by Alex MacLean
Audra looked at him. “What?”
Logan indicated a dirt road heading into a treed area. “We couldn’t see this on the map view, but that’s Jimmy Russell Road. We parked there on Friday when we went into the Kimberley Nature Park. Remember?”
Audra chewed on the inside of her lip.
She asked Huey, “What time did he arrive there?”
“Ten thirty-four,” he said. “Left at twelve fifteen.”
“Yup,” Logan said, nodding again. “Yup.”
He motioned for Audra, Allan, and Denis to follow him outside of the office.
Allan asked him, “What time was Guillaume Mills at the park?”
“He left his home at around ten that morning. Family said it might’ve been a little after ten. They weren’t exactly sure.
“Regardless, he lives about five kilometers from the park. Very close. Give him ten, fifteen minutes to ride there on his bike. You’re looking at ten fifteen to ten thirty.”
Audra could see hope come to life in Logan’s eyes.
“No question,” he said. “Mills and Stark were at the park around the same time.”
Allan said, “It means Stark was in the area. Not that he murdered Mills, or even saw him, for that matter. Look at how big that place is. We need to exercise caution here. Take this step by step.”
Audra agreed. “Like I said yesterday, we can’t get ahead of ourselves. You don’t have any evidence linking him to Mills. We need more.”
Lips pressed into a tight line, Logan dropped his head. “Yeah, I know.”
“You must admit,” Denis said. “This has just upgraded Jacob Stark to a person of interest.”
“It has,” Audra admitted. “But we have to find out if he’s been in any of these other areas.”
They walked back into the office.
“Mr. Nolan,” Logan said. “Thank you for your help. We might need to come back and retrieve the memory card from that car’s GPS tracker.”
Huey nodded. “Sure. No problem.”
“In the meantime, make sure nothing happens to it.”
Forty-five minutes later, they were back at the RCMP detachment in Kimberley when Audra’s cell phone rang. It was Thorne.
“It’s all in whom you speak to,” he said.
“What’d you find out, Captain?”
“Are you sitting down?”
Audra looked at the three men seated around the table with her.
“We all are,” she said.
“I’m glad my best detectives are on this case,” Thorne said.
Audra straightened in her chair. “Oh?”
“On October fourteenth, Jacob Stark flew into Halifax from Hamilton via Westjet flight five thirty-two at thirteen ten hours. He flew back to Hamilton on October eighteenth at fourteen forty-five hours our time. He arrived in Hamilton at sixteen hundred hours Eastern time.”
Audra felt a frisson of excitement. She met Allan’s eyes and winked at him. He leaned forward in his chair, gazing at her with attentive focus.
“What about last October?” she asked Thorne.
“This is your dunker,” he said. “He flew into Halifax from Hamilton on October fifteenth. Left again on October nineteenth.”
“Two days after the murder,” Audra said.
“Yes.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Keep me informed.”
“Always,” she said and hung up.
As she set her cell phone on the table, Allan asked, “Thorne?”
“Yes.”
“What’d he say?”
Audra looked at him, unable to hold back her smile. “He was there, Al. Jacob Stark was in Halifax during both murders.”
39
Burlington, October 31
6:35 p.m.
The neighborhood is quiet, almost somnolent.
I see only a handful of ghouls, witches, and superheroes out trick or treating. Every year the number seems to get smaller. I wonder if people are just having fewer kids, or if parents are taking their children to the upscale neighborhoods that have gained a reputation for giving out full chocolate bars and cans of pop.
Jaleesa is dressed like that girl from the Toy Story movies. Jade is dressed like a ladybug.
We work the houses on Shadeland Avenue first then make our way down Townsend toward Forest Glen. I enjoy watching the girls go door to door, hearing them say, “trick or treat,” and holding out their pillowcases.
The weather is perfect too. The evening sky is clear and starry. The breeze coming off Hamilton Harbor chills the air as it creeps through the streets.
Despite the few kids around, a lot of people have decorated for Halloween. Jack-o-lanterns adorn steps. Fake spiderwebs are strung up on trees or stretched out over entryways. A few, I see, have even gone a little overboard.
We come along a house on Townsend that has so many fake headstones set up on the front lawn, it looks like a graveyard. A coffin with a skeleton crawling out of it sits near the walkway. Spooky noises, pumping out from speakers, add to the creepiness. Screams. Evil laughs. Chains rattling. Lightning clashes.
Jade freezes and looks back at me with frightened eyes.
“It’s okay,” I tell her. “We can skip this one.”
“Scaredy-cat,” Jaleesa says.
She skips up the walkway to the door and rings the bell. The owner has even dressed up like Dracula. Cape, fangs, white face, shadowed eyes, the whole weird bit.
Jaleesa comes back wearing a big smile. She holds up a miniature chocolate bar in front of Jade.
“I got a Kit Kat,” she taunts and dumps the bar into her pillowcase.
I watch Jaleesa move on ahead of us, more fascinated by her behavior than concerned. I always thought she was her mother’s daughter. But I just witnessed a piece of me reveal itself in her. The way she taunted Jade almost mirrored the way I used to taunt Joshua.
Her behavior incites a smile I can’t contain. Warmth radiates throughout my body. I feel bigger, taller somehow. It must be pride.
Dead leaves crunch under our feet as we finish up on Forest Glen and hit the posh waterfront homes on North Shore Boulevard.
At the second one, Jade turns from the door, excited. “Look, Daddy,” she calls. “Root beer.”
I give her a smile. “Nice. What do you say?”
She turns to the gray-haired woman. “Thank you, nice lady.”
“I got Pepsi,” Jaleesa says as she comes back.
I check my watch, surprised at the time: 7:49 p.m.
The girls have school tomorrow.
We head up the back end of Shadeland Avenue, hitting the remaining houses before home.
“Daddy,” Jade says. “My arms are getting tired. Can you carry my bag?”
I take it from her. The pillowcase, three-quarters full, does have some weight to it. Jaleesa has hers slung over one shoulder like a burglar.
“Jaleesa,” I call to her. “You okay?”
She looks back at me. “Yeah. Fine.”
When we reach home, Jade takes the pillowcase from me, and then she and Jaleesa run up the steps to our front door, ringing the doorbell.
Heidi answers.
“Trick or treat,” the girls say in unison, giggling as they open their pillowcases.
Smiling, Heidi looks at Jaleesa. “And who are you supposed to be?”
“Jessie,” she says.
As a healthy alternative, Heidi prepared special goody bags just for the girls. Inside she had tangerine pumpkins, banana ghosts, and some monster mouths she made using slices of Granny Smiths, peanut butter, and yogurt-covered raisins for teeth.
Heidi drops a goody bag into Jaleesa’s pillowcase, then she turns to Jade.
“Oh look,” she says, “a little ladybug.”
Jade giggles some more. “Yes.”
“Cute.” Heidi gives her a goody bag. “Okay, girls. It’s after eight. C’mon. You’ll have to get ready for bed soon.”
“Can we have some candy?” Jaleesa asks.
Heidi says, “You can both pick out two favorite pieces after I look it over.”
I follow them inside.
Heidi takes the girls’ pillowcases and dumps their loot into separate piles on the living room floor. She does this every year. Before the girls are allowed to eat anything, Heidi will carefully sort and check through their candy. Fruit, baked goods, and bagged candy tied with twist ties get thrown out.
I stand in the doorway, watching them. Jaleesa takes off her cowgirl hat and sets it on the sofa. Then she sits cross-legged on the floor beside her pile. Jade picks up a mini chocolate bar and shows it to Heidi.
“Mommy, is this good?”
Heidi looks it over. “Yes.”
Jade brings the bar over to me. “Here, Daddy.”
I give her a smile. “Thank you, honey.”
“Welcome.”
I stare at Heidi. She hasn’t spoken to me since I got back. She hasn’t even looked at me.
I wonder who would miss her. The girls, obviously. Her mother, her sister. They will be the only ones to come calling on her, raising questions. Neither will believe she abandoned her daughters. She lives and breathes for them.
If Jade hadn’t interrupted me last night, the deed would already be done. Heidi would be at the bottom of Lake Ontario.
As I look at Jade and Jaleesa, my heart breaks. I feel like a thief. Here I am, thinking about stealing their mother away from them.
What if the cops throw me in jail? Who would look after the girls then? Their grandmother? Their aunt? Would they be separated and shipped off to different orphanages?
Heidi looks over at me, finally meeting my eyes for the first time since I came home.
“I put something on your desk for you,” she says.
I tip my head to the side. “Oh?”
“What, Mommy?” Jade asks. “A goody bag?”
Heidi smiles at her. “Something like that.”
As I watch her go back to checking and sorting the candy, I have a sneaking suspicion what she put there. That tightening in my stomach doesn’t lie.
I head into my office and see the envelope on my computer keyboard. Even before I open it, I know what’s inside.
Blood pounds in my ears. I feel myself growing warmer, to the point of sweating.
I pick up the envelope and pull out the letter.
“I had that drawn up on Friday.” Heidi’s voice startles me.
I turn to her. She stands in the doorway with her arms crossed.
“You want a divorce?”
She nods.
“On what grounds?” I say through clenched teeth.
“Read it.”
I see the checkmark beside adultery. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“No.”
“We already went through this.”
She gives me an icy stare. “You disappear. You don’t let anyone know where you’re going. Don’t even call the girls.”
“I left here to get away from you for a few days,” I say. “To get away from your bullshit attitude. Do you know how hard it is to live under the same roof as you when you’re in one of your moods?”
She shrugs.
“What evidence do you have?” I say.
“Those weird cuts and bruises you come home with.”
“I told you already.”
“Hiking injuries, my ass,” she says. “Something’s going on with you. You’re a man with secrets. I can tell.”
I smirk. “Is that a woman’s intuition? A way to overthink and pick stuff apart so you end up forming your own opinions based on what you think the truth is.”
Heidi shakes her head. “Nothing to do with it.”
“Bullshit. It’s that, or you’re paranoid because of how your old man cheated on your mother.”
“I don’t want to get into this in front of the girls,” she says.
I cross the floor and press my face right up to hers.
“I’ll never let you take them away from me,” I say. “Never. You want to go, then go. They stay here.”
She hits me with that condescending smile of hers. “You’ll never be able to look after them properly.”
“Yeah? Why not?”
“You going to quit your job? Stay home with them? See them off to school every morning? Get them ready for bed? Cook their meals?”
“Think I can’t?”
She shakes her head again. “The courts will decide who gets custody. I’m sure you’ll have visitation rights.”
That pushes me over the edge. I grab Heidi by the throat and slam her back against the wall. Squeezing my hand, I feel her pulse pounding against my fingers. I see the same shock and fear form in her eyes as I’ve seen with many others. She grasps my wrist, struggling to free my grip.
“Mommy,” Jaleesa calls out. “Are you going to finish looking over our candy?”
All at once, I let go of Heidi.
“Sorry,” I tell her, raising my hands. “Sorry.”
The shock doesn’t leave her eyes. Holding her throat, she steps back into the hallway with a wild expression on her face.
“Thank you, Jacob,” she says hoarsely. “You just gave me a second reason for divorce.”
40
Cranbrook, October 31
8:30 p.m.
“Hey, little man.”
“Hi, Dad!” Brian’s voice beamed over the line. “When are you coming home?”
“Soon,” Allan said. “Hopefully this week.”
“Did you catch the bad guy?”
“Not yet, but I think we’re closing in on him.”
“Cool.”
Allan smiled into the phone. “Did you get lots of candy tonight?”
“Yeah. I just got home a little while ago.”
“Who’d you go as?”
“Iron Man.”
“I thought so. Did your mother take a picture?”
“Yup.”
“Good. I’ll see it when I get home. Did your friends go with you?”
“Um...Billy and Jamie did.”
“Who’d they dress up as?”
“Billy went as Batman, and Jamie went as Robin.”
“Three little superheroes,” Allan said. “Nice.”
“Billy’s dad went around with us. But it got really foggy out, so we came home early.”
“Aww, that’s too bad.”
“I know. It’s always foggy here.”
“It’s because we live right on the coast.”
“Oh, Dad,” Brian said. “Mom wants to talk to you.”
“Okay, little man. Make sure you don’t eat too much candy before bed.”
“Um...I won’t.”
Allan could hear the smile in Brian’s voice. “Good night, son.”
“Night, Dad.”
Melissa came on the line. “Hi, Al.”
“Hey, sweetheart. How’s everything going?”
“Great,” she said. “You coming home soon?”
“I think so. Just not sure when. We’re flying to Ontario in the morning.”
“Oh?”
“We’re chasing down a lead there.”
“That’s good, right?”
Allan sighed. “Yeah, it is.”
Melissa paused. “You sound troubled. You all right?”
“Just tired, I think. It’s been nonstop since I came out here.”
“When’s your flight leave tomorrow?”
“Ten fifteen. It’s the earliest one we could get. We fly out to Calgary then connect with another flight for Toronto. Once we land there, we’re going to drive over to Burlington.”
“You have a busy day ahead,” Melissa said.
“Oh, yes,” Allan said. “I’ll be hitting the hay early tonight.”
“Then I better let you go, Al. I have to get the munchkin ready for school tomorrow. Get your rest.”
“Okay, sweetheart. Good night.”
“Good night. Love you.”
“Love you too.”
As Allan hung up, he
lay back on the hotel bed and shut his eyes. He put a hand over his stomach, feeling the ugly butterflies there again. Without warning, his brain flashed a memory.
Groggy and dazed, Allan crawled to the edge of the alley. He rolled onto his back and half-sat against the brick wall of the warehouse. It hurt to breathe. He was sure some of his ribs were broken.
On the other side of the alley, Lee Higgins jumped in the air, shouting excitedly, “Stanton’s got some fight in him.”
Then he began ducking and weaving and throwing his fists out in front of him like a boxer.
“How’s your jaw, Talon?” Higgins laughed. “Did he break it?”
Talon picked up the pistol and spat. “That motherfucker.”
“You want the honors, man?”
“Gladly.”
Talon walked forward. Helpless, Allan watched the black hole of the muzzle rising to his face. A sudden blast ripped through the alley, and Allan’s entire body jolted. In awe and horror, he saw Talon’s head disappear in a red plume, his feet flying out from under him and his body hitting the ground with a sickening wet thud.
Opening his eyes, Allan blew out a few short breaths. He sat up on the bed, his heart racing.
“Jesus,” he said. “Jesus Christ.”
There was no stopping them. The flashbacks came and went as they pleased, suddenly and unexpectedly.
He got up and crossed the floor to the window. For a time, he watched the steady traffic on the highway outside. His muscles were tense, shaky.
A soft tap on the door startled him.
Pausing a brief moment to compose himself, Allan went to answer.
Denis stood in the doorway.
He said, “Did I disturb you?”
Allan shook his head. “Not at all. C’mon in. What’s up?”
Denis groaned. “I just spent the last hour calling all the hotels in Huntsville.”
Allan sat on the edge of the bed. “And?”
“A Jacob Stark stayed at the Huntsville Inn for three nights last year when Li Chen was murdered. He arrived two days before the murder. Left the day after.”
“What about Hailey Pringle? Was Stark there at that time?”
Denis took a seat on the sofa and slumped forward. “None of the hotels has any record of him.”
For a moment, Allan watched him stare at the floor, wringing his hands.