“Beware, Dad.” Frasier hung his jacket and hat on a peg by the door and headed for the couch. “Being his friend can be hazardous to your peace of mind.” With a sigh he sank down on the couch and stretched his sock feet out to the fire on the hearth.
“Emma.” The older man arose and extended his hand to her. “It’s good to meet you, really meet you.”
“Inspector MacKenzie.” Emma accepted his hand. “There’s still so much I don’t understand…”
“I’ll let Frasier explain it to you.” He glanced over at his son and winked. “I have a feeling he has a lot to say and he’d rather I left before he gets started.”
“You’re welcome to stay for hot chocolate and cookies.” She smiled up into blue eyes she now realized were a perfect match to Frasier’s.
“Not tonight. I’m guessing we’ll have lots of opportunities to enjoy food together in the future, Emma.” He went to the door. “Frasier, I’ll see you bright and early tomorrow in Carleton. We’ll need a full statement describing your work, including how you ended up at that old logging camp.”
“Ah, come on, Dad…bright and early?”
“Inspector MacKenzie, please,” the older man addressed him sharply. “Remember you’re a constable in my squad.”
“Yes, sir.” Frasier bolted to his feet. “Sorry, sir.”
“Much better.” A twinkle came into his eyes. “At ease, Constable.” He turned to leave. With his hand on the doorknob, he paused and swung back to face them. “Well, maybe not bright and early.” He grinned. “But no later than noon.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
“No, thank you, son. You, and Emma, did a great job. Don’t let her get away, my boy. She’s a definite keeper. I’ll let your mother know. She’ll be pleased. We’ll be expecting you for Christmas, young lady.”
He slapped on his hat, winked at Emma, and left, shutting the door firmly behind him.
“Well!” Emma put her hands on her hips and heaved a sigh. “So that’s your father. I can only assume that after he pulled you out of The Sound, and after you finished your degree, he recruited you into the RCMP.”
“No, I recruited myself,” Frasier said, sinking back onto the couch. “During the year it took to finish my degree, I had time to think, to consider how I could best keep other people from ending up like Larry. Dad was an RCMP officer who’d been on drug squads off and on for years. The idea to join the force just naturally fell into place. Dad’s been working on a special trans-Canada drug busting squad for quite a while,” he continued. “When he and his bunch zeroed in on this area last summer, he decided I was the man to go undercover as the hermit of Loon Lake. He knew I was itching to get into the drug squad, so here was the perfect opportunity.”
“I wish you’d told me about Larry,” she said softly.
“I did.”
“But not that what you were trying to accomplish was because of him. I’d have understood why you couldn’t offer me anything more than friendship until you’d finished the job. Frasier, stopping drug smugglers is so very important. You must have known that, given my job, I’d have supported you.”
“I know you would.” He looked over at her ruefully. “But I couldn’t betray the other officers working the case. That’s what I would have done if I’d told you.”
“When Constable Roy stopped me for speeding… He wasn’t an old college friend, he’s a colleague. You gave him some kind of signal to keep him from revealing your true identity… Wow! This sounds really cloak-and-dagger, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah, well, not nearly as cloak-and-dagger as it should have been once you and the Pug got involved.” He grinned. “My father chose my cover as an associate professor for the University of New Brunswick, researching the Eastern Panther, because with my degree I could talk the talk if I had to. It also gave me an excellent excuse to go searching through the bush.”
“What will happen to Todd and Jesse? I assume they either are or will be caught up in this operation.”
“Todd will be in major trouble. He’s eighteen and no longer protected under the Young Offenders’ Act. We can put in a good word for Jesse. He’s seventeen, and he did try to warn us. Maybe he’ll get off with a slap on the wrists and a lot of community service work. Like you, I think there’s a good kid under that punk exterior.”
“And the drugs? I assume that’s what was hidden in the root cellar at Midnight Jim’s camp?”
“Yes. The reason we didn’t see any evidence of traffic from this end of the trail was because they were bringing that junk in by a new, well-hidden trail through the undergrowth at the base of the mountains. Even our aerial surveillance didn’t spot them.”
“I can’t believe I never suspected who you really are. But then, I was blinded by the fact that you were…are…the Frase.”
“Your friend Mandy Cooper spotted me.”
“What do you mean?”
“I met her in the bookstore in Carleton, the day I bought the Robbie Burns book— Yes, yes, I bought it to impress you,” he countered, when he realized what he’d said. “Anyhow, she said something to the effect that she’d known men like me and that she didn’t want you hurt. Gave me quite a turn. Then I realized she’s a Mountie’s wife and, even if she did suspect me for what I was, she wouldn’t break the confidence…not even to her best friend.”
“Mandy is one of the good ones, absolutely trustworthy.” Emma smiled. “She went out on limb letting you know what she suspected.”
“And putting me right about how I should behave around you…if my intentions weren’t strictly honorable, if I weren’t ready to at least try to be your hero.”
“I’ll tell her you succeeded.”
“Thanks.” He drew a deep breath, then continued, “I never seriously expected to find an Eastern Panther, but then…” He pulled himself to his feet and went to stand close in front of Emma. He put his hands on her arms and smiled into her eyes. “I never expected to meet an Emma Prescott and fall in love. That really threw my investigation for a loop.”
“Are you sorry?” She looked up at him, emerald eyes expectantly wide.
“Definitely not.” He drew her into his arms and kissed her as he’d been longing to kiss her for weeks.
“Frasier,” she breathed when he finally let her come up for air. “My toes are curled so tight I don’t think I can walk.”
“That’s okay.” He swept her up into his arms and headed toward the bedroom. “What I have in mind doesn’t require you to take a single step.” He paused as he was about to push the door open. “By the way, why did you suddenly decide to give me directions to Midnight Jim’s camp?”
“At first I honestly had no more than a vague idea about where it was.” She grinned up at him. “Just the two-big-pine-trees thing. Then I decided I’d never get anywhere with you until you did actually find an Eastern Panther. So, on the off chance one might be lurking at that abandoned logging camp, I thought and thought…and then I asked my mother. She was the one who always led the way with Dad when we visited it years ago. Seems she has an excellent memory. She’s also as good as any Mountie at giving instructions on how to get your man.”
****.
“The Pug’s had attack dog training?” Frasier stared at her as she poured them each a cup of coffee in her cabin the next morning. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She sat down opposite him and grinned. “Would you have believed me?”
“Probably not,” he exhaled, picking up his mug.
“Aren’t you glad he was able to dig his way out of your dog run and follow me? Seems that hole you made such a fuss about came in handy after all.”
“Yeah, well.” He leaned back in his chair.
“And he has a name. I think it’s high time you started using it.”
“Okay, okay, he’s Bruiser, the Bruise.” He looked down at the little dog, and Bruiser wriggled all over with pleasure. “I wasn’t surprised to discover you’d taken self-defense lessons,” he continued,
looking back at Emma. “I figured you had too much common sense not to have it, considering some of the kids you deal with, then daring to live alone up here. But tripping and head-butting a guy in the gut couldn’t have been part of it.”
“Fortuitous accident…like both of us coming to live at this great place at the same time,” she said, getting up to close a window. “A little cool these days, but what with fieldstone hearths and cozy log fires, a perfect spot to officially begin our relationship.”
She turned back to him, green eyes full of suggestive teasing.
“Are we…about to…begin a relationship?” He met her gaze full-on.
“Oh, y-e-a-h.” She crossed the room, gripped his shirt front, pulled him to his feet, and into a long, wild kiss.
“Okay,” he breathed, when she finally let him come up for air. “Only, you need to know what you’re getting into, lady. I’m thinkin’ Mandy might have to host a bachelorette party, come spring.”
“Suits me. I’ll tell her to reserve Nigel.”
Over her shoulder he saw Bruiser grinning contentedly up at him. The Pug blinked one eye and Frasier winked back.
A word about the author…
The award-winning author of twenty published books, Gail MacMillan is a graduate of Queen’s University.
Two of her nonfiction books, Biography of a Beagle and Ceilidh’s Quest, have garnered Maxwell Medals. Her short stories and articles have appeared in magazines in Canada, the USA, and Europe.
She lives in New Brunswick, Canada with her husband and three dogs.
You can visit Gail at her website:
www.gailmacmillan.ca
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Holding Off for a Hero Page 23