The Deadly River (8 page)

The ranger had also provided copies of the Forest Service’s topographical maps covering all of western Montana, including the winding path of the Clark Fork River. Kurt had already been working on them and had laid out the areas to be rafted on the first few days. He showed his two helpers his preliminary plans for the project. “I figure we’ll be able to plan our progress a lot better after we do this for a day or two.”

As he studied the maps, it dawned on Lee that this would be a bigger project than he had anticipated. He was happy that he hadn’t taken it on. It would definitely take the whole summer to finish the job. The first day’s starting point was about 150 miles east of St. Dubois. Then the river came west, passing through Missoula and several smaller communities before it reached St. Dubois. Then the project would take them north and west for almost another two hundred miles before the Clark Fork dumped into Lake Pend Oreille in northern Idaho.

But the maps really excited Lee. They were far better than the maps he’d been using to find his father’s lake. The Forest Service’s maps were more detailed and had recently been updated to show new logging roads and trails through the forests.

Soon they got into the actual day’s work and Lee began to see why Kurt had asked for his help. The two rafts were identical war-surplus lifeboats made of some kind of hard rubber covered in black and grey canvas. They had seats and oarlocks and each had a frame, but they weren’t assembled. The water sampling equipment, which was equally
disorganized and scattered, consisted primarily of crates of small Mason Jars with lids and a complex labeling machine. The jars alone filled an entire room in one of the Forest Service’s outbuildings.

The three men went to work, using tools that Kurt had on-site for the purpose. First they sorted the raft parts into two piles. One raft was to be assembled and the second was to be stored in case a spare was needed later. They worked quietly and steadily. Soon the first raft began to take shape

As they worked, Kurt described his vision for the project. The plan was for the raft to be driven to the start point, where the first day’s sample jars would be loaded on the raft. Then the samples taken each day would fill the jars. The full jars would be labeled as the samples were taken. Then, once a week, Kurt would drive the day’s samples to the university in Missoula where the samples would be tested and recorded.

While they were taking a break close to the end of the work day, Lee broached the subject of the maps. “Kurt, I noticed that you have Forest Service maps of all of Western Montana. What are you going to do with the maps in that stack that show areas that aren’t on the river?”

“Hell, I dunno. Throw them out, I guess. I sure don’t plan to take them all aboard the raft with me. Why? Do you have a use for them?”

“Yeah. I’d really like to have them. I’ve been doing a lot of camping and fishing. These maps are a lot better than what I have.”

“You got ‘em. Let’s take a minute and separate them. As long as I have the river covered, I don’t need the others.” With that, the two men laid the maps out on a big conference table and began sorting them. As they went along, Lee realized that he had a windfall here. These maps showed lakes that he’d never heard of before; lakes that definitely weren’t on his commercial maps! Maybe these maps were the key that he’d needed to find his father’s elusive lake! He was excited.

By evening, the raft was finished and the load was aboard a pickup, ready to leave at the break of dawn on Monday. The three workers rode to the truck stop and Kurt bought dinner. After eating, Lee wandered over to the garage and found that Ray was just finishing with the water pump replacement. Lee helped him get water and anti-freeze into the car’s cooling system, then the two of them took it for a ride.

As they finished the test ride, Lee realized that he would be leaving St. Dubois soon. The thought somehow saddened him. He’d found friends here, something that had eluded him during the past months as he chased the illusive lake from the painting. But he wasn’t ready to give up the quest. He had promised his parents that he’d find it and he meant to do exactly that.

That evening, Lee stayed in his little cabin and studied the maps Kurt had given him. It was a discouraging effort as he began to realize how big the task was that lay before him. In just the northwestern quarter of Montana, he counted over sixty lakes. Many would take days to reach by car and foot. But, he reassured himself, he had already looked at almost half of them as he’d worked his way from Glacier Park to here. He had promised. He was going to do this.

At first light, Lee was back on the road. He decided to avoid goodbyes and just get started. He didn’t want to get his emotions any more involved here than they already were. He headed west toward the Idaho border. He planned to start his search with a small lake just northeast of the border crossing at Lookout Pass, then start working his way back toward St. Dubois.

CHAPTER EIGHT: SEARCH INTERRUPTED

A
nother long month went by. Lee hiked into the vast Montana mountains time and time again, always without finding the elusive lake. Then one day, as he hiked back to where his car was parked on an old logging road, he realized that he had finally worked his way east to within a few miles of St. Dubois.

He was tired, dirty, and discouraged. He had hiked literally hundreds of miles and looked at countless lakes, many of which were just spring-fed ponds, but had found nothing. None of them could possibly be the lake in the picture. He was starting to doubt its existence. But he had promised and that promise was sacred in his mind. He started the car and headed down the mountain toward St. Dubois, where he rented a cabin and promptly fell into bed fully clothed.

Lee slept for over twelve hours that night, but when he awoke he was still in a miserable frame of mind. The search for the lake had seemed so easy when he had first conceived it back in Pennsylvania. But back then he hadn’t realized how big Montana really was and how many miles he would walk without results. He had worn out a pair of work boots and had hiked countless miles across mountains that seemed to always be taller than he could hope to climb. Yet not a single lake had resembled the one in the painting.

Shaking the sleep and discouragement from his mind, he showered and changed into clean clothes. Then he headed across the highway to the truck stop for breakfast. He looked forward to seeing the people there, but somehow also dreaded it. He knew they’d want to know where he’d been for the past month and he just didn’t know how to
explain his search in a way that would make sense. But he was hungry and there weren’t many culinary options available in St. Dubois.

He hadn’t even reached the little café before he was stopped by a shout. “Lee! Dammit, I’m glad to see you!” It was big Ray, almost running from his garage toward Lee. “We’ve been looking high and low for you. Sheriff Rose has an all-points bulletin out on you! Where on earth have you been?” The words were moving even faster than Ray.

Lee stopped, taken aback by this verbal barrage. After a moment, he replied. “Up in the mountains. Why? What’s the sheriff want me for?”

By now Ray had reached him and enveloped him in a huge bear hug as he replied. “You’re a key witness in the trial of that ass that tried to rob us and the trial is coming up soon. There’s been a lot of developments on that and you’re the only independent person who was there that night. Without you, it’s just Dawn’s word against Willy Gohmert’s and there are people who are claiming Willy didn’t do anything wrong that night! They’re saying that we staged this whole thing for publicity.”

“What? You’ve gotta be kidding!”

“Nope. C’mon. Let’s get a cup of coffee and talk a bit.”

The two entered the café and took stools at the counter. Lee immediately noticed that a new waitress was behind the counter. She looked a bit like Betty, the waitress that had served him before, but this girl was younger. She brought them coffee without being asked and then asked, “Lee, can I get you anything else?”

The surprise on Lee’s face must have been obvious, because the waitress began laughing immediately, a sweet, tinkling laugh that made the world right wherever it touched. Lee closed his mouth, knowing that he must look silly, and asked her, “Do I know you?” Still chuckling, she replied, “No. But I saw you play ball that night, so I knew what you looked like.”

By now Ray was also grinning at Lee’s confusion. “Hell, Lee. The whole town knows you by now. You’ve been big news in these parts for the past month. By the way, this is Janet. You already met her big sister, Betty. The two of them help keep us afloat here.”

Janet extended her hand to Lee over the counter and the two exchanged greetings. He tried to cover his confusion and embarrassment with small talk and soon he ordered breakfast.

When Janet turned to place his order, Dawn, who was working the kitchen, looked out and spotted Lee. The confusion started all over again as she rushed out to give him a huge hug. Her questions started flowing immediately. She wanted to know all about his past month, what he’d been doing, and where he’d been. Soon Ray held up his hand, laughing and signaling for a halt to the interrogation. “Gosh, Dawn. The poor guy’s just trying to get some breakfast. Why don’t we feed him before we give him the third degree. He’ll still be here after he’s been fed.”

Dawn threw up her hands in mock exasperation. “Okay, but you’d better make sure he’s here to talk when the food is gone. I have a question or two for this young man.” With that she headed for the kitchen, Lee’s order in hand.

With the orders in and coffee on hand, Ray turned to Lee. “Okay, here is what’s happened since you’ve been gone. Sheriff Rose filed his case and the County Attorney, Don Warthen, took over. Dawn and I have met with the sheriff and Warthen several times and the case is moving forward. But someone has been planting rumors that Willy is innocent and that we’re just lying to get publicity. The people who know us are solidly on our side, but there are a lot of people who live in Big River and the eastern part of the county who don’t know us. The rumor there is that I’m some kind of nutty tree-hugger who is trying to shut down the sawmills and the logging around here. So the prospective jury pool is getting tainted. That’s why we’ve been looking for you so hard lately.”

“But why would you be accused of being a tree-hugger? You don’t have anything to do with the sawmills, do you?”

“Not really. But I did help Kurt Kochran stop a planned cedar forest clear-cutting a few months back. The local plans were to completely wipe out a stand of cedar trees that are very near and dear to me. In addition, I’m known to be a friend of Kurt’s, so that gave
them some ammunition. I think this is all being instigated by Bill Wards and his cohorts. He hates me because I helped to stop his plans to log off that cedar forest. He isn’t used to being stopped when he goes after something. He’s mad and I think he was behind Willy’s attack here that night. It would be just like him to pull something like that. But I can’t prove it, so I guess I shouldn’t be talking this way.”

“Is there any chance that Willy will say anything about why he did what he did?”

“Sheriff Rose is working on that. But Willy is too scared to say anything. He’ll probably go off to prison without telling what he knows. The Wards reputation around here isn’t one that would be reassuring to someone like Willy.”

Janet came out of the kitchen then with Lee’s breakfast. Ray rose to leave. “While you’re eating, I’ll call Sheriff Rose and let him know you’re in town. He’ll probably want to get you together with Don Warthen as soon as he can. Are you free this afternoon?”

Lee spoke around a mouth full of toast and eggs. “Yeah.”

“Okay, I’ll see what we can do.” With that, Ray headed for to the telephone in the far corner of the café. Lee attacked his food like a starving person, much to the amusement of Janet and Dawn who were watching his every move.

Ray was soon back at the counter. “They’d like to see you as soon as possible, Lee. The County Attorney has to be in court this afternoon and, if possible, he’d like to talk to you before that. I hate to ask, but can you go down to Big River after you finish eating?”

Lee thought for a moment. He hated to be rushed, but he couldn’t think of an excuse to duck out on this. Finally, with no other options available, he nodded his agreement.

“Great!” Then Ray fell silent as he thought for a short time. Then he looked at Dawn. “But I don’t have anyone to watch the garage today, so I can’t go to Big River with Lee. Can one of you guys break loose and show him where to go there?”

Lee immediately held up his hands in protest. When his mouth was empty, he answered for Dawn. “No, Ray. I can find my way alone if you
give me directions. It wouldn’t look good for you to be shadowing me everywhere. This is something I should do on my own. I can handle it.”

Ray nodded. “You’re right. That would definitely send the wrong message. I’ll write down some directions for you. Good thinking, Lee. Thanks.”

The nameplate on the desk said “Donald Warthen, ESQ, Mineral County Attorney”. The man behind the desk had the look of a person who had once been a college football star. Framed photographs on the wall, from college days far in the past, confirmed the impression. Even now he was a big man with a slightly expanded girth that he obviously worked hard to keep in check.