SATURDAY, JULY 6
“You know we have to go back out there,” Harper said. They sat in Kuldeep’s coffee shop on the west side of town. Harper wore his jacket and tie.
Lane wore a loose-fitting shirt and a pair of black sweatpants.
Fear gripped Lane. It was an oddly familiar sensation. “This is what you went through after you were shot?”
Harper took a breath. “Yep.”
“And you’re going through it again?” Lane took his cup of coffee in two hands.
Harper nodded. “The flashbacks started last night. One shooting gets all mixed up with the other. I keep hearing the ricochet, then the sound of the bullet smacking into flesh. When I look down, there’s smoke coming out of my leg. It’s weird.”
“In my nightmare, I look down and see the blood soaking through my pants. Then I look around and there are hummingbirds circling the yard. I still can’t figure out why I didn’t feel pain until I saw the wound.” Lane put his coffee down when the tremors started in his wrists and moved to his fingers.
“That’s why we need to go back. We need to get the monkey off our backs and we need to talk to Eva.” Harper thought, Since you won’t see the shrink, I’m gonna pass on what I learned the first time around, after I was wounded.
“What about?” Lane asked.
“I did some checking this morning. You know, an electronic search using Eva’s name. She filed a land claim about six months before Alex was killed.” Harper opened up his laptop.
“Just tell me.” Lane tried another sip of coffee to check if his hands were getting steadier.
“The basis of her claim is that the land she owns was originally reserve land. Later, it was given to an Anglican minister who had worked in the area for over twenty-five years. It was a kind of retirement gift for him. The problem was, no one from the First Nations was in on the land deal and the minister’s land was originally part of the area covered by the treaty.”
“And?”
Harper closed his laptop. “Eva bought her piece of land. It borders the T’suu T’ina Reserve, a proposed new development and other acreages. Some of her neighbours to the north and west could subdivide their land tomorrow and make huge profits. The problem is that Eva’s land, and the land in question, is in the middle of the next stage of development. Makes investors reluctant to jump in when they might not see a return for a decade or more. It’s even possible they might end up losing the land.”
“So we may be talking about a motive for Alex’s murder?” Lane asked.
“That, or at the very least, a reason for resentment between Eva and some of the other landowners. When you take a look at Blake Rogers’ land, it gets even more interesting. He inherited the place from his grandmother. I checked into it, and the sale of similar properties. If Blake sold it today, he’d make millions.”
“Why doesn’t he sell, then?” Lane looked at Roz, who sat patiently outside on the other side of the coffee shop’s glass wall. She raised her eyebrows hopefully. Roz and Lane had taken a slow walk to Kuldeep’s to meet with Harper.
“Hey guys, want more coffee?” Kuldeep stood behind the counter with a smile and tired eyes from working fourteen-hour days, seven days a week.
“Maybe in a minute, thanks.” Lane smiled back.
“No problem,” Kuldeep said.
“I checked with a real estate friend. He said the cheaper properties are being bought up, but the land in Blake’s price range isn’t selling as well because investors who are willing to wait out the land claim — Who would want to sit on that kind of money? — are a little hard to come by. And, Blake’s land is part of the land Eva is claiming rightfully belongs to the T’suu T’ina Nation.” Harper leaned back and waited for Lane to get the picture.
“So we need to go and see Blake too?” Lane drained his coffee. He looked outside. Roz was on her belly with her head between her paws, staring at him with pleading brown eyes.
“There’s more. After Alex died, Eva changed her will. The land will be passed on to an Aidan Walker and Eva’s estranged daughter. Aidan was with Alex when he was killed.”
“So, with an eyewitness, why hasn’t this case been solved?” Lane stood up, grimaced, and took his cup over to Kuldeep. “One for me and another for him, please.” He pulled out a twenty dollar bill.
“No problem.” Kuldeep smiled.
“How are you doing?” Lane asked.
“This franchise has made a slave of me. Besides that, everything is good.” She filled their cups.
“What do you mean slave?” Lane asked.
“The way it works is that the company from Toronto takes its money out of my bank account every month. There’s not much left after the rent is paid and the company is finished with me. They made a lot of big promises about how much money I would make and their promises turned out to be wrong.” Kuldeep smiled as she passed over the coffees.
“I don’t understand. You should be able to make a living and it’s always busy here.”
Kuldeep shrugged. “As long as we’re open and paying taxes, the company in Toronto is making money and the company does whatever it wants. No one, including the government, wants to hear about how I’ve become a slave to the franchise because there’s not enough money left at the end of the month to pay a living wage.”
Lane returned to the table and took his time sitting down.
Harper pulled his fresh cup closer. “When Alex was killed, the crime happened outside of the city limits. Now the land is inside the city. The rCmP had a few suspects, but Aidan didn’t see the rear license plate. She only saw the front plate and couldn’t say exactly who was in the truck.” Harper got up to add cream and sugar to his coffee.
Lane waited until Harper got back. “Republic of Alberta?”
“Yep. The rCmP tracked down several pickups matching the vehicle description. Blake Rogers was a person of interest. His vehicle was suspicious, because he lives nearby. It looked like the truck had two new doors, but the rCmP couldn’t get anyone to talk. And they couldn’t find any damage to the vehicle, or blood, hair, or tissue evidence to connect the vehicle to Alex Starchild.”
“So, who exactly is this Aidan Walker?” Lane talked louder as Kuldeep steamed coffee.
“I met her while you were in the sweat lodge.” Harper looked out the window at Roz. “She’s some kind of artist or puppeteer.”
“That’s all we know?” Lane asked.
“So far.” Harper stared at his reflection in the window.
Lane saw the far off look in his partner’s eyes. “Another flashback?”
Harper turned back to Lane. “How did you know?”
Aidan wore a short gold skirt made full with layers of underlying crinoline. Under the skirt, she wore black spandex pants and black running shoes. Her blue, tight-fitting jacket was pinstriped and accented with a white silk tie. Her blonde hair was combed back. As always, her marionette persona was dressed the same way.
“It sucks.” Alex sat in a chair under the catwalk with his legs stretched out front.
“You’re not going to complain about your costume again, are you?” Aidan, the marionette, stood over him.
“Now that you mention it….” Alex stood up and smiled. “Actually, I was going to say it sucks that you don’t have a life.”
“What do you mean?” Aidan crossed her arms.
“I’m your only friend. A dead friend at that. And Eva is your family. The fact is, Eva’s getting old. Once she’s gone, there will only be me. Now, as much as I love being around you, a warm body would be a lot better for you. Just because your parents left you behind and moved to Australia for a stupid job doesn’t mean you can’t trust anyone but me and Eva.” Alex put a hand on Aidan’s shoulder.
Aidan pushed the hand away. “I’m not ready for that. You never understood that. When your parents do that to you, it shows you what they really value.”
“So, you moved in with me and Eva.” He leaned forward in his chair.
“You’re family. More than my parents are. And, since you’re asking, I’m doing okay,” Aidan said.
“Well you’d better start meeting other people. The way people have been disappearing around the old homestead, it looks like warm bodies will be at a premium. Now that a cop’s been shot, things could get even more dangerous.” Alex walked away from Aidan.
“Things will cool down. They always do. What they did to you has to be settled. I made a promise to you and myself that the guys who killed you would end up facing what they did.” Aidan followed Alex off stage.
Alex said, “But what happens to you and your life? You like to start fires, get people going. What’s that say about you?”
“That I’ve waited long enough for the police to do their jobs, and now I’m doing what I can to settle this thing.”
“What if it gets worse? You know as well as I that people are talking about barricading the highway. Some hotheads want to stop the city from getting any closer,” Alex said.
“What are they fighting about?” Arthur leaned on an elbow to look at the bedside clock.
Lane opened his eyes. “What time is it?”
“One AM.” Arthur heaved himself out of bed.
Lane rolled over, saw light along the bottom of the door and thought, The hallway light is on. He recalled a three dimensional dream, compliments of the pain-killer he’d taken before bed. It had something to do with falling off a bridge into fast-moving water the colour of eye shadow.
“She’s sleeping with me!” Christine said.
“Stay out of here you bitch! Roz is sleeping in my room!” Matt said.
“That’s no way to talk to me!” Christine pounded on Matt’s door, then ran upstairs with Matt close behind.
Lane thought, I wonder when she’ll learn how to swear? If she doesn’t, it’s going to start costing a fortune in doors.
Arthur opened the door. “What’s going on, you two?”
Lane saw the forest of hair on Arthur’s back and backside. He was framed in the door and illuminated by the hallway light.
Christine screamed and ran into her bedroom. Matt looked at Roz and then back at Arthur.
Matt’s eyes lit up. “It’s Uncle Wrinkly!”
Arthur stepped back inside and closed the door.
In the darkness, Lane heard an exasperated Arthur say, “I handled that very well, don’t you think?”
“At least you stopped the fight,” Lane said.