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Bel was sorting out the food. We had ham, crackers, cold
sausage, and potato chips.
 Bel, I said,  how s your acting?
 I think I played a policewoman pretty well.
 How about playing a very stupid person?
She shrugged.  It d be a challenge. What sort of stupid per-
son did you have in mind?
 One who s on vacation and has gone for a walk on her own.
And she comes across these cabins and thinks they must be a
restaurant or something, maybe a ranger station or some sou-
venir shops.
Clancy was looking at me.  You re crazy.
Bel opened a packet of chips.  Are you saying, Michael, that
I d be going in there on my own?
 That s what I m saying.
 Why?
 I think they d suspect you less if you were on your own.
 Yes, but why do I need to go there at all?
 Reconnaissance. I want you to learn as much as you can
about the layout, memorize it. Are there locks on the doors and
windows? Are there any alarms or other security precautions that
you can see? Any skylights, loopholes, chinks in the armor?
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Ian Rankin
 You re thinking of paying a nighttime visit?
I smiled at her and nodded. She wasn t fazed at all by my in-
tention. She just ate some chips and thought about it.
 I d have to go into the cabins, she said at last.
I shook my head.  Just the one, the main cabin. That s the
one I want to know about.
 You re both crazy, Clancy said, gripping his beer with both
hands.
Bel finished her chips and stood up, wiping her hands on her
legs.  I need a pee, she said.  I ll see you back at the trailhead.
 We ll be waiting.
I watched her walk away. I d promised Max she wouldn t be
in any danger. I d been breaking that promise time and time
again.
 She s got guts, Clancy admitted.
I nodded but didn t say anything. Clancy couldn t get a word
out of me the rest of the makeshift meal.
We walked back along the trail quite slowly, nodding to peo-
ple who passed us. Again, we didn t look at the cabins as we
passed within a hundred yards of them. They were built on a
fairly serious slope. Slopes and night walking did not make good
companions. But if I stuck to the path by the lake, there d be
more chance of being spotted. I had a lot on my mind as we
walked the rest of the route. We sat in the car for a while. Clancy
switched the radio on and retuned it, and I got out and walked
about a bit.
It was more than an hour before we saw Bel. She was hurry-
ing toward us, her cheeks flushed with what I took to be success.
When she gave me a grinning thumbs-up, I hugged her, lifting
her off the ground. Then we got back into the Rabbit and on the
way back to the campsite she told us all about it.
Not that there was a whole lot to tell. She d found a young
woman first of all, who d turned out to have studied in England
for several years. So she d wanted to ask Bel all about how
England was these days, and then Bel had asked to use the toilet,
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and only then had she asked the woman what this place was ex-
actly. At which she got the story and even a brief tour. Because
she and the woman appeared to be friends, no one else batted an
eye at first. Then a man came up and asked who she was, and
after that everything was distinctly cooler. She d lingered over a
cup of herbal tea the woman had prepared, but then had been
asked politely but firmly by the man if she would leave.
She hadn t gotten to see the inside of the old cabin, just its
outside. But there were no alarm boxes, and none of the windows
she d seen had boasted anything other than the most superficial
locks. There was more, and at the end of it I felt like hugging her
again. Instead we celebrated back at the campsite with a meal
cooked on our stove: franks and beans, washed down with black
coffee. Clancy had bought a pack of filters and some real ground
coffee. It smelled great and tasted good. The insects by this time
were out in force, hungry for a late supper before bed.
 Oh, one other thing, Bel said.  In a couple of days, Provost
himself is visiting the HQ.
 Really? I looked at Clancy.  Any significance? [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]