Page 77 of The Woodcarver's Model
“I’m doing okay. I miss him.”
“Are you going to visit him in the hospital? I’m heading up from Victoria tomorrow.”
“What?” Mitch shouted. “What happened? He’s in hospital?”
“Yes. That’s why I called. To see if you were doing all right.”
“I have no idea what’s happening. I just got home from a…a trip,” he said, feeling panic settling in.
“Oh shit…I thought you would have known.”
“Known what?” he yelled.
“I got a call from a woman at the hospital. Then when I raised enough hell, she had a woman named Sheila call me back. Anyway, Robby was shot. Sheila said something about him going looking for you.”
“Who went looking for me?”
“Robby did. He told me there’d been some sort of mix-up between you two and he wanted to set things right. He went back to the island to find you and some whack-job from the development company shot him.”
Mitch was starting to comprehend. Rob’s article proved it—he hadn’t betrayed him. Rob must have done something to try and stop the developers… “How bad is it?”
“Sheila told me it was bad, but he’s stable.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?” he yelled.
“I asked her. She said she didn’t know where you were. Look, I don’t know all of what’s going on, but I know that you’ve got to get there. For Robby. I’m heading up as soon as my cab arrives. You’d better be there.”
Karen hung up.
So, he came back for me and now he’s in hospital…He picked up the phone and dialled.
“Frances? It’s Mitch.”
“So. You up and around?” she asked.
Mitch ignored the question. “Look, I know about Rob. I’ve got to get to the hospital.”
“Yeah…look, I’m sorry about what happened t’ your Rob,” Frances said. “We were told to keep hush until you came to yer senses.”
“My senses…? Never mind. It’s okay. I’ve got to get over to the mainland as soon as possible,” he continued. “Can you help?”
“Get your truck down here now and we’ll get ya to where yer goin’.”
“Thanks, Frances. I knew I could count on you.”
He hung up, grabbed his jacket and was out the door.
As he drove to the ferry dock, he thought about what Frances had said. They were told not to tell him until he came to his senses. Until he was less fragile and could handle it, more likely. Maggie—he’d have a talk with her when he got back. And thank her. Thank all of them for protecting him. His eyes started to water.Not now, damn it!Maggie always said that he was the crying-est guy she’d ever met. Not that that was a bad thing. He was in touch with his emotions.Sometimes a little too much,he thought.
He arrived at the ferry dock. His was the only car in the loading lane. Others were pulled over at odd angles, keeping a single track open. People stood at the side of the lane, friends, mostly. One or two strangers. As Mitch drove by, he could hear people yell out, “Give Rob our best,” and “Good luck.” The phone tree worked quickly on the island. Up on the embankment he even saw Maggie. Their eyes met and she gave him a wave. The smile on her face said, “Love.”
* * * *
Mitch boarded the vessel. In spite of the fact the boat could hold more cars, Francis closed the gate. This was to be his private ferry for the journey to Gabriola.
Frances walked up to Mitch’s window as her husband piloted the boat. She smiled, saying nothing. It was a regular sailing for the first few minutes then, all of a sudden, the ferry veered to the starboard side.
Mitch was confused and thought something might be wrong.
