“Stacie texted Gary Sulzberger too.”
“A student?”
“He’s in Carl’s lab,” said Shelby. I’m not sure how Stacie knows Gary, but I saw him at the cafeteria this morning and he wanted me to make sure you knew about it.”
“Call Alex and see if the truck’s still there,” said Lucas.
“Just about to do that.” I pulled out my phone. “And Shelby, thank you for bringing this to me.”
“I thought it might be important. Stacie sure wanted you to know about it.”
“It’s very important,” I assured her as I dialled Alex’s number.
Lucas jumped in. “How do you know Stacie?”
“I work at the student bookstore on Burnaby Mountain, mostly weekends. Stacie’s masters’ thesis is on Indigenous Canadian Lit and I’ve special ordered a few books for her and I watch out for copies of out-of-print stuff, that kind of thing. We have each others cell number.”
I got Alex’s voicemail and left a message.
“If there isn’t anything else, Morgan, I’ve gotta run. I’ve got a class at Harbour Centre in half an hour.”
“We’re good, Shelby.”
“Good luck,” she called over her shoulder.
“You think this is the truck?” Lucas held the newspaper article in his hand like it was a treasure map.
“Yes. I do.”
“We’ll go tonight. That way we’ll be able to see it first thing tomorrow morning.”
“I have Alex and Gwen’s home number. I’ll call Gwen, too and let her know we’re coming. You didn’t get to meet her when you came to get me. You’re really going to like her.” Gwen was at home and she picked up. She knew about the truck. She said she’d let Alex know we were coming up tonight and told me to text him as soon as we arrived.
We left the university and picked up take-out burgers on our way back to the cottage. After eating, we packed overnight bags with the few things we’d need.
Bart called to check up on me, and Lucas filled him about the truck. Bart was worried that seeing the truck would be hard for me. He offered to take tomorrow off and come with us. Kate never had anything booked on Wednesdays and there was no way she was staying behind. Bart offered his Prius for the trip. It was more economical than Lucas’s aging Toyota. Gwen had suggested we stay at the Red Coach Inn. I called and booked two rooms.
While we waited for Kate and Bart, I told Lucas about my conversation with Sophia and the ugly rumours that were circulating about us. He shared what Steve had told him.
“A lot of people believe the lies,” said Lucas.
I pulled out the article from today’s Province. “Have you seen this?” He hadn’t. He read it silently.
“Someone is trying to shut us down. That’s not going to happen,” I said.
By 8:00 pm, we were on the Trans-Canada Highway heading east. Bart took the exit to the Coquihalla Highway around 10:00 pm. We’d shorten our trip by an hour and arrive in 100 Mile House by 1:00 am.
The Coquihalla is a mountain highway and elevated—1,200 metres at the summit—so it can be mist one minute, light snow the next, then rain, then a sky full of stars. We were treated to all of these while I listened to the low murmur of the fellows up front and the occasional sound from Kate. Tomorrow, I would get a look at the truck up close. The chances were good that seeing it would be hard. That filled me with dread, but this was something I had to do, ready of not. For a few brief moments, I tested myself—went back to the lake, could see myself on the path going down to the water; remembered Alex and Gwen coming toward me in the boat and I was already shaking with dread. I quickly shut the memory out and pulled myself back to the car.
When was it going to be okay? What would it take? I turned to Kate, fast asleep beside me. Bart told Lucas she was so tired, she sometimes dropped off in mid sentence. He was worried about her. Exhausted. Not getting enough sleep for weeks now because of her connection to Carey. I didn’t want to talk with her about what happened to me. Didn’t want to add to what she already shouldered. Not talking to Kate was an ache that sometimes made it hard to breathe.
CHAPTER 14
Carey lay in bed, listening to men arguing in the kitchen. One of them was yelling at Melanie. Then there was the sound of someone being slapped, then stomping up the stairs. Moments later, Melanie stormed into the bedroom.
“You fucking bitch! It was you they came looking for! You brought this on us.” She pointed to Marie. “Wake her up and get her dressed. You too. We’re leaving in 10 minutes.” Melanie moved to the next bedroom and started to yell at them.
Someone was looking for her. Who? If they left here, they wouldn’t be able to find her.’ Carey quickly sat up and tried to rouse Marie, but she wouldn’t wake up. Marie had wet the bed. Carey went to the bathroom and got a washcloth and towel. She removed Marie’s nightgown and started to clean her.
Melanie was at the door again. “Forget about the fucking piss, just get the brat dressed.”
“Yes ma’am,” Carey said to Melanie’s back. Then she quickly cleaned Marie as best she could because no one likes to smell like pee. Her brother Elwin used to be so embarrassed when he wet the bed. Thinking about him brought instant tears. She missed him so much. Somehow, she got Marie dressed, but she couldn’t find her new rag doll. Marie carried the doll everywhere and wouldn’t let anyone take the tags off. Maybe Seth could bring it for her later.
Marie was still asleep and one of the men came upstairs to carry her down to the car. He walked in on Carey as she was pulling on a tank top and leered at her. “Maybe later.”
Carey kept her head low and quickly pulled on her jeans. The guy picked up Marie and left the bedroom. She could hear Christopher pleading with Seth to let him dress himself. She heard Joy tell Seth he needed to get the doctor for him. They couldn’t take Christopher to the hospital because then everyone would know what they did to him; to all of them.
Carey pulled on her socks and shoes and put on her jacket. She could hear Joy tell Georgina to get her jacket on and hurry. Georgina told her last night she was going to run away, but Carey didn’t think she would. She did the white pills, even when she didn’t have to. Seth said Georgina needed them now. She was addicted, just like some of the women mom worked with. ‘Trying to kill their pain with anything that works,’ she’d say.
“If you don’t do what they want they’ll get rid of you and then your mom will never see you again.” That’s what Melanie said to Carey the first day. When she didn’t want to take the pills or drink alcohol with the men. As if you wouldn’t care what they were doing to you if you were stoned or drunk. She’d counted the weeks she’d been a prisoner here—almost four weeks—and in all that time, no one got to leave. It was just like Christopher told her the first day. She had to do whatever they told her to do.
She was going to keep checking the doors to see if they were locked and one day, one of them would forget and then she’d run away. She’d just have to get to a road and hitchhike to a police station, then everything would be okay. She’d take Marie with her. Everyone said Marie was retarded, but that wasn’t true. She just hadn’t learned to talk in true words. She had her own words. Carey was sure she’d made them up because she couldn’t hear.
Seth was at the bedroom door. He walked Carey down to the car and helped her get into the front passenger seat. Four of the kids were already in the car. One of the men drove Melanie and Joy in another car. They had the new girls from Abbotsford in their car. A woman brought them to the house late last night. Carey could tell they were sisters. They had the same blonde hair and one was hugging the other one and they were crying, and Melanie was threatening to hit them if they didn’t shut up. Carey felt sorry for them because they didn’t know what was going to happen to them. When it got really bad, at least they would have each other.
Carey checked to see if the car door was locked. It was. Seth never forgot. She always checked and he always pretended he didn’t
notice. Most of the children fell asleep soon after Seth started driving. Carey tried to stay awake, to see where they were going. He drove in the city for quite a while, then went over the Granville Bridge. Carey saw a sign that said Vancouver Airport, but they didn’t get in that lane and then they were driving through another city. It didn’t look familiar, but she thought that might be because everything looked different in the daytime. She couldn’t help it; she dozed off and didn’t wake up again until the car was travelling downhill, into a tunnel.
Seth noticed she was awake. He told her they were going under the Fraser River and that the farm he was taking them to wasn’t far from the other side.
“I used to live here,” he said when he pulled into the long driveway. She asked him if he lived here with his parents.
“With Theo.” Seth waited with the children in the car until the other car arrived. Georgina asked if they could go for a walk, but he said no. Seth held her arm tight when he walked her to the house. Once everyone was inside, Melanie locked the door. Seth went to get breakfast for everyone.
Carey was in one of the bedrooms upstairs. From the window, she could see a horse, way in the distance. It shook its head and its mane danced in the wind. She imagined she could hear it snicker and whinny. Then it cantered off, out of sight behind some trees.
Seth had been gone a long time. The kids were all awake now and hungry. She hoped he was getting the doctor for Christopher. Melanie said she was sick of hearing him whine and told Joy to give him something to shut him up. Joy gave him something for pain and put him to bed in the bedroom next to hers. She could hear him moaning softly.
Melanie made Christopher go to Jeff’s last night. Jeff hurt everybody. He talked about her and the other kids like they wanted to be with him and let him do the mean things that he did. That was a lie. Everyone was afraid of him, even Georgina, who wasn’t afraid of anyone.
Seth told Carey once that he was sorry that he’d taken her. He said he had to. After she’d been at the house a few days, she knew why. He was a prisoner too. He always did what they told him. She noticed that sometimes he froze. It was like he wasn’t in the room anymore and there was nothing for him but his own thoughts.
No one else seemed to notice though, that he stopped sometimes, the way her mom’s computer at Grandma’s house on the reserve stopped sometimes, when there were too many programs open and it would freeze and mom would have to close them all and reboot the computer to get it working again. Mom said it was because the reserve was at the end of the line. Her computer in town never did that.
CHAPTER 15
The next morning, we met Alex and Gwen at Barney’s. The place was really crowded and they both stood up and waved us over when we walked in. Kate was at their table in a shot and before Gwen could sit back down, she grabbed her in an intense hug and breathlessly whispered her thanks for “saving me dear friend as you did.” Kate’s hugs are legendary, and Gwen was completely taken aback. I watched as Alex quickly offered his hand to Kate, forestalling a hug. He was a reserved guy and he obviously wasn’t one to throw around hugs either.
Kate is the only adult person I know who operates without pretense or guile. She also hugs when she thinks it’s time to hug and too bad if you’re not ready. It’s one of the things I liked best about her, right from the start. And another was if the words are coming out of her mouth, that was her honest opinion and you could take it to the bank. I steered her to a chair at their table and gave her arm a squeeze. ‘I’m somewhat fucked up right now, but I do love you, please believe that’ I tried to say with my eyes, but I couldn’t get her attention. She was gazing at Alex and Gwen like they were God’s gift.
Over breakfast, Alex told us he first heard about the torched pickup the previous Monday from an officer who lived on the Canim Lake Reserve. The fact that it was blue and torched must have got his attention in a hurry. He estimated that the truck was about 40 km from Gustafsen Lake. It had been abandoned on a short sidetrack just off Forest Grove Road. That’s where we were headed.
“How did you find out about the truck?” he asked me. I gave him copies of the tweet and the newspaper article. He read through the tweet, barely glanced at the article. I told him about the lab student who brought the article to me and about Stacie Smith, who’d sent a text to my student Shelby with the heads up for me.
“Stacie Smith wanted to be sure you saw this article?”
“She did.”
“Do you know Stacie?”
“No, neither of us have ever met her. We’d like to talk with her though.”
“Don’t do that, Morgan. Detective Fernice or me will get in touch with her. Do you have her number?”
I gave him the number that Shelby had given me.
“Did you speak with her about the tweet?”
“Not yet.”
“Don’t worry about that either. I’ll talk to her when we’re finished here.”
Something about his tone said he wasn’t kidding and that pissed me off. I’m the one who got abducted. Not him. Lucas didn’t miss my reaction. He caught my eye and gave me an understanding look.
Alex told us he’d arranged for a fire inspection and the RCMP forensics team from Vancouver were flying up today as well. We piled into Bart’s car and followed Alex and Gwen out of town.
It wasn’t far to where the truck had been abandoned. There was a side road, only slightly better than a dirt track, connected with Forest Road, the road we took from the highway. Alex pulled onto the shoulder and Bart pulled in behind him. We piled out and he passed out latex gloves, warning us, as we put them on, to avoid touching anything.
The pickup wasn’t more than 10 metres from where we stood. Kate was a little behind me and didn’t miss my reaction.
“You okay?”
“I’m okay,” I lied. Here I go, ready or not. We walked over to the truck. The front left tire was up to its axle in a deep rut, so it was nose down, forward and to the left. It looked like most of the fire damage was contained within the cab and under the hood. The truck bed was intact.
“Talk at the station is the young lads at Canim Lake are responsible for torching it,” said Alex. “I know that’s not the case. If it was abandoned and drivable, one of them would have taken it for a spin.”
“Probably torched by the red-headed guy,” I said.
“That’s my thinking,” said Alex. Gwen was standing beside me with a strange look on her face. I caught her eye, but she looked away quickly. I wasn’t the only one who had feelings to deal with.
“Remember. Don’t touch anything,” Alex warned. “We don’t want to destroy any evidence that might still be here.”
“Do you think this is the truck, Morgan?” asked Bart.
“Yes.”
“Me too,” said Gwen. I’ve never seen a vehicle this colour blue.”
“Looks like a home paint job,” said Lucas.
“Aha,” said Kate. She was at the passenger door, leaning down. The fire had burned through the layer of blue paint and although badly scorched, a deep maroon colour could be seen at the bottom of the chassis. “The perp painted the pickup at some point.” Bart groaned at her side, rolling his eyes.
“Please, Kate, a little less levity.”
Awash in alliteration, I thought, but didn’t feel the joy.
“Bart. Look!” she insisted. “It used to be maroon.”
He leaned in to have a closer look. “Quite right, Kate. I think I prefer the maroon.” I thought of the splatters of paint on the guy’s boot; realized Alex would know about them now. Sure enough, he leaned in behind them, making a note.
Lucas had moved to the driver’s side of the truck. I was on the passenger side, a few feet from Kate. Alex moved to stand beside me.
“Alex, can we open this?” I indicated the large, aluminum box, right behind the cab. “There’s something about that box.”
He reached over the side and with one gloved hand, gently grasped the
outer edge. Lucas followed suit and reached over from the other side touching only the corner of the lid with a gloved finger. Together they raised the lid. Because the front of the pickup was lower than the back, the lid stayed open. We all peered inside.
“I remember that smell! It’s awful, isn’t it!”
“Acetone,” said Alex.
A vivid memory flooded back. Me trying to push the lid of the box open with my shoulder and the rush of cool air on my face. Without thinking, and before Alex could stop me, I reached over and slid a gloved finger along the front lip of the box. I snagged the glove on a sharp piece of metal that protruded a few centimetres.
“I remember this,” I said, drawing back in surprise. “I was trying to escape from the box, and I cut my hip on this.” I pointed to my left hip area.
“Morgan, please tell me that you didn’t cut your finger just now?”
“No,” I reassured him. “I just snagged the glove. See”, I said, holding it up. “It didn’t tear.”
He was relieved. “Good! There may be a sample of your DNA there.”
“Sergeant look at these stains,” said Lucas, pointing at dark brown smears on the truck bed, closer to his side.
“Could be dried blood. Okay folks. Best if everyone steps away from the truck. Forensics will be here soon.” We walked back to the vehicles.
But it was Bob Golden, a local fireman, who arrived next in a sporty red coupe.
“Hi all,” he said when he reached us. Bob, a tall, jovial guy, was carrying a large black case. He was here to do the fire inspection.
“Hi Alex. Hi Gwen, he said, nodding hello to the rest of us.
“Everyone, this is Bob Golden,” said Alex.
“Hi Bob,” we all chorused. He took a notebook from his jacket pocket.
“How long do you figure the truck’s been here, Alex?”
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