clothes for everybody “just in case.” As soon as everyone was settled, I asked for a rain check on Betty’s offer of tea, and, cleverly navigating the ruts, I drove straight to the Point Store.
Stan was watching an I Love Lucy classic when I arrived. As he had before, Stan turned down the sound, dragged a chrome chair in from the kitchen, and directed me to the La-Z-Boy. That morning, the plush contours of the chair were as comforting as a warm bath. On TV, Lucy was starting her job at the chocolate factory.
Stan tore himself away from the screen and turned his attention to me. “More history?” he asked.
“Recent history,” I said. “When was the gazebo at Lawyers’ Bay built?”
“Last year, middle of November. Late, but we had that mild winter, remember?”
“I remember,” I said. “We had a green Christmas.” Stan nodded. “I never liked those. They don’t seem right.”
“Did a local company do the work?” I asked.
Stan made of moue of disgust. “She’d never hire local.”
“She?”
“Lily Falconer,” Stan said. “She got a company in the city, and I’ll tell you, men never worked harder for their dollar than those men did.”
“It was a difficult job?”
Stan shook his head. “It shouldn’t have been. Pretty straightforward piece of construction except for that fancy stonework. Of course, there was that statue of Gloria, but Noah Wainberg carved that. In my opinion, Lily should have got Noah to do the whole thing. He could have, but maybe it was his good luck that she didn’t ask him. Lily was in such a state about that gazebo. She was there every day, supervising. It got so’s they were afraid to move a shovelful of dirt. ‘Build it to last forever.’ That’s what she told them. The man in charge told her his company built everything to last forever, so she could relax and go home, but she wouldn’t budge.”
“The workers talked to you about the job, then?”
On TV the conveyer belt was moving more quickly and Lucy was saucer-eyed with desperation. Stan and I exchanged smiles. “The coffee pot’s always been on at the Point Store,” Stan said. “The bottomless cup’s not something your son’s girlfriend dreamed up, although to be fair she’s made it a lot nicer. But to return to my point, when the gazebo men were on the job, they came into the store to warm up, have a cup of joe, and talk. Lily was a tough taskmaster. One of the men said she carried on as if they were working on holy ground.”
Lucy and Ethel were growing more frantic, popping chocolates into their mouths until their cheeks bulged, shoving chocolates under their factory caps, dropping chocolates down the front of their uniforms, and still the conveyer belt kept on moving. Nothing could stop it.
I pulled myself out of the La-Z-Boy and thanked Stan.
He waved at me absently. He was mesmerized by the screen where, once again, Lucy was about to get her comeuppance.
The rain had stopped by the time I reached the gazebo. Even from fifteen metres away I could see that the stone-and-concrete outcropping on which the gazebo had been built was the perfect crypt. The world had suddenly become very small. I walked to the carved woman, reached out, and touched her cheek. It was cool and wet. “How much do you know?” I asked.
“How much do you know?” When I heard Lily Falconer repeat my question, the marrow in my bones froze.
I whirled around. She had made no effort to protect herself against the weather. Her bluejeans and the soft leather bag slung over her shoulder were dark with rain, her white shirt clung to her breasts, and her beautiful hair hung lank against her shoulders. The family likeness between Lily and her mother shocked me. The faces of both women were carved with the lines of those who have known too many sorrows and carried too many secrets.
Startled, I answered without thinking. “How much do I know about what?” I said.
Lily raised her arm and brought the flat of her hand against my jaw with full force. The pain brought tears to my eyes. “Don’t pretend you don’t know,” she said.
I touched my jaw to see if it had been dislocated. It hurt, but it appeared to be where it should be. I started towards my car.
Lily stepped in front of me. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Home,” I said.
She shook her head as if to clear it. “No,” she said. “You’re not.” She reached into the bag slung over her shoulder. “I have a gun.”
The weapon she pulled out was a Glock 22, the German-made semi-automatic pistol used by the Regina police. There was no way Alex would willingly have handed this gun to anyone. I could feel the first stirrings of hysteria.
“Lily, you didn’t -”
She cut me off. “I could never hurt Alex. I knew I’d need a gun, so I took his while he was sleeping.”
She held the gun expertly, aimed down at the sand. There was no doubt in my mind that she was capable of pulling the trigger. Out of nowhere a memory surfaced: Alex and Angus watching a TV cop show, and Alex telling my son that the Regina police had adopted the Glock because it was so fast and safe that it allowed the shooter to concentrate on the target. Now that I was the target, I did not find the memory cheering.
Lily raised the gun. If she pulled the trigger at that angle she’d shoot my kneecap. No more runs with Willie.
“You haven’t answered my question,” she said.
“I know where Clare Mackey is,” I said.
“And you’re going to tell the police.”
I looked at the pistol. The pain in my jaw was excruciating. I’d have to make every word count.
“Maybe not,” I said. “Make me understand.”
“You’re trying to buy time,” she said flatly.
“No,” I said. “I just want to know more.”
“I had to protect the Winners’ Circle,” Lily said.
“No matter what?”
Lily frowned, annoyed at my thick-headedness. “It gave me my life,” she said.
The night I met him, Zack told me that when he joined the Winners’ Circle, he’d been like a drunk discovering Jesus. His words had been sardonic; Lily’s were not. Her lips were slightly parted, and there was a fanatic’s glow in her grey eyes. When it came to the Winners’ Circle, she was clearly a true believer. She was also scarier than hell.
“Tell me about it,” I said. I took a step towards her. “Lily, you’re important to so many people at Lawyers’ Bay. They’re good people and they respect you. I want to know you better.”
Lily met my gaze through eyes that were as forlorn as those of a lost child. “I wish Alex had told me about you earlier.”
“So do I.”
“You know, we might have become friends.”
“Perhaps we still can,” I said. “But, Lily, you’re going to have to put down the gun.”
She looked down at the Glock. “If I throw this away, will you stay with me?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ll stay.”
Lily raised her perfectly toned arm and pitched the gun along the shore behind me. When I heard it hit the ground, my pulse slowed.
“I kept my part of the bargain,” Lily said. “Now it’s your turn.”
“I’m still here,” I said. “Tell me about the Winners’ Circle. What did it mean to you?”
“Everything,” she said and suddenly her face was washed of care. As she talked, Lily was in the past, discovering her identity, building her life. “The first time I heard the word ‘entitlement’ I thought of the way the partners were the afternoon I met them. It was at this drunken happy hour in the old Falconer Shreve offices. The place looked as if it had been strafed, but the five of them were perfect, so sure of themselves. They knew that they were the best and that they were entitled to the best.”
“And that’s why you wanted to be part of their world.”
“That’s why I deserved to be part of it,” Lily corrected. “I didn’t just marry into the Winners’ Circle. I earned my place. As much as any of them, I made Falconer Shreve a success. I knew if we wanted to get platinum-card
