After spending the rest of the afternoon and into the evening worrying about Eric, I decided, despite his daughter’s
presence, that I would go to his place. If ever there was a time he needed moral support, this was it. And when I saw the worry and fatigue etched on his face, I knew I’d been right to come.
“I think you need some TLC .” I hugged him while the tension slowly eased from his body.
After a few minutes, he relaxed his grip. “Thanks, I needed that. It’s been a tough day.”
I followed him into the front room of his government-issue bungalow. Although Teht’aa wasn’t there, evidence of her presence was. The deerskin dress she’d worn at the ceremony in Montreal was draped over the back of Eric’s favourite chair, a bedraggled tweed-covered lazy-boy that had seen better days. I’d once offered to buy him a replacement, but he had refused, saying that this chair had stuck by him through thick and thin, and he wasn’t about to get rid of it just because it was old.
The three-seater leather sofa, however, was reasonably intact, with only a few scratches on the brown cowhide and no stains to speak of. Housekeeping wasn’t exactly one of his strong suits. Nor was it mine, for that matter.
At least he tried to keep the dirt at bay. Still, I wasn’t surprised to see a couple of empty beer bottles, a half-eaten plate of food and a cup of cold coffee cluttering the pine coffee table. Since his daughter had moved in a couple of months before after losing her job, his bungalow had taken on a considerably more livedin look.
Her presence also meant that Eric ended up spending more time at my home than I did at his. Her animosity towards me made any stay at his place all but impossible. I hoped she’d find a job soon, and we could get back to our peaceful life together.
I joined Eric on the sofa. “Teht’aa in bed?”
“Yeah, she was exhausted.” He yawned.
“You should be in bed, too.”
“Shortly. I’d like you to stay.”
“What about Teht’aa?”
“I’ll handle her. But wait a minute, I forgot about Jid.”
“No problem. I have him strategically placed at his cousins. Sergei’s there too.”
“Good.” He reached for the dirty plate. “Guess I’d better clean up this mess.”
I took it from him. “You rest. I’ll do it, but later. First, I want to know what happened at the police station.”
“Not much to tell, really. She did a very foolish thing, and she’ll have to pay for it.”
“I’d hardly call killing a man foolish!”
“Sorry, I thought I’d told you. Guess I really am tired. Police didn’t arrest her for Dr. Meilleur’s murder. They nabbed her for stealing some of the bones.”
“Why not the murder? I thought the two were related.”
“No evidence, thank God.” He tried to stifle a yawn.
“So that’s why the news said they’re still searching for the killer.”
Eric nodded.
“Besides, I had an alibi.” Teht’aa spoke from the entrance to the hallway leading to the bedrooms. Even though her hair was tousled and her face puffed with sleep, she still looked as if she’d stepped off the page of a glamour magazine. A cinchedin bathrobe only served to emphasize her curves.
“That’s good. What were you doing?” I asked, feeling not only glad for Eric but also for her. Even though I didn’t like her, I didn’t want to see her guilty of murder.
“Was with Ed and Billie.”
“Was Robbie with you?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Good, that means he’s in the clear too.”
She nodded.
“So when did you steal the bones?”
“I didn’t steal them.”
Eric cast a stern look in her direction. “Teht’aa.”
“Okay, okay, so I pinched them. But I didn’t set out to take them, okay?” She moved the deerskin dress aside as she slumped into Eric’s chair. “The opportunity just sort of presented itself.”
“How?” I noticed her nose was running. In fact, she always seemed to have a runny nose.
“The spirit thief showed them to me.” Extracting a tissue from her pocket, she wiped her nose.
“Why would Dr. Meilleur do that?”
“No, not him. Another one. George.”
“But why you? It’s not as if you’re friendly to his cause.”
“Probably wanted to get me in bed.” She laughed, just a little too harshly.
“When was this?”
“After the ceremony. I was walking back to the car when he came up to me.”
“You sure? I didn’t think he was there.”
“You don’t believe me?”
I tried to read deceit behind her challenge and couldn’t see beyond the jutting chin and blazing eyes. “Okay. Go on.” There had been quite a crowd. I could easily have missed George.
“Anyways, he wanted to buy my great-grandmother’s deerskin. Said he’d never seen such a well-preserved example of late nineteenth century workmanship.”
Eric’s eyes opened wide in shock. “You didn’t tell me this part. Of course you said no.”
“Of course. What do you take me for? No way would I betray our heritage to those spirit thieves. Told him as much. He said he was sorry about the Ancient’s remains. If he had his way, he’d give them to us.”
Yeah, sure, I thought to myself.
“I asked him if I could say a few prayers over the Ancient One. So he took me into the lab and showed them to me. When he wasn't looking I grabbed a couple of small ones, vertebrae I think, and stuck them into my purse. Figured he wouldn't miss them. Then I—”
“I thought all the bones were missing,” I interjected.
“If they are, I didn’t take them. You gonna listen to my story or not?”
“Okay, sorry,” I said, wondering if this would further confirm her innocence.
“I chanted a few prayers to the Creator. It sure gave me a thrill to see the Ancient One again. Then the spirit thief shows his true colours, says she’s too important to be returned to the land, and he’ll make sure it never happens.”
For very good reason, I thought to myself. They were his ticket to fame. “If you didn’t take the rest of the bones, any idea who did?”
She shrugged and wiped her nose again. “The killer, I guess. After I said my prayer, George put them back in the cabinet. I never saw them again.”
“How did the police discover you had these few bones?”
“They nabbed Robbie and me as we were driving out of town. It was after they found that dead spirit thief. Served the guy right, if you ask me.”
“Teht’aa,” Eric cut in, “I thought we’d agreed to tone down the rhetoric.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“Sounds as if the police were looking for you. Why?” I asked.
“We’ve got red skin. What other reason do they need?”
Eric emitted an exasperated sigh. “Teht’aa, because of our petition, the police had very good reason to suspect any one of us. I wouldn’t be at all surprise if they didn’t take down our licence plate numbers while we were performing the ceremony.”
“And what happened to Robbie?” I continued.
“He took off after the police let him go,” Eric growled. “Didn’t even bother to call me about my own daughter.”
“Is he home?”
“Not last time I checked. Wanted to give him a piece of my mind.” Eric’s eyes watered as he tried to suppress another yawn.
“Well, nothing more we can do now.” I stood up. “I propose we worry about him in the morning. You two go to bed while I clean up here.”
Teht’aa’s eyes narrowed. “If you’re staying, I’m leaving.”
“You’re both staying,” Eric replied in a quiet but commanding tone. “Teht’aa, you forget yourself. You forget that it is a tradition of our people to welcome all visitors, to show them respect by offering them food, drink, a place to sleep, whatever they require. Please apologize.”
For a second, I wasn’t sure if she would hit me or spit on me, but her father’s command held sway. She mumbled a few incomprehensible words, turned on her heels and stomped down the hall to her room.
“I’m so sorry, Meg.” He took me in his arms. “I don’t know what I’m going to do with her. I can only hope that over time, she’ll come to accept that you are very much a part of my life.”
Dreamer, I thought. But as long as we carried on as we were, friends, lovers with no binding commitments, which suited me just fine, she couldn’t cause any real problems.