Always Love a Villain on San Juan Island (42 page)

Larry Rossini remained both exhilarated and deeply weary. His daughter had returned. A medical examination had let her and him know she was healthy, and in a good state of mind. She explained this by noting how well Fredric had fed her. Since she left his hospital bedside, it had all been Fredric this and Fredric that. She might be in love, or maybe only in lust, but there seemed no question, the young man had treated her decently, even with affection. All to the good, despite the situation she'd been in.

He would work diligently to strike Dr. deBourg from his memory. He would likely fail, but the attempt had to be made.

And, while Susanna was at Fredric's bedside, Larry had spoken at length with Richard O'Hara. The Board of Trustees of Morsely University would be the new owner of all patents and algorithms relating to the DV, the Dream Visualizer. No, not O'Hara personally; that must never happen. Larry Rossini would be, as long as he wished, the DV's chief researcher; his team would remain and grow according to the need of the Project; and when money for license fees began to come in, Larry would receive 25 percent. Larry would also have a veto regarding whom the DV could be licensed to. All this, Rossini and O'Hara surmised, would happen after the proceedings of the spring conference were published. The house on the Morsely campus would be his for the next forty years or until he no longer wanted it, whichever came first. Not as good as allowing access to the DV's promise to all, but ownership would no longer be a responsibility.

He would sleep little tonight. But soon he would sleep well again.

Afterward, Noel lay awake while Peter snored lightly. Twice Noel had touched Peter's shoulder and for a while the snoring ceased. And began again.

Where would this lead? A long time between Brendan and Peter. It had been good with Peter. Good enough for both of them to want more of each other. They had agreed, Noel would come for a visit in three weeks. Till then Peter would be over-his-head busy with new students. And Noel would not leave in the morning; they'd have one more day together. Should he tell Kyra before she left? He'd see, when he woke up. He lay on his back and stared up at the dark ceiling.

At the inn, Kyra lay propped against her pillows and stared out a dark window.

We would like to thank several people who have been generous with their areas of expertise, giving us the ability to increase our accuracy when describing the pathways and patterns of San Juan Island. Tom Kirschner, the Executive Director of the San Juan Island Chamber of Commerce, guided us through some of the complexities of the island from a double point of view: as a businessman—the economy of the island—and as one who loves the island for its social make-up and its many charms. At the San Juan County Sheriff's Office, Jon Zerby, the Undersheriff for the county, provided us with valuable insight into the practices and routines of the island's specific kinds of law enforcement. At the San Juan Island Library, library director Marjorie Harrison pointed us to a series of documents that proved critical in giving us a sense of the texture of San Juan.

As important, thanks go to Roy Innes of Gabriola Island, who instructed us in the handling of small firearms, first in giving us a lesson in safe pistol handling, then explaining how to aim and shoot at a target with precision. Roy set up a bull's-eye some fifty feet away. After six shots he retrieved the target and said, “Well, George and Sandy, we can use this one again.” Thanks, Roy.

Thanks to David Szanto, who helped us elucidate and remodel some of the massive complexities of nanotechnology: scanning tunneling microscopes, carbon nanotube applications, organic molecular outputs and the like.

As in the previous novel in the Triple I series, people have bought the names of characters in
Always Love a Villain
by donating to the Gabriola Commons—worth checking out:
gabriolacommons.ca
. A minor character sold for one hundred dollars. Thanks from the Commons, therefore, to Ann Buttrick, who has become Richard O'Hara's secretary, and to Heather Menzies, who bought the name Phoebe March, secretary for Larry Rossini's research project.

Finally, thanks to Rhonda Bailey, who as editor of the Triple I mysteries continues to help us find precision and clarity for the series.

We took some artistic license with a couple of establishments on San Juan Island, in particular Thor's pub and Morsely University. Neither of them can be found there—at least, not yet.

SANDY FRANCES DUNCAN
is the author of ten award-winning books for children and adults, including
Gold Rush Orphan
, which was nominated for a 2005 BC Book Prize. Her articles have appeared in numerous literary journals, magazines and newspapers. 

A National Magazine Award recipient and winner of the Hugh MacLennan Prize for fiction,
GEORGE SZANTO
recently published a memoir entitled
Bog Tender: Coming Home to Nature and Memory
. He is also the author of half a dozen novels, his most recent being
The Tartarus House on Crab
and the Conquests of Mexico trilogy:
The Underside of Stones
,
Second Sight
and
The Condesa of M.
George is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Please visit his website at
georgeszanto.com
.

Together, Sandy Frances Duncan and George Szanto co-author the Islands Investigations International mystery series, which includes the titles
Never Sleep with a Suspect on Gabriola Island
,
Always Kiss the Corpse on Whidbey Island
,
Never Hug a Mugger on Quadra Island
and
Always Love a Villain on San Juan Island
.

Never Sleep with a Suspect

Always Kiss the Corpse

Never Hug a Mugger

Kyra Rachel from Washington State and Noel Franklin from British Columbia form the Islands Investigations International team. Together, they solve mysteries on the charming, but dangerous, islands off the west coast of North America.

Death in a Family Way

In the Shadow of Death

Death on a Short Leash

Death as a Last Resort

Death as a Fine Art

Author Gwendolyn Southin uniquely blends the charm of gumshoe techniques with the fresh perspective of a developing female detective. The Margaret Spencer Mysteries offer action and suspense, with a human subtext.