NIGHT MOVES: The Stroll Murders

by Gar Mallinson

  Harry just nodded. What could he say? He hadn’t been around, hadn’t told Sam much. He felt bad about that, but it wasn’t anything he could fix, so he asked how the bar was doing. Sam seemed relieved to have something else to talk about.

  “You know, I wasn’t sure I’d come back enough to keep the place open, but I’m good now. I belong here anyway. What else would I do? And business is okay. The new clubs bleed off a bit, but I got a loyal bunch, and the bar’s doing well enough. What about you?”

  Harry sighed, looked down at his cup, and twirled it around in the saucer. “It’s a hell of a long story, Sam, and you know parts of it. I’d like to bring Sabina around. She’s the one I brought back with me, my new partner. Then we’ll take a bottle and sit for a while, and we’ll tell you the story.”

  “I’ll make supper for us. Got some help can keep the place going until whenever. Use the private room, take our time. I’d like to meet your girl, get to know her. How about tonight?”

  “You got a date. I gotta get back. We’ll see you around seven.”

  Harry shoved off the stool, slapped the bar, and walked out. He paused outside for a moment, then walked slowly down Commercial to the crescent and up to the office.

  ◆◆◆

  Alicia Wingate was worried about her daughter. She stood at the kitchen sink peeling potatoes for dinner and wondered if she should mention anything to Charlie. He wasn’t an easy man at the best of times. But now, the economy was bad, sales at the dealership had dropped, and he was under a lot of pressure to take his usual quota, even though he hadn’t moved as many of the old ones as he would have liked. He’d already let two of his salesmen go and one of his mechanics, and he was fighting a takeover bid from the GM dealership. She knew Charlie wasn’t sure he could make it this time, and she really didn’t want to face another fight like the one last week.

  The fights were usually about the house and expenses. They’d bought the place a year ago and spent a fortune updating it. The contractor had added bathrooms, modernized the kitchen, and updated all the services. At that time, money was no object, and Charlie had spent. Now, the relatively small mortgage and the upkeep were like dry grass and Charlie a lit match. The conflagrations were devastating to both Alicia and Kylie, who left as soon as one started and stayed out. Lately, the fights had been occurring more often and were getting worse.

  If she had to tell Charlie that Kylie was truant a lot now that school had started, he’d explode again, and this time it would be her daughter who’d suffer. Alicia thought the best course was no action right now. After all, school had been in only a couple of weeks, and the teachers were probably overreacting. She’d wait a little longer, talk to Kylie, and phone the school to explain somehow why her daughter had been absent for a few days. God knows, she thought, it hasn’t been very nice around here recently, and she could hardly blame Kylie for getting out every time the two of them got into fights.

  Alicia finished the potatoes, put them on to boil, and began preparing salad greens. They were having Charlie’s favourite, roast beef. Maybe, she thought, they’d have a normal evening for a change. If Charlie came home on time. He stayed at the dealership a lot later now, and when he got home, dinner was often nothing more than a plate kept warm for him. That didn’t add much to his temper. Sometimes, he simply left again and was out all hours coming back either very late or not at all.

  Alicia sighed. It wasn’t just Kylie; it was the two of them. They hadn’t had much of anything for a few years now, but nothing had been as bad as this. At least he’d been civil, seemed still to like her, and loved Kylie. But now, she didn’t know.

  He was different, not just the problems with the dealership. He just wasn’t there anymore for either of them, and she knew Kylie felt the change as much as she did. Maybe, she thought as she shredded lettuce, that was why Kylie was skipping. She’d have to talk to her for sure, and soon. Alicia put the salad makings in the fridge. She set the table in the dining room with fresh cloth, good dishes, and flowers from the garden, the last of them, and then sat at the kitchen table.

  She leaned forward and put her head on her hands. Sobs racked her body and she couldn’t stop. She had no idea what to do. She couldn’t just sit here in this house and do nothing, but anything she tried with Charlie would just backfire. She knew that, and she knew she couldn’t reach Kylie, not the way she used to anyway.

  Alicia didn’t understand her daughter anymore. She wasn’t just messing up at school, she was different somehow. She’d stopped being a schoolgirl, she’d turned away from her old friends, and Alicia hardly knew any of the new ones, except that Jen. And she really didn’t like that one. She was too worldly by far, Alicia thought, too secretive. Kylie was getting to be just like her—sly, too quiet, like she had already left, like Charlie.

  ◆◆◆

  Harry opened the street door and climbed the office stairs. He found Sabina perched again on the corner of the desk. She looked up and smiled. “All done with the Apple store, Sweets, and I’ve got a pile of stuff behind the desk. Can’t set up until we get this place in shape, so I’ll leave it in the closet. You getting anywhere with the contractor guys?”

  Harry wandered over to the coffee machine, poured a cup, and nodded as the phone rang.

  Sabina slid off the desk and grabbed it. “Yeah?” She listened for a bit. “In five or so, gotcha. I’m the partner. Yeah, Harry’s here.”

  She turned to Harry. “We gotta figure out how to answer the damn phone. I mean, if we call ourselves “SHH Investigations” people are gonna either hang up or whisper. What ya think, H?”

  Harry grinned at her. “You wanted it, so you gotta solve it. Already ordered the gold paint and the door.”

  Sabina twisted a hair end and glanced down at what she was doing.

  They both heard the downstairs door open and the heavy steps on the stairs. The figure that appeared in the door virtually filled it top to bottom.

  Sabina slipped off her edge and sauntered over to him. “You sure are one big hunk of man, aren’t you? No wonder Harry likes you.”

  She grabbed one of his hands and led him over to the desk. “What we got is over here, so tell me what you think. Oh, that’s Harry over there, you remember him.”

  Harry nodded as the big guy turned toward him. “That precocious thing is my partner, Sabina. You’ll get used to her.”

  Harry and Sabina went over the sketch, telling him what they’d like and how they were going to use the space. Sabina flirted with the big guy, needing to be reassured about the wiring for the computers and the size of the service.

  After he’d gone, Sabina leaned over Harry’s shoulder and tipped the business card up. “Broad Strokes. Catchy name. All sorts of innuendo. We outta get something like this.”

  She wandered over to the front desk again, perched on the corner once more, and sighed. “It’s gonna be a great office, H, lots of good stuff. You know, we should keep my place in Yaletown, probably end up getting some business over there. And we should leave the bike where it is. You got a car of sorts over here, so we’re mobile all over. How long do you think the renos’ll take?”

  Harry grinned. “If you leave the poor man alone, maybe two weeks. You mess with him the way you were, maybe he won’t get done at all. He was pretty nervous. He might bail.”

  ◆◆◆

  Kylie, Jen, Billy, and Jimmy had been back to the biker’s house by the river a few times since the tattoos, getting a bit high, using that black table a lot. Kylie had become more and more interested in the big artist, something Billy encouraged. Jen, on the other hand, wasn’t pleased. Kylie was slipping away from her. I wasn’t that she didn’t respond anymore, she did, and seemed to love the contact more each time they were together. It was just that she’d moved her center to the big man, and that worried Jen. He was way too old for her, way too knowing, and she didn’t trust him. The way he looked at Kylie wasn’t the way a lover did; it was the way a predator did.

  Jen wasn’t
stupid, she knew these guys. She’d been with a couple herself, and she knew Kylie was too innocent to cope. This guy’d use her up and pass her on. Unless Jen could stop it, Kylie would become another whore, used by the whole damn club and ruined for anything else.

  What Jen didn’t know was that Kylie had already started down that path. She’d been seeing the bearded tat artist on her own. He’d been sending an Angels initiate to pick her up near the school, drive her out to the gravel switchback on his bike, and leave her there to walk down to the house by the river gorge. Once there, she’d get high and the sex would begin. They did everything in every way possible, and Kylie loved all of it. Sometimes, she was so late, she missed dinner. She didn’t think her mother noticed because of the huge fights that went on, but if she did, she wasn’t saying anything, and that was fine by Kylie.

  The walk back up to the road was a long one, but Kylie didn’t mind. It gave her time to come down before she got home. A few times, she saw something in the woods, something odd, like bursts and swirls of colour flickering through the trees. It was just the remnants of the drugs, she knew, part of the shifting forests, part of the tilting trees, part of the gnarly limbs reaching out for her. She watched the forest move, shape shifting. She took pleasure in the illusions.

  She thought of her home, the fights, her mother’s growing fear, and her father’s anger. She knew she’d leave soon, get out of the place before her father really exploded. She knew too that he was making out with other women at night when he was supposed to be at the office. She knew because she’d seen him with one of them one night when she’d been out late with Jen. She figured he’d fuck anything he could get, sort of like her, and that made her smile. Like father like daughter, she thought. Wouldn’t he be gobsmacked if he found out? She was tempted to make sure he did, to make sure he got a good look. That’d fuck him up big time.

  III

  Sabina and Harry left the office together, wandered down to the seawall, and once again walked past the two marinas and the seaplane depot. They spent a little time leaning on the railing in front of the new Pacifica complex. The townhouses below the tower fronted on the seawall. The tower behind them had been built using the remains of a defunct hotel. The whole thing had taken a couple of years to build and had only recently been finished. Harry put his arm around Sabina’s waist after a while, and they sauntered farther along the seawall and crossed the humped-backed bridge into Maffeo Sutton Park. They wandered around the park to the Millstream bridge, crossed that, and walked down to the yacht club. Finally, they turned up the short street to Harry’s place, an old two-storey, flat-roofed brick building on Stewart Street with a hair salon on the ground floor called ‘Kiyo’ after the owner. Her given name was Kiyome, and she a was strikingly beautiful tall blonde with Asian features, the result of a German mother and Japanese father. Harry’d never talked to her, only smiled and waved; he was too intimidated. But Sabina had been intrigued with the girl ever since she had first seen her and had visited the salon numerous times, as much to watch the graceful girl as to have her hair done.

  A solid oak door beside the hair salon’s double window led to a staircase with slit windows that ended in a short hallway with another oak door. Inside that door lay the apartment’s living room with its three Palladian style arched windows spaced evenly along the front. The bedrooms and bathroom were off to the side, the kitchen at the back with a window overlooking the main harbour and Newcastle and Protection islands. They often stood at that window mornings, each with a coffee, watching the seaplanes leave for Vancouver and various sail craft moving down the channel, some under sail, some motoring. The harbour was always busy.

  Once inside, Sabina hit the bedroom to change. Harry had a beer and waited. When she came out, he stood. “Jesus, you look stunning! I mean, not that you aren’t most of the time, but this is… wow! Sam’s gonna wonder how the hell I got someone as gorgeous as you.”

  He put the bottle on the counter and held out his arm. “Let’s take the car downtown, leave it in the lot, and walk. It’ll be fun to see the reactions.”

  Once there, they walked back toward Sam’s bar, Sabina holding Harry’s arm again. She was wearing a Pierre Cardin dress, low cut and tight at the waist, but flowing from there to her knees. Every step caused the fabric to shimmer, it was so fine a weave.

  On the strip, nobody even looked at them. There were no hookers out yet, and the druggies had only one thing on their minds. But in town, the other side of the highway on Commercial, they got a lot of attention. A lot. Men stopped to admire her, and women, strangely enough, did too. She was tall, blond, moved with grace, and the dress augmented it all.

  They turned up the cobbled street to the bar and went in. There were only a few people in the place, but the sudden silence was revealing. Sam appeared, threw Harry an appreciative grin, and ushered Sabina through the public part and into the back rooms where a table was set for four. The candles and flowers gave the scene a festive air and a waiter stood at attention, ready to serve drinks.

  Sam pulled out a chair, and Sabina sat. She beamed at Sam and Harry. “Pretty classy, Sam. You should give Harry some lessons.”

  The other two sat and the waiter did his job. “Will called to see how things were, so I asked him to join us,” said Sam. “Hope you don’t mind.”

  “Perfect,” said Harry. “He’s the one person we haven’t been able to reach and we need to talk to him. We’re starting over here, the two of us, and we need you and Will in the loop. It’ll be good to see him, and Sabina hasn’t met him yet either.”

  Right on cue, Will knocked and came in. Harry saw that he too was dressed. Well, dressed for him. That meant he’d shaved, put on a decent pair of pants, a shirt and jacket, and even a tie. His hair was neater than usual, but he looked really uncomfortable. Harry grinned at him and stood.

  “You’ve outdone yourself, Will. You’re actually decent. Here, meet Sabina, my partner, both office and home. Sabina, Will—a hell of a fine detective and the guy who got Willow away from the Indian.”

  Will blushed and nodded at Sabina, who stuck out her hand. “We owe you big time for that one, Will, and that son of a bitch got his in an alley in Chinatown. Please, sit and let’s get acquainted.”

  Just after Will sat, the waiter standing nearby pulled a cell phone from his pocket and left the room. Moments later, he reappeared pushing a large trolley. When he lifted the tray covers from the bowls and warming trays, the rich aroma of roasting beef drifted across the table. He began a one-man show as he prepared to serve. Conversation stopped, everyone caught in the moment.

  The dinner was extraordinary and everyone said so. Over dessert from the Modern and some fine Kona coffee, the four of them talked and laughed as though they’d known each other for years. Will and Sam were clearly enchanted with Sabina and delighted with her irreverence.

  As the evening wound down, Harry raised the issue of a partnership between Will and their business. As the silence grew, Will began to look more and more uncomfortable. After some long moments, he smiled and nodded. “I’ll think it over, maybe come see you tomorrow. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the offer, but I’m a loner—and then there’s Rory.”

  Will turned to Sabina, nodding again. “You don’t know him. Rory’s a real loner and difficult, but he’s got the best network I’ve ever seen. And me, I run my business out of my car. Don’t like offices or schedules. Harry knows me, but to you I probably sound ungrateful.”

  Will smiled sheepishly and looked down at his empty cup.

  Sabina reached across the table and patted his hand. “Hey Will, whatever you like. No pressure. But do come and see us.”

  Will looked up into a smile a mile wide, grinned, and excused himself. They all watched him go, and then began clearing the table themselves. It was late.

  On the way back to the car, Sabina told Harry how much she liked his friends. “You know, H, for the first time, I feel like I belong, and that’s
a great feeling. It’s rare ‘cause it can only come from the people around you. Thanks for tonight.”

  ◆◆◆

  The morning was different in a funny kind of way. Sabina seemed to settle into the place as if she’d always been there, and Harry felt more at home in the loft than he ever had. Breakfast was different too. It seemed to knit the two of them together, and over eggs, toast, and coffee, they basked in the feeling.

  The office was also different somehow. Sabina felt as if Willow had finally approved and had given over possession. Harry seemed to read it the same way and was happier than he’d been since they’d returned to the island.

  By day’s end, Will had still not appeared, and Harry began to wonder if the previous evening had simply been small talk on his part, or if maybe he’d changed his mind and had no interest in any kind of partnership. Harry tried to explain to Sabina what Will was like, how much of a loner he was, and how he operated in the town. He was about to call it a day when they heard the front door open and someone climb the stairs.

  Will popped his head around the corner, eyed the two of them, and stepped in. The change didn’t surprise Harry, but it gave Sabina a jolt. Will looked like he belonged on the strip in front of the Sally Ann.

  He grinned at them. “Sorry, but this is a working day. My people wouldn’t go near me if I looked like last night.”

  Harry looked at Sabina and grinned. “Come on in. Want a cup? It’s over there. Help yourself. No cream, but there’s that powdered stuff.”

  Will poured a cup and joined them at the desk. He looked over the plans lying there. “Gonna be pretty upscale around here if this is any indication. I’m not sure I’d fit in with this kind of operation.”

  Sabina nodded and looked Will in the eye. “What we had in mind was a two-pronged kind of thing. A front office like this for the impression it makes and for the kind of work it suggests, and a sort of behind-the-scenes business, underbelly stuff, that would happen when that sort of work turned up. That’s where you and Rory and the two of us come in. What we’d like, Will, is for you to join us as an associate, and we’ll front the place as partners. We’d like Rory too, but we’d leave it to you to decide how to keep him in the loop. What do you think?”