Chapter 12: Sauna

That night Bess came to the cabin with a pot of stew and her husband carrying everything else.

The Beta was a broad quiet man who had never said more than ten words to me in five years.

He stamped snow off his boots in the doorway and looked at Halvard.

"Warden," he said.

"Beta."

"Thanks for hauling her out. Twice."

"She did most of it herself."

The Beta nodded once and set a crate of firewood by the stove.

Then he sat down at the table and ate three bowls of stew without another word.

Bess watched him with her chin on her fist.

"He's been worried sick," she told me.

"He walked into the kitchen this morning and said, 'I should've gone to the lake.' That's the longest sentence he's said all week."

"I did say it," the Beta muttered.

"You said it to the dog."

"The dog listens."

The husky lifted her head hopefully from the rug.

Halvard put a sausage on a plate, set the plate on the counter, and turned to pour tea.

By the time he turned back, the plate was empty.

The dog lay on the rug with her eyes shut.

Bess laughed so hard she had to hold her belly.

I laughed too.

It felt strange.

When they left, Bess hugged me at the door for a long time.

"I'm not leaving you alone with this," she said into my hair. "Whoever pushed you. Whoever it is."

"I know who."

"You can't prove it."

"Not yet."

She kissed my cheek, smacked Halvard's arm, and let her husband help her down the steps.

I shut the door.

The cabin went quiet and warm.

Halvard stood beside the sink, watching me with a dish towel over his shoulder.

"You were in a lake today," he said.

"Twice this week."

"A sauna might help."

"Is that an offer or a prescription?"

"Both."

The sauna stood on posts at the end of a short dock, a little cedar hut built out over the black water.

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