The K Handshape

by Maureen Jennings

  I smiled at her, wondering to myself if I could adopt her. I was missing an old aunt or two in my extended family. In fact I didn’t have any in Canada and didn’t really know all of the ones I did have in the Hebrides.

  I touched her shrivelled hand lightly. “Thank you, Miss Cameron, you have been a great help.”

  She gave me a rather dazzling grin. Dazzling because she had a set of dentures that were ultra-white and shiny. “I’m the one who feels they’ve been helped. I was getting nervous about the idea this man would come back.”

  She leaned in toward me so she was only a few inches from my face. “Promise me you won’t repeat what I’m going to tell you.”

  I would have come across as stuffy if I had told her I couldn’t be held to a promise where an investigation was concerned so I gave her a nod, hoping she wasn’t in fact going to confide in me anything I would have to repeat.

  “There was a moment there when I saw this husky fellow outside the door that I was afraid he would push right through the door … I was terrified he might be a rapist… You see, I’m a virgin, Miss Morris. In my day you waited until you were married before you, er, gave yourself to a man. Not like the young people today who get married and their children are the ring bearers.”

  She grabbed my hand, squeezing it tightly. She was trembling. “You see, I didn’t want rape to be my only experience of intercourse.”

  The enormity of what she was saying was like a blow to the stomach. I squeezed back. “I’m sure you will be quite safe but just to make sure, why don’t you go and stay with your sister until we can catch this man?”

  “Is he a murderer?”

  “I don’t know.”

  She let go. “You’re right, I don’t think I would sleep tonight, chain or no chain. I don’t like staying with Ruth. She is too bossy for words but I think I will. For a little while anyway.”

  I stood up. “Why don’t I go and get her and tell her that’s what you’ll do?”

  I had the feeling that Ruth would be as reluctant as her sister to take her in and a semi-command from the police might overcome her reluctance.

  “I think while you’re doing that, I’ll have a rest on the couch. I’m exhausted. It must be all the excitement.” She walked slowly over to the couch and sat down. “It’s not fun getting old.”

  She swung her legs up again and lay back. I picked up the quilt that had fallen to the floor and covered her over. Her eyes were already closed.

  “Thank you, my dear. You are most kind. Don’t forget your cookies.”

  I left and went in search of Ed Chaffey. Next stop, a visit to Miss Nora Cochrane.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  When we got to the house, a glowering Nora informed us that Joy was being put to bed by both Jessica and Hannah. We stood on the porch again. This time it was me and Ed, who was a lot bigger than Leo but took up less psychic space. Reluctantly, Nora let us into the living room. She was wearing a tight-fitting T-shirt with the logo F@#% OFF. She had a chain-link tattoo around the bicep of each muscular arm.

  She fiddled with the ring piercing her eyebrow. “I told you I’ve never heard of the guy,” she said. “Never seen him, never heard of him.”

  “Why was he trying to get into your old apartment then? The one on Colborne Street?”

  “How the hell should I know?” Suddenly she pursed her mouth. “Wait a minute, I almost forgot. One of Deidre’s pals crashed at my place once about four years ago. I was… I had entered a rehab clinic. Total waste of time but that’s neither here nor there. I had a couple of pals who needed a pad for a few months. They covered my rent, which saved me from having to give up the apartment. Anyway, Marlene phoned me up one day at the rehab centre and said a girl she knew was in need of a place to stay for a couple of weeks and would it be okay with me if she crashed at my apartment. She could pay. Of course I said yes. A bit more money was always welcome. I met her later, and it turned out she was one of Dee’s friends.”

  “Which one?”

  “The stumpy one, Hannah.

  “What was the name of the friend who knew Hannah?”

  “Marlene Robinson, but you won’t be able to talk to her. She’s gone backpacking in Tibet. As far as I know she doesn’t intend to return for a couple of years.” Nora picked at the quick of her finger. “She wasn’t deaf, dumb maybe but that’s another story… So when I got out of rehab, I was struggling a bit. Couldn’t find a decent job. They ask for your previous work history and there was a difficult-to-explain gap in mine. One day, Dee comes over to see me. Says she’s a friend of Hannah’s and asks would I like to move in with her. Said she was knocked up, no dad to be found, and I could have free rent in return for some babysitting when the kid arrives. She must have been at least six months by then.” Nora made a gesture with her hands indicating a large belly.

  “You were taking a risk, weren’t you, to agree to share a house with somebody you’ve never met before?” Ed asked.

  Nora stared at him in astonishment. “This must be what is called the generation gap. People my age do it all the time. Hey, she was offering me a nice house with a garden, no rent, just pay your own food. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. Like I said, my job was just to be the ears while Joy was small and then gradually I did some sitting while Dee was teaching or having a rare night out.”

  We heard a wail from upstairs.

  “Look, I’ve got to go. Joy’s used to me putting her down for her nap. I know the routine. It sounds like those girls need help. Okay?”

  She didn’t really wait for permission but bolted off up the stairs. Joy’s cries stopped almost immediately. Ed and I had no choice but to leave.

  “That wasn’t very productive, was it? Did you believe her?”

  “I did, actually. It certainly makes sense that was the reason Taylor went to the Colborne apartment. He knew Hannah and probably thought she still lived there.”

  “Let’s see if Leo has heard of the Robinson girl just in case she isn’t in Tibet. She just might be able to fill in some of the gaps.”

  “My daughter wants to go to Australia when she graduates from university next year. What can we do? I suppose it’s safe enough but it’s so damn far and she’s planning to be in the outback for a month. All I can hope is that she’s got enough common sense she will be safe.” Ed shook his head. “I tell you, Christine, having kids has given me grey hairs. You’re lucky.”

  I’d heard this before from people who’d procreated but my childlessness wasn’t entirely from choice. I’d never been in a situation where it was a possibility, wrong man, no man, whatever, and when my biological clock rang an alarm, which it did every so often, I ignored it. Now I had the right man but it was late in the game. I didn’t want to be taking a child to school and have everybody thinking I was the grandma.

  I made a noncommittal noise at Ed. I knew he had two daughters and I thought he was probably a good dad. Lucky girls.

  We went out to the street where we’d parked our cars. I’d followed behind him from Grace Cameron’s apartment.

  He checked his watch. “Shoot, it’s almost three already. I’ve got to get over to the Manticore and buy a book for my mother-in-law. It’s her birthday tomorrow and she’s coming for dinner. I promised Aileen I’d pick up a gift for her.”

  “Go. I’ve got to get back to the Centre.”

  He eased himself into the car, which was an unmarked grey Chevy, part of the cheap fleet that the officers could use when they didn’t want to take the squad car and draw attention to themselves. I was glad that Ed had the sensitivity not to have cruisers showing up in front of Deidre’s house every hour. The more anonymity the better for the child at the moment. He drove off and as I headed for my car, I glanced up at Deidre’s house. Joy was at the window. She saw me look up and waved excitedly. The next moment, Nora was behind her, drawing her away, although I could see she was putting up a fuss. Then Hannah stepped forward and closed the curtains.

  When I got back to the offi
ce, I had a quick visit with Katherine. Leo had informed her of the latest development and Sigmund was coming in for an interview at five o’clock. I went into my own cave and started to take care of business that had begun to pile up. I took one quick look at my test case, got as far as the second page, realized I wasn’t concentrating, and closed the file. Deep breath, concentrate. I checked my email. There were two requests for my take on some hate mail. One was from the police department in a Detroit suburb. The sender was a woman I’d met at a conference last year and we’d got along well. She believed in “thinking out of the box,” as she called it, and had no hesitation about consulting other police departments even if they were north of the border. They had a nasty case involving two rival unions at the Ford Motor Company. Both were finger pointing and it was crucial she get some grip on who might be lying or lying more than the other fellow. She would fax me the material if I had time?

  Arrgh. Normally, I’d have been only too happy to oblige, but I had to put her on the back burner for now. And that reminded me, Gill had sent through some material that I hadn’t yet looked at. The second email was from a detective I knew who worked out of North Bay. Some vicious letters were being sent to a local radio DJ. It could be a racial issue, the DJ was a black man, the shock jock type. In my opinion were the letters serious enough to warrant some kind of protection? The third email was from somebody who identified themself only as Sandy and he/she said they had a project for school and would I answer some questions about what it was like being a police profile (sic) on television. What was David Caruso like to work with? I deleted that one, student or no student, and sent off emails to the other two telling them to fax the material.

  I had grabbed a sandwich and a coffee from the Stake Out cafeteria downstairs and had just started to unwrap my turkey club when my phone rang.

  “Hello to Christine. Gill here. Christine, my sweet, have you had a chance to look at that material I sent you?”

  “Er… not yet…”

  “There’s been, shall we say, a development. The lassie in question made a serious suicide attempt this morning. She’s going to be all right but it was touch and go for a wee while. I figure it’s connected with this case and the sooner I can get a grasp on what was going on the sooner we can know how to help her.”

  I groaned to myself. “Gill, I’m sorry, I haven’t had a minute. But I’ll get on to it today, I promise.”

  “Sure. We’re doing our own questioning but frankly it’s going nowhere. Any input from the big city would help.”

  There was a rather awkward silence. Geez, I hate telephones sometimes. I wanted to be sitting with him in our favourite pub, relaxed and comfortable. I felt guilty that I’d let him down.

  “I won’t keep you, I know you’re busy,” he said.

  “No, wait. I heard from Joan this morning. She said she and Duncan are planning to get married right after Christmas so they can go on a cruise. She wants me to come to the wedding.”

  “And will you?”

  Gill knew the complexity of my relationship with my mother. He didn’t really understand, it as he had old-fashioned attitudes to parents of the loyalty and duty kind no matter what.

  “Probably. I could take four or five days max but it would be great to see you earlier rather than later.”

  “Agreed.”

  His voice was flat and there was another awkward silence that made me feel wretched. Was he getting fed up with this long distance thing? God, had he met somebody else? I felt an icy flutter of panic in my stomach. Then another beep announced an incoming call.

  “Gill, I’ll call you back, are you at home?”

  “I am but I’m on my way out. Community meeting about the windmills tonight. Let’s talk on Sunday.”

  I got off the phone as fast as I could, not wanting to hear goodbyes that I could interpret as cool. The other caller had hung up, whoever it was.

  Feeling decidedly off-kilter, I decided after all to have a look at my test case.

  Five days after … body was discovered in … hikers stumbled across a set of badly decomposed remains in an isolated forest north of …

  I made myself not cheat and riff on the bit of information of isolated forest.

  Janice’s voice over the intercom woke me up. Good Lord, I’d put my head on my desk for a minute but the clock said I’d been snoozing for half an hour. Ouch. My neck now had a crick in it.

  “Christine Morris to the boardroom.”

  Once again I closed the test case file with nothing accomplished. I grabbed my notebook and hurried out.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  “They’re in the boardroom and they’ve already started,” Janice told me as I hurried past her.

  “Who’s conducting the interview?”

  “Inspector Chaffey and Katherine. Doctor Forgach is in his office. He wanted to be present but Katherine wouldn’t let him. They had quite a row.”

  Janice was probably wondering what the hell was going on but she didn’t ask. She never stepped over the line. Not to worry, she had the uncanny ability to winkle out all the news where her “people” were concerned. She’d find out soon enough why Sigmund Forgach was being questioned by the head honchos.

  I gulped back some water from the fountain by her desk and headed for the interview. I had to walk past Leo’s office and felt a twinge of relief that his door was closed. Last Christmas, Katherine had given everybody cute signs to hang on our doors to indicate if we were in but not to be disturbed, like they do in hotels. She’d had them custom-made and Leo’s was a lion which was glaring from glow-in-the-dark eyes. The sign said “Just Ate. Digesting. Go Away.” Mine, by the way, was a border collie in crouched position driving a group of bad guys into a pen. The caption underneath read “Too Busy for Fun. Come Back Later.” I liked it.

  I tapped on the door of the interview room and waited for permission to enter. I didn’t know if they were taping the session or not. Katherine herself opened the door. She looked a little irritated that I was late. Punctuality was high up on the list of good character traits as far as she was concerned.

  “Chris, come in… Have you met Sigmund?”

  I hadn’t. I didn’t even know he existed until yesterday.

  “This is Christine Morris, one of our profilers,” said Katherine.

  Sigmund Forgach got to his feet and offered his hand. He was dressed in a formal dark grey suit, white shirt, and tie, unlike his casino clothes, but the same feeling of “trying too hard” still came from him. He greeted me in the tone of voice I thought he saved for difficult customers who needed to be soothed and charmed.

  “I feel so terrible about what happened to Deidre. So, so sad. Inspector Chaffey was explaining why you all wanted to talk to me and I was just, er, delivering my statement.” He smiled nervously. “It’s so, so odd, isn’t it, that here I am being interrogated in the very building where my own father is employed.”

  It was indeed so, so odd as he put it. Ed took over. “I’ve told Mr. Forgach that we’re trying to trace Deidre’s movements after she left the casino and as he was somebody we could immediately identify who was with her that night, we thought we’d start there.”

  Sigmund pushed his glasses up on his nose, a gesture he must have used many times when contemplating the soundness of his clients’ loan prospects.

  “Right. Well, strange as it may seem, I have had very little to do with my half-sister. In fact, I’d say to be precise, I’ve had nothing to do with her. My parents divorced before she was born, and, er, well, my mother was quite deeply hurt by the divorce and didn’t want me to associate with my father’s new family. I believe I may have seen her once when she was about four. Father wanted to bring his two families together, old and new, but it didn’t seem to work. He and his second wife split up when Deidre was no more than five years old.”

  “When did you reconnect?” Ed asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know exactly. A few months ago I received an email from her. She said something
like, she was an only child and so was I so perhaps we could get together and develop more of a family connection. She mentioned she had a daughter who would technically be my niece and she said she’d like me to meet her.”

  “And did you?”

  Sigmund shook his head, as if regretfully turning down the request for a loan. “Alas I never did. I was quite busy all summer and the right time never arose.”

  “Are you saying that yesterday was the first meeting you’ve had with Deidre since she was a child?”

  “Yes, that’s right. Oh we did exchange emails as I said, but yes, it was our first meeting.”

  Ed’s eyes met mine. We were both thinking the same thing. There was no way that could be true. Deidre knew him. No introductions had been necessary. None of the usual exclamations of surprise you’d expect. Far from it. Ed let that one ride but let Sig know we’d caught him.

  “As you probably know, the casino has closed-circuit cameras everywhere. We have you leaving the casino at about 8:27. Is that correct?”

  Again Sig reflected judiciously. “I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to the time but that sounds about right. Deidre wanted to continue playing so I left her to it.”

  “What did you do then?”

  He shrugged. “Nothing in particular. I collected my car and drove back to Barrie.”

  “Did you notice Miss Larsen’s car in the lot?”

  “No, I didn’t.”

  “Did you pay any attention to the time when you arrived back in Barrie?”

  “I’m afraid not, sir. But it is usually no more than a forty-minute drive at most so I assume I was home no later than ten o’clock.”

  Katherine spoke for the first time. “You share a condominium with your mother, I understand?”

  “That’s right.” His pleasant young manager look slipped. “My mother’s health is what might be called fragile. I do hope you don’t see any necessity to involve her.”

  Given the circumstances, it was a rather astounding statement. Like hounds sniffing the wind, I could see all three of us twitch. What the hell was this man concealing?