Graham didnt know what he had.
Driving back to Calgary, he weighed the new infor mation. The Tree Top was about a forty-five-minute drive from the Tarvers campsite. The photo put Ray in the res taurant the day before his family was found in the river.
Who was the guy at his table?
And why was Ray showing him his laptop? Was it an arranged meeting? Or spontaneous? Maybe hed gone there to interview someone for a travel article?
Maybe it was nothing?
But some twenty-four hours later, his family was dead.
Now, Ray was missing and so was his laptop.
The questions gnawed at Graham as he worked alone at his desk.
Since the initial front-page stories, the calls from the public had slowed. Prell and Shane had followed up with a lot of door-knocking. Most of the information was useless, even bizarre. One guy claimed that the Tarvers had been abducted by alien organ harvesters who will appear at the UN.
Other tips were more down-to-earth, like the local rancher whod insisted hed seen a man resembling Ray hitch a ride on a logging rig. Graham had contacted all the lumber and trucking companies in the region.
No one had picked up anybody.
And nothing had surfaced concerning the where abouts of Rays missing laptop.
The Banff and Canmore Mounties had put the word out to see if anyone on the street was selling one like Rays. Graham notified Calgary and Edmonton city police, who circulated information to pawnshops.
Jackson Tarver agreed to release the familys bank, credit and Internet accounts. If someone had stolen Rays laptop they may be using it, and this information could help track the computer down.
Nothing had surfaced so far.
What was he missing?
Grahams cell phone rang.
Danny, its Horst at the site. Static hissed over the search masters satellite phone, mixing with the rivers rush and a distant helicopter.
You find anything?
Nothing. Our people have been going full tilt for twenty-four-seven for the past few days. We figure he likely got wedged in the rocks, or a grizz hauled him off. A couple of big sows have been spotted in the search zones. We could find him in the next hour, or the next month, or never. Know what I mean?
Right.
Well keep it going, but well wind it down by the end of the week.
It was early afternoon as Graham ate his lunch, alone, outside at a picnic table.
He chewed on the ham and Swiss hed made at home, looked at Calgarys office towers and the distant Rockies and tried not to think of his life.
Stay on the case, he told himself.
He was nearly finished his sandwich when the super intendents assistant, who spent her lunch breaks walking in the neighborhood, approached him.
There you are. How you keeping, Dan?
Day by day, Muriel.
Theres going to be a barbecue with Calgary city vice unit at Lake Sundance this weekend.
I heard.
Come join us, if youre up for it. She touched his shoulder.
Thank you. Well see.
Sunday. Around three. Dont bring a thing, dear.
Graham nodded.
But when Muriel left, he decided he was not up to it. He crumpled his lunch bag and tossed it in the trash. Back at his desk, he went at the file again.
At Grahams request, Rays father had faxed him copies of the insurance policies Ray had taken out on himself and his wife. Each had a two-hundred-fifty thousand-dollar death benefit. Anita was Rays benefi ciary, Ray was hers. If they both died then Rays parents became beneficiaries.
Those were big numbers. People had committed serious crimes for less, but Graham saw no reason to suspect an insurance fraud, unless Ray Tarver emerged from the mountains unharmed to collect a quarter of a million dollars.
Graham returned to the Tokyo photo. He had to be missing something, he thought, staring long and hard at Ray and his laptop, until the light began to fade. With most of day and most of his coworkers gone, Graham began to dread what was coming.
13
Blue Rose Creek, California
After repeated attempts, a woman finally answered Maggies call to Madame Fatima.
She listened to Maggies request and told her to call back the next day, which Maggie did.
Madame says not today. Call tomorrow.
If I could just come and talk to her, please.
She has little time to help. Call tomorrow.
Please, I need to see her. Please. I beg you.
Maggie heard a second voice in the background then a hand covered the mouthpiece muffling a conversation between two people at the other end of the line. Then the woman said, Madame says you may call back this afternoon, around three.
Maggie thanked her and, with spirits lifted, resumed work at the bookstore.
She restocked shelves and was taking care of orders when a customer jingled her keys to get her attention before thrusting a napkin at her with a title scrawled on it. The woman reeked of cigarettes.
I need this damn book right now for my sisters birthday.
After Maggies computer search showed it was out of print, the woman left muttering.
Whats the G.D. point of a bookstore!
Maggie was used to rude customers. Shrugging it off, she glanced at her watch. Nearly three. Her turn to take her afternoon break. She went to the childrens section and approached Louisa to cover for her.
Did you see him, Maggie? Hes here again. He was in history and politics, but I lost him on the third floor.
Who?
The creep who pretends hes reading. Louisa stepped up on a toadstool and scanned every aisle she could see from the Enchanted Story Corner.
Dont be so paranoid. This is a bookstore. Im going on my break, okay?
He stares at us all the time. Im going to tell Robert to tell the creep to leave.
Ill be back in fifteen.
Maggie went to the public phone outside the staff room near the coffee shop. As Madame Fatimas line rang, Maggies heart filled with anticipation. Would this lead her to Logan? She whispered a prayer. How had her life reached the point where she needed a re luctant mystic to help her find her son and husband?
I dont care. Ill do whatever it takes to find them.
Maggie fought her tears as the line was answered and she identified herself.
Yes, Madame says come tonight.
Tonight?
Yes, Maggie, at seven.
Oh, thank you, thank you so much.
There is no certainty she can help you in any way, you understand?
I understand.
You must come alone. Do you agree to come alone?
Yes.
Madame says to bring a personal item of your hus bands and one belonging to your son. Something theyve touched many times, something metal if possible.
Yes.
Here is the address and directions. Do you have a pen?
Yes.
Maggie jotted the details on the back of the page Stacy Kurtz had given her, folded it and put it in her pocket and returned to work, never noticing that the man Louisa had called the creep had been standing an aisle away in the magazine section.
Hed had a direct line of sight to Maggie.
During her phone call, hed been reading The Econo mist.
Or so it seemed.
14
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
It was time to face his crime.
As Graham drove south he looked west beyond the skyline to the jagged peaks silhouetted against the setting sun, standing there like a monumental truth.
Hang on, he told himself.
He made good time escaping the fringes of the me tropolis and its cookie-cutter suburbs. Some forty minutes south, he exited Highway 2, taking a paved, two-lane rural road that twisted west into the foothills.
His pulse quickened as he mentally counted to what awaited him.
One kilometer, two, three, four, five
He tightened his grip on the wheel then pulled onto the shoulder and stopped.
He needed to do this. Confront it, even if it pierced him.
He turned off the ignition, got out and walked to the site.
A plain white wooden cross marked the spot where Nora took her last breath.
Where hed killed her.
A car hurtled by, kicking up a gust that nudged him closer to the roadside memorial for her. Nora had taught the fourth grade. Theyd met when he was in Traffic and had come to talk to her class about safety.
Safety.
He pushed away the irony and touched the cross. Caressed its smooth surface. It had been erected by her students whod adorned it with artificial flowers, pic tures, small stuffed toys and printed notes protected in clear plastic sandwich bags.
We love you and we miss you, Mrs. Graham, one said.
Well be together with the angels, said another.
The epitaphs pulled him back to that night.
Theyd gone to a Flames game because theyd needed some time together. And between them, she was the bigger hockey fan. Hed been working a lot of double shifts on a joint-forces operation with Calgary city police. A stress-fest, costing him sleep. Hed yawned throughout the game.
I can drive if youre too tired, shed offered as they crawled with the postgame traffic from the parking lot.
Im good.
It took longer than usual to get to the expressway.
From there it was fine. It was a clear night. No snow. The roads were dry. The heater was blowing a gentle current of warm air to offset a slight chill. It felt so good being with her. It was tranquil and as they left the city Graham fell quiet.
I can drive if youre too tired, shed offered as they crawled with the postgame traffic from the parking lot.
Im good.
It took longer than usual to get to the expressway.
From there it was fine. It was a clear night. No snow. The roads were dry. The heater was blowing a gentle current of warm air to offset a slight chill. It felt so good being with her. It was tranquil and as they left the city Graham fell quiet.
You okay there, buddy? she asked.
He yawned again.
Yup.
As they got off the highway, heading into the foot hills and deeper into the darkness, she gazed up at the constellations, naming them for him.
Cassiopeia, Cepheus
Her soft voice, the hum and warm air relaxed Graham.
Ursa Minor, Draco, Ursa Major
A perfect moment and it lulled him to surrender to his exhaustion.
The last things he remembered-
DANIEL!
The car was vibrating, her hand seized his arm.
DANIEL!
Theyd gone off the road. Hed tried to correct it but overreacted, turning the wheel too sharply. The car rose, then they were airborne, rolling over and over, pave ment, grass, metal crunching, glass breaking, dirt, lights and stars, all churning into nothingness.
Hes on the ground looking at their overturned car, its headlights pointing in odd directions. He smells gasoline. The rads hissing. He sees her in her seat with the deployed air bag, head turned all wrong, like a bad joke, like a rag doll.