A Kayak for One Page 12
Joe was likely at the hospital. There was the autopsy to do on Lori if he didn't already do it yesterday. Either way he would be busy with the police and reports just as she should be. Come on girl, she thought, you didn't get this far in life by sitting around.
Chapter 41
Bob
Bob turned on his laptop and went through the pictures one at time again. He was getting excited. No one knew he had it in him. He didn't know he did. What he did know for sure was that he would keep at it.
Chapter 42
Charlene
"Hey Staff. Hold onto those glasses Jack Porter turned in to you. I just found out Lori wore glasses and we didn't find any with her or in cottage #2, or in her car," Sarah said to Charlene over the phone.
"You're too late Sarah. A woman called from the landing about the glasses. The radio station put it out on the air pretty fast after I called. Some young woman thought they might be hers. She drove in about half an hour ago and described them to me so I took them over to her. She said she was on the lake with a friend and they stopped at an island to swim and forgot her glasses there. She said she had no idea where she left them until she heard the radio bit," Charlene explained.
"Shit, shit, shit. I was hoping they would be Lori's."
"You looked everywhere I guess around the canoe rack too, right?"
"Um yeah. Of course we did Staff. What do you take me for? I know I'm not a big city detective like you were, but I did remember to look 'everywhere' by the canoe rack."
"Sorry Sarah. It slipped out. Are you coming over? Late lunch?" Charlene offered as a way of apology.
"No. I'm too busy here at the station going over the interviews we did. By the way we are finished with the kayak and it is yours. Your name is inside the hatch at the back. I'm guessing it's your paddle too since you have the same one and it was in your kayak. Can you come get it from the station? Officer Miller only has a car or I would send it with her when she relieves James. Oh, he has a truck. I can get him to drive his truck to your place next shift out there and throw, I mean, nicely stow it in the back."
Charlene heard the smile in Sarah's voice and knew her apology was accepted. She reminded herself her policing days were over and to butt out.
"Well, I won't be using it much since I'm really busy with guests and Thanksgiving and then close-up. If James could bring it anyway I would still like to try to get out on the water."
"Brr. It's got to be really hot for me to be out on the water. You know me and boats anyway," Sarah said.
Charlene knew full well Sarah did not like to be on a boat. The pontoon boat was tolerable for her since she could just walk on and off the deck. Sarah told her she was afraid of being in a boat and tipping over. When she was a teenager her best friend's Dad took them out in his small boat. When her friend was overzealous in reaching over the side of the boat to feel the water, the fishing boat tipped over to the side quickly and Sarah's friend fell into the water just as quickly while the motor was still going. She got caught up in the propeller and died. Sarah said she still has nightmares about that day.
"Where could Lori's glasses be?" Sarah wondered. "I have a feeling that the glasses could be a key to finding the crime scene."
"I don't think I ever saw Lori with glasses," Charlene said.
"Ashley brought it up in her interview. She told me Lori was wearing glasses the night the students went to the Black Cat pub. I can't remember off-hand how that topic came up, but I think she was just telling me how good Lori looked and how happy she looked at the pub and that she was glad. She said Greg was a dick so she was glad to see Lori sprucing herself up for the pub night, and how she looked different when she wore her hair down and wore her glasses."
"Did she give you a description of Lori's glasses?"
"Yeah. She said they were purple or something."
"The glasses Jack found were purple too. I guess that's a popular colour now," Charlene said.
"I'll see if Ashley or any of the other students have a picture of Lori on their cell from the pub night so I can get a look at her glasses. I'll let you know so you can keep a heads up out there for me if you see them around the resort or someone turns them in."
"Okay Sarah. Hey, have you had a chance to talk to Sam or Joe?"
"Sam yes Joe no. Sam told me pretty much what you told me he told you. I'm not buying it Charlene but I will have to talk to Joe for sure as soon as possible. I left a message on his office voice mail and cell and sent an officer to his house but he wasn't around. Don't give him a heads up."
"What do you take me for? I know I wasn't some provincial-wide hotshot detective, but I do know what I'm doing."
Charlene smiled at the click on the other end of the phone. She had spent enough time on the phone anyway and had work to do. The couple for cottage # 4 would be coming any minute. As she hung up the phone, the landing phone rang, and she went out to the boat to go over to get them.
Chapter 43
Dan
Professor Bowen thought there was something different about the way Ashley had been behaving for the last few days. Sure there was the murder of her classmate and cottage-mate, but for some reason that tragedy seemed to have the opposite effect on her. She looked more at peace and was getting along better with everyone, including him. She engaged in discussions at the Inco presentation at one of their biggest mining sites. Vale Canada he guessed he should remember to call the place since the Brazilians took over in 2006 and the mining operations first became known as Vale Inco then now Vale Canada. She even smiled at him ever so slightly, but it was a smile, and his first thought was that her devious little mind was up to something. He wondered if she concocting some exaggerated version of the fire pit situation just for spite. As he looked at her longer, however, her expression didn't seem to fit what he was thinking about her.
The course was still up and running thank God, he thought. If the university cut the field trip it wouldn't take long before his job would be under the microscope and with fewer students enrolling in geology overall, he may find himself out of work with a monthly divorce payment to make. He would have to move from St. Catherines and hand his resume out in the field and at his age the chance of getting a job would be next to nil. The police all over the resort everyday made all of them nervous, him especially. He didn't tell that detective what was going on between him and Ashley. She pushed him hard about his relationship with Lori though. He said little and what he did say was nothing that could get him into trouble. Greg was probably high on their list of suspects out of the whole group. Who knew that he and Lori were having a relationship? How did he miss that? He figured it was because Lori was so quiet in class that he didn't really know much about her personal life nor did he care...until he saw her at the pub. Wow. What a beauty.
Chapter 44
Charlene
Charlene got the young couple settled with the payment of the cottage and after explaining that they could use the canoe during the afternoons but had to dock it at the Porter's dock after use and leave everything clean, they grabbed the life jackets and boat emergency kit Charlene gave them and ran out of the office, both beaming at the free use of the canoe. They made it to the Porter's dock and back to the office within minutes looking for paddles. Charlene had forgotten to get them sized up for the paddles in the office. The Porter's had expensive ones and didn't want to lend them out. It always surprised Charlene that people had no idea that paddles had to be a good individual fit. Most people thought any paddle would do. She explained that the handle of the paddle should come to the armpit as a guideline for size, but also told them that some people prefer them a bit shorter or longer depending on comfort when paddling. They tried various sizes and decided they would come back to the office and switch paddles if needed. They raced out to the Porter's dock once again.
Charlene went over the guests and what they were doing. The professor and the students were still in Sudbury and not expected back until about 7:00 o'clock because of their crammed schedule.
The guests in cottage #4 had a canoe in case they wanted back over to their car. The Porters had the rental fishing boat so they could get over to the landing. Sam was painting the trim on cottage #3 since Ashley was gone and couldn't say Sam was peaking in on her while on the ladder painting the window trim.
Charlene remembered along discussion in the office when a woman came in to complain that Sam had been a Peeping Tom. Charlene tried to convince her that he was just painting but the woman would have none of it so she made sure there was no window frame painting while guests were in the cottage. She smiled remembering that the whole time the woman was yelling about the intrusion on her privacy, Charlene was thinking it was more fanciful wishing on her part that Sam be looking at her through the window.
Sam knew to take a canoe if he decided he had enough painting and wanted to head home to his kids if Charlene was out. Charlene would just put it on the pontoon boat and bring it back. He had keys to the office so he could grab a paddle and life jacket if it was locked. James was on police duty stationed over at the canoe rack at the picnic table. He knew he could come in and use the bathroom in the office if he needed to and find Sam if it was locked. There was shade he could get into and it was another gorgeous fall day.
The art show would be on in the village up the highway. Artists gathered at the community centre the last week-end of September each year and set up booths to sell their works of art. That attracted a lot of people into the area to the festival and they put their boats and canoes onto the lake or hiked out in the woods among the quartzite rocks and pine trees to try their own hand at creating what Charlene though could never be replicated. The natural beauty was satisfying enough to her.
She thought back to guests who were part of some church group and rented cottage #1 for a week-end during the fall colour peak a few years ago. They asked about hiking trails and she explained the trail that was really just the deer run through the back forest behind the resort, but since it meandered up the high hills, there were quite spectacular views from the summit along the white and pink quartzite rocks. Charlene told them to follow the trail tape she tied around branches at intervals to keep the guests on her property and gave them a printed map of the trails. The group of six young men and women went off toward the trail excited and chatty and came back into the office a couple hours en mass. They said they must have been lost or the map was wrong or something because they couldn't see any spectacular view. They said all they saw were rocks and trees and the lake below. Charlene remembered that she almost laughed thinking it was a joke, then realized they were serious. They really didn't get it. They didn't see the forest for the trees. She remembered thinking as well that since they were religious they would especially understand the spirituality of nature itself and be able to appreciate its beauty. Man, oh man she thought, as she gazed at the colours of the trees around the shoreline through the office window. She was glad she got it.
She realized she better head over to talk to Officer Edwards to let him know that she was going to be away from the resort for a bit and if he needed to get over to the landing he could just find Sam and he could take him over in the fishing boat Charlene kept at the dock for her own use or a quick rental.
The police boat had been pulled off the lake since Charlene agreed to be the ferry service for the police for a nice fat fee to end the season with extra income. All her other fishing boats, except for the one the Porters were using, were pulled onto shore. Insurance wouldn't cover them if they were just sitting in the water, so she had to pull them in and out after each rental. It was a lot of work to keep seven boats at the ready but it was good rental income and most of the summer all the boats were rented out. Return guests knew to book the boat in advance and pay the 50 per cent deposit on it along with the deposit on the cottage rental when they phoned in their reservation plans.
First though, she needed food and she would share with James too. Peanut butter sandwiches were not enough to get a young man through a 12 hour shift, and knowing him and what he said about Tracy, that was likely all that was in his cooler. She went out back and picked a few sweet yellow tomatoes that were still in the garden at the back of one of the outbuildings facing south. She saw that there was a small hole in the chicken wire she had all around the slats she made into a garden box. The bears, rabbits and deer roamed the resort and she learned the first year that her vegetables were a tasty meal for the animals along with most of her hostas and flowers that she planted in the garden beds around the front of the house and office.
She put her soup pot on the stove and added the tomatoes, a bit of water, garlic, lots of black pepper, and torn up bits of fresh summer savoury and chives she cut from the garden. She added frozen corn, chopped sweet onion and a handful of green lentils. She threw in a blob of butter and turned the stove up while she got changed to go out. Work clothes were good for around the resort, but Charlene liked to put on her "going to town clothes" before heading off the property.
She had noticed the red light on the office phone blinking when she was getting the paddles for the guests. After they left the office, Charlene checked her messages and there was one from Joe. He said he had to leave town suddenly and would call her later. His plan for dinner with Charlene that night was not going to happen.
Chapter 45
Bob
Bob closed his laptop, feeling again the rush of excitement when he looked at the pictures. He wished the police would get off the resort property. He noticed the police woman looking over at his deck suddenly a few times. She may have caught him with the binoculars. He had to put them down while she was on duty and he got antsy when he couldn't look over. The male officer was on duty today though, so he risked putting the powerful lens to his eyes. He thought the police must be pretty certain that no one at the resort was the main suspect or why else would they let the students move about so freely and he noticed new guests checked into cottage #4. They wouldn't let the resort operate like normal if they suspected someone there would they? He didn't really know. Other than a date at court for trespassing when he was 16 he kept himself under the police radar all these years. When he was taking a shortcut along the rail line to school he got caught by some rail officer and had to go to court. Bob also did a lot of drinking and driving in his days like a lot of people his age, with one for the road, literally, but managed to make it home without getting stopped. He knew better than to drink and drive now though. He saw Charlene get on the pontoon boat. She looked up quickly as she was untying the lines from the dock. Shit. He put the binoculars down.
Chapter 46
Charlene
Charlene turned off Highway 6 to the dirt road into the small village. She felt a bit on edge. What was that flash of light she saw out of the corner of her eye while at the dock? She had seen it before a few times. She made a mental note to call the optometrist when she got home and get her eyes checked. She'd heard about that condition where people see flashes of vertical light when they turned their head quickly. Had the flash of light caused her to turn her head or did she turn her head quickly and that caused the flash? She couldn't remember. She smiled to herself as she thought that at her age she couldn't remember a lot of things. Menopause had its drawbacks and keeping stuff in her head for any length of time seemed to be one of them. She and Patty laughed about the trials of getting older every time they got together. Sarah poked fun at the two of them but they both knew Sarah would get it in another 10 years or sooner when she starting getting hot flushes, night sweats, little sleep and couldn't remember anything if it wasn't written down. Ah, youth, Charlene thought. Though as much as there was tribulation in getting older, she wouldn't wish to repeat the angst that came with youth either.
She got out of her car at the cluster of mail boxes to get her mail. It was only a 10 minute drive from home. Sometimes she walked to get her mail along the old rail line that ran from up behind her parking lot past Miner's Village and along the highway to the small village where there was a convenience s
tore and gas pump. She couldn't do that with guests at the resort though. It took a couple of hours to get there and back when she walked. She walked to the Black Cat pub in the village a few times during off season to have their delicious wings so she could walk them off on the way home.
Charlene could smell food. She realized she was getting hungry. The soup was good but she only had a small mug as she caught up on some office work before leaving. James was working on his second bowl when she left him at the picnic table.
The community centre across from the mail boxes was humming with activity. The banner was up for the art show and there were tables and canopies set up outside as well as inside. Cars were already lined up along the quaint country road and the festival had just started. She saw people setting up speakers under a tent and a few men and women with guitars milling about and arranging chairs in front of what looked like a small stage. Music was a new addition to the art show. Charlene guessed that like most festivals, the organizers had to try different things to draw in the crowd and keep them there. She didn't like the way small art shows or markets became so obviously commercial. Sure hawberry jam from Manitoulin Island was expected to be marketed locally for the tourists who traveled through Highway 6 from the island to the Trans-Canada highway or the other way to the Chi-Cheemun ferry crossing at South Baymouth across the Georgian Bay waters to Tobermory. The jam and the historical swing bridge at the Little Current end of Manitoulin Island were a few of the tourist must-dos. Hawberry jam was sold at most trading posts in the area, a unique berry found on the island that helped stave off scurvy in the past, supplying the much needed vitamin C to the residents. Charlene learned this after she moved to the resort. She also learned that people born on Manitoulin Island were called Haweaters. She was given a Haweater coin by the young couple in cottage #4 last year as a token of their appreciation as a tip she guessed. The one dollar token coin was minted from 1969 to 2001 and depicted the many festivals and touristy things to do on the island. But she wondered what a booth selling tee shirts made in India with "I'M WITH STUPID" printed on the front and an arrow pointed to the side, had to do with art.