“You OK?” he asked as we rounded a corner where a large Inukshuk stood stoically over an expanse of beach. I must have been inside my head for the last five minutes.
I shot him a quick smile. “Yeah, I’m fine. Just taking it all in.” I gestured at the gorgeous landscape for emphasis.
I could tell he wasn’t satisfied with that answer but for once he just let it go. Maybe we both were hiding things.
It wasn’t long before we came to a Starbucks on the corner of two busy streets.
“What does Bill look like?” I whispered to him as we walked inside. The shop was pretty much packed to the doors. The scent of coffee and sugar assaulted my nose.
“No idea,” Dex said, and walked forward. Maybe he could sniff him out.
He walked straight over to where a middle–aged bearded dude was sitting, engrossed in a newspaper and sipping a tall coffee. We stopped in front of him.
“Are you Bill Ferguson?” Dex asked.
The man looked up, surprised. Maybe he did sniff him out after all.
“Yes. Are you Dex? Sorry I wasn’t expecting you for another ten minutes,” he said as he glanced at his heavy–duty watch.
“I walk fast.” Dex smiled, all cheese and elbow grease.
I waited anxiously for my introduction but there was none to be had.
“Oh, OK,” Bill said quickly, folding up his newspaper and getting out of his chair. “It’s pretty crowded in here, did you want to take this out to the beach? It’s a lovely day and I could bust some litterers while I’m at it.”
“Just out there?” Dex nodded at the seawall we had just walked along. Bill nodded.
Dex turned to me. “Do you mind getting me a venti dark roast. Black? We’ll be right out there somewhere.”
Before I had a chance to object, Dex and Bill turned and headed out of the Starbucks.
What the hell was that? First there was no formal introduction and now Dex was ordering me to get his coffee. What was I, his gopher? He didn’t even give me money.
I stood there for a beat, watching them wait outside at the intersection. It was almost like Dex needed to explain who I was in private, or had to discuss something else in private. I hated being clueless about something I had a part in, especially this time since I was making it my mission to appear more professional. No way was I giving those anonymous internet idiots another excuse to poke fun at me.
I sighed and ordered Dex’s gigantic coffee as well as a skim latte for myself and went out to the beach.
It took me a minute to spot them – there were an awful lot of people walking about, considering it was mid–day during a workweek. But maybe they were all unemployed like I was.
I eventually found them sitting on a long and sturdy piece of dried up driftwood. Even with Dex’s back to me, I recognized him anywhere.
I slogged across the beach, kicking up the sand, until I was standing right in front of them, catching them in the middle of some conversation.
Dex held his hand out for the coffee but I kept it at my side.
“Aren’t you going to introduce us?” I asked, smiling at Bill.
“Bill, this is Perry, Perry this is Bill.”
I handed the coffee to Dex and then stuck my hand out for Bill. We shook. His handshake was disappointingly weak.
“Dex was just filling me in about your project,” Bill said. I thought I detected a hint of animosity in his voice or maybe I was just extremely paranoid. Probably the latter, though it did depend on what he and Dex had been talking about.
“Oh yeah, what do you think?” I asked, not letting on that I actually knew less than he did. I sat down beside Bill so he was sandwiched in the middle.
He turned to me, the sun glaring off of his balding peak and exhaled slowly.
“Frankly, I think it’s a waste of your time,” he said gruffly. “We’ve had film crews over on that island, archeologists. The heyday is over. There’s a plaque now to commemorate the ones who died there so we’ve done what we can. I’d prefer if everyone just moved on so it could just be a park, just be a campsite that families go to for a nice holiday.”
I could feel Dex staring at me intently but I didn’t want to meet his eyes.
“So you’d rather we didn’t tramp all over your island cuz it may scare off future campers, is that it?” I asked, which was somewhat ballsy.
“You’re pretty direct.” Bill chuckled unpleasantly.
“Only when I need to be.” It was then when I shot Dex a look to tell him to shut up.
“Look,” said Bill. “The park board has no problems with curiosity. But, personally, I’m uneasy about the island being exploited for a TV show–”
“Internet show,” Dex interjected.
“That’s even worse,” Bill continued. “Internet show. You two aren’t from here, you don’t understand the history of the place. You just want to make things up in order to sensationalize it for a few viewers. You may end up doing more damage to the park than the government did back when it was a leper colony.”
“That seems a bit unfair,” I said. “We work history into our show, we don’t ignore it. We plan to show it as it is. I mean, hell, I think a haunted island would draw more visitors to it, don’t you think?”
“No,” said Bill. “And D’Arcy Island doesn’t need more visitors. It’s fine the way it is. People go there to escape the crowds on other islands and nine times out of ten, nothing spooky or mysterious goes down. I’d like to keep it that way.”
“When was the last time you were on the island?” I asked.
“Five years ago,” he answered.
“So why all the concern if you have nothing to do with the place? You’re what, working in the city parks now?”
“I have my reasons,” he said grumpily, pulling his coat in closer around him as if he was suddenly cold.
“But you’re not stopping us,” Dex prodded.
Bill stared straight out at the water, watching the waves as if he was under their spell.
“No,” he said finally. “I’m not stopping you. Only because I don’t think you’ll find what you’re looking for.”
Even I didn’t know what we were looking for, but I nodded as if I understood.
“How are you getting to the island?” he asked Dex.
“I’m borrowing a friend’s sailboat out of Victoria,” he said. I raised my brows at him, which he ignored. Sailboat? Since when did Dex know how to sail? Ah, what did it matter – when did Dex know half the things he seemed to know.