“When I was staying with the Laughtons, I told them I’d bought a place. I said it was on Raven Lake but that we wouldn’t be neighbors. Frances asked me what the roadside number was and I gave it to her. It didn’t occur to me to wonder why she asked for it.”
Frances certainly covered all her bases.
As he turned into Braeloch, Bruce asked, “Sure you’re up for driving home? I can take you there. Get you back to your car tomorrow.”
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
In the public parking lot, he waited while I started up the Volvo. I tooted my horn and drove off.
Inside the cottage, something didn’t feel right. I switched on the lamp beside the door. No one was in the living room. I went through the house, turning on lights in every room, but there was no one there.
Still uneasy, I returned to the kitchen to pour myself a glass of chardonnay. An envelope with my name on it was propped against the sugar bowl on the table. My heart did a flip-flop. Someone had come into the cottage while I was at the wedding.
I went straight to the sofa and turned on the reading lamp. Inside the envelope was a single page of creamy stationery covered with large, round handwriting. I flipped the page over and looked at the signature. Riza.
“Don’t look so frightened,” was how she began.
I had to chuckle at that.
“We could have been friends,” she continued. “Too bad the way things turned out.”
She meant it was too bad that she got caught.
“I’m lying low. I figured my business might come to an abrupt end, so last month I put a big mortgage on my place on Raven. I have plenty of money to live on.”
And she didn’t think the police would find her?
“The cops don’t have anything that links me to my business. I’ve been very careful not to leave a digital footprint.”
She hid her IP address, but I figured the Anti-Rackets Branch would have other ways of connecting her to the rental scam.
“But I’ll still try to stay under the radar. You know, I didn’t like doing business on my home turf. I only sent renters to the Gibsons’ place for Zoe.”
So her niece could have her dream home on a lake.
“The poor girl couldn’t find anything she liked that she and Nate could afford. The Gibsons were planning to leave next year and I figured there was no harm in making them go a bit sooner.”
And making them sell their home at a lower price than they’d planned.
“Then you started to help them.”
So she sent renters to my cottage and to Bruce’s home.
“I did what I could to make you go back to Toronto but you’re a stubborn woman, Pat.”
She was right about that.
“I’m sorry if I caused you a few bad moments. Like when I took your paddles. Taught you a lesson, though, about leaving paddles in a boat. And I came back to get you and your friend.”
We appreciated that.
“You won’t see me again. You did what you had to do and I don’t hold it against you. Goodbye, Pat.”
I glanced at the lock on the door. Riza could pick it again but I didn’t think she would. She was gone for good.
EPILOGUE
Two weeks later, I packed up my belongings. I’d had a relaxing holiday reading and paddling the lakes, but it was time to get back to the city. I knew that I’d miss the Glencoe Highlands and its residents, but I would miss Laura, Tracy, Tommy and Jamie even more if I stayed away from Toronto any longer. And I had to get down to setting up my own financial advisory practice.
I said my goodbyes to Bruce and the Campbells at a lunch at the Winigami. We promised to keep in touch by email and on Facebook.
That evening, I had dinner with Nate and Zoe at their cottage. I didn’t want to ask where they would be staying that winter. I decided they could bring it up if they wanted to.
Zoe did that as soon as we sat down at the table. “We need a home of our own,” she said.
She gave Nate an inquiring look and he nodded. “We’re having a baby in December,” she added.
Another December baby. “I wish you every happiness,” I said, raising my glass to toast the expected arrival.
After we’d clinked glasses, Zoe smiled wistfully. “I’d love to tell Riza. She would be tickled pink.”
“You don’t know where she is?” I asked.
Zoe smiled. “I don’t know where she is but I’m sure she’s fine. Riza always lands on her feet.”
Nate grimaced. “And disrupts other people’s lives in the process.”
Zoe put a hand on his. “Now, Nate.”
“She’s the reason we’re leaving the township.”
“Leaving?” I asked.
“Keith took me to lunch two days ago,” he said. “He said he was sorry but he couldn’t have me managing the branch because of my family connection to Riza.”
“You didn’t know what she was doing,” Zoe said. “None of it was your fault.”
“I had no idea but Keith was right,” Nate said. “We’re in the business of managing people’s money, and we can’t allow even a shadow of doubt tarnish our reputation. Riza is wanted for financial crimes, and everyone around here knows that she’s your aunt.”
“Where will you go?” I asked.
“Keith is sending me to Vancouver. I’ll take over a branch on the lower mainland.”
“It’s so unfair,” Zoe said.
“No, Keith is being extremely fair,” Nate said. “He could have sent me packing. And you’ll love the West Coast, hon.”
I didn’t mention that Vancouver had some of the highest house prices in Canada.
“Who’ll take your place in Braeloch?” I asked Nate. I would have heard at lunch if Soupy had got the job.
“Colin Peterson from Toronto. I worked with him at Optimum a few years ago. Keith will announce the appointment next week.” He chuckled. “Soupy won’t be happy.”
“Probably not,” I said.
The next morning, the sun shone down from a clear blue sky. It was early August but there was a touch of fall in the air. I had a big smile on my face as I drove south to Toronto.
There was a lot to smile about. I was starting a new phase in my career, and my family was moving forward with their lives. Bruce had mourned his mother and he was moving on too. He was enjoying his new home and thriving at the newspaper.
And there would be three Christmas babies—Laura and Kyle’s, Mara and Soupy’s, and Zoe and Nate’s. Three new lives at the end of the year.
I started to hum “Merry Christmas Baby.”
There was a lot to look forward to.
~ * ~
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to the intrepid Mesdames of Mayhem for the opportunities they have provided to present the Pat Tierney mysteries to readers throughout southwestern Ontario.
Thank you to Donna and Alex Carrick of Carrick Publishing for their work and dedication in publishing the Mesdames’ crime fiction anthologies and the second editions of the Pat Tierney mysteries.
And merci to the Midwives—Catherine Dunphy, Madeleine Harris-Callway, Lynne Murphy, Joan O’Callaghan and Sylvia Warsh—for their assistance in birthing Raven Lake.
My heartfelt appreciation to Ed Piwowarczyk, my dear husband, my first editor and my collaborator in this wonderful book adventure.
And a warm thank you to readers who have told me how much they enjoyed reading about Pat Tierney. You are the people who make everything worthwhile!
Raven Lake is set is in an imaginary part of Ontario cottage country that bears a strong resemblance to the real Haliburton Highlands. None of the Haliburton Highlands’ residents appear in this book.
If you enjoyed this book, please consider writing a short review. Reviews are helpful to other readers and greatly appreciated by authors. When you post a review, drop me an email and I may feature part of your review on my blog. Thank you.
—Rosemary
Rosemarymccracken dot com / Cont
act
Born and raised in Montreal, Rosemary McCracken has worked on newspapers across Canada as a reporter, arts writer and arts reviewer, editorial writer and editor. She is now a freelance journalist, specializing in personal finance. She advocates greater investor protection and improved financial services industry regulation and enforcement.
Rosemary’s short fiction has been published by Room of One’s Own Press, Kaleidoscope Books, Sisters in Crime Canada, the Mesdames of Mayhem, Darkhouse Books, Down & Out Books and Mystery Weekly Magazine. Safe Harbor, her first mystery novel, was shortlisted for Britain’s Debut Dagger award in 2010, and first published by Imajin Books in 2012. Black Water, the second book in the Pat Tierney mystery series, was first released by Imajin Books in 2013, followed by Raven Lake in 2016.
Rosemary lives with her husband in Toronto and teaches novel writing at George Brown College. She is a member of Crime Writers of Canada and Sisters in Crime.
Visit Rosemary at her website and blog, and on Twitter and Facebook.
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