Ben stood looking at the picture of Fraser's parents as they stood together outside a small, white church. Uniformed mounties stood in rigid formation behind the man he knew to be Robert Fraser. A few people dressed in the latest fashions of the mid-1950's. The men looked stern faced and proud while the women had pleasant smiles on their faces. To Ben it might as well have been a picture from a million years ago and even more miles.
"That's my mother, right there." Maggie pointed to a lady in the background with light hair and light eyes. She'd seen the boy looking intently at the old photograph and wondered what he thought.
"Yeah, you told me that you and Fraser was your half brother." The boy looked into the wistful face of the only aunt he knew he had.
"He sure is." A brighter, more cheerful expression lit up Maggie's face.
"Did you want a brother?" The lady mountie hadn't thought about that. Growing up as an only child seemed natural to her.
"Growing up I guess I knew my mother wouldn't remarry, so brothers and sisters weren't a possibility."
"I never knew what my mother would do next." Ben wandered into the bedroom in the back of the apartment. A narrow, twin sized bed lay made as neatly as any hospital's. Beside it a dark, wooden chest of drawers sat without so much as change laying on the top. A calendar hung above it, a red sunrise giving the room it's most color. A dark curtain blocked out what afternoon sunshine that had managed to filter into the city through tall buildings and traffic signals.
"Maggie, I have to report back to the consulate for a few hours." Fraser walked briskly into the bedroom, his face bordering on sour. He hated carrying the cellular device Mr. Gordon insisted he keep handy.
"Ben and I will make ourselves at home then, we'll see you when you get home." The lady in red watched him walk out the front door.
At the Canadian Consulate...
"Turnbull, good, you've pulled the files for the meeting with the Ecuadorian Consul." Fraser clamped the manilla file folder under his arm and proceeded into the boss' office. Gordon sat at his desk, his dark gray suit jacket hanging on the back of the roller chair. He didn't look up from the computer screen when he heard his top aide enter quietly.
"Good afternoon, Sir, I've called the catering service about the dinner, they've sent an estimate, it should be in your email in-box now." Fraser began ticking off the list of things he'd anticipated Mr. Gordon asking for.
"Thank you, Fraser, but that isn't why I've asked you here." The mountie stopped in his tracks. Fraser sensed a difference in Gordon's tone. "Have a seat." As usual, Fraser remained standing. "Suit yourself, I've been informed that you have a visitor, the son of one of the criminals you've put in prison, one Victoria Metcalf."
"Yes, Sir, but he's my son as well, you see..." Fraser stopped abruptly when Gordon threw up one hand to shush him. He had little patience for the mountie's over explanatory habits.
"The Canadian government is keenly interested in the boy's mother, it seems a large sum of money was stolen from a bank in Yellow Knife belonging to a prominent politician. That sum has never been accounted for despite having Ms. Metcalf in custody." Gordon stiffened his backbone, detesting such an unsavory assignment. What could you do when you're a peon in a large bureaucracy?
"Ben has little knowledge of Victoria's criminal background, Sir." The stone cold gaze in Fraser's green eyes made Gordon chill to the bone. His superiors had already cast him in the role of the villain, so the ranking consul played the part through.
"Even so, he must know something of where she may have hidden the money, I've been instructed to ask you to question him about the matter." Gordon tried to match his subordinate's intense gaze but found himself looking away. He had never seen animosity in Fraser or anything other than exemplary efficiency in his work and a few personality quirks.
"You're dismissed, Constable Fraser." Gordon leaned back against his chair, a million things on his mind, the least of them being the dinner party for the Ecuadorian representatives. Fraser turned on his heel and walked quickly out of the office.
"Constable Fraser, you have a phone call on line three." Turnbull announced before looking at the superior office. Rarely had Turnbull seen the kind of raw anger in Fraser's tight stance he saw when he walked out of Gordon's office. He started to ask what was wrong but thought better of it. Fraser just stalked off toward his office and snatched up the phone.
"Hello," The single word bounded out with force.
"Benton, I called to ask if it would be alright to invite Ray to diner with us tonight." Maggie asked hesitantly. He didn't know her half brother was capable of such a snarl.
"Diner, oh yes, that will be fine, should I pick up anything on the way home?" Fraser took a deep breath to settle himself down. He reminded himself that neither Maggie nor the boy had done anything for him to be angry about.
"No, Ben and I were just going to walk down to the market, Diefenbaker and Aurora could use a walk anyway." As fussy as he was, Dief liked the lady mountie almost as well as he liked Fraser. Benton reminded her of where the spare key was hidden before saying good-bye and hanging up.
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Victoria shuffled along the walkway between cells pushing the laundry cart like she did every Thursday. In the last six months, while in prison, she'd worked her way onto the work detail. Slowly but surely, she was beginning to accept her place in the criminal justice system. Some days she missed being able to walk through the mall, window shopping and eating whatever she chose. Other days the bank robber was glad to have a warm, dry, stable place to stay, without responsibilities or expectations.
"Hey Vic, how's life treatin' ya?" A friendly, black woman called out from inside her cell. Easily, the nearly six foot tall woman slid down off of the top bunk, landing on her feet.
"There have been better days." The dull, emotionless look in her face spoke volumes.
"How's your boy doin' ?" She asked innocently. A tear came to Victoria's eye before she could turn away.
"Ah, honey, I'm sorry, what's goin' on?" The black woman's brown eyes looked down at her sadly.
"He stole a hunter's wallet and got caught by an RCMP officer." It took the other woman a moment to remember what kind of officer that was.
"What'd they do with the little guy?" A hard eyed guard cleared his throat behind the curly haired inmate.
"I'll tell you later." Victoria gathered the other woman's clothes and continued on her rounds. She was well acquainted with the inside of the prison, having done a ten year stretch before Ben was born.
"I'm sure he'll be fine, honey." Those words hung in the air as the getaway driver walked on down the aisle. Victoria hoped and prayed Ben would turn out more like Fraser. She didn't want him to have the same kind of life she'd chosen for herself.
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