Primal Scream (40 page)

"Dodd was more successful at deflecting us than he knew." DeClercq placed the class photo on the bedspread where all could see. "There is the White Man, Winterman Snow." His finger touched the albino boy. "There is the white man who abused him." His finger moved to Reverend Noel. "There is the white man who turned a blind eye to return runaways to worse abuse." He indicated Corporal Alfred Spann. "And there—named on back of the picture as 'Myrtle Dodd's son'—is the boy who grew into the white man who tricked us."

His finger moved to the white boy of the same age beside the albino.

"I did some reading between the lines in the file. Myrtle Dodd was the widowed sister of Reverend Noel. As matron of the school, she resided there with her only child, Rafe. Mrs. Dodd died from a stroke in 1956, the same year Winterman Snow vanishes from subsequent class photographs.

"Reverend Noel, his uncle, took charge of the boy, and no doubt was soon bending him over that desk in his office, too.

"Winterman Snow, a sickly lad, ran away that year. There's no indication that he returned to the school. A logical conclusion, based on what Dodd told us, is the albino boy grew up as a woodsman trapping in the bush, attacking white men to avenge abuse by a white man at the school.

"But that's not what the chief at Gunanoot told me happened, based on rumors whispered among other kids at the school. When Winterman Snow ran away he was caught by Corporal Spann, who—sexually warped himself—took the runaway back to Noel. The file contains a witness statement by another boy, which I suspect tells us what became of Snow."

DeClercq read from the same statement Ghost Keeper had read in the task force office:

"My name is Simon Joe. . . .

"One day I ran away, but the local Mountie caught me. He called my story lies, and dragged me back to the reverend. The reverend put this knobbed ring around his cock, and told me boys who tried to escape suffered the arrowhead.

"One boy couldn't take it.

"He drowned himself in the river.

"The reverend called it an accident and buried him on the bank.

"The boy who drowned," said DeClercq, "was Winterman Snow."

Inspector Zinc Chandler appeared on TV.

"As officer in charge of this investigation, I am extremely gratified that with the orderly evacuation of the Totem Lake camp, this tense and dangerous situation', has been resolved peacefully. It has been our objective, from day one to avoid confrontation and bloodshed. Only when fired upon did we fire back. With the prisoners safely out of camp and our Members out of danger, I am glad to say we achieved our goal. A peaceful resolution is what we always want, and if we think we can get one, we will always demonstrate that we are a patient Force. I wish to pay tribute to the Gitxsan spiritual leaders and the keeper of the Sundance ceremony who negotiated a peaceful end. Today we saw the important role native spirituality can have in solving disputes. Violence and the Doomsday aspect led some of those in camp away from their spirituality—their inner selves, if you like. The spiritual leaders brought them back to their spiritual side, which was, I think, essential."

"Good Lord," said DeClercq. "How long till you and your silver tongue run for Parliament?"

"You'd rather I fired a few rounds with a hearty 'Yee-haw'?"

DeClercq placed another photo from the file on the bed. Reverend Noel sat writing a sermon on the desk in his office at St. Sebastian School. Side by side on the wall behind were pictures of Saint Sebastian pierced by Roman arrows and Rector Noel draped in the headhunting blanket.

"Boys raped over the desk faced those images. They combined to warp a headhunting archer, the Decapita-tor. Somehow, native spirituality seized Dodd. What Katt saw him do in the cabin indicates he
became
Winterman Snow. Artifacts relinquished to Rector Noel last century were
halait naxnox
. Each was imbued with a powerful spirit. Though most were sold to rich collectors, obviously the rector kept the best
naxnox
for himself, and those came down to his great-grand-nephew Paul Noel. The reverend, being a pedophile Catholic priest, died without kids. Rafe Dodd inherited Noel's estate and found the
naxnox
hidden away, "including the headhunting blanket."

"You think Dodd was possessed by Winterman Snow by means of the relics?" Chandler asked.

"How the psychology worked, I don't know. But when I return to Vancouver, I know who to ask. Dodd embarked on a campaign of revenge. With his bush plane he could fly anywhere. Who knows how many woodsmen and loners he trapped over the years to stalk as sexual stand-ins for Reverend Noel? And if not for the Totem Lake rebels, we still wouldn't know about him." The TV reporter was back on-screen.

"The Totem Lake encampment has been sealed by RCMP to gather evidence. Those who shot at the Mounties will be charged with attempted murder. It's doubtful whether others will be charged with trespass or mischief, since Herb McCall, the legal owner of Totem Lake, quitclaimed the land to the Gitxsan Nation before the rebels threw down their AK-47s and came out. We can expect—legal experts say—that any trial of the issues will take a long time in court. Trespass involves interfering with the lawful use of property without legal justification, excuse, or color of right In returning the land to the Gitxsan, McCall may have given the rebels a defense in law."

"The white men raped and hunted were mental I stand-ins for Reverend Noel. But Dodd had an ax to grind with Corporal Spann, too, for returning him to Noel when he ran away. For years Katherine Spann had worked abroad for Special X. Then I brought her back to groom as head of Operations B, and sent her north to investigate the Decapitator.

"Suddenly, Dodd found a stand-in for her father in his plane. Cunning, he never killed if suspicion shone on him. First, he lost the opportunity to shoot her at the lake with Moses John. Then she was continually with other Members of the Force. Then I called her south to rework the Headhunter case. And finally, revenge eluded him when I shot Spann.

"But not for long.

"In the aftermath of her death, what did Dodd hear through the media? That Alfred Spann had been my mentor when I joined the Force. That he entrusted me with Wilfred Blake's gun, which I passed on to his daughter in the Headhunter case. That I had dedicated my history of the Force to him. And that when my daughter, Jane, was kidnapped, I tried to save her alone.

"Denied revenge through Katherine Spann, Dodd went after me.

"Suddenly, he found me and my 'daughter,' Katt, in his plane. Sly, he never killed when suspicion pointed at him. So Dodd dropped us at Gunanoot and flew out of sight, then doubled back on his snowmobile to abduct Katt. When I called on her cell phone, he answered hi a native voice, and—
with no noise in the background
—told me how to get her back."

"The call we intercepted," Chandler said.

"A minute later, I called Dodd by radio phone, and he had the plane engine going as if in the ah". Or was it the snowmobile, which I mistook for his plane? Dodd returned for me with Katt drugged, bound, and hidden in the hold behind the rear seat. His return witnessed by natives in the village, who could later describe the series of events, Dodd flew off to drop me at the mouth of the Headless Valley."

"Infrared and sonar picked you up. Rumor was more weapons were coming in by air," Chandler said, "so we had the military tracking every plane in the north. We went so far as to ask Vancouver bush carriers to frisk for skyjackers."

"Dodd did what he did when he ambushed you and Mad Dog on patrol, Bob. He flew to the northern end of the valley and hid the plane, then snowmobiled south to the cabin with Katt to be there when I arrived. The Mounted
was already on the hunt for Win
terman Snow, and I was on a rogue hunt of my own, so when Dodd returned next day after being commandeered by me, you would believe I ordered him—as the most superior officer around—not to reveal what I was doing under threat of obstruction or worse charges if Katt got killed. It was a repeat of my failed effort to save Jane, except this time Winterman Snow got both Katt and me."

"Why the ruse of luring you into the valley," said George, "when he had you and Katt in his plane? Why not land and do it there?"

"Because I was to be the ultimate hunt. In me he had a stand-in for
both
the reverend and the corporal. A white man. A Mountie. And Alfred's friend. He wanted to savor every moment and make it last. The joy for the hunter is the hunt before the kill. Dodd would make me pay and pay and pay . . . which I would have, Zinc, had you not sent the Mad Dog."

"You never let a Member face death alone, even if he doesn't want backup. The problem was how to get help silently to you, so as not to tip the killer. A chopper dropped the Mad Dog out of earshot, and he mushed a dog team up the valley on your trail."

"You certainly picked the right man."

"It was you who taught me: The secret of command is to
know
your personnel, so when the need arises you choose 'the right tool for the job.' "

"Thanks," said DeClercq.

On-screen was a view of Totem Lake taken from the air, the sundance circle visible in the snow on shore as the sun went down behind the majestic peaks to the west. The voice-over of the TV reporter was closing out the piece:

"In the end, the native spirituality that inspired the rebels delivered a peaceful solution. Medicine men released them from the spiritual obligation to protect Totem Lake. The RCMP succeeded where law enforcement in Waco, Texas, failed by taking the time to listen to what the rebels said. In both cases rebels built barricades out of passionate belief. In Waco it was belief in an apocalypse. Here, it was belief in Doomsday, too, plus belief they had been oppressed and cheated by the Canadian government for a century. The RCMP the time to exhaust every feasable option before tactical force. The one concession they made to camp was that a native spiritual leader could stay the lake to guard sacred sundance objects, including four buffalo skulls and a buffalo robe."

Fade-out to the setting sun.

"Good job," said DeClercq. "How'd you do Bob?"

"The problem was, there were
two
leaderless groups in camp. They let the spiritual leaders in to counsel them. Ceding the sacred land to the Gitxsan undermined the Doomsdayers. There wasn't a Gitxsan among them, so they were asked to leave. The Gitxsan spiritual leaders were disturbed by violence on the sacred land. The sundance is a Plains tradition embraced by natives across Canada who are frustrated, alienated, and seeking new strength in revived spiritualism. Sundancing is foreign to Gitxsan, but I'm Plains Cree, and we fought with the Sioux against Custer when Sitting Bull called on us. So I called the keeper of the sundance ceremony, the chief of the Lakota-Dakota-Nakota Sioux Nation, the custodian of the White Buffalo Calf Woman's pipe and bundle, and asked him to fly from South Dakota to counsel the Totem Lake Sundancers in the traditions of the sundance."

"You knew what he'd say?"

"Yes," said George. "I've done the sundance in my time. He told them violence is not the way of the sundancer. The sundance is a renewal of life and a tie back to Mother Earth. You can't have a gun in one hand and a pipe in the other. He called for 'mending the hoop' by a return to spiritual values. To live by the precepts of the sundance, you must learn to live in harmony with the Earth and all its creatures, and get along with all people. He'll have used the
words
Nitakuye oyafin
: 'All my relations.' They signify each of us is connected to every other person on Earth. That's what we say in the sweat lodge when we finish our turn speaking. A native amen, in effect. If people would look at each other as brother and sister, we'd all feel good because there'd be no person higher than another. 'Believe in the pipe, and what you want will be. You will get what you need.' He is wakana. Spiritual. A sundancer's pope. How could they not follow him?"

"So that's why they came out?"

"The way to resolve outstanding grievances doesn't go through the barrel of a gun."

"Thank God it's over," Chandler said.

"I'll be glad to get back to RFISS," agreed Staff Sergeant George.

"You're not returning to RFISS," said DeClercq. "I tip my Stetson to how you averted a bloodbath here. It took guts to quell emotion for the common good. You had to shoot Grizzly to save Members. You took an arrow to stop those arms. And you found a way to pull down those barricades. I'm sickened by how Canada has treated its First Nations, and part of me rooted for those in the camp. I can't imagine the emotions in you. But I'd hate to see what whites would do if someone walked in and booted them out of their rightful homes, then told them henceforth you bow to me. At the powwow in my office, I saw you look at The Last Great Council of the West on the wall, and wondered how it felt being pitted against those of your people unwilling to bite the bullet over past wrongs. Whatever you felt, it didn't sabotage your doing the job.

"I made a mistake. I promoted Spann. The secret of command is to
know
your personnel, so you choose 'the right tool for the job.' Militants and barricades won't undo the past, but Members like you will. You're promoted to head of Operations B."

DeClercq clasped the Cree's shoulder.

Chandler clasped the other.

"All my relations," said Inspector Bob Ghost Keeper George.

Katt sat waiting in the hall outside the hospital room. DeClercq emerged to find her playing with a charm around her neck.

"What's that?"

"A gift. From the Mad Dog."

"It looks like a .308 cartridge casing strung on a chain."

"It fired the bullet that saved my life. The Mad Dog says it had my name on it."

"I hope this puts to rest all future consideration of you becoming a cop. It's not the world it was when I recruited."

"Au contraire
, Bob. Someone's got to sto
p them.
We can't let psychos run amok."

Katt stood up, turned sideways, and bent over with her butt out and arms hanging down.

"What's that?"

"Threat display. How a grizzly shows its size when you challenge it."

Robert laughed. Never a dull moment. To think he was here to see the birth of this permanent addition to Katt's repertoire!

"We have a plane to catch, but before we go," he said, "never again question if I'll come for you. I'll always come . . ."

He hugged her.

" 'Cause you're my kid."