A Kayak for One Read online

  "I was around the bend up that way." He pointed and James saw that he meant the bay away from the cottage toward the wider section of the lake.

  "Then you went the other way some time," James said.

  "What do you mean?" he asked.

  "Well you pointed that way but the resort parking lot is the other way."

  "Oh yeah. I went that way later," Bob said, looking out over the deck and not at James.

  "Can you show me your boat?"

  "Why?"

  "I'm just checking all the boats on the lake, so if you don't mind..."

  "Okay whatever," Bob said as he turned and walked down the deck steps toward the dock.

  James followed him, careful not to walk right into him on the path. The guy had a limp and moved pretty slow. He noticed the fishing boat had seen better days.

  "Well that's an old one isn't it?" James asked.

  He noticed the guy was looking at the police boat tied up at his dock.

  "Not that one, your boat," he said.

  "Oh. Yeah. It came with the place."

  "How does the motor run?"

  "Pretty good for an old one. It needs to be warmed up before it gets going. It coughs a bit at first...like me," he said, coughing a dry smoker's chest cough in James' direction.

  "Johnson's are pretty good, aren't they?" James said, trying to get the guy to talk a bit.

  "I guess. It's the first boat I've owned so I don't know," he said. "What's with all the questions anyway?"

  "You've got a nice view from here too. I noticed you have a good lake view from the deck. Did you see a young woman on the shore across the lake or in a boat or kayak yesterday while you were out in your boat or when you were out on your deck?"

  "Why?"

  "We're investigating a murder. A young woman staying at the resort was found dead yesterday afternoon at the resort. She has, had, long red hair," James corrected himself.

  Was he supposed to tell the guy all that? He felt way out of his depth talking to this guy. He practised asking questions with Tracy. She usually just laughed at his interrogations but it was helpful to him to do it out loud. He had some basic training but hadn't been on any in depth interview courses yet. Sarah said she'd recommend that he go to the next one coming up at Police College. Now though, he was practically winging it and he felt sick that he was messing up. Ms. Parker told him once to talk as if he was just having a conversation. He took a deep breath hoping the guy didn't notice, and plodded on.

  "We are canvassing all the neighbours and cottagers on the lake to see if they saw the young woman out on the lake or anywhere in the area really, yesterday after about 1:00 o'clock yesterday afternoon. So I was wondering if you saw her."

  "How old was she?" Bob asked the officer.

  "She was in her early 20s," James answered still unsure if that was appropriate to information to pass on.

  "If she was staying at the resort was she one of the students? I know there are two girls in the group." He stopped and as if he sensed what James was thinking then carried on, "Everyone around here knows the students are at the resort. I see them going across the lake on the pontoon boat to their van and sometimes see them climbing up the rock face along the highway."

  "Yes she was a student," James said.

  "I was never close enough to tell what they looked like, but one girl had long hair, but I thought it was dark brown. I don't know what colour hair the other girl had."

  James remembered the hat found in Lori's bedroom in the cottage. He thought he better keep that information to himself. Then he wondered how this guy knew the colour of Ashley's hair if he didn't get close enough. He looked back over the lake toward the resort and thought he would never be able to tell what colour hair anyone had from this distance. Maybe he noticed the hair colour when he saw the group along the highway or something.

  "If that's all officer, I'll get back to my coffee. I'm sorry to hear about the death of the girl," he said.

  "Okay thanks. If you remember something about seeing anybody with her or anything like that, here's my card, you can give me a call and leave a message if I'm not there."

  James passed Bob his card.

  "Yeah okay, but I doubt it," he said as he turned to go back up the path to the cottage.

  Officer Edwards turned to get into the police boat. As he untied the line he noticed bits of blue strands caught in the rough boards of the dock. He bent down to pick a few pieces up and put them in his pocket.

  Chapter 37

  Charlene

  Charlene got the sheets from the linen closet in the storage room and put them in the laundry basket on the long work table. Sarah told her it would be okay to have the guests come to cottage #4 tomorrow. She said the area in front of cottage #1 and the canoe rack would be still taped off so no one could be there though. Charlene wondered how she was going to get a canoe for the young couple to use for their week-end. Then she remembered the Porters brought their canoe with them and thought she would ask them if she could rent it from them. That would be a first. A resort owner renting a canoe from a guest. Now though, it would be good to get the cottage ready.

  Charlene added clean pillow cases, toilet paper, a dish cloth and tea towel, a shower mat, a small wrapped soap for the bathroom, and a stack of coffee filters to the basket. She grabbed a set of freshly filled salt and pepper shakers, a package of coffee, an old creamer and one of the small baskets from the storage shelf. She had already cleaned the cottage after the last guests, but wasn't sure if more guests would be using the cottage before she closed the resort, so she didn't stock up the cottage after she cleaned. This time of year she didn't like the sheets sitting on the beds anyway in case the cooler nights got them damp feeling.

  Charlene used to make the beds for the guests for the first season then smartened up and put the folded linen on top of a folded blanket at the end of the beds that she made up with the new bedspreads she bought for all the cottages. It was just too much work and most cottages resorts she had stayed at before she bought Kirk Lake Camp didn't even provide the sheets. She knew that these days a lot of tourists preferred to stay just a few nights and didn't want to have to pack sheets. Besides, a lot of her guests flew into Canada from other countries. It just wasn't practicable to pack linen in luggage.

  She walked to the small cottage set close to the lake and stopped mid-way savouring the smell coming from the pine needles that were all over the ground. The sun heated the needles up and the scent was heavenly to her. She was careful to step over the exposed roots of the trees on the ground. She noticed she would have to repair a small tear in the screen in the door to the porch. Not a week went by when she didn't have to fix a screen. This time it looked like a fishing rod tip might have poked through the screen. She didn't notice it when she cleaned the cottage last time, but that didn't surprise her. The little tears were hard to see sometimes. She went into the porch and opened the door leading into the tiny living room of the cottage. She loved the smell inside the cottage too. Each cottage had a different smell even though she cleaned them all the same. It was the kind of wood cupboards or furniture or type of trees just outside the cottages that made each one unique.

  Charlene put the sheets on the end of the beds. Though she was pretty sure the couple would sleep in one bed, they were paying for two bedrooms so they got two sets of linens. She set the basket on the middle of the table and put the salt and pepper shakers inside with the one complimentary coffee package beside them. She set the antique creamer in the basket. She would go out tomorrow and pick some wild flowers to put in the vase just before the guests arrived. She put the coffee filters upside down on top of the drip coffee maker on the counter beside the sink. She hoped the guests read the note she had laminated and affixed to the cupboard that told them to use the filters and throw the coffee grinds out instead of putting them down the drain. The septic system would last longer if they followed her request. A lot of city people just didn't know enough about living in the woods a
nd septic systems were beyond their interest. Charlene had to be interested though. Plumbers were expensive and she had to call the local company a few times. She smiled as she thought of the apprentices having to go down into the holding tank to fix the pump. It seemed they were all slim and she wondered if this was by design so the older, more experienced plumbers didn't have to go into the septic mess.

  The dish cloth was set folded near the tap and Charlene hung the tea towel on the small rod fixed to the wall just below the cupboard. They matched the dark green colour scheme of the little kitchen. Charlene was pleased with the green and white checked table cloth she made for the table. She had a collection of antique creamers that came with the resort. Some were part of a set with a sugar bowl but most were not. She liked filling them with flowers for an old-fashioned added touch that most guests said they appreciated. This one was white with a bright yellow flower painted on the side. If the guests were not allergic to Goldenrod, the tops of the weed would look good in the creamer she thought.

  She put the soap at the side of the sink in the bathroom. She opened the shower curtain and checked the shower for any new spider webs. Seeing none, Charlene closed them and hung the shower mat over the top of the shower. That too matched the colour scheme. Some curtains had prints with bears, some with fish and this one had a print of wildflowers against the dark green fabric. She put the extra toilet paper on the shelf below the sink. She only provided one roll usually, but if someone was staying for just a few days she put enough in the cottage for the stay. Guests who stayed for the week had to bring their own toilet paper and food. Charlene shuddered at the idea of running a cottage resort with a restaurant. It was hard work enough having self-catered cottages never mind having to cook as well.

  As she was checking the cottage to see if she missed anything, she thought about the quiet boat ride over to the parking lot earlier. Greg and Peter stood their usual sturdy-leg pose, but had their backs to the rest of the group. Haiden sat beside Ashley as usual, but Ashley didn't even try to hide what seemed to Charlene to be disgust at his puppy adoration. The professor didn't sit in his usual chair at the front. He stood beside Charlene as she drove them over. Sarah and Officer Miller were at the front of the boat so that could explain that. It seemed he wanted protection from the situation. Only Wendy and Sarah said thanks and goodbye to Charlene. No one else said a word. Sarah looked over her shoulder when the others were walking to the van and gave Charlene a tired smile.

  Charlene took the empty basket back into the storage room and realized she was hungry. She only had one cup of coffee. She never did make the second pot after Officer Edwards left to go across the lake and Sarah left to talk to the Porters and Ashley. She didn't feel like making more coffee now though. She needed food. James was sitting outside at the picnic table in charge of the taped off area. She saw that he had his head down and it looked like he had his cell phone in his hand, probably texting Tracy. It was hit and miss to make phone calls from anywhere on the property, but cell coverage for texting was good enough outside most of the time. She noticed a tarp had been draped over the top of the canoe rack as well as the sides, covering the rack completely. She didn't disturb him, but went up to the kitchen to make some lunch.

  There was some stew left, but Sarah probably would be back and probably would want to eat the rest. She didn't cook at all and thought all meals should come from the freezer section and heated up in a microwave. Patty was the cook in that household, but these were her days to be on the road. Charlene took an apple, a sweet potato, an onion, and the remains of a red pepper from the fridge. She cut them all up and put the chunks into a big pot and added some water. She added lots of fresh ground black pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper powder. She turned on the stove and put the lid on. She would cook up the vegetables then mash them and add a bit of milk and butter. James would likely want some of the soup when it was ready. She looked in the fridge and saw she had a little bit of plain yogurt left. That would be good as a dollop on top of the soup to cut through the hot pepper taste.

  She moved around the kitchen and living room tidying up after the police officers. The bathroom was spotless so Sarah obviously cleaned up after herself. It was nice to have Sarah stay over. Who knew what the killer's intentions were. Was Lori targeted? Was it chance and opportunity and it could have been anyone stuffed into her kayak? It could have been her. She didn't really think so though. She thought that because she was older the killer may not have been interested in her. That's just stupid, she thought. That's not the way murder works and she should know better. She did know better.

  When Sarah came over earlier to the office to say she was ready for Charlene to take them all over to the parking lot, Charlene asked about Mr. and Mrs. Peterson and how they were taking the death of their only child. Sarah told her police in Sudbury helped them out by going to the Peterson's house and breaking the awful news. The parents were on their way to the morgue at the Espanola hospital to officially identify their daughter. That would be heart-wrenching.

  It made Charlene think of her police case when a man was found by hikers at the bottom of the Devil's Punch Bowl, a curved section of the Niagara Escarpment along the top of the mountain in Hamilton. The hikers were not at the bottom, but on the top, the ridge not barred by a barrier. There was a fence near the parking lot but it was an old wood split-rail fence that seemed to merely suggest that people should not go past it.

  Charlene and her partner, the senior detective of the team, were dispatched to the scene after the beat patrol officer arrived on scene and knew a body meant CID should be in charge. He was experienced enough to not allow any on-lookers and the area was taped off upon their arrival. It was a warmish spring day, but Charlene had her long suit coat on in anticipation for the cool evening to come. She and her partner walked to the rim of the escarpment and looked down. The vertigo or whatever it was hit her hard. She had to grab her partner's arm and quickly tell him to stop. Charlene felt like a vacuum was sucking her closer to the edge and she felt she would just jump over the edge. The only way to stop the feeling was to step back a few paces and wait until her heart beat returned to normal. She had never experienced that before. She got close enough though to see what looked like a body splayed on a ridge almost at the bottom of the gorge. Her partner took a closer look and he thought it was a body for sure but it was too far down to know whether it was a man or a woman. He led Charlene back away from the ridge, sensitive to her plight, and they walked over to the couple in their twenties who had been out for a walk around the top of the escarpment, obviously not suffering from standing so close to the edge, but suffering because of what they had discovered. They were leaning against the patrol officer's car. They told them that they also found clothes at the top of ridge. Charlene and her partner left the officer, notebook in hand, to get the details from the couple, and walked to the ridge at the centre of the bowl. Clothes were folded neatly. Socks, underwear, jeans, a button-down long-sleeved shirt, and a light windbreaker. Between the folds of the clothes were lined note paper filled with what appeared to be poetry that included lots of lines about flying and freedom. There were no shoes.

  The only way to get to the body was by way of rappelling equipment and that meant the fire department. Six firefighters arrived and they hooked up the lines and safety harnesses around two of them and using pulleys, they descended with a basket large enough for a person to fit inside. It was terrifying to watch, but more terrifying for the firefighters since they had not used the equipment in a real life situation before. No one could be sure if the person was still alive. Though it was technically a rescue operation, they all believed it was a recovery mission.

  The faces of the firefighters as they ascended with the body of a man in the basket told it all. He was dead. His naked body was lifted onto a tarp the beat officer got from the trunk of his car in preparation. He used his cruiser, with the plain door car Charlene and her partner drove, to block the body from any onlookers while awaitin
g the arrival of the coroner. The firefighters and police officers stood quietly in a circle around the body at the centre. His head was severely misshapen, likely from the impact of the fall.

  Charlene and her partner had a name and address from the identification in the pocket of the folded jeans and went to the apartment. The landlord let them in where they found the walls covered in script, poetry and lists of names, and beautifully done sketches of nature with the main them of eagles. Notes were scattered everywhere in the tiny messy apartment. An address book was found and a man's name with same surname and his address were on the inside cover. They drove to the house and the man who answered the door looked similar to the dead man. His wife came to the door and invited them in. They had to tell them the body of a man had been found and they believed he was related to him. It turned out it was the man's younger brother.

  They learned the dead man suffered from schizophrenia and had a difficult life from age 20 to 26, the age he breathed his last breath. The older brother said he would drive his own car to the morgue to identify the body. He did not want them to drive him and he did not want his wife to go with him. Charlene remembered how she and her partner were concerned about him because he was showing very little emotion at the news that it was likely his brother in the morgue.