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winter and fished in the summer. Carolanne had absolutely no interest in participating in those things with him. He didn’t mind. He did his thing, she did hers, and when they got together at the end of the day all was right with their world.
    She felt tears behind her eyes and blinked them away. No regrets. Her marriage wouldn’t have been any stronger, Frank’s all-too-short life any longer, if she’d learned to skate or pretended interest in sitting in a leaky rowboat or over a hole in the ice waiting for some hapless fish to swim past.
    She’d joined the women’s dragon boat team expecting a few pleasant summer hours out on the lake. Instead she’d fallen into a group of determined women. These women lived and breathed their boat. They had jobs and families, but otherwise they seemed to exist only for their time on the water. The water, and the team. It was the camaraderie, the teamship, which drew Carolanne in. Even when she discovered that the women worked out to get in shape for boating, rather than paddling to get in shape. In the winter, when they couldn’t put the boat in, they just worked out.
    To her considerable surprise, she turned out to be good at it. She had long legs and long arms, perfect, the team’s coach had told her, for paddling. Carla soon dropped out. She said she didn’t have the time, with the job and her kids, but Carolanne knew her sister wasn’t getting the pure joy out of it that she was. Perhaps that was another thing that drove Carolanne on. Carla was the older sister, always more accomplished, more successful with her lawyer-husband, two perfect kids, and her position as an executive in an insurance company.
    The team went to California for a week in February. Not to swim and relax in the sun, but to practice on the water. And, of course, to work out. It had been the best week Carolanne had in a long time.
    Although, when they got home she had to take two extra vacation days, just to recover.
    She started at a knock on her door. “Drinkies downstairs in five minutes,” Darlene shouted. “If you’re late we won’t save any for you.”
    Carolanne blinked. She must have fallen asleep. The bath water was cool, the bubbles nothing but soapy scum. She climbed out of the tub and reached for a towel.
    These women—this team—had given her life meaning again. But sometimes she wished they hadn’t given it quite so much activity.

Chapter Six
    Ellie Carmine put down the phone. She could scarcely credit what she’d been told.
    Walt Desmond. Back in town. Now she knew why she thought her newest guest seemed familiar. He looked good, she thought. Better than she might have expected. He’d been a somewhat overweight man, round and flabby, on the verge of going to seed like so many men his age. Now he was lean, muscular. His face had slimmed into handsome lines, the short gray hair suited him, and he even seemed taller than she remembered.
    One of her friends had called, bursting with the news. Walt Desmond had been seen getting off the bus from Vancouver. He was back. Ellie had heard something over the spring about an appeal of his case. Some reason to believe he hadn’t actually killed poor Sophia D’Angelo. Of course he’d killed her. Everyone knew that. The police case was rock solid. Criminals were getting away with anything these days. She was only glad her Danny wasn’t around to see Walt strutting around the streets as if he had a right to move among law-abiding folks.
    A peal of laughter came from the common room. Those women, part of a dragon boat team from Kelowna, sure knew how to have a good time. But it wasn’t all drinking and laughing, Ellie knew. Teams had come here from all over British Columbia for a week of training and competition. On Saturday, they were having an open house down at the river. The women headed out first thing every morning and spent a good part of the day in their