Sally nodded in sympathy. “You have a tough decision to make.”
“Not only that. It’s almost as if he believes I can do it, that I know how to conduct a proper investigation. All I’ve done in the past is somehow ask the right questions and read the clues. He wants to know so badly what happened to his mom that I’m scared of what might happen if I’m not able to find out. What would happen to us?”
“I’m sure he’d understand.”
“I don’t know. It was like being with a different Jared when he talked about it. He’s holding in a lot of hurt and it’s as if knowing this will make it all better.”
“I don’t envy you your decision.” Sally tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn.
“Yeah. I’m kind of caught between two choices. I could turn him down and take a chance that it won’t affect our relationship. Or I could try, and take the chance that if it doesn’t turn out the way he wants, it won’t cause problems between us. I really like him and I want to continue seeing him.”
“I’m sorry that I can’t help you with your dilemma.”
“Thank you for listening and now I’ll let you go to bed.”
Elizabeth went into her bedroom and again brought up her notes on her computer. There were at least ten highways leading out of Edmonton to choose from. She studied her Alberta map. Leaving daily from Edmonton it would have taken her three days to travel the highways and then she had planned four days to write the article. Once she’d sent the article away she’d wanted to head to the mountains and do some camping. Last summer, her anticipated camping trip had been shelved because of the enticement of the skeleton in the septic tank. This year she wanted to make that trip.
She looked at Redwater on the map. She could have the reader leave Edmonton on Highway 28, which ran past Redwater, and return on Highway 45. Then the next route could begin on Highway 16 East and return on Highway 14. The third would also begin on Highway 28 but head north and then back to Edmonton. They would all keep her in the vicinity of Redwater. It might just work out.
What to do. To get away from it for a while, she let her mind consider Jared’s anonymous message.
The person who had sent the photograph to Jared either knew his mother had been murdered or was trying to cause some trouble for that family. And why send it to Jared? He’d been a child when his mother had died, and anyone who knew him could see he didn’t have much money and couldn’t afford a professional investigator. How was he going to do anything about it?
What about the person who sent it? Who could it be, and why now after all these years did they feel the need for something to be done? Maybe they had been protecting someone all these years who didn’t need protecting anymore. Someone who had recently died, she thought. Or maybe the sender was dying, and wanted to clear their conscience.
Elizabeth felt a familiar stirring in her stomach and goose bumps on her arms and realized in dismay that she was being hooked. She felt her detective instincts begin to surface, her solving juices flow. “Oh, stop it,” she said out loud. “You don’t have any detective instincts or solving juices. You just love a mystery.”
Chapter 4
Anna’s Story
Anna had just finished giving four-year-old Jared his breakfast when she heard Paul stumble around in the bedroom then go into the bathroom. He’d been at the bar until it closed last night
Paul’s eyes were red and he gave Anna a venomous look when he came into the kitchen.
“Would you like some ham and eggs?” she asked, sweetly.
He glared at her, as his face turned a sickly green. He spun around and went back to the bathroom. Hearing him retch gave her a small feeling of satisfaction. Paul headed for the bedroom again and she heard the bed creak when he lay down.
She leaned her arms on the table and rested her head on them. Was it really only six years ago that she’d been planning to go to university in Edmonton? It seemed a lifetime had passed. Her parents had agreed to pay for her tuition and books, and the rent for an apartment. She would have to find a job to buy her groceries and other essentials.
“We want you to learn what it’s like to start paying your own way,” her father had said.
Hers had been a stern upbringing. She was an only child and for as long as she could remember her parents had told her she was going to go to university and become a lawyer. And she’d believed it, thinking that was what she wanted to do. Then she’d met Paul at a wedding.
He was older than she, a farmer like her father, and he had a twelve-year-old son, Willy. He was a great dancer and was very courteous and caring towards her. Her boyfriend had just broken up with her and even though she really wanted to get back together with him, she went on a date with Paul.
“Stay away from him,” her father had warned. “He’s too old for you.”
But suddenly, at eighteen, she’d realized that she was tired of her parents telling her what do to. She wanted to make her own decisions and one of them was to say, “Yes.” every time he asked her out. Deep down, she’d known that she didn’t want to be a lawyer. If anything, she wanted to be a nurse.
When she discovered she was pregnant, she’d been afraid to tell her parents. She thought about using that as a way to get her boyfriend to marry her but he’d already left the area to take a job. Then it finally got to the point where she had to tell them. Her mother was quietly sympathetic but she hadn’t been prepared for her father’s reaction. The words were barely out of her mouth when he began to rant and rave about what a no good daughter she was, and then, to her shock, he actually threw some of her clothes into a suitcase and, grabbing her elbow, he shoved her out the door. He then slammed the door and locked it. She stood on the step totally bewildered. She tried banging on the door thinking her mother would let her back in, but there was only silence inside.
Finally she began walking down the road and was picked up by a neighbour who took her to Paul’s place. He was her only choice. Would he believe her, though? When she told him about her pregnancy he’d immediately said. “I guess you’ll have to marry me.” A week later they were married at the house of the local marriage commissioner. Her parents refused to come so it was just Paul’s mother, Willy, and the two of them.
Everything was fine until Jared was born almost six months later. Then Paul suddenly changed. He began to drink and not come home until early morning. And he had begun to yell at her and at Willy. Then one night when she had yelled back he’d hit her. That surprised both of them but he hadn’t apologized. Anna immediately phoned her parents and asked them to let her come home. But they refused, even after she told them how Paul drank all the time and had hit her.
“You are married now and you have to stay with your husband,” her father replied.
She knew they had been humiliated by her pregnancy and her quick wedding. And now, in the almost five years since her marriage, her parents had come only once to see her and that was to drop off a little blue suit for Jared when he was born. She’d invited them in but they said they had other places to go. She’d sent them a picture of Jared on each of his birthdays.
Without her parent’s help she’d been forced to stay with Paul. His drinking and erratic behaviour had continued, and he’d occasionally hit her over the years, not always hard but just enough to let her know that he was mad about something.
Anna lifted her head. There might be a way out. She’d been thinking about it for the past few days. Her old boyfriend Nick was back. She’d go see him.
It was early April and still cool but the little snow they’d had was gone and the ground had begun to thaw. Later, when Paul headed out to move some hay bales off one of their fields, she went to her closet and found her best jeans, the ones that showed off her butt, the butt that Nick had liked so much. She pulled on her tightest sweater and then a short jacket which she left open. She took special care to style her long dark hair so it framed her face. Then she picked up Jared and carried him and his toy tractor to the truck. Paul wouldn’t be
back for hours. It wasn’t far. She had time.
Anna drove into Nick’s driveway, hoping he would be in the house or yard. She was glad to see his truck parked by the house. She looked around and saw him standing outside the garage.
“Wait here, honey,” she told Jared. “I just have to go see this man.”
Anna swayed her hips as she headed to the garage. She could see Nick staring at her. Good. She smiled as she neared him.
“Hi,” she said brightly. “Welcome back.”
Nick nodded.
“Is that all I get?” she pouted. “There was a time when you would grab me and swing me around when you saw me.”
“That was a long time ago,” Nick said. “What do you want?”
She kept the smile on her face. “I heard that you’re getting married.”
Nick nodded again.
Anna went up to him and put her arms around his neck. “I just wanted to give you a chance to change your mind.” She kissed him.
“Don’t,” he mumbled against her lips. He reached up to remove her hands.
She tightened her grasp, pushing her body into his. She could feel him relaxing. Yes.
Suddenly, he stiffened. He pulled her arms away and stepped back. “No,” he said, wiping his lips.
She hid her disappointment. “You still feel something for me,” she said. “We could still have a life together.”
“You’re married and I’m engaged. We have no future together.”
“I’ll get a divorce; you can break off your engagement. It would be easy.”
“No,” Nick said.
“But you loved me when we were in high school.”
“That was years ago. We didn’t know what love was then.”
“I did.”
“Well, I didn’t.”
She wasn’t ready to give up. She stepped to him again. “Okay, but just a kiss for old time’s sake.”
“No.”
“Oh, come on. We’re going to be neighbours and friends.” She put her arms around his neck again. This time she opened her mouth and probed with her tongue. She heard him whimper. She knew it. He still cared for her. This had been easier than she thought.
Chapter 5
The next morning Elizabeth grabbed a quick bowl of cereal while Sally had a cup of coffee.
“We’d better get going,” Elizabeth said, putting her bowl in the dishwasher. “Sherry’s first race is a nine o’clock.”
“I’m going with Phil in his truck so we can carry the lawn chairs. Do you and Chevy want to come with us?”
Elizabeth had thought about taking her own vehicle so she could leave between races, but she decided she’d better stay to support Sherry.
“Okay, we’ll go with you two.” Elizabeth scooped up Chevy and headed up the stairs.
They drove downtown and parked in the underground parking lot close to Louise McKinney Riverfront Park. They left the windows partially down for Chevy and Elizabeth opened the containers of food and water she’d brought for him. She grabbed her lawn chair from the back of the truck and followed her dad and Sally to the park.
It felt eerie to walk along the grassy plateau above the North Saskatchewan River. The last time they’d been here was when her mother had paddled her last race with Breast Friends. Today, it was Sherry paddling with the breast cancer survivor team.
It had been a long year for all of the family. When Sherry had been diagnosed with breast cancer, everyone had gone into shock. It had been only seven months since their mother’s death and it felt like they were reliving her fight with cancer all over again along with Sherry’s. Sherry had spent the first month after her lumpectomy operation living with their dad and then they all had taken turns going with her for her twenty-five radiation treatments.
She’d joined the dragon boat team in January and had been training with them ever since. Everyone in the family hoped that the cancer had been found in time and there wouldn’t be a reoccurrence like there’d been with her mother, whose cancer had spread to her brain.
Elizabeth smiled when she saw her brother, Terry, coming towards them. “Sherry’s team is up soon,” Terry said. “She’s in the marshalling area.”
“I’ll go let her know we’re here,” Elizabeth said, giving Terry her chair. She headed past the tents that held the vendors to the area where the teams for the upcoming three races were waiting. The ones who would be getting into the boats next were lined up in order at the bottom of the stairs watching the boats from the last race empty out. The teams for the race after were at the top of the stairs. The teams for the third race were in loose lines on the grass joking and laughing.
Elizabeth spotted Sherry in her life jacket and holding her paddle, and she hurried towards her. Sherry hadn’t gone with the team to any of the other festivals during the summer so this was her first race. She looked nervous.
“Hi,” Elizabeth said.
“Oh, you made it,” Sherry said, relief in her voice. “Did Dad come too?”
“Yes, and Sally… How are you doing?”
“I am so scared.”
“Scared? Why?”
“Because this is an important race. We’re the home town team and we have to make a good showing.”
Another team member, overhearing the conversation, spoke up. “You’ll be fine.”
“Thank you,” Sherry smiled weakly. “But I just don’t want to let the team down by not pulling my weight.”
“You’re a strong paddler,” she said. “You won’t let anyone down.”
The Race Marshall began to call the teams. When he yelled Breast Friends Juggernauts, Sherry gave Elizabeth a quick hug and hurried to the top of the stairs to wait there with her team.
On her way back to the tent area Elizabeth’s cell phone rang. Her stomach did a flip flop when she saw the name Jared Jones on the display.
“Hi,” she said.
“I hope I’m not bothering you but I forgot to ask what I can bring this evening.”
Butterflies flitted around in her stomach at the sound of his voice. “Nothing, thanks. Just yourself,” she said. “We’ve already got everything we need.”
“Are you sure? I really hate to freeload especially since I don’t even know your family.”
“You won’t be freeloading. Everyone is looking forward to meeting you. Dad even bought some real expensive steak.” Elizabeth walked towards the others sitting in their chairs along the edge of the river bank above the water.
“Have the races started?” Jared asked.
“Yes, Sherry’s team is in line for the next one.”
“I’m really sorry I can’t be there but I’ll see you tonight, sweetheart.”
“Bye, Jared.” She slipped her phone into her pocket. As much as she was looking forward to seeing him again this evening, she was worried about what to say to him about his request. She shook her head. This was not the time to think about it.
Elizabeth sat in her chair and looked out over the river. One thing about this venue was that everyone who attended had a great view of the races.
“Hey, Oliver, Matthews. I finally found you.” Connie came up to the group with her lawn chair. “I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Hi, Connie,” Sally said. She introduced her to Phil and Terry.
“Connie’s in charge of scheduling, so she is the one responsible for me taking extra shifts when I really don’t want them,” Elizabeth laughed.
Connie set her chair up beside Elizabeth. “I’ve never been to a dragon boat festival before,” she said.
Elizabeth pointed to the boats lined up near the foot bridge. “They race from there to that marker, which is four hundred metres. When they are finished they paddle over to the dock and get out so the next teams can load. And that’s about it. While they are loading, another set of teams are getting ready to race.”
“When does your sister race?”
“That’s Sherry’s team there,” Terry said, waving at a boat that was going by on the o
ther side of the river. He cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled. “Hi, Sherry.” No one looked up at him.
“They’re supposed to concentrate on their paddling, so they never look when their name is called,” Elizabeth clarified to Connie. “It’s not that she was ignoring him.”
They watched while the boats were lined up and then heard the horn. Everyone was on their feet yelling. When the boats passed by their vantage point, Sherry’s team was in second place and that is how they finished the race.
“Wow, second place,” Connie said, sounding impressed.
“They aren’t actually racing against the other teams in their race,” Elizabeth said. “They’re going for best times against all the teams in their section.”
When Sherry came up to them after her team debriefing she was radiant. “I’ve done my first race,” she said proudly, returning everyone’s hugs. “The team captain said that I’ve gone from a festival virgin to a dock whore.”
Elizabeth laughed. The vulgar term was used as rite of passage in dragon boat circles. But she suddenly felt a tug at her heart at the memory of her mother saying the exact same thing after her first race. It was a like a dragon boat baptism.
“When’s your next race?” Elizabeth asked, after introducing Connie.
“At two-thirty,” Sherry said. “I have to be back at the tent by one-thirty.”
“Then we’ve got time to wander around,” Terry said. “There’s supposed to be a Kung-Fu demonstration that I want to watch.”
“I’ll come, too,” Sherry said.
“I need something to eat,” Phil said. “What about you, Sally?”
“That sounds great. I only had coffee this morning. You two coming?” She looked at Elizabeth and Connie.
“I’m not hungry,” Elizabeth said.
“Sorry, Matthews, but I have to go find my cousin,” Connie said. “She’s on one of the hospital teams. This is her first festival, too, and I said I would cheer for her. Do you want to come with me, Oliver, and then we can look around?”
Elizabeth agreed. “We’ll just leave our chairs here. It’s pretty safe.”
The Travelling Detective: Boxed Set Page 30
