No Return (A Lee Smith Mystery Book 2)

by Jay Forman

  “I thought you already had someone for it?”

  “That information came up while you were researching tourism up here, did it?”

  “Fine!” I sighed with surrender. “Blaze, Arthur’s grandson, asked me to come here. He doesn’t think Arthur is your shooter.” Uncle Doug’s influence on me was showing, I was slipping too easily into ‘cop talk’, as he called it.

  “Turns out, he’s right.”

  “What?”

  “We’ve released Mr Suganaqueb. We brought him back up with us.”

  “Because of the shell casing I found?” That was fast!

  He shook his head. “Autopsy results.”

  “Was he shot with a .357?”

  “See, that’s not how this works. You and me? We’re on a one-way street. You give me information, not the other way around.”

  I gave him all the information I had because there wasn’t any reason not to. Ross’ murder no longer had anything to do with me and Stuart Saddler’s daughter didn’t like being in positions where she was reminded of her lineage. The late Inspector Doug Saddler’s niece, however, was still curious about all the unanswered questions she had.

  His partner had to write fast because I knew how to edit the word count down to just the necessary facts and was able to rattle them off quickly.

  “Yeah, we already know where they were staking the day before,” he said when I showed him the photos of the claim post I’d found. “His partner gave us a play-by-play of his actions in the days leading up to the shooting. They were off the res for the whole week, then Ross came in to get supplies and some action. When he didn’t come back by nightfall she started to get worried. By the time she made it to the lodge the next day his body had been found. This has really fucked her up. The two of them have been a team for almost 15 years. It’s essentially put her out of business.”

  “Was your pathologist able to determine the time of death? Or how long he’d been lying on the peninsula?”

  “Again – one-way street. This storage shed you mention, it’s never locked?”

  “I don’t know about never, I’ve only seen it three times. Maybe they put a padlock on it sometimes, but I didn’t see one.”

  “Any guess at how many guns are in there?”

  I shook my head. “I wasn’t in there long enough, but I did see several gun cases. No handguns, though.” I told him about the Texans at Joshua’s lodge and the gunfire I’d heard the night we camped out.

  “We’ll check that out.” He nodded at his partner and stood up.

  “What about Bernice? Did Marlee tell you she’s missing?”

  “Of course not! That girls’ got a chip on her shoulder the size of Mount Olympus. She keeps pushing it back up whenever it threatens to slip, but she’ll eventually let it drop. She’s young, she’ll learn. I think she’ll actually make a good cop one day, once she adds some experience to her book smarts. It was her partner, Brad, who filled us in. We’re all coordinating with the chief on the search. Any idea where Bernice might be?”

  “No clue.”

  “We’ll find her. Our plane’s already doing some sweeps. We always get our man – or woman.”

  “Your OPP badge says otherwise.” I opened the door for him and stood back to let the two of them leave.

  “How so?”

  “That’s the Mounties’ slogan.”

  “We’re all brothers.” His caterpillar stretched when he smiled.

  “And sisters.”

  “Here’s my card. Call me if you hear anything interesting while you’re researching this Mecca of tourism.”

  “Okay.”

  “I hear your dad might be getting an appeal, eh?” The younger officer finally spoke.

  I wish he’d kept his mouth shut. “I wouldn’t know.”

  ****

  I tried to get back into working on my article, but even Joan Armatrading couldn’t fire me up. Me, myself and I didn’t have a reason to stay in Webequie after we met with Aileen. But we’d be leaving with unfinished business left behind and none of us liked unfinished business.

  I scrolled through the pictures I’d taken.

  The police would figure out who killed Ross. It wasn’t my business. Will was right; I should stay out of it. But …

  I stared at the picture of the rock slab where Joshua and I had camped out. Where Ross’ body had been found. Where River had told his teacher he’d found his rubies. I scrolled until I found a photo of the river bed on the other side of Eagle Rock, then went back the picture of the rock slab.

  Elba’s canoe was blocking my view of the shoreline, so I scrolled until I found a better angle of it. And zoomed in.

  The smooth slab was just that – a smooth slab that went down to the water and disappeared under sand. I checked a few more shots of the shore, taken from different angles.

  How could River have found his rubies there? There weren’t any loose rocks. No pebbles. Nothing.

  I went back to the pictures of the river on the other side of Eagle Rock. There he could find lots and lots of loose rocks.

  Even the rocks that Joshua had found to make our fire circle hadn’t come from the shore on the peninsula. He’d had to go into the woods to find them. And they were bigger than River’s rocks in Sara’s classroom. River’s rubies were marble size. The rocks Joshua had found were croquet ball size.

  Why did River take his classmates there?

  And if Ross’ killer wanted his body to be found, how did he know that the class would be going there?

  Given his relationship with Sara, Joshua might have known.

  Where was he the day Ross was killed? I’d never thought to ask.

  Marlee suspected Joshua of something.

  Given her relationship with Joshua, could Sara have taken the kids to the tip of the peninsula to give Joshua an alibi? But would she put her students in that position? I couldn’t see her doing that.

  I didn’t want to think that either of them were involved. But I couldn’t not think it.

  And the scalping … what was that for?

  I closed my computer. There was one person who could tell me why Sara’s class went to tip of the peninsula and I was going to think of a way to ask him.

  ****

  The snow had stopped falling, but the grey clouds had moved in to completely blanket the island. I was very thankful for my long parka’s protection from the cold wind. Instead of flakes, the sky was alive with helicopters and bush planes. They were buzzing so loudly over the island that it made me think of Battle of Britain news footage. It was a wonder that they didn’t bump into each other but as I walked down the road I started to see a rough coordination in their flight patterns. Each aircraft was sticking to a specific area in the sky, circling and flying back and forth. I recognized the Hughes logo on one helicopter and was pretty sure that I saw the words ‘De Beers’ on the side of another.

  “Did you hear?” Sara said to me when we met up on the road just outside the school. “Arthur’s free. They brought him back.”

  Even she was wearing just a hoodie over the thin top she’d been wearing inside the school. Was I the only one who felt the cold up here?

  “I heard. That’s great. Any word on Bernice?”

  “No. Arthur wanted to join the search the minute he got off the plane, but he decided to stay here for River.”

  “Joshua and River are back from fishing?”

  “Yeah, Joshua’s just dropping River off at Arthur’s house then he’s going to pick up some pizza for dinner. I wasn’t sure what you liked on your pizza, so he’s going to get a couple of different ones.”

  “Sounds great. Thank you. I hope you’ll let me give you some money to pay for what I’m costing you …”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m glad to help. Blaze was one of my special students and this meant a lot to him. You going to the school to check your email again?”

  “Yes, I shouldn’t be long.” And I wasn’t going to waste time logging in to see that Jack was
still ignoring me. Even if he had replied to my emails, it was his turn to see how it felt to be ignored.

  I went straight to Sara’s classroom instead and took a couple of shots of River’s rocks. I could see why River thought they were rubies. They were ruby red, ranging from raisin to grape size. Too big to be sand. Too small to be fire circle rocks. The biggest rock had been tumbled smooth by the river and it was as clear as a claret-coloured crystal. They were beautiful. They couldn’t actually be rubies, could they? I tried to remember the list of minerals Joshua had rattled off when he’d been telling me about the Ring of Fire. I was pretty sure that he hadn’t said anything about rubies, but I’d check my notes later.

  Joshua was just coming out of the Northern when I walked past it. He was carrying two large frozen, or partially frozen, pizzas.

  “Hi.” I kept on walking.

  “Dinner’s that way.” He pointed down the road to Sara’s house.

  “I know. I thought I’d go introduce myself to Arthur. I won’t be long.”

  “Want a ride?”

  My ankle did. “No thanks. I’m good.”

  The lights were on inside Elba’s house and Arthur’s next door. I didn’t pound on Arthur’s door the way Joshua had.

  A small man opened the door after I knocked. This was the monster who’d been such a lousy father to Joshua? He looked more like a mild-mannered retired university professor. His salt-and-pepper hair looked freshly trimmed. His cardigan looked like something Auntie Em could have whipped up on her knitting needles. It even had patches on the elbows, made of some animal’s skin. He lowered his chin and his dark eyes stared at me so hard over the top of his glasses that I almost felt naked.

  “You’re Blaze’s do-dame.”

  Blaze hadn’t taught me that word. “Do-dame?”

  “Friend.”

  I liked being called that. “I am. I’m Lee.”

  “Arthur Suganaqueb.”

  “I’m glad that the police let you go.”

  “I knew they would. I didn’t kill the prospector.”

  Our stilted conversation wasn’t boding well for what I wanted to talk to him about. “Have you told Blaze? He’ll be so relieved.”

  “Yes.”

  “Mr Suganaqueb, may I come in?”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’d still like to find out who did kill the prospector.”

  “Why?”

  “Honestly?” That was a stupid thing to ask, so I didn’t bother waiting for him to give the obvious answer. “I don’t really know how to explain it. It’s just, things that don’t make sense always drive me nuts, and a couple of things aren’t making sense to me right now. I like answers.”

  “You like truth.”

  “Yes.” Even if I wasn’t that great at dishing it out sometimes.

  “Come in.”

  “Meegwetch.” I followed him into the house and took my still slightly soggy hiking boots off at the door when I saw that he was wearing well-worn deerskin moccasins.

  “Most amitigoshi never take the time to try to learn our language, even though we have learned yours.”

  “I thought it would be the respectful thing to do.”

  “It is.”

  “Is River here?” The house was deathly quiet.

  “He will be soon.” Arthur walked into the kitchen area of the main floor and started to fill a coffee pot with water from the cooler beside his refrigerator. “Would you like some?”

  Fresh coffee? You betcha! Hopefully, he’d use real coffee grounds, not something that had recently been pulled off a tree. “Yes, please.” I hung my coat up on one of the hooks by the back door, next to a collection of coats both big and small.

  I heard a thump-thump-thump outside and soon saw the top of River’s head as he came up the back steps. He opened the door and came into the house dragging a small duffel bag behind him.

  Without acknowledging me, he instantly started talking to his grandfather as he kicked off his shoes and then gave his duffel bag a swift kick for good measure.

  Arthur didn’t turn around, but he said something that made River switch to speaking in English.

  “She’s lying, Dodo! She took my special rocks and she won’t—”

  “Enough. Say hello to our visitor.”

  “Hello,” River begrudgingly said to me.

  “Hi. Did you have fun fishing with your uncle?”

  “No.”

  “Go put your bag away.” Arthur took a can of coffee grounds out of a cupboard and pulled the lid off.

  “River’s rocks are actually one of the things that I wanted to ask you and River about,” I said once River had dragged his duffel bag and thump-thump-thumped it all the way up to the top of the stairs that led to the second floor.

  The back door opened and Elba came in, carrying a casserole dish. She nodded at me and then spoke to Arthur. Once again, I was relegated to being the outsider. I made myself at home in one of the plastic chairs at the kitchen table.

  River came back down the stairs, turned on the big screen television that was on the wall by a big semi-circle couch, and flipped through the channels. Apparently, there were an awful lot of channels available in Webequie. Those satellite dishes by the band hall were bringing the world to Webequie 24 hours a day.

  Arthur said something to River and he turned the television volume down.

  Elba came and sat in the chair next to mine while Arthur put the lid back on the can of coffee grounds.

  “Elba would prefer tea.”

  Apparently, I wasn’t going to be given a choice. That was fine by me, as long as the tea was made with real tea leaves.

  “Ask your questions. River hears nothing when he’s watching that.”

  Even so, I still spoke quietly and started at the beginning. “What happened that day?”

  “I came home. I saw something I didn’t want to see. I left.” He turned his back to me and dropped two very white teabags into the teapot on the counter.

  “And you went straight back to the gathering camp?”

  “Yes.”

  I was getting to the tricky part. I had a choice – couch my questions in a whole lot of unnecessary words to mask their true intention or aim straight for the bullseye. “Was Joshua at the gathering camp?”

  He let the electric kettle whistle for longer than necessary, then unplugged it and poured the steaming water over the teabags in the pot before turning around and looking at me over the top of his glasses. “No.”

  I was instantly punched in the gut by one of those feelings that you simply can’t ignore, no matter how hard you try to dismiss it. He knew what I was thinking. “Was he here? In Webequie?”

  “I don’t know.”

  Elba said something that he didn’t agree with, so he turned his back to us again and focused on getting three mismatched mugs out of a cupboard.

  “Joshua was on the res,” Elba said. “At the shore, loading the pontoon boat with supplies for his lodge.” Again she said something to Arthur. Again he didn’t want to hear it. “Arthur and Joshua met on the water.”

  Was that some sort of First Nations saying? I didn’t know what it meant. How could you meet someone on water? I looked out at the water through the window on the back door. Two big freight canoes were heading north toward the gathering camp. If Arthur had left the shore here, at his house, and headed north he could have met Joshua heading south in the pontoon boat. “Did you tell him what you’d seen?” I knew Arthur would understand what I was asking.

  He brought the mugs over to the table and went back to the counter to pick up the pot and a bowl of sugar. “I asked for his help.”

  I waited for him to say something else, but it wasn’t until after he’d filled our mugs and helped himself to three spoonfuls of sugar that he finally spoke again.

  “I asked him to help me take care of River. I told him that Bernice would no longer be here.”

  “You asked Bernice to leave?”

  “No. I told her to leave
. There comes a time when a man must respect himself enough to do what’s right. That time had come.”

  “Did you tell Joshua why Bernice would be leaving?”

  “Yes.”

  And now Bernice was gone. Had she left willingly?

  “My son and I … we have not always agreed. Do you know what the Seven Grandfather Teachings are?”

  “No.”

  “They are much like your Commandments.”

  Not my Commandments. I had issues with religion, with all religions.

  “They were taught to us by our grandfathers, as their grandfathers before taught them, and their grandfathers before taught them. Only by following these teachings can we live full lives.”

  “Would you mind if I recorded you telling me about this?” I slipped my hand into my pocket and waited until he nodded before pulling my phone out.

  “Each teaching is represented by an animal. The animals have taught us how to live close to Earth, the Great Mother to all, and they remind us that all life is connected to her. Aakdehewin, dbaadendiziwin, mnaadendimowin, nbwaakaawin, debwewin, gwekwaadziwin, zaagi’idwin – bravery, humility, respect, wisdom, truth, honesty, love. Joshua and I have both struggled with the wolf – humility; we sometimes forgot our place in the pack. And we also struggled with the buffalo – respect. Not just respect for each other, but respect for ourselves, too. And I have not always been honest with myself and did not recognize or accept who I was for a time. Honesty is the raven, but also Kitchi-Sabe. I did not walk tall like Kitchi-Sabe.”

  I recognized that word. Heidi had said it when Joshua and I went to the Northern. “Who’s Kitchi-Sabe?”

  “You would know him as Sasquatch. He and the raven both understand who they are and accept the way the Creator made them. Despite our problems, though, the eagle has always soared above Joshua and me – love. I reached out to him, told him what I had seen, because I knew he would help me. He loves River.”

  A million questions were dancing around in my mind, including how to spell the words he’d used, but one question really stuck out – did Joshua love Arthur enough to permanently eliminate a problem in his life?

  Another question pushed itself to the front of the line – where had Joshua been before Bernice went missing?