Page 6 of Guess Again
“Kai,” Ethan said, “you didn’t have to do that.”
“I wanted to.”
During the first week Ethan ran his makeshift clinic for the Chippewa Tribe, he had noticed abnormal results in Kai’s bloodwork. Further workup revealed a mass on the man’s intestine. Had it gone undiagnosed, it would have been fatal. Ethan had arranged Kai’s surgery with a gastroenterologist colleague down in Madison. Kai was now healthy and strong. He and Ethan had grown close over the years.
To show his gratitude, Kai gifted Ethan an ancient fishing spear that had passed through three generations of Chippewa. The long bamboo pole was tipped with a harpoon carved from walrus tusk. So moved by the gesture, Ethan had hung the spear decoratively on the wall in the main room of the cabin where he saw it every time he entered. On Ethan’s last trip to Lake Morikawa, Kai had noticed that the walrus tusk was loose.
“May I?” Kai asked now.
“Of course.”
Kai lifted the spear and set it back onto the wall hooks, which were made from ivory tusks and also gifted from Kai.
“Maybe this weekend you will finally use it.”
“I’ve used it,” Ethan said. “All I’ve ever hit with it has been the bottom of the lake, which is probably why the tip was so loose.”
“It takes patience and practice. Eventually, though, you’ll find the spear more effective than the cheating poles you use. And I don’t need to remind you that, to date, you’ve never out fished me.”
“Is that a challenge?” Ethan asked.
They both looked at Maddie, who rolled her eyes.
“Just go.”
“You sure?” Ethan said.
“If you promise to bring back walleye for dinner.”
“Promise,” Ethan said before bolting for the door.
Like two kids who managed an early release from school, Kai grabbed the spear off the wall while Ethan pulled his Loomis rod from the rack of poles near the front entrance. A few minutes later, the 50hp Mercury outboard was shooting them across the water in Ethan’s Crestliner. They pulled into their favorite bay—one that was usually teeming with northern pike and walleye.
Ethan took his spot on the casting deck at the bow of the boat and tipped his rod with a Mepps #5 bucktail spinner. Kai took his spot at the stern, studying the water with the ancient fishing spear over his shoulder. It took just a few minutes. Ethan felt a fierce strike jolt through the Loomis and set the hook with a confident tug of the pole. He looked to the back of the boat wanting to offer a one-upmanship smile to Kai. But he saw that his friend was tracking the shadow of a northern pike behind the boat. Just as Kai launched the spear into the water, Ethan’s reel screamed as his fish took a long run that demanded his attention. He got back to work, lifting the rod tip high in the air to pull his catch closer, then dropping it back down while he spun the reel to regain line the big fish had taken.
And just like that, Ethan relaxed. After a few minutes on the water, and amidst the hunt, his anxiety about the upcoming parole hearing for the man who killed his father, and had nearly taken Maddie’s life, drifted away.
Ethan Hall was, for at least the long Memorial Day weekend, a man without a worry in the world.
CHAPTER 5
Madison, Wisconsin Wednesday, May 28, 2025
ETHAN WORE BABY-BLUE SCRUBS AND SAT AT A COMPUTER BEHINDthe nurses’ station—a large, square reception area that took up the middle of the emergency department. He was one hour into his first overnight shift since returning from his cabin and the long weekend with Maddie. He pulled up charts to check lab results and complete those of patients he had already discharged. He worked through the list of names until he came to Christian Malone’s chart, the tech guru from California. To prevent the man from driving home while under the influence of morphine, Ethan had failed to finish his chart before leaving for the holiday weekend.
He pulled up the chart now and added Christian’s previous history of kidney stones and lifestyle choices of drinking only caffeinated coffee throughout the day with no water intake.
“You left the DCI to be a doctor, but here you are chugging away on a computer at midnight just like the old days.”
Ethan didn’t have to look behind him to know who the voice belonged to. He’d been Pete Kramer’s partner at the DCI for a decade before he decided to retire. He smiled and slowly swiveled his chair around. Pete was leaning with both elbows on the counter of the nurses’ station. He wore his customary sport coat over a button down, no tie. It was all Ethan had ever seen the man wear.
“You look cute in scrubs. Just like Dr. McDreamy fromER.”
“I think that wasGrey’s Anatomy, but thanks,” Ethan said.
“I thought you stopped being a special agent so that you could treat patients and save the world. But here you are playing solitaire on the computer.”
Ethan continued to smile. No one could shovel shit better than Pete Kramer.
