Chapter 4

Later that night, secure in the master bedroom where he usually slept, Matti unwrapped the plastic-wrapped bundle. He discovered there were three plies of plastic around the currency, and that it had been applied by some shrink-wrapping procedure. As he cut through the plastic with a sharp filleting knife, air was let in, and the bundled currency seemed to expand in his hands. When the last of the plastic had been removed he was left with 10 individual packets of bills, each held by a narrow paper band. Each packet was almost half of an inch thick, and when Matti examined each of them he discovered that all of the currency was Canadian $100 bills. His hands began to shake as he opened one of the packets to count how many were in each of them.

An hour later Matti was lying in bed, eyes open and totally awake as he went through the day’s events in his mind. It all seemed surreal. The plane crash had been a big enough event for almost anyone’s life, but now he had made an irreversible decision; not only had he stolen the bag full of money, but he had ignored the only realistic chance he had to walk back from that decision. Anything he did now to own up to his actions would likely involve charges of theft, arson, interfering with the crash site and the body, and who knew what else.

The one packet of bills that he had counted out on his bed had totaled $10,000. He didn’t bother counting the rest of them, as in his heart he knew that he would get identical results. It was obvious to him that the plastic wrapped package had originally contained $100,000, and he knew that there were 14 more of them in the black nylon bag sitting in the dugout beneath the camp. He hadn’t succumbed to the urge to open the hinged hatchway that was hidden under the bed in the bedroom next door to his. He badly wanted to bring up the bag so that he could count all of this newfound wealth, but fear of discovery was combined with the realization that knowing the exact total of his ill-gotten funds would change nothing. He would still be a thief, and now he knew he was forced to live with the act he had committed. He had no option but to lie, deny, and evade if the subject of this money were to ever come up.

It was hours before Matti finally was able to drift off to sleep. Even then, though, the events of the day didn’t leave him. His dreams were of fires and sudden death, and the next day he remembered a scene from his dreams where he was running from a group of armed policemen.

Early the next morning, Sunday, Matti decided to take one of the $10,000 packets with him, and return to Thunder Bay. He did have a couple of jobs to do for his business, but he also wanted to have a change of scenery. Staying at his camp would mean that the whole day would be taken up with thoughts and memories of everything that had gone on - everything from the moment he took his break from splitting firewood and watched the small, white plane taking off, until the last police officer had left.

He was in the city before noon, and had decided to force himself to make use of the cash that was going to save his business and the camp. His first stop was at a gas bar where he filled the two tanks on his Ford F250 pickup truck. This purchase used up most of the first $100 that he took from the packet in his glovebox. Usually he wouldn’t lock his truck; he would just go in and pay for his gas. Now, with his new situation as a very well-to-do man, locking his truck was going to be one of the new routines he would have to become used to. To Matti’s relief the sale was made quickly, and without any suspicion of the currency he had tendered. As he walked back to his truck, Matti realized that the use of these bills would become easier with every purchase he made. He was even able to consider that perhaps this was fate’s way of getting him out of the financial hole he had been living in for most of the last year. A new confidence took over his features, and he even managed to whistle to himself as he drove away from the gas bar.

On Sunday evening, when Matti had returned to his apartment, he found two messages waiting. One was from the local newspaper, and the other from a radio reporter. Both wanted to speak to him about the plane crash, and his first half-hour back in the apartment was spent on the phone with the two of them. By this time, with the weekend’s events and an afternoon spent at several local stores, Matti was exhausted. This night’s sleep was not interrupted by any of the dreams that bothered him when he awoke Sunday morning.

The next morning he was alert and refreshed, and was soon taking care of business. By early afternoon he was ready to call his foreman at the drilling site.

“Hello, Ernie. Just checking in. How is everything going? Are all three crews hard at work?”

“I’d be fine here, if that young boss of mine would quit bothering me.” A hearty laugh followed Ernie’s quick comment.

Matti chuckled and answered back, “I haven’t bothered you for a couple of days now. You’ve got no excuse for not being ahead of schedule by this time.” Matti hesitated, knowing that his drilling foreman would be right back on his case, but continued speaking before the older man could. “I know, I know. You guys are doing all you can. Where do we stand on the footage drilled? Are we anywhere close to the schedule?”

Ernie came back on the satellite phone connection in just a few seconds, but it was obvious from the tone of his voice that things were not all rosy at the drilling site 250 miles north of Thunder Bay. “I guess things are going as well as can be hoped. Number three is at least two days behind schedule, but it’s not the crew’s fault. The hydraulic pump keeps acting up, just like always.”

Matti had heard about this problem a couple of times before, and he quickly replied, “Well, Ernie, I think I’m going to be able to make your day. First thing this morning I’m going to order the pump and have it shipped up, hopefully Tuesday, with one of the regular flights. I got hold of the Snap-on Tools dealer, and he has that torque wrench you wanted in stock, so it’ll be coming up Tuesday along with some new impact sockets. I know you’ve been making do, so I hope these new tools will help.”

There was surprise in Ernie’s voice as he replied, “Wow, that’s good news. That will help boost the production a little bit.”

“That’s what we’re going to need, Ernie. I got a call from the geologist up there, and he’s concerned about the schedule. Is there anything else besides that pump that you would need right away to keep the production up?”

Ernie was apparently thinking about his reply, as it was several seconds before he answered, “A couple of new high throughput core bits, and 500 feet of 400 psi driller’s hose would help a lot.”

Matti quickly came back with, “I’ll see what I can do, Ernie. Maybe I could get them on the plane on Friday.”

Ernie Stewart whistled and said, “I guess we must be getting into trouble, if you’re willing to put out the big bucks so easily. I’m sure we could be back on schedule within a couple of weeks with those upgrades. Are you sure the money is available? I know you don’t get paid fully for this contract until the job is done.”

Matti quietly replied, “It won’t be a problem, Ernie. It won’t be a problem at all.”

On Monday morning Matti was kept busy ordering and arranging for delivery of equipment, tools, and the weekly grocery order. By noon he was back on the phone with Ernie.

“Hey, Ernie. I just ordered a couple more satellite phones, so that each of the crews will have one. It’ll probably be a week before I get them. I also upgraded the plan to include more minutes, plus I added texting. Tell the guys they can make calls home, if they keep it under control. If it gets out of hand, and anyone abuses the privilege, I may have to take the excess costs off their wages. You can receive text messages for free, so let them know about that. Their families and girlfriends can send them messages and it won’t cost anything. With having three phones up there you’ll be able to keep in better touch with the other crews, and you won’t have to keep traveling from crew to crew. Also, the other two crews will be able to call you, instead of coming down to get you when they have a problem.”

Matti’s information was well received, but once again Ernie was concerned with the costs. Matti quickly put him at ease.

By mid-afternoon Matti was well on his way back out to his camp. Along the way he thought about the money some more, and about the purchases he’d made with it. Over $1000 of it was already gone, and when the bills for the rest of the purchases came due he’d need to use a lot more of it. He had five of the $100 bills in his wallet, and the rest were hidden in an envelope securely thumbtacked under the bottom drawer of his bathroom vanity. All in all he felt much better about his business, and much more comfortable with the cash that was saving it.

It was almost 4 o’clock when he pulled into the spot under the pine trees where he usually parked his truck. There was a black Chevy Suburban parked beside the camp, and a tall, powerful-looking man wearing a black leather bomber style jacket, along with black casual pants, was leaning against it. As Matti approached him, the man turned and stood up tall, waiting for him. As he got closer to the man, Matti could see that he had dark eyes and was shaved bald, but had a jet-black, closely-trimmed, goatee and moustache. Under his leather jacket he had an open-necked white shirt. Fancy snakeskin cowboy boots with Western-style sloped heels completed his attire.

Matti smiled and asked, “Can I help you?”

The stranger in front of him smiled back quickly and answered, “Hello. I’m looking for Matt McEwen. Would that be you?”

“Yes, that’s me. Actually it’s Matti, not Matt. What can I do for you?”

The man handed him a business card with simply a name and phone number on it. “My name is Bert Fontaine, and I represent the company that carries the insurance on that plane that crashed out there. I wanted to talk to you about that, and maybe you could take me out to see it.”

Matti was not getting any bad vibes from the tall stranger in front of him, and immediately decided that it sounded like a routine sort of situation. He quickly replied, “That shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve got no plans right now.”

Bert Fontaine began walking across the grass towards the lake and asked, “Where were you when you saw this plane, and the crash. I’ve read the police report, but maybe you could run me through it.”

Matti did just that, showing him the chopping block he had been sitting on, and pointing out the course the plane had taken when it landed, and then later when it took off. He explained about the treetops the plane had failed to clear, and about how abruptly the engine had stalled. When that was all done, the two of them walked down to the dock after Matti picked up a fuel tank from the storage shed. A few minutes later they were floating to a stop on the smooth rock of the island. Nothing appeared to be different from the last time Matti had seen the wreckage of the plane he had burned two days earlier.

Matti told him basically word for word the same story that he had given to his friend John Forbes, and to the other police who had been on the scene. Bert Fontaine seemed to be quite thoroughly looking at the wreckage, paying particular attention to the section of the floor of the storage area behind the skeletal remains of the pilot and passenger seats. When he returned to the shore Matti pointed out the area where the pilot’s body had lain. There were still traces of blood on the smooth granite.

“I guess we can go back to your dock ... Matti.” The big man climbed into the boat, and sat there silently buffing the dusty pointed toes of his cowboy boots with his handkerchief. Matti shoved the boat off the shore, and then restarted the motor to take them back to his camp. As they walked up the dock, with Matti in the lead, the distinctive metallic sound of a round being jacked into the chamber of a semi-automatic handgun seemed to overwhelm all of the normal sounds of nature that Matti was used to. He stopped walking, and slowly turned around. Bert Fontaine had unzipped his jacket, so that Matti could now see that there was a shoulder holster visible under his left arm. Of course Matti hadn’t noticed that until after he stared at the gun that was now aimed directly at him.