She pulled away from him and stood. “What about Jamie? Was he speaking as an RCMP officer or as my sibling? If he’s trying to tell you that he knows my mental health situation better than I know it myself, you might want to think twice about whose voice you’re giving weight to. We’ve already had this discussion. I’m an adult and I can speak for myself, regardless of what my brother thinks.”
Leo’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, but at least he was listening. She waited as he nodded, thinking. Then he pulled out his car keys and stood, too. “You’re right. It’s not a good idea, it’s a great idea, and even if Jamie can’t see that, I’m sure the staff sergeant will. Jamie is over at the Fosters’ cottage this morning, supervising a specialist who’s doing some forensic work outside, so I suggest we talk to him in person and see if we can’t get access to the cottage while they’re there. It’ll be safer to be there at the same time as other RCMP officers, anyway.”
“Thank you. Should we go right now?”
Leo held up his keys. “Yes, but the sky is overcast this morning so it’s a bit chilly out. Maybe ask Kara if you can borrow a sweater or long-sleeved shirt to wear for a bit. I’ll use the remote starter to get the car warmed.”
Ellen raised an eyebrow at him. “The remote starter? It’s not winter, Leo. That seems a tad excessive.”
“Better to start the day off warm and comfortable. We may have a long day ahead of us, depending on what you spot inside the cottage and how much extra paperwork it causes.” He stepped to the front door and pulled it open, looking back over his shoulder at her as he pointed the remote car starter at his vehicle. “God willing, today will be fraught with less danger than yesterday. I’ll do whatever I can to keep you safe, Ellen. Regardless of how you feel about your brother’s requests, that’s one I’m going to uphold because it’s the right thing to do.”
His thumb hit the button on the remote car starter.
One second later, the car exploded in a fiery, earth-shaking boom.
FOUR
The blast rocked Leo onto his heels. As he tilted backward, he spun and grabbed for Ellen, pulling her toward him. He crashed to the floor with one hand cradled behind her head, protecting her body from projectiles or secondary explosions. The sound of crackling, overheated metal and plastic and the whoosh of flames filled the air. He counted the seconds as they passed, willing himself to wait before rushing into action. When the sound began to die down, and the explosions seemed to have stopped, he released her. She pulled back from him in a daze.
“What...what happened?” She focused past his shoulder and her mouth fell open. He twisted around to take it all in. The car was a steaming pile of wreckage, gnarled and blown wide-open. The shiny paint was streaked with scorch marks and wide, silver scratches. Flakes of debris floated through the smoky air.
Someone had just tried to kill them, that was what had happened. He glanced back into the house to see a shell-shocked Kara and her parents standing a few feet away. Kara had a phone in her hand.
“Call 911?” he asked.
“I just did,” she said. “Are either of you hurt?”
He locked eyes with Ellen, who shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she said.
Leo sat upright and rolled his shoulders, bracing for pain. When none came, he breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m all right, too. I guess we’re far enough away not to be hit by projectile debris.”
“I have so many questions,” Ellen said, her voice beginning to shake. “No one is supposed to know we’re here. We only told your brother and Jamie, and while I’m sure my brother is annoyed with me on occasion, he wouldn’t try to kill me.”
Leo grimaced. “Sam didn’t do it, and the only other people who know where we are, as far as I’m aware, are the people whose house we’re in right now.” He glanced over as Mrs. Park rushed over with glasses of water. “And blowing up a car risks harming their own house, so it definitely wasn’t them.”
Ellen took the water and drank it down in two gulps. “Thank you,” she told the older woman. Then she sighed and leaned against the wall. “I admit, I’d had my doubts about whether I was really being targeted or not. When I woke up this morning, I thought maybe the knife attack in the washroom had been a coincidence, or a spontaneous reaction from the guy due to heightened tensions over what happened at the Fosters’ place. But...someone just blew up a car. A car that I was riding in yesterday.”
Leo scooted next to her and twined his fingers with her left hand, hoping the connection would keep her grounded and help to avoid an emotional spiral. “I was in it, too. While it’s unlikely, it’s possible that I’m the target instead. Or maybe forensics will take a look and discover that there was some faulty wiring or a bad connection in the car or—”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Leo. Stop. I’m not stupid.”
“You’re most definitely not.” He sighed and squeezed her fingers. Distant sirens told him that help was on the way. “But it turns out you’re not safe here, either. Once the police arrive and we talk to them about this, I’m taking you someplace totally isolated. It’ll be only me who knows where you are—”
“Yeah, I’m not okay with that.”
“Ellen—”
She frowned as the sirens grew louder. “There’s still an ongoing investigation that I can help with. A good man died, Leo, and I’m not going to walk away when I can help bring his killers to justice.”
That was unexpected. “It’s not safe.”
“You’ve kept me safe so far.” She gestured at the car. “If you hadn’t started the car remotely, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. So we’ll just do that from now on.”
“One, it’s God keeping you safe, not me. He’s looking out for both of us. Two, if I put you in another car, it’ll be one driven by local RCMP or one the local police have examined and approved. And three...no. It’s not safe to help. We can’t risk it.”
Her eyebrows dove toward the center of her face. “We? From where I’m sitting, I’m the one in charge of my life, not you. Are you even listening to me?” She pushed to her feet and walked to the other side of the room. “I’m telling you, I can help. If we get to the house and I can’t figure anything out or don’t notice anything missing, fine. Then we can talk about holing me up at a safe house. But you’re an RCMP officer, Leo. You can protect me, like you said.”
A lump formed in his throat as he took in the wrecked car again. “I almost didn’t.”
“Almost doesn’t factor in here. Neither of us could have predicted a car bomb. But we survived, and now we keep going.”
He studied her face, searching for any signs of hesitation or uncertainty. If he saw so much as a hint, he’d insist that she stay out of the investigation and out of sight until they figured out what was going on. As much as his emotional side might be shouting at him to hide her away in a safe place until they figured out who was trying to kill her, his practical side said that was ridiculous and unfair. He had a feeling that if he continued to insist on her staying out of things, she’d push back more and, possibly, overcompensate. He hadn’t forgotten how hard she’d swung that bleach bottle yesterday. The woman turned into a fierce tigress under threat, and he didn’t want to be the one her claws latched onto.
“We’ll have to talk to Jamie about this first, you realize. He’s taking the lead on the case, so I’m not the one you’ll have to convince.”
“Leave my brother to me,” she said.
As the emergency vehicles pulled onto the Parks’ property, Leo dragged his hand down his face. Jamie’s wrath might be even worse than Ellen’s—the siblings definitely had fiery tempers in common, if nothing else.
He stepped outside to greet the fire department, the first responders and the police. The two RCMP officers who’d come to the scene listened patiently before beginning their on-scene examination of the exploded vehicle. As he watched them, he pu
lled out his phone and dialed Jamie. He got a busy signal for several minutes until his phone lit up—Jamie was calling him back.
“Jamie, hi.” He took a deep breath and prepared to launch into an explanation, but was cut short by his friend’s curt laugh.
“Before you say anything,” Jamie said, “I just got off the phone with Ellen. I heard the report over the radio that a unit had been dispatched to the Parks’ address. She claims everyone is fine and I shouldn’t worry, but I’m not sure if she’s being completely honest.”
Leo smiled to himself, picturing Ellen on the phone with her brother. Her eyes would have blazed and her hair would have bounced in that strangely hypnotizing way.
Someone tapped his shoulder. He glanced over to see Ellen standing next to him, hands on her hips and one eyebrow raised.
“Uh, she is,” he told Jamie. “Telling the truth, that is. But you didn’t need to double-check with me, I’m not her babysitter.”
Jamie sighed heavily on the other end of the line. “Just tell me she’s okay and that you’re still all right to look out for her today. Clearly, someone figured out where she was staying last night—though I can’t imagine how—so it’s best if we keep her out of the public eye a bit longer. Hunker down at the library or something.”
“That’s all the way back in midtown. How do you propose we get there? I’m not going to put the Parks out any more than they already have been. The explosion could have damaged their property.”
“There are officers currently on the scene, correct? Have them drive you back to the station. Even better, can you two hang out at the station today instead? Order in pizza or something. We have some horses stabled out back—maybe go riding on the property if Ellen insists on going outside. There are some books in the staff room and we have great Wi-Fi.”
Leo’s stomach sank. He wanted to protect Ellen from danger, too, but she’d already made it clear she resented being treated like a china doll. Besides, he knew that if he were in the Fort St. Jacob RCMP’s shoes, he’d want to use every available angle to solve a case, especially a potential homicide, in a town that relied on tourism to support the local economy. And a lead that depended on something as time-sensitive as a person’s memory needed to be dealt with as quickly as possible.
“That sounds really relaxing, but I’m not sure that’s the wisest course of action. Ellen has an idea, and while I know your first instinct will be to shut it down because she’s your sister, hear me out. I’m putting you on speaker.” Leo waved Ellen closer, then lowered the phone between them. “Ellen thinks she might be able to identify what, if anything, was stolen during yesterday’s break-in, which might give you guys a starting point to track down these criminals.”
Jamie didn’t hesitate even a second. “Absolutely not.”
Leo imagined that the man’s stance and expression at the other end of the line was similar to the way his sister looked right now. Ellen’s arms were crossed, and she’d narrowed her eyes at the phone.
“Jamie, the sooner I get inside, the more accurate my memory is going to be. And if you’ve been studying the case details like Leo has, you know no one has managed to identify missing items yet.”
“It’s not safe,” Jamie growled.
“How many people have to die?” Ellen snapped back.
“Apparently one, because you—”
Leo had heard enough. “Hey! Listen. Neither of you are helping. I don’t have any interest in playing referee in your sibling sparring match. Clearly, the two of you have some deeper issues to work out, but please do it on your own time. Jamie, I’m helping keep Ellen safe because it’s the right thing to do and because we’re friends, so I care as much about her safety as you do. And, Ellen, I’m not entirely opposed to your idea because it’s potentially a case-breaking move, and because I care about justice. And as a fellow RCMP officer, I want to see justice served where I can. Even though this is technically my vacation time. Even though I should be with my brother right now, during one of the most important times of his life. So if you both don’t mind, I’d appreciate it if you can set aside whatever’s going on between you so we can rationally decide if Ellen going inside that house to look around is possible, practical or even safe.”
Jamie sighed heavily through the phone. After a few beats of silence, he spoke. “Okay. You know what...that’s actually a pretty good idea. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself, and yes, I did read all the case details over again last night after sending them to you, Leo. Do you have a safe way to get here? That’s the next question.”
Leo glanced at the smoking remains of his car. It was his turn to sigh. “Not exactly. And I’m on board with the idea of staying outside of public view, making sure we don’t telegraph our movements to others. Maybe a van with dark-tinted windows? Or I don’t suppose your team can spare someone to drive us to you.”
Jamie paused. “No, we’re stretched thin as it is. And a van would require you to get to a rental facility. Oh, hang on.” His voice perked up. “The RCMP detachment sits at the edge of town so that there’s enough room for the horses we keep out back. The back of their pasture opens onto the main trail that leads up to Schroeder Lake. If you can make your way back to the station, I’ll authorize you to use the horses to reach me. No one’s going to be on those paths at this time of year, and you’ll be able to slip right onto them without anyone seeing—unless there’s someone with binoculars sitting at the edge of police property, but the chances of that are minuscule.”
Leo understood where Jamie was going with the idea, but he still wasn’t sure. “You’re certain it’s safer than having someone drive us there?”
“I think based on your location and the fact that someone bombed your car, yes. You’ve been watched. You go into the police station and leave out the back, no one is going to know.”
Ellen gasped and raised her hands with her fingers spread. “I have a great idea. What if Jamie also uses a phone-finder app to track this phone while we’re on the trail? That way he can see exactly the route we take and know if there’s any deviation from the path. Would that work?”
“I don’t see why not,” Leo said, impressed with Ellen’s forward thinking. “Jamie, you download the phone-finder app and I’ll text you my details. Those things usually have a family-finder setting so you can trace the GPS movements exactly, right?”
“Yeah, I think so. I’ll be able to see your location on my screen as you travel, as long as you have GPS enabled and there’s no satellite interruption. It’s cloudy today, but not too bad, so I think that will work. You’ll have surveillance on you the entire time.”
That settled it. Leo tucked away his phone and found Ellen standing still, staring at the ground. “Are you okay? If you’re having second thoughts about going back to the Fosters’, just say the word and we’ll find another way to do this. Have someone walk through the place with a video camera, or...”
She shook her head in dismissal, but when she looked up, her eyes darted across the Parks’ driveway to the flashing lights of the patrol cars and ambulance. “I’m fine. This is important, and if Jamie says it’s safe and we’ll be monitored, I trust him.”
She didn’t look fine, but he also wasn’t going to contradict her if she felt she could do this. However, part of looking out for Ellen’s safety meant considering the psychological as well as the physical. If he had to, he’d shut the operation down.
But hopefully, their findings at the Fosters’ would shut down the criminals first.
* * *
Ellen swung onto the back of Boomer, one of the RCMP detachment’s massive black horses, and steadied herself. She loved the highly trained beasts, and didn’t get a chance to spend nearly as much time with horses as she’d have liked. She’d only met the RCMP horses a few times—they were working animals, after all—but that didn’t mean they couldn’t appreciate scratches and carrot snacks as much as
the next horse. Their temperament was what always amazed her. For such large animals, their patience and gentleness were beyond compare. It spoke to the skill of the RCMP horse trainers as much as it did to the animals’ breeding.
She sneaked a look at Leo, who’d taken the time to speak softly to Agatha, the horse he’d approached first. He scratched the mare behind the ears and kissed her snout. Only after she nuzzled into his hand did he swing up into the saddle, speaking quietly to the horse the whole time.
He noticed Ellen watching him and raised an eyebrow. “What?”
“Nothing,” she said, but the word didn’t feel right as soon as she’d said it. “Actually, it’s not nothing. I’ve just never had the chance to see you interact with a horse before.”
“Didn’t you and Jamie have that giant dog when you were kids? It was as big as a small horse. I liked him.”
Ellen rolled her eyes. “Yes, Starbuck. The Old English sheepdog was the sweetest and furriest dog in the history of dogs, but you know what I mean. Do you spend a lot of time with the horses at your detachment in Fort Mason?”
He nodded. “Aaron is more involved than Sam and I, but I tend to spend more time in the stable than is necessary, I think. Look, horses are quiet and drama-free, compared to humans.” He held up a hand at her snicker. “Compared to humans, I said! I know they have their own moodiness, but it’s nice to go for a ride when I’m feeling overwhelmed. It’s relaxing, and the horse I ride the most—her name is Hera—is very laid-back.”
Ellen felt the next sentence press against her lips and she tried to hold it inside. This was neither the time nor the place to ask it, but curiosity compelled her to speak the words regardless. “Is she the only woman in your life right now?”
A flicker of amusement crossed his face. “My parents have this ten-year-old calico cat...”
She growled in frustration and pulled the horse out the door and outside. She led the beast toward the edge of the pasture, but the moment she reached the gate to leave the property and head onto the trails, Leo drew up alongside her.
Accidental Eyewitness Page 4
