I hoped that she was right. I took a chair and turned my thoughts back to my problem. “My CEO paid a visit to the branch this morning,” I said, and I told her about Keith’s plans.
“That’s a big decision for you,” she said when I’d finished.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“Sleep on it. Then drive to Toronto tomorrow and talk to the girls.” She looked down at her hands that were clasped together on the table. “If you stay in Braeloch, I won’t be around.”
“Why? What’s happened?”
“Remember the condoms I handed out to the teen group?”
“Ah…yes?”
“Word of that got around. All the way to the bishop.”
“That means…?”
“I’m out of here.”
“Dammit! After all the work you’ve done here.”
“I’ll go into the office tomorrow to tie up some loose ends, but I won’t hold a service on Sunday. I’ll meet Father Luke Rankin when he arrives on Monday, then I’ll be off.”
“Father Luke…?”
“A retired priest. I don’t think he’ll be handing out condoms.”
“What will you do?”
“A few days of R and R at our order’s retreat house, then I wait for my next assignment.” She placed a hand on mine. “Hey, I wasn’t going to be around here forever. Father Brisebois will be back in a few weeks.”
She smiled. “If you don’t mind, I’ll take Cleo with me.”
“By all means.” That was one less thing for me to worry about.
She pushed her chair back and stood up. “I’ll check the Dominion Hotel. The last thing Bruce needs is to drown his sorrows.”
“I’ll come with you.”
We walked down Main Street to the hotel. “Will Bruce stay on at the rectory when you’re gone?” I asked.
“I hope Father Luke will let him stay. I’ll talk to him about it. But when Father Brisebois comes back…” She shrugged.
“I imagine that Bruce will come into a fair bit of money when Ted’s estate is settled,” I said. “He could probably live in Ted’s house right now.”
“I don’t think he’ll want to do that.”
“Well, he should eventually be able to buy a home of his own.”
Bruce wasn’t in the hotel bar or its dining room.
“Has Bruce Stohl been in today?” I asked the young man I’d spoken to about Jamie.
“Yeah,” he said. “He was here for a few minutes and left.”
“Say where he was going?”
“Nope.” He turned back to the tray of glasses he was sorting.
“Where else would he go?” I asked Celia. “Ted’s place?”
“He wouldn’t go there.”
The neon lights of Joe’s Diner caught my attention. “Let’s check Joe’s,” I said.
At first glance through the window, the restaurant appeared to be empty. Then I saw two figures in a booth at the back of the room. I recognized Bruce’s shaggy head. Soupy was seated across from him.
Celia caught my arm as I moved toward the door. “Let them be. It’ll do Bruce good to talk to Soupy.”
She took my arm and steered me toward the rectory.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
I was up at seven the next morning. I roused Farah and Tommy, and we were on the road by eight-thirty. Twenty minutes later, Farah and Tommy had both nodded off, leaving me to my thoughts. By the time we headed down the Don Valley Parkway, I had mapped out what I’d say to the girls.
I dropped Farah off at her apartment building, and drove Tommy to his grandmother’s home. When I had called her the night before, Norah Seaton had immediately agreed to take the boy until Sunday. She sounded like she hadn’t seen him in a year.
Tracy, Laura and Jamie were at the house when I arrived. “What’s this about, Mom?” Laura wanted to know. “I’ve got things to do today.”
“Lunch first,” I said. “I’m taking us to Milo’s.”
After we’d placed our orders at my favorite Toronto bistro, I leaned back in my chair. “I’ve been offered a job in Braeloch.”
They looked at me speechless for a few moments.
Laura was the first to speak. “If you think I’m going up there—”
“Hear me out, Laura. You need to finish your school year here.” I told them that Keith had asked me to run the branch and head the company’s operations north of Toronto. I couldn’t resist mentioning that a vice president’s title was in the offing.
I turned to Tracy and Jamie. “Would you two stay at the house for the next few months?”
I held my breath while Tracy looked at Jamie. Jamie put an arm around her and nodded. “No problem, Pat. We’d be happy to.”
I let out my breath. They would keep Laura in line.
Our food arrived, but nobody made a move to eat. Laura looked glumly at her clubhouse sandwich. “The next few months, you said. And then what?”
I speared a piece of avocado in my California salad. “I’ll have to see how it works out in Braeloch.”
“And if it does?” Laura wanted to know.
“I’ll put the house up for sale in July or August. You’ll be off to Guelph at the end of the summer.”
“The house?” She looked crestfallen.
Tracy didn’t look happy either.
“We’ll see what happens,” I said. “Summer is months away. Now eat up, everyone.”
Tracy picked up her fork. “What about Tommy?”
“Tommy’s a resilient little guy. He’ll cope with a new school, even this late in the year.”
“And Norah?” Tracy asked.
I hadn’t thought that one through yet. When Tommy came to live with us after his mother’s death, I’d promised Norah that she would see her grandson regularly. If Tommy moved up north with me, he wouldn’t be able to visit her every weekend.
“I’ll talk to Norah,” I said. “I’ll see her this afternoon.”
“My family’s being torn apart,” Laura said.
It was on the tip of my tongue to remind her of her plans to share an apartment with Kyle. But the woebegone expression on her face made me bite back my words. At eighteen, Laura was still a child in many ways.
I reached across the table and took her hand. “It’s early days, honey. We’ll see what happens.”
“Our house is the only home I’ve ever known,” she said. “I thought it would always be there. And you’d always be in it.”
My heart twisted, and I gave her hand a squeeze. “Eat your lunch. You said you have things to do today.”
Norah Seaton lived in a handsome red brick house in Rosedale, not far from Keith’s home. The murder of Tommy’s mother a few months earlier had sapped her already frail health. At first, she had wanted Tommy to live with her but she soon realized that an active young boy was too much for her. I had convinced her that he would be happier in my home with other young people. How was I going to explain to Norah that I planned move up north and take Tommy with me?
She was seated in her favorite armchair with Gigi, her miniature white poodle, on her lap. The elderly woman’s face was pale and drawn, but her white hair was stylishly coiffed and she was smartly dressed in a blue tweed skirt and a matching jacket. Tommy lay sprawled on the carpet watching a video on the wide-screen TV.
He looked up when I entered the room and flashed me a grin. Norah smiled at me, then her eyes rested on Tommy.
“His mother…” she said when I sat down beside her.
I took her hands in mine. It had been only months since her daughter’s death. But does a mother ever get over the loss of her child?
We both sat there for a few moments looking at Tommy. He was the son of my late husband, Michael. I had brought him into my home, and he had become a son to me, too.
I told Norah about Keith’s proposal. Her face became more drawn as I went on. “I’ll have to see how it shakes out,” I hastened to add. “But even if it doesn’t work out for the long-term, I’ll need
to be there until a new manager can take over.”
“You’ll leave your daughters here in the city?”
Make me feel guilty, I wanted to say. “Tracy has a home of her own now. And Laura is in her last year of high school. She plans to go to the University of Guelph next year.”
“And Tommy?”
I looked her in the eyes. “He can start at Braeloch Elementary School on Monday.”
Norah didn’t argue or reproach me. She just sat there, her shoulders slumped, her eyes on Tommy, a defeated look on her face.
I tried to explain that if I didn’t take the position in Braeloch, my career at Norris Cassidy would be over.
“Do what you have to do, dear,” was all she said.
I told her I’d come by for Tommy after lunch the next day, and I let myself out of the house.
I stopped for groceries and wine on the way home. I had promised the girls a bang-up dinner. Laura had told me to make it early because she had a party to go to. I threw myself into preparing mushroom risotto and tried to keep my attention on the tasks at hand. I had made my decision.
But my mind was in overdrive. Tracy now had a home with Jamie but they lived in Toronto. And chances were that Laura would return to Toronto every other weekend when she was in university. I wanted to be part of my girls’ lives.
I liked the Glencoe Highlands. In two weeks, I’d come to know the area and many of its people. And with Tommy in school in Braeloch, I would meet other parents.
Tommy! I thought of Norah and how sad she had looked that afternoon. Tears welled in my eyes.
Tracy and Jamie came in at five-thirty and Laura turned up at a quarter to six. At six, I served hot hors d’oeuvres in front of the fireplace. Twenty minutes later we were seated at the dining room table. Jamie poured from the bottle of Châteauneuf du Pape that she and Tracy had brought.
“So what’s your agenda here?” Laura asked when our plates were full. “You’re going to try to convince us to go up north with you.”
“Not at all,” I said. “You have your schooling to complete, and Tracy has just started her law career. And I’ve had a few more thoughts this afternoon. I’ll run them by you after dinner.”
While we ate, Tracy filled us in on a high-profile case her law firm had taken. She was still talking about it while Laura cleared the table, and I served coffee and crème brulé.
When I returned to the table with a bottle of Dom Pérignon, three pairs of eyes looked at me expectantly.
“I’ve given some more thought to Keith’s proposal,” I said. “It’s a big decision.”
Laura snorted.
“Laura, please,” I said.
She rolled her eyes.
“I’ve decided not to take it. I want to stay in Toronto, close to the two of you.” I smiled at Jamie. “And you, Jamie. Laura, you’ll probably be back from Guelph some weekends. And Tommy needs to be here. It would break Norah’s heart if she couldn’t see him at least once a week.”
“What about your job, Mom?” Tracy asked.
“That’s a problem. My future at Norris Cassidy will be uncertain at best if I turn this down. So I’ve decided to go out on my own. I’ll give financial advice at an hourly rate but I won’t be selling investment products. Clients can get them through brokers.”
“And you won’t have to sell the house,” Laura said.
Tracy reached across the table and squeezed my hand.
“This was a big decision, Pat,” Jamie said. “It took courage.”
“Yes.” It had taken courage to come to this decision. But I knew I could do it. The house was mortgage-free, and Michael and I had set money aside for the girls’ education that Laura could draw on. Tommy had money that his mother had left him, and he would inherit a lot more when his grandmother died. I would live simply and focus on building my business.
I smiled at them. “I’ll be in Braeloch for a few months, but Tommy needs to finish his school year here. The three of you will have to look after him while I’m away. Agreed?”
“No problem,” Tracy said.
“Fine with me,” Jamie added.
Laura slouched in her chair. “I guess.” She heaved a dramatic sigh. “Okay.”
“Tommy will spend his weekends with Norah so you’ll have time for your friends, Laura,” I said. “I’ll try to get back here some weekends myself.”
I passed champagne glasses around the table. Laura popped the cork, and Jamie filled the glasses from the bottle of Dom Pérignon.
“On Monday, I’ll give notice that I’ll be gone at the end of June, or earlier if my replacement can step in. And then…” I shrugged. “I’ll see. I may take the summer off.”
I raised my glass. “To our family.”
We clinked glasses.
“And to new beginnings.”
~ * ~
Acknowledgements
Many people have made Black Water possible. My heartfelt thanks goes to my husband, Ed Piwowarczyk, my first editor and biggest supporter. I am grateful for his editing skills, and his patience and forbearance. It’s not easy living with a writer.
Thank you, fellow members of my writers’ circle—Catherine Dunphy, Madeleine Harris-Callway, Lynne Murphy, Joan O’Callaghan and Sylvia Warsh—who provided valuable insights and deadlines.
The title, Black Water, was suggested by Gail and Ted Bowen. Over the past several years, Gail Bowen, author of the Joanne Kilbourn mystery series, has given me excellent advice.
Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime Toronto have provided years of nurturing. Organizations like these are instrumental in furthering writers’ careers.
Members of Canada's financial services industry helped me understand the important work they do and shared their enthusiasm for it. Investment Executive and Insurance & Investment Journal, two industry trade publications, provided further opportunities to meet financial professionals and discuss the issues that matter to them.
Thanks to Rebecca Weeks of the Midwifery Services of Haliburton-Bancroft.
Thank you to Donna and Alex Carrick of Carrick Publishing for their work and dedication in publishing the Mesdames of Mayhem’s crime fiction anthologies and the second editions of the Pat Tierney mysteries.
And my deep appreciation to readers who have told me how much they enjoyed reading about Pat Tierney. You are the people who make everything worthwhile!
Black Water is set is in an imaginary part of Ontario cottage country that bears a strong resemblance to the real Haliburton Highlands. None of the Haliburton Highlands’ residents appear in this book.
If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a short review. Reviews are helpful to other readers and greatly appreciated by authors. When you post a review, drop me an email and I may feature part of your review on my blog. Thank you!
—Rosemary
Rosemarymccracken dot com / Contact
Born and raised in Montreal, Rosemary McCracken has worked on newspapers across Canada as a reporter, arts writer and arts reviewer, editorial writer and editor. She is now a freelance journalist who specializes in personal finance. She advocates greater investor protection and improved financial services industry regulation and enforcement.
Rosemary’s short fiction has been published by Room of One’s Own Press, Kaleidoscope Books, Sisters in Crime Canada, the Mesdames of Mayhem, Darkhouse Books, Down & Out Books and Mystery Weekly Magazine. Safe Harbor is Rosemary’s first published novel. It was a finalist for Britain’s Crime Writers’ Association’s Debut Dagger award in 2010, and it was first released by Imajin Books in 2012. Black Water, the second book in the Pat Tierney mystery series, was first released by Imajin Books in 2013, followed by Raven Lake in 2016.
Rosemary lives in Toronto with her husband and teaches novel writing at George Brown College. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime.
Visit Rosemary at her website and blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.
; Rosemary McCracken, Black Water
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