“Or,” said Peter, “so he thought.”
“Whichever. But he was determined to go with Coltrane to Sea-Tac. To identify her, he told Marc. He told me he had to see her one more time. To maybe break the spell, he said.”
Noel’s phone rang. “Yes? . . . Oh hello, Charlie . . . Well that’s good news . . . How long’ll he be in? . . . Yeah, I understand . . . They’ve already booked him? . . . There’s supposed to be a lawyer, Professor Rossini said . . . Oh, good . . . Even better . . . She’s there now? . . . Yeah, I understand . . . What’s that mean? . . . Well, let’s hope he can get it . . . Thanks for letting me know . . . Talk to you.” He ended the call.
“Why didn’t you put it on speakerphone?” asked an irritated Kyra.
“Didn’t think.”
“What did he say?” She brought the cognac glass to her lips and sniffed.
“First, it looks like St.-Ange is going to be okay. The knife missed his lung and his heart by a quarter inch. He took two pints of blood; he’d lost a lot. No sense of how long he’ll be in.”
“They’ve booked him?”
“Yeah. All of them.”
“That didn’t take long.”
“They’re charging deBourg and LeJeune with kidnapping and conspiracy to steal industrial secrets. The judge got to hear what Susanna had to say and they’re not charging St.-Ange with anything yet—there’ll be some sort of hearing where she can state under oath what happened. The lawyer told Susanna he’d try for malicious mischief, third degree.”
Peter asked, “What’s that?”
“Charlie says it’s used mainly for petty crimes, like theft of property under two thousand dollars.”
“Huh?” said Kyra. “Susanna’s worth less than two thousand bucks?”
“Property,” said Noel. “She’s nobody’s property. St.-Ange conspired to steal Larry’s algorithms.”
“That’s all they’re worth?”
“They’re worth the paper they’re written on, less than two thousand in value. They only take on value when Larry handles them. So Charlie said.” A sip of cognac.
“What,” Kyra asked, “is the punishment for malicious mischief, third degree?”
“Charlie wasn’t sure. A fine, he figured, and community work.”
“Let’s hope.”
They sat in silence for some seconds, till Kyra announced, “Well, I’m exhausted. Can you drive me to the inn, Noel?”
“Of course.” Only a couple of blocks away. He stood and drained the last of his cognac. “Back soon, Peter.”
“Good,” said Peter.
Noel and Kyra got into the Honda and drove off. Noel said, “You’ll be heading back to Bellingham first thing tomorrow, I suppose.”
“No job to keep me here.”
“Right. For me there’s only one ferry out, early, so I won’t see you tomorrow.”
“Looks like.” She sat back and closed her eyes. “It was a good case.”
“Sometimes it’s good to prove a certain person did not commit a crime.”
He stopped the car in front of Friday Harbor House. They sat in silence for a half minute or more, then spoke at the same moment: “I need—” said Kyra, and Noel, “I should—”
“You first,” he said.
“Okay.” She turned to him and took his arm gently with two hands. In the dim light from the inn, her eyes looked damp. “When I get to Bellingham tomorrow I’m going to contact the Institute. I’m ready to go ahead. I will ask them to set me up with everything I need to get pregnant.”
“You’ve decided. You’re absolutely certain?”
“Entirely.”
“Okay.” He put his free hand over one of hers.
“Okay what?”
“Okay I’ll help you. I’ll be there for you.”
“What do you mean?”
“What you’ve been asking me for—for it feels like forever now. I am willing to be the father of this child.” He felt her hands squeezing his arm.
“Noel—”
“I want to be the father of the child.”
Her grip loosened and she slumped down in the seat. After seconds of silence, she said, her voice small, “You sure?”
“I’m sure.” In a brighter voice, “Especially if it’s the only way to keep somebody else from being the father.”
She began to giggle. Then she slid toward him and grabbed him and held him tightly. Slowly he put his arms around her. “Now I have an even better reason for calling the Institute.”
At EST-K-Sum headquarters, a report that Madame deBourg’s Veritec was no longer a possible seller of the Dream Visualizer reached Joseph Martin. Bad news. They’d have to deal with Rossini directly. It could become costly.
Noel entered Peter’s house without knocking. Peter had cleared away the dishes and the leftover food—not much, Noel recalled—and refilled two cognac snifters. He’d dimmed the lamps. Light classical piano music tinkled from the speakers. He got up from the couch and waited for Noel to join him. He said, “An adventurous day.”
More than you can know, Noel thought but did not say. “And now?”
Peter stepped close and put his hand on Noel’s hip. “My question for you.”
Tell him he felt the weight of the case? But what he mainly felt was the touch of Peter’s hand. And suddenly, in truth, his sense of the dangers of the last few hours slipped from him. An honorable man stood in front of him. He put his hand on Peter’s ribcage. “We’ve got a lot to learn. About each other.”
Peter drew Noel close and held him, their cheeks touching. “I’m looking forward.”
Larry Rossini remained both exhilarated and deeply weary. His daughter had returned. A medical examination had let her and him know she was healthy, and in a good state of mind. She explained this by noting how well Fredric had fed her. Since she left his hospital bedside, it had all been Fredric this and Fredric that. She might be in love, or maybe only in lust, but there seemed no question, the young man had treated her decently, even with affection. All to the good, despite the situation she’d been in.
He would work diligently to strike Dr. deBourg from his memory. He would likely fail, but the attempt had to be made.
And, while Susanna was at Fredric’s bedside, Larry had spoken at length with Richard O’Hara. The Board of Trustees of Morsely University would be the new owner of all patents and algorithms relating to the DV, the Dream Visualizer. No, not O’Hara personally; that must never happen. Larry Rossini would be, as long as he wished, the DV’s chief researcher; his team would remain and grow according to the need of the Project; and when money for license fees began to come in, Larry would receive 25 percent. Larry would also have a veto regarding whom the DV could be licensed to. All this, Rossini and O’Hara surmised, would happen after the proceedings of the spring conference were published. The house on the Morsely campus would be his for the next forty years or until he no longer wanted it, whichever came first. Not as good as allowing access to the DV’s promise to all, but ownership would no longer be a responsibility.
He would sleep little tonight. But soon he would sleep well again.
Afterward, Noel lay awake while Peter snored lightly. Twice Noel had touched Peter’s shoulder and for a while the snoring ceased. And began again.
Where would this lead? A long time between Brendan and Peter. It had been good with Peter. Good enough for both of them to want more of each other. They had agreed, Noel would come for a visit in three weeks. Till then Peter would be over-his-head busy with new students. And Noel would not leave in the morning; they’d have one more day together. Should he tell Kyra before she left? He’d see, when he woke up. He lay on his back and stared up at the dark ceiling.
At the inn, Kyra lay propped against her pillows and stared out a dark window.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank several people who have been generous with their areas of expertise, giving us the ability to increase our accuracy when describing the pathways and pattern
s of San Juan Island. Tom Kirschner, the Executive Director of the San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce, guided us through some of the complexities of the island from a double point of view: as a businessman—the economy of the island—and as one who loves the island for its social make-up and its many charms. At the San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, Jon Zerby, the Undersheriff for the county, provided us with valuable insight into the practices and routines of the island’s specific kinds of law enforcement. At the San Juan Island Library, library director Marjorie Harrison pointed us to a series of documents that proved critical in giving us a sense of the texture of San Juan.
As important, thanks go to Roy Innes of Gabriola Island, who instructed us in the handling of small firearms, first in giving us a lesson in safe pistol handling, then explaining how to aim and shoot at a target with precision. Roy set up a bull’s-eye some fifty feet away. After six shots he retrieved the target and said, “Well, George and Sandy, we can use this one again.” Thanks, Roy.
Thanks to David Szanto, who helped us elucidate and remodel some of the massive complexities of nanotechnology: scanning tunneling microscopes, carbon nanotube applications, organic molecular outputs and the like.
As in the previous novel in the Triple I series, people have bought the names of characters in Always Love a Villain by donating to the Gabriola Commons—worth checking out: gabriolacommons.ca. A minor character sold for one hundred dollars. Thanks from the Commons, therefore, to Ann Buttrick, who has become Richard O’Hara’s secretary, and to Heather Menzies, who bought the name Phoebe March, secretary for Larry Rossini’s research project.
Finally, thanks to Rhonda Bailey, who as editor of the Triple I mysteries continues to help us find precision and clarity for the series.
We took some artistic license with a couple of establishments on San Juan Island, in particular Thor’s pub and Morsely University. Neither of them can be found there—at least, not yet.
SANDY FRANCES DUNCAN is the author of ten award-winning books for children and adults, including Gold Rush Orphan, which was nominated for a 2005 BC Book Prize. Her articles have appeared in numerous literary journals, magazines and newspapers.
A National Magazine Award recipient and winner of the Hugh MacLennan Prize for fiction, GEORGE SZANTO recently published a memoir entitled Bog Tender: Coming Home to Nature and Memory. He is also the author of half a dozen novels, his most recent being The Tartarus House on Crab and the Conquests of Mexico trilogy: The Underside of Stones, Second Sight and The Condesa of M. George is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Please visit his website at georgeszanto.com.
Together, Sandy Frances Duncan and George Szanto co-author the Islands Investigations International mystery series, which includes the titles Never Sleep with a Suspect on Gabriola Island, Always Kiss the Corpse on Whidbey Island, Never Hug a Mugger on Quadra Island and Always Love a Villain on San Juan Island.
ALSO IN THE ISLANDS INVESTIGATIONS INTERNATIONAL MYSTERY SERIES:
Never Sleep with a Suspect
Always Kiss the Corpse
Never Hug a Mugger
Kyra Rachel from Washington State and Noel Franklin from British Columbia form the Islands Investigations International team. Together, they solve mysteries on the charming, but dangerous, islands off the west coast of North America.
THE MARGARET SPENCER MYSTERY SERIES:
Death in a Family Way
In the Shadow of Death
Death on a Short Leash
Death as a Last Resort
Death as a Fine Art
Author Gwendolyn Southin uniquely blends the charm of gumshoe techniques with the fresh perspective of a developing female detective. The Margaret Spencer Mysteries offer action and suspense, with a human subtext.
The Slickrock Paradox
by Stephen Legault
Silas Pearson is looking for answers. It's been more than three years since his wife, Penelope de Silva, disappeared while working on a conservation project in Utah's red rock wilderness. Law enforcement authorities have given up hope of finding the adventurous Penelope alive. And some suggest that she may not have vanished into the desert at all, but simply left Silas for another man. Silas moves to Moab, where his wife was last seen, with one purpose: finding his wife, dead or alive. His search takes him into a spectacular wilderness of red rock canyons, soaring mesas, and vertical earth, where he must confront his failures as a husband and his guilt over not being there when Penelope needed him most.
The Slickrock Paradox is the first book in the Red Rock Canyon Mysteries, a series of books that explores an iconic American landscape through an atypical anti-hero who is deeply flawed, reluctant, and yet familiar.
Copyright © 2013 Sandy Frances Duncan and George Szanto
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (access Copyright). For a copyright licence, visit accesscopyright.ca.
TouchWood Editions
touchwoodeditions.com
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Duncan, Sandy Frances, 1942–
Always love a villain on San Juan Island [electronic resource] / Sandy Frances Duncan, George Szanto.
Electronic monograph issued in various formats.
Also issued in print format.
ISBN 978-1-77151-025-7 (HTML).--ISBN 978-1-77151-026-4 (PDF)
I. Szanto, George, 1940– II. Title.
PS8557.U5375A48 2013 C813'.54 C2013-901757-7
Editor: Rhonda Bailey
Proofreader: Christine Savage
Cover image: Gary Unwin, istockphoto.com
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support for our publishing activities from the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, Canada Council for the Arts, and the province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Always Love a Villain on San Juan Island Page 28
