“I’ve done a terrible thing,” Bro said. “I will accept the traditional Haida punishment of banishment. I only came to say goodbye. I’m sorry I can’t be with you in your final days. You’ve been a good brother. I’ll miss you.”
The two brothers embraced.
Two Finger could feel wetness on his face as he watched his brother vanish into the forest’s darkness as the first of the sun’s rays reached Llnagaay. He didn’t want to think about what was in store for his brother. He knew word of his banishment would spread throughout the Haida Nation before the day ended. If his brother dared seek help, he wouldn’t get it. But he figured Bro had something else in mind. He hoped it would be quick.
Though the day was still early and he hadn’t slept more than an hour, he couldn’t go back to bed. He had one last job to do. Auntie had said they would be coming after breakfast. He needed to have it finished by the time they arrived.
Now that he knew the identity of the long-ago traitor, he could finish drawing the crest. He thought it fitting that it was an ancestor of Fat Momma. That long-ago woman likely betrayed the clan for the stupidest of reasons: a man. Funny that he’d already drawn a salmon for the traitor’s crest. But maybe the cedar had known. When he’d set out to draw the crest, an image of a salmon had jumped into his mind as his fingers touched the spot where it would go. The salmon also worked for the other traitor, Fat Momma, so the two would become one in the totem of shame. To complete the drawing he would add a tiny salmon on either side of the fish’s head to remind people of the pair of earrings, and how they had revealed the betrayal.
He would regret until he died that he arrived too late to save the boy. He got there just after the stabbing. He watched Fat Momma search the boy for the pendant and then kick his body in frustration when she didn’t find it. Although he should’ve called the police, he knew this killing was a Greenstone affair and had to be dealt with by the Matriarch before the police were called in. And so it had played out.
He never suspected the treasure was the motive. He was bowled over when the gold and emeralds on Old Chief’s headdress turned out to be duds. But, hey, the old stories couldn’t be all lies. There had to be some truth in the gold and the emeralds. He figured they still remained hidden in the hills behind the village. And he was damn sure Auntie knew where they were.
It was good Ern turned out to be the boy’s father. He figured the man wouldn’t hesitate to carve the pole for his son. He wished he would be around for the pole raising, but it would be nip and tuck if he survived the two months it would take to complete the carving. He knew just the spot, on the rise of a grassy knoll overlooking the lagoon. He’d tell Auntie.
Speaking of Auntie, there she was, just entering the lagoon perched in the bow of Scav’s Red Rocket. Her white curls flickered under her cedar hat while her button blanket flapped in the breeze. Becky sat behind her, along with the folks from away, the Algonquin bigwig and his red-haired wife. It looked like Ern had made a new friend for he seemed to be cozying up to the crazy blond lady who was supposed to be the boy’s mother. He could just make out the small bentwood box resting on the seat between them. He didn’t see Harry, but maybe Auntie had already sent him on his way. Scav, looking suitably serious with black beads in his beard, was steering the boat to the beach.
Two Finger grabbed the pouch of eagle down Auntie had given him and the other things needed for the ceremony and shuffled down to the water’s edge to greet them.
The healing had begun.
Acknowledgements
Part of the fun of sending Meg to another wild part of Canada is that I get to go too. While Vancouver isn’t exactly wild, I had an intriguing time exploring Granville Island and the south shore of False Creek and came up with some fabulous story ideas, many of which found their way into Silver Totem of Shame. But the highlight of my West Coast adventure was Haida Gwaii. I fell in love with these magical forest-covered mountain islands on the edge of Canada. I enjoyed getting to know the Haida and their culture better, especially “the woman rule” part.
A number of people helped me reflect Haida culture and life on Haida Gwaii as accurately as the story would permit. I’d like to thank: the staff at Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and the Haida Heritage Site; the elders with the Skidegate Haida Immersion Program (S.H.I.P.); totem pole carvers Clarence Mills, Tim Boyko, and Huuyaah; Leona Clow; Jay Bellis; Albert Hans; watchman, Jordon, Shirley, Sean and Aileen; Carolyn of Caro-on-the-islands blog; Heron, Vivian, and Laura with Moresby Explorers; Susan Cohen; and Götz Hanish. I also want to extend a big thank you to three special people who helped open the door even further into Haida ways. You know who you are.
I gleaned valuable information from various Internet sites by and about Haida and found several books invaluable, including Raven’s Cry by Christie Harris and Solitary Raven by Bill Reid.
I also want to thank my readers Vicki Delany and Barbara Fradkin and my editors Sylvia McConnell and Allison Hirst. Bringing a book to publication is never a solitary affair.
And last, but far from least, Jim, who enjoyed Haida Gwaii as much as I did. I couldn’t continue on this writing adventure without your enduring support. Thank you.
More Meg Harris Mysteries by R.J. Harlick
A Green Place for Dying
978-1926607245
$17.99
Meg Harris confronts police indifference as aboriginal women go missing …
Meg Harris returns to her home in the West Quebec wilderness after a trip. Upon her arrival she discovers that a friend’s daughter has been missing from the Migiskan Reserve for more than two months. Meg vows to help find the missing girl and starts by confronting the police on their indifference to the disappearance. During her investigation, she discovers that more than one woman has gone missing. Fearing the worst, Meg delves deeper and confronts an underside of life she would rather not know existed. Can she save the girl and others with little help and in the face of grave danger?
The fifth installment in the acclaimed Meg Harris series.
Arctic Blue Death
978-1894917872
$16.95
The sparsely populated Arctic is no stranger
to murder …
The fourth in the Meg Harris series follows Meg’s adventures into the Canadian Arctic as she searches for the truth about the disappearance of her father when she was a child. Many years ago, her father’s plane had gone missing in the Arctic and he was never seen again. What happened on that fateful flight?
Thirty-six years later, her mother receives some strange Inuit drawings that suggest he might have survived. Intent on discovering the answers, no matter how painful, Meg travels to Iqaluit to find the artist and is sucked into the world of Inuit art forgery. Arctic Blue Death is not only a journey into Meg’s past and the events that helped shape the person she is today, but it’s also a journey into the land of the Inuit and the culture that has sustained them for thousands of years.
Finalist for the Arthur Ellis Award for best crime novel.
Available at your favourite bookseller
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Copyright © R.J. Harlick, 2014
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, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from Access Copyright.
All characters in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Editor: Allison Hirst
Design: Courtney Horner
Epub Design: Carmen Giraudy
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Harlick, R. J., 1946-, author
Silver totem of shame / R.J. Harlick.
(A Meg Harris mystery)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-2169-2
I. Title. II. Series: Harlick, R. J., 1946- . Meg Harris mystery.
PS8603.A74S54 2014 C813’.6 C2013-906072-3
C2013-906073-1
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