MURDEROUS MORNING: A heart-stopping crime novel with a stunning end.

by Bernadette Calonego

  “Yeah, yeah. I just thought . . .”

  “I can’t tell Harrison he can’t have them. He’s Hank’s father. He called me up and said that, for him, the dogs were a connection to Hank.”

  She hesitated and looked back. The dogs had lain down when they noticed that the people weren’t getting out.

  “Does Lionel know that his father wants the dogs? There’s a reason he brought them to us.”

  Kenneth Griffins opened the car door. “Harrison probably doesn’t tell Lionel everything. But that’s not our problem.”

  When they reached the main door with the dogs, Martha Griffins met them with a suspicious look. “What have you been talking about so long out there? Dinner’s ready. Savannah went to a lot of trouble.”

  They sat down at the table and ladled soup into their bowls. Tessa noticed it was more of a reflex, a routine that they were holding on to.

  “We’re waiting for news,” her mother complained.

  Tessa apologized. “There’s nothing much to report. All I did was to get the cats—two of them were locked in the storeroom. We are still looking for the third one. I wasn’t allowed to enter the house. The whole place is still a crime scene.”

  “I want to know everything.” Martha Griffins would not let up. “It’s worse not to know anything than to have some version of what might have happened. I’m imagining the most awful scenes.”

  “I know, Mom. I hope very much that we’ll know more soon.”

  “Savannah has put up a Facebook page for Fran. People can write on it if they know something.”

  “But nothing useful has come in yet,” Savannah jumped in.

  “People would be better off contacting the police if they know something,” Kenneth Griffins remarked and looked at his wife. “Please eat a little, dear.”

  Martha played with her spoon. She looked worn out. “What did you hear in town?”

  “Not much. You know how people are. They don’t want to get involved or expose themselves. They don’t want to get mixed up in any murder investigation. And nobody tells me what kind of gossip is running around.”

  “People can give the police anonymous tips,” Tessa suggested.

  Her father nodded. “Lionel, by the way, has organized a search party for tomorrow. He’s included you two.”

  Tessa took notice without saying anything. She hadn’t eaten much the whole day and was relieved to get something warm in her stomach.

  “I need Savannah here with me,” Martha Griffins protested.

  Kenneth didn’t change his position.

  “I will be here, dear. Every person counts in a search.”

  “They’ll be searching with helicopters and dogs.” Martha poured herself another glass of wine.

  Kenneth ignored her remark. “Lionel sent you a message, Tessa. So that you know where to meet.”

  Tessa felt guilty. She hadn’t even had time to check her iPhone.

  Martha Griffins suddenly changed the topic. “Dana and Tessa saw poachers.”

  Tessa stared at her mother. What else had Dana told her about their trip to Fran’s house? Then she calmed down. She knew Dana. She would have let some pieces of information come out in order to satisfy Martha Griffins’s nosiness. But she wouldn’t say anything more than that. Nevertheless, Tessa felt uneasy.

  Her mother was going over the event as Dana had described it.

  “Unbelievable,” exclaimed Savannah with her mouth full. “The area is full of cops, and these guys are out to hunt bears.”

  “We don’t really know that they were out to hunt bears,” Tessa argued.

  Savannah shook her head. “I’ve heard rumors that two of the grizzlies near Watershed Lodge have disappeared. Why don't you ask Tsaytis Chelin, if you don't believe me?”

  Tessa glanced at her mother to see whether she knew about Tsaytis at the cabin at Beaver Lake, but Martha Griffins was concentrating on her salad and didn’t react. Dana evidently hadn’t said anything.

  The disappearance of the two grizzlies must have made the people at Watershed Lodge nervous. The lodge relied on bear watching, which drew tourists from all over the world. Fran, too, would have been very upset about the killing of the bears. She loved and respected bears. She had also defended the grizzlies who, in Lionel’s words, hung around her farm.

  Had the poachers gotten wind of this bear? Had Fran gotten in their way? And had they gotten rid of Fran and the whole family? The uncertainty was enough to drive anyone crazy.

  Martha Griffins pushed away her half-eaten dinner. Tessa did the same and helped to clean up.

  The dogs, that Savannah had already fed, were antsy.

  “Can you take the dogs out, Tessa?” her father asked. “I’ll take care of the dishes.” He turned to his wife. “Dear, do you want to go and lie down?”

  “I’ll lie down in the guestroom so the cats will have some company,” said Martha, who had thrown back two glasses of red wine during dinner.

  Tessa took both dogs out on their leashes. She really didn’t have any desire for another car trip, but she needed some space. She drove down the hill to the turnoff, where she stopped as a dark pickup approached from the left. She saw how it stopped just after the fork in the road. A tall guy got out and waved.

  She recognized him right away.

  19

  She got out, too. Telford Reed came over to her. “I was hoping I’d run into you somewhere. Your family and you must really be having a hard time.”

  He was wearing a Stetson hat again, which very few men around this region still did. Most had switched over to baseball caps. Maybe Telford Reed thought that it would make him look less like a city slicker.

  “We still haven’t found Fran. Have you heard anything that might be helpful to us?”

  To her astonishment, he answered: “Maybe. Can I talk to you for a few minutes?“

  “Here? I have two dogs in the car that I have to let out.”

  He rubbed his chin. “Do you think we could take a quick ride over to Tennigan Park? We could take a little walk there to talk something over.”

  She blinked and tried to assess the situation. It would be light out here until ten o’clock in the evening. She could risk that. She would send a quick text message to Dana to tell her where she would be. And she would put her pistol in her pocket for the worst-case scenario.

  “Good,” she said. “I’ll follow you.”

  They reached the turnoff to the park after ten minutes. A dirt road that was bordered by trees and bushes led them to the park entrance. The barrier was up, the tourist season had officially begun, but in June there were very few campers out here in the wilderness. Tessa parked the Pathfinder near Telford’s pickup. She opened the trunk door and the dogs jumped out, wagging their tails. Telford, without being asked, grabbed one of the dogs’ leashes. The husky mix happily greeted him. She hoped that Telford wouldn’t notice the outline of the pistol in her coat pocket. A forest trail led past the unoccupied campsites.

  Telford looked at her from the side. “Harrison Miller wants the dogs, right?”

  She stumbled in surprise. “Who told you that?”

  “I’m coming from Harrison. We had some business to discuss. He’s looking forward to having the dogs. Because they are Hank’s dogs. He wants to hang on to everything he can. He’s a destroyed man.”

  Tessa made an effort to keep her rising emotions under control.

  “Yes, that’s what happens with murder. The perpetrator not only kills his victims but also destroys everything around them.” She let herself be pulled along by the German shepherd. “Sometimes that can go on for generations.”

  “You’re right. Look, I know that you’re a lawyer in Vancouver. I may be able to use your services, if that’s an option for you.”

  She frowned. “Mr. Reed . . .”

  “Just call me Telford.”

  “Telford, I’m here because of my parents, not because I’m looking for new clients.”

  “I know that I’m really
surprising you with this, but let me explain.”

  She was too curious to try and stop him. And didn’t he say he had information about Fran?

  Telford pulled the husky away from a pile of moose droppings. A light wind spread an unpleasant smell around. “Harrison wants to buy my outfitter license. He came to me a couple of weeks ago with an offer. He wanted . . . it for Hank.”

  Despite her amazement, she let Telford keep talking.

  “I get the impression that Harrison is dreaming about a second lodge, one like Watershed Lodge. I personally think the Sitklat’l should get my license. I’m ready to sell it to them for a decent price. But some of the elders don’t want to pay for the license. Many band members say that it’s their land. I know that this question has been settled in the land claims treaty with the Sitklat’l. Your legal team, Tessa, negotiated an agreement with the provincial government that favored the Sitklat’l.”

  She confirmed what Telford said, still uncertain what it was that he wanted from her.

  “I can’t just give away a license without some kind of compensation,” he continued. “I need the money. I have a firm for alternate energy in Alberta that’s expanding, and I have over fifty workers. Which brings me to my point: Do you think it would be possible that the provincial government might be willing to help out with the financing of the outfitter license? Watershed Lodge is a successful business. Shouldn’t the provincial government be interested in backing an indigenous project that has the potential to be a financial winner for generations? Do you think there’s any room for negotiations?”

  Tessa, in a trance, shook her head. She struggled to say something. “Telford, I . . . This is not the time or the place for such . . . consideration . . . I . . .”

  Under other circumstances, she would immediately have told him that the government had had an open-door policy in regard to the hunters’ lobbyists for years. The female head of the government liked to have herself photographed with them, and they did nothing to protect grizzly bears. These politicians didn’t seem to comprehend that the tourist industry around bear-watching was worth much more money than trophy hunting. But today she was too tired for a discussion. Reed understood quickly that he had gone too far.

  “Please excuse me for being so insensitive about this. How could I be so unprofessional? I wouldn’t mention any of this at the moment if it weren’t for the fact that it also has something to do with Fran.”

  The dogs were impatient; Tessa was almost running to keep up with them. Telford hesitated to go on, but she called out: “Just keep talking!”

  “Fran contacted me and asked to speak to me as soon as possible. She wanted to meet at a place where nobody would see us. That was four weeks ago. We met right here in front of the gate to the park. She had heard about Harrison’s plans and . . . she said that Hank didn’t want the license, and she didn’t want it because Harrison’s money came from dirty sources. From illegal deals with mining companies. She also told me that she and Hank would soon be moving away from here.”

  Now I know at least one other person met secretly with Fran, she thought. Just as she was about to answer Telford, she noticed something. The dogs were very interested in another pile of droppings. It looked very fresh; it had certainly come from a bear.

  Tessa turned around. “We’d better get back to the vehicles. A bear can’t be far away.” Telford agreed. She tugged the German shepherd’s leash. “Let’s continue talking so that the bear hears us and we don’t surprise him,” she said. “What else did Fran say to you?”

  “She admitted to me openly that Hank didn’t know anything about her meeting with me. She was not going to tell him anything because she didn’t want to be accused of causing trouble between him and his father.”

  “Did you tell the police about this?”

  “Yes. I think that was my duty. How can we get to the bottom of this awful crime if we hold back information from them?”

  Tessa looked over to the bushes. Something dark was lying between the branches. She could only see the outline. Instinctively her hand gripped Telford’s arm. Now he also saw it. The extremely agitated dogs smelled blood. Tessa smelled both death and decay.

  Telford handed her the leash and went over to the carcass. He came back with a very dark look. “Half a moose,” he said.

  “Did a bear kill it?”

  He shook his head and took one leash out of her hand.

  “Hunters shot it. Poachers.”

  She tried to keep up with his fast pace. “We’ve already found three other moose carcasses,” he explained. “Always near a place where tourists like to stop. I think somebody puts out the meat as bait.”

  “Who is we?” Tessa asked. As an answer, she heard a loud growl. But it didn’t come from the dogs.

  They both spun around. The dogs began to bark wildly.

  A midsize grizzly had stepped out of the bushes about thirty meters behind them.

  “Holy shit,” she heard Telford whispering.

  The grizzly took some steps toward them and shook his big head back and forth, ready to attack. Tessa breathed faster. “Let’s go slowly backward. Always facing the bear,” she said as quietly as possible. “Bear, we’re not going to do anything to you, we’re not going to take away your dinner. We’re just going to get out of here.”

  They moved back step by step and tried to keep the dogs under control. The bear hesitated for a few seconds and then kept moving forward.

  “Hold the leash!” Tessa pushed it into Telford’s hand.

  “What are you going to do?”

  She took the pistol out of her pocket.

  Telford took a quick look at it. “That’s not a—”

  “Hold the leashes really tightly; I’m going to shoot in the air.” She fired a shot. The bear looked confused, but didn’t retreat. The dogs strained at their leashes. Tessa knew that they were used to the sound of shooting. She set off one more shot. “Go away, bear, go away,” she yelled as loudly as she could. Another shot ripped through the forest. The grizzly stopped and then disappeared into the bush as quickly as it had appeared.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Tessa said. They slipped silently through the empty campsites, and then the outhouses came into view. It wasn’t far to the parking spot, although it seemed like an eternity to Tessa. Telford ran steadily a couple of steps ahead of her. The husky pulled powerfully on its leash while the German shepherd trotted at her side. It was only after they reached the two vehicles and the dogs were secured inside the Pathfinder that they dared to look each other in the face.

  Telford started talking first: “I really hope that we catch this guy.”

  Tessa took a deep breath. “The bear was just defending its food.”

  “I’m not talking about the grizzly. Somebody laid that bait out there. Always where people come together. These idiots want the bears to become dangerous. Then they can shoot them.” Telford took off his Stetson. She could see how furious he was.

  Her forehead was sweaty. “Who discovered the bait you mentioned?”

  “They found some near the viewing platform at Seven Point. Lionel Miller discovered the second spot near the picnic table at Killnair Park. And the forest ranger just got a call from a miner who came from the V4 forestry road.”

  “I think we saw poachers on that road,” Tessa exclaimed. She still was on the lookout for suspicious activity in the bushes. The bear might turn up again. She gave Telford a brief description of what she had seen that morning.

  “It was a dark pickup, but we couldn’t read the license plate.” She was listening for a cracking noise in the bush, but aside from the birds chirping and the wind there wasn’t anything.

  “I’ll inform the ranger.” Telford put the Stetson back on and took the car keys out of his pocket.

  At that moment Tessa began to shiver. She tried to stop it but couldn’t.

  Telford Reed looked at her nervously. “Are you cold?”

  She crossed her arms but continued to shiver
.

  “I don’t know, what . . .” She even had trouble speaking.

  Telford got closer to her and with some hesitation put his arms tightly around her shaking body.

  “That will soon go away,” he mumbled. “That’s the reaction to the stress.”

  She nodded weakly, shocked that her body had a life of its own. Telford talked to her softly. After a while the shivering ebbed away, and he let go of her.

  “Are you okay?” He looked at her with some skepticism.

  “Yes, yes, thanks, many thanks.” She tried to play down her embarrassment. “I think I should go home now.”

  “I’ll follow you in my car. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

  She felt too confused to protest. The familiarity of the instruments in the car helped calm her. In the rearview mirror, she saw Telford’s pickup. Who was this man? Four days ago she didn’t even know him, and now she had gone through two disturbing events with him.

  When she parked her car next to Savannah’s in front of the house, Reed’s pickup had disappeared. He must have turned around discreetly. Savannah stepped out in front of the main door. She was in a short-sleeved shirt, despite the cold, clear evening air.

  “Mom is already sleeping,” she said, as Tessa walked toward the house. “Just go on in. I’ll bring the dogs in and then I’ll drive home.”

  That was music to Tessa’s ears. Some breathing room from Savannah’s suffocating constant presence. She entered the house and her father came down from upstairs.

  “Anything new about Fran?” she asked hopefully.

  He shook his head. “I just called the police station. All they would say is that they had some tips they were following up on, but couldn’t say anything about it yet.”

  Savannah silently let the dogs into the house and closed the door behind her. Her father stood on the steps and looked at Tessa questioningly.

  She shrugged. “I’ll take the dogs with me tomorrow when we go out on the search for Fran. Maybe they’ll put us on the right track.” She realized that she was desperately grasping at straws.

  Her father wrinkled his brow. “Those dogs are not bloodhounds. They will just get in your way.”