THE AFTER-PARTY
Moonlight glistened on the Salish Sea, and soft jazz poured from speakers positioned on the wide, rolling waterfront lawn. Tables were loaded with smoked oysters and olives and hazelnuts and ham slices and liver sausage and crudités and dips of various hues. There was a tub full of ice and bottles of beer and wine, and hard stuff for those inclined. The night air was filled with the babble of many voices, uncontained laughter, as most of the unwitting stars of The Awakening were now in states varying from tiddly to plastered. The air was thick with the pungent essence of cannabis — Stoney had broken out a packet of his powerful homegrown Garibaldi Gold.
These fumes seemed to drift about the encampment like low-lying mist, and Arthur found himself feeling hazy, more than a little high. It was midnight, time to leave, but he was reluctant to coax Margaret away — she was enjoying herself, and she’d earned the gift of a night free of care.
She was chumming it up over there with Taba, no doubt sharing a ribald jest or two, and causing Arthur to feel another bout of anxiety and guilt. Made somehow worse because Margaret had so jauntily laughed off Arthur’s filmed encounter with Taba outside the Brig.
Arthur was not used to being stoned, even from second-hand smoke, and strolled off to a distant bench by a gurgling brook still high from the winter rains. He lit his pipe, hoping that somehow nicotine would keep him alert, counteract the effects of the pot.
Morgan Bromley must have seen him wander off, for he soon joined him on the bench with his glass of wine and a clipboard.
“Entrancing spot you’ve found, Arthur. ‘In groves we live, and lie on mossy beds, by crystal streams that murmur through the meads.’”
Virgil again, and again Arthur was startled by this fellow’s mastery of the ancient poet. “Excuse my astonishment, but how did you attain your grounding in the classics?”
“I studied ancient history before turning to acting, and fell in love with Latin literature.”
Arthur, who regarded himself as an acute judge of character, had been wholly taken in by the role Bromley so expertly played — he turned out to be an urbane man who had written his master’s thesis on the glory years of Latin poetry.
They exchanged a few verses, Ovid, Horace, the Odyssey, with Arthur feeling more comfortable, puffing away, still quite high but less troubled by it.
“Arthur, I do hope you don’t feel bad about the ruse behind the making of The Awakening. Prominently featuring you in it was intended as a compliment.”
“No problem.” Arthur said heartily enough. He had well recovered from his pique — there was no point fighting it. What comes comes. And what was coming was a release form that Bromley detached from his clipboard.
“I can’t say I wasn’t a little embarrassed,” Arthur said. “However ruefully, I admit to having enjoyed your production.” He glanced over the consent. Standard stuff. He signed. “Good luck. God bless.”
§
When Arthur and Margaret arrived home, he was still feeling stoned, having wandered back to the party, breathing in more of the strong cloud of marijuana. He had felt a little merry earlier, though it was nothing compared to a gupa high. But now came one of his mood swings — a welling of remorse. He watched his life companion contentedly stroll about, humming to herself, checking the thermostat, turning off lights, preparing the house for the night.
“Umm, Margaret . . .”
She paused before mounting the stairs to their bedroom, and turned to him. “Umm, what?”
Arthur was committed, helpless against the demands of guilt, overwhelmed by an irresistible impulse to repent: “I have something to tell you, dear. It wasn’t nothing. It was in fact something.”
He took a deep breath before continuing, and a great spasm of relief swept over him. Confession would make him free. Let what comes come; let what goes go. He would find out what remains.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
William Deverell was a journalist for seven years and a trial lawyer for 25, as defender or prosecutor in more than a thousand criminal cases, including 30 murder trials. The author of over 20 novels, Deverell has won the $50,000 Seal First Novel Prize and the Book of the Year Award, the Dashiell Hammett Award for literary excellence in crime writing in North America, as well as two Arthur Ellis Awards for best Canadian crime novel. His work has been translated into 14 languages and sold worldwide. He lives on Pender Island, B.C.
TRY ANOTHER GREAT READ FROM ECW PRESS...
April Fool Go back to the second installment in the Arthur Beauchamp series.
Arthur Beauchamp, the scholarly, self-doubting legend of the B.C. criminal bar, is enjoying his retirement on B.C.’s Garibaldi Island when he is dragged back to court to defend an old client. Nick “The Owl” Faloon, one of the world’s top jewel thieves, has been accused of raping and murdering a psychologist. Beauchamp has scarcely registered how unlikely it is that the rascally Faloon could commit a savage murder when his own personal life takes an abrupt turn. His new wife, Margaret Blake, organic farmer and environmental activist, has taken up residence 50 feet above ground in a tree of an old-growth forest that she is determined to save for the eagles and from the loggers. Beauchamp shuttles between Vancouver and the island, doing what he can to defend Faloon, save the forest, and rescue his wife. Part courtroom thriller, part classic whodunit, April Fool sees Deverell writing at the top of his form, with a big dollop of humour.
ECW digital titles are available online wherever ebooks are sold. Visit ecwpress.com for more details. To receive special offers, bonus content and a look at what’s next at ECW, sign up for our newsletter!
Copyright © William Deverell, 2017
Published by ECW Press
665 Gerrard Street East
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4M 1Y2
416-694-3348 / [email protected]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Cover design: Jessica Albert
Cover image © marcobarone / Adobe Stock
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Deverell, William, 1937–, author
Whipped / William Deverell. (An Arthur Beauchamp novel)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-77041-390-0 (hardcover)
Also issued as: 978-1-77305-091-1 (PDF),
978-1-77305-092-8 (ePUB)
I. Title. II. Series: Deverell, William, 1937– . Arthur Beauchamp series.
PS8557.E8775E45 2017 C813’.54 C2017-902415-9 C2017-902994-0
The publication of Whipped has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country, and by the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund. Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. Ce livre est financé en partie par le gouvernement du Canada. We also acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), an agency of the Government of Ontario, which last year funded 1,737 individual artists and 1,095 organizations in 223 communi
ties across Ontario for a total of $52.1 million, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit and the Ontario Media Development Corporation.
Whipped Page 34
