Читать книгу Stonechild and Rouleau Mysteries 4-Book Bundle - Brenda Chapman - Страница 31

Friday, December 30, 11:45 a.m.

Rouleau replayed the interview from earlier that morning on the flat screen television on his office wall. His head was weary but he forced himself to focus. Kala Stonechild stood at attention next to Vermette while he congratulated her for getting a dangerous offender off the street. Her hair was tied back and she wore a navy jacket over a black turtleneck sweater. She’d borrowed the jacket and it fit loosely, a few sizes too large. Her face was unreadable, her eyes staring straight ahead, and her bandaged shoulder hidden by the over-sized coat.

What were you thinking? he wondered as the camera zoomed in on her. What the hell were you doing out there?

He turned at a knock on the door.

“Stonechild just came in,” said Grayson. “Thought you’d want to know.”

He withdrew and Rouleau crossed to the door. His team had surrounded her like she was a homecoming queen. Malik was hugging her and Bennett was waiting his turn. She had her back to Rouleau but appeared to be willingly accepting the attention. He heard her laugh at something Malik said. He waited a few minutes before calling for her to come into his office.

She turned to look at him and the smile left her face. She broke away from the group and walked toward him, her back as straight as an army cadet’s. They entered his office.

“Sir,” she said as he motioned for her to sit.

He settled into his desk chair across from her. “How are you feeling, Stonechild?” He’d noticed the line of sweat across her forehead and the grimace of pain in as she sat down.

She shifted slightly. “I’m fine. Thanks for sending Bennett to drive me home from the hospital last night. Any word on the victim?”

“She’s stable. A broken nose and cheek bone. Two broken ribs. The damage to one eye could be permanent.”

“Damn,” Stonechild muttered under her breath.

“Even though you were off duty, Vermette would like a full report. Are you feeling up to it?”

She nodded. “I had a few hours of sleep and should be good until tonight.”

“I meant your shoulder. Can you type?”

“We’ll soon see.” She smiled for the first time.

His instinct was to smile back but he refrained. “It was a fortunate coincidence that you were at the same place as the man who’d been assaulting women along that stretch of Richmond Road.” He waited while she collected how much she would tell him. The evasion in her eyes gave her away.

“I might have misled you about my living conditions. I never actually found an apartment yet and have been staying just down the street at the YWCA. There were vacancies in the apartment building on Richmond Road and I decided to check out them out. I remembered the area from when we interviewed Glenda Martin after her assault.” She shrugged. “I heard a scream from the trees as I was walking back to my truck.” She met his eyes and didn’t look away this time.

After a few seconds, he looked down. “Richard Kennedy says you busted his arm on purpose.”

“He resisted arrest. I had to control him quickly and get back to the victim.”

Rouleau nodded. “You’ll need to be clear in your report.”

“I will. What have they found out about him?”

“Richard Kennedy’s wife left him last year for his best friend. The two worked construction. They were framers for Chalmers Housing. After his wife walked out, Kennedy upped his coke habit and dreamed about getting even. He was practising taking out his anger on middle-aged women. You were right, by the way. He lives closer to the river but in the same general area.”

“His rage probably didn’t start after his wife left him. Will he press charges, you know, about the arm?”

“Won’t matter if he does. As you say, he resisted arrest. The photos of your injuries confirm this.”

She nodded, her eyes relieved. “Did he give a reason for beating this particular woman?”

“He said this morning that he hadn’t planned to hurt her but she reminded him of his ex-wife.”

“So he’s admitted to all the assaults?”

“No, but we’ve got Glenda Martin coming in to see if she can pick him out of a photo array.”

“Good.”

“You can take the rest of the day off after you finish your report. Vermette’s thrilled, by the way. You might have breathed life into this unit.”

“Thank you, Sir, but I’m going to visit Susan Halliday before I go home.”

“Take Bennett.”

“I will.”

She was nearly at the door when he said, “I don’t want you doing this again.”

“Sir?” She turned and was about to say something but stopped after reading something in his face.

“I know we understand each other,” Rouleau said. Her eyes were bottomless black flint, and for the briefest of moments, defiant. He stared her down until she slowly dropped her head in a nod. He softened his voice. “You could have been seriously hurt. If you do something like this again, I will have to let you go. I can’t have you out there putting yourself in danger. I’m responsible for you and everyone in this unit.”

She kept her head lowered so that he couldn’t see her eyes. “Yes, Sir. It won’t happen again.” She turned away from him again and opened the door.

“Thank you, Stonechild,” he said. “For stopping him. You saved that woman’s life. There’s no doubt in my mind.”

She paused with her back to him and nodded, but she said nothing. He watched her cross the room and sit down at her desk chair. She leaned down to turn on her computer. For the first time, he thought he might have made a mistake in hiring her.

He looked across at his navy suit in the drycleaner bag hanging on the wall hook behind his door. He’d had it cleaned and pressed down the street for Frances’s New Year’s Eve wedding. Just a day away. One day before his wife became somebody else’s. What kind of gift did you buy for this occasion? Did they make cards to mark ex wives’ remarriages? Probably. They made them for everything else.

“So how does it feel to be a hero?” Bennett caught up to her at the main entrance. “You’ve become a legend in the department your first week here.”

“Watch and learn, little grasshopper,” Kala said, holding the door for him with her good arm. “Watch and learn.” She grinned at him. “Just the right place at the right time, that’s all.”

“I think it was more than that. You took the guy down. Impressive. How’s your shoulder?”

“Nothing major. He managed to crack it but I’m a fast healer.”

“He’s not so lucky. You taught him what for.”

“Thanks.” She liked that he’d forgotten the old boys’ club for the moment. Maybe she was teaching him something after all. She followed him outside.

Bennett zipped up his jacket. “Where to now, boss?”

“We’ve got to figure out what’s going on with Susan Halliday. First we’ll drive up to the spot she got into car trouble in the Gatineau Hills. Do some old-fashioned detective work. Then we’ll go talk to her and her husband Clinton. Somehow, we’ll have to get her alone and I’ll need your help with that.”

“Right. Aren’t you tired after last night?”

“I’m getting my second wind.” The key was to keep moving. If she stopped for long, the exhaustion would catch up. She reached into the inside pocket of her parka. “I printed the map and marked the spot where she parked to go skiing.”

He took it from her. “I know the place. I bike up there in the summer.”

“Good. You can drive then.”

Bennett headed north through downtown and crossed the Portage Bridge at the end of Wellington Street into Quebec. He followed Chemin d’Aylmer for a few kilometres before turning right onto the Gatineau Parkway. The road wound steadily skyward into the wooded hills blanketed in glistening snow under the crystal blue sky. Kala felt the tightness in her chest ease. Even the pain in her shoulder was lessening as they progressed into the wilderness.

“It’s been a few days since her accident. What do you expect to find?”

“Don’t know. I just want to get a feel for how it happened.”

“Fair enough.” He fished around in his pocket and pulled out aviator sunglasses. “Shit, that sun is bright. This must take you back home, being out here.”

“Yeah.”

“Do you miss it?”

“You could say that.”

He glanced in her direction and she saw her face reflected back in his glasses. “So did you leave any family or boyfriends behind?”

She stared at his profile. “Just the usual.”

“Must be nice. I’d give anything to get a break from my family, not to mention my ex who still thinks we’re going to get back together. Some women just won’t take no.”

“Why don’t you ask for a transfer?” She was genuinely curious why he would stay in Ottawa if he wanted to leave so badly.

“I don’t know. I’ve never lived anywhere else. Sounds like you’ve moved around a bit.”

She squinted out the side window. The light felt like pinpricks in her eyes. They were passing a sign that said Pinks Lake. The turn off wasn’t far. Just a few more minutes and she could focus on something besides the uncomfortable turn this conversation had taken. She had no intention of thinking about her past just now, let alone share it with Bennett.

They reached the empty parking lot. Bennett pulled into a spot near the entrance and they both got out. Kala looked around, then crossed the lot with Bennett following behind her. She crouched down, looking for tire marks. She was disappointed but not surprised that any evidence was long gone.

“Do you see something?” Bennett squatted down in the snow next to her.

“Susan Halliday told me she parked here at the north end and another vehicle parked next to her while she was skiing. She never saw the driver.”

Kala looked around the flat expanse of open space. It was bordered by a wooden fence of rough logs tied horizontally that held back the thick woods. A packed cross-country ski trail snaked into the trees from an opening in the fence. Looking up, the blue sky was a dome hinged by the tops of conifer trees on all sides. Heavy, grey clouds had begun gathering over the western perimeter and she sensed more snow coming, likely by nightfall. She thought again of how the weather changed quickly in the Ottawa Valley, not like in the North where storms took their time coming and going. She tried to imagine Susan out here alone with evening falling.

“There’s nothing left to see from her visit. The lot was plowed since she was here.” Kala stood and looked toward the woods. “Why would someone park right next to her when the lot was empty? Why would they even be up here if they weren’t going skiing?”

“Do you think she was followed?”

“Maybe. Someone could have taken the opportunity to strand her out here. She doesn’t strike me as the kind of woman who would drive into the Gatineau Hills and not notice she was out of gas. She said that she’s been forgetful, but how many people really let the tank get that low? It’s something you check automatically. Especially if you’re the only driver. You gauge how much time between fill ups.” Kala looked back at the entrance to the parking area. “You’d have to know this spot was here or have followed her. Maybe somebody was waiting outside her house. Why would they do that is the question. Why would somebody set out to hurt her?”

“It’s easy enough to siphon gas if you have the time. Somebody would have had the privacy to do it unseen up here in the middle of nowhere.”

Kala took another look around. “It’s a peaceful place but there’s something ominous about it too. The spirits aren’t all happy here.”

Bennett looked at her oddly. “There was a rape just over there by the path a few summers ago. It made a lot of people scared to use the bike paths.”

“Did they catch him?”

“No.”

Kala suddenly couldn’t wait to get away from this isolated place. “You ready to leave?”

Bennett pulled the keys out his pocket. He took a final look around. “Yeah. Looks like we’re not going to learn anything here unless one of those spirits decides to start talking.”