Rachel left Al to keep an eye on Emma and Naomi while she Skytrained to New Westminster. She suddenly had an urge to talk to the New Westminster Police about Jenna Davenport. She felt she owed it to Emma to find out the truth of what had happened to her; luckily Emma hadn't inquired into the specific cause of her mother's death, she'd been too overwhelmed by the very fact of it, but Rachel still felt she owed the girl something after she'd lost a mother who'd only ever failed her.

She got off at New Westminster Station and walked from there along Columbia Street to the police station on Sixth Street, remembering the last time she'd made this trek. Al had called her and told her her ex-husband, Mason, had just been in a terrible car accident, and she couldn't remain in her apartment wallowing in grief, feeling the urge to rush to Al's side at the scene of the accident. 

Thinking about it now, she figured that was the moment when she considered Al more than just a friend she'd reunited with after thirty years. Her need to see him had been almost visceral, and it had only been another week or two before they'd ventured beyond the platonic, finally exploring the possibilities that had eluded them when he'd moved away all those years ago.

Seeing the Sixth Street hill beside the police station now, with its steep downhill slope levelling to a plateau before dropping into another steep slope, she could see how a car speeding down the hill wouldn't be able to see the police cruiser U-turning until it was too late. It had to have been going screamingly fast, too, judging from how mangled both cars had been in the aftermath. The only mercy was that Mason wouldn't have seen it coming; he'd been dead on arrival at the hospital.

She entered the police station and approached the front desk. "Hi," she said to the woman behind the window, who appeared to be a civilian, she wasn't in uniform. "I was wondering if either Detective Rhodes or Detective Tracey was working today."

"Detective Rhodes retired last year," she said. "Tracey's still around. Is he expecting you?"

"No, but I wanted to ask him if he's working a case that I have a connection with. There's a woman by the name of Jenna Davenport who died recently, and she was the mother of my foster daughter. I was just hoping to get some more information."

The woman stared at her for a second, processing this information. "Let me call him and see if he'll see you."

She picked up her phone and dialled internally, spoke a few words to the person on the other end, and then hung up. "Wait here a moment, someone will be by to get you."

Rachel waited about fifteen minutes. Finally, a door opened, and a woman in a pant suit approached her and stopped a few feet away from her, her eyes widening. "I know you, don't I?" she said.

The woman was olive-skinned and pretty, her hair a mess of dark curls. Rachel blinked at her for a second before she finally realized where she'd seen her before. "You're Constable Goncalves, right? Maria Goncalves?"

She nodded, smiling awkwardly. "Trainee Detective Goncalves now."

"You made detective?" Rachel asked incredulously. She felt a little ashamed at that, and for almost blurting, "They kept you on the job after what you did?"

"Yeah, I passed the exams, and after Rhodes retired, there was a vacancy when Tracey moved up. He's my senior partner. He sent me to get you, there was something you wanted to talk to him about?"

"Yeah."

"Come on, we'll talk in his office." She led her back through the door she came through, and as they walked, Goncalves said, "Where do I know you from?"

"You and Mason were the constables who responded down in Queensborough when my friend, well, husband now, Al and I discovered that mummified baby in that house."

"Oh, yeah! Oh." Her face fell. "Wait, you were Mason's ex, weren't you."

"Yes. Terrible what happened to him."

"Yeah," she said, looking anywhere but at her. "I miss him every day. When I think of what that stupid speeder did to him..."

"I agree, that guy shouldn't have been speeding, but should you have made that U-turn?"

Goncalves stopped and looked at her. "What?"

"Al saw what happened. You U-turned from an uphill direction to a downhill direction. Wouldn't any car travelling downhill have trouble stopping in time?"

Her mouth dropped in indignation. "I had my lights and sirens on. I was cleared in the review. It was the other driver's fault. I had months of rehabilitation before I could go back to work."

She stormed off, and Rachel was forced to follow her. "Okay, look, I didn't mean to imply it was your fault. It was a tragic, senseless accident."

"It was, and we lost a good officer, and I lost a good friend." Goncalves' eyes teared up, and Rachel decided not to hate her.

"Did you ever reach out to Allison?" she asked.

Goncalves blinked in surprise as she swiped at her eyes. "His widow?"

"Yeah." Allison had stolen Mason from her, but after he died she'd stopped hating her and now they were friends again, but Goncalves didn't have to know that.

"I don't think she wants to talk to me," Goncalves admitted with a blush, and Rachel wondered again if Mason had been more than just a friend to her. If Mason could cheat with Allison, then he could certainly cheat on Allison. Why not with Goncalves? They'd been partners, and spent a lot of time with each other, probably more time than they'd spent with their own spouses.

"Well, I'm glad you got back on your feet," Rachel said wryly, and Goncalves must have noticed, because her mouth twisted, but she had no time to retort because by that time they'd reached Tracey's office.

He was as she remembered, a fireplug of a man with spiky hair and a tiny space between his top incisors. His tie was loose and his shirt sleeves rolled up to reveal forearms ropy with muscle. When he saw Rachel, he stood and offered his hand. "You look familiar," he said.

"I'm Rachel Chan, well, Mackenzie now," she said, taking his hand.

"Right! Mason's ex," he said, smiling. "You were the executor on that will with the house and that mummified baby."

"That's right," she said, pleased that he remembered. "You were so helpful on that case, you and Rhodes both, I was sorry to hear he retired."

"Don't be, he's not," Tracey joked, "although he does still show up from time to time to talk about old cases, so maybe he's a little bored."

Goncalves sat in a chair at the side of Tracey's desk so they could both face her. Rachel took the only other chair and said, "I was hoping you could be helpful again, on another case in which I'm connected, if only tangentially."

Tracey looked at Goncalves, then back at her. "The front desk said you were asking about Jenna Davenport?"

"That's right. I heard she died in New West. She was staying at Westminster House, but her cause of death was determined to be alcohol poisoning."

"You're her daughter's foster mother, you said?"

"Yes. I was hoping I could find out more about what happened, so I could help Emma process this tragedy. It was quite a shock to her."

Tracey's face fell. "Well, we are still investigating. The Coroner decided her manner of death was undetermined, so the case stays open." He grabbed a pen and began tapping it on his desk as he considered her. "Did you ever meet the victim?"

"Once. Last Saturday. She showed up at my place unannounced to see her kids, and we took her out with us to celebrate a milestone in her daughter Emma's life."

"You took her out?" Goncalves asked in amazement. "A woman you'd never met before, showing up out of the blue?"

Rachel shrugged. "What could I do, leave her behind? We were just about to go out when she showed up, and Emma really wanted her to come. How could I say no?"

"What did you do when you went out?" Tracey asked.

"We went to the salon and got facials and manicures."

"Did you do anything else after that?"

"No. We drove her to the Brentwood Skytrain station. She left from there, and I never saw her again."

"Can we get your address and the address of the salon?"

"Sure." Rachel wrote both in the notepad Tracey gave her. 

"Was anyone else with you when you went out with her?" Tracey asked.

"Yes. In all, there was me, Emma, Jenna, my friend Lauren and her daughter Naomi."

"Do you think you could write your friend's contact information as well, just so we can corroborate your account?"

"Okay," she said, trying not to feel irritated at the suspicion; she knew they were just dotting their Is and crossing their Ts. She had nothing to hide.

"How was Ms. Davenport when she was with you?" Goncalves asked.

"That's what I wanted to tell you," Rachel said. "She was sober, as far as I could tell. She was trying really hard to clean up so she could get her kids back. The last thing I think she was planning on was drinking herself to death."

"We have it from her file at Westminster House that Ms. Davenport was a repeat resident, and that her condition was chronic."

Rachel looked at Goncalves, whose eyebrows were raised. She could see now why the woman had risen to detective. Mason hadn't had her smarts. "I'm not saying she was an angel. But she loved her kids, even I could see that, and I don't think she'd want to leave them like that."

Goncalves and Tracey looked at each other. Tracey asked, "Did Ms. Davenport appear... I don't know... agitated? Wary? Did she act in any way that made you suspicious at any time you were out with her?"

Rachel thought back to that day. "I don't think so. She was excessively polite. It was as if she was trying to be on her best behaviour. We paid for her to have her nails and facial done, and she was very grateful. She and Emma acted like mother and daughter together."

"How is your relationship with your foster daughter?" Goncalves asked. "Actually, when did the girl first come to be with you? When I met you last time I didn't think there were any children in your life."

"You're right, there weren't. Now, I should specify that there are two kids. Emma, and her older brother Logan. Emma is thirteen and Logan is sixteen. They came to be with us last fall, because Jenna fell off the wagon again."

They were scribbling in their notebooks the whole time she spoke. "So, your relationship with them, is it good?" Tracey asked.

Rachel shrugged. "As good as it can be with foster kids. Al and I try our best to look out for them. Emma's a sweet kid, and I'm very fond of her--"

"Did it irritate you, seeing Emma with her mother?" Goncalves asked.

Rachel blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?"

"Well, you're doing your best for these kids, and suddenly she shows up and the girl you're so fond of just continues on with her as if she never left. That can't sit well with you."

Rachel had to be careful with Goncalves. She was remarkably intuitive. "Well, it wasn't easy, I'll admit, but that is her mother, and I can't stop Emma from loving her."

"Even if Jenna was an unfit mother?"

"I never said that."

Goncalves raised her eyebrows again but said nothing.

"Look, it's hard for a foster kid to have her mother show up on our doorstep without any forewarning," Rachel explained. "Emma got her hopes up that Jenna was going to take her home, and when Jenna dashed her hopes, it was hard on her, and I was left to deal with the aftermath. That's what made it hard for me that entire visit, not that I necessarily had to deal with a stranger or that Emma loved her more than me, but that she eventually had to leave, and Emma was begging her to stay."

Tracey nodded. "And Logan? Where was he during that time?"

"Oh, he stayed home with my husband, Al. He worked his first day of a summer job the day before, and he was a little sore from his exertions. He went out later, though."

They both looked up at that. "He went out after you dropped Jenna off at the Skytrain station?"

She nodded. "I should tell you something. Logan is currently in jail at the Burnaby RCMP detachment."

They stared at her. 

"I don't know all the details," she said. "All I know is he went out that night, and on Sunday morning he still hadn't come home, and when we went to the station to file a missing persons report, we discovered he was there, detained as a person of interest in a homicide."

Tracey and Goncalves looked at each other. "We'll have a chat with the Horsemen about Logan's situation," Tracey said. "It seems like too much of a coincidence, Jenna's son being arrested for a separate incident in Burnaby around the same time she dies."

 "I know!" Rachel said. "Now do you see that Jenna's death might not be just an accident?"

"And you, did you go out after you dropped Jenna off?" Goncalves asked.

"Me? No! We spent the rest of the day at home. Logan went out, but we just thought it was with his friends."

"So he stayed out all night? Were you worried? Did you try to contact him?" Goncalves was prodding her, she knew, maybe getting back at her for her earlier accusation about her driving. 

"Of course we did," Rachel said. "He didn't answer his phone or our texts. Al went out looking for him--"

"Did he." It wasn't asked as a question, but stated like an aha moment. 

"Yeah. He booked a Modo car and drove around to the places he usually hangs out, his school, Brentwood Mall, some other places. He gave up after a couple of hours."

Tracey stopped scribbling and looked up at her. "We're going to need to talk to Al to get his account."

Rachel felt her stomach drop. "Okay." 

Later, when she got home, she pulled Al aside near the door and said, "I think I may have implicated you in Jenna Davenport's death."

"What?!" he squawked.

"Okay, maybe I didn't, but the police in New West want you to go in and make a statement about the night you went out looking for Logan."

Al's mouth dropped. "So, what, they think I went out and did something to her while I was supposed to be out looking for Logan?"

"Probably not, but I think they're just tying up all loose ends. They're probably going to want to talk to Lauren too, because she also saw Jenna that day."

Al sighed in frustration. "Bloody hell. The last thing I want to do now is be on any police radar."

Rachel could understand. After his arrest last year for speeding and fleeing police while he was trying to reach Lauren as she was struggling with one of the men responsible for beating and robbing her and Joe the September before that, he was afraid of getting arrested again and possibly having a record. "Well, you're lucky you used a Modo car right? Remember how they were able to track the car Joe and I used that night? They should also be able to prove you went where you said you went on Saturday, which was hopefully nowhere near Jenna."

Al looked at her shrewdly and said. "Yeah, you're right. Did they say when I should go in?"

"They said they'd call you."

"Were you able to find out any more about what happened to her?"

"No, they were pretty tight-lipped about it. I think I helped them out a lot, though. They had no idea about Logan."

He flinched. "You don't think we made things worse for him by connecting his mother's death to him, do you?"

Rachel thought about it for a moment. "I think it had to be done. How else would he have known about it if he wasn't there, or if someone he was connected to didn't tell him about it?"

"I don't like this," Al said nervously. "I think we should try to see him today. We have to see if he'll talk this time."

"Yes. I'll call Melinda and see if they completed his psychological evaluation." She looked around him at Emma and Naomi cuddling on the couch, Naomi with her arms around Emma, whose glasses were off and her small eyes red and puffy. Samson, sensing a human in need of comfort, sat on Emma's lap. "How are they?"

"They've been like that all day. Poor Emma's been alternating between weeping and blankly watching TV. Naomi's been a saint. I can't imagine how this day would have gone otherwise."

Rachel walked over and sat in the armchair facing the two girls. "Naomi, you're being such a good friend. How can I repay you?"

Naomi looked up and smiled sleepily at her. "Come with us to Harrison Hot Springs."

Rachel blinked in surprise. "You're going to Harrison Hot Springs?"

"We're thinking about it. Tosh wants to go see the sand castle competition. He texted me and said it's on the B.C. Day long weekend."

"Oh!" Rachel looked at Al. "When was the last time we went to Harrison Hot Springs?"

Al shrugged. "I think I went with Agnes when I was going out with her, back when I went to Langara College."

"I think Mason and I went once, when we were still happily married."

Emma seemed to come alive and asked Rachel, "Who's Mason? Were you married before?"

"Uh... yes. I had a husband before Al. We divorced a few years back." She didn't mention his death, as it would have gotten Emma thinking about her own bereavement.

Emma blinked at Al, trying to focus but probably not seeing him without her glasses. "Was Agnes your wife too?"

Al chuckled. "No, kiddo, we never got that far. She moved away to the Okanagan, and I was heartbroken, but then I reunited with Rachel, and we fell in love."

"You know they used to be friends when they were kids in the olden days?" Naomi asked. "My mom and dad were friends with them too, and so was Harpreet and Ajit's dad."

"Thanks for making us feel ancient, Naomi," Rachel said drily. "Olden days?" 

Emma squinted at Rachel. "Can we go with them?" she asked. 

"Um..." Rachel looked at Al and shrugged. "Maybe we can arrange it, if it's on the long weekend. What I don't know yet is if Logan will be out of jail to come with us."

"Can we see him today?"

"We're going to try."

"I wanna tell him about Harrison Hot Springs." Her hand touched Samson's fur, and she suddenly remembered he was there. "Can we take Samson with us?"

"Oh, honey, they don't allow cats in the hotel," Al said. "It's a shame, really. I might take him to my mom's while we're away. He likes my mom."

She brightened at that. "Then he won't feel lonely while we're gone!"

"Exactly."

"I like your mom too. We should see her more."

Al chuckled sheepishly and said, "You know, I bet she'd agree with you. I'm a bad son for not bringing you around more, she likes you a lot."

"She's like a Grandma. I don't have any grandparents."

"Oh, sweetie," Rachel said, her heart aching for this deprived girl. Every kid needed grandparents to show them the wonders of the world that parents were too busy to show them. "I should bring you around to my mom's more, too."

"Um, that's okay, I'm a little scared of your mom."

Rachel burst out laughing at that, and Al couldn't help joining in. Even Naomi got infected. Emma was confused at first, wondering what was so funny, but eventually even she caught the bug. Rachel felt good that Emma could still laugh, and she hadn't known how much she herself needed to laugh until now. The stress of last night and today had built to such pressure that laughing was like turning a valve and releasing just a little of it to be comfortable again.

"You know what, honey," Rachel said as soon as she calmed enough to speak. "I'm a little scared of her too!"

Thanks for reading this far! If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. If something doesn't ring true about police procedure or coroner's reports, leave a comment. I strive for authenticity. To flash back to when Joe's dad got sick and when he first reunited with Sunny, click on "Continue reading."