In the Lake of the Woods. Tim O’Brien

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СКАЧАТЬ of Report: 9/21/86

      Age: 38

      Height: 5′6″

      Weight: 118 pounds

      Hair: blond

      Eyes: green

      Photograph: attached

      Occupation: Director of Admissions, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

      Medical History: pneumonia (age 16), pregnancy termination (age 34)

      Current Medications: Valium, Restoril

      Next of Kin: John Herman Wade

Other Relatives: Patricia S. Hood (sister), 1625 Lockwood Avenue, Minneapolis, Minnesota³

       —Extract, Missing Persons Report

After work we used to do laps together over at the Y every night. She’d just swim and swim, like a fish almost, so I’m not worried about … Well, I think she’s fine. You ever hear of a fish drowning?⁴

       —Bethany Kee (Associate Admissions Director, University of Minnesota)

      He was not a fat child, not at all. He was husky. He had big bones. But sometimes I think his father made him feel—oh, made him feel—oh—maybe overweight. In sixth grade the boy wrote away for a diet he’d seen advertised in some silly magazine … His father teased him quite a lot. Constant teasing, you could say.

       —Eleanor K. Wade

You know what I remember? I remember the flies. Millions of flies. That’s what I mostly remember.⁵

       —Richard Thinbill

       Exhibit Three: Photograph of houseplant debris

      Remains of six to eight plants (1 geranium, 1 begonia, 1 caladium, 1 philodendron, others unidentified)

      Plant material largely decomposed

      John loved his father a lot. I suppose that’s why the teasing hurt so bad … He tried to keep it secret—how much it hurt—but I could always tell … Oh, he loved that father of his. (What about me? I keep thinking that.) Things were hard for John. He was too young to know what alcoholism is.

       —Eleanor K. Wade

       Exhibit Four: Polling Data

       July 3, 1986

      Wade—58%

      Durkee—31%

      Undecided—11%

      

       August 17, 1986

      Wade—21%

      Durkee—61%

Undecided—18%⁶

      Landslide isn’t the word. You saw the numbers? Three to one, four to one—a career-ender. Poor guy couldn’t get elected assistant fucking dogcatcher on a Sioux reservation … Must’ve asked a trillion times if there was anything that could hurt us, scum or anything. Man never said one single word. Zero. Which isn’t how you run a campaign … Did I betray him? Fuck no. Other way around. Worked like a bastard to get his sorry ass elected.

       —Anthony L. (Tony) Carbo

       Exhibit Five: Photographs (2) of boathouse (exterior), Lake of the Woods

       Exhibit Six: Photographs (3) of “Wade cottage” (exterior), Lake of the Woods

      I’ll bet she’s on a Greyhound bus somewhere. Married to that creep, that’s where I’d be. She liked buses.

       —Bethany Kee (Associate Admissions Director, University of Minnesota)

I can’t discuss this.⁷

       —Patricia S. Hood (Sister of Kathleen Wade)

Engine trouble. That old beat-up Evinrude. Busted cord probably, or the plugs went bad. Give it time, she’ll walk right through that door over there. I bet she will.⁸

       —Ruth Rasmussen

I was working down at the Mini-Mart and they come in and I served them both coffee at the counter and then after a while they started having this argument. It went on for a while. She was mad. That’s all I know.⁹

       —Myra Shaw (Waitress)

A politician’s wife, so naturally you try extra hard. We did everything except empty out the goddamn lake. I’m not done yet. Every day goes by, I keep my eyes open. You never know.¹⁰

       —Arthur J. Lux (Sheriff, Lake of the Woods County)

The guy offed her.¹¹

       —Vincent R. (Vinny) Pearson

      That’s preposterous. They loved each other. John wouldn’t hurt a fly.

       —Eleanor K. Wade

      Fucking flies!

       —Richard Thinbill

1. Interview, December 4, 1989, St. Paul, Minnesota.

2. Interview, July 12 and July 16, 1993, St. Paul, Minnesota.

3. Missing Persons File Declaration, DS Form 20, Office of the Sheriff, Lake of the Woods County, Baudette, Minnesota. Kathleen Wade was reported missing on the morning of September 20, 1986. The search lasted eighteen days, covered more than 800 square miles, and involved elements of the Minnesota State Highway Patrol, the Lake of the Woods County Sheriffs Department, the United States Border Patrol, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Lakes Division), and the Ontario Provincial Police.

4. Interview, September 21, 1991, Edina, Minnesota.

5. Interview, July 19, 1990, Fargo, North Dakota. Former PFC Thinbill, a Native American (Chippewa), served with John СКАЧАТЬ