Stonechild and Rouleau Mysteries 4-Book Bundle by Brenda Chapman

Author:Brenda Chapman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Dundurn Press
Published: 2016-02-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Three

Kala Stonechild looked at the food on the kitchen counter and the meals left uneaten on the table. Adele and her daughter had been interrupted while they were getting ready to sit down to their meal, no question. They’d left on an emergency or somebody had forced them out of the house. As the afternoon slid into evening, the second option was becoming a dangerously real possibility. If it had been an emergency, Adele would certainly have called her husband by now. She wouldn’t have turned off her phone. But who would take them, and why?

“Do you want to see the basement?”

She looked into Ivo’s eyes — a nondescript pale shade of blue, small dark centres. He seemed so unsure of himself, a man who cared too much, perhaps. She wondered what type of woman would have joined her life to his. One equally as unassuming? “Yes, thank you,” she answered.

She followed him down the steps while Gundersund called into the station. The room was large, carpeted, and wood-panelled. A flat screen perched on one wall with a couch facing it. A colouring book and crayons lay scattered on the floor. Violet had been colouring a duck in galoshes holding a bright yellow umbrella. Kala walked past the picture to check the laundry room and small bathroom. The furnace room was also empty. No sign of Adele or Violet, but she hadn’t expected there to be. Ivo was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs.

“How did you the two of you meet?” she asked.

He seemed startled by her question before a smile lifted the corners of his lips. He looked younger, not handsome but passable, when the worry lines in his face relaxed. “Adele came into the bank and I was asked to help her with a problem. For some reason, we got along. She asked if I had time for coffee. Before I knew it we were seeing each other every day. I owned this house in the country and she asked if she could stay with me.”

“Were you married by then?”

“No, we’d only known each other two weeks, but she just moved right into my bedroom. We decided to get married and went to city hall the following week.”

“Two weeks. That was quick.”

“Yeah, I could barely believe it myself. A woman like Adele falling for me. You only get a chance like that once in a lifetime, if ever. I wasn’t going to let it go by hesitating.”

The conversation felt intimate, as if the real Ivo was letting himself out. Kala was sorry when Gundersund pounded down the stairs and broke the moment.

“Do you have a couple of recent photos of your wife and daughter, Ivo? We can get started on circulating them.”

“Of course. They’re on my computer.”

They all filed back up the stairs. Catherine and Sam met them in the kitchen. “We need to get on home. Sam is hungry and it will soon be his bedtime.

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