Iron Lake

After work, Molly skis to Sam’s Place, where Cork is living, and finds him waiting outside with his skis. He drives them to her house and from there, they ski to Henry Meloux’s house. Henry’s house is on Crow’s Point; when the resorts are closed for the winter, Molly is his closest neighbor. Henry and his dog Walleye greet them at the door. Henry’s cabin is one tidy room, heated by a wood stove. Before he can pour them tea, the tea kettle jumps on the stove. Henry explains that the Windigo is nearby, but reassures a nervous Molly that it is not after her.

Henry tells stories of Sam Winter Moon when he was young; he also gives Cork a bit of dried pea plant—a charm “to ensure that everything turns out for the best” (104). When Molly is out of earshot, Cork asks whose name the Windigo is calling. Henry tells him it is that of the isolated and angry Harlan Lytton. However, Cork has heard the Windigo call his name, so Henry tells him to be brave.

After skiing back to Molly’s, Cork drives into Aurora. He sees Arletta Schanno outside the toy store with only a light sweater on. Cork drives her home and when Wally answers the door, he is relieved to see his wife, whose Alzheimer’s disease sometimes causes her to wander. Wally tells Cork that the judge’s doctor confirmed that he had cancer, giving them a motive for suicide. As a result, Sigurd has decided not to do an autopsy. Darla LeBeau also called; she’s spoken to Paul, who is with Joe John.

Cork goes to Sigurd’s mortuary, where a reluctant Sigurd lets Cork examine the judge’s body. Cork doesn’t explain why. He knows Wally Schanno is a good sheriff, but as a white man, he doesn’t feel the importance of Paul’s disappearance or the coming of the Windigo the way Cork does. Cork sees something Sigurd missed on the body.

Cork goes to Darla LeBeau’s house, but no one is there. Before getting into his car, he asks the Windigo why it wants him, but receives no answer. He tries to tell himself he imagined it calling him, but deep down, he believes it did.

Cork goes to Father Tom’s office for his appointment. The office is decorated with photos of Tom, some of which were taken during his time in Central America. Tom was imprisoned there and wears an eye patch whose origins he doesn’t talk about.

When Tom arrives, he tells Cork he’s been with Darla and confirms that Paul is with Joe John. He then changes the subject. Tom is aware of Cork and Jo’s separation, and Cork tells the priest he is seeing someone. When Tom asks if Cork still loves Jo, Cork evades the question, saying he wants to work on their marriage before admitting that Jo wants a divorce. Tom promises to talk to Jo about counseling if Cork promises to end his relationship with the other woman. Cork agrees.

Cork tells Tom that he is going out to check on Harlan Lytton, a man who has a dog named Jack the Ripper and hates visitors. Cork insists on going, however, so Tom goes with him.

Harlan, who lives about five miles outside of Aurora, does taxidermy out of his home. His driveway is unplowed, so Cork and Tom wade through the knee-deep snow. Cork brings his rifle; Harlan’s dog, Jack the Ripper, is rumored to have been trained to kill on command.

Harlan grew up in the area and was close with Judge Parrant. After Harlan was dishonorably discharged from the Marines, he returned home and has been living a solitary existence. He’s been connected to the Minnesota Civilian Brigade.

Cork and Tom are at Harlan’s house because Henry Meloux heard the Windigo call Harlan’s name. They stand outside the cabin and yell to Harlan but get no response. When Cork starts to move toward the door, Jack the Ripper charges out of the woods at Tom. As the dog leaps, Cork shoots the dog.

Harlan bursts out of the woods and holds his dog as it dies. He tells them that someone was outside his house the previous night, calling his name. He sobs over the dog, vowing revenge on Cork.

Cork drops Tom off at the rectory and returns to Sam’s Place. Inside, a big man pushes him to the floor. Another man slams the door, tells Cork to stop investigating, presses a rifle into Cork’s temple, and says if he tells anyone about the visit, they’ll kill him. After they leave, Cork sees that everything in Sam’s Place has been destroyed. He also realizes that his furnace isn’t working. Repairs will take a few days.

Cork calls his family home on Gooseberry Lane; Rose invites him to stay with them. Jo is working late with Sandy Parrant. When she comes home, she agrees to let Cork stay until his furnace gets fixed but tells him not to “hope for too much” (136). That night, Cork can’t fall asleep. His mind searches for connections between the judge’s death, Paul’s disappearance, and the destruction of his cabin—he doesn’t believe in coincidence. In addition, the Windigo lurks behind everything.

Cork’s children wake him up early the next morning; the family is going to get their Christmas tree later that day. Cork asks Jenny about her poem choice for the Christmas program, but they disagree when she announces she still plans to read Sylvia Plath. Cork drives her to Sam’s Place, where they sprinkle corn on the ground for the geese. They talk about the family, and how Jo wants a divorce. Cork takes responsibility, admitting that he withdrew after the spearfishing tragedy. When Jenny sees the damage to Sam’s Place, she gets worried about Cork. Just then, the wind blows and Cork hears his name.

Cork, Rose, and Cork’s children—Jenny, Anne, and Stevie—drive into town to pick up Jo, who is working at Sandy Parrant’s office. Joe John LeBeau once told Cork that when he used to clean the development company’s offices at night, he would hear ghosts. While waiting for Jo, Cork chats with Sandy about his recent election and upcoming move to Washington, DC. While picking out a Christmas tree, Cork sees Darla LeBeau coming out of the grocery store nearby. Her grocery bags are filled with food a teenager would eat.

At home, they set up their tree and decorate it and Cork feels like he belongs again. When he gets a call from Wally Schanno, however, he goes to the sheriff’s office. Wally asks why he examined the judge’s body. Cork explains that he found dorsal lividity, or blood pooling on the back, indicating the judge was lying on his back after his death. However, Cork found the judge lying on his stomach, which means he must have been moved after dying. Cork worries this means Paul saw something. Wally asks Cork to talk to Wanda Manydeeds to find out what she knows since Wanda won’t talk to Wally—a white sheriff.

On the way to Wanda’s home, Cork thinks about the Anishinaabe peoples’ origins, related to him by his grandmother Dilsey. Many years ago, the Anishinaabe lived on the east coast of the continent. Their life there was plentiful, but one day, Megis, the giant seashell, sank into the ocean and The People suffered. The People followed Megis west until they came to the Great Lakes, where they settled. When Cork took an Anishinaabe history course in college, he discovered that the Anishinaabe had migrated west because of their warring with the Iroquois. He also learned about the tribulations The People have faced throughout history, from wars with the Iroquois and Dakota peoples to the white government schools. Although Cork is Anishinaabe, he has lived his adult life as a white man, knowing how much harder life is for Indigenous people.

The Iron Lake reservation casino opened six months ago, and its profits are exceeding expectations. The members of the Iron Lake tribe benefit greatly from its success, with each enrolled household receiving a monthly share of the profits. The reservation council is planning a host of improvements on the 400 square-mile reservation, like new roads and a school.

Cork drives to the Catholic mission that was abandoned until Father Tom Griffin arrived. Cork finds Tom leaving the building; Tom agrees to go with Cork to look for Wanda.

Wanda runs the reservation’s women’s shelter. As they arrive, she is outside splitting wood. She tells them that Joe John is in the county, that Paul is safe, and that they should leave the LeBeaus alone.

Wanda has two children: Amik, whose father died in a logging accident; and Makwa, a four-month-old baby whose father Wanda hasn’t revealed the identity of. Rumors say that Makwa is Tom’s child, but Cork doesn’t believe it. When Wanda breastfeeds Makwa, Cork sees her tattoo of the Wisdom Tree, signifying her membership in the Midewiwin, a Medicine Society.

In the car, Tom asks Cork about the judge’s death, and Cork tells him the judge may have been murdered. Cork believes that Wanda is telling the truth, but not everything she knows

When Cork returns to the house, Rose tells him that she thinks someone has been there looking for something. He tells her to start locking up, especially at night. This intrusion fits with the search of Sam’s Place, and Cork wonders what they are looking for. Cork goes to the basement, where he stored the locked box containing his gun and bullets. He hasn’t touched it since the day Sam died.

That night, Cork has a nightmare about his bear hunt with Sam. They walk into a clearing with an enormous pile of debris. Suddenly, the debris shifts, and an enormous bear rises up, roaring. Cork finds a bow in his hand and reaches for an arrow, but before he can shoot, the bear turns into the Windigo, and the bow in his hand turns into his gun. When he shoots, the Windigo turns into Arnold Stanley.

The next morning, Cork goes to Molly’s cabin. She isn’t there, so he lets himself in to wait for her. He feels sick at the thought of ending their relationship but knows it is the only way to possibly get his family back together. When Molly returns, she immediately knows that something is wrong. When Cork breaks off their relationship, she is sad, and then angry. She pours herself a whiskey, even though she rarely drinks. After Cork leaves, Molly goes to the sauna. She is glad she never told Cork she loves him. She plunges into the frozen lake, feeling cleansed.