Rain started falling harder, and mist blew in thick off the water. Standing in the rain, Angie explained how Justice Monaghan had contacted her and why.
Jessie fiddled with his equipment in silence as he listened, impervious to the increasing rain and mounting wind. Tackle and halyards began to clunk against masts, and water sucked and slapped loudly at the docks. Buoys affixed to the side of the warehouse began to thump in the wind.
“So what does this have to do with me?” He cast another look at the men watching them, smoking, under the cover. They were all big guys. Several with thick black hair. Jaz was right. They did all seem to be bred from a certain mold. Or perhaps this industry and manual labor just attracted the large physical sort. Nevertheless, their presence was hostile, and Angie felt time running out. She cut right to the chase.
“Can you tell me what you witnessed the last night on the river before Jasmine Gulati drowned?”
He came suddenly and sharply erect, all six two and more of him. He planted his stance wide in his fishing boots. Angie tensed, resisting the sharp urge to step backward.
“Look, I’ve been through this. Twenty-four years ago. And so many goddamn times, over and over—interviews with RCMP, the coroner, the media. Questions from friends, family, everyone in this community. I searched day and night for that woman with the SAR guys until the river got too high and the snows blew in. I volunteered on the searches the following spring when the river got low. She was my—our—client, and losing her was the fucking pits. I washappywhen we could finally put it all behind us, okay? Whole of Port Ferris was relieved to see the damn media circus leave town.” He pointed his finger at her. “And no one is welcoming dredging it up again now. Especially me.” Hot spots were forming along his cheekbones.
Energy seemed to shift in the group watching them. One of the men ground out his cigarette under his work boot and left the cover of the warehouse. He crossed the paved lot, making for the main building that housed Jessie’s office. A sense of foreboding filled Angie’s chest. A mental clock ticked fast in her brain.
“I’m sorry, Mr.Carmanagh,” she said quickly while keeping the men in her peripheral vision. “But on the other side of the equation is Jasmine’s family and friends. They need to process things now that her remains have been found. You’re going to have to allow them that little bit of leeway and for them to ask a few final questions. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to ask you a few of those questions.”
Jessie’s mouth thinned. “Make it quick.”
She pushed a wet strand of hair off her face. “The reports indicate it was Garrison Tollet who saw Jasmine Gulati going over the falls. Can you tell me where exactly you were in relation to Garrison when that happened?”
He swiped water off his brow with the base of his thumb. “Garrison was up above the talus ridge on the north bank. There was a deadfall up there. He had a handsaw, was cutting some wood. He had a clear view to the falls. I was lower down on the scree, gathering kindling. I couldn’t see the river from where I was. My line of sight was blocked by trees.”
“How did Garrison know it was Jasmine going over?”
“I don’t know that he knew it was her right at that instant. But two and two was put together at some point. Her gear. Her hair—long and dark. He saw it flowing in the white water. We knew from before we left camp that she’d been going downriver alone to fish in the eddies above the falls.”
“What happened next?”
“He screamed for me to go radio for help.”
“You carried no radio on you at the time?”
His eyes narrowed. “No. I left mine at the camp for the women. Garrison was supposed to have the other one so that the women could call us if they needed. He’d forgotten it. Look, it wasn’t a big deal at the time. We went a short ways to find wood. We’d left them all safe at camp.”
“Apart from Jasmine.”
A flicker ran through his features. “She was an accomplished angler. She knew what she was doing. She was also a client from hell. She wouldn’t listen to anything anyways.”
“So you kind of wrote her off in terms of protecting her, keeping her safe like the others?”
Tension corded the muscles at his neck, but he said nothing.
“What did Garrison do while you ran back to radio for help?”
“Climbed down the cliff to the base of the falls. Dangerous as all hell, that was. Slick rocks, sheer in parts. That woman could have cost Garrison’s life, too.”
“When you reached camp, where were the women?”
“Milling about on the logging road. They heard Garrison screaming and came up from the camp.”
“All of them?”
“Yeah. All.”
“Rachel Hart, too?”
“Yeah, she’d returned from the shelf where she was shooting.”
Energy quickened through Angie. “What shelf?”
