Chapter 7It was almost midnight as Ray sat on the sofa at Maggie's cabin, with Maggie stretched out beside him, resting her head in his lap. Ray gently stroked her hair with the back of his hand. "Is that medication working yet?" asked Maggie sleepily.
"Yeah," replied Ray, "feelin' better already." He sighed with frustration. He'd really felt uncomfortable when they'd got home and he'd hardly been exerting himself. Fraser had taken Helen home and Maggie had stopped into the station on the way back to drop in Ray's camera. Someone there would be able to develop the pictures and then they could try to identify the man. The licence plate from his car was registered to a hire company in Moosejaw, so Maggie was hoping they would be able to give her some information in the morning.
"Ray," began Maggie, quietly, "can I ask you something?"
"Sure," shrugged Ray, lifting her right hand in his and gently tracing the lines on her palm with his finger.
"About Benton," continued Maggie.
Ray frowned a little. "Er, yeah," he said, slightly puzzled. He lifted her hand to his mouth and tenderly kissed her knuckles.
"I think he keeps trying to tell me about something, something from his past, something that he thinks I should know about, but he can't quite bring himself to talk about it." Maggie paused for a minute, expecting Ray to say something, but he didn't. Instead he uncurled Maggie's index finger and drew it into his mouth. Maggie shivered with delight at the sensation of his tongue on her fingertip, but she quickly pulled her hand away and frowned at him. "Ray, not now. I'm worried about him, is he alright?"
Ray smiled. "Sorry," he said a little sheepishly, "it's just that ya look so...anyway, er, yeah, Fraser's fine. He's OK now. We talked about it once, er, I, er..."
"It's alright Ray," Maggie interrupted him, "I'm not asking you to betray his confidence. I just want to know that he's alright. Whatever happened, it hurt him very badly didn't it. Does it have anything to do with that scar on his back?"
"Yeah," replied Ray. He was getting rather uncomfortable talking to Maggie about this now. "There was a lot more to it than that though."
"I thought so," sighed Maggie, "I can see it in his eyes sometimes."
"Y'know, I'm sure he'll tell ya one day, when he's ready," said Ray, remembering the time that Fraser had finally opened up and told him all about Victoria and how she'd tried to destroy his life. Ray hated that woman and he'd never even met her. How anyone could do anything like that to the person they claimed to love, to Fraser of all people, he would never understand. He was just thankful that his buddy had had Ray Vecchio there because if ever Fraser had needed a friend, he'd needed one then.
They heard Fraser opening the door. "Ah," he said as he walked in, "I thought you'd both be asleep."
"Can't sleep," replied Ray.
"Me either," added Maggie, sitting herself up. "How's Helen?"
"She's alright," replied Fraser, slightly hesitantly. "Today has been an extremely difficult day for her, but I think she'll be fine. She was tired but she wanted to talk for a while."
"It's good to talk, huh buddy?" said Ray, giving Fraser a friendly punch in the arm. Fraser gave his friend a knowing smile. "At least she has answers, kinda anyway," continued Ray, "do ya think she'll get any more blackouts? I mean, I know we think that seein' the bastard around here is what, er, triggered them, but now what?"
"I really don't know at this juncture. The problem was being caused by the suppressed memories, so as that is no longer an issue, then I would suggest not," replied Fraser. "I asked Danny to call here if he is concerned about her at all. I didn't go into details, I simply said she'd had a bad day. He was aware that she had been crying, I believe."
"He's a good kid," said Ray.
"Tea?" offered Fraser, heading towards the kitchen.
"Not for me thanks buddy," said Ray, easing himself to his feet, "I already had two cups. I'll be up all night in the can if I drink any more."
"Understood," smiled Fraser.
"I'll have one more," said Maggie, "are you alright Ray? I'll be there soon."
"OK baby," said Ray, carefully leaning forward to give her a kiss. "I'll, er, warm up your side of the bed." He winked at her and grinned as Fraser blushed and tugged at his collar.
XxX
The next morning, Ray and Fraser both wanted to accompany Maggie to the RCMP station to see if they could help with the investigation. As she got to her desk, one of Maggie's colleagues, Constable Ashe came running over with the photographs of their suspect that Ray had taken the previous night. "I put this picture out on the wire first thing this morning," he said excitedly, pointing to one of the clearest images, "and I've just had a call from the Thunder Bay Police Service, they're faxing something over now, they think they've identified him already. Seems there's several outstanding arrest warrants out on him for a variety of violent crimes."
"That doesn't surprise me in the least," said Fraser.
The telephone on Maggie's desk rang and she picked up the receiver. "Constable McKenzie RCMP, how can I be of assistance?" She listened to the voice on the other end with interest. "Please could you fax all the details? Thank you kindly." She replaced the receiver and looked at Fraser and Ray. "That was our Edmonton office, they've also matched the picture to a man they want to question on drugs charges."
"Popular guy," sneered Ray, clenching his fists at the thought of this guy running around in Maggie's home town. "Ya got a name yet?"
"Edmonton know him as Christopher Brace," replied Maggie, "but I doubt that's what he's known as in Thunder Bay, or anywhere else for that matter."
"Agreed," nodded Fraser.
"We have to nail this bastard," said Ray, desperately trying to keep his anger under control. He stood up suddenly, with the intention of pacing about, and immediately wished he hadn't as the muscles in his side complained painfully and Ray reacted with a sharp intake of breath.
"Are you alright?" asked a concerned Fraser.
"Yeah," replied Ray, rather unconvincingly. "Is it time for more of my pills yet?"
"Sorry Ray," replied Fraser, "you can't have any more for over an hour. Are you in severe discomfort? If so I can recommend..."
"C'mon Fraser," Ray said, before his buddy had a chance to finish. He picked up Fraser's hat and passed it to him. "Let's go, I gotta get out here. Can't we just, er, ride around, y'know, like we used to. Let's go talk to some of the kids from last night."
Fraser glanced at Maggie. "Ray, remember we are not officially involved in this investigation."
"Fraser!" Ray exploded. "I cannot sit her waitin' for faxes to come in. I gotta do somethin'. For Helen, y'know."
"I understand," replied Fraser, picking up one of the photographs from Maggie's desk. "Maggie, if it's alright with you, I think Ray and I could be most useful if we're out there asking questions. Maybe we will obtain a lead as to where we can locate Mr Brace."
"Take my jeep," said Maggie, "and be careful, both of you." Maggie handed her keys to Fraser and kissed him on the cheek. Then she and Ray kissed, causing Fraser his usual amount of embarrassment.
XxX
Fraser, Ray and Diefenbaker drove back into town. They started at the library, where some of the local students spent a lot of their time during the day. Fraser showed the photographs to various people, but they all denied ever seeing Brace before, although Fraser and Ray both recognised that some of them were lying. He'd clearly been making quite a reputation for himself locally.
They left the library and walked along Mackenzie Road towards the coffee shop. "I must say Ray, you appear to be more comfortable walking around today," Fraser observed.
"Yeah," replied Ray, "I can still feel it, but I don't feel so, er, restricted any more."
"That's good," nodded Fraser, but before he could say anything else, they were distracted by a teenage girl running out of an empty shop, clearly distressed. They ran over to her.
"What's wrong?" asked Ray urgently.
"It's Asiaq," she said, desperately pointing back towards the building, "something's wrong, I told her to stop, but..."
Fraser ran into the shop, followed by Dief, Ray and the girl to find another young girl slumped on the floor surrounded by various items of drug paraphernalia. Ray stopped dead in his tracks, he immediately recognised the signs of an overdose after having witnessed so many on the streets of Chicago. "She's still alive Ray," said Fraser and Ray quickly called for an ambulance as Fraser fought to save the girl.
XxX
Helen walked out into the waiting room at the hospital, looking quite worried. "How is she?" asked Fraser, rising from his chair.
"Alive," replied Helen, "thanks to you." Fraser just shrugged, a little embarrassed. "I've done all I can for her," continued Helen, "we'll know more in a few hours."
Ray nodded sadly. "It's not even lunchtime," he said, "I can't believe this."
Fraser nodded his head in agreement. "Her father wants to talk to you," Helen continued.
Fraser and Ray both looked puzzled, but then they saw a man appear behind Helen. He had long grey hair and was dressed in a mixture of jeans and traditional Inuit clothing. He walked across to where Fraser and Ray were standing. Fraser suddenly felt a little uncomfortable. From what Helen was saying, his daughter was still in a very critical condition and he didn't want to accept the man's thanks prematurely. The man remained silent and placed his hand in the centre of Fraser's chest, staring unblinking into Fraser's blue eyes. Helen and Ray watched, unsure of exactly what was going on. The man spoke quietly in a language that they didn't understand, but Fraser seemed to know exactly what had been said. He nodded twice. "Thank you kindly," he said solemnly. The man smiled.
Then the man turned to Ray. "All I did was call 911," said Ray, looking to Fraser slightly nervously. He didn't understand the ways of the Inuit people, although Fraser had told him a lot about their traditions, but he still found their spiritual side a little disconcerting. He'd never really had a spiritual side himself and he didn't want to offend the man at all, but he was beginning to feel a little freaked out.
The man placed his hand on Ray's chest now. Ray looked straight ahead and this time the man placed the thumb of his other hand on Ray's forehead. He stared into Ray's eyes with such intensity that for a moment Ray thought he could feel something in his head, but that was crazy he thought to himself. The man spoke again in his native language, then he released Ray and smiled at him. Ray glanced across at Fraser, not entirely sure what he should do now. "Er, thanks," he said and watched as the man headed back towards his daughter's hospital room. As soon as the man was out of earshot, Ray turned to Fraser. "What did he, er what did he just say to me?" he asked.
Fraser thought for a moment. "The closest approximation would be 'Welcome home'," he said with a shrug.
"What did he say to you?" enquired Ray, rather confused by the explanation.
"That's not important," said Fraser, quietly, coating his lower lip with his tongue. "What is important, is that we apprehend Christopher Brace as soon as possible."
"Is that his name?" said Helen quietly.
"It is a name that he uses," explained Fraser. Helen looked a little pale. "Are you alright?" he asked her, gently placing his hand on her shoulder.
Helen shuddered and looked at the floor. "I'm not sure," she replied in a low voice, "just hearing his name. I don't know..." her voice trailed off and she looked up at Fraser and tried to smile.
"Would you like to go outside for a moment?" asked Fraser, softly.
Helen shook her head and managed to smile now. "Thank you," she said, covering Fraser's hand with hers, "but I have a patient in there." She took a deep breath and headed back towards the young Inuit woman's room.
They turned to leave but were surprised to see Danny running towards them. "Constable Fraser, is Asiaq alright? They said she was here. I've only known her a few days, but she seemed so nice."
"Sit down Danny," Fraser suggested and Danny did as he was told. "She is in a very serious condition at the moment," Fraser explained and Danny listened as the Mountie went on to talk about the possible effects of the overdose. "Is there anything you want to ask?" Fraser finished.
Danny shrugged. "I want to help," he said.
Fraser glanced at Ray, before replying. "There's nothing you can do here," he said gently.
"No, I mean I want to help catch this creep," continued Danny. "I've had an idea. How about if I put out the word that I want more stuff. Y'know, set up a meeting, a deal."
"No way Danny," Ray shook his head. "There's no way we're gonna let ya do that. Too dangerous. Sorry kid."
"But I want to do this," insisted Danny. "One of my friends could die because of him."
Ray sighed. Danny was being very brave, but of course he didn't know about the connection with Helen. "Brace is a really nasty piece of work," he said. "He most likely murdered the, er, security guy and he's wanted all over Canada too. Sorry, but you're not doin' it, no way."
Danny got up. "I want to help," he snapped, "I can handle myself you know."
"Danny, your offer is greatly appreciated," began Fraser, "but Ray's right. It's too dangerous. We'll find another way to bring him to justice, don't worry."
Danny shook his head and left, mumbling to himself.
