Thompson Bay

Chapter 12

Fall surrendered to winter, which in turn gave over to Christmas then the New Year and the height of the ice fishing and winter sport season. Thompson Bay residents held their mini carnivals, including skating on the bay and a kid's dogsled race using the various family pets reluctantly pressed into service. The investigation into the death of Adelaide Balfour was taken over by the provincials and as far as Thompson Bay was concerned it was case closed—not solved, but closed.

Business for Stella and Garth, and by extension, Oliver, boomed, and the nest egg began to grow. The illicit romance didn't fare as well since Roger didn't do as much infrastructure inspecting in the winter months and consequently was home most of the time. The strained relations between Garth and Theo grew with each of Theo's transgressions but the threat to Garth and Stella prevented any action by Garth. Finally, when Theo confronted a housewife who had driven into a ditch on a snowy concession road and threatened her with a huge fine for careless driving when she refused to accept his advances, Garth made a hard decision. It would only take a formal complaint and they would have the provincials poking their noses in and then anything could happen.

Theo tried the starter for the tenth time. He'd been working in his yard all evening and finally his snowmobile kicked to life sending a plume of dirty smoke across the side of the house. He twisted the throttle and made some adjustments until it stopped vibrating and settled into a steady roar. He turned it off and counted off two minutes and then turned the key again, fingers crossed. The motor rattled to life and he swore with satisfaction. Headlights carved a path through the snow in his driveway and Theo shut the machine off once more as the Thompson Bay cruiser stopped and the lights blinked out.

Williams climbed out and stamped his boots and pulled his collar up around his cheeks.

"Playin' hooky, Theo?"

"What are you doin' here, Williams?"

"Looking for my so-called partner. It's only six o'clock, we generally knock off at nine on Sunday nights."

"Bullshit, Williams. You knew I was gone and you knew I was here, workin' on this. I was tired of listening to you rant on about my messin' with stupid drivers."

Garth glanced around and walked closer. "The female drivers, Theo."

"Right, the female drivers. What's your problem anyway?" He fiddled with the battery cables while he talked. "Stella not puttin' out any more?"

Garth gritted his teeth and steadied his temper. "I also saw you with that one young student havin' a nice long chat, Theo. The one that got killed, remember?"

"Christ, that was last summer. What the hell brought that up?"

"What was that about?"

"What do you think?" Theo's reply sounded smug and he accented it with a leer.

"She was a kid, Theo."

"Yeah, right. A kid with mammas out to here and the attitude of a skank."

"You were encouraging the booze, I saw the whole thing."

Theo's face closed and he squinted to see Garth's face in the shadows. Garth had pondered Theo's behaviour the night of the student party and his attention to the one young woman and came to the conclusion that, for the first time, it wasn't sex he was after, it was a line on the drugs they were all using. When he mentioned it, Theo had not denied it, just laughed it off. He was almost certain that it was Theo's car the Walther woman saw and that Theo had gone back and for some reason, killed the young woman. He had no proof but his instinct was strong.

"You were trying to get her to set you up with some drugs, weren't you?"

Theo straightened up and faced his partner. "You mean like your little deal with Stella? Why shouldn't I? If that dame could score some stuff from her party friends why shouldn't I get some too? I ain't blind, Garth. I can see what goin' on. Christ, you come in with your face all flushed and a smile a yard wide after you tell me you're checkin' out the auction barn." He laughed harshly. "You must think I'm a real boob."

The darkness was lit only by a light in Theo's house that cast a pale square on the yard beyond where they stood and Garth's face was in the dark.

"Actually, you're right, Theo, you are a boob... and a stupid, dangerous killer." In a swift move that took Theo completely by surprise, he swung the butt of his gun and caught Theo's temple sending him toppling over the snowmobile and into the snow. Garth moved quickly, rounding the machine and delivering another vicious blow to his head. Theo fell silent. Another check of the area to make certain nobody was about he then set to work hoisting Theo onto the machine. He found his helmet and jammed it on his head and then he pulled out some short pieces of rope, for the purpose, and lashed Theo's hands to the handles.

Next he went back to the cruiser and dragged a pair of heavy cement blocks from the trunk and propped them on the back seat of the snowmobile, ran the last piece of rope through the blocks and secured them to the machine. He turned the key and the machine roared into life again only this time Garth steered it in a sharp turn and guided it through the yard and down the short slope to the edge of the water by Theo's property. He shoved it out onto the ice and aimed it for the portion of the bay that was still running free of ice. He made sure the steering was fastened in position, turned on the headlight and then turned up the throttle and let the snowmobile go.

A sliver of moon and Garth were the only witnesses to the machine's bumpy journey across the frozen bay until it reached the thin edge of the ice and with the extra weight of the cement blocks it tipped forward, hung for a few seconds as if deciding then plunged out of sight. Garth checked around the yard, obscuring his footprints, climbed into the cruiser and pulled quietly out of the driveway and up the road to town.

"Didja see that?" The smaller of the two boys shouted, pointing across the bay.

"Snowmobiler." The older one said with bored authority.

"Yeah but where did he go?" They both stared across the ice seeing nothing in the blackness. "I saw his light just over there." He pointed to nowhere particular. "Now it's gone."

"Probably just can't see it. C'mon, we're gonna be late for dinner."

"You think he went through the ice?"

"Nah, these guys don't make those kinda mistakes."

"Yeah but it's awful dark out there."

"Are you comin'?"

"Yeah... I guess. Race you to the fence." The small boy took off through the snow with the older one galloping right behind.