by J. Valentine
The Murder in Red Arch
An Olivia Guilbault Mystery - Book 1
J. Valentine
Contents
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Afterword
Chapter 1
The harsh winter landscape rushed by Olivia Guilbault as she stared out the window of the passenger train full steamed towards her home town of Red Arch, northern Ontario. She sat in her sleeper cabin of the Canadian Pacific train after solving a case in a town just outside of Toronto that fall. She was satisfied by a job well done, saving the butler from an unearned long time stay in the big house.
Olivia always chose to avoid flying if possible, and the option of taking the century’s old railroad was much preferred. She loved the scenic routes it would take, and the much needed relaxation time the train would offer. She thought back to simpler times when railway travel was preferred by most. Fantasizing about solving a mystery on a train like in the old Agatha Christie novels.
“Coffee or tea dear?” The lounge car attendant offered, after knocking on the small sliding door, awakening Olivia from her fantasy world.
“Coffee please,” Olivia replied, smiling at the kind older woman dressed in her server’s white shirt, black vest, and black pants.
“I’d also just like to say I’m a big fan of your work. You’ve helped a lot of people out there.”
“Oh thank you so much, you’re very kind,” Olivia told the woman, grateful for the compliment. The woman continued on her way down the line serving other passengers.
Olivia was well known in the province. She wrote a successful blog, and would often publish stories, detailing her interesting cases. She was especially famous to anyone working for the railway, as she was such a big proponent of it as a means of quaint transportation.
She opened her laptop thinking to herself that although she is nostalgic for the times she missed, she was grateful for how great modern technology was. The Concerned Citizens of Red Arch Facebook group. Everyone in her little home town knew about it, and knew about her. She was looking forward to spending time with her brother, who seemed to still be stricken with grief after their mother Mary died last year in an unsolved hit and run. Olivia did her best to solve the case, but only ran into dead ends. Maybe one day, she thought.
The group was a great place to catch up on the drama that she loves. After all her work was mostly drama; listening to liars, thief’s, cheating spouses, awful family members, and everything else you can imagine. The Concerned Citizens group was full of every demographic of the town. People would complain about the local government, businesses that treated employees wrong, people in the town committing crimes, schools teaching the children the wrong things “indoctrinating them” they’d say, and of course hilarious and cheeky memes the millennials and gen z’ers would make about the town.
The buzz all seemed to be about a local murder that happened last month, late December. Right before Christmas. The local hospital’s lead psychiatrist had been found dead in the woods north of town, out towards where a lot of families had cabins. Shot, and left there. Evidently the body had been found by a local hunter, and his dog. Poor guy, Olivia thought.
She knew of the psychiatrist in town. She made a few headlines. A former man who transitioned to female. Mark to Maryam. Olivia imagined things must have been rough for Maryam. Not everyone supports that kind of thing nowadays, especially up north, and especially from such a high ranking member of the local medical community. Her wife, and their family were one of the richest in town.
No one has been arrested yet, but everyone seems to think it was Maryam’s daughter’s boyfriend, Barry. Didn’t I go to high school with a Barry, she thought to herself. She wished that people in Red Arch would do a little better, and not spread this kind of gossipy trash. They were awful sometimes, especially to people they thought were committing crimes. She knew the poor guy would be ostracized right now. It would take a lot to redeem his standing in the community if he was innocent. Everyone deserved a fair trial, and everyone deserved a competent defense. Olivia Guilbault held those beliefs tight to her chest, knowing the principles to be true.
Olivia hoped she’d just be visiting her brother after being away for so long, but she had a feeling she’d be roped into this case. She was giddy with excitement.
***
Olivia stepped off the train, onto the platform and admired the scenery of her beautiful home town. A deep dense forest surrounded the area with a road headed into the small northern community. Snow laid like a blanket over the forest floor, bare deciduous trees protruded from the ground, mixed in with beautiful old growth pine trees far too large to fit in anyone’s living room, except for the Griswold’s of course.
Olivia wore her new Canada Goose black parka with a fur lined hood, and Canadian sourced down feathers. An expensive treat for herself that she was very happy with. Her long straightened dark brown hair blended beautifully with the light brown fur on the hood. When she tried it on at the Eaton Center, she was instantly sold. The judgy saleswoman wrapped it up for her with a fake smile.
Looking back, she admired the beauty of the old running train. She took out her notepad and jotted down a quick description of it for her blog:
I arrived on the loan platform of my wonderful home town of Red Arch and looked back to admire the beauty of the locomotive. The silver shined in the sun, and brought out every detail in the intricate polar bear mural painted on it’s side. Families greeted one another and embraced in hugs, lovers kissed, all their arguments and quibbles forgotten in these short moments. I’ll never tire of riding the trains.
It sounded okay, but would need a few more drafts before she hit ‘upload’ on her blog, she thought to herself before being interrupted.
“Olivia!”
A smile came to Olivia’s face upon hearing her brother’s voice. He sat in his old Honda Civic, which had a little too much rust on it, way too many kilometres at 325k, and not enough AC in the summer, and heat in the winter.
“Max! You’re not even going to get out of the car to greet your older sister?” She quipped with her devilish smile.
“I gotta keep the old girl running!” He shouted, climbing over the middle console to exit out the passenger door.
“You really need a new car Max, and I know you can afford it.”
“I promised dad that I’d drive Grace as long as I could. She’s not quite run into the ground yet, still gets me from a to b,” Max explained.
“Well can you at least get her lock repaired? It’s embarrassing watching you climb over the seat!” Olivia laughed. She missed her brother, his quirkiness, and the silly things he would say and do - especially the name of his titanium grey coloured car.
The brother and sister hugged each other. Max fumbled with the lock on the trunk of the car and put his sister’s luggage into it. It took two slams of the tru
nk, but he got it closed, smiling with satisfaction and happiness to see his sister. He’d let himself go a bit since losing their mother. Unshaven with an unkempt scraggly beard, long hair covered by his toque, and his plaid shirt jacket that seemed to have gotten too tight.
“You’re looking like quite the mountain man now, maybe I can give you a haircut and shave later?” She offered, during the drive back home. Olivia had often cut her father’s and brother’s hair while growing up. She had learnt a lot from her mother who worked as a hairdresser for many years before her death.
“Oh that’s okay, I’ve started to like it a bit longer. Makes me look like a real hunter.”
Olivia knew that getting a haircut would be too painful for him right now, he still needed time.
“You know, I kinda like it too,” she smiled at him, “how was the hunt this season, get anything?”
“Moose burgers are in the deep freezer at home Olivia. Our group got one of the biggest bucks in the last decade in the Red Arch region. Hell, maybe all of northern Ontario. I got over 100lbs of meat myself, and same with everyone else in the group.”
Olivia was happy that Max would still hunt. The meat was good, and it helped keep the local fauna population healthy. He was a very ethical hunter, just as their passed away father was. A good teacher to his son.
“Who took the shot?” She asked him.
“John jr., a local First Nations teenager did. Him and his father lead the hunt this year. It was a great time. The stories their people tell at the campfire are incredible.”
Northern Ontario and First Nations communities are very intertwined. The region is pock marked with many different reservations, many of the natives choosing to live and coincide in Red Arch. Olivia and Max grew up with many First Nations, and although racism was prevalent, the Guilbault family was always welcoming and grateful for the diversity. Their uncle taught them a lot about the communities as well, himself being a teacher at one of the reservation’s schools.
“I’m looking forward to it. I always loved yours and dad’s cooking.”
“Yeah I really miss them,” Max said, sadly.
“Me too. So, let’s get into it! What’s new in Red Arch for Max?”
“Oh you know just the usual. Work is going well. I go on dates here and there, but nothing really seems to work out,” he explained.
“Well that’s too bad. Do you still like the remote work?” She asked. Max worked as a programmer for a tech firm in southern Ontario. When their father got cancer, he moved back to Red Arch, and decided to stay permanently.
“I love it. The people here are so much nicer. The community is great.”
There was a moment of silence before he continued, “so I’m sure you’re dying to ask me everything I know about Barry Dillon?” He asked his sister.
Chapter 2
“Tell me everything,” Olivia demanded of her brother.
He laughed and gave a sly smile, knowing how much his sister loved the drama. She turned it into a career after realizing forensic sciences weren’t for her. Olivia had also considered becoming a detective, but the thought of working her way through the political ladder of a police department sickened her. She wanted to work, right away, so following in her father’s private investigator footsteps was definitely the right career path for her.
“Well,” Max put the car in gear and they were off towards his inherited familial home. There was light snowfall on the icy road. Olivia felt at home, driving on the icy bumpy roads, the slight slide of the tires on each winding turn. “Everyone’s convinced it was Barry Dillon. Do you remember him from high school?”
“Vaguely, I can’t quite place him though.”
“He was one of the kids who kind of hung out with everyone, but had no real tight knit friend group,” he explained.
Olivia put a finger to her lip, and thought that perhaps she was one of these people as well. Maybe Barry and her had more in common, she considered. “I need more than that, Max.”
“Uhh, let me think. He was in band. Played percussion.”
“It’s too hard to place. I wonder if mom and dad kept my old yearbooks. Maybe we can find an old picture of him at the house.”
“Yeah that’s a good idea.”
“Anyways. Why is everyone so convinced it was him?” She asked him.
“The inheritance…”
“What inheritance?”
“Well everyone knows Maryam Cartwright made a significant amount of money, and was one of the most well off people in Red Arch. But I don’t think anyone realized just how smart she was with that money. No one knows the exact amount, but she left Barry possibly millions of dollars in her will. No one knows exactly why, and evidently no one knew about it before her death. When Maryam’s body was found, shortly after Barry and Layla,”
“Layla?” Olivia interrupted her brother’s explanation.
“Layla was Maryam’s daughter. Barry and her were in a relationship, but broke up. A little after the split, Maryam’s body was found, and the allegations started flying,” Max finished.
“What do you think about all this?” Olivia asked her brother.
“I don’t know. You know better than anyone.. anyone is capable of murder in the right circumstances.”
“Are you quoting my blog?” Olivia smiled.
“Of course not! What kind of little brother would I be if I read everything you wrote?” He punched her arm.
“The supportive kind,” she said, punching his arm back.
There was a pause in the conversation before Olivia continued, “How do you know so much about this anyways?”
“You’re not the only one who thrives on gossip Olivia. Besides, you know how small towns can be.”
“I thought I was going to be relaxing on this “vacation,” but I have a strong suspicion I’m going to get roped into this case somehow,” she smiled.
“Yeah and we all know how much you’d hate that,” Max laughed.
They continued down the winding roads. Olivia was grateful at how careful Max was driving her.
“New tires?” She asked him.
“Yes ma’am, every five years.”
“You’re telling me this car has seen four different sets of winter tires now?” Olivia laughed.
“Another lesson from dad. Shoes, tires, and your bed. Don’t cheap out on anything that connects you to the ground.”
“He definitely taught you well.”
The car slowed down, and Olivia looked up from her phone to see a group of kids moving their hockey net out of the street for them to pass. I missed this. The short drive from the train platform continued before they came to the bottom of a large hill. Max down shifted, and they made their way up the well plowed driveway that he had clearly cleared this morning in anticipation of her arrival. They passed Max’s new ATV with a snow covered plow attachment on the front, confirming Olivia’s suspicion.
***
The house was just as she’d remembered it. Deep red bricks, a strong foundation with windows peering into the basement, large ‘almost’ floor to ceiling windows with black exterior trim matching the dark wood door, and a beautiful chimney leading from the beautiful fireplace in the main living room. They parked outside close to the door, instead of pulling into the detached garage, built by their father when they were kids.
There was a lot of money in Red Arch. The main town was centered around many other smaller villages, like a cluster of small islands, each one closer to a different mine. Hence the name “Arch” short for archipelago. Cobalt, diamonds, chromite, and gold. People from all over the country would fly in, work in the mines for a few years to make enough money for a down payment on a house, or any other thing they may need to make that kind of money for. A hundred thousand dollar year was common for someone just starting out.
Not many people would stick around after a five year stint in the mines, so real estate prices were always affordable. The people who did stick around and work in the community usually ended
up pretty well off. Olivia’s parents could afford a home this beautiful on a hairdresser and private investigator salary.
The richness of the city would always bring darkness with it as well. Drugs, theft, burglary, gangs, and especially adultery were common in the town. The mines mostly had men coming for fly in work, throwing off the male/ female ratio in the town. The women had every opportunity to cheat on their husbands when they went underground for two weeks in the mines, and there were plenty of people only in town for a few years. No strings attached. A private investigator’s dream.
Olivia wasn’t all that interested in catching cheating spouses though. She did it much more in her early private investigating days. The money was good, and it taught her a lot about human nature. Nowadays she was much more interested in a higher class of crime. Murder.
“You haven’t said anything in a while Olivia, you seem deep in thought.”
“Things have always been crazy in this town, haven’t they Max?”
“Well.. mine work just isn’t natural. People work underground for two weeks at a time, they come up changed. Just look at the suicide rate of the town,” Max sighed. They’ve both had friends lose their parents growing up.
“You know Maryam’s salary was public? I just found it on my phone, $400,000 a year,” Olivia looked to her brother.
“It makes sense. With the high town suicide rate, I’d imagine we have a high amount of psychiatric patients as well. The hospital would need someone as intelligent as her leading the department.”
“Yeah I guess you’re right,” she agreed.
“Why are you even looking up that information Olivia? You haven’t even been hired to work this case, and you’re already investigating. I thought you came here to relax,” he winked.
Oliva stepped out of the car, and laughed as Max worked his way over the middle console of the beat up Honda, and exited the passenger side.
“I tried looking for Barry’s facebook, but I guess he set all his socials to private since the accusations started.”
