The Travelling Detective: Boxed Set

by Joan Donaldson-Yarmey

  “You like this Reggie?”

  “What makes you say that?” Sally reddened.

  “That red face for one thing, but your voice changed when you said his name.”

  “I’ll admit that I think he’s cute and we have talked a bit.”

  "I’m glad to hear that but to get back to our think tank, it sounds like Daryl has a following."

  "I guess. Those guys seemed to be as angry as he was about us not taking this class seriously."

  "What about Kat Mac? Did she say anything about how much effort the students are supposed to put into their work?"

  Sally shook her head. "No, she just gives her lectures and gives us assignments. The doing of the assignments is up to us. There is no exam or certificate at the end so we only get out of it what we want to."

  "Kat Mac taught the class that Sylvia took."

  "Yes, so she is something Bonnie and Sylvia have in common."

  "What do you know about Kat Mac?"

  "Not much, really. She’s passionate about science fiction and fantasy. I think she’s a writer although I don’t know what she has written."

  "We could look her up on the Internet," Elizabeth said. "What about Michael Wolf. He took the same course as Sylvia, and Bonnie had asked him about her."

  "Yes, he’s another common thread between them. I wonder how many other students take one course like Michael did and then come back the next year or year after for the one of the other courses offered."

  "There may be someone else who knew Sylvia and heard about Bonnie asking questions. We’d have to ask the organizer of the retreat and I doubt that she would let us look at her list of attendees."

  Sally flopped back in her chair. "There’s so much and yet nothing, really."

  Elizabeth grinned. "I know, it’s hard figuring things out, but usually something happens that puts everything in order.”

  "Well, I hope that happens before the killer thinks to come after us."

  Elizabeth sobered. "I know you paid a lot of money to attend the retreat but I’m wondering if maybe we should go home and leave this to the police?"

  "One part of me wants to, but the other tells me to stay and try to find out what happened to Bonnie. After all, she did ask us to help her."

  "Okay, we’ll talk with her aunt tomorrow and go to Vancouver on Sunday to see Grandma. Maybe by then the police will have found out more. But we have to protect ourselves; we don’t go anywhere alone."

  Sally laughed. "Famous last words in all the mystery and horror movies. But, alas someone always thinks they have a good reason to go somewhere alone or is lured by the killer and of course they get murdered."

  "After all these years you’d think they’d come up with something new."

  "If we do decide to go home what are you going to say to your client? You don’t want to leave her hanging, do you."

  "Speaking of Cynthia, I was talking with her today."

  Sally leaned forward as Elizabeth filled her in on their conversation.

  "So when was the last time you did your surveillance," Sally chuckled. "and what if she wants to see your surveillance tapes?"

  "I’ll think of something, I hope." Elizabeth said, yawning. "But right now, I’m off to bed. It’s been a long day."

  “Yes, me too,” Sally said. “I’m glad it’s the weekend.”

  Chapter 16

  Saturday morning Elizabeth and Sally both walked Chevy then headed to the dining room. There was only one table open. Elizabeth recognized some of the people who were here because of the young woman being found next door. None of them looked up when she and Sally walked by. Obviously their thoughts were centred around this part of their lives.

  Sally nudged Elizabeth and nodded her head towards the corner. At the table was Daryl. An empty plate sat to one side and he had his head buried in a book. Elizabeth couldn’t make out the title.

  Beverly came into the room with plates piled high with hash browns, sausage, scrambled eggs, and toast. She set them at one of the occupied tables then left the room. The atmosphere was hushed. No one spoke, the only sound was the clinking of cutlery on plates.

  While they waited Elizabeth went and picked up the newspapers. The Whistler Question had come out on Thursday, the day before Bonnie’s body had been discovered. The Vancouver Sun had nothing on the front page. It’s surprising how loudly a newspaper crinkles in a quiet room, Elizabeth thought as she tried to open the pages as softly as possible. She finally found a small write-up on page six. "The police are now calling Bonnie’s death suspicious," she whispered to Sally.

  They ate their meal in silence, not wanting to disturb any of the other patrons. Daryl got up and left the room when they were almost finished. No one else made a move to leave. It was almost like, where else would they go? Sitting here was probably better than sitting in their rooms or standing at the lot next door or visiting the police station looking for news. They knew the police would come to them.

  Elizabeth and Sally went up to their suite. "I wonder why Daryl is still here," Sally said. "He lives in Victoria, close enough for him to go home for the weekend."

  "Do you know how many were planning on leaving Whistler for the weekend?" Elizabeth asked.

  "The subject did come up during the week because some were discussing whether we should get together for a drink Saturday night," Sally said. "But those who live close like Russ Peters and Luis Vivieris were going home to Vancouver while Bill Young was headed to Pemberton. The others like Kirk West from Hope, Lisa Zhang from Chilliwack, Bruce Wong from Trail, and Reggie Shaw from Hinton were all staying here this weekend but they wanted to explore the area. Henry Freisen is from Kamloops and Luke Johnson is from Lillooet but they are part of Daryl’s group so I don’t know their plans."

  "Wow, how do you remember where they each live?"

  "It’s easy. I wrote it all down during introductions the first day and I’ve been reminding myself all week whenever I talk with them."

  "While we’re waiting for Bonnie’s aunt to come let’s look Kat Mac up on the Internet," Elizabeth said, heading into her bedroom and turning on her computer.

  There were many sites offering Kat Mac’s books for sale. They looked at a few of those then clicked on one which was a write-up about Kat Mac that had been published in a newspaper.

  Katherine MacKenzie was born in Fort St. John B.C. in 1956 and now lives in Vancouver B.C. Her first publication was a short story about a teenage girl in school who discovers that she is a lesbian and how her family and friends react. She openly admits that it is based on her own experience. Katherine is internationally known for her contribution to the science fiction world and for furthering the idea that women can write about the fantastic as well as men. She received a Bachelor of Arts at UBC and a journalism diploma from Langara College. Katherine currently teaches at Langara College, puts on workshops, and is a regular instructor at The Whistler SF/Fantasy Retreat.

  Kat Mac, the name she writes under, has written four science fiction novels, one of which, The Cornerstone, won the Aurora, Canada’s science fiction and fantasy award. She has also had hundreds of short stories published but she is most famous for her Inside Out World Trilogy. However, since the publication of the final book seven years ago not much has been heard from Kat Mac in the writing world. Over the years some reviewers have said she has taken a hiatus from writing while other, harsher critics said she was washed up, that she used up the best of her creative powers in the trilogy and can’t come up with another idea. However, Kat Mac has a new book coming out and insider word is that it is equal to, or better than, her trilogy. We will soon see who is right.

  "Someone said that she had taken last year off from the retreat to finish writing her book," Sally said. "Looks like it paid off."

  Elizabeth’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the call display and was tempted to ignore it. Sally looked at her.

  “Dad,” Elizabeth said. “Probably about Bonnie.”

  “I’ll leave you two alone,
” Sally said, heading to the living room.

  “Hello, Dad,” Elizabeth said.

  “What’s happening in that place?” Phil demanded. “A murder spree?”

  “No, Dad,” Elizabeth said patiently. “The deaths aren’t related.”

  “I don’t care. Did you know that woman?”

  “Uh, Sally did and she introduced us,” Elizabeth said, hoping to deflect some of the responsibility. “They were both at the same retreat.”

  “And I suppose you’re knee deep in solving the murder,” Phil said.

  Geeze, what did she say? She couldn’t very well lie to her father. “Not really.” Ankle deep maybe.

  “Well, I want you to come home right now.”

  “I can’t leave Sally here. She still has a week left at the retreat.”

  “Oh, damn!” Elizabeth could picture him pacing in his living room. “Will you at least listen to reason and stay away from the case?”

  Elizabeth knew she couldn’t do that. She was already caught up in it and so was Sally. “Uh, Sally kind of promised we would do some checking for the woman’s aunt.” She knew they would be doing that once they met her so she was off by a just couple of hours.

  “What? Have you converted Sally into a detective, too?”

  “No. We just want to help the woman deal with her loss.”

  “Can’t you just send a condolence card like everyone else?” Phil sounded exasperated.

  “Dad. It’s a little more complicated than that.”

  Phil sighed loudly. “I might as well be talking to a stick. I suppose you won’t stop until you’ve tracked down the murderer like before.”

  “I’ll be careful.”

  “You’d better be.”

  Again, Elizabeth knew she should call Sherry and Terry and explain what was happening. Then she phoned Jared. The phone was answered by Paul, the man he had called .Dad up until a year ago. Paul told her that Jared’s recuperation from the operation wasn’t going as well as expected and he was still in the hospital. She sent her love and as she hung up, wished that she was there with him.

  * * *

  While making ham sandwiches for lunch, Elizabeth told Sally that her dad had heard about Bonnie’s death now being considered murder.

  “Boy, was he ticked off when I told him we were checking into some things about her death.”

  “You told him we were being careful, didn’t you?”

  “Oh, yeah. But that didn’t make him feel any better. He wanted us to come home. And Terry and Sherry were both ready to come here and drag us back until I said that you had paid a lot of money to attend this retreat and didn’t want to leave.”

  After cleaning up the kitchen, Sally and Elizabeth went to Bonnie’s room. The door was open and a woman in her early sixties was sitting on the bed. Sally knocked on the door frame. The woman looked up. Her eyes were red.

  "Hi. I’m Sally Matthews. I’m attending the same retreat as Bonnie is …ah, was. And this is my friend Elizabeth Oliver. We’re both staying here."

  The woman attempted a smile but it didn’t quite come off.

  "We’ve come to help you if you wish," Sally said. They waited.

  The woman sighed. "I thought I could do this and told Beverly so when she offered but now that I’m in here I can’t seem to get at it."

  Elizabeth and Sally stepped into the room. "We’ll do it," Sally said gently. She went over to the woman while Elizabeth went to the closet and retrieved Bonnie’s suitcases.

  "I’m sorry. My name is Madeline Crowe," she said, as she moved out of their way to a chair. "You said you were taking the course with her?"

  Sally nodded. "Yes." She tried to think of something else to say, something about Bonnie. "We seemed to think the same way about the class."

  "And what was that?"

  "That we were both lost most of the time. And we weren’t the only ones. There was a group of us who were wondering what we were doing there."

  "Do you know why Bonnie was taking the course?" Elizabeth asked, as she lifted some t-shirts from Bonnie’s dresser drawer. "I mean, why she came here?"

  Madeline was quiet.

  "She wasn’t really interested in science fiction," Sally prompted. Neither one of them wanted to bring up Sylvia’s name. "She didn’t do any of the assignments."

  "No, she wasn’t interested in writing," Madeline admitted. "That was Sylvia, my daughter’s, dream."

  This was the perfect opening. "Yes, Bonnie told us about Sylvia being here two years ago," Sally said.

  "Then she must have told you that she died here, also." Madeline’s voice shook and tears ran down her cheeks.

  Sally felt like putting her arm around Madeline but held back. She didn’t know her that well. And some people liked their space, even in grief.

  "Yes she did," Elizabeth said, jumping in. "She also told us that she thought Sylvia had been murdered and that she had come here to try and prove it."

  "Yes, I know," Madeline said softly. "I couldn’t talk her out of it even though the police said Sylvia’s death was accidental."

  "Did she tell you why she thought Sylvia had been murdered?" Sally asked. She found she was holding her breath as she waited.

  "Something about Sylvia not going to that place twice unless there was a good reason. Did she tell you the same?"

  "Yes," Sally nodded. "We really weren’t sure what to make of it." She didn’t want to say that they had thought it was a strange reason.

  "Well, she was right that Sylvia didn’t like to return to a place she’d already been to but I never thought she was as stubborn about it as Bonnie implied."

  "So you think Bonnie’s reasoning was wrong?" Elizabeth asked.

  "I think she was looking for a way to explain Sylvia’s death other than a freak accident."

  "Do you know why she would want to do that?" Sally asked.

  "I know she had a hard time dealing with Sylvia’s death. After what she had gone through as a child, she couldn’t believe that her sister, as she and Sylvia called each other, could be taken that easily from her."

  "Bonnie did tell us about her parents and how you and Sylvia’s father took her in."

  Madeline got a faraway look in her eyes as if reliving the past. "Yes, she had parents from hell. Starting when she was a baby they would leave her with anyone who would baby sit and go out drinking or to drug parties. I finally told them to bring her over to our house and we would look after her. Sometimes they would leave her with us for a week before sobering up enough to remember her. Finally, I couldn’t take any more and I went to the court and asked for custody. They never even fought it."

  "How old was she at the time?"

  "She was four. Luckily, I don’t think she remembered much about it."

  "Was she the reason you and your husband split up?" Elizabeth asked.

  "Good heavens, no! He loved both girls."

  Not enough to stay in the family or to even keep in contact, Sally thought remembering how Bonnie had said they hadn’t heard from him once he remarried.

  "Do you mind me asking why you two split up?" Sally asked.

  "Why are you asking all these questions?" Madeline asked, straightening up. "I’ve told the police everything I know."

  Sally looked at Elizabeth, who nodded. She took a deep breath. "Elizabeth has been involved in solving some murders in the past and when Bonnie found that out she asked Elizabeth to help her find out who had killed Sylvia."

  "And you agreed?" Madeline turned to Elizabeth.

  "Well, not really," Elizabeth answered.

  Sally took over. "She had explained the story to us one evening and the next day she told our class members about Sylvia being in Kat Mac’s class two years ago and that she had died. She also talked with a man who had been at the same retreat as Sylvia. We never saw her after that. The next we heard was that she was dead."

  "Do you think her death and Sylvia’s are related?"

  "We don’t know but the more we can learn about their
lives the better our chances are of finding out."

  "Why don’t you leave it for the police?"

  "Because they think that Sylvia’s death was an accident and right now we don’t," Elizabeth explained. "So we will be looking for a connection between the two while they won’t. And we won’t know what that connection will be until we stumble across it, so we just keep asking questions until we receive that one answer."

  "Okay," Madeline sighed. "The reason my husband and I split up was that I had had an affair with a co-worker and when he found out about it he left. We divorced and I married my lover, but it didn’t last very long."

  A typical story, Sally thought.

  Elizabeth had finished packing everything into the suitcases. She sat beside the cases on the bed and looked at Madeline. "Did you see Sylvia’s manuscript, the one that she came here with.?"

  "No," Madeline smiled for the first time. "She was very secretive about it. She kept telling me that I could read it when it was a best seller."

  "Did you come and pack her things?" Sally asked.

  Madeline shook her head. "She’d been staying at the retreat so someone there did it and sent the suitcases to me. I put them in her room and I still haven’t gone through them."

  "Could you look through her things when you get back and find it for us."

  Madeline nodded.

  "What have the police told you about Bonnie’s death?" Elizabeth asked.

  Madeline shivered. "They think she was walking down the street when she was hit by a vehicle."

  "That would have been just off Nancy Greene Way on Fitzsimmons Road South,” Sally said. “Quite close to the retreat."

  “Did the police say anything else?”

  "They said her Angel cards were strewn around her."

  "As in having been knocked out of her pack in the accident?"

  Madeline shook her head. "No, as in it looked like someone had thrown them down on top of her."

  "So someone ran over her then stopped, got out, and threw her cards at her. That would suggest that she had left the cards somewhere and this person found them or the person dug them out of her pack."