"Do you miss having wine with your meals?" Catherine ran a finger around the rim of her water glass and gazed into Lorne's eyes as they sat after dinner.
"Not as much as I thought I would." Lorne hooked his finger under hers and led it to his lips to kiss. "A week ago right now we drove past here, heading to the boat. So much stuffed into such a short time. Hard to believe it's only a week." He kissed her finger again, then played with it.
"Remember me playing with your fingers up in the attic?"
He laughed. "You were so serious, rubbing and squeezing and kissing them. Kissing my lips. So sweet looking back at it."
"I watched Mum and Dad sitting on the patio, playing with each other's fingers as they talked and kissed. I thought that was the special way to hold... It had to be, they seemed so happy. I could hardly wait to try it with you. I really wanted us to have a baby." Tears streamed down her cheeks. "Oh God, do I ever want that."
He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into his chest. "Yeah, don't we?" He stood, lifting her as he did and carried her across to the couch to lie and cuddle. "Yeah, really, really, really, like we used to say."
They lay reminiscing about their play all those years ago, laughing at the things they did together. "Strange, all the stuff we did, and how little of that was playing doctor."
"It seems once our curiosities were satisfied, my pee-pee and your pee bum were only parts. Interesting — I wonder what would have happened if we had been caught into each other's pants."
"I think Mum knew from what I told her and from the questions I asked. She had to. I need to ask her about it."
"Very healthy attitude, that. I didn't dare mention any of it to Mom or Dad. Already had stern warnings to cover myself, to always keep it private. Later the priests and nuns added shame and sin to it. How different — accepting or denying."
"That must have been —" She stopped at the bing-bong of his phone. "That's another email, isn't it? You should look at them." She gave him a squeeze and rolled off.
"Yeah, should do that." He rose from the couch, picked up his phone and thumbed it on to check. "Yeah, two from rcmp-grc. Easier to do them on the computer."
"Giarcy?"
"G-R-C. It's a federal site, so it has to use a bilingual url. The translation for Gendarmerie royale du Canada. It's necessary they communicate in both official languages."
They sat side by side at the island counter as they read through the first email. It acknowledged their conversation and confirmed a search would be done through the central database, with the records being forwarded when retrieved.
He opened the second email. "Here it is — on Frick." He opened the attachment, and they read:
FRICK, Gustav Johannes
Charged: 2003 09 03:
—131 Perjury;
—137. Fabricating evidence
—139 Obstructing justice;
—366 Making false document (3);
—Contempt of court.
Charged: 2003 09 07:
—163.1 (2) Making child pornography (364);
—163.1 (3) Distribution, or sale of child pornography (3817);
—163.1 (4) Possession of child pornography (3817);
Convicted: 2003 10 29: All charges.
—Sentenced: 2003: 11 12: 12 years confinement.
—Parole Denied: 2012 11 21
—Parole Granted: 2013 11 19
—Released: 2013 11 20
"Not a pretty record, is it?" She pointed to his computer screen. "What are these numbers in brackets?"
"The number of counts for each charge, the number of times he was charged for each one." He ran the cursor down the list. "This one, making three false documents. He presented forged assessments from three psychiatrists supporting his own findings on my self-inflicted injuries and my captivity delusions. They almost succeeded with their fraudulent defence. Even my lawyer started believing them."
"Fuck. I can't imagine what you had to go through. You must have had someone to talk with, to share your torment."
"Not until the week after Connolly was convicted, starting third-year UBC when you approached me to be your beta reader. You were the first ray of bright I had seen in a very long time."
"Oh, my God!" She stared at him with eyes strained wide. "And you never let on. Not a hint of any of this."
"I needed something to take my mind off the horrors I had been living through, so I buried myself in fantasies about you. I see now that's why I missed the reality of you. It's also why I didn't follow these trials, Frick's and Robotham's. I needed to forget."
"Let me get this straight in my mind. Frick, the fricking sick psychiatrist, was Connolly's defence witness. His only one?"
"No, there was a series of character witnesses, the teachers he taught with, fellow priests, even the bishop. Connolly was painted as a saintly man, gentle, kind, helpful. Wouldn't hurt a fly. They all seemed genuine, I'm sure they had no idea of his other side. They knew only his Jekyll, not his Hyde."
"How could they have missed it?"
"Easy. Most of the time he was a sweet, gentle person with me." Lorne clicked to open the email which had arrived while they were talking:
ROBOTHAM, William Charles
Charged: 2003 09 03:
—131 Perjury;
—137 Fabricating evidence
—139 Obstructing justice;
—298 Defamatory libel
—Contempt of court.
Charged: 2003 09 07:
—163.1 (3) Distribution, or sale of child pornography (158);
—163.1 (4) Possession of child pornography (158).
Convicted: 2003 10 23: All charges.
—Sentenced: 2003: 11 03: 10 years confinement.
—Parole Granted: 2010 11 09
—Released: 2010 11 10.
"So he's been out four and a half years."
"Yeah, lots of time for him to get established." Lorne nodded at Catherine and sighed. "He would have made many connections during his seven years in Kingston."
She tilted her head. "So where do we start?"
He closed his computer, stood and picked her up. "With us. Bed, cuddle, relax, sleep. Be fresh for tomorrow."
YOU ARE READING
Unknown Diners
Ficción GeneralReviewing restaurants is normally a safe pursuit, but Lorne and Catherine face torture and death when they try to unravel organised crime's infiltration of the fine dining scene. Their longstanding friendship deepens when they meet again seven mont...
