Closing Time
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“Thanks for coming,” said Clark. “We’re asking everyone about their interactions with Rachel.”
“Yeah. Still having trouble believing she’s gone.” Neal kept his eyes on the ball cap. He inhaled loudly and let his breath out slowly. “What do you want to know?”
“What was your relationship like?”
“She was a sweet kid. Hard-working.”
“Were you friends?”
“Friends?” For a moment he looked bewildered. “She was too young to be my friend, and she was an employee. I liked talking to her, though. She had a good sense of humour.”
Kala hadn’t heard this said about Rachel by anyone else, but she was beginning to understand that Rachel revealed different bits of herself to different people. She wasn’t unusual in this regard. It was a rare person who consistently reacted the same to everyone — who let everyone inside.
Clark looked at Kala and she took the cue. “Were you romantically involved with her?” she asked.
Neal’s face flushed crimson. “Has somebody suggested that?” he asked.
“Not you with Rachel, specifically, but we have to ask.”
He muttered something under his breath. “No, I never had sex with that girl. I’m not the one who should be ashamed.”
“What do you mean? Who should be ashamed?” Kala willed him to keep talking, but he’d clamped his lips together and refused to say anything more. The silence stretched uncomfortably until Clark broke the impasse.
“Can you tell us about the last night Rachel worked here?”
Neal’s shoulders relaxed and Kala thought Clark might have let him off the hook too soon. “I was fishing all day with some tourists and got to the restaurant halfway through supper. You were there with your kid,” he said to Kala. “I said hello to everyone, but didn’t stay long. I was whacked from being outdoors all day. I turned in early.”
“When did Martha get home?”
“That I couldn’t tell you. I slept straight through.”
“Did you hear her come to bed?”
He looked back at his ball cap. “No, I slept in the other room.”
“Do you usually sleep in the other room?”
“Not always.”
Clark stared at him a moment longer before beginning on a new tact. “Did Rachel spend time with anyone else at the lodge?”
“She talked to everyone. This isn’t exactly a big city. She didn’t argue or seem at odds with anyone though. I have no idea why somebody would kill her. Doesn’t make sense.”
Kala listened for a false note in his voice and couldn’t be certain that he was being as forthright as he’d have them believe.
Clark waited a few more beats. “Okay, Neal. That’ll do for the time being, unless you have something else to tell us about Rachel.”
“Nothing I can think of right now.”
“Well, when you do, we’re ready to listen. Can you send Martha in for a chat?”
A troubled expression crossed Neal’s face before he picked up his ball cap and swung it onto his head. “I’ll let her know,” he said. “She’s probably finishing up in the cabins.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Martha set the basket of dirty sheets on the bottom step and rubbed her lower back. She took a moment’s rest and turned around to soak in the view of the lake. The sky was a bowl of cloudless blue and the sun, while warm, had the late-summer hint of autumn. In a normal year, she and Neal would be getting the lodge ready to close for the season. Rachel’s death had put everything up in the air. She was ready for the break but knew she’d miss being at the lodge by December. What will happen next year?
She doubted that Shane and Petra would return. Neal was another question mark. Her chest hurt at the thought of separating. Her head ached at the idea of being on her own. She heard him walking down the path before he came into view. He was wearing his favourite black ball cap and had his head down. He didn’t see her at first and she drank in the sight of him like an addict long denied. When he raised his head he didn’t smile, but he didn’t look away either.
“The cops are ready for you in the main lodge,” he said. He added after a pause, “They’re on a fishing expedition.”
“Okay. Thanks for the heads-up.” She smiled at him, trying to find a softening in his armour, but he turned and started walking into the shadows cast by the trees along the path. The desperation she’d come to breathe in and out like oxygen filled her lungs. We can’t end like this. I know you still care for me. For one confused moment she thought she’d screamed the words out loud, relieved to realize that she hadn’t. The pain was still contained inside her. She tried to make out Neal’s shape on the path, but the trees and shadows had swallowed him up.
She stooped to pick up the laundry basket and brought it inside. She drank a glass of cold water, washed her face, and retied her hair into a ponytail before her walk to the main lodge. The two officers were waiting inside at the table in the corner. The male officer pointed to a chair as Martha crossed the room toward them and she sat down.
Officer Harrison introduced himself and smiled at her. “Martha, thank you for talking with us. We know you’re busy.”
“No, this is important. We have to understand what happened to Rachel.” She crossed one leg over her other knee and noticed a streak of dirt on her calf. She rubbed at it with the knuckles of one hand before seeing smears of dirt on her shorts. The sour smell of sweat rose from her T-shirt when she moved. She should have taken the time to change.
Harrison was talking again, and she pulled herself back. “You didn’t hire Rachel, we understand. Shane chose her to help in the restaurant.”
“That’s right, but I gave my vote of approval after I met her.”
“What did you think of her as the summer went on?”
Martha forced herself to look each of them in the eyes without wavering. “She was a good worker. Punctual. Went about things quietly and efficiently. She was smarter than she seemed at the beginning.”
“Oh?”
Martha blushed. Have I put my foot in it? She wished she knew what the others had said before her. They’d had time to get their stories straight, but they weren’t happy enough with one another to make the effort. “Sometimes she’d be reading a book at the beach between helping me with housekeeping and her night shift in the restaurant. She liked to read.” As if reading books made somebody smart.
Kala Stonechild was staring at her, drawing her gaze into the officer’s own inky-black pools. “Do you know if she was seeing anybody romantically at the lodge?”
Martha swallowed the moan that lodged at the base of her throat. “Rachel was a child.” Her words came out a croak. She forced more air into her lungs and her voice gained strength. “I’d like to think the men at the lodge would respect that fact.”
“You didn’t find her precocious or mature for her age?”
“Not especially.”
Stonechild looked at her notes. She raised her head and her black eyes again found Martha’s. “We’ve had an observation from another person at the lodge that Rachel liked men. Would you agree?”
Martha took a moment to still the thoughts swirling in her head. Petra had opened her loose mouth and stirred the waters. What else had she told them? She spoke slowly and hoped she appeared thoughtful. “Rachel was sixteen, an age where most girls think men are worth pursuing. She had a town boyfriend, though, so she wasn’t inexperienced.” Martha stopped talking rather than say too much, happy to have Clark ask the next question and end her staring contest with the woman cop.
“The last day she worked here — how did she seem?”
“I didn’t notice anything off. She served you, Officer Stonechild, and helped out with some other tables. I handled the customers from town. She was sitting down for some supper in the kitchen when I left at seven-thirty. She said that her dad planned to drive her home because it was getting dark earlier.”
“How did she usually go to and from the lodge?”
Stonechild broke in. “I can’t figure out why she wouldn’t have used the house phone to call her dad when he was late, or why she didn’t ask somebody for a lift.”
“I wondered that, too. She might not have wanted to bother me since the phone is in my office in our cabin. Perhaps she thought she’d meet her father along the way.”
The officer didn’t respond. Martha saw Shane push open the kitchen door and look over at her, but he didn’t come into the room. He let the door shut quietly without the two cops seeing him. She wondered if he was giving her a signal but couldn’t think what it could be.
Officer Harrison took over. “Did Rachel get along with the summer lodgers?”
“I’d say so, yes.”
“Thomas Faraday?”
“She often served him supper. They chatted.”
“Anything more than that?”
The suspicion inherent in the question had Petra written all over it. Martha shrugged and said, carefully, “I didn’t follow Rachel around when she was on her own time so I can’t say for certain. He’s gone off in the woods with his camera, by the way. I saw him leave at around two o’clock.”
The two cops exchanged a glance. “It’s getting late in the day anyhow,” said Officer Harrison.
Officer Stonechild tilted her head. Studied Martha. “How’s business?” she asked.
She was changing the subject. Trying to lull her into a false confidence. “Decent. We’ve had a good year, what with the three men booked for the entire summer. Business is tailing off now, though.”
“Where will you go when the lodge closes for the season?”
Martha tried to still the pain running through her gut and into her chest before it reached her face. “We have a place in Cobourg, but we like to spend part of the winter in Arizona.”
Clark was watching her as closely as his partner. “Can you think of any reason that somebody would harm Rachel?” he asked.
“No,” Martha responded. She shook her head. “I can’t think of any reason at all.”
Stonechild again. “Shane is your cousin, is this correct?”
“Distant cousin. Our mothers were first cousins. We knew each other growing up in Sudbury but grew apart once we started high school.”
“Did you know Petra then?”
“I met her, but we didn’t hang out.”
“Would you say that Shane and Petra have a strong marriage?”
“Yes, they appear to be tight.” Martha looked from her to Clark. “If you’re all done asking about Rachel, I have work to do.”
Officer Harrison checked his notepad one more time before saying, “That should do it for now. We’ll be asking more questions though as this case progresses.”
“I’ll be here.”
She felt their eyes on her as she started toward the front door. She’d have liked to go into the kitchen to see Shane and talk over their interviews, but she didn’t dare. She’d have to wait until suppertime to speak to him. She wondered if he’d finally tell her about Neal betraying her with Rachel or if he’d lie to her as he’d surely lied to the cops. She straightened her spine and kept walking until she reached the edge of the woods where she broke into a run.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Kala said goodbye to Clark and hurried back to the cabin. She’d left Dawn too long and they had less than an hour before they had to return to the main lodge for supper. She’d suggest going into Searchmont to call Gundersund as a way of making up to her for another lost day. They could drive there and back in time.
She emerged from the woods and looked toward the lake. After the first moment of thinking that she had to be dreaming, her heart leapt skyward. She quickened her steps, never taking her gaze off the figures on the dock, not wanting to believe her own eyes until she was close enough to be certain. Gundersund turned his head as if sensing her there and said something to Dawn before pushing himself to his feet and starting to walk the length of the dock toward her. Kala drank in the sight of him, the desire to wrap herself around him a physical need. She started running and flung herself into his arms when she reached him. He kissed her mouth and held on to her, and she rested her head against his chest. She could hear the steady beating of his heart through his jacket.
“I’m so glad you came,” she said before pulling back. She looked over his shoulder at Dawn and the good feeling evaporated. Dawn’s head was bowed, her hair hanging across her face. Taiku had nestled against her leg, but Dawn wasn’t reacting. Kala looked up at Gundersund with a question in her eyes. He shook his head enough for her to know that something was wrong.
“I’ve told Dawn that I’ve come to take her to see her mother. Rose is in the hospital.”
“Oh no.” Kala walked past him and crouched down next to Dawn. She put an arm around her shoulders and looked up at Gundersund who’d followed her onto the dock. “Is Rose okay?”
“She is, and asking to see Dawn.” He paused. She saw regret in his glance. “I told Dawn that Rose tried to take her own life.”
Kala rubbed Dawn’s back. Gundersund had learned as she had that being forthright with Dawn was the only way. She knew that he could have waited and let her break the news, but that was not his way. He’d take the burden on himself. “This is hard,” she said to Dawn. “I’m so sorry.”
Dawn turned her face to Kala. Her cheeks were damp from crying. “How could she do it?” she asked.
“She must have lost hope … for a moment.”
“But she still has us. She still has me.” Dawn’s voice dropped to a whimper.
Kala wrapped both arms around Dawn so that her hands joined together at Dawn’s shoulder. She leaned her head against hers. “You’re stronger than your mom right now. She needs you.”
Dawn stared across the lake. She sat silently for a long moment, but her sobs subsided and Kala could tell that she was calmer. “Okay,” Dawn said. She swiped at her eyes. “When will we leave, Gundersund?”
“First thing in the morning.”
“Will you be okay here alone, Aunt Kala?”
“I’ll be following you home as soon as this case is over.” Kala looked up at Gundersund, asking for understanding with her eyes. “The lead cop’s wife is due with their first child any day, or I’d tell him to go this alone.”
She couldn’t read Gundersund’s expression, but he nodded agreement. “I can look after this visit to Joliette, and you do what you have to do.”
“Thank you.”
They decided to drive in the opposite direction to Searchmont for supper at Mountainview Lodge. Kala wanted to envelop the three of them in a cocoon, to take them away from the people she was investigating at Pine Hollow Lodge. They each ordered the same comfort food: roast beef sandwiches with fries and gravy. They talked about inconsequential subjects, laughed a lot even though sadness tinged the quiet moments. When Dawn excused herself to go to the washroom, Kala reached over to hold on to Gundersund’s hand.
“I’ve missed you,” she said.
“I’ve missed you, too.” He lifted her fingers to his lips and kissed them. “I’m sorry I brought bad news.”
“I think it’s a blessing in a way to have her depart from this place. I didn’t like leaving her alone all day, even with Taiku. The girl who died was a year older than Dawn.” She didn’t need to tell him about the growing worry she’d felt, not sure if it came from the horror when Dawn was missing earlier that year, or if her concern was valid. His face showed her that he knew.
“She told me that she likes being in the woods.”
“Did she? She hasn’t let on one way or the other and I was scared to ask. Her canoeing skills have improved exponentially.”
“Do you want me to bring her back after she sees Rose?”
Kala thought for a moment before saying no.
“I’m not sure the danger here. Can she stay with you until this is over?”
“If that’s what you’d both like.” He was about to say something else but stopped when Dawn returned and slid into her seat.
“Can we order dessert?” she asked.
“I think that’s a given,” said Gundersund.
They lingered over tea and blueberry pie. Kala couldn’t shake the trepidation that made her want to leave this restaurant and get in the truck and drive through the night with Dawn and Gundersund — to put distance between them and Searchmont — but she didn’t protest when it came time to pay the bill and go back to Pine Hollow Lodge. She wouldn’t give voice to the vague anxiety that filled her.
She helped Dawn pack when they returned to the cabin while Gundersund lit a fire in the pit near the beach. They joined him and sat close to one another, watching the flames crackle and spark into the moonlit sky with the lake a backdrop sloshing against the shore. A wide shaft of light glistened off the dark water. Stars punctuated the black cover overhead like sequins nestled into black velvet. Kala smelled woodsmoke from the fire and cedar in the late summer breeze off the lake. She’d brought marshmallows from home and they roasted them with sticks, savouring the sweet, sticky gooiness that reminded her of childhood. Not every foster home memory was bad.
The fire died down to glowing orange embers when Dawn hugged them and walked up to the cabin with Taiku to read before falling asleep. Kala leaned against the solid strength of Gundersund and he wrapped an arm around her.
“I wish I could come with you.”
He was silent but his hand rubbed up and down her arm.
“Let Rose know that I’ll come to see her as soon as I can.”
“I will.” He poked at the fire with his marshmallow stick. “Tell me more about this case you’re working on. Who’s the officer you’re helping?”
“The victim is a sixteen-year-old girl named Rachel Eglan, and she was working here the night we arrived. She served us supper, in fact. Her father was supposed to pick her up, but he got called in to work and didn’t manage to let Rachel know. She waited a while and then set out for home on foot. My guess is that she thought she’d meet her dad along the way. It’s about an hour walk and it wasn’t dark when she set out. Someone took a tire iron to the side of her head and across her back when she was about halfway home and rolled her into the culvert. She was found the next day.”