Page 127 of The River We Remember

When Charlie entered the cell, she could see that Kyoko was still upset, but Noah Bluestone’s face, as usual, revealed nothing. She wondered if his stoicism was a part of his Native heritage or his training as a soldier, or maybe both. When the world throws at you nothing but stones, maybe to survive you simply become stone yourself.

She stood inside the cell and leaned against the bars. “You know about Tyler Creasy?”

Bluestone said he did.

“Noah, I wish to God you’d just tell me the truth. Maybe I could have you out of here. Wouldn’t you prefer to be able to protect Kyoko yourself?”

Which was unfair, she knew, playing on his inability to protect his wife while those iron bars kept him penned.

“Connie’s been very helpful,” Kyoko said.

“I’m sure he has. But it’s going to be a long time before your husband is a free man, if he ever is. And, Noah, I hope you don’t expect Connie Graff to spend his life seeing to the safety of your wife and your farm.”

Bluestone considered this intentional salvo. “In war, I learned to accept my life one day at a time. It’s the only way I know.”

Charlie gave up. “Sam Wicklow would like to interview you both about what happened last night at your farm. What would you like me to tell him?”

“He can talk to me,” Bluestone said. “But he stays away from Kyoko.”

“Fair enough. I’ll let him know.”

If she was going to make it to her meeting with Fiona McCarthy by one o’clock, Charlie had to leave. But she felt there was more she should be able to do. She was more convinced than ever that Kyoko Bluestone had killed a man who’d tried to perpetrate some terrible violence against her and more convinced than ever that her husband’s silence was the only way he believed he could protect her now.

“Charlie,” Bluestone said as she prepared to leave. “Thank you. I know that you’re doing your best to help, and I appreciate it.”

“Save your thanks for the day you walk out of here a free man.”

THE DRIVE TO Pilot Knob State Park in Iowa took almost two hours. Charlie wove through rolling farmland beautiful in its profound fertility. For millennia, this had all been tall prairie grass, which had created rich black soil so deep that the blades of the first plows could not find an ending.

Fiona was waiting for her in the gravel parking area of the stone observation tower atop Pilot Knob. Although it was a time of year that usually drew tourists, Charlie and Fiona were alone that Monday afternoon. In greeting, Fiona said only, “Let’s climb.”

The tower itself was thirty feet tall. The sun was high overhead, the sky a relentless blue, the day hot. Fiona stood at the wall of the observation platform, staring at the vista, which stretched miles and miles in every direction, a patchwork of farm and field.

“It wears a coat of many colors, this land,” she said.

“Like Joseph,” Charlie said.

“Like Joseph.” Fiona took a deep breath and sighed. “I never go back to Black Earth County, but I can almost see it from here. This is the second highest elevation in all of Iowa. That’s not saying much, but still, it’s lovely, don’t you think? Bob used to bring me here sometimes, before we were married, when I needed to escape. Thank you for coming, Miss Bauer.”

“Call me Charlie, please.”

“Charlie, then. I want to apologize for being so rude the other day. You caught me off guard.”

“I was just trying to understand a few things.”

“Of course.”

Fiona turned away and once again studied the land below the knob.

“Did you know this was an important gathering place for Indians before white people came?” she said. “The Winnebago, the Pottawattamie, the Meskwaki. Bob told me that. He knows everything about this area. When we left Jewel, he couldn’t get a job teaching anywhere, because of the scandal. He sells John Deere equipment now. He’s very good at it, but history is still his first love.” She glanced at Charlie. “You know the story, why Bob had to marry me? Of course you do. Everyone in Black Earth County knows that story. Or thinks they do.”

“I was gone from Jewel a very long time,” Charlie said. “All of that took place before I came back, so I only know what I’ve heard.”

“He was the most handsome teacher. He had a way of making history seem important and interesting. He’d lived in the East and seemed so sophisticated. He was smart and kind and funny. And unmarried. We all had a crush on him, all of us who were just girls then.”

A breeze came up, cooling, and she lifted her face as if to welcome it.

“The story is that he seduced you,” Charlie said.