No Return (A Lee Smith Mystery Book 2)

by Jay Forman

  “Right there.” I pointed to the appropriate square on the map.

  “They haven’t recorded any claims there and—”

  “I think I know why.” I explained about the papers that Aileen had asked Bernice to fax while I got my copies of them out of my parka pocket.

  Jack checked something on his computer. “She still hasn’t filed them.”

  While Jack repeatedly looked back and forth from his computer to the map I told him my theory about what had happened at the Northern. “I think Bernice hid those rocks when she found out that Aileen knew about them. And I think she went out to Eagle Rock to either sort out her thoughts or to confront Aileen when Aileen had to pass by there on her way to her camp further up the river. If Aileen killed Bernice it makes sense, but I don’t think she did. Unless she’s the world’s biggest actress, I think she really was shocked to hear about Bernice being killed.”

  “Have you told the cops all of this?”

  “Not yet. I wanted to talk to you first.”

  “Why?” He finally looked up at me. “Why not just tell the cops and let them do their jobs?”

  “What have you done to the Jack Hughes I know and love?”

  “I’m right here.”

  “No, diamond magnate Jack Hughes is here. I’m in love with guy who can’t resist a good mystery.”

  He rolled his eyes. Rolled his eyes! “Lee, do you have any idea how big this could be?”

  “I can guess. If you find another one of those kimberlite pipes because of River’s rock it will greatly increase your net worth.”

  “It’s not just that. My company survives on growth. My employees – thousands and thousands of people – count on me to keep it growing and keep their salaries coming in. Their lives depend on it.”

  “Not Ross’ or Bernice’s lives, though. Because they’re dead.”

  “It’s not my intention to diminish the value of their lives …”

  He was using corporate-speak.

  “ … Who’s F Beckford?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “He did the online Mining Act Awareness Program and got his prospector’s licence a couple of days ago. They just updated the CLAIMap and it includes some claims recorded in his name in this area.”

  “Maybe he’s a she?”

  “I wasn’t being sexist—”

  “Yeah, you kind of were.”

  “Can we please not do this now?” He didn’t take his eyes off his map.

  “Sure.” Pal! “I’ve never heard the name F Beckford from anyone here.” Wait a minute … F as in Frazer? “He might be Aileen’s cousin. His name is Frazer. I don’t know his last name. But he’s not a prospector – he’s a Sasquatch researcher.” Frazer? It couldn’t be him. He hadn’t even been in Webequie when Ross was killed. And his name wasn’t on any of the forms that Aileen had wanted faxed to the Ministry. “Would he have had to be in Thunder Bay to get his licence?”

  “No, there are other Ministry offices around the province, but that’s actually where his licence was issued. Why?”

  “Aileen’s cousin was in Thunder Bay a couple of days ago. Where are his claims?”

  Jack pointed at the squares that sat on the eastern shore of the diagonal line of the ‘Z’. Those squares were right across the river from where Aileen’s camp was. “These haven’t been claimed, though.” Jack pointed to the empty squares at the far end of the bottom line of the ‘Z’, the ones near where the chief had drawn the boundary line of Webequie territory.

  “Why are those squares important?”

  “Because that’s where we crashed? I’d kind of like to know who was shooting at me.”

  Frazer had been on that section of the river. I’d seen him coming back from it. And he had a big gun. “What kind of guns do prospectors usually carry?”

  “I don’t know.” Jack stood up, folded up the map and slipped it into the outer pocket of his murse. Then he bent over and started typing an email. “I’m heading over there to talk to the TSB guys on scene.”

  “Want a ride? I’ve got Joshua’s canoe.” Maybe getting him into a canoe would bring out more of the Jack I liked?

  “I’ll get the helicopter to pick me up.”

  “What helicopter?”

  “Adaya found a Sikorsky that a guy had defaulted on. It’s not specked out the way I like it, but we can fix that later.”

  “Who flew it?”

  “Rachel.”

  “Who’s Rachel?”

  “The pilot we hired. Adaya found her.”

  Bully for Adaya! She seemed to be able to solve every one of Jack’s problems.

  Jack closed his computer, slid it into his murse and turned to smile at me. “Go back to sleep. I won’t be long.” Then he cupped my face and gave me the passionate kiss I’d been hoping for before. But I knew it wasn’t me who’d fired up his passion – it was his business.

  “I’m awake now. I might as well go back over to Webequie to tell the police about what I’ve learned.”

  “Sounds like a good idea. Let the professionals handle it.” He went over to the closet, stepping around the big suitcase he’d brought into the room when I’d been asleep, and took his spotlessly clean Armani travel jacket off a hanger.

  He wasn’t listening to a word I said. Going back to Webequie was a stupid idea – the press would still be there. “Then I think I’ll come back here, strip naked and do some pirouettes around the fire pit.”

  “Sounds great.” He came over to pick up his murse … and patronise me with another kiss. “See you when I get back.” He opened the door, stopped and turned around to face me. “We’ll talk then, Lee. I promise.”

  Oh, we’d be talking all right.

  I looked over at the ethernet jack that Jack had plugged his computer into. I hadn’t noticed it before. I had a profession, too. Just like Jack. Just like the police. It wasn’t nap time.

  And I was just as capable of solving problems as Adaya was.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  I stood up and went over to the window to watch Jack as he ran down to the dock and got into the big logo-free helicopter that was parked on it. Its rotors started moving before he’d even closed the door and it took off almost immediately.

  He’d been limping. That made me feel almost guilty for being mad at him. But he shouldn’t have dismissed me. As I watched the helicopter get higher I couldn’t shake one thought – ‘I miss you’. The man I loved would have listened to me.

  The man I loved would have gotten into the front seat of the helicopter.

  Now I really felt guilty. Jack had been in a crash that had shaken him so badly that he’d freely opened the back door of the helicopter and sat on one of the seats behind the pilot … and I hadn’t factored that into my treatment of him.

  Really, what had he done that was so wrong? He’d shut me out because he was focused on his work. His work. Something that was just his. Just like my work.

  I still felt a slight sting of dismissal, but I also knew that I’d often been guilty of the same sin.

  I heard someone sliding something under the door and ran over to open it before the piece of paper was all the way into the room.

  “Oh!” Joshua stood up quickly. “Jack said you were napping. I didn’t want to disturb you.”

  “I’m not napping, obviously.”

  He handed me the piece of paper. “Jack’s assistant called, looking for Jack. I told her he’d just left so she gave me the message and asked me to ask you to pass it on to him. She said Jack would know what it meant.”

  “Okay.” I looked down at the paper: ‘Oliver can’t make it back until next Thursday. I’ve sent a team out from Winisk.’

  I didn’t know what it meant, other than that Adaya had once again solved a problem for Jack. I shoved the paper into the front pocket of my jeans. I wasn’t feeling inclined to help Adaya out with her job. Besides, Jack would probably get in touch with her long before he touched me. “I’ll give it to him later. Are the police com
ing back to do anything over here today?”

  “Not that I know of. Why?”

  “No reason.”

  I could always call them and do as Jack suggested: ‘Let the professionals handle it.’ But I still hadn’t been able to fit all the pieces of the puzzle into place.

  “Did Aileen’s cousin come through here yesterday afternoon on his way to or from Webequie?”

  “Yeah, he did. Why?”

  “No reason.” I wanted to think everything through some more and my favourite place to think was on the water … or maybe on a big rock? “I’m going to go for a paddle.” My shoulder would just have to suck it up.

  I went over to the closet and yanked my dirty parka off its hanger. I wouldn’t be doing naked pirouettes any time soon, not even for Jack.

  ****

  The river current was strong enough that I barely had to do more than steer as I headed north to the mouth of the bay where Joshua and I had spent the night. Once I turned right into the bay, though, I had to dig my blade in deep to fight through the current that was coming from the little waterfall at the eastern end of it. I was thankful that Joshua’s canoe was smaller and lighter than most. Even so, there wasn’t any ballast in the bow to keep it down and I had to move up to sit on the middle thwart to try to centre my weight.

  When I reached the end of the bay I was extra careful about my foot placement as I stepped out onto the rocks. I rolled my parka up lengthwise and draped it around my neck before lifting the canoe up to do the portage. My shoulder hated doing the lift, but liked the extra padding that the parka offered when I rested the centre thwart on it and its twin. It was so comfortable, in fact, that I didn’t even bother putting the canoe down to run it along the log bush road. It was easier to just walk the whole way.

  The surface of the little circular lake was mirror flat and the water so clear that I could see fish swimming down below the canoe. I beached when I got to Eagle Rock and fell deeper in love with my country when I stretched out on the top of the sun-heated rock. It really was the perfect place to relax and think.

  Unfortunately, one thought kept pushing all others out of my mind: ‘What the hell am I doing?’

  I’d seen where someone, presumably the police, had scraped off some of the dried blood on the side of the rock. I’d even seen them when they’d been over at the rock, talking to Arthur and River. They knew what they were doing. I didn’t know anything about collecting evidence. I hadn’t even known that bullets labelled .357 Magnum could be used in guns other than a Magnum. Jack was right. I should just go back, tell the police about the claim recording sheets that Aileen wanted Bernice to send, tell them about the big gun that Frazer had, tell them about the marine battery in Aileen’s tent – because maybe it was the missing one from Bernice’s boat? – and, most importantly of all, tell them where Aileen’s camp was.

  Let the professionals handle it.

  Jack was off handling his profession. It was high time that I got back to handling mine.

  But not until I’d talked to Jack. We had to get a handle on our personal issues before I could get back to my professional ones.

  I sat up and sucked in a deep breath of clean air. I hoped River’s rocks had been pushed here by the glaciers; that they hadn’t stayed where they landed when the kimberlite pipe exploded. The spot was too perfect to be torn apart by industry, even Jack’s industry. Too many of the spots like it in Canada were being obliterated.

  As if on cue, I heard the thump-thump-thump of a low-flying helicopter and looked up half expecting to see the helicopter that Jack had flown away from the lodge in. But it was a clearly marked Hughes helicopter that was coming in from the east. Hanging below it by a wire was a contraption that looked like an octagon-shaped hula hoop. Instead of heading straight west it started to fly in a grid pattern, reminding me of the grid pattern on the CLAIMap. Back and forth, east then west, north then south, never too far away from Eagle Rock. Was that the team that Adaya had so capably sent out from Winisk?

  I looked down the river to where it turned right and disappeared. If Jack’s team did find a kimberlite pipe anywhere near here, Webequie territory might disappear too. Maybe Jack had already laid the groundwork with a suck-up present of a luxury lodge? I didn’t want to think he has was capable of sinking that low, but after having seen his cold-hearted work mode first-hand I couldn’t not think it.

  Maybe Aileen really had hit her big payday?

  No. She hadn’t.

  Because Ross’ name was on the claim post, too.

  I slid down the far side of the rock and walked along the shore until I found the claim post:

  Ross McKay/Aileen Barlow

  # 1009464

  4:05pm

  Sept. 23/16

  So what were the sheets she’d asked Bernice to fax about?

  Joshua said they had to mark a post every quarter-mile. I knew the length of my own stride, so I started counting off my steps until I’d walked about 400 metres down the shore. Sure enough, there was another post with both Ross and Aileen’s names on it. I counted off another 400 metres:

  Aileen Barlow

  # 1009491

  2:05 pm

  Sept. 26/16

  September 26 … the day after Ross’ body had been found. The day before I arrived in Webequie. The day before Aileen was in Webequie asking Bernice to fax her claim forms to the Ministry.

  Were there other posts like it?

  I turned around to go back to Eagle Rock and get the canoe, but tripped over something that had been hidden under some balsam fir branches. It was the freshly cut stump of a tree.

  Had there been a different claim post here? One with two names on it?

  I stood up and picked the bits of broken dry leaves off of my sweater as I walked toward Eagle Rock.

  F Beckford. Was that Frazer? If so, why wasn’t his name on the post?

  Because he hadn’t been here on the 26th. He’d come up with me on the 27th. If there were other posts further down the river maybe his name was on them? There was only one way to find out, and I intended to find out.

  ****

  A skinny limb from a birch tree floated past me as it rode the river’s current toward Eagle Rock. All of the branches had been stripped off of it. One end of it had the tell-tale marks of a beaver’s big teeth and had been chewed into a bark-bare cone. The current wasn’t as hard to fight once I turned the corner at the edge of Webequie territory. The river widened out, diluting the force of the current. I was actually making better time under paddle power than we’d been able to make with Aileen’s eggbeater of a motor.

  I stopped at a couple of posts at the shore. They all had just Aileen’s name on them. Once the shoreline was completely grassy, without any rocks, I didn’t even have to get out of the canoe to read the tags on the posts – I just floated right up against the shore. Near one post on the western shore I spotted the ATV that Aileen had driven to pick me up at the lodge. It was under a tree; not visible from an aircraft, but easily visible from a watercraft.

  I was so engrossed in looking for and reading the tags on claim posts that I didn’t realize how far I’d gone. Getting back would be easier; I’d be able to ride the current just like the birch limb. I’d seen enough. It was time to turn around and give my shoulder a break. But then I saw Aileen’s inflatable skiff and heard the whine of its engine.

  She and Frazer were just pulling away from the shore, about 400 metres ahead of me. I hoped they wouldn’t see me, but it was a wasted hope. Instead of heading south they headed straight for me.

  Great. How was I going to explain this one?

  “What are you doing out here?” Aileen asked as she pulled up beside me and grabbed the cedar gunnel of the canoe.

  “I didn’t get a chance to finish my interview with you so I thought I’d see if you were free to do it today.”

  She didn’t look like she believed me. “Why didn’t you call my sat phone?”

  “I lost the number.”

  �
�I don’t know, we’re just heading out and—”

  “That’s okay. You’re busy. I can come back another time.” I had absolutely no intention of ever going back into the woods with Aileen or Frazer; the sense of danger I’d felt the first time was igniting inside me again.

  “We can finish that section tomorrow, Aileen,” Frazer offered. “She’s paddled all this way.”

  I couldn’t think of how to talk my way out of going with them. Instead, I started trying to think of ways to make it the shortest interview ever. And I deliberately tried not to think about one thing: I had one key piece of information that the professionals didn’t have – I knew how to find Aileen’s camp.

  They towed me to their landing spot, but didn’t suggest that I pull the canoe all the way under the trees the same way they’d pulled their skiff in. That was fine with me! I felt a little bit better knowing that Joshua’s canoe would be easily visible from both the air and the water.

  I took my parka with me. Not for warmth, but because my cell phone was still in the pocket. I hoped I wouldn’t need to use the compass app on it.

  Aileen and I started walking, but Frazer stayed back. He said he had to fix something on the skiff. Whatever it was, it didn’t take him long to fix it. I heard a loud cracking sound, like someone had stepped on a pile of branches, and within minutes Frazer was right behind me. Unlike his cousin, he knew how to get speed out of the length of his legs.

  “Was your friend okay … the one in the Hughes helicopter?” he asked me as I was just sitting down in one of the folding chairs at their camp.

  “Yeah, he is. They both will be, thankfully.”

  “Both? There were only two people on the helicopter? I thought they usually carried more people than that when they’re shuffling crews.”

  I may have questioned Frazer’s sanity when I first met him, but I wouldn’t make the mistake of questioning his intelligence. “They’d just dropped someone off in Webequie. He needed to get home, for personal reasons.”