Part 4 (1/2)

As long as Jason was all right.

Wendy closed her eyes. Something hit the wall. She rolled over, gathering the blankets around her chin. All would be revealed tomorrow. Mom and Dad would be having quite the fit tonight. She almost chuckled at the thought. Why, theyd be so upset at the (incorrectly reported) death of the precious son and heir they might spare a thought for their daughter and give her a call.

But she wouldnt wait up for that.

The walls in this place might as well have been made of rice paper. Her room was next to Alan and Sophies. Their headboard hit the wall-again. And again. A steady rhythm started up.

Wendy studied the ceiling. There was a crack in the right corner.

Everything would be settled tomorrow. She might lay a complaint against Constable Smith for causing her undue worry and stress.

Just for something fun to do in this b.u.mpkin town.

John Winters walked into his office as the phone began to ring. It had been one of the best vacations in a long time. He and Eliza had gone nowhere, done nothing. Just relaxed at home, enjoyed long walks in the winter woods, dined out twice, went to a surprisingly pleasant c.o.c.ktail party at the Chief Constables house. Hed even shoveled the driveway a couple of times without waiting for the snowplow service to come and do it. It was their first Christmas in their home in the Kootenays, and theyd wanted simply to enjoy it. And they had.

Winters had taken two weeks off leading up to and over Christmas, and his partner, Detective Ray Lopez, got the days on either side of New Years off. A yellow post-it note was stuck to Winters monitor. ”Do NOT, repeat NOT, attempt to care for my plants. P.S. Happy New Year.”

The office housed GIS-the General Investigative Section-the detectives for the Trafalgar City Police. All two of them. Lopez, by virtue of being here longer, had the desk by the window. Where he carefully and lovingly cultivated a row of small pots of African violets. The first time he went on leave, hed asked Winters to care for the plants. Theyd almost died from neglect and Lopez was now afraid Winters would over-compensate.

No need to worry about that.

Between Christmas and New Years not much was likely to happen. He planned to fill his days reading two weeks worth of acc.u.mulated e-mail and finis.h.i.+ng up overdue paperwork.

He answered the phone. ”Sergeant Winters.”

”Merry Christmas, John. Or is it too late to wish one Merry Christmas?”

”Happy New Year is the accepted greeting for now until...I dont actually know when you stop saying Happy New Year. Sometime in February, I think. Perhaps by Groundhog Day.”

”I probably dont want to know what Groundhog Day is. But I feel compelled to ask. Do you go shooting these groundhogs and cook them up in some sort of native ritual?”

”Doc, you wouldnt believe it if I told you. But I will anyway. We stand around a groundhogs hole and watch it pop its head up to see if it sees its shadow.”

”I shudder to think.”

”Its more common in the east than out here. Whats up, Doc?”

Childishly he always loved to say that to Doctor s.h.i.+rley Lee, the pathologist. She never got the joke. Doctor Lee had lived in Canada since she was eight years old but, so sheltered had she been by a rich, insular family, there were plenty of cultural reference she didnt get. She didnt even know about Groundhog Day.

She said, ”Ive stopped the autopsy on Mr. Williams.”

Winters sat up. Ewan Williams had gone into the Upper Kootenay River on the early hours of Christmas morning. In the company of Jason Wyatt-Yarmouth and a yellow SUV. Both men had been trapped in their vehicle, in the ice-coated river, for more than thirty minutes before being pulled out. Cause of death should have been easy to determine: drowning and hypothermia. Which was why thered been no big rush for the autopsy over the holidays.

For Lee to stop an autopsy meant shed found something significant.

”Why?” he asked.

”I did Mr. Wyatt-Yarmouth first. I found what I expected to find. Healthy, well-fed male in his early twenties in excellent physical condition. Judging by the muscles of his arms and legs, he was a keen athlete. Death by drowning, no doubt about it. Ma.s.sive trauma to the hands and forearms as he attempted to bash and claw his way out of the vehicle. I recommended that the body be released to the family. Ive withdrawn that recommendation.”

”Whyd you do that? Because of Williams, Id guess. Whats funny about Williams?”

”Ewan Williams had been dead for twenty-four hours, at a minimum, before he went into the water.”

Chapter Five.

Molly Smith floated into work on a cloud of champagne powder. Although not literally; the big storm had ended by mid-morning on Christmas Day, and nothing but a dusting of snow had fallen in the valley since. Shed come back to work early, having agreed to take someone elses s.h.i.+ft, but shed spent two great days on the ski hills. Doing run after run; double black diamond after double black diamond. The snow was so dry and light they called it champagne powder. Shed been at the resort when the day began, leaving the slopes when the unlit hills closed down at four oclock. Holiday time, and the parking lot of Big Sky resort had been full to overflowing, the lines for the lifts long. But the weather was good, the sun bright in a blue sky, and the powder deep and fresh on the hills.

Graham had been the ultimate outdoor adventurer. With one exception. He consistently refused to go skiing with her. Shed tried to talk him into it, a.s.suring him that she wouldnt laugh, shed show him the ropes-in school shed been a skiing instructor and worked ski patrol. He refused to even try it, and one wet winters evening in their apartment in Victoria, the night before she was to go up-Island to the slopes of Mount Was.h.i.+ngton with friends, hed finally confessed he was afraid. Hed skied as a child, taken a bad fall on a grade four trip, and dislocated his shoulder. Rather than letting him get right back onto the proverbial horse, his skittish mother had gone on and on about what a dangerous sport skiing was, and shed refused to sign his permission slip for the next trip, when the shoulder was back in place. Her fear had made him fearful.

Hed never been on skis again, and he wouldnt try even for Molly.

Other than her work, skiing was the one thing that took Molly Smith away from the ghost of Graham Buckingham.

”Anything happening?” she asked Jim Denton, the day dispatch officer.

”Quiet as a mouse. One guy in cells. Picked up last night for drunk and disorderly. Tisk, tisk. We should start getting busy tonight as folks practice for a big New Years blow out. You can be glad youre on days, Molly. It should be a nice, Q, s.h.i.+ft.”

As superst.i.tious as actors who never mentioned the name of the Scottish Play or wished each other luck, break a leg being the accepted alternative, police never said the Q word, afraid it would bring on the opposite and the s.h.i.+ft would be anything but quiet.

”But not too calm.” John Winters appeared out of nowhere, and both Smith and Denton jumped. The Sergeant could walk on cats feet sometimes. ”Ive been reading the report of an accident that happened on Monday. Car went into the river. Two males who didnt survive. You were at the scene, Molly?”

”Yes. h.e.l.l of a s.h.i.+ft. We answered more traffic calls in that night than we usually have in a month. The big storm. My dad said nothings been seen like it in the Kootenays for decades. Why?”

”What with the holiday season, and vacations, and the flu outbreak at the Seniors Residence, and the apparently obvious cause of death resulting from the car in the river, the autopsy wasnt done until today.”

”So theyve been busy and understaffed at the morgue. Nothing new about that,” Denton said.

”Apparently?” Smith said.

Winters hid signs of approval. Molly had zeroed in on the right word. She had a long way to go, a very long way, but she just might make detective some day.

”Appearances are sometimes deceiving. Youre with me, Molly. Whos the s.h.i.+ft sergeant?” he asked Denton.

”Peterson.”

Peterson. Who never left an 'i undotted or a 't uncrossed and would never let a new constable off the beat without an argument.

”Ill call Al from the car. Lets go.”

”Where?” she said.

”Trail. The hospital. Doctor Lees stopped the autopsy pending my arrival. As you were there, at the scene, I thought youd want to be involved.”

”Gee, thanks, Id like that. But, well, whyd she stop the autopsy?”