Chapter 11 Celluci and the Selchies (Silences)
Vicki leaned her elbows on her desk and steepled her fingers. She tapped her extended index fingers against her lower lip considering.
It was late afternoon and her meeting with Linda Gaelan and Wayne Franklin was well into its second hour.
The afternoon sun, which had lain in slatted bars across the floor, had shifted slowly with time's passage until now it painted stripes of light across the lap of Linda Gaelan where she sat fidgeting in her chair.
Linda's eyes travelled around the room, never settling or lingering anywhere for more than a second or two. She would meet Vicki's silent gaze and then her eyes would slide away to the side and resume their roving.
Linda's father Wayne Franklin sat stoic in his seat. His feet rested flat on the floor and his hands lay relaxed on the chair arms. He waited, if not at ease then certainly more controlled than his daughter as the silence in the room expanded.
Vicki listened to the muffled clatter of Coreen typing at her keyboard in the outer office. The silence assumed uncomfortable proportions.
She could sense that there was something…something that Linda Gaelan was hiding. Vicki's instincts said that Linda knew more about her husband's disappearance that she simply wasn't sharing.
This was an old interrogation trick from her days on the force.
Vicki knew if you waited out a suspect in silence that sometimes the silence worked in a way that the most aggressive questioning would not.
When you silently waited, the suspect would inevitably attempt to fill the uncomfortable anticipation of that silence with chatter. It was just as inevitable that in that chatter a suspect would impart valuable? information unintentionally.
Admittedly it was a more effective technique in a precinct interrogation room with a suspect under arrest, than it was with a paying client in her office who was free to leave at any time. Still Vicki would have laid odds on the fact that Linda Gaelan would crack.
As Vicki waited for the silence to reach an unbearable level, she considered her conversation with Mike late yesterday evening. She had used the Nelson silent treatment on him, and the information she had gleaned had prompted her meeting with the clients that now sat before her.
***
"Hey Vic" Mike's voice floated from the receiver, "why am I not surprised that you are picking up on the second ring, at…what, 2:00 AM Toronto time? Are you staying up late waiting around for anyone in particular to call?"
Vicki cleared her throat and hoped that the disappointment that it wasn't Henry on the other end of the line didn't show in her voice.
"Only you Mike, only you," Vicky said. "So you got anything for me?"
She had, through judicious application of long silences and a practiced form of emotional coercion, eventually extracted detailed information on all three of the Vancouver murders under current investigation, and also learned that, including Orion Gaelan, there were three missing persons associated with the environmental activist groups.
She had shared with Mike the information that Coreen had gleaned from her research. Two more activists, both female and both onetime members of the crew of the Lila were also reported missing, by family members. Unlike Gaelan there appeared to be no activities on either their phone records or credit cards.
Coreen was still digging through news reports and footage of the protests surrounding the spring seal hunt and the confrontations between the protesters and the sealers. There were also mountains of reports on poaching and confrontations between activists and those caught poaching.
Vicki had an unconfirmed suspicion that the Lila had not sailed to the ice from Lunenburg as she was supposed to because of pressure brought to bear on her captain.
She had had one unsatisfactory telephone conversation with the captain who had at first been cooperative in answering her inquiries about Orion Gaelan but who had become sullen and withdrawn at the continued questions about his failure to sail as planned. Mike had agreed that it bore further investigation.
Mike had also shared additional information that had turned up in regards to Orion Gaelan's credit card and banking records. It seemed that he had credit cards that his wife knew nothing about and a bank account in his sole name. There were multiple cash withdrawals and credit card charges recently dated in both Vancouver and Victoria. Either someone had access to his cards and codes, or Mike and Vicki needed to revise their original estimation that Gaelan had been the victim of a retributive hit.
Vicki had a gut feeling that Gaelan was tied up in the murders in some way but that he was alive and for some reason hiding from his wife in either Vancouver or Victoria.
Before they had broken off the call, Vicki asked the one question that Mike had been dreading.
"So, what's up with Henry? I know you Celluci; you would have found out where he lives and driven by his place to check it out first thing."
"I told you Vic, I never want to see that blood sucking freak again. And if you feel that you have to talk to him, tell him to stay the fuck away from me," Mike said forcefully. The whole time thinking, it's sort of the truth, I only said I never want to see him again, which is true, unless she asks me outright if I have already seen him since I arrived here then it won't really be a lie.
Mike couldn't help but remember, in the restaurant a few hours earlier, the terrible pressure of the vampire's 'otherness.'
The Henry he had seen here in Vancouver was a different creature than the contained graphic novelist of Toronto. For a few moments Mike had witnessed the immense pain and isolation that underlay the danger and power of the vampire, witnessed the terrible separation from humanity, as though he had been cast adrift, or cast aside.
Mike hadn't changed his mind about the observations he had made as he watched Fitzroy lose a portion of his famous control. Vicki had taken something from Henry, something that had kept him human, and the vampire mourned its loss.
Mike kept his silence, he didn't want to be the one to have to explain that to Vicki.
"I'll speak to Henry and ask him to keep his distance," she said in response, choosing not to confide that she had previously extracted a promise from Henry to keep away from Celluci.
"Don't do me any favors Vic," He muttered. "Look I gotta go; I have a ferry to catch to Victoria tomorrow morning. I'll call you if I hear anything more in regards to Gaelan. Have a good night."
"Yeah good night Mike," she had said absently. Years of partnering with Mike told her he was keeping something from her. Let him have his little secret, she would figure it out soon enough.
***
Vicki brought her attention back to Linda who by now was literally squirming in her seat. She decided to give her a little prompt.
"Linda," she said softly, "tell me what it was you did that made Orion leave you."
Vicki was unprepared for the complete dissolution of the woman; her face seemed to cave in on itself as she began to sob. Her father leaned forward and put his hand on her knee, making an ineffectual sound best described as 'tut-tut.'
"You don't understand," Linda Gaelan wailed, "you just don't understand." Vicki moved around her desk so that she was directly in Linda's sightline. Coreen appeared at the door, with a box of tissues which she set on the desk top.
"Why don't you explain it to me then, Linda? Just start at the beginning, tell me in your own words," Vicki coaxed.
"You won't believe me, no one will," Linda sniffed loudly as she tried to control herself, and Coreen handed her a tissue, then resumed her place by the window.
"Try me," Vicki said, "you might be surprised what I can believe. From the beginning…"
Wayne Franklin looked at his daughter's tear stained face. "Go on Lynee, tell her," He said.
Vicki and Coreen listened attentively as Linda Gaelan spun out her story.
She had met Orion Gaelan in Lunenburg while she was attending a tall ship festival; for her it had been love at first sight. He was beautiful and mysterious and his brown eyes deep and dark and full of secret knowledge and compassion.
He made her feel safe and secure, seemed to take away her worries and gave her peace. She gave him her heart. They had loved. She had stayed on meeting with him night after night for two weeks and then finally moved into his small house.
When the moon sailed in the night sky almost at its full measure, Orion had told her mournfully that he needed to leave. She wept and pleaded but he was resolute. He said she could not go with him, though his eyes were haunted.
She had watched him sail out onboard the Lila from the harbor, and every evening she had gone to the beach to watch for his return.
One evening as the moon began to wax again, in her loneliness she had gone down to the shore, and clambered higher up on the rocks to watch the seals that cavorted in the breakers. As she watched she saw a sight that had shaken her heart.
A sleek grey seal pulled itself from the sea onto the rocks. Lifting its head it barked long and loud to the night. Its form shimmered briefly and suddenly where the seal had been, her Orion stood, his smooth muscled flesh glowing with the moonlight.
He reached down and bundled what appeared to be a seal's pelt, into a small roll. Moving aside a few rocks he exposed a small crevice from which he withdrew a waterproof cask. He removed some clothing from the cask and placed the seal skin inside. He hid the cask back inside the crevice, replacing the rocks, and then dressed himself quickly and had started off down the beach towards the town.
Selchie, she knew the word, the legend that had sprung to life in the form of her own true love. Moving as though she were in a dream she clambered down to the spot where Orion had secreted his skin and retrieved the cask. When she pried open the cask she expected to find a bloody and grotesque item. What she found was a silken soft pelt backed with what appeared to be silvery buttery soft leather. Magic, she had thought as she gathered up the skin in her arms and started for home.
As she had trudged through the soft sand she had thought long and hard, if the legends were true, then as long as Orion did not have access to his skin, he would never be able to leave her and return to the sea. Long before she reached her own door, she had secreted the skin away. Tomorrow she would hide it more securely.
As she had expected, Orion was waiting for her at home, and they had a joyous and loving reunion. She never told him that she knew what he was or that she had his skin. The following day she had sent Orion's skin to her father, who had placed the skin in a safety deposit box in her name.
When a month was gone Orion said he had to leave again, but that he would return to her soon. Linda waited alone at the window and when he came back to the house later that night, he was distraught and sorrowful. He would not tell Linda what was wrong.
And so, she had kept him by her for more than two years. In time Linda became pregnant. She was ecstatic, but Orion's eyes had grown shadowed. Linda miscarried again and again and she grew wild in her sorrow, until after the last miscarriage, as Orion attempted to comfort her, she had screamed, "It's your fault, you're not human. They die; they die because you are a selchie."
That was how Orion knew that Linda had his skin. He begged, he pleaded, he threatened and in the end…he endured. She was silent and she would not tell him where it was.
He had left her to travel on the tall ships and to get as close to the sea as he could. Over time they began to work on the seal rescue and environmental organizations together. Linda came to believe that Orion forgave her for stealing and keeping his skin. She never told him what he so desperately wanted to know but she finally began to relax when he had eventually stopped asking.
She had underestimated him. He had watched and waited and carefully gathered information. How he had done it she was not sure, but when he had first failed to call her as expected, she had gone to the safety deposit box. When she had seen that empty box, she had known that her selchie was gone.
"You kept him with you against his will?" Coreen asked incredulously after a moment. There was no question of belief in the existence of this legendary creature.
Linda looked over to her and shook her head sadly. "I loved him, but I knew, I just knew if he found his skin, he would go back to the sea."
"But he came back to you," Vicki said, "those first times, he came back."
Linda sighed and said, "I know, but I didn't trust that he would love me enough to stay."
Vicki startled as some secret place inside her heart resonated with Linda's words. "Please Ms. Nelson, you have to believe me, I just need to find him, to talk to him, to tell him how sorry I am, to tell him that I love him."
"Even if we find him, he may not want to see you, Linda. If I find him and he doesn't wish you to know his whereabouts...I will not tell you," Vicki said slowly. "The last places we have seen activity on his cards is in Vancouver and Victoria."
Linda sat forward eagerly, "He is most likely working as a photographer, or on a fishing boat, or ferry, something that puts him close to the water. Will you go, Ms. Nelson, will you go and try to find my selchie for me?"
Wayne Franklin spoke slowly from his chair. He looked directly into Vicki's face as the twilight edged into the room. "We did Orion a wrong Ms. Nelson, I know that now. I knew it when Lynee told me what he was and I hid his skin for her. I don't care what the cost is, and I'll cover all expenses for yourself and your assistant. Please, we just want a chance to make it right."
It was the most she had ever heard Wayne Franklin say.
Vicki thought for a moment and then said, "Fine, we will leave as soon as we can make the arrangements." She met both father and daughter's eyes. "It appears that your husband is involved with more than just hiding from you, as he is a 'person of interest' in an ongoing police investigation. I am warning you both. I will not allow you to trap the selchie again."
When the door had finally closed behind Linda Gaelan and her father, Coreen turned smiling to Vicki, her dark eyes dancing and her hands clasped in front of her chest. She was practically doing a little jig, in her delight.
"Vancouver," she crowed, "Vancouver, we are going to Vancouver." In her excitement she forgot herself and said, "We'll be able to see Henry while we're there, see his new place and how he's making out. I wonder if his new place is as cool as his old one. I bet he lives downtown or right on the water. I am sure that Augustus would have..."
"Coreen!" Vicki said loudly for the third time, holding up a hand, halting her in mid sentence. "Don't make me regret the decision to allow you to come. We have a case that requires us to travel to Vancouver. We aren't going there on a social trip."
"Yes, but it is a supernatural case," Coreen said slyly, "I can look up all kinds of information of the Selchie legends, errr...stories, um…histories, but you know that in Vancouver we will have one expert on the supernatural, who sleeps all day, drinks blood, and whose name begins with an H."
Vicki couldn't help but grin at Coreen's enthusiasm.
"All right, all right." Vicki held up her hands. "You spend some time looking into flights and accommodations. I'm going to look over the file one more time," Vicki said as she edged towards her office, before Coreen realized that she was the only person in the vicinity to hug.
By 10:00 PM their flights were booked for the day after tomorrow, their hotel in downtown Vancouver was arranged, and Coreen was clattering down the stairs on her way home to pack.
Vicky finally relaxed as she heard the street side door close behind her assistant and Coreen's key in the lock.
***
What am I going to say to him, she thought, that doesn't make it look like I am trailing out to Vancouver after him. That is just so pathetic. Yet isn't that exactly what I've wanted to do since that night? I keep imagining myself running after him and begging him to come back.
What even makes you think he would want you around him or want to come back to Toronto? You can't cling to those tender words from months ago.
Even now she felt the tears prickle behind her eyes as she remembered his words.
Vicki, My Vicki:
There, I have said what I never could say to your face. I want you, I need you, you are meant to be mine, body and soul.
Mine, as I am eternally yours. Hunger and silence fill a future that is endless and dark. You are life itself to me.
You are the joy of my heart. You have stolen my soul; it is in your keeping.
Your empty silence fills my night, fills the place where my heart once beat. You cannot keep me from loving you whether you will it or no.
Vicki, My Vicki.
I almost fell for that, she thought. If I had read it back then while he was still here in Toronto, I might have given in. Well I guess he got over it. Only took him a couple of months to get the idea. She remembered the very different tone of the last e-mail he had sent.
Victoria:
I know that you will not answer this correspondence and that you may never read it. I have accepted the fact that you no longer wish any association with a creature such as myself.
In good conscience I cannot leave you unable to contact me. Honor demands that of me, in the event that you may require my assistance with Astaroth.
It was an inexcusable error on my part to involve a human so deeply in my affairs and for this you have my apologies. I will endeavor not to repeat that same mistake in my new home.
I have relocated into a new territory in the city of Vancouver. I have surrendered Toronto to another of my kind. She is far older than I.
I do not advise that you seek Morgana out. She does not suffer from the same weakness for human companionship that afflicts me. To her you would be nothing more than prey... H.
This was the e-mail that she had finally answered a few weeks ago.
Now here I am, the little 'inexcusable error' that's going to show up at his door step.
He's over you Nelson, get it through your thick skull.
All his pretty words and false promises didn't make any damn difference.
He left you behind and moved on.