“Have you had any communication with him?”
“No, but I didn’t really expect any. Whoops, just a sec, my coffee’s ready.” The receiver clattered.
A minute or so later she picked up it up. “Sorry, I need this.” She took a long slurp before continuing. “Meg, I’m really worried. If he isn’t in Vancouver, I have no idea where he is.”
“Maybe he’s doing a special GCFN project that needs to be kept secret. Remember the time he aligned himself with a number of chiefs to try to pressure the Mohawk Warriors into stopping the transborder trafficking of cigarettes and the like. I think they kept those discussions amongst themselves until they were ready to make it public. Could be he’s involved in something like that?”
“Maybe, but he still would’ve told me he was involved in something. He just wouldn’t give me the details. I don’t know, Meg. I’ve never known him to keep secrets from me.”
She was right. Eric had always been very open and up front with me, no matter how unpleasant the news or situation might be. Unless …
“What if he’s having an affair?” Even as I posed the question, I felt an icy pit settling into my stomach.
“Why would he keep that a secret from me? I could care less who his girlfriends are.” She paused. “Um, I … ah … don’t mean you, Meg. I was really sorry when the two of you broke up.”
Me too. “What if the woman is married? Maybe he met her on the canoe trip and one thing led to another. It would help to explain why he didn’t stay at the same hotel as the others and why he didn’t attend the assembly.” I tried to banish the image of him in bed with another woman and failed.
“I suppose anything’s possible, but you know what a great supporter he is of the GCFN. He firmly believes that without it we’d break down into a bunch of bickering First Nations. So it would have to be something really important for him to miss the key assembly of the year. Besides, I think the canoe trip was mostly with Dad’s old hockey buddies. I don’t think there were supposed to be any women on the trip.”
Relief washed over me. “I’m sure when he finally arrives, he’ll have a perfectly valid explanation.”
“I sure hope you’re right. After the National Chief called, I went to the library to use their computer to send him an email message. I still haven’t bought myself one. We’ll see if he responds to that.”
“What about calling him on his cell?”
“Funnily enough, he didn’t take it with him. I guess he figured it would be useless baggage on the canoe trip. But he took his laptop, so go figure.”
I could hear her sipping her coffee and realized I needed one desperately.
“But you know, Meg, you could be onto something. That flashy wife of George Tootootis was all over him at the Niitsitapi Pow-wow in Calgary last June. And he didn’t exactly discourage her, either. And he was stopping off in Calgary after the canoe trip.”
She actually had the nerve to laugh, while I felt like I was in freefall.
After agreeing to let me know the minute she heard from him, I hung up feeling as if the bottom had fallen out of my world. And the hangover hammering in my brain didn’t help either. I crawled out of bed and down the stairs to the kitchen, where I made myself an extra strong pot of coffee and wished I had my stand-by remedy for a hangover, cognac, to add to it. Next time I was in Somerset I would pick up a bottle.
With a steaming mug in hand and a wool afghan, I crawled out to the screened porch, where I collapsed into my soul-soothing retreat, Aunt Aggie’s bentwood rocker. After wrapping myself in the blanket to ward off the chilly morning air, I rocked back and forth, back and forth, while Sergei lay curled up, asleep at my feet. The bright morning sun sparkling off the lake did nothing to raise my spirits, nor did the emerging fall colours of the far shore.
Eric with another woman kept cycling through my brain, over and over again. But why should it bother me? It was bound to happen. He was, after all, a very attractive man. And even if this situation had nothing to do with a woman, one would eventually enter his life. For all I knew he could’ve been dating all this past winter, and Teht’aa, not wanting to upset me, had kept it from me.
It was time to get on with my life. Our relationship was over, finished, finito, dead. He was never coming back. I would have to accept that he had moved on, that another woman would enter his life, maybe had already done so. It was time I found myself another man.
I sipped the hot coffee, tucked the afghan closer around me and rocked back and forth, barely registering the two deer that had moved into my view. The wind rustling the white pine was soft and comforting. I retreated further. A squabble between a couple of red squirrels brought me out of my thoughts for a moment. Suddenly I was being shaken.
I awoke to find Teht’aa bending over me, her expression bleak. “Meg, I think Dad really is missing.”
Chapter
Twenty—Seven
Teht'aa dropped into the black wicker chair beside me. She didn’t even attempt to admire the lake view, something she always did whenever she sat in the screened porch. Instead she directed her gaze at me, her features creased with worry.
“What makes you think Eric is missing?” I asked.
“Gerry called right after I talked to you this morning. He wanted to know where Dad was. Apparently Dad organized a special council meeting for this morning to discuss the new addition to the Health Centre, one of his pet projects. And he’d asked Gerry to bring in an architect all the way from Ottawa for the meeting. So when he learned Dad wasn’t home yet, he got really angry, especially since Dad hadn’t let him know he wouldn’t be there.”
“This isn’t like Eric, is it?” I too was beginning to feel uneasy. “But maybe it was arranged at the last minute and he never received the notification. Did Gerry say when the meeting was set up?”
“Before Dad went on his canoe trip. Neither Dad nor the architect was available until mid-September. I gather this architect, who’s done similar work for other reserves, was coming here with the expectation that the band would hire her to draw up some plans. But without Dad the council doesn’t feel confident enough to go ahead. Unfortunately, the woman’s going to be away on another job for a couple of months, so it means they either wait for her or look for another architect. Either way there’ll be a delay. And I know Dad was really hoping digging could start next spring.”
“So it isn’t a meeting he would forget about, is it?”
“Nope. But much more worrisome, Meg, is that I called one of the men he was supposed to be on the canoe trip with. He never made it.”
“Shit! How long ago was this?”
“Towards the end of July, the twenty-second to be exact. They were flying out of Fort Smith in the Northwest Territories for a six-week paddle along the Thelon River way up in The Barrens.”
“Why didn’t they let you know?”
“He said he called Dad’s cell several times and the home number too but got no answer on either phone. He left a message on the cell, but since I don’t know Dad’s password, I couldn’t check. The charter company was going to charge a hefty fee if they delayed the plane, so they had to take off without him. They just assumed something had come up.”
“But surely they would’ve checked with him when they got back?”
“They did, in early September, and left another message on his cell.”
“Shit, this means he’s been gone almost two months. When was the last time you saw him?”
“We’ve barely seen each other over the summer between his travelling and my trying to find a job. I know he was home in mid-July, because he was the elder for the Kòkomis Ceremony to honour our grandmothers. You were there too, I think.”
I nodded, remembering the beaming faces of the many grandmothers, some younger than me holding their tiny grandbabies, while the older ones were surrounded by grandchildren, even great-grandchildren of all ages as Eric walked around the sacred circle paying homage to them. “That was in mid-July, the fifteenth or si
xteenth, wasn’t it?
“The sixteenth. Next day he went off to Montreal for a GCFN meeting. I don’t think I was here when he came back the following week, and then he was off to Fort Smith. Since he was going to be out of contact for such a long time, I didn’t expect to hear from him until the beginning of September. I’ll admit I was a bit surprised when he didn’t call at the end of the trip, but I figured he was too busy. Besides, I wasn’t around much myself. I was travelling back and forth between Montreal and Ottawa for job interviews.”
“Almost two whole months and not a word from him.” I felt the prick of fear trickle down my back. “I sure don’t like the sound of this. Can you think of any place he might have gone and not wanted anyone knowing where he was?”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not like him to take off like this without letting anyone know. Even his assistant, Jill, had no idea he wasn’t where he was supposed to be.” She cast worry sick eyes in my direction. “I’m afraid, Meg, really afraid that something terrible has happened to him.”
“Me, too.”
000
Fifteen minutes later, the two of us were in the police chief’s cramped office sitting on the other side of his cluttered desk. We were hoping, more like praying, that Will knew where his best friend was.
When we finished telling him of our fears, Teht’aa asked, “Have you heard from him at all over the last couple of months?”
“Nope, and I didn’t expect to either.” Will ran his hand over his brush cut. “I can’t for the life of me figure out why anyone would want to spend six weeks on the tundra battling blackflies and sleeping on the cold, hard ground, when we got such terrific paddling around here. Not for me, that’s for sure.”
He scratched his belly then lumbered out of his sagging leather chair and poured coffee into three mugs from an aluminum pot resting on a hot plate and passed them to us. He plunked a jar of creamer and another one of sugar onto the desk in front of us, threw in a couple of plastic spoons, and slumped back into his chair.
On the off chance, I said, “Maybe he’s with a woman. Has he ever spoken to you about anyone?” Even though I didn’t want it to be true, it nonetheless offered a ray of hope.
“Eric’s not exactly the confiding type. But I’d say taking off on some secret rendezvous with a woman just ain’t his style.” Will glared at me as if to say I should know better. “And even if there was a women involved, he wouldn’t take off for two months without telling anyone.”
Still not wanting to admit to the increasingly obvious, I suggested, “Is it possible he could be involved in a secret project, like the time he tried to stop cross-border trafficking through the American and Canadian Mohawk reserves?”
“It’s possible. I’ll check with the folks at GCFN.”
“But if he is working on some kind of project, I don’t understand why he wouldn’t at least tell me he was working on something,” Teht’aa said.
“I’m with you on that,” Will replied. “He kept me fully in the loop with his last negotiations, just in case something bad happened. He was going against some pretty hard-assed characters. This time around he hasn’t mentioned anything.”
His words merged into the silence as the three of us sat lost in our own separate worries, none wanting to voice what was uppermost in our minds.
Finally Will cleared his throat. “Now I don’t want to alarm you gals, but I think we have to look at the possibility that something has happened to Eric. After all, two months is a long time without contact.”
“You mean like he’s dead,” I shot back.
“Not necessarily. He might’ve been in an accident.”
Teht’aa and I exchanged glances. She answered. “But surely if he had been, someone would’ve contacted me by now.”
“Not if he’s unconscious without ID. I’ll get Sarah to start calling around at the various hospitals. Now Teht’aa, I’m assuming you’ve talked to a few people. Give me the list so I don’t duplicate your efforts. I’ll also get my staff to call around to see if by some chance one of his friends or acquaintances knows where he is. ”
“Please God, let it be so,” I said.
“I’ll second that,” Will said. “Teht’aa, starting with the Montreal trip, could you write down his schedule and give me any contact info you have.” He turned to me. “Meg, anything you might know will help too.”
“Well, as a matter of fact, I discovered yesterday that Eric was in Ottawa looking for Fleur in early July. I don’t have the exact dates, but can get them for you if you need them.”
Teht’aa stopped writing. I hadn’t had a chance to tell her the results of yesterday’s trip. After filling them in, I said, “I think he might’ve started to get worried about Fleur. Did he ever mention anything to you, Will?”
Will shook his head. “Nope, he didn’t say anything to me. And I didn’t learn she was missing until after the Lightbodys had talked to the Ottawa police. I think it was the third week in July, but I don’t recall Eric being around then.”
He directed his gaze to me. “Meg, before I forget, the Quebec police had no luck with the trace on the phone Fleur used to call her sister. It was a cell phone belonging to a numbered company.”
“But can’t they track down the owners?”
“Easier said than done. They said they’d do their best to try to unravel the ownership, but with their heavy caseload, it might take awhile.” He shrugged. “Chances are, even if they do locate the company’s owner, they won’t be able to tie them to the actual usage of the phone.”
“But surely they would know who was using the phone.”
“Maybe, maybe not. They can say it was lost, stolen, whatever. Apparently, service was discontinued on the phone shortly after Fleur used it.”
“For what it’s worth, at least we know she was somewhere that had cell coverage, unlike around here.”
“True, but she could’ve been using a satellite phone too. Some of them use regular numbers.”
“Oh well, it was worth a try. You know, Will, there’s something else I should mention.” He looked at me expectantly. “I found something belonging to Eric in the parking lot close to where Becky was murdered.”
His eyes narrowed.
“His sacred stone, the piece of quartz he found at Whispers Island and uses for ceremonies.”
“When did you find it?”
“The day of the search.”
“And why are you only telling me now?”
“I wanted to ask Eric about it first.”
“Do you still have it?”
“It’s at home. I can go get it, but I’m not sure how it can help you. There is no way of knowing when or how it got there.”
“You’re certain it’s his?”
“Teht’aa recognized it from the dab of fluorescent paint that was put on it when the mining claim was staked on the island. And we know it was in his possession when he laid it out as part of his medicine bundle at the Grandmothers’ Ceremony on July 16.”
Teht’aa nodded.
Will stopped fiddling with a pen he’d been playing with. “There’s something you two should know. It’s just come up in the murder investigation. The Ottawa police have placed Eric with Becky about a week before she was killed. Apparently he was seen entering her apartment. They’ve contacted me about arranging an interview with him.”
“Surely they don’t think he killed her,” I said.
“Nope, he’s just a person of interest.”
“I’m sure the only reason he went to see Becky was to try to locate Fleur.”
“You’re probably right, but it still doesn’t explain how his sacred stone came to be in the parking lot close to where she was murdered.”
“Surely, Will, you’re not thinking Eric killed Becky. How could you? Her biker boyfriend is a much better candidate.”
“I have no idea who they’re looking at.”
“When was Becky killed exactly?” I asked.
“The medical examiner h
as pinned it down to sometime around July twenty-first, give or take a day or two.”
“Shit, about the time Eric appears to have gone missing.”
Chapter
Twenty—Eight
With Eric’s investigation now in the hands of Will Decontie, there was nothing more Teht’aa and I could do, other than to get him the material he wanted. While I headed home to retrieve Eric’s stone, she went to Eric’s bungalow, promising to come to my place after she’d delivered her father’s contact information to Will. Neither of us wanted to be alone.
Unfortunately, when I returned home after delivering the stone, I found a voice message from her. One of her Ottawa job possibilities had called to arrange a second interview and hoped she could make it that afternoon, since the interviewer would be out of town for the next couple of weeks. Needless to say, even though she didn’t exactly feel chirpy, she felt she’d better go. She needed the job. But if it wasn’t too late when she got back and she wasn’t too tired, she would drop by.
This left me feeling more depressed. I really didn’t want to be alone, but apart from Teht’aa, there was no one I could call on. For most of my time at Three Deer Point, Eric had been my friend. I hadn’t needed anyone else. And when we’d parted, his daughter had become my friend, which was ironic, since she’d originally detested the sight of me, a white woman in a relationship with her father. I hadn’t been exactly overjoyed by her presence either.
But we’d survived some unnerving experiences together and come to see and appreciate the real people beneath the veneer. Our friendship had grown. However, if she got the job, which with this second interview seemed likely, she would end up moving to Ottawa, and then I’d really be alone.
I still had Sergei, though as much as I hated to admit it, the grey on his muzzle and his stiff gait suggested his remaining years with me were numbered. Then I would have no one.
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