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I set about making my easy five-can chili, my usual fallback when I’m too tired or sore to cook. You just open five cans, add some chili spice if you want, and heat it up. Well, a can each of beans, mixed veggies, tomatoes and either canned beef or muchrooms and a jar of salsa to be precise.
We had a couple of semi-stale hamburger buns that needed eating, so I pulled the garlic butter from the fridge. I’d toast them in the oven when we were ready to eat.
In the meantime, I decided to clear and set the table. Keep busy and don’t think too much. It was like a mantra in my head. I knew that as soon as Jaqi got here, there would be a lot of talking and worrying.
The chili was hot, so I turned it off. Where was Jaqi? It had been almost forty minutes since I saw her talking to Carl.
I stepped out onto the top step and looked across the lot. They were gone, the front door closed and the steps empty.
He probably took her out to scour the area. She must be out of her head with fear for Lucia’s safety. I still would have thought she’d stop by to update me. I shoved down my resentment—these were unusual circumstances. But now I was concerned about everybody, and I was alone.
An hour later, still alone, and I could see lights in Carl’s trailer. Where was Jaqi?
I dreaded the walk, but I picked up Victor and made my way down the steps to the ground. I needed to talk to Carl.
It would take me a week to recover from this trip.
I limped along, pausing for breath and for Victor to sniff things. About halfway there, Carl stepped out of his trailer with a plate and walked to his barbecue. It was chained to several cement blocks and was the saddest thing I’d ever seen.
He looked up and waved at me, so I waved back. He set the plate down on his step and hurried over.
“Coming to see me again? All the pretty ladies are coming over today.”
I smiled. Maybe he was a nice man after all. I remembered his grabbing my arm hard enough to bruise, maybe not.
“I’m looking for Jaqi. Supper’s ready.” It wasn’t what I’d meant to say, but it was the most important.
His smile fell from his face. “Don’t tell me she’s missing now.”
“The last I saw, she was talking to you on your steps.”
“But Vee, that was ages ago.” He looked around but there was no one out but us.
“She never came back from here. Did she say anything to you about where she was headed?” Now I gripped his arm too tight; I could see little white crescents where my nails dug in.
He carefully clasped my hand and lifted it from its death-grip. Then he put his arm around my shoulders and squeezed gently. If I hadn’t been so worried, I might have felt that old tingle, but I got nothing. Well, I got a little annoyed at Victor for barking and growling at Carl.
Jealousy, thy name is dog.
We sat at the RV’s small table, eating chili and garlic bread. And waiting. Carl had said to wait six hours, as that was too long for even a walk to town. It felt like forever.
The chili felt tasteless in my mouth. The dry bread stuck in my throat. Carl smiled, apparently enjoying every bite.
My stomach was too tight to eat, and I pushed my bowl away. My cell said six o’clock. Five hours was long enough in my opinion, and I dialed 9-1-1. Carl reached over, then just let his hand drop to the table.
***
“WELL, MAYBE YOU SHOULD have been honest with us from the start.”
“I beg your pardon?” I asked politely. Okay, I might have screeched at him, but we had been honest with those useless pigs.
From the sputtering on the other end of the line and the grin on Carl’s face, I yet again might have said that out loud.
“Are you coming out to look for them?” I asked. “They can’t both be missing for no reason. They’re obviously in danger.”
“Well, Miss Lilley, until you tell us what you’re involved in, these useless pigs say to wait twenty-four hours before filing a report. And call Missing Persons, not Homicide.”
“Wait, can’t you see that someone thought they saw—”
The pig had hung up. I still felt glad I’d taken his tea away.
Carl and I sat at the table in front of the RV, drinking beer. I would have preferred a martini, but the beer was cold and free. It was also much lower in alcohol, which helped keep my head straight. I snorted, that was amusing, barely.
It was a beautiful night, the sky so clear that you could almost see the colors in the twinkling stars. Without the city lights, there were thousands more stars visible.
I cursed them all.
***
WELL, I WAS DONE WITH sitting and waiting. And I was drunk enough that my hip didn’t hurt too bad.
I would look for my friends. I went back into the RV and got some dirty clothes from each of my missing girls. Victor could search them out by scent.
Carl laughed at me when I explained my plan, and I wanted to tell him to get lost, but he was the only support I had. And I was worried sick. Literally, my stomach was tight enough to make me nauseated and my clenched jaw gave me a headache. I popped a Tylenol-3 and grabbed Victor’s leash.
“Oh, c’mon Vee, that little fart engine isn’t trained to search and rescue. You’ll never find them this way.”
His words sent an arrow straight through my heart. I gasped at the cruelty of his attitude.
“Then you don’t have to come,” I said. “I need to do something, and I can search the cornfield alone, thank you.”
As I stomped around the vardo toward the farmer’s field, I heard Carl’s footsteps behind me.
“Wait, I’ll join you. If we don’t find them, at least I can carry you back when your hip gives out.”
I could hear the smile in his voice. I was so not happy with him.
At the edge of the field, I put Lucia’s T-shirt up to Victor’s nose. He snuffled happily enough that I started to think this might work. We could search everywhere.
We set off across the field with Victor in the lead. Thankfully, Carl kept any more opinions to himself.
***
VICTOR LED US TO A dead rat, which he seemed keen on rolling in. Carl just about busted a garter laughing at me trying to hold back three pounds of determined Chihuahua. But there was no way to wash off rotting rat until I got home, so I dug my heels in and yelled NO a few times. I literally dug my heels into the dirt; these shoes would never be the same.
Then after sniffing Luci’s shirt again, he dragged me to where he wanted to make poopie. Needless to say, the girls were in neither place.
Carl had throttled his laughter back to a mild chuckle after I gave him the death stare.
“Okay, okay. Vee. I don’t think this is working. Why don’t we—”
I pointed my sternest finger at him with one word: “Don’t.”
He held his hands up like my finger was a gun and shrugged.
“Then let’s try going over what we know.”
I nodded distractedly. Victor pulled at his leash again, so I let him lead.
“We know that Keith and Janet were involved in something illegal. Based on the coke you found in Harvey’s office, it was drugs. For some reason, Keith was killed and left near the river rather than in it.”
He paused and I shrugged. This wasn’t getting us any closer to the girls.
“Now, why not dump him in the river?” Carl added. “The water might have dragged the body away from here so it wouldn’t be found so fast.”
I untangled Victor’s leash from a hard clump of grass and thought about that. He was right.
“Maybe they wanted him found right away,” I said. “Maybe it was a message?”
He grinned at me, but the sudden sound of shuffling feet and whispering made him grab my arm and pull me into a thick strip of cornstalks. We were pressed together. He was so warm and smelled just lovely. Ambergris and cedar, I think. An expensive cologne, now nearly worn off. So much nicer than when men bathe in it.
Victor yipped and leaped out of the corn, dragging me with him. It happened so fast, Carl didn’t have time to stop me from falling.
I hit the ground hard, my knee scraping open and my hip protesting loudly. When I looked up, it was to the surprised faces of a middle-aged couple with binoculars.
We were a still tableau for a moment, and then the woman reached down and helped me to my feet. I brushed at the dirt on my knees while trying to think of a way to explain falling out of a cornfield practically on top of them.
They were no help; they just stood and watched me struggle with it.
I pointed to Victor in a sudden flash of inspiration.
They just stared at me.
“I’m Victoria Lilley. I’m staying in the little vardo that was broken into the other night.” I heard my voice rise at the end, like I was asking if that’s who I was.
I blame my mother.
***
THE MAN LEANED IN TOWARD me, hissing a whispered introduction—they were the mysterious Carlisles. Though he didn’t introduce himself as mysterious.
Jamie and Petra Carlisle, in the flesh.
“I was just searching for my dog, he ran into the corn when I let him out to tinkle. Bad dog.” I knew they were unconvinced by the way they smiled. Petra even tilted her head to peer at Victor.
“That’s a dog?”
I was rapidly growing tired of such slights to my poor boy.
“Yes, he’s a rare breed of hairless Chihuahua from Nepal.” They both nodded, looking a lot more impressed.
Then Jamie’s face turned serious. He reached for my arm but backed off when Victor growled. They shared a look.
“Miss Lilley, I have to warn you to stay away from—”
He stopped mid-word when Carl stepped into view. Their eyes met and Jamie’s face flushed. Carl almost snarled at him:
“Keep your nose out of my business, or you’ll regret it.”
I didn’t recognize this Carl, angry and dangerous, so unlike the charmer I’d been with seconds ago.
“They weren’t—” I stammered in surprise.
“Weren’t what, about to threaten you?” He met Jamie’s eyes, his chin thrust out in a challenge. A challenge to what, I wasn’t quite sure. Maybe to punch him on it?
“We noticed you seem to have lost your friends. Do you—”
Carl leaned in and I noticed his hands were fisted, making the cords in his arms stand out. I was glad he was on my side.
Victor kept growling at the tension in the air, so I bent to pick him up.
Carl had a gun under his shirt. I could see the outline of it tucked into his pants. I stopped breathing for a moment, telling myself it was okay, he was a cop. RCMP, even better than a regular cop.
So why was my heart beating so fast?