“It’s a fly-in hunt, Alex. They take you to the cabin, then come back for you a week later. By then you’re ready to come home, believe me.”

“You’re up there all by yourselves for a week?”

“They usually come back once during the week to check on you, fly out any animals you’ve taken. But aside from that, yeah, you’re up there all alone. Depending on where you go, it’s usually a long way from anywhere.”

“So where did they go? Isn’t there a lodge there or somewhere they take off from?”

“I’ve been trying,” he said. “Nobody’s answering. I know the phone service is kind of unpredictable up there, but damn, it just gives me a bad feeling.”

“But not bad enough to call the police?”

He thought about it for a moment. “You know what’ll happen if I do that. If they find out he’s up there, he’ll go back to prison.”

The driveway had four cars in it already, so I pulled off onto the edge of the road.

“More cousins,” he said as he got out. “This will be fun.”

I followed him around to the back door. There were toys everywhere-a red car, a big plastic yellow house with green shutters, even a wooden fort like something out of the Old West. “What do they do in this fort?” I said. “Play cowboys and Indians?”

“You’re funny,” he said. “Are you ready?”

“With all your family in there, we’re gonna play that game right now. I’ll be General Custer.”

He shot me a look. “Don’t bring any of those jokes inside,” he said. “Okay?”

“Lead the way.”

As he opened the door, the heat and noise hit us. There were at least twenty people in the kitchen, some men sitting at the table, some women holding young children. Two other children raced into the room, stopped to stare at us for a split second, and then raced out even faster.

One of the men stood up and put his hand on Vinnie’s shoulder.