6 Maple Leaf Hunter (5 page)

“Hi, Susan,” she said. “Did you leave yet?”

“We’re in Niagara Falls,” I said. “The guys are off looking for Alex. He’s roaming around somewhere. I wanted to ask you about what happened at the mall yesterday.”

“Did you see the news?” she asked.

My heart jumped. I didn’t want there to be any news. “No,” I said. “What happened?”

“There were four gold bars stolen from the Pirata exhibit yesterday. They’re worth over half a million dollars. There aren’t any suspects, but I’ve been wondering if the guy running in the mall had anything to do with it.”

My voice caught in my throat. It had been a long time since I had been involved in anything bizarre, and I didn’t want to get involved in anything now. I swallowed hard.

“Those bars weigh about five pounds each,” I said. “He couldn’t have had them on him when he died. The paramedics would have found them.”

“I haven’t had a chance to talk with Dick, so I don’t know anything else,” she said. “Do you want me to call you if I hear anything?”

I had to think about it for a moment. “Not really,” I said slowly, “I’m not interested in the theft, but I do want to know who the man was if you can find out. I can’t stop thinking about it, and it feels like he knew as soon as he ran into the food court that he was going to run into me. I can’t shake the feeling it was deliberate. If I hear his name, or if I can find out where he worked, maybe it will trigger something.” I saw Mick approaching. “Sam, I have to run. Call me if you find out anything about him.”

“Ok,” she said. “I will. Have fun, and don’t go over the Falls in a barrel.”

I hung up the phone and laughed. That was the last thing I would do. How anybody ever thought going over the Falls in a barrel was a good idea was beyond me.

“No luck?” I asked Mick.

His brow was furrowed, and I knew he was worried. He dropped down hard beside me “I don’t know if we should call someone or not,” he said. “Because he’s eighteen, I think we have to wait twenty-four hours before we can report him missing.” His shoulders slumped.

I put my hand on his arm and tried to reassure him by saying, “He’ll show up. He’s not really mad at any of us, and he looked like he was having a good time up on the Hurricane Deck. I don’t believe he ran away.”

“What if someone abducted him?” he asked.

“That’s not likely,” I said. “He’s got a smart mouth when he wants to use it, and I think it would be hard to abduct someone with so many people around.”

Darby and Nate came jogging toward us from a picnic area. We stood to greet them, but it was obvious they hadn’t seen him either.

Darby shook his head and said, “We’ve been all over the islands, but there’s no sign of him. Let’s head back toward the parking lot. Maybe we’ll see him along the way, or maybe he went to wait by the RV for some reason.”

It seemed the only option at the moment. We made a gloomy group as we started the long walk back.

Because of its size, Nate had parked the RV at the rear of the lot. When it came into view, we saw Alex talking with the man from the Hurricane Deck. Both were smiling, and the man clapped Alex on the back before walking away.

It only took a few moments before he saw us walking toward him, and he flashed a broad smile.

Mick wasn’t having any of his smile. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked. “Why didn’t you stay by the bench? Do you know how worried we were? We thought something happened to you.”

Alex’s smile vanished. I put my hand on Mick’s arm. I knew he didn’t mean to sound so harsh.

“I’m sorry,” Alex said. “I thought I’d be back before you guys.”

Mick wasn’t able to contain his frustration. “It’s been nearly two hours since we last saw you.” He stopped and took a breath before saying, “I’m glad you’re ok, but you have no idea what you just put us through.”

Alex looked truly contrite. “Guys, I’m sorry,” he said. “I guess I lost track of time.”

“Who was that?” I asked. I didn’t like that a complete stranger had taken an interest in him.

He reached around and picked up a gym bag from the ground behind him. It was noticeably heavy. “His name is Bob, and he’s a rock collector, too. When you guys left, he sat down with me. We talked some more about the geology here. He said his dad used to take him panhandling for gold downriver when he was a kid.”

Nate laughed and asked, “Did he give you a bag of gold?”

Nate had no idea how much his question filled my stomach with a sick feeling. I half expected to look in the bag and find the stolen gold bars from the mall exhibit.

Alex grinned and said, “No. He lives here. He said his wife wants to kill him for having rocks all over the house, so he said he’d give me some. I waited here while he went to get them.” He unzipped the bag and pulled out a dark gray rock. “There are some local specimens in here, but look at this meteorite.” He poked around in the bag some more. “There’s jasper from Wyoming and lava rock from Hawaii.”

Mick’s frustration appeared to melt away, and all three of the guys expressed interest in the rocks.

I looked in the bag and dug through it until I was satisfied it held only rocks. There were no side pockets or zippers. I didn’t really think I would find the gold bars, but I was still disturbed by the stranger.

“Ok,” Mick said to capture everyone’s attention. “Let’s get on board and get out of here.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. “Darby, drop us at the Mariott, and then here’s the address for the campground on Lundy’s Lane.” He handed the slip of paper to him. “The space is already reserved. I have a car waiting for us at the hotel, and we’ll pick you guys up at seven to go grab some dinner. How does that sound?”

Everyone was agreeable.

We crossed the bridge into Canada.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

My mouth hung open in disbelief, and my heart raced.

I ducked back into the interior of the building. Did I really just see one of the construction workers from the mall? Here in Canada? I peeked around the corner and saw Alex watch the man for a moment as he walked away from him. He then resumed taking pictures with his camera.

I rushed up to him and asked, “Did that man talk to you?”

“He wanted the time,” he said. “Why? Do you know him?”

“No,” I said. “I don’t know him, but was that all he wanted?”

“Yeah,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “He asked if I was getting some good pictures. He said he got great ones from the view in his hotel room.” He paused for a moment. “He asked where I was staying.”

Alarm bells went off in my mind. I didn’t mean for my tone to be so sharp when I asked, “You didn’t tell him, did you?”

He looked at me with disdain and said, “Of course not. I’m not an idiot. I told him I wasn’t staying anywhere, and we were leaving soon. He seemed like a good guy. What’s your problem?”

“Do you think this was the same guy who tried to get into the RV last night?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No, that guy was older and kind of fat. I think he was just lost.”

In my heart, I knew this wasn’t a chance encounter. Neither was the rock-hunter man yesterday and probably the door-knocker last night.

It had been nearly twenty-four hours since we crossed the bridge into Canada. We were in tourist mode and had been running non-stop from one attraction to another. Mick, Darby, and Nate were below Table Rock taking the Behind the Falls Adventure. I had my fill of raincoats and getting wet, so I decided to wait above with Alex while he took pictures.

I had just come out of the restroom when I saw the man. Why did the two construction workers sit next to Samantha and me at the mall in the first place? And why was one of them here now asking where we were staying? I couldn’t help thinking it had something to do with the man who had run into me. Or worse, the theft at the Pirata Exhibit.

It was beyond unsettling.

Last night, we followed an early dinner together with an evening of fun on Clifton Hill. Darby wanted to ride the giant Ferris wheel, and Alex wanted to go into the wax museum. Nate talked everyone into Ripley’s Believe It or Not, while Mick had the final pick of the evening with dinosaur miniature golf. We had a great time together. Even Alex managed to be pleasant, and he appeared to enjoy the evening more than I thought he would.

We dropped Alex off at the RV around eleven o’clock, and the four of us headed to the casino. It was over breakfast when Alex told us someone had tried the door handle of the RV around one in the morning.

“Did you open the door?” Mick asked.

Alex shook his head no. “I knew it wouldn’t be Nate and Darby, because they had a key. I looked out the window and saw the man walking away.” He looked over at Nate and asked, “Did you guys see him? You came in a minute later, so he was probably out there when Dad dropped you off.”

Nate shook his head and said, “There were a few people milling around, but we didn’t see anyone near our spot. He was probably drunk and couldn’t find his own RV.”

Everyone agreed, but I kept my disagreeing thoughts to myself. And now, the man talking with Alex a few minutes ago only served to reinforce my suspicions.

Alex looked over my shoulder and smiled. I turned around to see Mick, Darby, and Nate coming out of the building from their latest adventure. They were wet around the edges.

When he saw we were looking, Nate leaped into the air and kicked his heels together. “I love this place!” he shouted.

Everyone in the immediate vicinity smiled. Some people laughed. I think Alex laughed the hardest.

“I got a picture of that,” he said.

“I hope so,” Nate told him. “I can’t believe we were behind the Falls. It was awesome.” He turned to Darby. “Let’s go buy some more souvenirs, and I want to send a postcard to Aunt Sony and Uncle Alfred.”

Mick came over to slip his arm around me. “We’re going to head out soon,” he said. “Is there anything else you want to do before we go?”

I shook my head. “Not really,” I said. “I’d just like to stand at the edge again for a few minutes.”

“Alex,” Mick called over to him. “Take a few pictures of Susan and me.”

We stepped up to the railing at the corner of the Horseshoe Falls and turned to face Alex. He snapped several pictures before turning to walk farther down the plaza to take some final shots of the view.

Half an hour later, Darby and Nate were back with several bags of items emblazoned with Niagara Falls.

Nate cupped his hands and yelled, “Alex!”

I don’t know if he heard him, or if he just happened to turn at that moment. Nate motioned for him to come back.

Darby reached into one of the bags and pulled out a small object wrapped in white tissue paper. He pressed it into my hand and said, “I couldn’t leave without buying this for you to put in our collection.”

I smiled. I knew what it would be, and it tickled me to see that the shot glass he picked out featured the Horseshoe Falls. Darby and I had a shot glass from every place we had visited together. I turned to Mick and asked, “Are we ever going to start a collection of our own? If we are, now would be a good time to start.”

He grinned and said, “Let’s stick with photos for now. Maybe Lizzie can help us decide what to collect when she’s a little older.”

Nate pulled a picture frame out of one of the bags. “Look at this,” he said. We all laughed. The frame had a cute moose in a humorous position sticking out from the top. He smiled at Alex.  “Get some shots of me and Darby. I want to frame the best one.”

Darby moved to stand in front of a section of pretty flowers. He struck a pose worthy of a magazine, and I wasn’t surprised in the least when several girls stopped to watch Alex take his picture.

Nate was like a kid who had overdosed on sugar. He was animated and hilarious as he contorted himself into unusual positions around Darby. I waited for him to put his fingers up in rabbit ears behind his head. I didn’t have to wait long. Darby simply held his pose and his adorable smile the entire time. It was a fun way to end our visit to the Falls.

“Are you sure you want to publish your book under your maiden name?” Amy asked. “Using Susan Hunter won’t keep people from finding out who you are if you’re wanting to use it as a pseudonym.”

My agent had asked the question before, and I knew she was giving me one last chance to change my mind before I signed the contract on the table before me.

While I gave the matter a last few moments of thought, I looked over to the glass wall, which offered a view to the hotel hallway. Nate stood there grinning like a Cheshire cat and waving like a fool.

I almost choked trying to hold back laughter. Darby rapidly came into view, and in quick order pushed Nate down the hallway and out of sight.

I knew the guys were excited to get on the road and head north to the lodge. Darby’s meeting with Buckets was obviously over, and I knew they were waiting for me to finish up with my meeting.

We had arrived in Toronto early last evening. After a quick trip to the observation deck of the CN Tower, Nate dropped Mick and me at the Ritz-Carlton before setting off to find the campgrounds for the night.

Rainbow Kids Publishing had delivered a fruit basket to our room, and Mick had arranged for chilled champagne and chocolate covered strawberries upon our arrival.
I felt incredibly special.

The room was lovely with a view overlooking Lake Ontario. We took full advantage of the large soaking tub, the comfortable bathrobes, and room service. The time spent with Mick was sensual, relaxing, and definitely rivaled our honeymoon in Paris.

I was still walking on air when I entered the hotel restaurant to meet my agent, Amy, and the publisher’s representative, Joy.

I had been nervous about meeting the women, but it was all for naught. Both women were friendly, and by the time we had finished talking about children, dogs, and holidays, it felt as if we had always been friends.

“I’m sure about my name,” I said. “Mick and I have talked about it, and with Lizzie being so young, we think it might be in her best interest not to have her last name on the book.”

Both women looked puzzled.

“We feel good about the book,” I said. “And we think
Stuck in the Bushes
will be a success. Because she’ll be in school when the book comes out, we thought it would be best if we distanced her from answering questions about the author name and her name. We both think it could be a distraction in the future.”

The women didn’t appear to be convinced, but it was my decision to make, and I was going to publish under Susan Hunter rather than Susan Raines.

I followed up my comment with, “Besides, with Mick owning Raines Construction, it will be easier to keep my business finances separate from his and even from our family account.”

This comment made more sense to the women, and they both nodded in agreement.

“In that case,” Joy said as she slid a pen to me, “unless you have any questions, I think this is where my work begins.”

If I wouldn’t have been in a public setting, I would have jumped up and down with glee. I had already read the contract, and Mick’s attorney had gone over it as well. I was confident as I signed my name.

Joy took the paper and handed a check to me. It wasn’t a large amount, but it was a start, and I was thrilled. There would be another check when the book was in print and ready for distribution. Any money beyond that would be in the form of royalties if the book was well received.

“There’s just one more thing,” Amy said. She handed a slip of paper to me.

I was confused by the second check I now held in my hand. The puzzled look on my face caused both women to laugh.

Joy said, “Susan, Rainbow Kids Publishing is excited about
Stuck in the Bushes
, but we also like
Princess Pancake
, and we want to publish that book, too. If you accept the advance payment today, we’ll draw up the contract and send it to Amy for you to sign. However, there is one caveat. We’d like you to use the same family from
Stuck in the Bushes
. We’d like little Margaret to be the Princess Pancake in your story. We think you might have the beginning of a nice series here.”

My mouth dropped open for a second. I hadn’t heard anything from them about Princess Pancake, and I had assumed they didn’t like the
story. It never occurred to me to use the same family from the first book, and I was thrilled Joy thought there could be a series.

“Oh my gosh, yes! Thank you so much,” I gushed.

Both women beamed. Joy began gathering her papers and folders and placing them into her briefcase. “Wonderful,” she said as she stood from the table. “Ladies, it’s been a pleasure. Susan, I’m glad we could meet today. I’ll be in touch.”

Joy left the room, and Amy and I were like two excited kids for a few minutes before discussing the timelines for both books. We walked out together and found Mick, Darby, Nate, and Alex waiting on benches in the hallway.

Amy hugged me and headed for the elevator. I ran into Mick’s arms and squealed into his neck.

Alex rolled his eyes and turned away from us, but Darby and Nate were quickly by my side wanting to know what happened. As fast I could get it out, I told them about the advance on the second book and the possibility of a series. Nate grabbed Darby in a bear hug and squealed into his neck. I burst into laughter. He sounded just like me. Alex moved farther away from us.

After a few more minutes of hugs, kisses, and congratulations, I asked Darby, “How did things go with Buckets? Did you get a contract?”

“No,” he said. “I think I offended the owner when I asked about the company name. He said one of his Irish ancestors invented the bucket hat. He thinks he can make the hat mainstream again and more popular than a baseball cap.”

“You have to be kidding,” I said, laughing. “I don’t know anyone who would willingly wear a bucket hat – unless maybe they were fishing.” Thoughts of the bucket had I had worn when we went deep-sea fishing in the Gulf of Mexico came to mind. Everything about the thought made me shudder.

Darby knew why I cringed, and he smiled. “The meeting was pleasant,” he said. “I left samples of my work, but I don’t think I’ll be hearing from them again.” His carefree attitude made it apparent he didn’t really care.

Mick glanced at his watch and said with a huge smile, “We’re checked out. Let’s go fishing.”

He was soon maneuvering the RV out of the city. I insisted on sitting up front with him to navigate. Nate had planned to be the navigator on this leg of the trip, but I assured him I was a whiz at reading maps and would have us out of the city in no time.

It was true. After driving all over northeast Ohio for Slimmers Weight Loss, I was very good with directions and reading maps, but I had an ulterior motive for wanting to navigate as we pulled away from the hotel.

With the map spread out before me, I directed Mick to make right and left turns until I eventually guided him onto the Gardiner Expressway traveling west. No one realized we were heading in the wrong direction until Nate stuck his head between us to see how we were doing and saw we had continued onto the QEW.

“I thought you were a pro at reading maps,” he said.

“I am,” I said. “I know exactly where we are.”

“Mick, she has you driving back toward Ohio,” he said.

“Tattletale,” I said.

Mick shot a puzzled look my way.

“Your turnoff north is just ahead,” I told him. “Take the next exit and go straight. I thought it might be nice to go out around the city and take a more scenic route.” I stepped out of my seat. “Here, Nate, you can take over.” I showed him where we were on the map, and the route I had set for Mick. He laughed when he saw how far off course I had taken us. I did feel a little guilty. I had added more than an hour to our trip.

I stepped into the living area. Alex was in the bedroom taking a nap. I sat down next to Darby on the sofa.

“What was that all about?” he asked with a grin. “Why would you deliberately send us so far out of our way?”

I glanced at Nate and Mick. They were talking about Niagara Falls and not paying attention to us.

“I talked with Sam yesterday,” I told him. “She said there were four gold bars stolen from the Pirata exhibit at the mall.”

“So?” he asked.

“Don’t freak,” I said softly, “but I think it has something to do with the man who ran into me.”

He lowered his voice, too, but said incredulously, “You can’t be serious. The man died. If he had gold bars on him, they would have found them right away.”

“I can’t tell you exactly why I think he was involved, but I do,” I said. “And then that guy giving Alex rocks was too weird. I checked all through the bag thinking the gold was in it, but there were only rocks.”

Darby shook his head to dissuade me. “Alex said the guy was friendly, and he didn’t seem like the criminal type.”

“I don’t care,” I said. “It was weird. And then there was the guy trying to get into the RV.”

“Most likely a drunk,” he said.

“Maybe,” I said. “But it could have been someone coming to get the gold.”

“What gold?” he asked. His voice went up an octave. “Susan, your imagination is out of control. This is because we’re traveling, isn’t it? Bad things happen to you when you’re away from home, so you’re making something out of this, too.”

My feelings were instantly hurt. I punched him on the arm and said, “No, I’m not. There were two construction workers eavesdropping on Sam and me at the mall. They knew Mick and I were going to Niagara Falls and Toronto this weekend. I didn’t recognize the guy who gave Alex the rocks, but when he was taking pictures at Table Rock, I saw one of the construction workers there. Alex said
the man asked him for the time and then asked him where he was staying. Who does that? I’m sure he was trying to find out where the RV was. I think they might have slipped the gold in here somewhere so they could get it across the border, and now they need to retrieve it.”

“Why didn’t they bring it over themselves?” he asked.

“There’re probably on some sort of no-fly list,” I said.

“The border isn’t an airport, Susan,” he said sarcastically.

I knew exasperation was creeping into my voice. “I know,” I said. “But I’m sure they have lists where vehicles belonging to certain people are searched whenever they cross the border. One of Mick’s friends is pulled over for a vehicle search every time, and he travels to Canada several times a year.”

Darby had made a promise to me a couple of years ago to listen and trust me whenever I felt something was amiss. It was as if a switch flipped, and he suddenly remembered his promise.

“Ok,” he said. “I’ll buy into your theory for now. Have you searched in here?”

“Not yet,” I said.

“Well, we have a six hour drive ahead of us, so we might as well look,” he said. “But you didn’t answer my question. Why send us out of our way?”

“It’s simple,” I said. “If someone watched us leave the city, I wanted it to appear we were headed for home.”

It sounded like a dumb idea the moment I said it. If someone followed us to see if we were going home, they were probably still following us.

“Did you see anyone who looked suspicious in Toronto?” he asked.

“I didn’t,” I admitted. “But it doesn’t mean they weren’t there. When we get onto less traveled roads, we should keep an eye out and make sure we aren’t being followed.”

I had a hard time reading the expression on his face, but I knew he was on my side when he slipped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me to him for a quick hug before asking with a mischievous smile, “You haven’t told Mick about any of this, have you?”

I shook my head and said, “No.”

He kept his arm around my shoulders and whispered, “If you see anyone else, or if anything strange happens while we’re at the lodge, you tell me, and we’ll tell Mick together.”

I smiled and returned his hug. There was no way I was telling Mick any of this.