Big White by Keith Weaver

Author:Keith Weaver
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Iguana Books
Published: 2023-08-30T00:00:00+00:00

18

Border Crossings

The rest of the weekend with John was peaceful and restful since I could set aside the matter of skeletons and Ballantyres and obscure intrigues. John and I did spend some time on points I had flagged in his family journals, but these turned out just to be filling in details. We had several more walks in the forest, some pottering in John’s woodworking shop, and an excellent meal of lamb shanks.

But then the weekend closed behind me as I made the drive back to Toronto on Sunday afternoon. There were tugs in both directions here: I found myself increasingly reluctant to leave John’s place in the forest, although I wasn’t sure just what that might mean, but at the same time, I looked forward to a return to the city and a discussion with Mark on finally wrapping up this whole skeleton business.

“So”, Mark began when I met him at his and Andrea’s place that evening and we were settled in their den. “Did it go about as expected?”

I explained my odd conversation with Ted Ballantyre.

“He’s insisting that the skeleton belonged to a Ballantyre”, I said, “but he seems to have no real basis for being so dogmatic about it.” I’m sure my puzzlement showed.

“Well, we can be sure he’s doing that for some reason. He’s not obtuse, but I’m very quickly coming to the view that there’s something about his thought processes that’s not entirely rational.” Mark paused here. I gestured that I didn’t understand what he was getting at.

He nodded. “You’ve probably come across people who have trouble finishing any sentence. They get partway through one and then start another, and sometimes there seems to be only the vaguest connection between them. I’m beginning to believe that there might be something similar going on with Ted. Oh, he finishes sentences all right, but there’s something disjointed in his thinking. Either that, or…”

“Or what?”

“Or, he’s taken a stance for reasons so firm that for him it’s all fact, and his faith isn’t shaken even when he isn’t able to support his statements.”

“So, you think the discovery of this skeleton has prompted him to make some connections that seem entirely obvious to him?”

“Possibly. But it might actually be the case that he knows something.”

“I’m not sure I follow”, I said.

“Let’s say that there’s a big ugly secret somewhere in the Ballantyre past, and that some serious actions have been taken to cover it up.” Mark hesitated here. “I think that maybe Ted knows something.”

“But is it important for us?”

“Probably not. Unless it has something to do with the skeleton.”

“Does this point to anything we can do?”

“That’s the problem”, Mark said. “I really don’t know. I think we have no other choice but to wait and see if anything else happens.”

I must have looked lost.

“Well, either nothing will happen, and the whole business will just fade away, or something will happen and then we’ll need to see what that might mean.”

There was no point in trying to postulate outcomes. The odd gyrations that had taken place to this point had now just run down to a standstill.

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