Honour Among Men. Barbara Fradkin
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HONOUR AMONG MEN
An Inspector Green Mystery
BARBARA FRADKIN
Text © 2006 by Barbara Fradkin
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.
Cover art and design: Trudy Agyeman
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program
RENDEZVOUS CRIME
an imprint of Napoleon and Company
Toronto, Ontario Canada
10 09 08 07 5 4 3 2
2nd printing June 2007
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Fradkin, Barbara Fraser, date-
Honour among men: an Inspector Green mystery / Barbara Fradkin.
(RendezVous crime)
ISBN 1-894917-36-7 (pbk.)
I. Title. II. Series.
| PS8561.R233H65 2006 | C813'.6 | C2006-903892-9 |
The Inspector Green Mysteries
Do or Die Once Upon a Time Mist Walker Fifth Son Honour Among Men
Acknowledgements
The theme of Honour Among Men is a timely one as Canada searches its soul for its place as peacemaker in the modern world. The characters and the story are entirely fictional, and any resemblance to persons living or dead, is purely coincidental. However, the historical places and details are based on fact, and I am indebted to two authors, military historian Sean M. Maloney and journalist Carol Off, for their detailed and compassionate books on our peacekeepers’ experiences in the former Yugoslavia, which provided much of the background information for my story. Any errors or distortions, whether accidental or intentional, are mine alone.
Writing a novel is a solitary, uncertain journey, but as always I am grateful to the many people who provided information, inspiration and constructive criticism along the way. As always, a very special thanks is due to Mark Cartwright of the Ottawa Police for his technical expertise and critical eye for realism. Second, thanks to Paul Fiander and my cousins Sally, Ed and Jeff Goss for their colourful insights into Halifax. Third, writers need a mirror to see the images they create, so I’d like to thank the members of my critiquing group, Joan Boswell, Vicki Cameron, Mary Jane Maffini, Sue Pike and Linda Wiken, who held up the mirror for me by diligently wading through the first draft. Fourth, I am grateful for the ongoing belief and support of my agent Leona Trainer, my editor Allister Thompson and my publisher Sylvia McConnell, whose efforts brought it to final fruition.
And last but not least, a very special thanks for my family. For everything.
ONE
November 2 1992, Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia.
Today I finally did it. Put my name in for a peacekeeping tour overseas. Danny’s been bugging me for weeks to volunteer so we could go together. Do our part for peace and see the world. Easy for him to say. For him, our reserve unit is the most exciting thing in his life, but for me it’s just a way of making money to pay for college.
“There’s more to the world than sheep farms,” says Danny. “You never even been outside of Antigonish County!” Which is unfair. I went over to Prince Edward Island only last month to check out their vet school. I don’t want to end up like Dad, working fifteen-hour days in the barns and up to his eyeballs in manure and debt.
Anyway it’s the animals I like. The new lambs you help into the world, the old dog at your side no matter what. But the cost of vet school blew me away. Even if I get in—and that’s a big if—I’d be up to my own eyeballs in debt before I’m through. That was what did it. I looked at the sign-up forms, did the math, and figured by the end of the six month tour, I’d have enough money to pay for vet school and maybe even marry Kit. And Dad’s proud of me that I’m going off to work for peace.
Kit is another story. Tryouts are in less than a month. There are probably thousands of reservists trying to get in, so my chances are slim, but if I pass the screening, I ship out right after New Years. What do I tell her? Wait for me? What’s six months in the big picture of our lives?
Daylight leaked through the jagged rip in the blind and lit the dust in the tiny room. As it worked its way behind Patti’s closed eyelids, she cursed and rolled over to face the wall. The bed springs shrieked, and her ratty quilt fell off.
She yanked it back around her, shivering. The goddamn sun was getting up earlier now, but it sure as hell wasn’t bringing any warmth with it. The April wind swept across the top of Citadel Hill and down Gottingen Street to rattle the solitary window of her third floor walk-up. It whistled through the cracks in the aging clapboard and swept down the chimney of the boarded up fireplace. The landlord was on such an economy drive with the heat that even the cockroaches had moved out.
April 9th. Patti felt a wave of despair. It sapped the strength from her limbs and the breath from her lungs. Ten years. Ten years to the day since Danny died. And look what she was reduced to. No fucking pension, no little house and curly-haired kid, no respect or sympathy. Just a throw-away life.
Bitterness rose up on cue, in the familiar dance of feelings that had kept her company these ten lonely years. Sure, she had her job, with its endless days of breathing dry-cleaning fumes and taking crap from bitchy housewives for stains that wouldn’t come out. She had the happy hour gang at the Seaman’s Watch on Friday nights. But it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
After Danny died, she’d thought things would eventually get better. She’d loved him, but face it, he hadn’t been the easiest guy to get along with at the end, and she’d assumed someone new would come along. She’d expected Danny’s friends to rally around her, help her out, start a fund or something, then maybe one of them would even step up to the plate.
But the truth was Danny didn’t have any friends. Not by the end. Drinking buddies was all, and she’d learned what they were worth. “Didn’t see nothing, didn’t hear nothing”, never knew a thing that went on that night. They’d melted into the woodwork, leaving her to sort out the whole mess of his life by herself. Even his family had come and gone from town so fast that she’d barely learned their names. They’d brought with them a photo of Danny for the wake. Dressed in his reserves uniform all ready for parade, with his hat on square, his eyes set straight ahead and just the tiniest smile on his playful lips.
Looking nothing like the Danny he’d become those last months.
She’d wanted to feel a connection with them, to find a hint of Danny in them, but they were strangers. And after the funeral, they’d gone back to Cape Breton, sad but resigned. Like they’d lost Danny years ago.
“What about all his things?” Patti had asked on the morning after the wake, as they all slumped over coffee in the Tim Hortons on the way out of town.
His mother was a stick of a woman with basset eyes and ropes of muscle along her arms. Her eyes drooped further. “Is there much?”
Patti shook her head. Judging from the way Danny had borrowed off her in the last three