When their cooler was finished they ate their supper on the balcony. It was a warm evening and the sun gave a soft light as it was setting over the mountains. It seemed strange to have twilight so early. In Alberta it didn’t get dark until around 10:00pm during the summer.
"I’ve found two more attractions that I think you might like to go on with me," Elizabeth said.
"Okay," Sally nodded. "What are they?"
"The first is a three hour canoe trip down a creek from one lake to another."
"That sounds like fun."
"And the other is a treatment at a spa surrounded by mountains."
"Ohh, I could go for that. Do I have to give you a definite time for any of these?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "Whenever you can spare the time."
"Well, according to Daryl, I should have the next week and a half off."
"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asked.
Sally shrugged and explained the encounter with Daryl. "He really got mad at us today because some of us were having our Angel cards read and he thought we should be working on our assignments."
"What’s it to him, what you do in your spare time?"
"He’s just taking this all too seriously. I’m thinking he’s afraid that somehow we are going to wreck his retreat."
When supper was over and clean up done, Sally went back to her laptop. Elizabeth looked down on the now-empty lot. The wood from the old house had been hauled away. The only things to see were the hole from the partial basement, the lawn, and a few shrubs. An older couple stood on the sidewalk looking at the yard. Elizabeth wondered if they were parents here in search of answers about a missing daughter or if they were just curious neighbours.
Elizabeth put the leash on Chevy and went down the stairs. She’d learned that people like to talk to or pet dogs. She headed out onto the street and walked slowly towards the couple. She could see that there were more flowers by the lot. How many families were looking for a lost child? Chevy pulled on his leash but she held him back. She was the one on a mission this time.
The couple never turned to look at her or Chevy as they approached. Darn. She thought about letting him near enough to sniff their legs, as was his want when he met people. They might be afraid he would lift his, though, and that would spoil any chance of a friendly conversation. So she went to her back-up plan and just stopped beside them.
When they looked at her she saw that the woman’s eyes were red and the man had a grim look on his face. She smiled faintly in acknowledgement and said. "What a terrible tragedy."
The woman turned back to the yard while the man nodded.
"I heard she was in her teens."
"Where did you hear that?" the woman asked, sharply.
"Uh… one of the neighbours," Elizabeth said, quickly. Obviously, they were from the group looking for a family member. "It’s just a rumour."
When they didn’t say anything more she asked in a quietly sympathetic voice. "Are you looking for someone?"
"That’s none of your business," the man said abruptly. "What are you, a reporter?"
Elizabeth shook her head. "I’m sorry to bother you." She pulled on Chevy’s leash and walked away. She would have to be careful who she approached from now on. There were families out there who were missing a loved one and it was rude of her to intrude.
After letting Chevy have his run, Elizabeth returned to the bed and breakfast. The sidewalk was empty. As she walked by a parked car, the window rolled down and the woman from earlier called to her.
"Excuse me."
Elizabeth walked over to the car. Whether they recognized her from their quick meeting, she didn’t know nor did she say anything. "Yes?"
"Do you know of a good place to stay around here?"
Elizabeth smiled as she squatted down so she could talk with both of them. "I don’t live here. I’m from Edmonton but I am staying in that bed and breakfast." She pointed to the building.
The woman turned to the man. "Do you want to be this close?"
Instead of replying to his wife he asked Elizabeth. "Do they have a vacancy?"
Elizabeth shrugged. "I really don’t know. But you could ask. The owner’s name is Beverly."
"Thank you," the woman said.
Elizabeth nodded and stood. She and Chevy headed to their room where she called Jared and left a message on his voicemail. She turned on the television, flipped through some channels and then left it on the news network.
Her cell phone rang. She scooped it up and said hello.
“I saw the news about the body being found in Whistler,” her father said. “How close is it to where you are staying?”
Elizabeth cringed as she said. “Ah, it’s right next door.”
“What?” Phil yelled. “Next door?”
“But I have nothing to do with it,” Elizabeth said quickly. No use telling him about Cynthia’s request.
“That probably won’t last for long,“ Phil said. “I know how you like to get involved in these things.”
“The police are looking after it,” Elizabeth said, soothingly. “There are lots of people who have come here looking for a family member and the police have all the technology to do the DNA testing. I can’t compete with that.”
“Good,” Phil sounded relieved. “You stay out of it.”
After Elizabeth hung up, she decided to phone her twin siblings, Terry and Sherry. If her father had heard about the body, so had they.
“You be careful,” Sherry warned. “You’ve been lucky so far with your delving into other people’s problems.”
“Maybe you should think about taking some sort of self-defence course if you are going to continue to come up against killers,” Terry said.
When she’d hung up she opened her laptop and began to transcribe some of her information from her recorder into her computer. Her cell rang again. She looked at the call display. Jared. She answered immediately, hoping for good news about his operation.
* * *
I’m so tired. Before coming here I never knew when the story would continue or how long the sessions would be but now that I’m at the retreat they seem to come almost as soon as I get to my room after class. There’s just so much and it’s coming so fast that sometimes I’m up all night.
It’s almost as if they know that I have to have it done quickly to show Kat Mac. She wants to read the whole story before the retreat is over. I haven’t told her that I’m still receiving the story. I’ve just told her that I’m editing it Chapter by Chapter.
I’ve asked Kat Mac about meeting the publisher on the last day and she said she’ll put in a word for me with him. Oh, just the thought of being able to talk to a publisher gets me editing again.
I guess I shouldn’t complain about receiving the story at night. At least it’s better than during a lecture. The only reason I can think of as to why I don’t hear from Mikk or Gwin then is because my mind is too busy with what I’m learning that they can’t get through.
Gwin has told me about how she stole the wet clothes off a dead prisoner and put them on then found a blanket to wrap around her to keep warm. She found some scraps of food then headed to the cave. At first the inhabitants ignored her and wouldn’t let her in but after a week, during which she huddled under a bush and came close to starving, they brought her out some food. A couple of days later they invited her in.
She spent the winter learning the gestures and language of the inhabitants and they in response learned some of her words so that their communication was a mixture of both. The men went out periodically to hunt for fresh meat. When the animal was brought back to the cave, the women did the butchering. Gwin was shown how to cut the meat into strips for drying and how to scrape the hides for tanning. She was given her own cooking utensils and a share of the food.
The evenings were spent in storytelling. She listened to the stories of their lives and tried to tell them about the planet she came from. They could not grasp that she wasn't from their planet so one nigh
t she took them outside and pointed to the stars. Even when she told them that she had flown on a space ship from a planet near one of them they had no ability to understand. She finally gave up.
Whenever she was outside she watched the skies for a returning space ship. One had to come soon. She was sure the Leaders would want an investigation carried out as to why the experiment had failed. And, having already decided to use this planet as a penal colony, they would want to explore for a more suitable site. After all, they still had thousands of prisoners in the Orbital Prisons.
Three babies were born during the long, cold winter. Gwin watched in fascination as the first woman went through her labour. Finally, as the birth became imminent the mother-to-be was helped up from her bed by the attending women and held in the squatting position over a hide. She grunted as she strained to push the head and then the body of her newborn out. The quiet baby was caught by one of the attending women. Another grunt brought out the afterbirth.
While the mother relaxed in her bed the father took the infant and paraded around the cave showing the newborn to everyone. At last the baby was placed with the mother who held it until it began to fuss then brought it to her breast so it could eat.
Gwin asked to help in the next birth. Being there to bring a new life into their world gave Gwin a feeling of connection with them, and the planet, that had been missing.
Then one day the cave people told Gwin that they would be leaving soon.
* * *
"Where are you going?" Gwin asked in alarm. She had thought this was their permanent home.
"We have to meet the others," one explained. "Do you want to come with us?"
"How long will you be gone?"
"Until we decide to come back."
Gwin didn't know what to do. If she went with them she wouldn't be here when a space ship arrived. If she stayed, how would she survive without the food they provided?
"Will you teach me to hunt before you go?"
The inhabitants looked at her in surprise. "You want to stay?"
"Yes. I must wait for my people to return."
They looked at one another then shrugged. Gwin knew they were thinking she was touched in some way. She didn't try explaining further.
Over the next few days she was taught how to throw a spear and became adept at killing small animals and birds for her food. She went on walks into the forest to learn the poisonous and non-poisonous plants.
As Gwin watched the inhabitants organize their cooking utensils, their clothes, their tools, and their food for their trip she began to have serious doubts about her ability to survive alone, if she could sustain herself through her hunting. She also didn't know how long it would be until they returned because the inhabitants couldn't give her a time frame that she understood. She was very tempted to go with them and spent most of the final night thinking about it. The next morning, however, she said goodbye to them. They seemed as sad as she but she couldn't risk not being near the settlement when the ship arrived. She watched them walk down into the valley and over the far hill. None of them looked back.
Soon after her friends left Gwin went to her former home. She carried an axe for protection against wild animals
Gwin walked slowly down the streets between the partially finished slab buildings, remembering the hustle and bustle of their construction. All was silent now. The wood had weathered. Some of the buildings had been set on fire by the prisoners hoping for some warmth. There were no bodies, just skeletons, all their flesh having been eaten by wild animals or rotted away. She saw the cooking stoves that had been knocked over and the empty crates and boxes still scattered in the streets where they'd been dropped after the riot.
Gwin was surprised at her sudden rush of emotions. While she hadn't belonged there as a prisoner, she still felt an affinity for the place. Now that the warm weather had returned, the trees were back in leaf, the insects and colourful birds were flying again, and there were flowers blooming. Seeing all this new growth she began to think of this as her planet once more.
Gwin walked to the animal pens. Some of the fences had fallen down under the weight of the snow. She continued to where the fields had been plowed and seeded. There, she stood in surprise. Green shoots were growing in the soil. Even though the seeds had been under water during the rains and had frozen over the winter, they had sprouted in the warm weather. Gwin walked around the fields in wonder. There was going to be a crop of grain just as the scientists had hoped. And she was the only one to see it.
She also saw that the vegetables and tobacco were growing. She was glad for the vegetables but wasn't interested in the tobacco since it wouldn't feed her or the cave people. She wasn’t even sure why it had been sent except maybe as a comfort for the prisoners.
Gwin looked at the rest of the area that had been marked for the seeding of grain. The grass was already high but if she was able to cut it and then dig up the soil, after the next cold weather she would be able to plant more seeds. Gwin stopped in her tracks. What was she thinking? A space ship would be here soon to pick her up and take her home. She didn't need to worry about planting more grain for food.
Then she had a sobering thought. What would happen to her if she went back? According to the law she'd still killed someone and was therefore, still a prisoner. She'd just be sent back to the Orbital Prisons to serve her sentence. And that she didn't want.
Gwin sat down beside the field in despair. There was no way she could go back to her previous life, because it didn't exist anymore. This was her life now and the cave people were her family. But she didn't know if she wanted to accept that knowledge. It was hard to think of not seeing Mikk again, of not marrying him as they had planned.
It was dusk when Gwin stood up again. She did not return to the cave that night. Instead she spent it in the dormitory she'd been assigned to, lying on the bed that had been hers. She stared at the stars overhead.
It was full daylight when Gwin rose from the bed. She hadn't slept much. It had taken hours for her to adjust to the idea that she was stuck here, alone. And to decide that if she was going to spend the rest of her life here, then she'd better start preparing more fields for grain.
Gwin found a scythe and over the summer cut the grass on the new field then worked the soil. She killed for her meat and gathered berries and roots. She found grain seeds that had somehow remained dry and moved them to the cave. She ground some into a flour between two rocks and mixed it with water to form a dough. She patted until it was flat and round and laid it on one of hot rocks surrounding her fire. When it was cooked she took it off and ate it. The taste was bland but it filled her hungry belly. To the next batch she added berries and the taste was better. She experimented with various plant products until she had a variety of ways to make the bread.
At night she stared at the stars wondering which one was her home planet.
She missed Mikk. She wished he would come and enjoy the planet with her. But, she realized, he was the only thing she missed. The artificial life in the artificial city where she had been born and raised in no way compared to the live plants and animals on this planet.
She was sitting in front of the cave grinding grain into flour when she happened to look up. Across the valley she could see the inhabitants walking down the hillside. She jumped up and rushed down into the valley to meet them. They were astonished and happy to see her. She knew that they hadn't expected her to survive. She hugged them all, glad that she had company again.
She walked with them to the cave. They were tired from the long day and just dumped their belongings on the floor. Gwin showed them the grain and told them about it growing at the village. She continued grinding and when she had enough for everyone she mixed it with water and berries to form the dough. She made the thin patties and cooked them on the rocks. She passed the patties around and when she saw the inhabitants didn't know what to do with them, she ate hers. They looked at the patty in their hands and because they were hungry they ate. The look of
surprise on their faces made Gwin laugh. She knew they hadn't expected it to taste so good.
The people had returned just as she was harvesting the grain. A few days after their arrival she convinced them to come to the settlement and see the crop. They stared with open mouths at the half-finished buildings and walked along the streets in awe. No one spoke. She had gathered all the tools she could find and stored them in one of the warehouses. She led them into that building and explained the use of each tool demonstrating how the shovel dug the ground, the hoe chopped up the piece of ground, and the rake levelled it.
She picked up the scythe and took her friends to the fields. There she showed them the grain, half of which she'd already cut down. They asked about the tobacco so Gwin explained as best she could how it was used for smoking. She then began cutting the remainder of the crop. The men watched for a few minutes then went back to the barracks to get a scythe each. It wasn't long before they were sweeping it through the grain. The women quickly gathered up the stalks and piled them.
At the end of the day the shafts of grain lay in piles which were then tied by strips of hide. The piles were carried back to the cave. There the grain was stripped from the stalk by hand. Gwin explained that some of the grain had to be stored to use as seed the next year. The rest could be ground into flour. Over the week they dug up the vegetables and stored them near the back of the cave.
When the snows came again Gwin surmised that one of the planet's years had passed.
Chapter 9
Elizabeth was half listening to the television while working. Suddenly, the name Whistler caught her attention and she turned to watch. The two news anchors were talking about what the media was now calling Whistler’s Murder. They took turns telling about the body found in Whistler and pictures behind them showed people lined up on the street looking at the lot.
"The police are still waiting to find out how long the body may have been there. But that lack of knowledge hasn’t stopped families from across Canada and even from the United States from arriving in Whistler since the body was discovered. They are all hoping to find out if the young woman is their daughter or sister. We have interviews with three of the families."
The Travelling Detective: Boxed Set Page 61
