A Hamilton story of mystery and murder
IT WAS A REAL-LIFE NIGHTMARE, COMPLETE WITH A DEAD BODY AND A MISSING PERSON. AND NOT JUST ANY PERSON. HIS BROTHER.
CHAPTER 10 Body, Doubled JASON AND ATTI HEATH
quickly made their way back to Princess Point, leaving the scene just as they found it. Once ashore, they called police to report what they had discovered. They also reported Danny as missing, since he still hadn’t been heard from.
“So, let me get this straight. You went out looking for Danny, you found a body, it’s not Danny, and he’s still missing. Right?” Detective Ralph Watkins was trying to put together the pieces.
“Yes, that would be correct,” said Atti.
What the hell are the chances of that? thought Watkins. This one was gonna be a treat. It’s complicated enough to investigate a crime on land. On water? Clues are probably floating away as we speak.
Watkins watched as the parking lot continued to fill with cruisers and emergency vehicles. As the marine unit pulled into the lot with an inflatable, he turned back to the Heaths. “As you probably have guessed, I’ll need at least one of you to come with us to help locate the victim.”
“I’ll go,” offered Jason. “Dad, you should head home and talk to Mom. She’ll be freaked out even more when she learns what we found. Better coming from you than me.”
“Gee, thanks for that,” said Atti. Back out on the water, Jason grabbed a spot on the Zodiac beside Watkins. Around the point, speeding past Cockpit Island, the wind slapped Jason’s face. It was just past lunch, but he felt like he’d been up for days. It was a real-life nightmare, complete with a dead body and a missing person. And not just any person. His brother. Where the hell is he? thought Jason. Watkins read his mind. “You said your brother was pretty good on this water.”
“He knew this like the back of his hand. Every cattail, every rock. I bet he even has names for the turtles and carp. This is his happy place, you might say,” said Jason.
“I guess that’s why they call it paradise,” said Watkins.
“Doesn’t feel much like paradise today.”
As they neared the area, the police boat slowed. Jason pointed in the direction of the body. “There. In the reeds.”
As they pulled alongside, Watkins took note of the scene. The canoe had seen better days, for sure. And whoever this guy was, neatness didn’t count. The bottom was littered with junk — empty cans, pieces of rope, weeds that had been pulled recently, fishing rod, hooks, worms. And of course, stuffed in the bow, a tattered life jacket peeked out. “Figures,” he said.
“What a mess,” remarked one of the guys in the front. “Hope it doesn’t fall apart when we tow it.”
“All in time,” the detective replied. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
Even though the breeze was likely wreaking havoc with his crime scene, he had an investigation to do.
He slipped on a glove, leaned over the side and grabbed the body, lying face down. With a tug he flipped it over, exposing the pale face to the bright sun. He turned and looked at Jason.
“If you’re asking me if that’s my brother; it’s still not,” he answered sarcastically.
“Know him?” asked Watkins. “Nope. Judging from the clothes he’s wearing, he looks like a bum. Not my crowd.”
The detective was about to scold Jason for his attitude, but held fire. He was stressed out, no doubt. “Look, I get it. We’ve got another boat coming out, and we’ll take you back to shore.” “And what about my brother?” Watkins had temporarily forgotten about Danny, what with a floating corpse staring back at him and all. “I’ll make some calls. You said his car is in Dundas?”
“Off Olympic Drive, near the canal.”
“We’ll send an officer to have a look around. Put the word out,” said Watkins.
“Thanks. And sorry for being a dick,” added Jason.
The detective smiled. “You have to be a dick sometimes to get what you want.”
CHAPTER 11 Lost and Found
BACK
ON THE TRAILS, Cole and Billy rode like their lives depended on it. Frenzied pedalling, headed for the safety of Hopkins Court. Once they hit pavement, they slowed to catch their breath.
“HE KNEW THIS LIKE THE BACK OF HIS HAND. EVERY CATTAIL, EVERY ROCK ...” SAID JASON. “As you probably have guessed, I’ll need at least one of you to come with us to help locate the victim.”
“MOM, YOU WON’T believe it!” cried Billy as he pulled up in front of his house. His mother, Lillian, was watering the front garden. She turned to speak, but was cut off in a barrage of words tumbling from his mouth.
“— and we were just riding, then we saw something, and Cole said we should investigate, and it was a Playboy, and then we found a shack in the woods with blood and it sorta freaked us out so we came home and ...”
“Wait. What? A Playboy? Like, the magazine? In a shack? Whose shack?” asked Lillian, struggling to make sense of it all.
“Not IN the shack. In the grass. Like, all waterlogged and stuff. Not that we looked. Or kept it. Actually Cole might have. Not me. I wouldn’t. Look, that is.”
As Lil tried to fit together the pieces in this rapidly evolving puzzle, Cole and his mother Darlene came up the sidewalk. The Griffins had had the same conversation as the Parkers, albeit with fewer holes in the story since Cole, unlike Billy, wasn’t hyperventilating when he told his version.
“What do you make of this?” Darlene asked Lillian.
“A shack in the woods? How could someone be living in there without people knowing?” replied Lillian.
Cole burst into the conversation. “I almost forgot a part. The shack had a bunch of stuff that’s gone missing in the neighbourhood, like stolen or whatever.”
The women looked at each other. “I think we should call the police,” said Darlene. “Cole said there was blood.”
The boys had calmed, somewhat, by the time the cruiser rolled up. Constables Kumar Patel and Jenny Li were quickly brought up to speed.
“You’ll have to show us where this is,” Patel said to the boys.
“You’ll need a bike,” said Billy. “It’s a long way back, way off the trails.”
“You can use my husband’s mountain bike, if you like,” offered Darlene.
“Hey, you always wanted to be on the bike unit,” Li said to her partner, grinning.
“HOW DO YOU GET FROM A BOAT ON THE WATER IN THE WEST END, TO A HAUNTED HOUSE ON THE MOUNTAIN?”