by Linda Moore
Katie came loping across the grass. “Found it.” She handed me a key on a bright orange lobster claw ring.
“Hall’s Harbour?” I said, eyeing the key ring.
“Hey—how’d you guess?”
“I’ll just be a minute,” I said, smiling. She trotted away.
So far, so good.
I entered the cabin and let the door click shut behind me. I locked it. With the blind drawn, the space was gloomy. I turned on the lamp that was sitting on the table, and set my notebook and pen there.
I got to work. It was a tidy one-room cabin. There was a single bed, made up, nothing under the mattress, and nothing underneath on the floor. There was an easy chair, a small chrome kitchen table with two matching chairs, and a door which led to a tiny bathroom. Some cosmetics and sundries were in the medicine cabinet, including a tube of lipstick, which I tucked into my pocket to compare to the other I had found. Next to the bed was a small closet with a cloth curtain hanging in front of it. I pushed it aside. There were clothes on the hangers, some boots and shoes on the floor. An empty suitcase was upended against the left-hand wall, and a knapsack was hanging from a hook on the right. I lifted the knapsack and it had enough weight to make me curious. I took it off the hook and poked through it. Inside was the Naomi Klein book from the university library—but more importantly, a laptop in its zippered case.
My heart was beating like a rabbit’s. I hastily grabbed the computer and its adapter and slipped them into my shoulder bag. I took the Klein book as well and then placed the knapsack back on the hook. My entire search had only taken a couple of minutes.
I sat down and scribbled a note to Aurelia, telling her she had left her journal behind and how to reach me. I tore it out of my book and secured the corner of the note under the lamp.
I let myself out of the cabin and crossed to my car, making a show of putting my notebook and pen back in my shoulder bag as I walked, and casually dropping the bag onto the passenger seat. When I turned back toward the yard, I saw Katie sitting on the front steps. I walked up the path to give her back the key. “Thanks, Katie. What a sweet place. No wonder she likes it so much. I left the note on the table for her.”
“Oh—there’s my brother!” she said. I turned, and Jacob was pulling into the yard in his silver Honda. He climbed out and stood looking over the car door at me.
“You didn’t have to track me down, you know. I told your friend Björn I had to go to work at the centre.”
“Björn gave me the message, Jacob. I had no idea this was your place. Of course when I clapped eyes on your sister here, I knew where I was—you and she are the spit of one another. No, I’m actually looking for your tenant, Aurelia. I got her address from the library. Before she moved out here, she was renting the cottage I’m staying in. She forgot something there, so I’m trying to get it back to her. Katie mentioned she’s away.”
“Whatever it is, you can give it to me—I’ll keep it for her.”
“No, it’s okay, I already wrote a note for her, left my info. Where did she go—back to Maine? That’s where she’s from, right?”
Jacob closed his car door. “We don’t give out information about our tenants,” he said curtly.
“Then again, maybe she’s still around here investigating something. She’s an award-winning journalist, right?”
“It’s really not any of your business where she went.”
“You seem edgy, Jacob. Is something wrong?”
“You’ve been in my face about stuff for days…I’m getting sick of it.”
“You mean those three times I asked you if you’d seen McBride, or if you could tell me where to find a vet, or when I asked what you were doing coming out of that cave on the beach…or now, trying to find out where Aurelia went? Me getting out of your face isn’t going to change anything. In fact, under the circumstances, I might be the best friend you’ve got right now.”
“What’s going on? What are you guys even talking about?” Katie asked, upset by the tension between us.
“Nothing! Go inside, Katie!” Jacob said.
“I don’t have to—”
“JUST DO IT!”
Katie slammed the screen door and disappeared into the house.
“Look, Jacob, you’re just lucky McBride’s alive. I told you this morning I have to speak to the police about what we found in that cave. So just come clean about whatever you know—I’ll vouch for you. I work in the legal system. It’s better to have me on your side. Don’t push me away.”
“You don’t get it,” he said walking towards me. “Remember you said soon it would be too late? Well, the truth is, it’s already too late.”
“I’m listening.”
“I can’t. I can’t talk to you. You have to leave.”
“Okay—but this isn’t going away. When you decide you’re ready to talk, I’m there for you. So think about it. Here’s my card.” I held it out.
“Just go.”
“It’s your call.” I set my card on the steps and walked past him, down the stone path to the road. I got into Ruby Sube. When I looked back at the house, he was gone.
My phone bleeped.
“Hi, Sophie.”
“The Gateway security guy is here, Roz. I got him to show me his ID.”
“Good…so how’s McBride?”
“He stirs every now and again but he’s not really coherent. They’ve got a sedative in him. Sleeping’s probably best. Now that Clint—that’s his name, Clint!—has arrived, I’ll go get a bite in the cafeteria.”
“Okay. If all’s well on your end I’m going to run over to Kingsport. The poor cat’s probably dismantled the fridge by now.”
“Take your time, Roz. I’m fine.”
“I’ll see you soon—and Sophie…just don’t say anything to anybody about anything, okay?”
“I’m like the grave.”
I put the car in gear and headed back towards the Valley. I glanced at my shoulder bag lying on the passenger seat. I reached in and put my hand on the computer just to assure myself it was really there.
“I promise you, Aurelia Strange,” I said aloud, “I’m not giving up. I’m going to find out what happened to you.”
Chapter 17
When I arrived in Kingsport, there was an RCMP cruiser in my driveway, parked behind Old Solid. I pulled off onto the grass and parked McBride’s car in front of the roadside door. With my visitor in mind, I decided to leave my bag containing Aurelia’s computer in the car. I locked it and walked around the cottage to the cliff-side.
“What’s up, Corporal Monaghan?”
She turned from where she’d been knocking on the porch door. “Oh, Roz, there you are! I’ve got an update for you. We get dailies from Emergency Health Service, and two paramedics picked up your friend McBride on Caroline Beach this morning and took him to the hospital. I thought you should know.”
“I’ve been talking to his wife. She’s at the hospital. But thanks. Have you been able to find out what happened to him?” I said, hoping to suss out how much she knew.
“He’s in no shape for visitors, so we haven’t been able to ask him any questions.”
“So you went to the hospital?”
“No. I called earlier. Have you been there?” she asked.
“Briefly. Long enough to be assured that he’s stabilizing. It was a close call.” She nodded. “Tell me, Corporal, have you got any new information about the girl?”
“Classified,” she said. “You know that.”
“I think you owe me one,” I said. “I was right about McBride being in danger when I came to see you in Wolfville, and now we have the proof. I’m asking about the girl because I believe what happened to her and what happened to McBride are connected.”
“The person who called the ambulance this morning was Professor Björn Sorensen. Do you know h
im?”
“Yes. Have you spoken with him?”
“Not yet,” she said.
“Corporal Monaghan, it’s time for you and me to hunker down and exchange information. We almost had a death on our hands this morning, so why don’t you stop protecting whoever’s being protected, and let me know what that ‘classified’ information is? We each know things the other doesn’t. I’m not giving up and going away, so why don’t we work together?”
“Look, Roz, I’m low on the totem pole. I don’t even know what the classified information is. ‘Classified’ is not a joke. Orders come down from the top. I don’t get to ask questions. I obey orders. That’s how it works.”
“Obedience is all well and good, but in this case, it amounts to aiding and abetting.”
“You know that accusation is completely out of line.”
“Is it? Did you know those two ‘overzealous’ goons that you’re protecting are hanging around the hospital trying to get at McBride?”
She blanched a little. “How do you know that?”
“Because McBride’s wife had to prevent them from getting into his room. So what about offering a little protection for McBride, for God’s sake? At least tell me who those guys are working for!”
“I don’t have that information.”
“Come on! I’m not buying that!”
“They’re American. That’s all I can tell you.”
“Just like the flag that was wound around that poor girl. It wasn’t hard to figure out they were American. Tell me something I don’t know.”
She looked at her watch. “I have to leave—I have an appointment in Wolfville.”
“With Björn Sorensen?” I asked as she walked back toward the cruiser.
“That’s right. His class is over at five.”
Fuming, I watched her disappear up the road. I needed to know what she was holding back. Björn had been anxious for me to talk to the police, so I knew when Corporal Monaghan interviewed him he would be forthright with her. Within the hour she would have all the details of what had gone down this morning on Caroline Beach. His information would include me being there as well as Jacob’s presence when we discovered McBride in the cave.
Fortunately Björn knew nothing about Aurelia or that I had found her lipstick markings on the cave wall. If Corporal Monaghan was determined not to share what she knew, all my information about the girl would stay with me.
I went back to McBride’s car to grab my bag, unlocked the cottage door, and went inside. The cat was right there. She actually looked thrilled to see me.
“Oh my gosh, you poor abandoned thing, you must be starving,” I said. “Coming right up—breakfast, lunch, and dinner!”
I put the bowl on the floor. She was purring so intensely she could hardly chew. But she managed to gobble it all down in less than a minute.
“Okay,” I said to her. “I’m going to do something radical. I’m going to let you go out.” She looked at me. “It’s guilt,” I said. I opened the porch door and she stood quietly beside me for a moment, looking around. “Go ahead,” I said. She bounded off the stoop. “Don’t climb the tree!” I shouted, and closed the door.
Filled with anticipation, I took Aurelia’s laptop out, sat at the big porch table, and opened it. The computer’s battery had run down, so I plugged in the adapter. After a moment, the screen lit up.
Her desktop was orderly, but crowded. There was a large section of “Bee Files,” no doubt her research for the award-winning article on “the lowly honeybee.” There was another group of files on “Environment, Climate, and Disasters,” all of which I wanted to read.
The file that caught my eye was called “Background—Fundy.” I was about to open it when my phone bleeped. It was Jacob.
“Okay,” he said.
“Okay, what?” I asked.
“I’m sorry about earlier. I thought about what you said, and you’re right. I need to talk. Can we?”
“Oh, Jacob—I’m relieved to hear it. Do you want to come to my cottage at Kingsport? That’s where I am now.”
“I can be there within the half-hour.” I gave him the address. We rang off and I called Sophie. She answered immediately.
“Is everything still okay?” I asked her.
“Just got back from the caf. The nurses are changing shift. Our friend Clint from Gateway is still here, so hopefully those creeps will eventually leave. I haven’t laid eyes on them since I got back up here, but you can bet they’re lurking. Oh, and McBride—guess what he’s doing? Still sleeping! When are you coming, Roz?”
“There’s been a little development—a breakthrough, actually. Jacob’s decided he wants to talk to me, and I’m anxious to find out what he knows, and just how much trouble he may be in. He’s coming to Kingsport. I might be a couple of hours.”
“No worries. I’m right where I want to be—and I’ve got a good book.”
I went back to Aurelia’s laptop and sent the “Background—Fundy” file to myself. I was just starting to peruse other titles on her desktop when I heard a car pulling into the driveway. That was fast, I thought. Way too fast.
I unplugged Aurelia’s computer and ran it up the ladder to the loft. I slid it under the double mattress. Then I looked out the loft window.
“I’m an idiot!” I said aloud.
It was Jacob all right, but he was in the Range Rover with the two suits, who had apparently given up on the hospital. Jacob’s phone call to me was a trap and I’d fallen right into it.
Chapter 18
I watched the three of them start to head along the side of the cottage towards the porch door. I practically threw myself down the ladder, and just had time to grab my phone from the porch table before they were alongside the big windows. There was no chance to rescue my bag from the armchair. I darted into the kitchen and crossed to the roadside door. Same ploy as before, except this time I had neither McBride nor car keys.
I opened the door a crack. All clear. I could hear them banging on the porch door, and as it squeaked open, I slipped out the back, shut the door softly, and jumped off the stoop straight into the bushes. I slid under the wooden fence at the property line and dashed into the thick stand of trees clustered on the point—the very same trees where the murder of crows had been screeching their heads off the day this all began. There were bay laurel shrubs densely growing among the trees, providing me with decent camouflage; I crouched down in their midst to catch my breath and try to figure out my next move.
At that very moment, I heard another vehicle come up the road and stop. I recognized the peculiar engine putter of the old Mazda truck that McBride had ‘borrowed’ from the farmer.
A minute later there was a loud rapping coming from the ocean side of the cottage, the squeak of the porch door opening, and the farmer’s voice as he called out, “Roz!”
I crawled back through the shrubbery until I was near the property fence again. From my vantage, I could see his Mazda parked across the road in the turnaround by the field. Keeping to the fence, I inched towards the seaside corner of the house, staying low and maneuvering until I could see the porch stoop through the weigela shrub. The farmer, Jeffrey, was still outside, standing there holding the porch door open. His golden lab, George, was at his side. He called out again.
“Hello?… Oh! Who are you?… I’m looking for Roz…. She’s not? Well, I’m sorry fellahs—you can’t be here if she’s not in. You can leave a number and she can call you when she gets back…. Oh yes I do have a right! I own this place. So off the property now!” As his voice became louder and more authoritative, George joined in, barking loudly.
To my amazement, the men came out through the porch door with Jacob between them. They passed the farmer, and he watched them as they went along the front of the cottage and turned towards the road. At the corner of the house Jacob turned back and tried to say someth
ing but was yanked away by the other two. Then I heard the SUV start up and drive away.
I quickly scrambled under the fence and got to my feet.
“Thank you!” I called out, giving Jeffrey a start as he was about to round the corner of the house to make his way back to the Mazda.
He stopped and looked over at me. “What was going on there?” he asked. “Your friend McBride told me about these two unpleasant characters showing up the other day in a big black Range Rover, so when I saw that thing drive past my road a few minutes ago I decided to check it out, and sure enough this is where they landed. Now, I’m not sure what they’re after, but I don’t want any trouble here.”
“Believe me, neither do I. They’re serious bullies is what they are. They said they were here on ‘official business’ the other day, but they refused to explain themselves or show me any ID. They got pretty rough with me the last time, so when I saw they’d come back I hid over there in that stand of trees. Thank goodness you decided to check it out. You seemed to handle them just fine.”
“I think it was George here that scared them off.” George was now lying on his back with his legs in the air hoping for a belly scratch. “He’s enough to make you shake in your boots, don’t you think?”
“Yup, that’s a terrifying sight,” I said.
He cracked a big smile. “He’s adopted, you know. Listen, if they come back, just call my cell—it’s always on. George and I will take care of them. Come on, George!”
I thanked him again and went inside.
Despite the farmer’s heroic declaration, I didn’t feel safe as I looked around. Things had been overturned, drawers were open, and plates were pulled out of cupboards. The books from the shelf in the living room were lying topsy-turvy on the floor. I dreaded climbing up to the loft. I went up a few steps until I could just see over the plank floor into the space. Pillows were thrown aside and the mattress was flipped over.
Of course! Jacob must have discovered I’d taken the computer from the cabin. I’d been a fool, first to fall for his ploy about wanting to talk, and secondly, to think they were here to hurt me. So what did I do? I left the place wide open for them to search undeterred. No wonder they’d complied so readily when Jeffrey ordered them to leave. They had what they came for.
