Firekeeper’s Daughter

Ron drives Daunis and Jamie to the Edwardses’ house. On the way, Daunis says that in addition to some players, Coach Bobby will be there—he and Grant got to be good friends after a shooting incident a few years ago. Travis, Levi, Stormy, and Mike were playing with a BB gun, and Travis accidentally shot a car window, blinding a woman. The boys wouldn’t say who did it, but Coach convinced Travis to fess up. After that, people shunned Travis. Jamie and Ron are annoyed that Daunis didn’t share this with them, but Daunis, angry at being asked to be a “snitch,” lists several juicy tidbits about locals and says that it’s not okay for them to come here and expect to just see bad guys. They haven’t earned the Sault’s stories.

At the Edwards house, Daunis identifies all the luxury vehicles belonging to Dana, Levi, Grant, and Coach Bobby, but she insists nice cars aren’t suspicious and Coach won his in a poker tournament. It seems like yesterday Daunis was here as a player, but now, she holds hands with Jamie and realizes he sees all her friends as suspects. As stylish Mrs. Edwards tells people to eat at the table, Daunis thinks it makes sense that she bought GrandMary’s clothing boutique. She remembers overhearing GrandMary saying once that Daunis was going to outgrow the sizes the boutique carried; Mom threatened to leave town if GrandMary ever said anything about Daunis’s body to Daunis. She also insisted that Daunis get to see her Firekeeper relatives. If only Mom stood up for herself like she stood up for Daunis.

During the meal, Daunis makes sure she’s right next to Mike—she’s going to pretend to be interested in everything she says. As Grant gives Daunis a long look while lamenting that GrandMary won’t be at Shagala, Daunis thinks he’s “kind of a gross pervert.” Mrs. Edwards says that she already ordered a dress for Daunis, so Daunis should come for a fitting soon. As the conversation moves on, Coach Bobby says it’s not too late for Daunis to play national hockey. Daunis tries to hide how painful this conversation is. She can’t follow that dream, but only Auntie knows why. Daunis brings up the NHL lockout (strike) to change the subject.

Finally, Mike leads Daunis to his bedroom to set up the BlackBerry. Daunis plans to leave something there so she can come back downstairs, as his bedroom shares a Jack-and-Jill bathroom with Grant’s home office. They set up the BlackBerry, Daunis drops her old phone, and a few minutes after they return upstairs, Daunis heads back down to look for her phone. Daunis locks the bathroom door to Mike’s room, turns on the fan, and then enters the office. She takes photos of Grant’s bookshelves and then tries to access the file cabinet (the office furniture used to belong to Grandpa Lorenzo, so Daunis knows where the secret key is). But the key is gone. Hearing footsteps, Daunis tries to cover her prints in the plush carpet and then opens the door to Mike’s room. He’s right there, and he says he knows what she’s up to.