by R E Swirsky
CHAPTER 34
Monday 11:40 Near Okotoks, Alberta, Canada
Richard, Michael, and Tawnie were hovered over Tawnie’s laptop sifting through the latest news reports when Michelle arrived home.
“Sorry I took so long, but I think I found something,” she said and plunked her plastic bag filled with papers onto the kitchen table.
“So did we,” Richard replied. “Come see what Tawnie’s uncovered.” He pointed at her laptop.
“Oh?” Michelle scooted around and leaned in over top of Michael’s shoulder.
“Tawnie found these three articles…um, here’s the first one. Um, um, um.…” he mumbled as he scrolled his way back to the top. “This one is from Sunday, Lucy Metcalf’s fall from the mountain, but you know about that one already.” He clicked on another of the open tabs and scrolled up.
“Here it is. This one’s also from Sunday’s Calgary Herald. Now what’s interesting is that it makes a connection to Lucy’s father, Harvey Metcalf. I’ll read it aloud.
“Garrod Shaw Dead
“Garrod Shaw, 53, once accused of murdering his three children at Gull Lake in 2011 was found dead of a drug overdose in a motel in Oyen, Alberta, on Saturday morning.
“The article goes on to describe Shaw’s history, the first mistrial, the second attempt to retry, and the follow-up Supreme Court decision that set him free only weeks ago.”
Richard continued reading.
“In an unrelated story, Lucinda Carter, the daughter of Harvey Metcalf who carried the Shaw case up to the Supreme Court, died on Saturday after falling while hiking alone on Heart Mountain near Canmore. Lucinda Carter was 19 years of age.”
“Harvey Metcalf was unavailable to comment on either fatality.”
“Okay,” Michelle said. “That’s just a coincidence.”
“Is it?” Richard asked. “Listen to this one. This is from this morning’s Sun.
“Drunken Diplomat Dies
“An employee from the Russian Embassy in Ottawa has been identified as the driver killed in a single-vehicle rollover Saturday night east of Canmore. The Russian Ambassador representative was 53 years old and found to be driving with a blood alcohol level nearly double the legal limit.
"The article goes on to talk about his background, birthplace, education, and his life leading up to his appointment to the embassy in Ottawa. And, uh..."
Richard skipped forward.
“Here we go. The ambassador was no stranger to driving while intoxicated. In 2007, he drove his car into Susan Boake, killing her instantly in downtown Montreal. Miss Boake was only 22 years of age when she died. The Embassy used the umbrella of diplomatic immunity to defend against the charge of manslaughter with the help of some Canadian legal counsel, and after a lengthy legal proceeding, he was allowed to return to Russia to answer to the murder charges. The courts in Russia convicted him of manslaughter but waived any incarceration based on his good standing and service to his country, much to the outrage of the Canadian populace.
“In late 2009, he returned to his position at the Russian Embassy in Canada and had since been charged with driving while intoxicated numerous times, hospitalizing a mother and newborn baby in 2012. Diplomatic immunity was used to fight expulsion and to defer any charges from being laid against him to date.
“In a strange coincidence, Garrod Shaw, the man once charged with the murder of his three children at his home in central Alberta but never convicted, also died last night. Shaw was found dead early Saturday of a drug overdose in Oyen, Alberta. Both men were clients of Victoria lawyer Harvey Metcalf. Metcalf successfully defeated the murder charges for both men on technicalities, taking the Shaw case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
“Efforts to reach Mr. Metcalf for comment were unsuccessful.”
“I don’t see how either of these are relevant,” Michelle said.
“Not relevant?” Richard asked. “Three deaths in two days all connected to Metcalf?”
“I think you’re reaching.”
“Maybe I am, but you must admit it is a very odd coincidence.”
She only sighed and gave him one of her looks, obviously not interested in debating this. She squeezed herself into the scrum at the table and pulled out the stack of papers from her bag. “David was a big help,” she said as she spread out a number of photos. “The basketball team, the ski team, it’s all here, and there’s no one named Johnny in any of these photos.”
“And we didn’t expect there to be,” Richard said.
Michael leaned in over the photo of the basketball team and studied each of the players. “Johnny has black hair and is tall. A lot of these black-haired guys look the same to me.”
“What about their faces? Their eyes. Recognize anything?”
Michael pulled the photo of the full team up closer. “Maybe him on the end. Or, this guy, third from the left on the bottom.”
Richard sighed. If Michael wasn’t absolutely sure, this was another dead end.
“…or him, maybe.” Michael added.
“How about these?” Michelle asked and passed Michael a number of head shots.
He shook his head as he flipped through the first few photos. “I just can’t be sure. It was months ago when I last saw him.” He shuffled through a few more. “Definitely not this guy, or this one.…” He paused on a face of a smiling player with black hair. He looked foreign. “Maybe him.”
“I need you to be sure, Michael.”
Michael let the photos slip down onto the table. “I can’t tell. It was too long ago. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry, Michael,” Michelle said. “It was a long shot.”
“So what else have you got?”
“Just a list of names, but without a photo I don’t think it does us much good.”
Richard sighed. “Probably not.”
“Did you ever take photos of you and Lucy on campus?”
“A few maybe,” Michael said. He left the table and retrieved his cell phone from the kitchen where it was charging. Michael sat down by Michelle and scrolled through the many photos.
“What are you looking for?” Richard asked.
“I don’t know for sure,” Michelle replied. “Maybe Johnny’s in the background somewhere.”
“Oh, good one!” Richard said.
Michael had hundreds of photos on his phone, all shuffling backwards in time. Any one that included Lucy, Michael paused on one for a few seconds.
It was Michael who first noticed the disturbing image.
“Look in the background on this one.”
Richard leaned in for a better look.
“What is it we’re supposed to be looking at?”
Michael snickered. “Top left, by the tree. He’s looking at us.”
Sure enough, there was an older man shielded behind one of the trees along the pathway outside the cafeteria. He leaned out from behind the tree in the direction of Michael and Lucy.
“There are students all around you in this shot. He could be looking at anybody.”
Michael flipped forward through more photos. “That’s what I thought at first but I think I saw him in one of the later photos, too.” He kept flipping through, pausing on each photo with Lucy.
“There! Look! That’s him tucked in by the entrance to McEwan Hall.”
Richard nodded. “It does look like the same guy.”
“Go back to the other one,” Tawnie said.
Michael flipped back to the first one. There was no doubt this was the same man.
“This is silly, Richard,” Michelle said. “Nobody is following Michael around campus. Why would they do that?”
“Not Michael,” Richard replied. “Lucy.”
“Lucy?” She moved in for a closer look.
Michael moved on, scrolling even further back in time to early March.
“Wow,” Michael said. “I think that’s him there in this one, too.” He scrolled again. “And there. He’s there, too.”
“That’s creepy,” Taw
nie said.
“Still think this is a coincidence, Michelle?”
She frowned at him. “I don’t know what to think. Can you download all of those photos to your dad’s laptop, Michael? We need to get a better look at this guy.”
“Is that Johnny?” Tawnie asked. “He’s got dark hair.”
“No,” Michael replied immediately. “This guy’s old.”
Richard laughed. “Older. Not old. Your grandma’s old. This guy looks about my age.”
Tawnie giggled. “Like Michael said, he’s old.”
“So, if it’s not Johnny, then who is this guy?”
More pictures passed by. “Now this is odd…” Michael said.
“What’s odd?”
“I’ve got this guy in at least a dozen photos so far. But he isn’t in any photo I took when Lucy isn’t in the photo.”
Both Richard and Michelle stood up straight and looked at each other. “I didn’t say it,” Richard said.
“You didn’t have to.”
“When does this guy first show up in the photos?”
“Hmmm,” Michael mused. “I’m sure I have pictures going back to the start of the year with Lucy.” He scrolled way back in time and began moving forward. A few minutes passed before he came across what would have been the first photo with the man in the background and stopped.
“When was this taken?” Richard asked.
Michael pressed a few buttons. “End of March.”
“Uh-huh,” Richard replied. “What changed in Lucy’s life since March? Anything?”
“Just Johnny showing up. But that was later, in early May.”
“Good ol’ Johnny,” Richard replied.
“Can you show us any pictures of Lucy after Johnny showed up?” Michelle asked.
“I don’t think I have any.” He scrolled forward. “I rarely saw Lucy after Johnny showed up. Well, not until we hooked up, and then we always met in private—never on campus. She wanted us to be a secret.”
He scrolled on.
“Here’s one. It’s in her apartment. And here’s another at my place.”
“Can you go to the very last photo before Johnny showed up?”
“Sure.”
Seconds later, the photo of Lucy was displayed, and the older man with the dark hair was immersed in the background amongst a large crowd gathered out on the grass. His eyes were clearly set on the two of them.
“Who is this guy?”
