The Darkening Archipelago (36 page)

“That makes me sick,” said Grace, her face twisted into a knot. “Not just that he was taking the money and bribing others with it, but that people would be conned by such a thing. Makes me sick.”

“Darren, you were going to ask around?” said Cole.

“I've been talking with some people and haven't come up with anything yet. No — what do you call it — smoking gun?” Darren cracked a wide smile.

Nancy took a deep breath. “Greg didn't have any love for Archie. He pretty much spit every time he said his name. He said some pretty awful things.”

“Like what?” asked Cole.

Nancy looked at Grace, and then scornfully back at Cole.

“It's okay,” said Grace. “I've heard it all before.”

“Well, he said that Archie had been stealing from band coffers, and not just what we talked about the other day. Greg said that Archie used labour paid for by the band to build the addition to this house and do repairs on the
Inlet Dancer
. He also told me that he was paying you in cash, Cole.”

Cole looked down at this beer. “I never got paid by Archie.”

Grace was silent. The others looked down at the table, at their hands. Cole picked at the label on his bottle of beer. He reached out and took Grace's small hand in his big paw.

“Anyway, Greg knew that Archie knew about him being in Stoboltz's pocket.”

“Could that be enough motive to kill a man?” asked Cole.

“How should I know? The only person I've ever wanted to kill was you,” said Nancy.

“But you got over that, didn't you?”

“Mostly,” she said, truthfully.

“Well, we can keep Greg on the list,” said Cole.

“He told me he was at a band council meeting that day. The day Archie disappeared. That his boat was not in the harbour because he was in Alert Bay.”

Grace looked up and said, “That's what the harbour registry shows. Not that he was in Alert Bay, but that his boat was
not
in Port Lostcoast.”

“Can we check and see if there was a band council meeting that day?” asked Cole. He looked at Grace.

“I'll call tomorrow,” she said.

“You said you checked in with the harbour registry?” said Cole, still holding Grace's hand.

“I did,” Grace said, freeing her hand and wiping some tears from her cheeks. “There were a lot of boats out. I don't know if that's going to help us.”

“Was the
Queen Mary Two
in port?” asked Cole.

“No. It was out. I checked on it.”

“That's Dan Campbell's boat?” asked Nancy.

“I braced him today,” said Cole, smiling at the memory. “I tracked him down at The Strait, and invited him to go for a walk to the harbour. I confronted him about Archie, basically accusing him of the killing. You should have heard this guy go off,” said Cole, still grinning. “I thought he was going to deck me. Or try. He pretty much told me if he saw me again, he'd kill me.”

“You have such a way with people, don't you?” said Nancy.

“Listen, this guy hates First Nations people,” said Cole, looking from Darren to Grace. “How does a guy like that live here?”

Neither of them answered. Cole continued. “Anyway, he had a special hatred for Archie. Seems like he and Archie never saw eye to eye on anything.”

“Was it a personal sort of hate, or just the sort of hate that rednecks have for enviros?”

“It was pretty personal. Archie could really get in people's face about things. I think Dan Campbell
could
have killed him.”

“What about opportunity?” asked Nancy.

“Well, Grace tells us the
Queen Mary Two
wasn't in the harbour that day.”

“Lots of boats weren't,” she said again.

“Is he the kind of man who would brave a spring storm to motor up the inlet to confront Archie?” Cole looked from Grace back to Darren.

“You'd have to be extremely determined to have been out that day,” said Darren. “The sea was pretty big.”

“Did you case his boat?” asked Nancy.

“Sure I did. All his lines were intact.”

“What kind of rope did he have?”

“Seen one, you seen 'em all,” said Cole. “Some of the lines could have matched the length of rope on Archie's stern, but I can't say for sure.”

“The RCMP is going to want that rope,” said Grace. “They're going to be here tomorrow.”

“Are they opening a file?” asked Nancy excitedly.

“A missing person's file.”

“Figures,” said Cole. “The Mounties couldn't find their own horses in a barn,” he said.

“Cole's got a bit of an issue with the cops,” said Nancy. “Don't mind him.”

“I'm just saying that we can't leave this up to them, is all.”

Grace said, “The detective sergeant I spoke with seemed pretty adamant that we not interfere.”

“Where have I heard that before?” said Cole, rising.

“I'm not saying I agree,” said Grace.

“Good. I have no intention of sitting on my hands while they poke around the islands, and while whoever killed Archie gets off scot-free.”

“What do you propose, Dalgliesh?” asked Nancy, remembering a P.D. James novel she'd just read.

“Well, first we have to decide what to do about this news conference. I think we ought to line up our evidence and blow the lid off this whole thing,” said Cole, pacing back and forth behind the dining room table.

“Isn't the fund a good thing?” asked Darren, face blank.

“It's putting money into the hands of Stoboltz Aquaculture so that they can build more salmon farms, kill more wild salmon, and make themselves seem like heroes to the public because a few First Nations people get jobs,” ranted Blackwater.

“We need jobs,” said Darren.

“You need wild salmon so you can have a long-term sustainable fishery,” said Cole.

Darren looked down at his hands.

“Be nice to have both,” said Grace, making peace.

Cole said, “What we've got on Lance Grey, and his connection to Greg White Eagle, is just too good not to use. And they are coming here. How perfect is that?”

“It seems too perfect,” said Nancy.

Grace agreed. “It does seem a little crazy, knowing what we know. Could it be a set up?”

Cole shook his head. “Jesus Christ,” he chided. “You guys are wimping out on me? What do you think is happening here?

“I don't know, Cole,” said Nancy, growing impatient. “But speaking as a reporter, I think I'd like not to get fucked if the minister or this Lance Grey guy has got something up his sleeve. I've lost one good job by not doing my homework. I'm not going to lose another.” Her face was flushed, a sharp contrast to her raven-black hair.

Cole looked at Grace. “Can you call Carrie Bright in the morning and see if we can't figure out what this is really all about? Fill her in on what we know about Greg White Eagle being on the pad, and see if she can learn why Lance Grey is walking into what almost certainly will be a mess.”

“But no reporters,” said Nancy. “This story is mine. I get to break it.”

Cole looked sideways at her.

“I didn't fly all the way out here, put my job on the line, to have the
North Island Standard
break this clusterfuck,” she said.

Cole looked down at his hands then back at Grace. “Can Jacob take me to Jeopardy Rock in the morning? Where is he, anyway?” Cole looked around, as if Jacob Ravenwing might be concealed somewhere in the kitchen.

“He got a call this afternoon. Said he had to go back home.”

“Rats,” said Cole.

“I can take you,” said Darren.

“Really?” Cole looked at him with surprise.

“Why not?”

“Well, I thought maybe you believed we were barking up the wrong tree.”

“Maybe you are, maybe you aren't. But if I can help find whoever did this to Archie, then count me in.”

“Okay, well, what time do we leave?”

“Meet me on the docks at seven am.”

“I'm coming too,” said Nancy.

“I don't think so,” said Cole.

“Oh really, Blackwater? Who's going to stop me?”

“Certainly not me,” Cole said, “But you might.”

“How's that?”

“Only that while Darren and I are out freezing our butts off in Knight Inlet, you and Grace are going to be cracking the minister's nuts back here.”

Nancy was silent. She looked at Grace then back at Cole.

Cole said, “Once Carrie Bright fills us in on what she knows about the announcement, I suggest you get your story set up to file, so it hits the web as the minister is coming across Blackfish Sound. It will be the perfect hit.”

Nancy regarded Cole coolly. “Sounds like you just don't want me along.”

“And miss your charming company?” Cole quipped.

The truth was, Cole Blackwater didn't want Nancy along, and not because she could be a pain in the rump. Jeopardy Rock's secret had already claimed the life of one person he loved. He wasn't willing to risk another.

“So where does that leave us?” asked Nancy.

“Two steps forward, one step back,” said Cole. “Greg is still on the list. So is Dan. This Thurlow character is an unknown to me. I guess we'll know by the end of the day tomorrow.”

“And Lance?” asked Nancy.

“Motive, but opportunity seems a stretch.”

“Down to three,” said Nancy.

“Down to three,” said Cole.

They cleared away the dishes and tidied the kitchen. Darren had gone home and Cole, Nancy, and Grace were in the kitchen, a kettle on the stove. It was half past eight when the phone rang and Grace picked it up.

Cole heard her say, “Yes, he's here.”

She handed Cole the phone. “It's your brother.”

“Walt, is everything okay?” Cole walked into the office. His back was turned to Nancy so he didn't see her eyes following him as he left the room.

“Everything is fine,” said Walter Blackwater.

“Mom's okay?”

“She's fine. Fit as a fiddle. She'll outlive us both.”

“It's just that you never call, so …”

“Yeah, well, you know how it is. Things get busy. I forget.”

“Must run in the family,” said Cole, remembering that he hadn't called Sarah in three days.

“So listen, I had meant to call you the other day, but I got caught up in a search and rescue, some kids skiing in the back-country got pinned down by a spring storm and one of them got pretty serious frostbite. I had to ski in and get them. Anyway, I had meant to give you a heads-up.”

“What's up, Walt?”

“I was out at the ranch the other day to see to the cattle, check in on Mom. There was a reporter there.”

“A reporter?” Cole recalled a reporter he had butted heads with in Oracle last year, a crude, bloodless man who had nearly upset the entire apple cart.

“Yeah, poking around the place, asking Mom all sorts of questions. She was really nice about it all, but when she and I talked I got the feeling like she was after something about the old man.”

Cole heard the “she”, and his train of thought changed tracks. “Who was it, Walt?” said Cole, his own reflection staring back at him from the window in Archie's office.

“You know her. That woman from Ottawa, you know. Nancy Webber.”

25

Cole sat for ten minutes in Archie Ravenwing's office, looking through the ill-gotten windows into the darkness of the archipelago beyond. Finally he picked up the phone and called Denman Scott. But Denman wasn't home, so he left a message and sat for another five minutes. At last he stood and walked into the kitchen. Nancy and Grace were sitting at the table drinking tea. Cole could see Nancy's eyes following him as he entered the room, wondering what he knew.

“Everything okay at home?” asked Grace.

“Yeah,” he said, still holding Nancy's gaze. “Yeah, fine.”

“You want some tea?”

“No, I don't think so. I think I'd like to get some air. Clear my head. Nancy, would you like to go for a little walk with me?” Cole did everything in his power to keep his voice even and his tone soft, but he realized that he was gritting his teeth as he spoke.

Grace looked at Nancy. Nancy put down her cup. “Sure, it's a nice night.”

Nancy put on her coat and followed Cole out the door. The moon was rising over the distant mountains of Vancouver Island and the night was cool, but not cold.