Lion's Head Revisited

by Jeffrey Round

  “It was your mother’s, so make sure you thank her.”

  “I already did. But as usual you’re doing all the work. So thank you too.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  Dan shovelled three burgers onto buns and piled them on the plate. He glanced over at Lester again.

  “Lester doesn’t seem to know what he wants these days,” he said.

  “It’s the polyamorous thing,” Ked said. “Everybody’s experimenting. Elizabeth and I are more old-fashioned.” He squirted ketchup and relish on the burgers and squashed the lids closed.

  “What’s wrong with knowing what you want?” Dan asked. “When I found Lester on the streets, he told me he was gay.”

  “He is. It’s the other two. They’re trying to convince him to play with them.”

  “Ah.”

  “So Nick’s not coming?” Ked asked, chomping into one of the burgers while balancing the plate in his other hand.

  “Looks like it,” Dan said. “He’s stuck at work.”

  “I don’t think you need to worry about it,” Ked said. “Though I concur with Uncle Donny.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I like him enough, but it’s what you want that matters.”

  Dan closed the barbecue lid and turned it off. “Well, then I guess everything is good.”

  “Is something bugging you?”

  Dan attempted a smile. “It’s my problem. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Okay. Try not to look so serious. You might scare somebody.”

  Dan laughed. “All right.”

  The barbecue lasted another hour before starting to disband. When the others had gone, Ked offered to help clean up, but Dan sent him off with Elizabeth, who looked grateful for Dan’s insistence.

  “Have fun. It’s your last day together.”

  “We will!” she said.

  His cell rang.

  “Sharp,” he said, surveying the remnants of the party scattered across the backyard.

  The first thing he heard was sobbing. “It’s Eli,” Janice managed to get out.

  “What’s happened?”

  “He’s dead.” She sobbed again. “His car overturned on an exit ramp.”

  “I’ll be right over,” Dan said.

  TWENTY-SIX

  The Silent Boy

  A MILLION THOUGHTS PASSED THROUGH Dan’s mind as he headed to Janice’s home. This case was supposed to have been over when Jeremy Bentham was returned alive and well. Instead it continued to eat its victims, right, left, and centre: Janice and her mother parting irrevocably, the strange woman Theda McPhail found strangled, and now Eli dead in a car accident. Whatever was going on, Dan felt sure it wasn’t going to end well for anyone.

  Ashley opened the door. She nodded a quick acceptance of his condolences then led him to the kitchen, where Janice was filling a knapsack. The lights were dimmed, as usual. Dan looked over and saw the camping gear piled to one side: sleeping bags, tents, a cooler of food.

  “You’re going on a trip?”

  “We’re getting out of the city. We’re leaving tonight.”

  Jeremy crouched on the floor over in a corner, scribbling with a crayon on the same drawing pad Dan had seen the other day. His movements were slow and deliberate, as though he had a delicate operation to perform. What he wouldn’t give to be able to ask him about the cave-like drawing and the eyeless face. Maybe that was how the boy saw himself: a face without eyes. He pictured himself as a child and wondered how many times he’d done the same thing, turning a blind eye to what went on around him, sitting in silence and hoping no one would notice him. Silence had always been a good, reliable friend when he needed one. Only Sandy had been better.

  “Hello, Jeremy,” Dan said.

  But Jeremy gave no indication he’d heard. His fingers moved in their careful movements across the pages.

  “The police called about an hour ago,” Janice said. Her voice was low and calm, as though to keep from upsetting her son. “They found his car overturned on an overpass near the 401.”

  “I’m very sorry,” Dan said. “Any idea what caused the accident?”

  “No.” She wiped a hand across her face. “Well, not that we’ve been told.”

  Ashley looked from Dan to Janice. “You have to tell him,” she said.

  Dan’s eyes went back and forth between the two women.

  “It’s the kidnapping,” Janice said. “We think it was Eli and Elroy.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  Before she could answer, Jeremy made a startling sound. They all turned. The boy looked distractedly around the room; his hands twitched as though he were attempting sign language.

  “Sweetie, it’s okay. We’re just talking,” Janice said softly. She turned to Dan. “It’s the hands. When he does that it means he’s getting agitated.”

  Jeremy repeated the sound, halfway between a growl and a yawn. To Dan it sounded as if he disapproved of something, making him wonder about the boy’s capacity to understand what they were saying. Just as suddenly, he turned his attention back to his drawing pad.

  “Go on,” Dan said. “Tell me about it.”

  “Eli and Elroy were at each other’s throats,” Janice said. “It went on for months. We were terrified. Then suddenly, a few weeks back, everything was fine between them. It was as if they were best friends again. Only they were never friends to begin with. Two days ago the calls and threats started again. Eli was afraid to go to bed at night.”

  “Are you saying Eli’s death may not have been an accident?”

  “We never trusted Elroy,” Ashley said. “Eli called him a businessman. We knew what it meant. He’s a dealer. Sarah’s dealer.”

  “He already knows that,” Janice said. “You might as well tell him everything. There’s no sense keeping the rest of it back now.”

  “It was the treatment. So expensive.” Her expression was one of disapproval. “But Eli was adamant. He would raise the money. Anything for Jeremy. So he made the deal with Elroy.”

  “Do you think Elroy killed Eli?” Dan asked.

  “We don’t know what to think.” Janice wiped a hand across her brow. “For the past few days we’ve been followed by a navy blue car every time we leave the house. That’s why we’re getting out of here.”

  “If you think you’re in danger, I can make arrangements for you to stay elsewhere.”

  She shook her head. “No. We’ll be okay.”

  “Theda McPhail probably thought the same thing.”

  She shivered. “I can’t think what possible connection there might be. I don’t even know who she was.”

  Jeremy suddenly made another high-pitched sound.

  “What is it, sweetie?”

  She knelt and stroked his hair, turning a page of his pad. He went back to drawing. Clearly, he did know how to communicate. And his mother knew how to interpret what he was saying.

  If anything redeemed her, Dan saw, it was her love for her child. Apart from that he hadn’t even been able to see her as a likeable person. She knew how to charm, but she was too hard and inaccessible otherwise. Then again, people said that of him.

  Her eyes were similar to Jeremy’s. Dan’s eyes had been like his mother’s too. Grey. Wolf eyes, she’d called him to his delight, though hers had been more like quicksilver. After her death he’d come across a mineral kit in science class. This was in Sudbury, where mining lay at the core of everything. Alongside pyrite, and a stringy piece of asbestos before such things were deemed dangerous, was a vial of mercury. The liquid metal had fascinated him. He’d prised the cap off, spilling it across the floor in all directions. In a panic, he’d tried to rebottle it, only to discover its elusive nature. It had reminded him of his mother’s eyes. But Dan’s eyes had not stayed wolf-like. Glacial was what people said now. Distant and chilled, as if what lay inside him had somehow been turned outside.

  There was a knock at the door. Janice and Ashley glanced at one another. Dan saw the fear.

>   “Are we expecting someone?” Ashley asked.

  “No.”

  Ashley went down the hall.

  “Be careful,” Janice called out.

  She turned to Dan. He could see a question forming on her lips. Speak, don’t speak. Speak, don’t speak.

  “Is there something you want to say?” he asked.

  She looked startled. “No. It’s okay.”

  Don’t speak.

  Voices carried in from the hall. Footsteps came toward them. Ashley appeared first. Sarah Nealon stopped in the hallway behind her, her face half in shadow.

  “Sarah!” Janice cried. “You can’t come here.”

  “I know!”

  She stepped forward into the light. Denim skirt and a baby-doll top. No pregnancy, Dan thought. Feet bare. Her ankle monitor was missing. Then he saw the bruises.

  “My god! What happened?” Janice cried.

  “He hit me!”

  “Who?”

  “Elroy!”

  “Is he here?” Janice turned to Ashley. “Did you look?”

  “He’s not on the street. I didn’t see him.”

  Janice turned back to Sarah. “Why did he hit you?”

  “He didn’t get his money.”

  “What money?”

  But Sarah was staring at Dan now, her expression fearful. “What’s he doing here?”

  “Dan is trying to help us figure things out,” Janice said quietly. It was the voice of a patient adult speaking to a child. “We’ve had some very bad news, Sarah.”

  Sarah put her fingers to her belly. “Is it my baby?”

  “No, Sarah.” Janice shook her head. “It’s Eli. He’s dead.”

  Sarah sat quickly, folding herself onto the chair. Her eyes darted around the room, as if searching for the reassuring swirls of the sun-catcher.

  “Did — did Elroy — ? Oh, no!”

  A high-pitched shriek filled the room. They all turned to see Jeremy flailing his arms. He threw the drawing pad against the wall. It splashed back then skidded across the floor, landing at Dan’s feet.

  Janice went to him. “Baby — what’s wrong?”

  He fought off her attempts to hold him. The shrieking continued.

  “Poor Jeremy,” Sarah said, her voice rising.

  Janice turned to Ashley. “Can you please get her out of here?”

  “We have to bring her with us,” Ashley said. “She’s not safe.”

  “She can’t come with us, Ash. She’s high as a kite.”

  “I’m sorry!” Sarah cried.

  “I can’t deal with this on top of everything else,” Janice said. “She needs to be at CAMH.”

  “She’ll never get a bed. It took six hours last time.”

  “Fine. You deal with her.”

  Ashley glared. “Sometimes I think you’re not even human.”

  “Tough!”

  Sarah sobbed. “It’s all my fault.”

  Ashley turned to Sarah. “Come on. It’s not your fault. Let’s go for a walk.” She took her by the arm, leading her out of the room.

  “Fucking junkie,” Janice said, watching them go.

  Just then Jeremy let out another howl. Wolf-like. Feral. His eyes were ravaged, like someone witnessing desolation first-hand.

  “I knew this would happen. He’s having a meltdown.” Janice brushed the hair from his forehead. “It’s okay, baby.”

  Dan leaned down and picked up the drawing pad. The exposed pages showed a tangle of scrawls like oversized fingerprints. Shadowy blurs and half-human shapes hidden in the background. Lives blending in with other lives, the unfathomable skein of relationships between people and things. Things only Jeremy could understand and interpret.

  “That son-of-a-bitch, hitting her like that,” Janice said softly, hugging her son and rocking him as his protests continued.

  “Do you think Elroy did it?” Dan asked.

  She turned and stared. “Of course he did it. You saw her face!”

  “She’s a drug addict. I wouldn’t take her word for a lot of things,” Dan said. “She isn’t wearing her ankle monitor. She must have cut it off.”

  “Lucky for us,” Janice said. “That’s all we need is the cops here.”

  “I followed Elroy to the airport two days ago,” Dan said. “He was headed out of town.”

  “Good riddance,” she said dismissively. Then it dawned on her. “Then that would mean he wasn’t here when Eli died.”

  “Exactly,” Dan said. “In fact, he’s never around when things happen.”

  “He could have hired someone to do it,” Janice insisted.

  “But why wouldn’t Elroy get his money if he and Eli masterminded the kidnapping?”

  “How should I know? Maybe Eli decided to keep it all for himself.” She continued rocking Jeremy. “This isn’t how it was supposed to be,” she said softly.

  “How was it supposed to be? Tell me.”

  She glared at him. “Better. Different. Not like this.”

  Jeremy’s whimpering slowed then finally stopped. Janice stood and went over to a drawer. She pulled it open and removed a handgun.

  “Yes, I have a permit,” she said, catching Dan’s look. “This is coming with us when we leave.”

  “What about Eli? Who’s making arrangements for him?”

  She stared at him. “He’s dead, Dan. There’s nothing anyone can do for him now.”

  Dan sat in his car outside in the street. He had Nick on the phone.

  “I’m sorry,” Nick began. “I really tried to make it.”

  So many people had been sorry for so many things of late that it took Dan a moment to realize what he was talking about.

  “Oh, the barbecue! No, it’s okay.”

  “Meaning what? No one noticed I didn’t show up?”

  “No, it’s …” Dan ran a hand through his hair. “I need you to do something for me. It’s important. Eli Gestner died today.”

  “What? The father of that kid?”

  “Yes. Car accident.”

  “Jesus.”

  There was a long pause.

  “Are you sure it was an accident, Dan? What’s going on?”

  “Eli left a message for me yesterday saying Elroy was angry with him again. That was the last I heard from him. Now Janice and Ashley are leaving town. Someone in a blue car has been following them. They’re worried for their safety.”

  “Do they want protection?”

  “No.”

  “I guess they’re entitled to leave if they want.”

  “Janice is taking a handgun.”

  “Christ. Don’t let her shoot someone.”

  “I’ll try not to. In the meantime, could you look into a few things for me?”

  Nick sighed. “I’m still on nights. But I can pass them by Lydia before I start. With any luck, I’ll have some answers for you tomorrow.”

  TWENTY-SEVEN

  The Oracle

  DAN BARELY SLEPT THAT NIGHT and when he did it was fitful. Nevertheless, he got up early the next morning and made a big breakfast — scrambled eggs, sausages and pancakes. It was Ked’s last day. Ralph lay at Ked’s feet through the entire meal, as if the suitcases at the front door had alerted him that parting was imminent. Afterward, Dan cleared the dishes while Ked loaded his bags in the car. Then they set off.

  Ked talked excitedly about his upcoming courses, describing professors and other students he was looking forward to seeing again. He mentioned a favourite restaurant on Davie Street. He was upbeat despite leaving his parents and girlfriend behind.

  “It’s only temporary,” he said, more to console himself than Dan. “I’ll be back.”

  He declined to give his father further tips on dating, however. It was as if the subject had been exhausted.

  Ked’s flight left at nine-thirty. When he arrived in Vancouver it would still be morning there, Dan calculated, though it would already be afternoon here in Toronto. Another time zone, another life. And one he knew little of. Elizabeth had declined
to see him off. Not wanting an emotional leave-taking, was his guess. He wasn’t the only one uncomfortable with feelings.

  They said a quick goodbye. Dan hugged his son and watched him disappear through the sliding glass doors, the same doors Elroy James had vanished behind three days earlier.

  He got back in his car and drove north out of the city, keeping the windows rolled up and the AC blasting. Outside, the air was sweltering, fields of corn and cabbages threatening to burst. Summer at its fullest was also summer waiting to catapult into fall, another year coming to an end. And what have I accomplished? Dan wondered. A sense of futility pervaded things.

  He tried Janice’s cellphone to see if they had arrived safely, wherever they were going. He hadn’t asked their destination and she hadn’t volunteered it. The call went straight to voice mail. Out of range, Dan conjectured. Meaning they were likely back in the Bruce Peninsula. Wherever they were, he hoped they were safe.

  After half an hour, he swung the car around in the middle of a deserted stretch of highway and headed back to the city. He hadn’t set foot in his office for nearly a week. Maybe there was something there that could shake him out of his doldrums. In fact, there was, but it wasn’t the kind of shaking he wanted. A notice tacked to the corkboard next to his door announced that the building was being refurbished before being put on the market. That was all he needed. Nick was losing his boss and Dan would soon be losing his home base.

  He’d been calling this office home for four years, but now it was coming to an end. Developers. The profit-takers had caught the scent of a kill. They weren’t in the death throws yet, but it was inherent in new ownership. You didn’t just buy a building. You took it over — girders, beams, roofs — and milked it. You took away what it had been before and made it yours. And no one ever stopped to worry whether the old tenants would be able to afford the new rates. Tant pis. He wasn’t looking forward to moving, but there was no doubt it was coming. Just as Nick would inevitably have a new boss, a changing of the guards. Like it or not.

  At first change happened incrementally, so slowly you could barely see it. Then one day it came on sudden, overwhelming you as you did whatever it took to hold everything in place. He wondered if it had been like that for his father when he sensed his wife’s death approaching, like a giant wave tilting everything around him or flattening it to the ground like a helicopter’s blades on landing.