Away We Go …
Ray pulled up and honked the horn precisely at five-oh-five am. Meg came down the front stoop smirking while Ben whistled. Dief walked slowly toward the Riv, tail hanging.
"Hey, Benny, Inspector," Ray waved as he leaned on the front fender, coffee in hand.
"It's a fine morning, Ray. How are you?" Ben clapped his friend on the shoulder.
"How are you this happy this early?" Ray shook his head.
"Let's go, Detective. It's a long drive." Meg interrupted just as Ben opened his mouth.
"Yeah, so it is." Ray hefted himself off the fender.
Duffel bags stowed, the investigators set off.
From Chicago to Williamsport lay almost one hundred miles. Thankfully, Ma Vecchio had packed a picnic basket while Ray brought a cooler of various drinks – mostly bottled water.
We'll be out on the open road by sunrise. Care to spell me later, Inspector?" Ray asked as he headed north-west out of the city.
"Yes, of course, Detective." Meg answered like a distracted student.
"What's so difficult, it's a yes or no question." Ray pondered.
He drove a few more miles in near silence, Dief snoring rhythmically. Out of the corner of his eye, Ray saw Ben jerk to his right and a fleeting grin cross his features. Five minutes later Ben jerked again and Ray heard a stifled snicker from the backseat.
"Alright, what's goin' on back there?" Ray demanded.
"Nothing," Ben and Meg said in unison.
"No way is 'nothing' goin' on. Tell me or I'll pull this car over right now." Ray laid on the breaks and began edging toward the shoulder.
"It's nothing, Ray." Ben insisted as he scratched his eyebrow.
"Benny, you're a horrible liar, and lying to your best friend of all people." Ray put the Riv in park. He stared at Fraser for a long moment.
Meg felt a turning point going on between them. She couldn't let their relationship change – Ben's and Ray's friendship.
"We are officially a couple." Meg stated flatly.
Both men turned to stare gape-mouthed at her. There – she'd said it.
"What? It's the truth." she said defensively.
"A couple, you mean as in boyfriend and girlfriend, dating, kissing and hugging?"
"Yes, Detective, that's generally what couples do." Meg replied dryly, brow arched.
Ray leaned his head against the steering wheel.
"Ray …" Ben began. Meg laid a supportive hand on his shoulder.
"I'm okay. It's okay." Ray sat up again, "Sheesh, Fraser, took you long enough."
"I wasn't aware it was a timed event." Ben remarked – deadpan. The detective chuckled.
"Not timed, but definitely overdue." Ray shook his head as he prepared to pull back into the flow of traffic.
Outside Chicago Ray needed a navigator.
"Hey, Fraser, dig that map outta the glove compartment, will ya?" A few minutes later the Mountie pulled a ratty wad of paper from the bottom of the compartment.
"Hmm, is that blood?" Ray, Meg and Dief averted their eyes as he touched the stained paper to his tongue.
"Ugg, I can't believe I kiss him knowing he does that." Meg thought.
"Oh, no, Francesca's fingernail polish, 'Deep Desire' I believe." Ben began straightening the balled mess. Two seconds later he'd folded it neatly.
"Here you are, Ray, though I believe it's dreadfully out of date – 1957. There's been considerable highway construction since then. Perhaps we should …"
"Yeah, yeah, get a new map. Anyway, that one'll at least point us in the right direction." Ray interrupted – as usual.
"It would be more efficient with a current map, Detective." Meg interjected authoritatively.
"Do you see one, Inspector?" Ray argued.
"No,"
"Well, we'll have to do it my way."
"We'll be lost within the hour." Meg muttered, sitting back against the seat.
Sure enough, Ray pulled the Riv over at a rundown Chevron station. He grumbled all the way inside. Dief followed, needing a bush break.
"Are you alright, Margaret?" Ben twisted in his seat to talk to her. She gave him a pleased smile.
"I'm fine. I was wondering how you were." She scooted forward to touch his cheek. A moment later they heard kissy noises from outside.
"C'mon, get a room already." Ray climbed in and tossed a new map at Fraser's head.
"Must you be so crass, Detective?" Meg shot back, glaring at Ray.
"I'm not doing anything to you I wouldn't do to my own sisters, ask Fraser." Ray fired the car up a moment after letting Dief inside.
"Ray, please don't antagonize Margaret." Ben said flatly.
Ray caught an edge to his voice he'd rarely heard.
"Alright, Fraser."
Williamsport lay another forty-five minutes ahead. For the investigators it seemed like an eternity. Dief slept through it.
At the edge of town they pulled into a locally owned hotel. Meg had called and reserved two rooms the day before. Like most small hotels, this one; The Badger Inn, lay in a straight line broken by doors and windows. Meg went inside to register and collect the room keys while Ray helped Ben. Dief trotted around sniffing things randomly. By the time she'd finished, the fellas had carried their luggage to the doors outside the reserved rooms.
"So, who's bunkin' with who?" Ray asked, hands on his hips.
"You and Ben should share a room." Meg volunteered quickly. Both men looked at her in confusion.
"I don't want to get up in the middle of the night to let the wolf out." Meg explained lamely.
"Maybe they'll talk." she thought.
Diefenbaker sniffed in disgust.
"Yeah, sure, I'll let him out." Ray shrugged. Meg handed him the key to room on101, the last room on the right. She claimed 102 all for herself.
Half an hour later everyone met in the guys' room for a strategy meeting. Ben sat on the bed, his let up as he thumbed through the phone book when Meg walked in. Ray sat at the small table sorting through the picnic basket.
"Hello, Meg," Ben looked up, grinning at her.
"Ben," she smiled back, her heart fluttering. He was all hers.
"What am I, chopped liver?" Ray groused, waving a salami and cheese sandwich.
"Ray, don't be silly." Ben frowned.
"What is our first step?" Meg said as she sat down beside Ben.
"We visit the original crime scene." Ben spoke first. He held his finger in place halfway through the phone book.
"Alright, now we're getting' somewhere." Ray rubbed his hands together in anticipation. A few minutes later they were on the road again. The clock read eight am.
Just as Joshua described, a bus stop sat at a four-way stop. Flowers and a wreath marked Mrs Jackson's death scene.
"It's been more than a month, what do you expect to find, Fraser?" Meg queried from the back seat as they pulled into a nearby parking lot.
"Very little, tire tracks perhaps." He frowned as he maneuvered his casted leg out of the car. Meg knew he felt sorely tired of wearing it.
Dief sniffed around while Ben studied tire tracks and bits of trash along the curb. Meg and Ray watched the proceedings with skepticism; even thought they'd seen Fraser solve two dozen cases the same way.
"What'd ya find?" Ray asked once he'd slid behind the steering wheel.
"As expected, very little." Ben held up a few bits of debris.
"Okay, now where?" Ray shrugged.
"Mrs. Reitman's house, please, Ray." Ben pulled a slip of paper from inside his Stetson – the Reitman's address.
"Shouldn't we examine the Mayor's vehicle, compare the headlight glass?" Meg leaned forward, between the guys.
"As you said, it's been over a month. The suspect has repaired the damage by now." Fraser explained.
"And the house fire is a fresh scene." Meg added, her own mind spinning.
"Precisely." Ben affirmed.
Joshua and his mother lived at the end of a private drive two and a half miles from town. Trees dotted open fields along each side. Charred remains of a modest, one story house lay smoldering at the end of the drive. Fire trucks and emergency response vehicles had torn up the shallow yard between the gravel drive and the porch. A porch swing, somehow undamaged, sat on the cement slab near the front entrance. Ben and Dief again began to sniff and sift through the wreckage.
"You're a Mountie, how does Fraser do it?" Ray caught Meg's arm as the others walked ahead. Meg looked at the detective squarely for a moment, gauging his intentions. She decided he genuinely wanted to know.
"I wish I knew. I've never met anyone like him." She answered simply – honestly.
"Yeah, me either." Ray agreed quietly. Meg wondered for a minute if the detective resented Fraser's for his accomplishments, for his skills.
Ray broke the awkwardness by shouting – "You got anything, Fraser?" He ambled up to the spot where the Mountie knelt, examining the hulk of a gas cook stove. Meg watched them for a moment. She envied Ray his friendship with Ben. They'd spent time together she couldn't claim. Suddenly, she felt like a third wheel.
Dief nudged her hand. Looking down at him, Meg heard the wolf whine.
"He loves me, doesn't he?" Meg asked, ruffling the wolf's ears. Dief began wagging his tail as if to say yes.
"I love him too." Meg smiled.
"Meg," Ben called, waving for her to join him and Ray.
***