After forensics had torn the rink apart from top to bottom and caused Mr. Crook to lose a days' business, Fraser and Maggie left. Both mounties were silent as they walked the few blocks back to the apartment. Fraser had declined Ray's offer of a ride home, preferring instead to do his thinking on his feet. When he arrived at the old, brick building he heard a familiar voice.
"Hello, Son, I see the local authorities haven't found the boy yet." Robert Fraser stood at the stove, stirring a pot of pasta as it bubbled furiously.
"No Dad, they haven't." Fraser tried very hard to hold his tongue around his father, but something about the old man irritated him.
"What's for dinner?" Maggie walked into the tiny kitchen and looked at the pasta boiling.
"Chicken Alfredo with elbow macaroni." The elder Fraser shrugged and continued stirring.
"I thought you couldn't affect this world." Maggie wondered, her brow furrowing for a moment.
"Sometimes he can, sometimes he can't." Benton answered from the living room. He almost didn't hear the confounded cellular device vibrating on the coffee table. Puzzled, he studied the ID, 'Blocked', then answered.
"Constable Benton Fraser, we have your son, Ben. In exchange we want you to retrieve the stolen money Victoria Metcalf hid in Fortitude Pass." Fraser picked up the pen and pad he kept handy and began writing notes for later.
"I have no idea where the money is, Fortitude Pass is several hundred square miles of desolate landscape." Fraser racked his brain thinking of the time he and Victoria had spent trapped by the snow storm in that pass and the days they'd spent walking back to the outpost. He had caught up to her at the top of the pass just as the storm began to roll in overhead. There had been no way of determining exactly how long she'd been there before he caught up to her.
"You have seventy-two hours to find the money, after that the boy dies." The male voice sounded cold and dispassionate. "Good luck, Constable Fraser." A click on the other end ended the call.
"Maggie, the kidnappers called, they want me to retrieve the money from Fortitude Pass in exchange for Ben, I have seventy-two hours." Fraser had his hat on and his leather jacket as he walked into the kitchen.
"I'll call Ray and have him track the call, it's slim, but it's a lead." She looked both worried and hopeful at the same time.
"Thank you kindly, Maggie." He turned to leave, his usually swift gait taking him halfway across the living room before she could catch up.
"Where are you going, Benton?" He looked down at his feet before looking into his sister's face.
"There are only a handful of people who have the number to my consulate cell phone; Constable Turnbull, you, and Ray, to name three, I'm going to speak to the other." A harsh, determined glint in his eye concerned Maggie. She'd rarely seen anything but goodwill in her brother's face.
Mark Gordon's house...
Rosie had left a plastic container of lasagna in the refrigerator and a salad to go with it. All Mark Gordon had to do was heat it up and eat. It's hard to eat with a guilty conscience though. He thought about the boy he and two others had hustled into the back of the rental and how scared and lonely he must be. The CLO wasn't a bad man at heart but he was selfish and rather petty by nature. The greedy CLO poured himself his second, generous glass of red wine and tried to eat. A loud knock on the door interrupted his drab thoughts. A few moments later he jerked the door of his narrow town house open.
"Constable Fraser, hello." After a second collecting his thoughts, Gordon let the man in.
"Good evening, Mr. Gordon." Hat in hand, the mountie stepped inside the well decorated entrance. Heavily frosted glass sconces hung like gently floating flowers along the short hall. Mail sat unopened on a cherry wood hall table.
"I'm surprised to see you here, Constable Fraser, I would have thought you'd be spending time with your son." Gordon fidgeted with the change in his pockets as he led the intimidating officer into his living room.
"I would be except that Ben was kidnapped earlier today." Fraser spoke without preamble. It was all Gordon could do to feign surprise at his subordinate's words.
"What can I do to help, Constable Fraser, you must be a wreck." Gordon took a seat in the maroon arm chair he favored.
"Yes Sir, you can tell me who's behind it." Benton stood, his hat in his hands turning slowly as he waited for an answer. Gordon's eyes flashed at the outright accusation.
"What in the world makes you think I have anything to do with your son's kidnapping?" He gripped the tumbler in his hand more tightly.
"There are approximately five people who know the number to the consulate cell phone issued to me and you're the only one could be persuaded to hand it over." Fraser watched his boss like a hawk. He'd seen him day in and day out and knew the man as well as he knew himself. Gordon threw the last of the wine back and set the glass tumbler on the end table to his right.
"Constable Fraser, an accusation of this nature could put an end to your career, tread lightly." The CLO rose to his feet, ready to strike.
"Better to end my career than to see the end of my son, Mr. Gordon, now tell me who has Ben." His words came in a tone of voice that brooked no hesitation from the one hearing it. But then Gordon had never been particularly bright. Taking a step forward, he deliberated whether he should call the police or confess. Either way, he felt trapped.
"I had no choice in the matter, Constable Fraser." Gordon turned back around, feelings of cowardice and shame flooding through him. He'd always been a civil servant, guns and covert operations scared the absolute shit out of him, always had.
"Who has my son, Mr. Gordon?" Fraser's voice rose a notch, still calm but more insistent.
"Henry Stonesbury, it was his idea, at first to scare the boy into talking, that didn't work so he had someone call Victoria, she's the one who gave us Fortitude Pass, she says you're the only one who knows how to find it." Suddenly exhausted, Gordon sank back into the arm chair, his hand rubbing his chin as if it would clear the bad words away.
"That tells me who has been, but that doesn't tell me where he is." The diligent mountie pressed on. Gordon looked up at him, helpless.
"I don't know where the boy is, Constable Fraser, the other two booted me out of the vehicle on the corner of State street." Gordon had had a rough twenty-four hours and didn't see an end to it in sight. Fraser pulled out his cell phone and dialed Ray's number. Ten minutes later the lieutenant and two uniformed officers knocked on the front door.
"Your call was kinda cryptic there, Fraser, what's going on?" Ray asked as he tired to peek in the house around Fraser. He saw the mountie's boss sitting in the living room looking like a crumpled wreck.
"Mr. Gordon has admitted to conspiracy to kidnap and most likely fraud." Fraser smoothed his eye brow with his thumbnail, his mind a thousand miles away.
"He's one of 'em that kidnapped your boy, uh, Ben?" Ray shook his head, wondering what other plot twists were coming.
"Yes, he is the smaller of the three men who abducted Ben, the others left him on a corner along State street." Fraser spoke calmer than he felt. Frustration and urgency were two, driving forces within the Canadian. He never imagined his life with a child, a son, before. A few days of getting to know him and Fraser couldn't imagine his life without Ben. They'd only scratched the surface getting to know each other.
"We'll get Ben back, Fraser, you can count on it." Ray briefly laid a reassuring hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Thank you, Ray." The mountie smiled a fraction before pulling on his Stetson. Maggie followed one of the uniformed officers into the house. Seeing a very concerned Fraser she stopped short.
"Fraser, do you know where he is yet?" She laid her small hand on his arm as she searched his face for the answer. He only shook his head.
"What's yer next move, Fraser?" Ray asked, narrowing his pale blue eyes. Fraser was keeping something from him and he knew it.
"I have a phone call to make."
Scene Break
"Victoria Metcalf, there's a phone call for you." The dull eyed guard that had retrieved her earlier came again as the inmate folded laundry. Her work detail was a monotonous one but at least around the driers and hot water tanks was warm in the winter. Victoria laid the half folded sheet on the waist high table and followed the hefty, lady guard out of the gray and white room and the half dozen other women working. Another guard escorted her to the small cubicle containing a desk and a phone.
"Hello." She said as if asking a question.
"Victoria, this is Benton," He paused, unsure of what exactly to say. As usual, Fraser was all at sea talking to her.
"Did you find Ben, is he alright?" Victoria leaned forward, biting her nails as she waited impatiently for the mountie to answer.
"No, no I haven't found him yet, I'm calling to ask you about Fortitude Pass, Victoria." She heard Benton sigh, a jagged, tired sound.
"I know, Benton, they called me earlier today, I told them you knew how to find it." She pulled herself together a little, her nimble mind focusing.
"Victoria, as I recall, the money was never recovered, it's long since rotted away if you hid it in Fortitude Pass." The mountie spoke logically. Victoria had wondered if he were human or a Star Trek Vulcan, with his logic and calm exterior. She'd pounded her fists against his chest and he'd done nothing to stop her.
"I thought that if I told them you knew where it was they'd give you time to find it, time to find Ben. You promised you'd take care of him, Benton." The convicted felon's voice became sharp, insistent.
"I will find him, Victoria, I don't make a promise I can't keep." He looked up from the desk to the ceiling above, wishing the answers were printed overhead in bold letters.
"You don't make a promise you don't keep," She spat venomously "Like the promise you made me all those years ago when we were stuck in the storm, that you'd do everything in your power to help me, because those ten years in prison sure felt like a let down to me." Bitterness rolled off of her in waves. Benton felt the punch of her words as well as any blow he'd ever received physically. He'd long since quit feeling guilty for bringing her to justice and yet on occasion it would catch up to him and overwhelm him. Sometimes, when things were quiet, Fraser would close his eyes and remember how it had felt to feel her in his arm and wonder if she ever did the same. Her beautiful voice was as fresh in his memory as the night he'd first heard it.
"Find my son, Benton, find our son." Victoria's last sentence came out softly, as though she were crying.
"Victoria, if I had let you go, would it have changed anything, I mean between us?" The question left Fraser's mouth like word vomit. He hadn't even known he intended to say it aloud.
"I don't know, Benton, I guess we'll never know for certain." Her answer didn't fill any of the hollowness he'd spent years trying to fill or ignore. Sometimes the RCMP just didn't fill the void left in his life.
"If you'd ran away with me on that train years ago, would it have changed things, Benton?" Her words were soft, silky, like water rushing across a creek bed.
"I would have gotten to know my son." The mountie answered, barely audible, his eyes closed as he spoke.
"Point taken, Benton." The inmate relented. It was always a dance between them, with music only the two of them heard. Fraser could never quite keep his footing as Victoria led the way.
"I'll find Ben, Victoria, you have my word." He said good-bye and hung up the phone in the pitch black office of the Canadian Consulate. Alone in the dark, Fraser let the tears he'd never been able to shed fall. Cold and wet, they slid like raindrops down his cheeks as the emptiness of a loveless life engulfed him. No one knew what it was like to be Benton Fraser. The mountie had always longed to have a loving family like his co-workers. His wife wouldn't have had to be a supermodel or his children members of MENSA, just a loving family. After a shuddering sob he felt a warm, heavy body lean against his knee. Kneeling down, Fraser took Diefenbaker's face in his hands and scratched the old wolf's chin.
"I can't help but love her, what else am I to do?" The mountie let the white and caramel wolf move in closer to comfort him.
Scene Break
Somewhere south of midnight the mountie and his canine companion arrived at his apartment door. The key slid easily into the dead bolt and turned it quickly. Stepping inside he saw Maggie waiting up for him, Ray beside her on the couch asleep with his arm on the back of the loveseat.
"Benton, good," She looked up at him, relieved to see her half brother. "I have coffee in the kitchen if you'd like some." The lady mountie stood up, her pale eyes searching Fraser's for any sign of hope. She worried about him despite knowing from first hand experience how well her half brother could take care of himself.
"Thank you kindly, Maggie." He managed a tired smile as he hung his hat and jacket on a hook near the door. Ray heard the sound of voices and began to stir. It had been many a moon since he'd stayed awake all night for any reason.
"Hey, Fraser, you're finally home." Blinking quickly, the lieutenant sat up and stretched.
"Yes, I had a phone call to make, it took longer than I had anticipated." He looked out the living room window, avoiding Ray's steady gaze.
"We took Gordon into custody, he sang like a bird, but he doesn't know where the other kidnappers took Ben, just that they let him out at State street. Authorities in Alaska are probably questioning Stonesbury as we speak." Ray brought down a tightly curled fist onto his knee as he wiped sleep out of his eyes.
"Have you called the FBI yet, Ray?" Fraser asked, turning around from looking out at the street.
"No, not yet, I'm dragging my feet on that one, I don't want those Washington types screwing up the investigation." Working with the federal agency had never gone smoothly for the CPD lieutenant.
"Are you sure that's a wise move?" Fraser asked, his mind moving in a thousand different directions.
"I can buy a few more days, after that I don't know." Ray ran his hand down his face as if to change the view when he looked up again.
"Thank you kindly, Ray, hopefully the FBI won't be necessary." A determined glint shone in the mountie's green eyes.
"Benton, let me make you something to eat." Maggie insisted. She padded barefoot into the kitchen and dipped out a hearty bowl of moose stew with potatoes, carrots, green beans, peas, and all manner of vegetables. With a chunk of biscuit pone it tasted divine. Weary to the bone, Fraser sat down at the kitchen table and dug a spoon into the steaming, meaty broth. Maggie shot Ray a concerned glance. They'd both seen the redness around Fraser's eyes and the way they glistened like wet peridots.
"What's our next move there, Fraser?" The police lieutenant asked, waiting for the mountie to unload himself about what had happened at Mr. Gordon's house. He studied the Canadian carefully, if anyone knew Fraser it was Ray Kowalski. Then again, that had been before he had a son to consider.
"We find Ben." Fraser spoke without looking at either of the people most concerned about him.
Scene Break