NIGHT MOVES: The Stroll Murders

by Gar Mallinson

  Will hesitated, stuck out his tongue, the tip moving back and forth across his lips while he thought it through. “I’ve been getting ready for this meeting since dinner last night. Wasn’t sure what you guys had in mind, but figured I’d like to work with you. The problem is, I sort of work out of my car. I don’t have an office, and Harry knows I like to work on my own.”

  “What we want,” said Harry, “is for you to do just that. Work your own way, use the car the way you do, handle your people any way you choose. The only difference is that you’re part of the team, working in tandem with us when the job calls for it. You also work alone on cases assigned just to you. The office is simply a central hub, like an elevator controller, handling requests, coordinating functions. We’ll have to find someone good to man the place while we’re on the job.”

  Sabina smiled. “You’d be a part of the firm, Will, and share in the profits just like us. We can take Rory on the same way if you decide that’s the best way to keep him. We’ll draw up papers and make it legal, lay out all the conditions and the financial arrangements.”

  “That’s how we’d like to see it develop,” said Harry. “You’re the best I know, and we ought to work together. So there’s the general idea. If you like it, we’ll get the papers ready, and you can add your two cents worth before we make if formal. What do you think?”

  “Be sort of nice to have a base that had a name and wasn’t full of junk. Set it up how you said and let me talk to Rory about it. He’s not going to want to be part of anything, I don’t think. I’ll lay it out for him anyway, and he can tell me to piss off. I’m doing a case now for a lawyer and a couple of clients, self-inflated jerks who don’t know what they want except to screw each other, so I gotta get back to it. I’ll have it finished pretty soon, so let’s get back together then.”

  Harry watched for Sabina’s reaction. She sighed and propped her butt on the corner of the desk again. “That went okay, don’t you think?”

  Harry nodded. “He’ll come in with us I think, and he’ll stay if we give him enough rope and stay out of his hair. What he won’t take is any kind of orders from the office or any kind of restriction on his methods. Of course, neither will we, so it’s all loose and stretchy—the way it should be. We gotta find someone to do all that other stuff though, and that’s not gonna be easy.”

  “I got some ideas about that. The renos are gonna take a couple weeks, and that’ll give me time to look around. That part’s my job.”

  Sabina slid off the desk. “Sorry, H, you’re on your own in the place for a bit. I gotta find some working clothes, I mean some other working clothes, stuff for the straight guys and the classier types. You can come too, but you won’t like it, cause it’s gonna be all skirts and blouses, maybe some pants, lots of buttons and not too much leg. Don’t look so down.”

  She wiggled her fingers at him, swung her ass out the door, and left Harry sitting on the desk looking a bit lost.

  Time for lunch, Harry thought, and wandered out to the street, down the crescent, and over to the Modern. After lunch, he’d visit Sam and see how the scotch was holding up.

  ◆◆◆

  Alicia turned off the oven, went upstairs, and packed a night bag. Then she unpacked it, sat on the bed, and cried again. Where was Kylie, why couldn’t she talk to her own daughter? And where was Charlie? She’d called the dealership, talked to the receptionist in sales. He was out somewhere. She couldn’t bear to think about what she knew in her heart. Everything was breaking up. I can’t do this anymore, she thought. She packed the bag again and this time left it in the closet. She could get Kylie and leave. Go to her sister’s place in Duncan, maybe even farther.

  The front door startled her and she jumped up. Oh God, she thought, it’s Charlie and I’m a mess. She ran downstairs wiping her eyes and ran into Kylie in the front hall.

  “You’re late again! I heard you’re cutting school. I need to know what’s going on with you. Why are you doing this? What’s happened to you? Look, your father’s not here, so we can talk. Come into the kitchen with me.”

  Alicia turned and marched into the back of the house. Reluctantly, Kylie followed. She leaned against the doorframe and looked at her mother, who was by the sink leaning on the counter.

  “Mom, I’m sorry, but you know what it’s like around here. I can’t stand that you and Dad fight all the time. It was bad enough before, but now it’s horrible.”

  “What do you mean it was bad before? What does that mean?”

  “Come on, Mom. You and Dad have been drifting for a long time, even I could see it. You don’t go anywhere anymore, you don’t talk much, and we haven’t been away for a long time because neither of you wants to. It’s different, Mom. You know it is.”

  Alicia looked at the floor, trying to think how she could deal with this. “Sure, we’ve been having problems, maybe for a while now, but we’re still a family, we still get along.” Her voice pleaded with Kylie to understand.

  “No, we don’t. That’s the problem. We don’t get along, Mom. We just live in the same space. I don’t care anyway. I’ve got my room and my stuff. But I’m not staying home and I’m not eating with you two ‘cause you fight all the time when I do. I wish he’d leave or die.”

  Kylie whirled around and ran up the hall. She slammed the door on her way out of the house. Alicia followed hard on her heels and pleaded with her to come back, but Kylie was already at the sidewalk. She turned and looked at her mother standing in the front door, shook her head, and ran up the street.

  She had no idea where she’d go. She thought of Jen but knew her mother would think that’s where she’d gone, and she didn’t want to be around her and listen to her try so hard to keep what was already gone. Kylie fished her phone out and called her friend.

  Jen picked up. “Kylie, what’s up?”

  “I ran out on Mom,” Kylie said. “And I’m not going back tonight, maybe not ever. I gotta have a place to stay, but she knows I’ll go to you, so I gotta find somewhere else. The whole fuckin’ family’s falling apart, and I don’t know what to do.”

  “Okay, where are you? I’ll meet you and we’ll figure something out, okay?”

  “Timmy’s then, and hurry ‘cause Mom’ll try to find me. I can’t stay in that house and listen to them go at it again.”

  Kylie closed the phone and ran down a block to Timmy’s. Jen was waiting for her at an outside table. She had a couple of coffees and Kylie sat next to her. Jen slipped her arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.

  “Why tonight, Kylie?” Jen asked, “What set this one off? Your dad at it again?”

  “He’s not there. Mom’s on to the school thing and me being late all the time is all. But she’s messing up big time. The whole thing’s fucked. There she is cooking another roast beef dinner for that shit, and when he gets there, it’ll be like last time. He’ll start in on her as soon as his coat’s off, and we’ll all just take it until he takes off to spend the night with his bimbo. If he left Mom alone, nobody’d give a shit. I’m not hangin’ around for that crap all the time. I’m seventeen now and I can go where I want, do what I want, and he can’t stop me.”

  “Look, we’ll come up with something. If you can’t stay with me, how about we find a place nobody can get to you? Billy’ll know. I’ll give him a call.”

  Jen picked up her cell. Kylie wasn’t sure she wanted Billy. No, what she wanted was Bomber, her biker lover. She wanted the house by the river; she wanted that black bench; she wanted his body on hers; she wanted out and he was it. That’s what she wanted.

  “Billy’s on his way, be here in a few. Let’s just sit with coffee and wait for him. He said he knows a place. You’ll be alright there for a night or two until things settle down.”

  “They won’t settle, Jen, and I gotta do something. I can’t just go back there, not even for Mom. She’s gotta get out of that place, and maybe she will leave if I’m not there. Be no reason anymore for her to stay. So maybe I’ll just wait it out.”


  Jen couldn’t argue with her. The house was a kind of ongoing hell for Kylie and her mom. And, she thought, maybe Kylie was right. If she wasn’t there, maybe her mom would leave, and they could get together somewhere else. Her own mom had done it, twice, and now they were by themselves. Jen liked it that way.

  They saw Billy’s pickup pull into the lot and he joined them at the table.

  “So, you out for a while then?” he asked Kylie. “You remember Jerry from the party? Hangs on the crescent? He’s got a sister lives near Milton. She’ll put you up for a bit ‘cause she owes Jerry and he owes me. You got a bag?”

  “I got nothin’, Billy, and I don’t want to stay with a hooker, okay?”

  “She ain’t really a hooker, just does it a bit to help out, you know. Besides, you ain’t stayin’ so why do you care? It’s a place, okay? Nobody’s gonna find you there, for sure. All you gotta do is help out a bit, and you can stay as long as you like.”

  “I’m not blowing god knows who on the street, Billy. No fuckin’ way, not for a month of freebies. Jesus, how could you even think that?”

  “It’s not as if you don’t get off on it, Kylie, ‘cause you do. But we’re still your family, we’re still us, you know that. Jen and me and Jimmy, we’re part of you, but we gotta find you a place where you’re safe, you know, and Jerry’s sister, she’s nice. She’ll look after you and we’ll meet at the river like always. No big change, Ky. You can’t stay with Jen or me or Jimmy, so this is what we got. You don’t gotta hook if you don’t want to, just help out a bit, okay?”

  Kylie thought about it. They were still her family, all right. So what if she loved it? They loved her like that, the center, so what would it hurt for a few nights anyway. And maybe she could get out to see Bomber some. She ached for him, he was a part of her now too, she knew it, and Billy didn’t mind, even if Jen did a bit.

  “Okay, Billy, I got no choice anyway. I need a place, and if she’s nice like you say, it’ll work for a couple days.”

  Kylie looked at Jen who nodded just enough to let her know she thought it was good.

  They walked over to the rusty pickup and climbed in. Billy drove out Victoria. Jen and Kylie watched the three or four girls walking the stroll as they passed until Billy made the turn. He pulled up to a ramshackle white clapboard just up from where Prideaux teed into Victoria Road.

  On the porch stood a girl in her twenties, short tight skirt, red blouse, and black high-heeled boots. They all got out and followed Billy up the porch steps.

  “How you doin’ Sandy?” Billy said. “This here’s Kylie, and this is Jen. Ky needs space for a bit, and Jerry says you don’t mind. You good with this?”

  Sandy looked the two girls over and smiled at Kylie. “Sure, you can stay. Bed’s are all taken, but there’s space in the basement. It’s finished, so you got a room with a door and a pull-out. Got a john down there too, the porcelain kind, so no worries. Nice meetin’ you guys, but I gotta go out. Let’s get you settled, and we’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

  Billy and Jen thanked her, and Jen hugged Kylie. “I’ll be by tomorrow. You hang in, okay?”

  They left the porch and drove off. Kylie watched until the truck disappeared, then turned to Sandy and smiled. Sandy led her inside and down the steps to the basement. It wasn’t bad, smelled okay, and at least she had a room with a door.

  “You bring anythin’? I got a few things you can use. You okay for tonight? ‘Cause I gotta go out, you know? Nobody else down here, so settle in and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

  She left Kylie at the door and went back upstairs. Kylie watched her with interest. She has good legs, she thought, and those boots are special. I can look right up that skirt and she knows I’m looking. Might not be so bad here, after all. She’s a sister like Jen, whatever else she is, she’s a sister and she’s nice.”

  Kylie turned back to the room and went in.

  Everyone slept late. By noon on a bright sunny day, the four girls who lived in the house were finally up and lounging around the kitchen, bickering about who was going to clean up the mess, one-upping each other on the night’s take.

  Sandy smiled and told the girls about the new girl sleeping downstairs. She’d be cleaning up after them to pay for her room. On that happy note, the girls slouched out to the porch and sat around smoking. Sandy made more coffee.

  The coffee brewing, Sandy went downstairs to ask Kylie’s to join them for coffee. Then she’d lay down the house rules and Kylie could start cleaning up.

  Sandy knocked twice and got nothing. She cracked the door and peeked in. The pull-out was back in place and the room was empty. Kylie was gone.

  ◆◆◆

  At the Modern, Harry finished lunch and ordered another espresso. He thought about the office, all the new arrangements, and decided he liked it. Will would come in with them, and Will would handle Rory. Sabina would find someone for the front, and within a couple of weeks, the renos and painting would be finished. All they needed now was some business.

  He finished the coffee and paid his bill. He wandered up past the gallery windows, pausing for a few minutes to look at the pleasant abstract in the window, a subtle rendering of oblongs in shades of blue and orange. Then he walked around the corner into Sam’s bar.

  Sam was leaning on the counter near the cash register reading the paper when Harry walked in. He looked up, waved, and reached behind him for the coffee. He took a cup from under the counter, put up milk and sugar and a spoon, and waited. Harry sauntered over and climbed on a stool. The music was soft, easy jazz. Sam turned it off.

  “I think we got a deal going with Will and maybe Rory,” said Harry. “He wants to talk to him about it anyway.”

  Sam reached under the bar, pulled out the bottle and poured a pair of doubles. “Let’s celebrate the possibility,” he said.

  An hour or so later, Harry left the bar and walked slowly back to the office. He wanted to look at the plans again to see the finished product in his head. He could already see all of them there in the early morning, lounging around with coffee in the inner office while a lovely lady manned the front desk. That brought back memories of Willow, and that made Harry change direction and wander down to the seawall and deep into the south end.

  This was reservation land for the most part. Along the shoreline there was only forest filled with an undergrowth of ferns and salal, the great trees marching down to the water’s edge leaving only a narrow ribbon of stony beach. Ferns cascaded over the larger boulders that littered the foreshore. In the distance, Harry could see the remains of the fallen giant that lay across the beach reaching out into the water. It had fallen decades ago, and its huge, broken trunk formed a termination, a boundary. Beyond it, the narrow strand disappeared, the fir-covered cliffs falling directly into the sea.

  Harry walked until he reached the trunk and sat there, his mood darkened by memory, his heart aching with loss. She had been such a wonderful distraction, such a vibrant, mouthy, brat of a girl. He had loved her beauty, her lust for life, her sensual nature. All that was gone now, at least for him. She was just as beautiful as she had been, but she wasn’t Willow any more, and she wasn’t with him. Mamma Jing’s daughter, Ling, had watched over the ravaged girl, had given her a reason to come into the world again, and had become a part of her life as much as that were possible. They lived and worked in Vancouver’s Yaletown. Harry still felt the loss in those moments when memory seduced him. He came here to honour her and to ease his pain. This was her land, her place, her people. Here, Harry could let the flood of feeling engulf him, feel the power of the great trees, ease the pain of memory.

  After a time, he reluctantly stood beside the fallen giant and faced his world, visible in the distance. It was a different kind of life with a different kind of code. To walk back was like leaving the richness of dreams and surfacing in the haze of morning. He could almost feel the separation. By the time he’d returned to the city’s seawall, the beat of the city reasserted itself and the memori
es had become insubstantial mist flowing back into the dark of his psyche.

  Harry walked along the wall and through Maffeo Sutton Park filled with tourists and those free enough to enjoy its attractions. He stood watching the harbour for a while, then doubled back, crossed Front Street, and cut through a tiny alley lined with shops and murals to come out on Victoria Road. Here he paused again, watched the slow movement of street people on the other side, and walked up the hill to the office.

  IV

  Alicia was anxious and afraid. Charlie hadn’t come home last night, so she still had a chance to find Kylie and keep him happy when he got there for dinner, if he did. She’d phoned everybody she knew with no luck, and she’d checked the school, again with no luck. Kylie was truant again.

  She’d never been out all night before. She’d always come home at some point, so Alicia was worried. Jen was her closest friend, and she swore she didn’t know where Kylie was and hadn’t seen her for a couple of days. She said she’d ask around and call back, but Alicia knew she was lying. She had to know where Kylie was. They were like twins, always together. It was inconceivable that she wouldn’t have seen Kylie for that long.

  Maybe she should call the police. But if she did and Kylie turned up on her own, she’d never forgive herself. And if Charlie found out, and he would, all hell would break loose. She couldn’t handle any more than she already did. It was only one day, so she’d wait. Maybe Jen would call.

  Alicia managed to hide from Charlie that Kylie wasn’t home. He didn’t even ask, just started in on her again about the house, the dinner, and then he left.