Page 74 of The Woodcarver's Model
“Do yourself a favour and, before you write him off, look for it and read it. Now!”
Mitch respected Maggie. She was always supportive of him. In spite of the feelings he had towards Rob, he searched for the computer.
Where was it? He looked around the living room. That was where he normally left it, but it wasn’t there. Maybe Kevin had used it and left it somewhere else.Snooping again,he thought. But it wasn’t in the spare room. He walked through the living room to his bedroom. Maggie just sat and watched.
There, on his dresser, was the laptop. Beside it, in a cheap glass vase, was the paper flower Rob had made for him. He picked it up and smelled it. When Mitch had placed it in the vase, he’d insisted on giving it a light spray of Rob’s cologne. So few men wore cologne anymore. It was so…last century. But on Rob…it was heavenly. What was it? “Something my sister gave me a few Christmases ago,” he’d said. ‘Straight to Heaven’, that was it. They’d laughed about the name. “Straight—I bet you the only people who wear it are gay men.”His heart swelled, and he wiped away a tear and placed the flower back in the vase. He looked at the laptop and headed back into the living room without it.
“I have no idea where that damned computer is. Kevin probably stole it. Why are you so on Rob’s side when he tried to destroy your home?”
“I…I just have this gut feeling he’s not who you think he is. Oh—one thing you might want to know. I had a chat with the RCMP from Gabriola. They said that Rob had been cleared of any and all charges that stemmed out of some African event. Does that mean anything to you? Sounded like it must have been some odd misunderstanding.”
Mitch rubbed his face hard.
“Yeah. Another odd misunderstanding.”
* * * *
Maggie left with much unsaid.
She saw that Mitch was in a fragile state. She wasn’t sure if he could handle the news that Rob had been shot. She made the executive decision to wait until tomorrow after she’d heard back from Sheila on how Rob was doing.
When she got home, she immediately set the phone tree into motion. She called Francis and Matty. They in turn called two people. In no time the whole island knew Mitch was not to hear about Rob until it was decided he could handle it. Maggie wasn’t about to lose the boy to this nightmare.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Before leaving Victoria, Estelle confirmed her meetings with three film producers in Vancouver that she had in mind for a new project. Most of her clients wrote for television and film. Rob, like some of her clients, still wrote for print, but having seen the film adaptation ofOne Man Against the Mountain,he had expressed an interest in personally adapting another one of his books for film. She had been trying to convince him to start by giving nature documentaries a shot. They were no feature films when it came to pay, but they were a start.
Estelle had just left the Rosewood Hotel Georgia, in Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood, when her phone rang. She didn’t recognise the number. It was a 250 area code. Maybe it was business, or maybe she had left something behind in Victoria.
“Estelle Fillion speaking.”
“Ms Fillion? I’m calling from the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital.”
Her voice sounded young. A bit uncertain.I am in no mood for a telemarketer at this hour.
“Do you know a Robert Hanson?”
“Yes.” Why would this telemarketer be calling about Robert? “Is there a problem?”
“Ms Fillion—I’m sorry to have to tell you this over the telephone but Mr Hanson has been in an accident. We found your name on an ICE card he was carrying in his wallet.”
“Ice?”
“In case of emergency.”
Estelle’s knees weakened. She grabbed onto a weedy sapling planted along the sidewalk.
“Ms Fillion, are you still there?”
“Yes…you said something happened to Robert. Is he okay?”
“I’m sorry, but I am only allowed to divulge certain information over the phone. I hope you understand.”
“Yes. Yes. Confidentiality. Look, I need to know if Robert is okay. If you can’t tell me then…grunt or something. One for yes, two for no.”
She gathered her strength. The one thing that kept racing around in her brain wasYou told him to fight for this guy he’d fallen for. You made him go back.
A bus accelerated past her filling the air with diesel fumes and noise.
