Verdict in Blood Read Online Free PDF Page A

bargain price. Angus and I had counted it a privilege to be able to swim whenever the fancy struck us, but no one took greater pleasure in the pool than Taylor. All summer, she had been working to transform her exuberant dogpaddle into a smooth Australian crawl. She was no closer to her goal when we came home from the lake than she had been on Canada Day, and that morning she splashed so much that Rose, who was getting fretful with age, thought she was drowning and jumped into the pool to save her. After Taylor and I had helped Rose out of the water and praised her for her heroism, my daughter decided we’d logged enough pool time. She pulled a lawn chair into a shady spot, plunked herself down, and announced that she needed to rest. I grabbed a chair, sat down beside her, closed my eyes, and gave myself over to the rare pleasure of a silent moment with my little girl.
    It wasn’t long before her flutey voice broke the stillness.
    “Was my mum a good swimmer?” she asked.
    “Let me think,” I said. “When your mum and I were growing up, we always spent summers at the same place, so all the holidays sort of blend together, but I think when she was your age your mum swam pretty much the way you do.”
    “Not great,” Taylor said gloomily.
    “Not bad,” I said. “And she got better.”
    Taylor slid off her chair and came over and sat on my knee. She smelled of chlorine and sunblock and heat, good summer smells. “When Eli’s mum was ten years old, she swam almost the whole way across Echo Lake.”
    “That’s impressive,” I said. “Echo Lake’s big.”
    “And she could run,” Taylor said. “Eli says she could have been in the Olympics.”
    “When did Eli talk to you about his mum?” I asked.
    “That night at the lake when we had the corn roast. He told me his mum liked to cook her corn with the skin still on, then he just kept talking about her.”
    I pulled my daughter closer. “Do me a favour, Taylor. Do what you can to
keep
Eli talking about his mum. He misses her, and it helps him to talk.”
    “Sure. I like Eli.”
    Taylor wriggled off my knee. The subject was closed. “I’m going in now,” she said. “I’ve got to find some shorts and a T-shirt to wear to school tomorrow. If I wear that back-to-school outfit we bought at the mall, I’ll
boil to death.”
    I lay back and closed my eyes again. I didn’t intend to drift off, but the heat and the broken sleep the night before caught up with me. My dreams were surreal: Lucy Blackwell was there, singing with Bob Dylan, and Karen Kequahtooway was dancing to their music. Detective Hallam was trying to focus a spotlight on them, but he kept shining it on me by mistake. The glare hurt my eyes, but every time I tried to get out of the way, the spotlight followed me. Finally, someone tried to pull me out of the light’s path, and I woke up.
    The sun was full in my face and Hilda McCourt was bending over me with her hand on my shoulder. She was wearing a lime-green peasant skirt and a white cotton blousewith her monogram embroidered in lime green on the breast pocket. Her face was creased with concern.
    “I hate to awaken you, Joanne, but I was afraid you were getting sunburned.”
    “I’m glad you did,” I said thickly. “What time is it?”
    Hilda looked at her watch. “It’s a little after twelve,” she said. “Why don’t I make us all some lunch while you give yourself a chance to wake up?”
    I stood up. “I feel like I’ve been hit with the proverbial ton of bricks,” I said. “I think I need a shower.”
    “Before you hop in,” Hilda said, “there was a telephone call for you from Jess’s mother. She wondered if they could take Taylor to a movie with them this afternoon. Your daughter was at my elbow, militating for a positive answer, so I said yes, conditional upon your approval, of course.”
    “You’ve got it,” I said. “I don’t want Taylor racing around outside in this heat.”
    After I’d showered, I towelled off,