me, again, to keep the conversation flowing. “I don’t know how real that cable show is, Finding Bigfoot, but they always seem to be looking for them at night. Are they nocturnal animals?”
“For the most part. I have to change my sleeping pattern to match theirs when I’m in the field. But I don’t mind. I love it in the bush. I could live out here all the time and I’d be perfectly happy.”
“Coming over here to prospect with Aileen must have been hard on your system. I mean, you can’t very well prospect at night.”
“I’m not a prospector. I’m just here helping my cousin.”
“Sorry. My mistake.”
“She’s the brains. I’m the brawn.”
“How long will you be here?”
“You’d have to ask Aileen that. I’ll stay as long as I’m needed.”
I looked at Aileen. “Do you have much more staking to do?”
“I’m not going to answer that.”
Maybe this was my way out? Ask her a bunch of questions she wasn’t prepared to answer? It was worth a shot. “How does it work? You stake the claims, record them with the Ministry and then what? You don’t own the land, but do you own the mineral rights once you’ve staked it?”
“We – well I guess it’s just me now – I’ll negotiate with various mining companies about leasing my claims to them.”
“Which mining companies?”
“I’m not going to answer that.”
“Do you get a percentage of whatever they find or do they just pay you outright?”
“I’m not going to answer that.”
“What about—”
“Look, I’ve answered all I’m going to about what I do. If you’ve got more questions for Frazer go ahead and ask them, but leave me out of it.”
“Okay, I won’t outstay my welcome. I appreciate the time you’ve already given me.” I stood up slowly, moving my parka as little as possible. “Thank you both.” I decided to throw in one of my standard interview questions to make my visit seem real. “Would it be okay with both of you if I included your names in my article?”
“Sure.” Aileen said.
“I’m fine with it.”
“And what’s your last name, Frazer?”
“Beckford.”
“Okay. Thanks.” I pushed the button to turn my phone off.
Aileen stood up. “I’ll walk you back to the shore.”
“That’s okay. I think I can find my way.”
****
I had to force myself to walk, not run. Thankfully, Aileen and Frazer had worn down enough of a path that I felt fairly confident about where I was heading. Even so, I paid serious attention to where I was putting my feet. I hadn’t forgotten about the bear traps Aileen had mentioned.
My heart-rate increased with each step. I was getting closer to safety. No matter how much my shoulder complained I was going to paddle as fast as I could once I got on the water. The fact that I’d be running with the current made me smile.
That smile dropped as fast as a lead anvil when I got to the shore.
Joshua’s canoe was still there, but it wasn’t going to be floating anywhere.
I looked down at the broken cedar ribs in the bottom of the canoe and the big hole underneath them and instantly knew what that breaking wood sound had been when I’d walked into the woods with Aileen. Frazer had stomped one of his big feet right through the bottom of the canoe.
Why? Why had he even bothered with the charade of an interview? To find out what I knew? What I may have told the police?
Why didn’t matter. How mattered more. How the hell was I going to get back to Webequie?
I looked around, but the skiff was nowhere to be seen. He’d moved it from where we’d left it under the trees.
Walking was my only option. I wouldn’t get lost if I stayed by the river shore.
And if, by some miracle, Jack or any other helicopter happened to fly over I could wave my parka around like a flag. It was still white enough to be noticed against a background of green and brown trees.
White enough for Frazer to notice it, too. He’d broken the canoe for a reason and he must have known that I’d seen it by now. He’d be coming after me.
But
he wasn’t coming after me. With his long legs he would have already caught up to me, if he wanted to.
I rolled my parka up into the tightest ball I could and tucked it under my sweater. Then I went back into the woods and started with my first tentative steps into the forest off of the path.
That’s when I heard the yelling.
“They weren’t my claim tags! I never leave them in the skiff. What the fuck are you trying to pull on me?”
I wanted to keep moving forward, but Aileen’s voice was trying to pull me back.
Let the professionals handle it.
I kept moving forward.
“You’re as stupid as your imaginary beasts! You think Bernice was the only one who knew about those rocks? Ross told me it was the kid who found them. What are you going to do? Kill him, too? You killed Bernice for no reason!”
I stopped.
“Get off your high horse, Aileen. I’m not the one who put a bullet into my partner!”
I turned around.
“That was self-defence and you know it. I told you! He was going to kill me!”
I walked more quickly.
“He wanted the claim all to himself. And now that travel writer, she knows something’s up, she’s going to go back and tell—”
“She’s not going anywhere.”
“What did you do?”
“Delayed her travel plans, that’s all.”
“I’m done. Fucking done!”
I could see them through the trees. Aileen had stood up so suddenly that her folding chair had fallen over.
Frazer stood up more slowly. “Listen, Aileen, we can still do this. If they’ve got Joey for the scalping it’ll throw them off the scent. And trust me, after the bears got to Bernice there wouldn’t be anything left that would connect her to me. The only person who knows that we met Bernice out here is that travel writer. We eliminate her and we eliminate our problem.”
“Are you insane? I’m not going to stand by and let you kill someone else!”
“Okay.” His arm moved so quickly that it was just a blur.
My ears rang painfully from the sound of the gunshot.
Aileen was hit, but she hadn’t gone down. She was stumbling into the woods, heading away from me.
Frazer didn’t run after her. He walked slowly. Methodically.
Then I heard the horrific sound of metal snapping against metal and the primordial scream of a wounded animal. That animal was Aileen, I was sure of it.
A second gunshot silenced the scream.
Frazer walked back into the campsite, shoved another clip into his big black gun and calmly started walking down the pathway to the shore.
I ducked down and hid behind the trunk of a fallen tree until he was well past me.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
I was being hunted by a man who was at home in the forest, who knew how to track animals.
I circled around the outskirts of the camp and eventually found Aileen. There was one bullet hole in her shoulder. Another in the centre of her forehead. Her foot had almost been severed by the trap. It wasn’t a bear trap. It was one of the wolverine traps that I’d seen in the winter hunt shed. Somewhere around the campsite the other three traps were lying in wait.
I turned my phone back on and wiggled it until the compass app found its bearings. I was about to head in the direction I had to go, but made a quick detour into the campsite itself. Aileen’s rifle was lying on the ground beside the chair she’d knocked over and I snatched it up quickly, checked to see if it was loaded and then bolted back into the woods with only one bullet in the chamber to protect me.
Even if it took me days, I was going to get back to the lodge alive! Going to get back to Jack. All I had to do was stay calm. Place my feet carefully. Stop and listen. Frazer would expect me to stay near the river shore. I stayed in the woods.
And walked. And stopped. And listened.
I heard and then saw the big helicopter that Jack had flown away from the lodge in as it passed overhead. But I couldn’t wave my parka. I didn’t know where Frazer was.
Every breaking branch or rustling of leaves made me want to puke. Or cry.
At one point I saw something big thrashing through the woods north of me, between me and the river. Not for a minute did I think it was a Sasquatch. I knew exactly what species of animal it was.
The sun started to set. The temperature dropped, but I still didn’t take my parka out from under my sweater.
I walked. And stopped. And listened.
My cell phone battery died, but I told myself that was a good thing. Once it got dark the glow from my cell phone screen might have given my location away.
I hadn’t been able to hear the river for what felt like hours, but then I started to hear it again. Had I veered too far north?
I was so thirsty. Could I risk going toward the water?
I sat down, curled up into a tight ball and leaned against a tree trunk. Then the shaking started. I wasn’t cold. It was panic setting in.
You can do this.
You have to do this.
You aren’t scared of being out in the woods at night at home. These are just woods. Trees. Rocks. These are a few of your favourite things.
There was an armed madman in the woods looking for me.
I heard my own teeth chattering and shoved my tongue between them.
Maybe he was sitting still somewhere? Waiting for me to make a noise?
Maybe he’s nowhere near you?
I wanted a drink so badly.
Not yet. Get up! Keep going!
I got up. The papers in my parka pocket crinkled. I had to ditch the parka. But where? If I left it lying in the woods he might find it and then he’d know where I’d been, what direction I was heading in.
The river!
I walked. I stopped. I listened.
I saw the orange glow of the setting sun reflecting off of the water.
I lay down in the tall grass and crawled on my belly toward the shore.
The cold water felt wonderful against my dry lips and I drank until I couldn’t drink anymore. I rolled over and pulled my parka out from under my sweater.
I felt the tug of the current trying to pull it away from me, but I fought it for a minute. I didn’t want to let go of my security blanket. Then I saw the outline of Eagle Rock in the distance and unclenched my fingers.
All right Canada Goose, prove to me how water repellent your Arctic Tech material is. Keep my parka floating all the way past Eagle Rock, across the perfect little lake, over the waterfall and down the bay that opens into the Winisk!
Canada Goose guaranteed a lot, but even they couldn’t guarantee that. I could still hope, though. And hope that someone other than Frazer saw my parka.
I took another long drink and then slithered back across the grass.
I walked. I stopped. I listened.
I heard the whine of the electric motor on Aileen’s skiff. Then it stopped and I heard him crashing through the woods close to me again. Had I stayed lying on the grass too long and left a flat patch?
Please God, don’t let him find my parka?
The sun dropped below the horizon and I saw the first few stars start to appear in the sky.
Then I heard an animal in the brush nearby and the unmistakable weird squeaking-whining sound that always reminded me of a squeegee rubbing against glass. With the white and grey pattern around the shoulders of my black sweater I hoped the porcupine would think I was a friendly relative if it saw me. I couldn’t see it, but I knew it was somewhere nearby.
It was so dark that I had to move even more slowly to avoid stumbling over fallen logs or rocks.
One single green spotlight shot up in the sky.
That better damn well be you, Uncle Doug! You owe me!
He was joined by his fellow wawatay. They helped me see where I was going.
Then they were joined by white spotlights. Real ones. Two helicopters were flying low overhead. They were looking for something
. Me!
But they didn’t find me. And the wawatay went away, too.
I walked. I stopped. I listened.
I almost cried out when I walked face-first right into a tree.
Then I almost cried for joy when I felt what was on it. A short section of pressure-treated 4x4 nailed to the trunk. There was another one above it.
I held Aileen’s rifle with my right arm, saving my good shoulder’s strength to help pull me up the steps that led to the bear stand somewhere above me.
It felt so good to sit down in an almost safe place. Even if he did see me up here I’d see him coming.
The helicopters and their spotlights came back, but I couldn’t stand up and wave. They would have lit me up and made me an easy target. Instead, I reached around my head, grabbed the neck of my sweater, pulled the back up over my blonde hair and curled up into a tight-knit black wool ball again, keeping my eyes open above my knees to scan the forest.
I saw him when the spotlight ran over him.
He was sitting in a gully, his legs stretched out in front of him. He looked like he was casually lounging.
The people in the helicopter hadn’t seen him, though. They’d moved on.
And when they came back he was gone again.
I wanted to go to sleep, but knew I couldn’t. I wanted to close my eyes, dream away this nightmare.
Something big was moving through the forest below me. Then it stopped.
I laid Aileen’s rifle across my lap, rested my right hand on it and curled my index finger around the trigger. From there on in I fought one of the hardest battles I’d ever tried to fight – the battle between exhaustion and fear. If I sat cross-legged for too long my feet fell sound asleep and I kept having to uncross my legs and let my feet dangle until they woke up. But I never let my index finger fall asleep. I wiggled it from time to time, without taking it too far off the trigger and being extra careful to not squeeze it against the trigger when my whole body wanted to shake from the cold.
****
I don’t know when exhaustion won the battle. I woke up with a start when I heard a red squirrel’s nails on the trunk of the tree within inches of my head. It looked just as surprised to see me as I was to see it. It skittered back up the tree, its ochre-coloured fur lit up by the rising sun.
