didn’t expect Emily to follow her out of the library and certainly not down the hallway to their row of lockers. Emily stood next to Dawn while she spun the numbers on her lock. “Do you want to go to Starbucks for a coffee before you go home? I’m meeting a few friends.”
“I don’t think so. I have to get home.”
“Well, maybe next time.”
Dawn kept her face forward and dug around in her locker. She heard Emily’s footsteps going down the hallway and waited until she was busy at her own locker before heading toward the exit. The idea that Emily wanted her to join up with her friends was a nice dream, but Dawn knew better than to get her hopes up. Emily might not be as awful as she’d first thought, but the two of them would never be friends. Not once Emily found out that both her parents were in prison.
Dawn pushed open the front door to the school and stepped outside. The sun was nearly down and a cold stillness had settled over the empty street. She pulled up her hood and walked down the stairs, careful not to slip on patches of black ice hidden by the fresh coating of snow that had fallen while she was inside working with Emily. The snow crunched underfoot like corn flakes as she trudged to the bus stop, hoping she made it home before Kala.
Fred Taylor buzzed through late afternoon as Paul Gundersund was putting on his jacket to attend a meeting with the police board. “You got time to take a call?” Taylor asked. “A woman wants to speak to somebody in charge.”
Gundersund was acting staff sergeant while Rouleau replaced Captain Heath. Heath was now happily on a vacation in Europe with his mistress Laney Masterson and officially separated from his wife. “He chose my cousin and true love over marriage to a fortune,” Vera, Heath’s executive assistant, had said with a wry smile. “At least he’s finally made a decision.”
Gundersund looked out the window at the deepening twilight, violet shadows snaking their way across the winter day’s satin-blue sky. He would have liked to have spent some of this glorious winter day outside, but his life was now endless paperwork and back-to-back meetings. How the hell could Rouleau stand this bureaucratic yoke around his neck day in and day out? He reined in his thoughts and said, “Sure, put them through.”
A moment later, he heard a woman’s voice. “Hello?”
“Officer Gundersund here. How can I help you?” He pulled over a notepad and picked up his pen, flicking the end against the desk while he waited.
“We’re sure this is nothing.” The woman hesitated. “She went out for a walk and it’s getting dark. We were wondering if someone could put out the word so patrol officers are watching for her.”
“I’m sorry, but who is this?”
“I told the person I was just speaking with. This is Evelyn McKenna. We’re a bit worried, you see. It’s not like her to not answer her phone.”
“Is she of adult age, ma’am?”
“Yes, but she’s from out of town. And the temperature is dropping.”
Gundersund looked out into the main office and saw that everyone had gone for the day. He smiled as he realized this call would get him out of a meeting that would last well into the dinner hour. “Give me your address and I’ll come by for a chat.”
“We’d be so relieved.”
“Sit tight, Ms. McKenna. I’ll be there in less than half an hour.” Gundersund hung up and grabbed his jacket from the hook on the door. He paused as the euphoria at getting out of the meeting fell away. He hadn’t even asked the missing person’s name. What was wrong with him? He rubbed a hand across his aching eyes and silently chided himself for being so lax. Then he walked out of the office and down the hall to the front desk where Taylor was speaking into the phone. Taylor put a hand over the receiver and said, “Going out on the call?”
“I am. Did you catch the name of the missing woman?”
“No, sorry. The woman on the line only said her name, which was Evelyn McKenna, and that she needed to speak to someone in charge. By the tone of her voice, I thought it best to punch her right through.”
“You did the right thing.” He could call Evelyn McKenna back or wait until he got to her place to pin down details. The second choice made him look less foolish. He took a step and turned back. “Did you see Stonechild leave by any chance?”
“Yeah, you just missed her.”
Gundersund debated calling her to meet him at the address but decided it wasn’t worth two of them being late for supper. Likely, whoever was missing had already made it home. He quickened his stride and was outdoors breathing cold air on a jog to his Mustang, slowing when he caught sight of someone hunched over on all fours near Stonechild’s truck. It took him a second to realize it was Kala.
He cleared his throat and she looked up at him. “I dropped my lip-gloss container and it rolled away somewhere. I can’t find it in this light.” She straightened. “I guess it’s not worth getting worked up about.”
“Likely not.”
“Playing hooky? I thought you had a meeting.”
“A call came in about a woman on Grenville Crescent who went for a walk and didn’t make it home yet. Apparently she’s not from Kingston and the family’s worried.”
“Like some company?”
“I thought you’d want to get home.”
“I have time for a stop.”
“If you’re sure. Might be good to have another set of eyes in case this turns into a search.”
Kala pulled keys out of her pocket. “Give me a second to warm up the truck and I’ll follow you over.”
chapter six
The house was an older split-level, set back from the street, lights shining from every window. A mirror-image house sat dark and silent close to the property line on the neighbouring lot, no fence separating one from the other, coniferous trees and bushes abundant on both properties. The trees stretched into a forest to the left of the McKenna property line. Gundersund parked in their driveway while Stonechild found a spot for her truck on the street. He walked back to meet her at the foot of the drive, quickly chilled by the wind. The sun was nearly down, twilight soon to be overtaken by the night. A half moon and stars would break up the darkness.
“Hopefully, this will be quick,” said Gundersund. He thought about how long it had been since the two of them had been out in the field together. Stonechild and Bennett had been teamed up three weeks earlier when he’d taken over for Rouleau. He knew they’d started seeing each other outside of work and the thought kept him from falling back to sleep in the middle of the night.
“You never know with these calls. Could be a suicide.”
“Hopefully not.” He wasn’t prepared to make the gruesome leap yet. Evelyn McKenna had said the missing woman went out for a walk — the woman from out of town. The likeliest scenario was that she ended up in a pub or restaurant out of the cold and lost track of time. He shivered and zipped up his jacket. It was looking like he’d have to pull out the parka. The warmer winter weather that had held through December was making a sharp
