Coppermine (29 page)

“As well they should be, charged with murder,” said Harold.

“Surely they’ll hang,” Wilkerson asserted.

Creed gave him a sharp look. “We shouldn’t assume any conclusion before the facts are heard.”

Harold spoke up. “What was it like, living with them?”

“After the first few days with them I began to feel secure. They had resigned themselves to going to Edmonton. They hunted and cooked for us. They once cared for me when I was ill.”

“Maybe they were just fattening you up, Corporal.” Wilkerson smirked, and everyone laughed.

“So you became quite chummy with these men?” Harold asked.

“Impossible not to be when you eat and sleep and travel with them for almost a year.”

“Are you concerned your ‘relationship’ might bias your testimony?” the Justice asked, turning Creed’s earlier comment back on him.

“That is a true concern for me, sir, but no greater a concern than that these men be written off by the jury as vicious animals.”

“Let me get this straight, Corporal.” Wilkerson gave him a thin smile. “You would like us to see these two men as fine, civilized chaps when they knifed, shot, cut the throats of these poor priests, and then ate their—”

Nicole spoke up. “Enough, Lieutenant. Not at the dinner table, please.”

“My apologies, Miss Harvey. Truly.” Wilkerson looked grave. “It was thoughtless of me.”

Creed glared at the pandering Wilkerson. “Lieutenant, you consider England a civilized nation, don’t you? And yet isn’t what you’ve just described exactly what’s going on in the battlefields of France? Ten thousand times over?”

“What a ridiculous comparison!”

“Don’t we all knife and shoot and cut the throats of the enemy, machine-gun them down, blow them up, gas them, burn them out, in order to … in order to what? What are we doing over there?”

There was a moment of shocked silence.

“Are you a pacifist, Jack?” the Justice inquired with a note of concern.

“I believe in peace, sir.”

“But you were in the war, Nicole told me.”

“Yes. I served.”

“What unit?” Wilkerson asked with sudden interest.

“Second Canadian Battalion.”

“What regiment?” Harold now asked the question.

“Fourth Princess Louise.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“Discharge. I was wounded a short time after the second battle of Ypres.”

Harold was excited, speaking for everyone’s benefit. “You were at Ypres number two!” Creed nodded and Harold continued. “The first time the Germans used gas. Opened a gap four miles wide in the French lines. Killed every soldier that didn’t run. If the Second Canadian Battalion hadn’t moved in and held fast against them, filled the gap, and then counterattacked, the square-heads would have broken through and taken the Channel ports. Cut our supply lines. They would have won the war!”

“Possibly,” Creed agreed. At least he was proud of that.

Nicole’s eyes were shining at Creed and she reached across the table to take his hand. “You’ve never told me any of this. You were wounded?”

“Minor. Recovered now. My shoulder is restricted. I was lucky.”

“I never heard the Fourth Princess Louise were at Ypres,” Wilkerson suddenly ventured, creating an abrupt silence.

“Well, the English have never done well keeping track of the success of their colonials. The Canadians retook the French trenches and then, when the British failed, we took the German ones too.”

Wilkerson looked at him coldly. “As I recall, the Germans made a strategic withdrawal.”

Creed laughed sincerely. “They did, did they? I think we might have helped them make that decision, just a little.”

Harold broke the cold silence. “That’s marvellous, Jack. To think what you’ve been through.”

Creed was saddened again to think of this handsome boy leading an assault into German guns.

“A hero twice over!” the Chief Justice declared, and downed the rest of his claret.

OUT ON THE EXPANSIVE WRAPAROUND
porch framed in delicate gingerbread, Creed and Nicole strolled alone, his hand a little tentative in both of hers. A wind chime tinkled pleasantly in the warm, gentle wind off the river.

“I’m so proud of you.”

He smiled gently. “You’ll have to stop saying that.”

“Not at all! Almost single-handedly bringing the rule of law and civilization to the High Arctic! That’s what my uncle said. And it’s true. All because of you.”

“I did my job,” he said lamely.

“It’s just all so clever of you, Jack. No one will underestimate you again. You’re going to go a long way. I’m going to see to it.”

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, just something we’ll talk about later. Give me a kiss.”

Nicole raised her face to his, and he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He had decided to break off their relationship that night, but he now understood that to lose her as an ally in the trial could be disastrous. For a second her face held a look of concern, then as a compromise he kissed her cheek, gave her an enthusiastic hug, smiled, and the awkward moment passed.

“Jack, what shall we do?” she asked, now lightly.

“About what?”

“About us, silly. I waited for you. All this time apart. I was angry at you at first for going off on your adventure, but then I realized how much I loved you. I will always believe that love trumps everything. Don’t you?”

“Yes. Love is the important thing.”

“I thought perhaps we could talk about the engagement. Even make an announcement. If you want.”

“We’ve been apart a long time, Nicole.”

“You haven’t gone and fallen in love with some Eskimo princess, have you?” she asked with a note of playfulness.

Jack studied her for a moment. “I just need a little time to sort myself out.”

“It’s true—the trial would eclipse the engagement announcement in the newspaper. Can’t have that.”

“No.”

“All right, then, after the trial. Right after the trial, we’ll make the announcement. Because the executions might not be for weeks or months after.”

“The executions?” he said with sudden alarm.

“Well, it’s possible they could hang them, darling. That’s what my uncle said.”

This was what he was afraid of. “I don’t want to see them hanged, Nicole.”

“Well, I appreciate you’ve grown attached to them. You’ve been very kind to them. Very fair. But my uncle says we have to send a message. And you’ve provided the perfect opportunity with their capture. That’s why he’s so pleased with you. You’re his golden boy.”

Creed wondered how he might countervail the bias this trial was promising without showing his own. One thing was certain: breaking off his relationship with the Justice’s favourite niece would not strengthen any influence he might have with the court. He hated living this lie. But then, it was only one more.

He took her hand as an idea came to him. “Nicole, why don’t you come with me. Come and meet them.”

“Really? Now?”

“Yes, now. Why not? Tonight. Before the trial. Just for a minute.”

“What about the guests?”

“No need to tell them. The detachment’s only ten minutes away. We’ll be back in no time. It would mean a lot to me.”

“All right. I would love to!”

CREED TOOK NICOLE
through the back door of the detachment and down to the cells. He turned up the new electric lights and found the two hunters sleeping in their cell.

“Uluksuk, Sinnisiak,” he said quietly. “I have someone for you to meet.”

They began to stir slowly.

“Do they speak English?”

“No, not a word, but the interpreter is around here somewhere …”

Angituk had sat up in her cot in the corner of the open area and stared at the interlopers. Was this a bad dream? It was Creed and his yellow-haired woman. What could they be doing here? Angi wondered.

Creed turned to her. “Angituk? I’d like to introduce a friend to them. Could you translate?”

Angi felt no need to give an answer as Creed and the woman were looking intently at the hunters, who rose sleepily from their beds and then stood up straight behind the bars. The woman smiled at them and nodded.

“We’re sorry to get you up,” Nicole offered.

Creed continued more formally, gently. “Uluksuk, Sinnisiak, this is Nicole. She wanted to meet you before the trial.”

There was silence and Creed said to Angi, “Can you translate, please?”

Angi hesitated, then spoke in Inuinnaqtun to the hunters. “The bitch’s name is Nicole.”

Uluksuk and Sinnisiak both glanced at Angi in surprise at her harsh assessment but then turned back and smiled at Creed’s woman.

“Is good to meet you. May you have good digestion for many days,” Uluksuk offered, and Sinnisiak nodded and they put out their hands as the white men liked to do.

“It’s okay,” Creed assured her.

Nicole, at Creed’s urging, tentatively shook hands with each of them in turn through the bars, the sentiment needing no translation.

“She is the niece of the man who will judge you. The
Ishumatok.”

Creed looked to Angi to translate, and she did. “Apparently she’s the niece of the
Ishumatok
who will decide what to do with you, so you should be nice to her, even if she is ugly.”

The hunters politely moaned their understanding and appreciation and nodded to Nicole, who turned to Creed, delighted.

“They’re really quite charming, aren’t they?”

“I told you.”

Nicole studied their expectant faces for a moment. “Well, I’m glad you have come to visit us and we are happy to have you in our town and I hope things … work out for the best.”

Nods and smiles all around.

“Angi?”

“She is pretending she cares about you. So you better smile and be nice to her because she can help you or she can really ruin your lives.”

Uluksuk and Sinnisiak did not miss a beat in their warm smiles, their ingratiating nods and then, at the end, in unison, their thumbs-up. Nicole laughed at the thumbs-up and offered her own.

“Good night, then,” Creed offered, and guided Nicole out of the cells area.

“Good night,” the hunters said, their pronunciation good.

Creed looked back to give a smile of thanks. “That was very good, Angituk. Just wanted her to meet them.” But what he caught was the icy cold gaze of Angituk just before the door closed behind him.

“What do you think?” Uluksuk asked her when Creed and the woman were gone, noting her caustic mood.

“I think Creed’s choice in women improved on the Great Bear River.”

And that was a good reason for them all to laugh.

A SHORT TIME LATER,
Angituk left the cells for the front office where Corporal Cowperthwaite was on night duty Though she was free to come and go, she stayed close to the cells for Uluksuk and Sinnisiak’s sake. She was also there because the thought of going out into the city with all those people was intimidating.

She had given herself an encouraging talk. She had a job now and money and a position at the court. She could handle herself with white people. Furthermore, she had an important quest here in Edmonton.

Angituk went up to Cowperthwaite. He had an open face. “Sir?”

“Your name is Angituk, correct?” he said cheerily.

“Correct.”

“You can call me Lyle, lad.” He smiled.

“Lyle. There is someone living in Edmonton I want to find but don’t know where to start.”

“Do you know the name?”

“Yes. Angus McAndrew.”

“Ah! Chinese!”

“Pardon me?”

“Just kidding. He’s Scottish, then. Like ninety percent in this town.”

“Yes. That’s right. Scottish.”

Cowperthwaite lifted up a thick book and placed it on the counter. “Here are the municipal lists. Let us see … let us see … let us see… Mac …” He leafed through to the appropriate pages. “McAndrew, McAndrew ... a few hundred. Angus, you say?”

“Yes, please.”

He ran his finger down until it slowed and stopped. “Here you are. Angus McAndrew. There’s three of them. I’ll write their addresses down.”

“What are ‘addresses’?”

Cowperthwaite looked at her blankly for a moment then realized. “Ah, yes. Well, they are the street names or numbers where the house is, and then the number of the house.”

“How do you know the street names?”

“Well, there are street signs posted ... up on poles ... with the names, and then on maps …” Cowperthwaite brought out a folding map to show her. He opened it up and they bent over it to examine the streets of Edmonton together. “See, there’s the streets and most of them are numbers, some names, like ... see, Jasper or 106th Street.”

“What is that long blue thing?”

“That’s the river.”

“But it’s brown. I saw it.”

“True. Quite true, but never mind. It’s blue here. And here—look here—these are the avenues.”

“Why is there an ‘NW’ after the number?”

“Oh, that means North West … or here, South East. It’s the southeast part of the city. Get it?”

“I … get it. And the houses have numbers too?”

“Yes. On the outside. So the first address is 106 Avenue NW which is here”—he ran his finger down the line—“and the house number is 651, which is probably about … here. You have to go and look.”

“It’s complicated, eh?”

Two officers came in with a drunken suspect and Cowperthwaite turned away from her to deal with them for a moment. Angituk quickly folded up the map and hid it under her shirt. She made her way inconspicuously toward the door.

“Good luck, Angituk,” Cowperthwaite called out to her. “And when you’re finished, bring back my map.”

She gave him a big smile, acknowledging the theft. “Thank you.”

“By the way, who is this fella McAndrew?”

“Just a man my mother knew.”

ANGITUK WENT BACK
to the cells where the prisoners were sleeping and laid out the map of Edmonton on the floor under the hanging electric bulb. She stared at it until she had found and circled in pencil the streets where each of the three Angus McAndrews lived. She considered each location with excitement and fear. He was so close to her. Now all she needed was the courage to find him.

Fifteen

AUGUST 14, 1917