Burying Ariel
Page 25
“You did a terrific job,” I said. “Not just on the book, but on identifying Livia. You probably saved a woman’s life. After you called that night and told me it was Livia who had quarrelled with Ariel, I went straight to the university. Solange Levy – you have her picture in your book – was already bleeding badly. She might have died if I hadn’t made it in time. She has you to thank for the fact that I did.”
“So she’s going to be okay?”
“Yes,” I said. “It’ll take her a while to recuperate, but she’s going to be fine.”
Bebe burrowed through the basket of dolls on her knee. Finally, she found what she was a looking for: a Barbie with platinum hair piled high, a tiara of bubble-gum-pink hearts, and a ballgown with a bodice comprised of two hearts that covered Barbie’s breasts like shields and a skirt of stiffly crocheted flowers. “Give Miss Hearts and Flowers to that Solange,” Bebe said. “It doesn’t matter how old a girl is, she always feels better if she gets a new doll.”
Ronnie was reshelving videos when I got back downstairs. She was in a checked shirt and bluejeans, and she was very tanned.
“Have you been away?” I asked.
“Nah,” she said. “Just a tanning salon. I’ll never be beauty-pageant material like her,” she said, pointing to the Barbie I was holding. “I figure the least I can do is look wholesome.”
“It works for you,” I said. “I like the way that gingham ribbon in your hair matches your shirt – very Doris Day.”
Ronnie swished her ponytail. “You know, Joanne, one of the things I like about you is that you never once asked me about the gender thing.”
I smiled at her. “That’s because I know it’s tough being a woman.”
Ronnie clapped her massive hands together and roared with laughter. “You’ve got that one right, friend,” she said. “But I’ll let you in on a little secret. It’s no bowl of cherries playing for the other team either.”
If you enjoyed
treat yourself to all of the
Joanne Kilbourn mysteries,
now available in stunning new
trade paperback editions
and as eBooks
MCCLELLAND & STEWART
www.mcclelland.com
www.mysterybooks.ca
GAIL BOWEN’s first Joanne Kilbourn mystery, Deadly Appearances (1990), was nominated for the W.H. Smith/Books in Canada Best First Novel Award. It was followed by Murder at the Mendel (1991), The Wandering Soul Murders (1992), A Colder Kind of Death (1994) (which won an Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel), A Killing Spring (1996), Verdict in Blood (1998), Burying Ariel (2000), The Glass Coffin (2002), The Last Good Day (2004), The Endless Knot (2006), The Brutal Heart (2008), and The Nesting Dolls (2010). In 2008 Reader’s Digest named Bowen Canada’s Best Mystery Novelist; in 2009 she received the Derrick Murdoch Award from the Crime Writers of Canada. Bowen has also written plays that have been produced across Canada and on CBC Radio. Now retired from teaching at First Nations University of Canada, Gail Bowen lives in Regina. Please visit the author at www.gailbowen.com.