Cheryl Tardif - Submerged

As the door closed behind him, she contemplated his words. Could she really start fresh? Was tomorrow the beginning of a new life? And would Marcus Taylor be part of that life?

To all three questions, she thought, I sure hope so.

While Colton and Ella visited with their mother, Marcus sat in the kids’ room and probed Zur for information. “She remember anything else?”

“Nothing. And we’ve checked the husband out thoroughly. His alibi checks out. Witnesses state he was in the bar in Fort McMurray when all this went down.”

“Maybe he hired someone and paid cash.”

“We found no large withdrawals that couldn’t be accounted for.”

“The guy’s a gambler, John. Maybe he won some money and used that to finance the trucker.”

“We’re looking into every possibility.”

“You check her past?”

“Rebecca Kingston’s?”

Marcus nodded.

“She’s clean. No priors, no arrests. Not even a speeding ticket.”

“No weird religious affiliations?”

“You mean like a cult?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time a cult went after a mother.”

“No, she’s Presbyterian.”

“Really? Your investigation went that deep that it looked at her religion?”

Zur grinned. “It was on her hospital chart, Marcus.”

“Oh.”

There was silence in the room.

Marcus scratched his head. Who the hell wants Rebecca dead? Who benefits?

“You still think it’s the ex?” Zur said.

“It’s almost always the ex.” When Zur squinted at him, Marcus added, “I watch a lot of Law & Order .”

“Believe me, we’re still looking into Wesley Kingston. He’s rubbed shoulders with some wrong people over the years because of his gambling debts. Maybe Mrs. Kingston wasn’t the target. Maybe her husband was.”

“You think maybe someone was trying to send him a warning?”

“Makes sense. He rakes up debts and can’t pay, and they go after him. Maybe they thought he was driving the car. Or they decided to get at him via his wife and kids. Would give most guys incentive to pay up.”

Marcus rubbed his face. “Addictions, hey. Screws everyone’s life up.”

“Unless they make a choice to get help.” Zur patted his arm. “How are you doing?”

Marcus shrugged. “You know how it is. Go to meetings, feel guilty, want to use, go back to meetings, feel guilty. It’s a vicious circle.”

“But you’re doing it. You made the right choice.” Zur released a heavy sigh. “Last thing I want to do is get called to a scene and find you dead. You’re too good of a guy to go down that path. Remember that. People need you.”

Like Rebecca and her kids?

Marcus thought about them, how it would be a whole other outcome if he hadn’t picked up the phone last night and taken her 911 call. Sure, Leo would’ve done his best to help her, but he played by the rules. Most of the time.

“Listen,” Zur said. “I have to leave. I’m going to swing by some of the casinos, talk to the people there. Maybe we’ll get a break.”

“You have to catch this guy, John.”

“We will. Count on it.”

Marcus watched his friend move down the hallway. As soon as Zur stepped into the elevator, Marcus turned to the guard and said, “I’ll be back in an hour or so. If Rebecca or the kids need me—”

“I’ll tell ’em.”

There was someplace Marcus needed to be. Badly.

When he entered the small hall twenty minutes later, Marcus tried to be inconspicuous. With some hesitation at being in unfamiliar surroundings, he scanned the room, took note of the strangers there and sat down on a chair in the back row.

“My name is Bert,” the man at the podium said, “and I’m an addict.”

“Welcome, Bert,” Marcus murmured with the group, as he fought to control the overwhelming need that raced through every nerve in his body.

He was so focused on his breathing that he didn’t notice when someone sat next to him. But he did notice when his arm was nudged. He looked up.

Leo grinned. “I knew I’d find you here.”

“What are you doing here?” Marcus whispered.

Leo lowered his voice. “Came to see you.”

“I’m okay, Leo.”

“Yeah, I can see that. That’s why you’re sitting at an NA meeting.”

“I’m not going to use.”

“That’s good to hear.”

A woman in front of them swiveled her head and glared. “Shh…”

Like a scolded schoolboy, Marcus folded his hands in his lap. Leo followed suit. They sat quietly for the duration of the meeting, each fighting their own personal demons.

Afterward, Leo said, “Let’s grab a bite to eat.”

Marcus followed him outside. “Take one car?”

“Sure. I’ll drive.”

Marcus followed Leo to his car and climbed in the passenger seat. Leo settled in behind the wheel, but didn’t start the car.

“What’s up?” Marcus asked.

Leo shook his head slowly. “Thought I was gonna lose you, man.”

“Well, you didn’t. You’re stuck with me.”

Leo squinted at him. “Was it worth it?”

“You mean breaking the rules, getting suspended and finding Rebecca and the kids?”

“Yeah.”

“Worth every second. I’d do it again.”

Leo sighed. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Marcus grinned. “Hey, don’t worry about me. Really. I’ve never felt better. Feels like my life is finally falling into place. Like a burden’s been lifted off my chest. I’d never realized how hard it was to breathe before.”

“So tell me, how exactly did you find them?”

“Divine intervention.”

“What, you seeing ghosts again, or did God speak to you this time?”

Marcus chuckled. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Ghosts or God?”

“Maybe a bit of both. Hell, I don’t know. Maybe I imagined it all.”

“Who’d you see—Jane?”

Marcus’s smile faded. “So clearly I could almost touch her. And this time I wasn’t dreaming.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I was driving. Last night I saw Jane standing in the middle of the road, then sitting in the back seat of my car. It’s not the first time either.”

“You’ve seen Jane’s ghost before?”

Marcus nodded. “And Ryan’s.”

Leo’s mouth gaped open, but he remained silent.

“You don’t believe me, Leo?”

“I believe you believe.”

“Then I should probably tell you about the first time I saw ghosts. Remember when I went out to that cabin near Cadomin Cave? While I was there, I was using, but that doesn’t explain everything that happened.”

“Like what?”

“Like the gifts I started receiving on my doorstep. Or the children I saw in the woods.”

Leo shrugged. “You probably weren’t the only one renting a cabin.”

“Actually, besides me and maybe three oil workers, there was no one else except Irma, the owner of the cabins.”

“And no kids.”

“Not a one. In fact, Irma said the last kids who’d been in the area had died in a fire.”

“You think you saw their ghosts?”

“What else could they have been? I didn’t know anything about those kids before I saw them. And nothing else explains the bizarre things I found outside my cabin.” He frowned and scratched his chin. “I was there right before that mother—you know, the one whose son went missing back then. He was kidnapped by The Fog.”

“That was a scary time for parents.”

“I know.”

“What were you going to say about the mother?”

“I read in the Edmonton Journal that she’d stayed in the same cabin I’d rented. The mother… Sadie something. I left so fast I had no time to clean up. She would have seen the needles.” He looked away. “Newspapers said she admitted she’d gone there to kill herself, but said something stopped her. I wonder…”