Reserved For Murder Read online

  ‘It would help give the recipient a nice little boost,’ Penner said. ‘Thanks, Barry,’ she said as Barry handed her a cup.

  ‘Did you want any?’ Barry asked Millar.

  ‘Please,’ Millar said, taking a cup.

  ‘And here I thought you didn’t want any because you wouldn’t be able to sleep,’ Penner mimicked Millar as the door to the office opened.

  ‘What’s going on out there?’ Grant asked, closing the door behind him.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Barry asked as he walked over to the window and peered out from between the blinds.

  ‘Seems like the Chief and Travis are having an argument or something,’ Grant said. ‘When I was coming back I could hear the Chief yelling at him. Couldn’t make out what he was saying, but he seemed pretty mad.’

  ‘No idea,’ Barry said, trying to see into the dark night. ‘The Chief seemed fine when he popped in just now. Probably something to do with finances or something. I think the latest payment from the Feds was supposed to be delivered last week. Pretty sure I heard Travis saying yesterday it was delayed again.’

  ‘That’s three months in a row now, isn’t it?’ Grant asked. ‘I can see why the Chief would be mad.’

  ‘Oh, he’s coming,’ Barry said, moving away from the window as the door opened and the Chief entered the room.

  ‘Sorry to keep you guys waiting,’ the Chief said, settling his large, bulky frame in one of the chairs. ‘Any more coffee, Barry?’

  ‘Yup, give me a sec,’ Barry said, going back into the kitchen. ‘Anyone else?’

  ‘Please,’ Grant said, looking over at Penner.

  ‘I’m still good, thanks,’ she said, everyone looking over at her. ‘What? Sometimes I take my time drinking.’

  ***

  ‘Okay, so…where are we at?’ the Chief asked. ‘Thanks, Barry,’ he said, taking the cup of coffee Barry brought over to him.

  ‘Well, like I mentioned earlier, according to our contact in Ottawa, the suicide note found on Jonny and his book report were not written by the same person,’ Millar said. ‘Grant, you have the copies you can show the Chief?’

  Grant gave the papers to the Chief, who read over the suicide note, then looked at the report. Glancing up at Millar, he asked, ‘And we’re certain Jonny wrote the report?’

  ‘According to his mom, it’s definitely his writing,’ Barry said. ‘We may be able to get more examples from either his mom or maybe the school, if you want.’

  ‘How sure was the Detective in Ottawa that they were written by different people?’ the Chief asked, flipping between pages. ‘Because they look pretty similar to me.’

  ‘He said he was about ninety-five percent sure,’ Millar said.

  ‘So, there’s still a chance Jonny wrote them both, then,’ the Chief said, looking at Millar.

  ‘A very slim chance, yes,’ Millar said. ‘With this type of analysis, it’s very rare for there to be a one-hundred percent certainty, but ninety-five is pretty much a sure thing.’

  ‘And the Detective who did the analysis, he’s good?’ the Chief asked.

  ‘Best on the force,’ Millar said, a bit defensively. ‘If he says he’s that certain Jonny didn’t write the note, I would take it to court.’

  ‘Right,’ the Chief said, still looking at the pages. ‘Do we have anything else that may indicate Jonny was killed? I don’t want to seem like I don’t trust your expert, but I just don’t want to think he was murdered.’

  ‘Well, when I spoke with the coroner after he did the autopsy, he did find some indications that Jonny may not have died by hanging,’ Grant said.

  ‘Really? Like what?’ the Chief asked, putting the papers down on a table beside his chair.

  ‘Well, for one, he had a bone in his neck, called the hyoid, which was broken,’ Grant said. ‘Apparently, it’s extremely rare for this type of bone to break in cases where young men have hanged themselves. It’s much more indicative of manual strangulation.’

  ‘Rare, but not impossible?’ the Chief asked.

  ‘Maybe six percent of cases, so very rare,’ Grant said. ‘Also, there was some bruising on his neck that didn’t seem to match up with the rope—it may have been from someone’s hands wrapped around his neck.’

  ‘May have been, but not definitive?’ the Chief asked.

  ‘You could say that, yes,’ Grant said.

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘Well, I spoke with Sammy Greycrow—the two were best friends,’ Grant started.

  ‘I know Sammy. Good kid. He must be pretty upset,’ the Chief said.

  ‘More confused, I think,’ Grant said. ‘He had spent the day with Jonny, so he may have been one of the last people to see him. Said Jonny seemed normal. Just his normal, happy-go-lucky self. At the time, Sammy didn’t notice any marks on his neck, which is another reason we think it may have happened at the time of death.’

  ‘And there’s no way they were made by the rope?’ the Chief asked.

  ‘According to the coroner, no,’ Grant said.

  ‘So, Barry, what are your thoughts?’ the Chief turned to Barry, who had been quiet up until this point.

  ‘Me? Well, if it was just the note, or just the broken bone, or just the marks, I could overlook it. One of them would have been an anomaly. Two, a coincidence. But all three? I think we have to go where the evidence is pointing, and I say it’s pointing to murder.’

  ‘Gotcha,’ the Chief said, rubbing his temples. ‘Definitely not what I wanted to hear. So, how do we figure this out? Do we even have any suspects? Any chance Sammy did it?’

  ‘I really doubt it. Not by himself, anyways. There’s no way he would have been able to get him up in the tree. I helped take Jonny down from the tree and he was a lot heavier than he looked,’ Grant said. ‘Don’t even know if Sammy would have been able to hold him down and strangle him. Sammy’s not the biggest kid out there. When I talked to him, I didn’t notice any defensive marks on him. I would assume that Jonny would have tried to fight back if he could.’

  ‘What if Sammy was straddling his chest, pinning Jonny’s arms under his knees?’

  ‘Maybe, but like I said, Sammy isn’t all that big. When someone’s getting strangled, they’re going to be fighting with all their worth. I would think Jonny could have thrown Sammy off pretty easily.’

  ‘So, you’re thinking it was either a couple of people at least, or someone really strong,’ the Chief said. ‘So really, that doesn’t narrow it down at all.’

  ‘Unfortunately not,’ Grant said. ‘The only thing that may help is where it mentions the water issues in the note. Someone would have to know about the problems with the quality of water on the reserve, so that should help.’

  ‘Problem is, everyone around knows about the water issues,’ the Chief said. ‘I’ve been so vocal about it over the years. I’ve done countless interviews for both the news and the papers. CBC ran a story on the national news just two months ago.’

  ‘I still think that may be our best lead right now,’ Millar said.

  ‘Why’s that?’ the Chief asked.

  ‘Well, why would someone kill someone else, and try to make it look like a suicide?’ Millar said.

  ‘Cover their tracks?’ Penner said.

  ‘Sure. But I think there are easier ways to do that,’ Millar said. ‘Just make it look like an accident. That’d be easier—especially out here. Plus, if you kill someone in the woods, like where Jonny was found, why take the extra time to tie him into a tree? The chances of someone coming by would have been pretty high, so it was pretty risky. I think staging it as a suicide was about more than trying to cover up a crime. I think whoever did this was trying to send a message.’

  ‘Send a message?’ the Chief said. ‘What type of message?’

  ‘Well, as twisted as this may sound, I think whoever killed Jonny was trying to get sympathy for the conditions here in the hopes that the reserve would finally get the aid it needs,’ Millar said. ‘It’s still not much to go on, b
ut I think the content of the note and the reason behind writing it is our best lead. If I were leading this investigation, I would start looking at people on the reserve before I looked at the outside communities.’

  ‘Now hold on a sec,’ the Chief said, anger rising in his voice. ‘I can’t see anyone here killing someone, let alone one of our own kids, to try and send a message. That just doesn’t make sense.’

  ‘I know how tight-knit everyone here is. I saw it myself tonight,’ Millar said, as both Penner and Grant squirmed uncomfortably in their seats. ‘I’m just telling it like I see it. There has to be a reason this was made to look like a suicide, and there has to be a reason that water conditions were mentioned in the note. I really don’t think an outsider would care enough to mention it. Someone from outside the community may have killed Jonny. They may have tied him in a tree to make it look like a suicide. And they may have left a note. But I really don’t think the water conditions would have been mentioned. This is more personal than a complete stranger murder. At the same time,’ Millar added, ‘Jonny may not have been chosen because of who he was—he may have just been an easy target. It’s personal and it’s not personal. He was chosen because he lives on the reserve, and whoever killed him did so to make a point.’

  ‘Detective,’ the Chief said slowly. ‘I don’t really like the way you are looking at this. However, I will admit that some of what you’ve said seems to make sense. Barry, what do you think?’

  ‘As much as I don’t want to think he was murdered, especially by someone from the reserve, it really does seem like the most logical explanation,’ Barry said. ‘Like Millar said, why would an outsider mention the water. They don’t care if we have clean water or not.’

  ‘That’s all too apparent,’ the Chief said. ‘Alright. So let’s say he was killed and it was done by someone or several people from the Reserve. How are we going to figure out who’s involved?’

  ‘Well, when I was waiting for the coroner the other night, I did some looking around, trying to keep myself occupied,’ Grant spoke up. ‘There are way too many strange sounds in the woods at night. Anyway, I was able to make out some tracks on the leaves and stuff. It wasn’t much, but I definitely saw shoe prints. I could make out my own and Sarah’s, who had found the body, and I think Jonny’s, too. But there were others. I have no idea if they were involved or not, but they were there, around the tree that Jonny was hanging from. Maybe they’re still visible? If we get someone out there with better tracking skills than I have, maybe, I don’t know, we could see where they came from or went? Or at least what type of shoe they were wearing?’

  ‘Hasn’t rained yet since that night,’ Barry said. ‘There’s a chance we may be able to see something.’

  ‘I guess it’s worth a try,’ the Chief said. ‘Unless anyone has any other ideas?’

  ‘Right now, I don’t have anything else. I kinda feel like it’s going to be like searching for a needle in a haystack,’ Penner said.

  ‘Unless someone talks,’ Millar said. ‘Which is always a possibility.’

  ‘I guess that’s one problem with being a dry community. People aren’t getting drunk and confessing things to a bartender anymore,’ the Chief said wryly. He glanced up at the clock on the wall. ‘Well, if there’s nothing else, why don’t we call it a night. Barry, you manning the phones tonight?’

  ‘I am.’

  ‘So you’ll probably want your sleep first thing in the morning,’ the Chief said. ‘The rest of us can head out to where Jonny was found, see if we can see anything. Let’s plan on meeting up at six, unless that’s too early. First light’s usually pretty good for tracking—the sun hits the ground at a good angle.’

  ‘Works for me,’ Penner said. I’m usually up pretty early. I can head over to Grant’s for a coffee at half five, then we can all meet up.’

  ‘Perfect,’ the Chief said, getting up and heading for the door. ‘Looks like you’ll get your tracking lessons after all.’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  The sound of knocking woke Millar from a broken sleep. ‘What time is it,’ he murmured to himself, looking at his watch. After a moment of trying to get his eyes to focus, he was able to read the time. 5:35. ‘Penner,’ he said, swinging his feet out of his makeshift bed. He didn’t find sofa beds to be the most comfortable at the best of times, and this apparently wasn’t even close to the best of times. He walked over to the door, trying to find his way in the half light of the morning. He felt around for the light switch and turned it on, causing a fluorescent light above his head to flicker to life. Rubbing his eyes, he unlocked the door.

  ‘Took you long enough,’ Penner said. ‘Nice boxers.’

  ‘Morning to you, too,’ Millar said, shutting the door and walking back to his bed. ‘Grant’s not up yet,’ he said, slipping on a t-shirt and pair of pants.

  ‘I’m up,’ Grant said from his bedroom. ‘Hope you guys slept better than I did. Coffee?’

  ‘I slept like a log,’ Penner said. ‘The air conditioner in that room works like a charm. Pretty warm in here, though, isn’t it?’ she observed, fanning herself.

  ‘Just a little,’ Millar said. ‘I could have wrung out my pillow last night, I was sweating so much.’

  ‘That’s a lovely visual,’ Penner said. ‘There’s actually a bit of a breeze out this morning—you should open a window. Might help air the place out. Smells a bit in here.’ She wrinkled her nose.

  ‘What are you talking about? Smells fine,’ Millar said, defensively.

  ‘That’s what people with pets think, too,’ Penner said. ‘So, any more thoughts on what we can do to figure this case out?’

  ‘Honestly, I have no idea,’ Millar said. ‘Hopefully we can find something in the woods this morning. If not, I don’t know what we can do. Someone knows something, so maybe they’ll talk.’

  ‘Definitely not a lot to go on right now,’ Grant said. ‘Maybe I should have tried to get a cast of the tread marks I saw the other night. Don’t know if I would have been able to or not, but I should have tried.’

  ‘Why would you have? At that point, you thought a kid had hanged himself,’ Penner said. ‘There was nothing pointing to murder, so no reason to collect evidence.’

  ‘True, but still. Kinda kicking myself now,’ Grant said, pouring three cups of coffee. ‘With any luck, the Chief will still be able to find the tracks. If I was able to find them once, I would think a hunter should be able to find them, too.’

  ‘Looking forward to seeing how he does it,’ Penner said. ‘The only time I did anything with tracks was when I was in summer camp. We were out on a hike once and we came across a deer track. We mixed up some plaster of paris, filled the track with it and let it dry. After about ten minutes, we were able to gently dig out the hardened plaster, revealing the hoof. Pretty cool.’

  ‘Did you guys always go on hikes with plaster of paris?’ Millar asked, with skepticism.

  ‘Well, I guess the camp counsellor hoped we were going to come across a track, so she happened to have some with her,’ Penner said.

  ‘Pretty lucky you guys found the track,’ Millar said.

  ‘You know, now that you mention it, there was only a single track,’ Penner said. ‘And it was right in the middle of a pretty wide path. Probably should have been several others. I don’t think it was really a deer track after all. She lied to us. Thanks a lot, Millar.’

  ‘Me? I wasn’t there.’

  ‘But you took away my one tracking experience. Jerk.’

  ‘Well, hopefully the Chief can point out some tracks for you today,’ Millar said, pulling the curtain aside to look out the window. ‘Speaking of the Chief, what’s he doing?’

  Penner and Grant crowded around the window to see what Millar was looking at. The Chief was standing amongst a group of people, some holding cameras, some holding voice recorders. Two were holding TV cameras.

  ‘Is he giving a press conference or something?’ Penner asked.

  ‘Sure looks like it,’ Gra
nt said. ‘Wonder what’s going on.’

  ‘One way to find out,’ Penner said, chugging the last of her coffee. ‘Let’s go have a listen, shall we?’

  ***

  ‘As I have said many times before, these are very difficult times for us here on the reserve. And two nights ago, things got even worse. One of our young family members was so distraught over the conditions here, especially the lack of clean water, he decided to end his life. He could not bear the thought of continuing to live in a community where he didn’t know if he could safely drink the water. Whether he would get sick if he did.’ The Chief paused, looking around at the reporters. ‘I ask you. Should this ever happen in this great province of Ontario? Or anywhere in this great country of Canada? Again, I reach out to the politicians that are supposed to work for the people. Please, send us the resources we so desperately need so our people can live in humane conditions and our children can feel like they have a future here. Thank you.’ The Chief turned from the reporters and started walking over towards the band office, leaving the media to check their recordings, making sure they caught all the information they needed to run the morning story.

  ‘What was that?’ Penner asked, breathlessly, as she caught up with the Chief.

  ‘A news conference,’ the Chief said, opening the door to the office, holding it for Penner before entering himself. ‘I needed to get the information out so something can be done.’

  ‘But, it’s not really true,’ Penner said in confusion. ‘He didn’t kill himself.’

  ‘We still don’t know that definitively, do we?’ the Chief said. ‘All we know for sure is one of our youth is dead, and there was a note in his back pocket stating he killed himself because of the water issues here. Technically, I didn’t lie.’

  ‘Technically, no. But…’ Penner started.

  ‘Look. I understand what you’re saying. But look at it from my point of view. I’ve been working for five years, trying to get the government to give us money to fix our water problems. Five years. And you know what we have to show for it? Nothing. Not a single penny. Not a single person from the government has even come out here to look at the water to see what’s going on. Nothing. So, you can think what I did was wrong, but I have to do something. I didn’t lie. I just told them what I needed them to hear.’