TWO

No one believed a murder could happen in pretty Port Ainslie. But when it did, no one was surprised that Billy Ray Edwards was the victim.

The truth was, almost nobody liked Billy Ray. Lots of people in town hated him. Someone hated him enough to shoot him in his own garage.

As a young man, Billy Ray had not been hated. People in Port Ainslie were too nice to hate someone just for who they were. Until his teenage years, Billy Ray had been just another kid who loved fishing and baseball and hated school. But somewhere around age sixteen he became a hoodlum, and he seemed to stay that way. When Billy Ray was twenty years old, his parents died in a car accident. Their son did not act as though he missed them. Instead, he became even more wild than before.

For a while the townsfolk put up with him. Many felt sorry he had been made an orphan by the accident. Besides, they said, every town had someone who didn’t fit in. Even when Billy Ray bought a noisy motorcycle and rode it through town late at night, some people said it wasn’t so bad. Billy Ray grew a beard and wore shirts with dirty words on them. The same people said it was just the way things were these days. Boys said and did things these days they would not have said and done years ago. Maybe he will grow up and change, they said.

But the only way Billy Ray changed was to become worse.

Billy Ray’s parents had saved a lot of money over the years, and their son got all of it when they died. He also got the family home, which was the nicest property in town. On the shore of the lake, it included a sandy beach and many shade trees.

Billy Ray didn’t care about sand or lawns or trees. He wanted to ride noisy motorcycles and have noisy parties with noisy friends. And he did. For a while. Then he married a woman named Deborah, and everyone hoped he would settle down. But it didn’t last. When Deborah left him, he became even angrier and harder to get along with.

None of this mattered until a large firm said they planned to build a new resort in town. That’s when people said they had had as much of Billy Ray Edwards as they could take.

The company said the resort would be the most attractive in all of Muskoka. Maybe in all of Canada. It would cost a hundred million dollars, and be open twelve months of the year.

The resort would change Port Ainslie for the better. People would visit the town in spring for the flower festival, and in summer for swimming and boating. In autumn they would come to see the fall colors. Winter would bring them to ski down Granite Mountain. The restaurant alone would attract people to the area twelve months of the year. At least fifty people would work at the resort full-time, most from Port Ainslie and all earning good salaries.

Everyone agreed the resort would make the town more attractive. Better than that, it would make it wealthy. Ivan Curic, who ran the biggest real-estate office in town, said the resort could make Port Ainslie the richest place in all of Muskoka.

People knew how important the new resort would be to them. They all agreed to support the idea.

All but Billy Ray Edwards.

Billy Ray still lived in the house he grew up in, on the shore of the lake. The house had a perfect view of the lake and the best beach in the area. That’s why it was where the Toronto company planned to build the resort. All of Billy Ray’s neighbors agreed to sell their land. By June the resort company was ready to start building. All they needed was Billy Ray to agree to a price and sell his land.

Billy Ray would not agree to anything.

It wasn’t the money. The company offered Billy Ray more than they had offered to anyone else. When Billy Ray said no, they raised their offer over and over, all the way to one million dollars.

Billy Ray still said no.

Someone from the company told Billy Ray he could have a job at the new resort every summer. He could be a lifeguard, or mow the lawn, or be a security guard. Whatever he did, he would draw a good salary. And still have a million dollars in the bank.

Billy Ray told him to get lost.

The company’s lawyer said he would look for a legal way to force Billy Ray to sell.

Billy Ray said he would shoot anybody who came onto his land.

This brought Max and Henry to visit Billy Ray and warn him about making threats. I am just taking care of what is mine, Billy Ray told them.

You are being a fool, Max said to him. Until now you have been a law-abiding fool. But if you make more threats like that one, you will find yourself in a jail cell. So try to stay out of trouble.

I’ll stay where I want to be, Billy Ray said with a sneer. Which is right here. No broad with a badge is going to tell me what to do. Police chief or not.

Max had dealt with tough guys before. She ignored his threat and said she did not want to come back to talk to him again.

Come back anytime, Billy Ray said with a cold smile. Next time bring some wine. And leave that loser at the station. He meant Henry Wojak.

Somebody is going to shut his big mouth for good, Henry said as he and Max drove away from Billy Ray’s house.

I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that, Max said.

But after Billy Ray was found dead, she couldn’t help remembering it.

I can’t figure Billy Ray out, Max said to Margie after telling her of Billy Ray’s threat. What makes him act like that?

It comes natural, Margie said. Some people are natural athletes. Billy Ray is a natural pain in the neck. He didn’t start out that way. When he was young, maybe five years old, he was a sweet little boy. Now he is just an awful person who nobody wants around.

Brenda Karp said this wasn’t true all the time. Billy Ray can be nice when he wants to be, she told Max one day. Brenda would know. About a year before word of the new resort was heard, Billy Ray’s wife walked out on him. Brenda moved in a month later. I guess I always liked bad boys, she had said when people asked her why. Billy Ray fit the image of a bad boy. He had plenty of muscles, rode a loud motorcycle and liked to scare people. If he tries hard, Brenda said, he can be sweet. Then she added, Trouble is, he won’t try hard enough.

From the day she moved in, Brenda started to repair Billy Ray’s house. The rooms had not seen a drop of fresh paint in years. I gave the place a woman’s touch, Brenda said. It looked so much better when I was done.

But when the work was finished, Billy Ray told Brenda he didn’t want her around. He told her to take her things and get out. When she said she wanted to be paid for the work she had done, Billy Ray became violent. That’s when Brenda called Margie to say she was scared for her life. Max and Henry came to talk to Billy Ray. They told Brenda it would be best if she left, and she rushed off to pack her clothes.

Max turned to Billy Ray. If you make one threat to Brenda, she said, I will put you in jail.

You and who else? he said.

Me and Margie, Max said. Billy Ray made no reply. He knew about Margie.

Max had some advice for Brenda as she was leaving. The best thing you can do now, she said, is find yourself a better man. Then she said, Which should not be hard to do.

It wasn’t. A few weeks later Brenda moved in with Seth Torsney, who ran a garden nursery in town. But she and Billy Ray were not finished yet. In her rush to leave, Brenda had left some jewelry at his house, a few rings and bracelets. She asked for them back, but he laughed at her. When she tried to sue him, a lawyer said it was not a good idea. It was cheap jewelry, after all, and not worth the effort.

It was worth the effort to Brenda. Some of the rings were her late mother’s. Seth called Billy Ray to demand Brenda’s jewelry. Billy Ray told Seth that if he set foot on his property, he would come face to face with a loaded shotgun.

When Seth went to Max about the threat, Max and Henry paid another visit to Billy Ray. That ain’t a threat, Billy Ray said. It’s a promise. Billy Ray was a tall man with a full beard and a voice deep enough to have its own echo. Don’t care if you put me in jail, Billy Ray said. Nobody’s tellin’ me what to do. Ever. About anything.

Max let him off with another warning.

Everyone knew Billy Ray could be a jerk. But not everyone knew why he would not sell his home for the million dollars offered by the resort firm. This was more than the price he might get on the open market. Why not take it and call himself a millionaire? Then, some folks hoped, he would move away to the big city. Anywhere but here.

Part of the reason was his stubborn streak. But there was more to it than that. Before she married Billy Ray, his wife, Deborah, had him sign a deal that would give half of all he owned to her should the marriage end. She thought it would make him a better husband. It did not. But that didn’t matter now. If he sold his land before the divorce came through, Deborah would get half of all the cash. If the land was sold after the divorce, her share would be much less. So she was in no hurry to start the divorce. As soon as Billy Ray sold the land, she would ask for half of the money for the land. And she would get it.

But the company that was to build the new resort lost its patience. On Monday the company said it would take its money and go somewhere else unless Billy Ray agreed to sell by the end of the week. Now it was Wednesday. He would rather die poor and cost this town its future than share the million dollars with his wife, people said. He is one mean SOB.

So this was a week the town would never forget. In two days, they would lose a chance to make the town rich and famous. At noon, it was struck by the biggest thunderstorm anyone could recall.

And now it had its first-ever murder.