The two chatted on for a while then Riley thanked Jean for the meal and drove home.
Over the course of the next few days, the weather became much warmer—not unusual in Newfoundland at this time of year. By Saturday morning, it was downright hot; there weren’t even any black flies. After lunch, Riley decided to while away the afternoon sunbathing so she dug out her favorite bikini, a very brief pale blue one that suited her black hair. There was a comfortable place on the lawn near the garden seat, so she spread out a blanket then lay on her stomach.
After a while, the bikini bra began to feel a little uncomfortable so she took it off and threw it toward the seat with gay abandon. Since the garden was completely private, she was tempted to take off the bottom as well. However, she thought the better of it and remained on her stomach with her head cradled in her arms. The sun was warm, the air was still and in a few minutes she was fast asleep.
Riley awoke with a start, sensing that someone was close by. She opened her eyes, at the same time realizing she must have rolled over as she slept. Jonathan Hynes was looking down at her with something between a smirk and a smile on his face. She caught her breath and sat upright, covering her breasts with her hands.
“Don’t do that, Riley,” he said. “Your figure is truly lovely. You shouldn’t hide yourself.”
Riley glowered at him. “Go away, Jonathan. Or at least turn your back while I put on my bra.”
“Come on Riley! I promise not to do anything.”
Riley looked around without moving her hands. Unfortunately, the bra was a few yards away where she’d thrown it. She swallowed her anger. “The bra’s over by the seat. Would you pass it to me—please?”
Jonathan took two steps and picked it up. “Catch!” he said, at the same time throwing it at her.
Instinctively, Riley grabbed for it with both hands while Jonathan ogled at her body for a second time.
“You’re a real shit, aren’t you?” Riley snarled. She didn’t dare turn away to put on the bra in case Jonathan grabbed her, but it only took a few seconds. Even so, it was long enough for him to get another eyeful.
At that point Riley made up her mind to tell Jean. She was far too good for this creep.
Seeming to read her mind, Jonathan suddenly became contrite. “Please don’t get angry and rat on me. I love Jean more than you think and I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“Well, maybe I’ll think about it. What the hell do you want, anyway?”
“I was passing through and thought I’d drop off the autopsy report. It’s in the car.”
“Oh. Then let’s go get it.”
Jonathan led the way to the Camaro. Riley stood beside him as he opened the passenger’s door to retrieve a white, legal-sized envelope from the seat.
“I’ll take it out and explain what it all means.”
Before Riley had a chance to answer, he extracted several sheets of paper and moved closer, holding the document so she could read it.
“Can you understand what it says?” he asked, putting his arm around her shoulders and caressing the smooth skin.
Riley squirmed away from him. “Hey! Why don’t you give up? I don’t care about the report. Just go!”
Jonathan dropped it on the driveway along with the empty envelope, staring at her almost naked body as he did so. “You really are beautiful, Riley.”
He continued to stare for a few more seconds then got into his car, revving the engine excessively before driving away.
Riley shuddered as she thought of poor Jean with that…that animal pawing her all over, then she headed for the front door. The question was, should she or should she not tell her friend? Maybe she would sleep on it.
Riley glanced at the autopsy report, which told her nothing she hadn’t already guessed, then put it on the dining table. It was still a beautiful afternoon but the thought of more sunbathing wasn’t appealing. Nonetheless, it would be nice to know how long the good weather was going to last. The answer was immediately available on the phone. The St. John’s Weather Office at the airport provided an up-to-date recording of the forecast. She looked up the number and dialed.
“Welcome to Environment Canada’s Weatherline,” said Paul Sutherland’s voice. “Here is the forecast for St. John’s and the Avalon Peninsula…”
Riley smiled as he predicted more warm weather; she had no idea he worked at the Weather Office. Too bad it had been Jonathan who had caught her sunbathing and not Paul. She was sure he’d have behaved like a perfect gentleman, but at the same time it would have been kind of nice if he’d seen her half-naked.
Chapter Eight
Puffins and Murres
During the rest of the weekend, Riley found herself looking forward to Joni’s visit more than she expected; her now ex-roommate was due on July 18, which was Tuesday. On Monday afternoon, she stocked up the fridge with the food she thought Joni would like, then made sure the spare bedroom was ready. On Tuesday morning she vacuumed the entire house, not her favorite job. After that, she filled a couple of vases with flowers from the garden: bluebells and foxgloves, with wild ferns to show them off.
At last it was early afternoon and time to leave for Torbay Airport. As luck would have it, she parked the wagon just as the L1011 Tristar materialized from a cloudless sky and settled toward the runway.
Inside the terminal, Riley waited anxiously in a small crowd opposite the Arrivals door. Soon the passengers were pouring through and there was Joni, waving frantically.
“Hey, Ri!” she cried. “It’s great to see you—oops! Sorry, I used that name.”
Riley hugged her ex-roommate, who was almost a head taller than she was. “Joni, believe it or not, I’ve missed you! And as for calling me Ri, it doesn’t matter any more. In fact, you can do it as much as you like!”
Riley stood back and inspected her friend. She was wearing a red blouse and beige pants that were obviously new, and she carried a blue lightweight jacket.
“You’re looking good,” said Riley. “Come on, let’s get your luggage.”
A carousel further down the building had started turning, so they hurried over to find a place where Joni could grab her bag.
“I have to tell you about the icebergs,” she said excitedly while they waited. “I counted at least a dozen off the coast as we came in to land.”
“They’re pretty neat, aren’t they,” Riley replied.
“You must have seen a lot of them by now, but I’d really like to get close to one. Maybe there’s someplace we could go on the way to your house. I’ve got a camera in my bag.”
“I know just the spot. There was a picture in the paper of a real big one almost blocking the harbor entrance. I’d like to see it too. The best view would be from the Cabot Tower.”
It wasn’t long before Joni saw her luggage and lifted it off the carousel as it moved past.
“I’ll lead the way to the car,” said Riley.
After driving up the winding road past the hotel where Riley had stayed, they parked at the top of Signal Hill and looked out over the ocean. The view of the Atlantic coastline’s craggy headlands was awesome under any circumstances, but with several blue-white icebergs glinting in the sun against a backdrop of rugged cliffs, it was unbelievably beautiful.
When they walked to the edge of the precipice beside historic Cabot Tower, Joni gasped. Below them, a massive ice castle floated serenely in the harbor entrance, leaving barely enough room for a red and white coastguard patrol boat to pass by.
“What a sight!” Joni exclaimed. “Does the harbor ever get completely blocked?”
“Dunno,” Riley answered. “I imagine so.”
Joni took a great many photographs, then they returned to the wagon and set off for home.
On the way, Riley announced her plans. “One of the things I’ve been wanting to do is take a boat trip to the Witless Bay Ecological Reserve. The locals call it the Bird Islands. There are several of them, each with big colonies of all kinds of birds—puffins, murres and a few I can’t r
emember. It’s about an hour south of here. Do you think you’d like that?”
“You bet,” Joni replied. “But what’s a murre?”
“Never seen one, that’s why I want to go. And then there’s the neat scenery and we’ll be sailing on the ocean in a small boat. How about tomorrow if the weather’s still good?”
So it was agreed.
Back at the house, Riley dug out some Pepsi and Danish pastries from the fridge while Joni explored the bungalow.
“It’s pretty good for free,” she said when she returned to the kitchen. “In fact, it’s darn good.”
“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet,” said Riley. “There’s still the land. Are you up to a fair hike?”
“You mean it’s that big?”
“Sure thing.”
“In that case, I’ll go put on my sneakers.”
After eating their snacks on the deck, they strolled across the lawn and through the woods to the meadow. While Joni was commenting on the surroundings, Riley realized it was going to be difficult not to boast about the property. It would be better to dwell on its resources rather than its extent.
When they reached the meadow, she bent down and peered at a large clump of blueberry bushes. “These berries are setting already, Joni. There’ll be enough to freeze for the entire winter.”
Joni ignored the comment. When Riley glanced up she was looking a bit pensive.
“Um…Ri,” she began. “There’s something I’ve wanted to tell you for quite a while.”
“Oh?”
“Um…Trevor and I have been seeing each other.”
For a moment Riley felt jealous, then the bottom of her world fell out, then it bounced up again. Finally, everything seemed all right.
“Hey, that’s great!” she said. “Honest, I mean it. Whatever I felt for Trevor seems to have gone away and…and…well, it’s just great.”
She patted Joni on the shoulder and they smiled at each other and it was good.
“Now you’re going to see the twenty-ninth wonder of the world: the trail to the end of the property. So let’s step it up ‘cause you’ll need an appetite for the dinner I’m planning.”
The following morning, the weather was still sunny and warm. The local paper had proclaimed that a tour would leave Witless Bay for the Bird Islands at one-thirty. Riley and Joni hadn’t dressed, so they put on T-shirts, jeans and sneakers, and set out from St. Peter’s at around eleven-thirty.
“I phoned the tour office before you got here; they said to arrive early as the boat soon fills up.” Riley was heading toward town, but in a few minutes she would exit the main road to bypass St. John’s and turn onto the Trans-Canada Highway.
“I hope we haven’t forgotten anything,” said Joni from beside her.
“I put the sandwiches and pop in the cooler, and the old binoculars I inherited are on the seat behind you.”
“Along with my camera,” Joni added as she extracted a road map from the glove compartment. “I’ll make sure we don’t get lost.”
“Once we’re on the Trans-Canada, watch for the turnoff marked Witless Bay Line,” said Riley. “It’s unpaved but it’s supposed to be quite scenic.”
When they arrived at the harbor, the tour boat was already moored at a jetty beside a small gravel car park. It was a medium-sized launch with a wheelhouse and an afterdeck for the passengers, but there was no one on board. There was, however, another car. It had Nova Scotia license plates. A youngish couple and a boy of about ten, presumably the occupants, were waiting on the jetty. Riley and Joni nodded a greeting as they passed on their way to the end of the jetty, where they peered at the small fish and crabs in the rather murky water. It wasn’t long before Riley heard voices from the direction of the boat. She looked up and saw two young men approaching from the car park. Her heart missed a beat—one of them was Paul Sutherland. They were some distance away so that Paul didn’t notice her while he and his colleague boarded the launch.
“Guess what, Joni, I know one of the guys who’s taking us out! Talk about a coincidence! Come on. Let’s see if he’s as surprised as I am.”
They were helped on board by the second young man, then Paul came out of the wheelhouse.
Riley smiled at the expression on his face.
“Hi, Paul,” she said. “Small world, isn’t it?”
“Sure is! This is a nice surprise. How are you doing, Riley?”
“Great, thanks. This is Joni, my friend from Toronto.”
“And I’m Paul Sutherland.”
“He works at the Weather Office,” Riley added.
“How did you know?” said Paul.
“I heard you on the Weatherline.”
“How come you’re on this boat, then?” Joni asked.
“I’m standing in for a friend on vacation. I’ll be your tour guide for this afternoon.”
“Hey, that’s fantastic,” said Riley.
“I’ve got a few things to do right now,” Paul continued, “so why don’t you find a good place on one of the benches and I’ll talk to you later. The best view is from the port side of the boat.”
By this time other people were boarding, so they immediately took their places.
“He’s a nice guy,” commented Joni. “But where did you meet him?”
“It was the day before I moved into the house. Some nasty kid put a dead rat in my mailbox. Paul happened to be passing when I found it. Like a Good Samaritan, he stopped to help.”
At that moment Paul’s voice came over the loudspeaker as he started his commentary about the colonies of seabirds on the islands.
Halfway through the tour, the launch’s engines were cut. They drifted silently on an almost calm sea a few hundred yards off Great Island, the largest of the four comprising the reserve. It boasted an extensive colony of puffins. Riley and Joni enjoyed a close-up view of tubby black and white birds with big orange beaks as they stood on guard outside their burrows.
Paul came over and sat beside them. “How’s the trip?” he asked. “This is a great place, isn’t it?”
“You can say that again,” Joni answered.
“Any chance of seeing a whale?” asked Riley.
“I don’t think so,” Paul replied. “There haven’t been too many this summer. But if I hear of any sightings during the next week or two, I’ll get in touch then maybe we can take a look.”
Riley’s heart jumped for the second time that afternoon. “That would be great, Paul.”
Joni was looking through the binoculars. “What are all those birds floating on the water?”
“Murres,” Paul answered. “They call them guillemots in Scotland. That’s where my parents came from.”
They chatted on for a while, then the engine started again and Paul took his leave.
When they arrived back at Witless Bay, Riley and Joni waited on the jetty to say good-bye. It wasn’t long before Paul came out of the wheelhouse.
“If you stop at Bay Bulls on the way home,” he said, “there’s a place where there might be a few lobsters left. The season was over in May, but they’ve been kept in pens and are still real good. I believe there are signs, but if you drive straight into the village you can’t miss the place.”
“Lobster! It’s out of this world!” exclaimed Joni. “I’ve only had it once.”
“Me too,” said Riley as they turned toward the car park.
“Let’s forget the sandwiches,” she added when they got in the wagon. “They’ll spoil the lobster.” She sighed. “I hope Paul gets in touch. He’s so nice, don’t you think?”
All too soon, it was time for Joni to leave. During the days that followed the trip to the Bird Islands, they spent a couple of nights at Terra Nova National Park and had a barbecue at Jean’s house.
As Riley drove home after seeing her friend off at the airport, she felt rather lonely. Staying on in the house for the remainder of the summer didn’t seem quite so attractive. On the other hand, she reflected that Joni’s visit had apparently broken th
e sequence of unfortunate events that had occurred before her arrival. Then Riley remembered the encounter with Jonathan. She would have to make up her mind about telling Jean, and soon. Thinking about the problem kept her awake that night, but in the end she decided to call in the morning and promptly fell asleep.
Riley didn’t wake up until just after nine o’clock, most unlike her. The original plan to tell Jean about Jonathan on the phone didn’t seem right any more, so the only answer was to invite her for coffee. She was out of luck. The answering machine replied to her call; Jean was at work.
Riley was still eating breakfast when the sound of a car interrupted her train of thought. It was Bethany O’Shea in her fancy BMW.
“That woman’s not coming into my house,” Riley said aloud as she slipped on a pair of duck boots over her bare feet and went outside.
She got to the car as the real estate agent closed the door.
Bethany O’Shea was wearing the same clothes and carrying the same briefcase as before.
“Good morning, Miss Barnett,” she said. “I have excellent news for you.”
“If it’s about selling the house, I’m not interested,” Riley retorted. “I already told you that.”
“I think you’ll change your mind quick enough when you hear what I have to say. You’ll be a very rich girl if you accept the offer I’ve got in here.” She patted her briefcase.
“How much?” asked Riley in a sarcastic voice.
“If you’ll let me come inside, I’ll show you the papers.”
“No, thanks. You can give them to me right now, and…and I’ll consult my lawyer.” Riley didn’t know why, but she had a natural antipathy toward this woman. Maybe it was because she was so pushy; Riley couldn’t stand pushy people. Jonathan Hynes would be perfect for Bethany O’Shea. She smiled at the thought.
“Did I say something funny?” Bethany asked. “Never mind. I’ll do as you wish.” She put the briefcase on the hood of the BMW with great care, opened it and removed a sheet of pink paper with a lot of small print on it. “Here you are, and here’s the amount.” She pointed a finger at a dollar figure that had been filled in by hand.
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