Читать книгу Hollis Grant Mysteries 4-Book Bundle - Joan Boswell - Страница 5

After Detective Simpson left the medical tent, Kas rejoined Hollis. “In my professional opinion, you’re fit to drive home if you drive slowly. Take extra care; shock affects your reflexes. I’ll follow.” At the manse, an ugly pile of red brick next to St. Mark’s, Hollis disarmed the security system on the wall inside the back door. It had amused Paul to use chapter twenty, verse fifteen of the book of Exodus, the commandment, “Thou shalt not steal”, for the four digit code number.

MacTee, Hollis’s golden retriever, noted for his beauty, not his brains, welcomed them to the cheery yellow kitchen, an oasis in a dismal house. Hollis had defied the church manse committee and their choice of institutional green for the kitchen and repainted it. Besides hanging ferns and blooming cyclamen, two of her own large acrylic paintings of masses of exuberant oversized flowers added colour and joy to the room.

The rest of the house, with the exception of two rooms—her study, where she’d supplied her own white wicker furniture and glowing paintings, and Paul’s private bedroom and office—had been furnished and decorated by the manse property committee. The first time she’d been in the manse, a quick look around the house with its yellow oak floors, dark woodwork, cast-off religious pictures in heavy black frames and ugly furniture had confirmed Hollis’s impression that this group, no matter its membership, specialized in collecting cast-off mismatched furniture and always chose institutional beige or bilious green paint.

MacTee behaved as if he’d been deserted for days. He moaned, whined, rolled on the floor and gladdened her heart with the totally fatuous pleasure he took in her return. After they’d patted him and rewarded him with a biscuit, he lay on the kitchen floor, eyes open and body alert to any possibility of treats coming his way. The house settled into its customary morning quiet.

Standing in the middle of the kitchen, Hollis tried to think what to do. “I can’t twist my mind around what happened—it’s unimaginable.” She shivered and pushed her shaking hands into her pockets. “But I realize I’ll have decisions to make.” Kas leaned against a counter, nodding sympathetically.

She waved her hand at the empty kitchen counters. “One thing for sure—once Marguerite Day informs the congregation, these will fill with food. I’ll need boxes of aluminum foil to make packages of food for the freezer.” She shrugged. “But not yet. Right now I know I have things to attend to, but I can’t think what they are or where to start.”

“A list is always good. If you like, I’ll give you a hand.” Kas rubbed his hands together. “This house is chilly. Look at you. You’re frozen.”

Hollis stood in the middle of the room. Her teeth chattered, and she was still shivering.

“Go and change. You don’t like tea, do you? I’ll make coffee.”

Hollis made an effort. “Help and coffee sound great. The coffee and the milk foamer are in the cupboard above the coffee maker. You’re right. I am cold. I’ll change.”

Before she was out of the kitchen, Kas had reached for the can of Tim Hortons fine grind.

Upstairs, Hollis slid a periwinkle blue mohair turtleneck over her head and pulled on her favourite black leather pants. Comfort, she needed comfort. She wobbled back to the kitchen and collapsed at the table.

“I’m warm, but I’m feeling disoriented—like I’m floating above my body. My thoughts agitate and whirl but go nowhere.”

“It’s shock. A hot coffee loaded with sugar will help.” Kas filled two large mugs and laced one with three teaspoons of sugar.

Hollis drank quickly. Almost immediately she felt the effect of the heavily sugared liquid. Kas reheated the milk in the microwave, removed the glass container and energetically pumped the foamer’s plunger up and down. She watched him and thought back over the years.

Kas had married her friend, Tessa, while both were medical residents. She’d liked him then and liked him now. One of the reasons she’d accepted a teaching position in Ottawa had been their presence in the city. Kas worked as a psychiatrist at the Royal Ottawa Hospital and Tessa as a thoracic surgeon at the Municipal hospital.

When she’d married Paul, she’d hoped they’d all become friends, but Paul had showed no interest in widening his circle to include Kas and Tessa.

“You were right. The sugar has done its stuff.”

Kas didn’t add as much sugar to Hollis’s when he refilled their cups. He picked up the pad of paper sitting by the phone, carried it to the table, sat down and divided the top sheet into three columns: decisions to make; things to do; and, people to call.

“You can’t set the date for the funeral until the police release Paul’s body, but you can place a notice in the paper and direct people to phone the church office for details.”

“I wonder how long we’ll have to wait.”

“A good question without a definite answer, but you can plan the funeral.”

Paul had loved ceremony and theatrics. “Spectacular. Visitation for two nights before.”

“What about the service?”

“The works. The way he’d like it. Loaded with pomp and circumstance.”

“What about the obituary? Flowers or donations?”

“Donations.”

“Which charities?” Kas filled in the columns as she made her decisions.

“The AIDS hospice, City Church. Are you familiar with it?”

“No.”

“They’re a group of gay Christians who applied to use the St. Mark’s building for services. The congregation’s rejection of their application infuriated Paul.”

“May I make a suggestion?”

“Sure.”

“Request donations for St. Mark’s refugee committee. I remember Paul on TV spearheading a drive to sponsor refugees and launch them on new lives.” He added, “I’m suggesting this because I have a feeling many people only knew him in the refugee context. And others who will want to contribute may not feel comfortable donating to the other organizations.”

“Good idea.”

“Who should be contacted? Where’s your mother?”

“On a whale-watching cruise in the Pacific. I won’t tell her, because she’d feel it was her duty to go to great lengths to be here, and it would be a shame to spoil her holiday.”

“But won’t she feel badly if you don’t tell her? Wouldn’t she want to be here?”

“She’d feel it was her duty. But, as you know, she disliked Paul and disapproved of my marriage. Although she might not come right out with it, she’d let it slip how clever she’d been to warn me not to act rashly. She’d trot out a homily about ‘being prepared to pay the price’ when you acted quickly.” Hollis caught her lower lip with her top teeth and shook her head. “No, I don’t need her censure; she’s better off in the Pacific.”

“Paul’s family?”

“Paul was an only child. His parents are dead. He has distant cousins out west. When we decided to marry, I inquired about family, and he said he hadn’t had anything to do with them for years and wasn’t about to begin. If he hadn’t had any contact, I probably shouldn’t either, but informing them of his death feels like the right thing to do. I’ll unearth his address book and let them know.”

Kas glanced at the kitchen wall clock, pushed the list toward her and rose. “You won’t mind if I go? I promised Tessa I’d pick her up when she finished the marathon. I want to be waiting for her. You’re probably aware of how withdrawn she’s been lately? She hasn’t told me what’s wrong, but I hate to do anything to upset her any more.”

Hollis hadn’t known. One of her best friends. Recently, no not recently, at least three or four weeks ago, Tessa had phoned, and they’d had a quick chat. She tried to remember the conversation, but as far as she recalled, it had been a “touching base, I miss you but we’re both so busy let’s do lunch soon” kind of talk. Had Tessa tried to confide in her, to tell her she was struggling with a problem? And being fixated on the dissolution of her marriage, would Hollis have picked up Tessa’s signals? Probably not. She didn’t want to lose her friend. Before too many more days passed, she’d call her.

“I’ll probably have to wait at the finish line. If you give me names and numbers, I’ll make calls on my cell phone until she arrives.”

“Of course.” Surprised that her uncooperative body was working again, she ran up to her studio, collected her address book and jotted down a dozen names and numbers. “Thanks for everything. Give Tessa my love and congratulate her for me.” She hugged Kas again. “I have to get involved and keep my name clear.” Hollis held up her hand, policeman style, to stop him from saying anything. “You’re going to say—‘Leave it to the police.’ I should, but I can’t—I feel guilty.”

“Guilty?”

“Yes. Guilty. Guilty because I married Paul, guilty because I let him set the terms of our marriage, guilty because I didn’t insist we share our lives. Maybe, if I’d been aware of what was going on, I might have intervened, and he wouldn’t be dead.”

Kas gripped her shoulder. “Hollis, be sensible. Your marriage may have been a mess, but that isn’t any reason to involve yourself in the investigation. It could be dangerous.”

“Don’t forget I’m a suspect—I was in the race, I had a divorce pending, and a bizarre married life. I can’t bear the thought of continuing to be a suspect until the police identify the killer.”

While Kas and Hollis planned the funeral, Rhona drove from St. Mark’s to Carleton. Along the way, she smoked and hummed along with the chorus of Madame Butterfly and wondered how many out-of-town runners would be waiting for her. By this time, close to two o’clock, even the slowest runners would have dragged their weary bones across the finish line.

Constable Featherstone met her at the front door of the Carleton gym and led her to an equipment storeroom temporarily converted into an interview area by the addition of a plywood-topped table and two chipped, metal folding chairs. Seven runners, dressed in regular clothes, waited outside the room. Rhona invited the first man, identified by Featherstone as Carson Macdonald, into the makeshift office.

Macdonald let himself down onto the chair as if each and every muscle, bone and sinew worked independently. Once his body settled, he said, “I’m an editor at the Independent Academic Press.” Absentmindedly, he cracked his knuckles. “Ours is a business relationship. Probably no one’s told you Paul Robertson has written three books. The IAP published his first two and has a contract for his third.”

What an unlikely marathoner Macdonald was. About sixty, with a head of receding gray curls topping a spare, six-foot frame, he wore glasses—plain, round and steel rimmed. They would have been classified as National Health spectacles in England. A utilitarian, no-nonsense body belied by the eyes behind his glasses; bright North Atlantic blue eyes with long, thick lashes. His face was spare with a neat nose, neat ears and a tidy mouth. When he spoke, his teeth were precisely aligned and Rhona knew this man cared passionately about the proper deployment of the semicolon and never tolerated the abandoned use of the comma.

“No, I didn’t realize he was a writer. Tell me about his books.”

“The first, basically a rewrite of his doctoral thesis, came out ten years ago and did moderately well.” Macdonald paused as if he was running the sales figures through his mind. “We published his second book last year. It was a runaway success. You may have heard of it—Christians in a Cross World?”

Rhona shook her head.

“It’s a how-to book on practical Christianity. I suspect Robertson made a cynical analysis of the bestsellers in the field and wrote what he thought the public would buy. It didn’t matter that it didn’t come from the heart; those books, especially if they’re well written—Paul turned a catchy phrase as easily as some use clichés—are always popular, and his certainly were.” He added, “His third book is in process. After we read the first draft, we said it was too long and needed tightening up. We also insisted he have a bona fide professional validate his underlying psychological assumptions. Paul’s wife, she’s written three terrific books and done a good bit of editing, worked on the second draft.” He smiled a tight little smile. “She’d have to be good for Paul to allow her to do that. And he found a psychiatrist at the Royal Ottawa Hospital who agreed to verify the validity of his thesis.”

“What’s the book about?”

“It’s topical and controversial. The theme is controversial—keeping homosexuals in the closet has, in the past, and will, in the future, provoke individuals to commit crimes to keep their sexual orientation secret. He took actual criminal cases and sensationalized them. We didn’t like the title, When Push Comes to Shove, and would have insisted on a change.”

Rhona wondered who had the manuscript and which doctor he’d consulted. She didn’t yet have much information about Paul, but she didn’t think he would have taken criticism well. “How would he have responded?”

“Respond? If we absolutely insisted, he’d do it, but he hated being questioned or challenged.”

That fit her impression—a clearer picture of the man was emerging.

“I wouldn’t think the people whose stories he dredged up would react well. Did he identify them by name?”

“No, he gave them fanciful handles like ‘the predator’ and ‘batman’; those names made them sound like third-rate wrestlers.”

“Can you think of anyone who had a reason to kill Robertson?”

“I wasn’t familiar with his personal life. I don’t suppose anyone would kill him because of his books.”

Rhona didn’t share Macdonald’s conviction. In her experience, men killed to protect secrets. How hard would it be for investigative journalists to unearth the identities of the characters in Paul’s forthcoming book?

Macdonald activated his unaligned bones and joints and creaked to his feet. He sounded like he needed oiling as he made his independently articulated way out of the room.

The next two men had not been acquainted with Robertson in any significant way, and their interviews finished quickly.

The fourth runner, an unlikely looking middle-aged marathoner, at least six foot four and carrying an extra fifty pounds up front, charged into the room, stuck out his hand and launched into speech. “I’m Stan Eakins. I’m from Ottawa, but since I’m going out-of-town for the next week, I thought I’d better talk to you.” Eakins rushed on. “I’m a member of St. Mark’s and have been acquainted with Paul since he came to Ottawa.” He took a breath. “He preached up a storm. His sermons held together; they stimulated me. He made interesting cross-references and tie-ins to current events and never used tired old clerical jokes.”

Rhona considered inserting a question but decided to allow the river to flow.

“Mind you, they didn’t comfort. You watched him perform intellectual arabesques and enjoyed the show. He didn’t rely on homilies and had no soft words for the suffering. He viewed everything in terms of ‘Christianity as challenge’. If he’d been a Catholic, he would have been a Jesuit. You know the kind? The only way was his way. When you think of it, those Jesuits martyred by the Iroquois in the sixteenth century endured their torture because they possessed that certainty.”

When Eakins stopped to consider their martyrdom, Rhona motioned him to sit down. “Do you have any idea who might have wanted Reverend Robertson dead?”

Eakins flopped down on a chair that protested as it absorbed his weight. “Many people disliked him. Hard to evaluate the intensity of feeling, but those who oppose the ordination of homosexuals are pretty steamed up. But, fanatical though they are, they must realize that killing one advocate, even an outspoken one, won’t change anything.”

He leaned forward, lowered his voice and confided, “He attracted women. His arrogance fascinated them. I’d guess if the women who were,” he paused, quirking an eyebrow, “drawn to him, had, what’s the term, ‘significant others’, those guys wouldn’t have named Robertson ‘man of the year’. You’re the expert. Aren’t love, hate and jealousy the big reasons for murder?” He relaxed and resumed his normal tone. “He did counselling. Maybe he offered bad advice and the recipient killed the messenger. Nobody comes to mind, but I’ll phone if I leap out of the bath shouting ‘Eureka.’ ”

After he’d bounded from the room, Rhona considered his words. A womanizer—that put a new slant on things, as did Eakin’s reference to counselling. She considered the many sorry tales she’d heard of doctors and clergy abusing their patients and clients. And Eakins himself—hadn’t he been a little too willing to help? In her experience, those who volunteered volumes of information often did it to divert attention, to send the investigator off on a tangent. Something about Eakins hadn’t rung quite true.

Featherstone opened the door for the next runner, a man who extended his hand as he entered the room. “I’m Bill Leach from Cobden.” With his compact body, velvety skin, smooth brown hair, drooping ears and pleading eyes, Leach reminded Rhona of a beagle. Invited to sit down and describe his connection to Paul Robertson, Leach began immediately in a perfect pulpit voice, a deep beagle baritone.

“I’m a United Church minister. Paul Robertson and I attended theology school at the University of Toronto. In recent years, I’ve run into him at presbytery meetings.”

Rhona heard the chill in Leach’s voice. “Am I right in assuming you did not like Paul Robertson?”

Leach, perched on the edge of his chair, shook his head. “As transparent as that, am I? Well, in a way, Paul was responsible for my life taking the course it did, and for a long time, I thought it was going the wrong way.”

“I’m forming a picture of Robertson. Tell me what happened?”

Leach cocked his head to one side. “Well, I can’t imagine it’ll help you much.” He pressed the palms of both hands together and raised them as if he was about to pray. “Paul and I were in the same class at theological school. The basic qualification for the ministry is a bachelor of divinity, but, if you aspire to go anywhere in the hierarchy or to be called to a big city church, you require at least one graduate degree. With a basic one, you begin your career with a five-point charge in Saskatchewan and end up with a one-point charge in a town like Cobden.”

“What’s a five-point charge?”

“The number of churches you serve. On the prairies and in the Maritimes, one minister may serve five separated congregations—each is a point. But, to return to my story—for graduate school to be a possibility, I had to win the one large scholarship the theology school offered.” He shook his head. “Paul Robertson wanted it too; not for the money—for the prestige. When the time for scholarship interviews came along a rumour ran through the school saying I’d plagiarized a major paper. You can guess what happened—the college awarded the scholarship to Paul.” He interlocked his fingers. “I took a three-point charge in Manitoba. Paul Robertson didn’t ruin my life, but I wonder what I could have done if I’d had more education.”

Why would the interviewers have believed a rumour? Surely, they would have investigated the suggestion of plagiarization. Rhona didn’t believe Leach’s story, but Leach did and had been pleased to have a chance to tell it.

“Were you aware Robertson ran, and did you expect to see him at the marathon?”

“Because of his darn T-shirt and the number of times he’s been on television, I should think almost everyone in the Ottawa Valley would recognize him.” He undid his two forefingers and pointed them at Rhona like six-shooters. “Paul is—was—his own favourite subject and, at church meetings, we heard about his exploits. Did I expect to meet him? No, and I didn’t.”

His eyes twinkled, and he pointed his fingers at himself. “Because I run faster than Paul, the organizers gave me a number allowing me to start toward the front of the pack.” He lowered his hands. “One of the small and not very admirable things you should know about me—I wrote down his time after his first marathon four years ago, and I’ve tracked him since then. I was twenty minutes faster when we started, and the gap has grown. This year I cut ten minutes off and ran it in three hours and twenty minutes.”

“Congratulations!”

“In my opinion, Paul Robertson would sink to any level to obtain what he wanted. If he did that to me, you can bet he’s done even worse things to other people.”