by Jay Forman
Tears of relief ran down over the left side of my oxygen mask when I turned my head.
“Welcome back.” His smile was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. (The deep purple bruising around his eyes didn’t look that great, though.)
He was lying in a matching hospital bed right beside mine. Not near mine. Right beside mine. Imbri was lying between us. Jack had a matching heart monitor beeping on the other side of him.
“What happened?”
“Somebody tried to kill us.” His smile spread out to an almost laugh.
I wanted to laugh, but knew it would only make me cough. “Apparently, they weren’t successful.” I hoped he could understand me through my oxygen mask. “Will?”
“He’s fine. He jumped off the balcony into the lake.”
“He left you?”
“He was pulling me up when you were pulling me down. You won the tug of war and he ran for it.”
“Mem C?”
“Gone.”
Good. “Why were you and Will there?”
“To get you out of there. When you didn’t come back to the office we had a pretty good idea where you’d gone. Will had a car coming to arrest her, but you sped things up.”
“How did...?”
“He had security footage of her pulling Ethan’s kayak out of the water, and there was peanut oil in the sugar cubes that she...,”
I shook my head. “The fire.” My lungs hurt every time I inhaled.
“Mademoiselle Cailleux chose to be the martyr of Berkshire, rather than be exiled. She knew Dr. Campbell was going to get her thrown out, so she poured gasoline all over her apartment. Whether she would have gone through with it or not is anybody’s guess. When we showed up she realised that she was going to be arrested and she tossed her cigarillo on the floor.”
“Who pulled us out?”
“You did. There were life rings in the water.”
I had no memory of that.
“So, I’ve been thinking. We should take a trip together. How would you feel about an explorer cruise through the Northwest Passage?”
Oh boy.
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Acknowledgements
Lee may not have had the best of luck with some of the people who have come in and out of her life, but I have. Sure, like everyone else I’ve had to deal with some nasty people, but I consider myself lucky to have known many more wonderful people.
Like the friends who have been sources of support, information and often inspiration: Angie, Chris, Denise, Emily, Gloria, Hugh, Jane, Jeff, Lyne, Marilyn, Pete (whether younger or older), and Robyn.
And the people who generously answered my many questions without hesitation: Dr. Toby Rose (Deputy Chief Forensic Pathologist, Ontario); Staff Sergeant Ted Hurren (Bracebridge OPP); PC Rich Williamson (South Simcoe Police); Adam Martin (Simcoe Paramedic Services); Kassy Baker (and her beloved Montgomery); Captain Erol Toprak (430 Tactical Helicopter Squadron, 1 Wing, Royal Canadian Air Force); and Joel Baker (Senior Consultant, SBLR LLP).
And everyone at Endeavour Press who worked with me to take Lee from a Word file to a published book.
Thank you to all of you.
To mystery author and fellow RTA grad Louise Penny, thank you for giving me the right advice when I hit a rough patch – ‘You need a champion, a defender, and advocate. An agent.’
I found a champion, a defender, and advocate, and so much more, in the nicest man I’ve never met – my agent, Peter Buckman. Thank you, Peter, for taking a chance on me and Lee.
