Little Boy Blues

by Mary Jane Maffini

  “Hang on a minute. The good news is the story is going well. Southern never shuts up, but he has a life. He’s off the road this weekend. I won’t have any trouble getting to Bluesfest.” I noted the panic in his voice. If P. J. didn’t want to be tormented, maybe he shouldn’t have sent me a prickly cactus last year when I was laid up in hospital.

  “Come on, Tiger, you’ve been yakking about how much you wanted to hear Blue Rodeo. I thought you’d be happy to spend the time with me,” he added.

  Time to quit horsing around.

  “Bad news then, P. J. You’ll have to put up with me for the whole festival. But I have to take care of something important first.”

  I thought I heard a whoosh of relief.

  • • •

  “I’ve been thinking about it, Mrs. P. Alvin’s family are profoundly irritating, but they seem to truly care about him, even if it’s on someone else’s phone tab.”

  “Perhaps.”

  “I can’t believe they caused him any trauma.”

  “We must consider it, even if it is unpalatable.”

  “More unlikely than unpalatable. But why don’t I try to get a bit more dope on what’s going on before I book his flight?”

  I made the call from Mrs. Parnell’s bedroom, out of Alvin’s earshot. My source was in.

  “Camilla,” Donald Donnie MacDonald said. “Twice in one day?”

  “Sorry to bother you. I need to know a bit more about what happened to Jimmy Ferguson, for Alvin’s sake. He’s in a weird anxiety state. And you seemed to be the logical person to ask.” I didn’t mention Donald Donnie lived for gossip.

  “Indeed, ask away, girl.”

  “Fill me in on the situation, right from the beginning.”

  “I’m not surprised Allie’s in a state. The family’s in crisis. Jimmy’s disappeared off the streets of Sydney on Canada Day in broad daylight. Poof! There he was, gone. Just like that.”

  “You mentioned Jimmy wasn’t quite all right. What’s the story?”

  “Indeed, it was a tragedy.”

  “I’m sure. But what was the tragedy?”

  “Must have happened about sixteen years ago. Springtime it was. Eighty-four. What, Mum? Oh right, eighty-five.”

  “What exactly happened?” I parked myself on Mrs. Parnell’s king-sized bed. No point in being uncomfortable. I knew Donald Donnie, and this was going to take a while.

  “Jimmy nearly drowned. In our lovely little park right across the street. Loretta and I can practically see it from the front veranda.”

  “Maybe that’s why Alvin’s so agitated. Did Alvin find him?”

  “No. Allie and Jimmy were always together. Allie ran for help, and Loretta and I raced down.”

  “So was Jimmy all right?”

  “Indeed he was not, girl. He never got over the near-drowning. He was left brain-damaged. He has the mind of a ten-year-old child now, when he’s at his best. That’s why they’re so worried.”

  Mrs. Parnell stuck her head around the corner and leaned on the doorjamb. She must have reacted to the look on my face. She spilled a drop of sherry as she inclined forward to follow the conversation.

  “That is terrible,” I said. “They’ll just have to keep looking.”

  “Don’t talk foolish. Of course, they’ll keep looking. Everyone’s helping. Neighbours, Jimmy’s friends, their parents, total strangers. We’ve been out ourselves, not that they’d give us the time of day next door.”

  “I guess they’ll have to get the cops to take it seriously.”

  “Now you’re being ridiculous again, girl. Indeed, the police have taken it seriously.”

  “In that case, they’re bound to find him. He can’t disappear.”

  “Well, that’s the thing, Camilla. They’ve found no trace of him anywhere. He’s completely vanished. We need every bit of help we can get.”

  “So we’ll make sure Alvin gets home as soon as possible.”

  “I hear you’re no slouch at sorting things out, Camilla MacPhee. You should get your arse in gear and get down here yourself.”

  • • •

  “No wonder young Ferguson’s so upset,” Mrs. Parnell said.

  “It explains a lot.” I followed her into the living room.

  “Imagine, his brother is missing and doesn’t have the intellect to deal with danger effectively.”

  Mrs. Parnell looked fondly towards her black leather sofa, where Alvin was curled up under the zebra throw. “We have to do something.”

  “Donald Donnie MacDonald said a near-drowning accident caused Jimmy’s brain damage. He said Alvin was there. If that’s not traumatic, what is?”

  Mrs. P. splashed herself a healthy dose of Harvey’s Bristol Cream. “It would be. The symptoms often show up long after the event. Then something triggers the memory, and it’s more than the lad can deal with.”

  “Okay. First we get him home. Then we figure out what’s going on in his head.”

  Mrs. Parnell stood, silent, staring out her window, at the long view down the Ottawa River toward Parliament Hill.

  “Some of these boys never recover. The hospitals were full of them, you know, after both the wars. Wasted young men.”

  “That won’t happen with Alvin. He’s resilient. Look at how he bounced back from all our problems last winter.”

  Mrs. P. picked up the photo again. “I believe you are correct, Ms. MacPhee. I think this beautiful boy is the key to our understanding. If this accident is the root of it, young Ferguson obviously never had any help to deal with the trauma.”

  “Kids often don’t talk about things. Let’s give the family the benefit of the doubt and find out what happened before we court martial them.” I didn’t want to inflame the situation by mentioning that Alvin was not the easiest person to understand or by suggesting his family might find him as baffling as I did.

  “You are right, Ms. MacPhee. That is the honourable thing to do. But I believe in the end, it will be left to us to find out what young Ferguson’s problem is.”

  I hate it when she’s right. “We have to call them and tell them he will be home as soon as possible. As I said, it’s better if you make that call, Mrs. P.”

  She folded her arms.

  “We have to,” I said. “What if they get news, good or bad, and can’t reach him? That would certainly compound his problems, wouldn’t it? Don’t be surprised if you get collect calls. And you’d better give them my cell number too, for emergency only.”

  “I suppose we have no choice. We must keep the channels of communication open to the front.”

  “Right. And another thing, whatever the problem is, Alvin’s in no shape to travel by himself. He can’t go on a plane like this by himself. And as you say, his family will be way too distracted to worry about him. I’d better go too.”

  • • •

  First things first, I thought. Before I headed out, I called my doctor and left an urgent message. The next message was for my travel agent asking about booking the most direct flights to Sydney. I left Mrs. Parnell’s number with her. While waiting for the beep, I had a brainwave. Leonard Mombourquette’s family were from somewhere in Cape Breton too. I was betting he’d have the connections. It’s a gene-pool thing. Worth taking a few more digs about me and Stan’s Buick. I tried to reach Mombourquette at his Ottawa Police Services extension and at his cellphone number, but he was holed up somewhere. I left messages asking him to get a line on Jimmy Ferguson’s disappearance. In the meantime, I had places to go and people to see.

  • • •

  I needed to know I could get back home fast in an emergency, so I took the Buick. Bonus, it had air conditioning. I wouldn’t have been much good to anyone poached. Stan would understand.

  I buzzed down to Elgin Street and, despite the afternoon holiday crowds, I found a parking meter. I headed into the inferno that was Justice for Victims and snatched up my briefcase. I jammed the more pressing files into it. If I was going to be unavailable until we got Alvin settle
d, I could at least pay the overdue bills.

  Miraculously, my cellphone rang. My doctor was happy to confirm what I thought: that Alvin should get professional help as soon as possible. “But don’t hold your breath,” she said. “It takes a while to get in to see someone. Unless you think he should check into the psych ward.”

  I was hardly qualified to make this decision. “No,” I said. “He’ll be better off with me and with his family. He can probably get in to see someone faster in Sydney. To be on the safe side, can you try to get him a referral here for when we get back?”

  • • •

  Since the Buick was already on the road, and I still had Alvin’s apartment keys in my pocket, I decided to whip over to Hull and collect a few essentials for him. Somewhat belatedly, it had crossed my mind that we should pick up his health card and ID. Not to mention toiletries and clean clothes. That way if we got him a last minute flight, we’d be off in a flash.

  I parked the Buick with due care and consideration and bolted into Alvin’s apartment. I ignored the Thinker, Winker, Blinker and Stinker and tried to keep my wits about me. Where would Alvin keep his documents and ID? Okay, he had a cabbage rose in the toilet. So, not there. I checked the fuschia fridge. It was well supplied with neatly organized oil paints, brushes, acrylics, watercolours and other artist’s gear. I noted the inside of the fridge was the only comfortable spot in the apartment. No sign of Alvin’s ID and health card. Fine.

  I found nothing in the kitchen except spices and condiments and the makings of small, neat meals.

  I headed for the bedroom. Feeling a bit guilty about ignoring the tangle of sheets in Alvin’s room, I rummaged through the dresser drawers. Because it was Alvin’s, I started at the bottom drawer, assuming he’d do everything in reverse. I was right. I turned up nothing of note, unless your interests included underwear in exotic patterns.

  The second drawer yielded socks, in every colour you could imagine, neatly lined up following the spectrum. Who knew Alvin had such a rich inner life?

  The top drawer held hundreds of postcards, packed together with elastic bands, neatly, as I had come to expect. Most had a telltale Cape Breton tartan design, a piper, or a panoramic shot of some part of the Cabot Trail. Lobster shots figured prominently. Some of the lobsters wore tams at jaunty angles. Others played bagpipes or lounged on beach chairs or were winning big at the casino. No accounting for taste.

  I riffled through the postcards, which contained innocuous messages, written in uneven letters. I kept hunting. It would be just like Alvin to hide his documents behind a partly-dressed lobster.

  Nothing turned up. I tucked the postcards back in the drawer.

  I was hot and bothered by the time I located Alvin’s brown and gold Quebec medical insurance card along with his other IDin the inside pocket of that damned leather jacket. Alvin looked like a deranged raven in the photo.

  I grabbed theID, some underwear and socks in electrifying shades, a number of blackT-shirts, the blue-striped pyjamas, the toothbrush and Crest and stuffed them all into his kitbag. I decided to take the leather jacket in case it got cold in Sydney. I added a few basic art supplies, watercolour pencils and a notebook, to keep his mind occupied on the trip down East.

  I hesitated as I walked by The Stinker. Then I headed back into the bedroom, where I made Alvin’s bed. While straightening the sheets, I found one of his missing earrings. The others turned up under the bed. Alvin must have been spinning like a bad stock.

  I had a clear conscience by the time I locked the apartment door and slung the kit-bag over my shoulder. On the way out I noticed the row of mailboxes in the front foyer. A small key on Alvin’s key chain opened his mail slot.

  The mailbox contained the usual pizza delivery ads, an art magazine and a postcard of a lobster playing the fiddle. I turned the postcard over and found the same uneven letters and the same large unformed cursive signature. James Ferguson. Alvin would be happy to get it. I tucked the postcard into my purse. And that made me think again about the rest of the postcards in the drawer. Obviously they were from Jimmy Ferguson. Surely Alvin and his family would want them, no matter what.

  I hiked back up to the apartment, unlocked the door, raced to the bedroom and scooped out the postcards. It was obvious from their careful storage that they meant a lot to Alvin, so I thought it better not to squish them into the kit bag. I held on to them until I got back to the car and slipped them into my briefcase. I’d give them to him when the time was right.

  • • •

  My next stop was back in Ottawa on Elgin Street again, Ottawa Police Services Headquarters. I made my way to the second floor, Criminal Investigation Division. The guy at the desk knew me as Conn McCracken’s sister-in-law. Things had greatly improved since the previous year, when every cop on the force had been on my case, and I’d even been tossed out of the building.

  This time I waved my way through and headed over to Major Crimes.

  “You want me to buzz Lennie?”

  I smiled. “I’ll surprise him.”

  When I stuck my head in the door, Mombourquette raised his pointy nose, sniffed and narrowed his eyes. He knew when he was trapped.

  “Hey, Leonard,” I grinned. “Cat got your tail?”

  “Not a good time.”

  “I’m here now, and we both want me to go away soon.”

  “We sure do.”

  “Did you get my message?”

  “All of them, in fact.”

  “Only two. Don’t exaggerate, Leonard.”

  “Here’s the deal. I’ve got a cousin on the Cape Breton force. I made a call. So he gave this information to me. All right?”

  “Sure, Leonard.”

  “He did not give the information to you. Understand?”

  “Fine.”

  “Okay, Jimmy Ferguson has diminished capacity. You probably know that. He has never been away from home. He has serious medical problems, including petit mal seizures resulting from a brain injury. The family does not believe he can look after himself. He has simply disappeared.”

  “Yesterday.”

  “He never came home. They’ve checked the bus station and the airport, even though it’s highly unlikely he could manage to get himself a ticket.”

  “Maybe they underestimate him.” I could relate to that.

  “You want to let me finish? Or you know everything already?”

  “Okay, okay, keep going.”

  “They’ve got a media call out. He was seen by a number of neighbours making his usual rounds from one friend to another. Nothing out of the ordinary. He was also seen on the boardwalk overlooking the harbour, although he’s not supposed to be there. No one has seen him since.”

  “Maybe he became disoriented and got lost,” I said.

  Mombourquette shook his head. “I suggested that. My cousin set me straight. Apparently everyone knew this boy. It’s a close-knit community. The radio stations have been making announcements. Plenty of appeals to the public. They’ve searched the parks. Everywhere.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “But Jimmy Ferguson has vanished off the face of the earth.”

  “Right next to the harbour,” I said.

  “That’s it. That’s the big worry.”

  “Could he swim?”

  “Wouldn’t matter if he had a seizure near the edge of the water. You can’t swim if you’re unconscious.”

  “What the hell are you doing to find out if that’s what happened, Leonard?”

  Six

  Stop yelling at me.”

  I stared. “I’m not yelling at you, Leonard.”

  “Yes, you are.”

  “Okay. I didn’t mean to, and I apologize. Now where were we?”

  “We were in Sydney.”

  “What’s the name of your cousin on the Sydney force again?”

  “Let me repeat. I don’t want you calling up my contacts on other forces and giving them a hard time.”

  “I’d never do something like that
.” I couldn’t help smiling, because Mombourquette was wearing a soft grey summer shirt and pants, and his whiskers twitched.

  “You do things like that all the time.”

  “Not this time. I have no intention of badgering anyone, but my father will ask me, and you know what Cape Bretoners are like about getting the names of peoples’ relatives. He’s eighty years old. Can’t you humour him?”

  “Your father’s in Scotland. How stupid do you think I am?”

  I really hated to let that one slip by. “He’s bound to call me, Leonard.”

  “I can’t stand this.”

  “There’s a way to make it stop.”

  “Okay, my cousin’s name is Ray Deveau.”

  “Thank you. Now was that so hard?”

  “He’s the nicest guy in the world, and I don’t want you bugging him. Understand?”

  Mombourquette’s cousin? Nicest guy in the world? Hardly. “Perfectly. What exactly did he say? Is Alvin overreacting?”

  “They’re convinced something serious happened to the kid. I told you, it’s not such a big place, and a lot of people saw Jimmy before he disappeared. He’s kind of a fixture. Anyway, people would call the police or try to help if he was in trouble.”

  “Maybe he got himself outside of Sydney. to of the other nearby towns. You sure they’ve looked everywhere for him?”

  “What kind of idiot question is that? They’re competent police officers. They don’t need you to tell them how to do their jobs.”

  “All right, I’m sorry. It’s an emotional kind of issue.”

  “So do you want to know what Ray Deveau thinks?”

  “Of course I want to know.”

  “It’s been over twenty-four hours. So one of two things. They figure if he’s in the area, he’s dead.”

  “But it’s summer. He could survive outside.”

  Mombourquette reached over and touched my arm.

  “It was eight degrees Celsius in Sydney overnight. Anyway, this boy won’t survive long on his own, no matter where.”

  “But...”

  “Like you said, it’s not good to disappear next to a harbour.”