Children of the Fog (16 page)

Sadie clenched her jaw. "Don't tell me what my son would want." Then she added, "Make sure you lock the front door on your way out."

Leah left without a word.

After she was gone, Sadie experienced a flash of regret.

Leah doesn't deserve this.

Part of her wanted to apologize, beg forgiveness. But that would just make things worse in the end. Leah was never going to forgive her for what she was about to do.

She strode across the room to the closet, grabbed a couple of sweaters and added them to the suitcase. She had no idea where she was going, but she wanted to be prepared. In the ensuite bathroom, she rifled through the bottles in the medicine cabinet. She hit pay dirt. Three bottles of prescription muscle relaxants and sleep aids. At least a hundred pills.

She went downstairs, making a beeline for Philip's office. The door was closed and she hesitated in front of it. There were two more things she needed. Both were on the other side of the door.

She stepped inside. Shutting the door behind her, she disregarded the mess and headed for the filing cabinet where she grabbed the last three bottles of Cabernet. She wrapped them in one of Philip's t-shirts and stuffed them into a small duffel bag that Philip used when he went golfing.

She hurried to the closet.

The cedar box was still there.

"Ok, Sadie. Now what?"

She reached for the box. It was heavier than she expected, and her hands shook as she lifted the lid. They shook even more when she touched the frigid metal of the gun. She picked up the magazine and studied it. It held a single bullet.

"I hope to God you know what you're doing."

She stuffed the gun back into the box, placed it in the bag, then searched the closet shelf for more bullets. She came up empty. She looked in Philip's desk, in the filing cabinet, in an old briefcase. Still nothing.

"Well, it's not as if you need target practice," she muttered. "How hard can it be? Point and shoot."

She grabbed the duffel bag and made for the door.

The knob turned before she touched it.

Damn!

The door opened.

"Sadie!" Leah exclaimed. "I, uh…"

"What are you doing here? I thought you went home."

Leah's eyes flitted across the room. "I was going to, but…then I remembered I left a book here."

Sadie frowned. "In Philip's office?"

"Well, I thought maybe someone moved it in here. It's not in the kitchen. Or the living room."

"What's it called? I'll help you look for it."

"Uh, don't worry about it. Actually, I think I left it in my car."

Sadie watched her friend, puzzled by her odd behavior.

Why was Leah here, in Philip's office?

The answer washed over her with tsunami force, subsiding silently, then lashing back with a vengeance.

Damn them both!

Philip must have told Leah about his hidden stash of Cabernet. And since she'd already seen a bottle in Sadie's bedroom, she'd come back to dispose of the others.

Leah said something in a low voice.

"Pardon?"

"I don't know what to say anymore," Leah said. "Or do."

"No worries."

"But I don't want things to be like this between us. Just tell me what I can do to help and I'll do it."

"There's nothing you
can
do." Sadie turned to leave, but Leah's arm shot out.

"Sadie, I…"

"What?"

The air dripped with tension.

"Nothing," Leah said finally. "Forget it."

As Sadie edged past her, the duffel bag bumped Leah's legs.

"What's in the bag?" her friend asked.

"Legal documents. Sorry, but I'm not in the mood to chat. I'm going to lie down for a bit. I'll see you to the door first."

"Fine," Leah said with an audible sigh. "Let me know if you need anything."

Sadie eyed the bag. "I've got everything I need."

Just after six that evening, Philip called from prison.

"The house is sold," she told him. "I said we'd be out by the end of the month."

"No problem. I'll call a moving company. Everything's going into storage, including the furniture, right?"

Not everything.

She flicked a nervous look at the duffel bag. It sat on the table near the door. Ready, waiting.

"Yeah, put everything in storage," she agreed.

"What about your things, Sadie?"

"I, uh, haven't thought about where—"

"Just put it with my stuff. I don't mind. That way you'll have access to everything, in case either of us needs something."

"Are you sure?"

"Hey, it's not as if I'll be needing it any time soon."

Philip was right about that. He'd cut a deal and rolled over on his partner Morris, who had masterminded the embezzlement scam. With Philip's cooperation and a plea of guilty, there was no need for a trial. His sentence had been reduced from twenty to ten years.

"So you're going to stay with Leah for a few days?" he asked.

She lied. "Maybe a week or two."

There was a long pause and when he finally spoke, his voice drooped. "Sadie?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you come visit me tomorrow?"

For a second, she considered his request. "No. I need some time…away. From you, from this house, from everything."

"Fine." He sighed. "I'm sorry, Sadie. For everything."

"Me too."

"It's just that I got caught up with the wrong people. I know it changed me—changed
us
. Maybe with time we can be friends."

"Look, Philip. I'm exhausted. I need to go to bed."

"Where will you go after Leah's?"

Nowhere, Philip. I'm going nowhere.

When she didn't answer, he sighed. "Take care, okay?"

She eyed the duffle bag. "Yeah."

Two days later, everything was set in place. She had managed to pack up their personal items on her own. Leah had offered, but Sadie declined. She didn't want any witnesses to her crumbling life.

That morning, a moving truck pulled into the driveway. On both sides were the words,
Two Small Men with Big Hearts
. She had seen the trucks around town, and the name had always made her smile.

But not this time.

She showed the movers into the house, thankful that they'd pack up everything else. Exhausted, she flopped on the sofa.

"Let me know when you want me to move," she said, stifling a yawn. "Mind if I turn the radio on?"

The younger of the two men grinned. "Not at all."

She reached for the remote on the coffee table, turned on the stereo and searched for her favorite station, one she never got to listen to when Philip was around.

"Ah, 91.7 The Bounce," the older man said.

"Unless you want me to change it to country."

"No!" both men said in horror.

A smile flashed on her lips. Until she realized what she was doing. Berating herself for taking any pleasure in life, she watched as they packed away her entire existence.

And Sam's.

The two men wrapped, boxed and covered all the symbolic items of her life—the dishes she'd received as a wedding gift, the new microwave Philip had bought her for Christmas, the crystal rose vase her mother had given her when Sadie had completed her first year of sobriety.

"It's all going in storage?" the older man asked curiously.

She nodded.

Within a few hours, the movers were gone, along with a truckload of furniture and boxes. On the floor near the door, the suitcases and the duffle bag with the wine and gun box claimed their last stand in a vacant house that was once filled with joy, but now echoed tragedy.

It took her two trips to drag everything out to the garage. She started automatically toward the Mazda—until a silver gleam caught her eye.

Philip's Mercedes.

"This is
my
car, Sadie," he had insisted the day he'd bought it. "I'm the only one who drives it. Understand?"

She moved closer to the car.

Did she dare?

"Well, Philip's not going to use it," she muttered.

She popped the trunk of the Mercedes and pushed aside a plastic bin filled with files and letters. She wedged the two suitcases beside the bin and dropped the duffel bag on the passenger seat. Then she climbed into the car and flicked a look at the bag beside her. The shape of the gun box was visible. Giving in to a sudden urge, she unzipped the bag, just to be sure that the gun was still inside the box.

It was.

"Okay, let's get this show on the road."

She turned the key in the ignition. The car sputtered, then purred to life. She glanced at the gas gauge and smiled.

"And a full tank to boot. Thanks, Philip."

Shifting the car into reverse, she backed down the driveway and pulled out onto the street. For a moment, she idled in front of the house, the place she had called home for over six years. Against her will, her gaze was drawn upward, to the empty window on the second floor and she saw Sam's pleading face pressed against the glass.

"I know you're not real. Goodbye, Sam."

She sped away without a backward glance.

"Here," she said, handing Leah three keys. "Car, house and storage. After you get my car, just leave the house key under the front doormat for the realtor."

Leah peeked over her shoulder and caught sight of the Mercedes. "I thought I was storing Philip's car."

"I decided to take it instead."

Leah blinked. "Won't he be pissed?"

Sadie ignored the question and pulled some bills from her wallet. When Leah gave her a questioning look, she said, "My car probably needs gas."

"Oh, sure." Leah gave her a wounded look. "No problem."

"Thanks."

Sadie felt the awkwardness of their conversation, but it was a necessary evil. She had to cut herself off from everyone. That was part of her plan.

"Sadie—"

"I'm sorry, Leah. I really am. But this is what I have to do. I hope one day you'll understand. I have to go now. Make sure Philip's lawyer gets the storage key, okay?"

Leah gave a resigned nod. "Sure."

Sadie climbed into the Mercedes and drove away. It was only when she was leaving Edmonton's city limits that she allowed herself to consider the plan. She plotted the steps she would need to take, making a mental list of everything.

"Soon, Sam."

She flicked a look at the back seat, half expecting to see him staring back at her. The seat was empty. She reached for the radio, then changed her mind. She'd leave it up to fate.

"I'll drive in silence. When it's interrupted, I'll stop."

Traffic was gearing up for the afternoon rush hour as she navigated Edmonton's congested streets. Half an hour later, the traffic thinned and the bustling city was replaced by farmland. Muddy fields of dead hay lined with melting snow whizzed past, merging into a blur of endless flatlands interrupted by the occasional cattle farm. The silence and peace was mesmerizing.

Two hours passed uneventfully.

Before long, the sign for Edson appeared. She drove through the small town with barely a second thought. But then further down the highway, the traffic stalled.

The silence had ended.

17

Flashing lights and sirens greeted her.

Sadie eyed the bag on the passenger seat. "Crap!"

Obeying an orange-vested traffic cop, she slowed the Mercedes to a crawl behind a wood-paneled station wagon filled with tattooed rockers who, between the four of them, had every facial feature pierced with shards of metal. One young man in the back seat turned his head, grinned at her and made lewd motions with his spiked tongue. Ignoring him, she focused on the road.

"Come on. Move!"

A minute later, she saw the problem. Up ahead, a silver-bellied oil tanker had flipped across the meridian. Traffic was being re-routed.

She let out a frustrated sigh. "Where am I going anyway? I need a sign. Come on, Sam, show me where to…"

A crow silently watched her from the top of a wooden post. Suspended below the bird was a sign. Some of the words had faded, but she could still make it out.

Cabins for rent! Bat cave! Follow signs to Cadomin, Alberta.

And there it was. Her sign. Once again, fate had intervened.

She turned off Highway 16 and followed the road south to Robb. She was grateful for the lack of traffic, having seen one vehicle—an old Airstream trailer—by the time she reached the point where the paved road disappeared and was replaced by gravel.

"Could you possibly be any further from civilization?"

In response, the winter tires of the Mercedes kicked up rocks and chunks of melting ice. At the sound of scraped metal, she flinched. "Philip is not gonna like this."

She guided the Mercedes down the road until she passed the small town of Cadomin. Following the signs for the cabin rentals, she navigated the craters in the road and slowed for a sharp curve.

A horn blasted.

"Jesus Christ!"

A black pickup with tinted windows came out of nowhere. It careened toward her, forcing the Mercedes precariously close to the ditch.

She slammed on the brakes.

As the truck sped past, she saw the silhouette of a man in a cowboy hat. He waved an angry fist at her.

"Moron!" she yelled, even though he couldn't hear her.

In the rearview mirror, she watched the truck disappear in a trail of dust. She tried to calm her pounding heart, all the while wondering why she even cared if he had hit her. It would have been a blessing.

But you're not finished Sam's book, her conscience urged.

Easing back onto the road, she drove another fifteen minutes before the scenery changed from flat, treed land to a silver ridge of rolling hills in the distance. Far beyond them, the Rockies rose majestically, so pale that they seemed to float in the sky.

She slowed as she reached another intersection.

A sign read, Cadomin Cave, left. Harmony Cabins, right.

She steered right and headed down a narrow lane that wound through the trees. A few minutes later, she saw a small, hand-hewn log cabin. A sign staked into the ground near the front door designated the building as
Harmony Cabins Office.