Fire in the Stars Read online

  As he made a dash through the puddles to the station, he steeled himself for half a dozen reports of traffic accidents that would send him and his team out on the road again. Fortunately the dispatch centre was quiet, giving him time to power up his computer and finish his coffee while he perused the daily updates and alerts for news on Phil.

  Nothing, nothing, nothing.

  He looked up at the rivulets of rain trickling down the window, matching his bleak mood. Phil was one of the few true friends he’d made since being transferred here from Fort Simpson last spring. Not a work buddy, but a friend in spirit. Not only did they share an outsider Prairie farm-boy identity, but they also shared a love of salmon fishing and country music. And in the languid hours spent together with rod and reel, they’d discovered a deeper tie — wounds of self-doubt and loss that would take a lifetime to heal. Rarely talked about, but understood through a glance or a small, sad smile.

  Chris knew that Phil’s wound was much deeper and his self-doubt threatened to overpower him some days. He also knew the danger of trying to soldier on while keeping the truth hidden. Until abruptly a line is crossed and brains are blown all over the wall of the house.

  If that happened, there would be no warning, no words of goodbye or regret. The most Phil might do is to go far away where those brains would not be found by the woman who had already endured more from him than she should.

  If so, why had he taken his son with him?

  Chris poured himself a second cup of coffee. His hand hovered over the phone as he debated whether or not to phone Jason. The man was a straight, linear thinker who took people at face value. Phil had told him he wanted to bond with his son, so as far as Jason was concerned, that’s what he was doing. Unlike himself, Jason rarely had any self-doubts.

  Even when he should.

  Chris withdrew his hand as a surge of anger took hold. Jason was the last person who would admit to worrying about Phil. As Chris sipped his coffee, the outer station door opened and his colleague Ralph from the night shift swept through in a swirl of cold and rain. He shook off his mackintosh and hung it by the door before coming through to the interior. Chris looked up, relieved to be rescued from his thoughts.

  “Anything going on out there?” Chris asked.

  “Fender-benders. One accident on the 430 near Norris Point, but no major injuries. I sent Hollis up to handle it. Otherwise —” he grinned “— nothing on your watch so far but paperwork and highway patrol.” He nodded his head toward Chris’s computer screen. “Did you read about the poor bastards spotted in a dinghy off the coast below Goose Cove?”

  “Jesus! Wouldn’t want to be caught out in that storm, especially in a dinghy. Kids? A fisherman in trouble?”

  Ralph drained the dregs of coffee from the carafe, scowling at the sludge in his cup. “No self-respecting Newfoundlander would be out there in a dinghy. Half-brained tourists, more likely. Come up from Florida or over from Europe and think what’s a little wind and waves? They won’t last half an hour in that cold if they swamp.”

  Chris scrolled through the alerts again. The one about the dinghy had come in at 7:00 a.m., barely past dawn, but to his surprise it had originated not from the detachment in St. Anthony closest to Goose Cove, but from RCMP headquarters in St. John’s. He unfolded his long body and walked over to study the map on the wall. Goose Cove was near the very northernmost tip of the Great Northern Peninsula, where it jutted into the fierce and unpredictable currents of the North Atlantic, and where the warmer currents coming up the Strait of Belle Isle collided with the frigid water coming down the coast of Labrador from the Arctic Ocean. The strait served as one pathway for the St. Lawrence River on its race to the open ocean, and even he knew that the clash of temperatures, tides, and currents could create a wild sea.

  For a moment he felt a twinge of fear. Phil was not a Newfoundlander born to read the language of the sea, but he’d gone in search of wild surf and whales. Would he be fool enough to venture out in a dinghy?

  “Why is HQ involved?” he asked.

  Ralph was fiddling with the coffee, measuring and pouring a new pot. He shrugged. “Some border-security issue. The fisherman who called it in thought the occupants might be smugglers.”

  “Smugglers? What the hell would they be smuggling off the northern tip of Newfoundland?” Chris looked outside. The rain was slamming against the windows now, rattling like buckshot on a tin roof. “How could the fisherman see anything in this, anyway?”

  “Well, that’s the thing. Acted suspicious, he said. He says he went out in his boat to help but when they saw him, they took off out to sea.”

  “They? How many?”

  “Four or five. Way too many for the size of the boat.”

  Chris felt a wash of relief. Not Phil! “That could mean anything. Maybe they had illegal fish in the boat. Or maybe they thought he was up to no good. They could have been tourists who never set foot out of the city. We used to get that up north too. People from Japan or Europe eager to see the wilderness, but with no idea how wild and empty it really is. Probably thought they could just dial 911 on their cellphones.”

  “Except when help was offered, these guys headed the other way. That’s what’s got HQ in a knot. So the coastal detachments are on alert to keep their eyes and ears open. It’s gone out on the Internet, TV, and radio too, so the locals will be keeping an eye out.” Ralph poured his fresh coffee, pried his wet boots off, and propped his stocking feet on his desk. “Let’s hope those poor buggers aren’t at the bottom of the ocean by now.”

  Amanda was chilled to the bone by the time she reached the RCMP detachment in Deer Lake just before noon. Because it was located in an obscure corner of town off the main Trans-Canada Highway, it took her some time to find it, but her first glimpse of the sleek, modern brick building filled her with relief. It was not the remote backwater she’d feared, so maybe someone would have heat and a pot of hot coffee on the go.

  She had left Sheri the night before on polite but tepid terms, with promises to keep in touch. Amanda knew her concern and love for Phil were genuine, but distrust and blame had wedged its blade between them. There was little to be gained by staying in Grand Falls. Phil was no longer there, and if she was going to help him, she had to figure out where he’d gone.

  Over a sumptuous breakfast at the B&B, Amanda had scrutinized the map. She knew Deer Lake was the gateway to the Great Northern Peninsula, which jutted like a gnarled thumb up into the North Atlantic. A long spine of mountains ran down its centre and its ragged coastline was carved into rocky points and cozy coves. At its southern base, Gros Morne National Park attracted thousands of visitors to its ancient, glacier-scoured mountains and silent green forests. At its remote northern tip, the discovery of a thousand-year-old Viking settlement drew scientists, tourists, and history lovers from all around the world.

  Deer Lake, and RCMP Corporal Chris Tymko, seemed like a promising place to start her search.

  On her way out of Grand Falls, she’d dropped by the bar where Jason and Phil had arranged to meet. It was closed but, in response to her hammering, the door was eventually opened by a red-eyed man carrying a mop. He squinted at her doubtfully, but didn’t invite her in out of the rain. They might have been here, he said, but it was a busy night and the music was loud. What’s it to you? he wanted to know. She thanked him and left.

  The rain had eased to a drizzle by the time she nosed her motorcycle into the Deer Lake RCMP parking lot. She had not called ahead to alert Corporal Tymko that she was coming. She had sensed antipathy between Jason and him, and she wasn’t sure whether it would extend to her as well. She wanted his first impression to be one of friend, not foe. If she were linked to Jason, or possibly worse, to Sheri, she might never earn his co-operation.

  As she clambered off the bike and pulled off her helmet, a tall, rangy Mountie emerged from the building and headed toward a cruiser. He moved like a ma
rionette, all angles and planes. Feet that flailed, elbows and knees that knocked against each other, and a nose like a ski jump beneath his visor cap. He reminded her of an overgrown teenager who hadn’t yet figured out how his various parts worked together.

  The effect was both comic and endearing. She suppressed a smile. Spotting Kaylee, he veered over toward her. As he drew closer, a beautiful smile crinkled his eyes. Even better, she thought with a self-conscious twinge. After hours on the road in the wind and rain, she suspected she looked like something spat out by the washing machine.

  “Now that’s a sight!” he exclaimed with no hint of the east coast lilt she’d come to expect. “Hey there, buddy!”

  As usual Kaylee reacted as if she hadn’t been patted in a million years. As he scratched her ears, he glanced up, first at the motorcycle licence plate and then at Amanda.

  “All the way from Quebec? Vous voyagez … ah … très loin du Quebec.”

  She laughed and rescued him from his attempt at French. “Chelsea, just across the river from Ottawa. As Anglo as they come. And I was going camping by the ocean.”

  Her emphasis on was provoked a raised eyebrow. “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “I’m looking for Corporal Tymko.”

  Now both eyebrows shot up. “I’m Tymko.”

  Beneath his curiosity, his blue eyes were warm. She felt some tension ease from her back. Over the years she’d become adept at sizing up friend or foe, for a split-second misjudgment could cost a life. She sensed she’d made the right choice in coming here.

  “Amanda Doucette. I’m the friend who was supposed to go camping with Phil Cousins. I’m really worried about him and I’m hoping you have some idea where he’s gone.”

  Thirty seconds later she and Kaylee were ensconced in his small but cheery office. Mist fogged the windows and lit the room in a pale wash. While Amanda peeled off her wet rain gear, Chris poured her a cup of hot coffee and Kaylee some water. As the first sip coursed through her, she decided she’d never tasted anything so delicious.

  “I’m very glad you came,” Chris said, swinging his desk chair sideways and jackknifing his gangly body into the small space facing her. “I’ve been thinking about him ever since Jason Maloney called yesterday. We were planning to go cod fishing up the peninsula later this month, but he hasn’t been returning my calls.” He grinned. “We’re both Prairie farm boys, never seen an ocean surf in our lives until here, except to fly over. So it’s the blind leading the blind. But Phil says he feels most at peace when he’s on the ocean. Maybe because he’s not hemmed in.” He broke off, his eyes narrowing. “Amanda Doucette. Are you the one …?”

  She nodded. “Nigeria? Yes.”

  He leaned over to yank open his bottom drawer and pulled out a computer printout from a newspaper. Amanda recognized the Ottawa Citizen. From the large photo, she knew exactly what it was — a close-up of herself surrounded by children as she demonstrated the construction of a pyramid garden. Nigeria, in happier times. The village, flooded with refugees, had pitched in together to build new gardens, wells, schools, and clinics, as well as extra security. For all the good that had done.

  The headline read Heroes Against All Odds, and under the photo was a smaller caption. Canadian Aid Workers Fight to Save Village.

  The journalist, Matthew Goderich, had become a friend over the course of their ordeal and its aftermath. A stringer for the Canadian Press, he’d been ordered to return to Lagos by his employer when the Islamist insurgency worsened, but instead he’d insisted on staying on in the north as a freelancer. These stories need to be told, he’d said. No matter how many people back home don’t want to hear them.

  Despite the passage of time and the warm safety of the RCMP office, Amanda felt that familiar vice pressing her chest. Sensing it, Kaylee nuzzled her fingers.

  “I dug this up when I first met Phil,” Tymko said. “What you two did was incredibly brave.”

  She pasted a blank expression on her face. “Foolhardy. You don’t have time to think.”

  “Not everyone reacts like you did. Lots of people would have run for their own lives.”

  “Those children were like family.” She paused, loath to revisit the memories. To perpetuate the great lie of her heroism. “You never know how you’ll react until the threat is right there. The guns, the smoke, the blood … It’s all instinct. Fight or flight.”

  Or freeze.

  “I know.” He spoke as if he did know. As if he too had faced the devil head on. Well, he was a cop after all.

  “I guess it’s not all speeding tickets in your line of work, either,” she said gaily to change the mood.

  He obliged her with a smile but it was fleeting. “Afterward, though, when you’ve had time to think …”

  “About how you almost died? Yeah.”

  “And about who you didn’t save.”

  No doubt he was speaking about himself, but her heart hammered. The coffee cup shook in her hand. Seeing that, he looked stricken. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. I know the memories must still be very raw. They are for Phil. He was really looking forward to your trip.”

  Grateful for the opening, she steered back to safer ground. To the reason she had come. “But something went wrong. Corporal Tymko —”

  “Chris.”

  “Chris. He’s taken his son with him. That wasn’t part of the plan. And his wife had just told him there is someone else. She thinks he’s just taking time to sort things out, but I’m scared it’s more. He’s been betrayed —”

  “In more ways that you know.”

  Amanda hesitated. Chris’s lips were a grim line, his eyes hooded.

  “You mean Jason Maloney?”

  He nodded.

  “Sheri says she didn’t tell him.”

  Chris shifted. His bony knee jiggled. “Jason did.”

  She sucked in her breath. Even worse!

  “Jason said he had a right to know, said he didn’t feel right sneaking around behind his back.”

  “Oh right! So why not spit in his face instead?” Amanda thought back to the exchange of cryptic text messages on Phil’s phone, setting up a meeting. Was that when Jason had told him? Was that the last anyone saw of Phil before he packed up his son and took off?

  She revisited Jason’s behaviour from the night before, including his determination to handle things quietly, ostensibly to spare Phil the public humiliation of a full-fledged police hunt. She felt her blood pressure rise. Like hell. More to spare himself the censure. Or Sheri’s wrath should she find out.

  “Sheri doesn’t know that Phil knows,” she said. But even as she spoke, she remembered Sheri avoiding Jason’s touch the night before. Was that just guilt, or did she have an inkling of what he’d done?

  “No,” Chris said, “and I told Jason he should tell her.”

  So that was the argument she had witnessed between Jason and Chris in the truck. Amanda stood up. “This makes it even worse, Chris. Everything Phil believed in, everything he hung on to, has been turned upside down.”

  She walked over to the large map of Newfoundland tacked to the office wall. “I’ve got to find him. Where would he go?”

  No sooner had the question left her lips than her eyes settled on the remote, northern section of the island. A desolate finger where villages were few and far between, and where the North Atlantic, the Arctic, and the inner Strait of Belle Isle collided. The end of the earth. She tapped the peninsula with her finger.

  He followed her finger. “Yes. I think you may be right.”

  Chapter Five

  Amanda wanted to set off right away, for it was a huge area to cover, encompassing the twin UNESCO world heritage sites of Gros Morne and L’Anse aux Meadows where the Vikings had settled, as well as numerous fishing villages in between. From the map she could identify at least six government campsites, but there were s
urely smaller local ones tucked near the coastal villages. Phil had already had far too great a head start.

  But Chris Tymko’s pragmatism prevailed. “It’s a big place,” he said. “And much of the interior mountain range has no road access. If Phil is looking to get away from it all, he could be on foot in the mountains or in a boat on the ocean.”

  “He’s not much good on the ocean. Prairie boy like you said.”

  He didn’t smile. “In his mood, that might not stop him. If he’s looking for freedom, or oblivion …”

  Sobering, she studied the map. There was only one road running north up the coast, dipping in and out of the fishing villages along the way. In each village, there might be boats available to rent. If Phil were trying to disappear, he would not choose an obvious path.

  “Are there little roads leading up into these mountains?”

  Chris was at his computer, fiddling with the keys. He glanced over briefly. “Just a few old logging trails. There’s not much up there but moose and trees. Oh, some salmon rivers and logging camps, mostly abandoned.” He swore softly at the computer. “Jason hasn’t even put out an alert on Phil’s licence plate.”

  She grimaced. “Part of his low-key approach. To spare himself.”

  “Right. I’m going to give it to the local detachments up there. The more eyes we have on this, the better.”

  She thanked him and headed toward the door. “I’ve got all my gear. All I need are some groceries and a good map —”

  “Forestry maps. Much more detailed. I’ll print them out for you here.” He was already tapping on his computer again. “You’ve got a good smart phone and a GPS?”

  She nodded. “My cellphone has a GPS. I’m not going into the real wilderness, am I? There are people around? Villages, fishing boats?”

  “The people will help you, yes. But you’ll need a satellite GPS. Cellphones can be useless, and one fishing village looks pretty much like another, at least to this Prairie boy. Nothing but boats, pickup trucks, and lobster traps.”