by Laura Singer
Chapter 7
Jenni waved. Lonnie waved back, then took out a paddle to move the boat closer. A policewoman in the other boat tossed a rope; Matt caught it and pulled the boat in close enough for both the constables to make a leap onto a somewhat squishy part of the shore.
"So what's going on here?" the male constable asked. "And why is this fellow tied up?"
"Tried to kill us. He's yours now. Who are you?"
"Constable Mike Moran, Bancroft O.P.P." He pointed to the female officer. "Constable Cassie Dunleavy." Then he said, "Everybody find a place to sit, away from each other. We'll do this as quick as we can."
Lonnie whistled. When he saw he had the attention of the people, he began slinging folding chairs over the front of the boat. Saundra grabbed the first couple and gave one to Jenni. Matt got one for himself. Constable Dunleavy took three, giving one to Constable Moran, setting one aside and taking one to Julio. She whispered something that Jenni couldn't hear. Julio nodded, and Constable Dunleavy used a small knife to cut the ropes from Julio's hands and feet. Julio rubbed his ankles and wrists, then sat down, looking out across the lake.
Jenni watched as both officers talked quietly to Julio. He's certainly talking up a storm, she thought. None of this get me a lawyer business. When she looked back towards the lake, she saw that Lonnie had set up a nice lawn chair lounge for himself, and had lifted a cooler from the boat. Then he lugged the cooler from one person to another, offering cola, ginger ale, salmon sandwiches, and bags of potato chips. When he got close to Jenni, she told him, "Lonnie, you're an angel."
Lonnie smiled. "I kept telling that to my wife, but her memory was always too good."
In the end, the chairs were hardly necessary. They provided someplace to sit, but several of them tended to sink one leg into the soil more than the other legs, leaving the sitter the choice of sitting on a crooked chair or continually chasing after more solid ground. Maybe Lonnie brought them to watch the comedy, Jenni thought, but that seemed unlikely, knowing him. It would have made a great bit of video to post,
After talking to Julio, the officers came and talked to the others. Mike Moran talked to Matt, and Cassie Dunleavy talked to Saundra. Then Constable Dunleavy brought her chair over to Jenni. She put it onto the nearest solid ground and ate a half a salmon sandwich before getting out her notebook and asking questions. Jenni gave her name and address, her reason for being at the lodge, and her reason for being at that end of the lake.
Then Constable Dunleavy asked Jenni how long she'd known Matt and Saundra, checking that she got the answers right by reading then back. She asked, "You sure?" about how long she'd known the others.
"That's all," the policewoman said. "If you leave the lodge permanently, let us know where you're going to. We might have more questions in a day or two."
Five minutes later the police boat was disappearing down the lake, Julio sitting beside Constable Moran. Jenni watched it disappear with a dozen mixed feelings, but mostly relief.
"I guess we'd better get those canoes and the rest of the packs," Emilia said, starting down the trail that led to Bass lake. The rest of the group, including Lonnie, followed her.
For reasons of her own, Saundra led the other three as the trail rose up from the lake, dipped once into a swampy area, then went steeply down to Bass Lake. "Looks like a canoe convention," Lonnie said as they came to the water, where five canoes were lying among the rocks and logs. Packs, both wet and dry, were piled along the path.
"This could put me right off canoeing," Matt said. "It takes all the fun out of portaging."
"There's fun in portaging?" Saundra asked.
"I think he was being sarcastic," Jenni said.
There was a pause, then Matt said, "I think Julio's made up a story for the police. He's a bit louder than he thinks, so I got the gist of it."
"He never accepted responsibility for anything, ever," Jenni said. "If he had to lie his way out, that wasn't a problem. What's he telling them?"
"From what I could overhear, he was just a lonesome husband trying to reconcile with his wife," Matt said. "He discovered Jenni with her lover – that's me, of course – and tried to reason with her. That's when I pulled out a shotgun, fired a shot into the air and threatened him. Saundra tied him up, and the three of us concocted the story we told the police to put the blame on him."
Jenni tried to say something, but felt sick. "They'll never believe that. I imagine they'll be able to trace the gun to him."
"I doubt that it's connected with him," Lonnie said, "but I can't imagine the police taking his word against ours. Easy enough to show that Jenni and Matt never met before the day before yesterday, I'd imagine."
"Hey," said Saundra. "Trust me. Not to worry. Nothing to worry about."
But as Jenni carried her canoe back over the portage trail to Hawk Lake, she wondered if this wasn't a nightmare with no ending. Behind her Matt, as the strongest one, carried Julio's canoe.
It took three trips to get everything over to Hawk Lake, although on the last trip there wasn't much to bring. Jenni spent the whole time thinking, which was a waste since mostly her thoughts kept going in circles. Twice Saundra told her to stop worrying, but Jenni just thought that was easy for her to say, More than anything else, she wanted a hot shower and a couple of hours to talk things over with Emilia.
Even Matt saw the worried look on her face, and told her she had nothing to worry about. But Matt had never been married to Julio. Matt knew nothing of Julio's ability to convince people that black was white.
At one point Jenni looked up at Matt carrying a canoe and a pack over the portage, and thought, again, I like that guy. Which didn't cheer her up at all, but did lead to some speculation on her part about just what a guy's mistress had to do, other than the obvious. In between, every now and then, she'd suddenly get the picture of the shotgun swinging around her direction. The first time that happened she ran into a tree with the canoe she was carrying, and the second time she got the vision she stepped, ankle-deep, into a soft bit of the trail, and her shoe made squishy noises for a while after.
When the last of everything was on the shore of Hawk Lake, Jenni showed the rest how to make a towing chain of the five canoes, putting all the packs into the lodge boat. Saundra started to laugh, and when Jenni asked her what was funny, Saundra said, "It looks more like a comedy circus act than anything else." Jenni had to admit that that was true. She had followed close behind Matt on the portage, listening to her one shoe making squish noises and his two doing the same.
Matt sat in the lodge boat beside Lonnie, and Saundra and Jenni rode behind them, among the packs, watching the canoes as Lonnie got the string of boats moving out into the lake. Just before Lonnie moved into high speed, Matt reached over and pulled a white water lotus flower from its floating lily pad. He handed it to Jenni. "That's for the flowers you put in my room when I got here," he said.
Jenni took it without comment. A minute later, while they were making speed down the lake, Jenni put the pretty white flower over the side and watched it disappear in the wake behind the boat. Saundra just shook her head. "Did you make a wish?" Saundra asked.
"Of course," Jenni said. Then she did make a wish.
In the half hour it took Lonnie to take the boat back to the Two-and-a-Half Pine Resort, Jenni reached a few conclusions. First, her marriage was definitely over; it might take a few more days for the paperwork to come through, but when a guy points a shotgun your way one can reasonably assume the relationship's at a dead end.
Secondly, she was more attracted to Matt than she'd been admitting, but that could be just a reaction to the events and the moonlight, not to mention too little sleep. She texted Emilia: "On our way home. Maybe another fifteen minutes."
She got back: "Will be good to see you again, stranger. Will have hot shower and clean clothes set out so Matt can see the real you before he's got out of the parking lot. Will block the exit if necessary. Shall I tell Matt you want to shower with him?"
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Jenni smiled for the first time in a while, and showed the text to Saundra, who laughed and said, "Go for it!"
Yeah, right, Jenni thought. I imagine he'll be gone in a shower of gravel from the back wheels, trying to get away from crazy women in a crazy place.
She was about to text more, but her phone was flashing a battery warning. Strange, she thought. Most of the time she'd been using Matt's juice pack, the plug-in power unit, so there should have been enough power left, no matter how much conversation Saundra'd had with her friends. Unless she used it to take pictures; that used up more battery. She turned to Saundra. "Were you taking pictures with my phone?"
"I certainly got one of you and Matt kissing," Saundra said.
"That's not good," Jenni said. "If they believe Julio that Matt and I knew each other before, that picture…."
"Not to worry, like I said." Saundra tapped her head. "I immediately sent it to a friend and deleted it from the camera."
What happens, Jenni thought, when we get to the lodge? Matt’s booked another night away from work; will he stay another night at the lodge? If he does, how will I feel? She still thought that she’d been wise to use the campfire conversation to put some distance between herself and Matt. But a growing part of her wondered if she hadn’t made another great mistake in her life. If Matt stayed, they could sit on the deck, watch the lake, and talk about things. Jenni wasn’t quite sure about what things, but she was sure everything had changed since the attacks by Julio.
On the other hand, maybe getting any closer to Matt would be as big a mistake as she’d made with Julio. She might be a bit older and wiser, but she’d only known Matt for a couple of days. And Matt had confirmed he was "in a long-term relationship" with Annie. The possibility of being the mistress didn’t look as bad as before.
In the end, it was a lot more anticlimactic than that. Saundra called out to her, “Heads or tails?” Jenni chose tails and lost. “You,” Saundra told her, “get to help the guys with the canoes. I just won first right to a shower.” Jenni accepted this anyway, no matter how much she wanted Matt’s last look at her to be something other than the scraggly wreck she felt like. After all, she was working for the lodge, and Saundra wasn’t.
“Can I borrow your phone again?” Saundra asked. Jenni handed it over, again wondering just who Saundra was talking to so much.
Lonnie expertly put the string of five canoes up against the shore, disconnected the rope, and let the lodge boat glide, unpowered, to its place at the docks.
Saundra hopped out, waved to the rest, and headed in long loping strides to her car. She pulled a bag from the trunk and went into the lodge. Next life, Jenni thought, I want legs like those.” She waved to Emilia, who was coming down the steps wearing a bright orange dress and matching hat. Damn, Jenni thought, I’m running a distant third around this place, and made a resolution to get work at a seniors’ home next time.
Matt was out tying up the back of the boat while Lonnie did the front. Jenni let them; men always thought women could never figure out knots. The boat rocked as she stood on a seat to step onto the dock. She’d gone from wobbly boats to docks a lot, but Matt reached out anyway with his hand. After an imperceptible hesitation Jenni took his hand to get herself back onto the dock. I guess I’m going to have to kill Annie, she thought, then laughed at herself. Silly girl I am; still a silly girl.
Lonnie came over, ready to help, but Jenni told him they could handle the canoes, and to check to see if there were any customers with needs first. Reluctantly, he left.
Emilia never quite made it out of the lodge; Jenni saw her go back inside when Saundra came to the door and called her back in. Matt reached for Julio's canoe, but Jenni said, "We can carry this together." It was time to get the canoes. They piled Julio's stuff into the canoe, then Jenni took the back end and Matt took the front, and they walked and dragged it over to Julio's car. "Just roll it over on the ground," Jenni said, "and push the rest of his stuff under it. It's his problem now."
They left Jenni's canoe on the shore and were about to start on the other three, when the two young boys showed up. "Want to make some money?" Matt asked them and soon had them assigned to haul canoes and camping gear over to Saundra's car. Jenni left all Saundra's stuff beside her car, figuring Saundra knew the best way to tie them on. Putting two canoes onto a car was a bit trickier than one, and besides, all the tie-down ropes were locked inside the Toyota.
Matt took his own canoe to his car, Jenni following behind. Efficiently, he tied the canoe down, and turned to get into the car. He stopped when he saw Jenni standing there.
Jenni wished he could have seen her looking like something other than a tired, sleep-deprived, windblown refugee from the forest, but she couldn't see any way to make that happen. "Thanks again," she said, and then ran out of words.
"Well, It's been an adventure, hasn't it." He paused and looked up. "I wanted to tell you my heart still skips a beat every time I hear you speak. Maybe we'll email each other sometime."
"I guess," she said, then added, "That's the nicest thing I've heard in a long time."
"Who knows"" Matt said. "There's always 'someday', isn't there?"
"Well then, someday."
"A kiss for that someday?"
"Darn right," Jenni said, thinking, a kiss for all that might have been. A fleeting glimpse of mornings, children that would never be. She put her arms around him. But this is a mistake, she thought. They made it a brief kiss, then Jenni turned towards the lodge, running her fingers through wind-tangled hair, as Matt started his car and backed out. From the steps of the lodge, she saw Emilia and Saundra waving goodbye to Matt. Saundra was wearing a blue dress. What the hell is this? Jenni thought, national wear-a-dress day?
Jenni was in no hurry. She spent long enough in the shower that she figured she must be pushing the limit of the lodge's water heater. She spent a long time in front of the mirror brushing her hair. There was, she decided, a lot to think about.
She had, for example, succeeded in a half-assed way, in making sure Matt had more than a superficial view of her. Apparently that had done it; he had driven away quick enough rather than spend another minute at a place with three women. Although, she countered to herself, Emilia was firmly married and Saundra was going to get off to pick up Clayton in Bancroft as soon as she could. Dressed, it seemed in a nice blue dress.
She was reluctant to go downstairs, feeling a need to be alone after a day in which intense social interaction had been the only choice. Maybe she could sit on the deck, watch the birds on Hawk Lake, and tell everybody else to bugger off for a while. Saundra had probably already described the kiss at the campsite in detail. And Emilia wouldn’t have missed the goodbye kiss in the parking lot a half hour ago.
Jenni sighed; there really wasn't much choice but to go downstairs and face the other two. She hoped they'd keep their advice to an ignorable minimum. She put on a white skirt and pink blouse. She looked, she decided, like a spring flower. In autumn. But the rest of her shirts were almost in the flannel plaid I-can-wrassle-a-grizzly category, so she decided that there wasn't anybody around that would notice or comment. Lips pursed, Jenni made her way to the office.
To her surprise, Saundra was seated by the front desk and Emilia was just opening the door. Jenni could see Constable Cassie Dunleavy getting out of a police car. Emilia turned to Jenni. "Just in time," she said, and arranged another couple of chairs in front of the computer screen.
"What's going on?" Jenni wanted to know.
"Nice outfit," Saundra said.
"Thought it must be mandatory."
Emilia laughed. "I felt like dressing up, probably because the cops are around." When the others looked puzzled, she went on. "Addicts and drunks don't dress up much; you never know if you're going to wake up in the ditch next morning. And the cops know it, and can pick out drunks by the clothes they wear." She twirled. "And so I dress up sometimes to celebrate the fact that I'm seriously sober instead of giggling drunk."
Jenni wasn't sure when Emilia was serious about things like that.
Saundra spoke up. "I had three outfits. Two never quite dried out from the swim in Poplar Lake, and this was in the car, in case Clayton and I wanted to go out to a nice restaurant after the camping."
"We'd make a great ad for this place," Emilia said, "although I don't know what sort of impression we'd set." She turned and said, "Welcome to the show, Constable Dunleavy. Come in and sit down."
"Sounds like a plan," the policewoman said.
"Jenni here," Saundra announced, "has no idea what's going on here."
"You," Jenni said, "are exactly right about that."
"Tell her," Emilia said to Saundra.
"I had your phone when Julio's canoe came around the bend," Saundra said. "I used it to take a movie of the action."
Jenni was stunned. "Why? Why would you think of that?"
"My mother," Saundra said, "had one boyfriend who treated her badly. Mostly verbal abuse and threats, but it was always his word against ours when we complained to the police, so not much… could… get done. Then one day I borrowed a video camera and hid it in the kitchen. Showed the tape to the police once, and we never saw him again." Saundra smiled. "It came naturally back to me when I saw the look on your face."
There was a moment's silence, then Jenni said, "Well, then, let's see what you got."
Constable Dunleavy asked, "What's the source of this material?"
"I had Jenni's phone," Saundra said. "When I saw Julio coming, I turned the video on and propped it on a stump. Up against a cooking pot. Then I went down to be near Jenni."
"And this is a direct and complete copy?" The cop didn't smile.
"The original's still on Jenni's phone. This is a direct copy I sent over so we could watch it easier." There were no other comments, so Emilia started it playing.
It was shaky at first, then a hand came and moved the camera. There was Saundra's butt, before she moved aside. The action happened off-center, but it was all there. Julio was loud enough that his comments and pleas were clear. There was the tipping of Matt's canoe, then just Julio and Jenni shouting at each other. Saundra stepped into the picture again with her spear. Emilia stopped the picture a moment and pointed to a spot behind Julio's canoe. "That's Matt's head; he came up for a breath." She started the movie again, and captured Julio's threat and the raising of the gun.
"That's me, diving behind a rock," Saundra said as the view was momentarily blocked by somebody moving by. Then there was Matt pulling Julio's canoe over and the sound of a shot, followed by a slight tremor in the picture. Jenni could see herself scrambling down the slope to the water, reaching for Matt's hand as he came up dragging a rather limp Julio.
Saundra came back into the picture and there was a pause in the action as Matt left Julio by the water's edge and came uphill gasping for breath. In the picture Jenni saw what she'd missed at the time; Julio getting up and coming after Matt. Both disappeared off screen, with Julio's muscular hands around Matt's neck and Julio's voice saying, "You die first." Jenni hadn't remembered him saying that. The part where Jenni shoved the burning branch down Julio's pants was off-screen, but Jenni and Saundra shoving Julio into the water was nicely captured. At that point, a hand covered the lens and the screen went blank.
"I figured we should save the rest of the battery in case we needed it," Saundra said. Maybe, Jenni thought, in case Julio got drowned, but she decided not to say it.
The policewoman got up. "I'll need the phone, for evidence."
"Of course," Emilia said, taking Jenni's phone from the desk and handing it to her.
Constable Dunleavy turned as she got to the door. "We'll be contacting you if we need you." Then she left.
"Holy crap," Jenni said.
"Got that one right," Emilia said. "I think Saundra here might just have saved you a lot of trouble."
Saundra smiled and shrugged. "Always glad to help." She looked out the window. "Hey, Lonnie's back from whatever he was helping real customers with. I'll see if he can help me load our canoes."
There were a couple of minutes of goodbying with laughter and hugs and promises of sending each other messages and keeping in touch, then Saundra said, "A picture; we need a picture. Emilia – have you got a camera or phone we can borrow?"
Emilia did, and Saundra set up a camera on the picnic table on the deck. They set the self-timer and took a few shots of the three of them arm in arm. Then Saundra rushed off to catch Lonnie before she lost track of him. Emilia and Jenni watched her go. "I could go help," Jenni suggested.
"With that dress on, I don't think Saundra will have any problems," Emilia said. "Lonnie may be getting old but his eyesight's pretty good. You need a bit of rest and relaxation for the rest of the day. Or longer."
"I should be doing something to help around the lodge," Jenni said. She felt she was in need of something to do, and something to calm her down.
"Well Lenny, the bald fisherman with the map, he'll be checking out this afternoon. He was supposed to be out by noon, but I gave him an extension since we've got lots of vacancies." She looked out the window to the parking lot. "Lonnie seems to be getting real helpful in his old age. Hope he doesn't throw his back out."
Jenni leaned to see the action. It sure looked like Lonnie was doing the heavy work and Saundra was looking pretty and appreciative in her blue dress.
"Maybe she'll kiss him by way of thanks," Emilia suggested.
"He might just have a heart attack, depending how close she got," Jenni laughed.
"Well, if they got as close as you and Matt, it's a definite possibility."
"Pardon? What? What did Saundra tell you?"
"Didn't tell me a thing. Before she erased it from your camera at the campsite, she sent a picture to me. Want to see it?"
The look on Jenni's face was enough of an answer.
"Good picture, eh?" Saundra asked as they sat on the deck a few minutes later.
"Saundra takes good pictures," Jenni said. She was wondering if she'd keep it, then decided, hell, yes; you don't forget an event like that anyway.
"You going to tell me what that was all about, or will I have to beat it out of you with a bag of taco chips?"
"Bring on the chips, and a ginger ale, while you're up. You don't have any bottles of liquor hidden around here, do you? I could use a bottle of scotch and a straw."
"If I had one around, I'd be on the line to my sponsor."
"Freakin' drunks. Ex-drunks. Sanctimonious ex-drunks. I gotta learn to avoid them."
"You still want a bag of taco chips and a ginger ale?"
"I want the ginger ale in a glass with ice cubes." Jenni knew she had the upper hand at the moment, with Emilia's curiosity at a peak, and she didn't intend to waste a bit of her advantage. Probably, she thought, just as well there isn't any alcohol around. "And the taco chips still in the bag."
"Yes, your majesty."
While Emilia was inside the lodge, Jenni heard Saundra's car drive away. Almost immediately afterwards Lonnie came up the long stairs to the deck. He looked at Jenni and said, "I feel like I'm a bit underdressed for this place."
Jenni laughed and explained how the girls had ended up dressed more for a party in the park than for a fishing lodge. "I'm about to tell Emilia the whole story of what happened since you let me off. If you want to stay, I'd be happy to tell you too. You can get something from the lodge – Emilia and I are having taco chips and pop – and put it on my tab if you want." Jenni realized she would feel better with Lonnie there; with only Emilia to listen, she might say more than she wanted to, and regret it later.
"I'll do that, but I keep a running tab of my own, so I'll add it on there." Lonnie got up, and Jenni took to watching the lake. It was September weather, cool and a bit cloudy, but very still.
Lonnie and Emilia came back together. "Sorry I took so long," Emilia said. I had a couple of things to do and somebody phoned and asked whether the leaves had turned yet. I told him
that only the poplars had changed colour and he could try again in a week or so.
"That would be about right," Lonnie said, settling into a Muskoka chair with a can of Pepsi and a bag of salt-and-vinegar chips.
So, with Lonnie and Emilia munching and listening, Jenni told them the story, from the time Lonnie had let her off at the upper end of Hawk Lake. She described her futile trip to Ingrey Lake, and how she'd met Lenny and his map.
She told how she'd canoed up to Matt on Bass Lake, and how she'd met Clayton on Poplar Lake, and found out the condition of Allen and Liza.. How she'd got Matt to come and how he'd called in a helicopter.
"We heard a helicopter yesterday!" a young voice said. Jenni looked around to find that the two boys were sitting on the deck behind the adults and had been listening in.
"There aren't many helicopters around that can land on water," Lonnie noted.
Jenni told everybody about the storm that afternoon and sharing a tent with Emilia that night. Then of course, came the story of Julio's arrival, and how he was eventually turned over to the police. "And that's about it," she said.
"Well, thanks for telling me; I was kind of curious," Lonnie said, getting up. "Just glad I could help."
A couple of minutes later the two boys wandered off. That left Jenni and Emilia on the deck. "More taco chips and ginger ale?" Emilia asked.
"Screw the soft stuff; bring me a Pepsi. I don't need any more chips."
"I'll be back," Emilia said. "Then I've got a few questions I'd like to ask you. Things you didn't mention."
"What makes you think I'll answer your questions?"
"We can trade information." When Jenni looked up, Emilia winked at her. "I got lots of stuff on a guy named Matthew Canning."
For a moment, Jenni drew a blank. Then "Matt," she said.
"The very guy."
***