They picked up Sam Plowman two days later, apprehended him at the Dixon Bar. They held him less than thirty-six hours. His mother had found a sterling alibi for him. That’s my theory anyway. I don’t know, maybe a person like Plowman has only one obsession in a lifetime. But I hate to speculate on bullshit. It was Yellow Knife I was after. I saw my work cut out for me, a thick cloud I couldn’t blow away.

I stopped in at the 44 Bar but Yellow Knife hadn’t been there. The bartender didn’t even know Yellow Knife. I considered the possibility that Yellow Knife had bullied the man but that didn’t seem likely. Baptiste had other watering holes. It was always dark in the Stockman and the booze was cheap. Only hard drinkers patronized the place. A few regulars came for breakfast beers and stayed until closing. There were no mirrors behind the bar. Nobody wasted their nickels on the jukebox. The Stockman seemed the most likely place for Yellow Knife. These men couldn’t care less if an Indian drank beside them. They were looking for anonymity themselves.

I poked my head into the Stockman, but the afternoon sun was so bright I had to let my eyes adjust. My vision pulsed for a moment. I could make out the men at the bar. The bartender looked to be playing solitaire. He glanced up at me as I entered the bar. I was going to ask him a few questions but then I spotted Stoner and the rodeo cowboy sitting at the back table. The two of them together in the piss-reeking bar made me stop for a moment. The cowboy blew smoke through his nostrils and his bootheel ticked the floor, a nervous bounce, tight, anxious. Bart was leaning just far enough back from Stoner that he looked put off, but he was nodding his head. Stoner was doing all the talking. He looked to be laying some ground rules when he placed his hand flat on the table. And then they both nodded in unison.

As I left the bar I had to shield my eyes from the sun. I noticed Stoner had parked his car around back, almost hidden from view. I wondered what the two of them were up to but I had work to do. I couldn’t give much thought to two white men jawing in a bar. Yellow Knife was on the loose. I would have to keep a closer watch on Louise if I was going to keep her safe.