Page 66 of The Burnt
“Minx, you are such an asshole. Can’t you just bat me with your paw like a normal cat when you wanna be fed?”
He glanced at the clock on his bedside table. It was one in the afternoon. He didn’t start work until four-thirty.
Milo padded his way to the sink in the bathroom and rinsed out his mouth. Minx rubbed up against his legs then started to weave in and out between them, purring loudly.
“Just wait a second. You’re not gonna starve.”
He pulled the remainder of the previous night’s salmon out of the fridge and scooped it onto a plate, setting it gently on the floor. Minx pounced, chewing steadily through the fish.
Milo boiled a kettle of water and mixed himself an instant coffee. He poured the extra water into a bowl of instant oatmeal, then crawled back into bed. He thought back to his nightmare. He hadn’t had it for months. It used to be every night. The flames. The body on the fire, then a man piling more wood on top of the flames. He could still smell it. Meat cooking. Then the dream morphed. Milo was standing on the outside looking in and a man was trying to smother him with a pillow, trying to silence him for good. Milo could still picture the look on the man’s face. It was emotionless.
There was a knock at the door.
“Milo?”
“Yes, Mrs Keough?”
“I’m so sorry. I can’t seem to get my car to start. Can you take a look?”
“Just give me a sec.”
Milo threw on some clothes and reached for the small car battery jump-starter he had given her last year for Christmas. It had cost more than he had intended to spend, but for all she had given him, she was worth it. Unfortunately now her arthritis prevented her from attaching the clamps to the battery.
Milo smiled as he opened his door a crack. “I’ll get it started for you. Oh, and don’t worry about having to fill the car up with gas. I did that the other day when I borrowed it. I’ll be down in a sec.”
Milo closed the door, put on some socks then picked the pillow up off the floor. As he went to put it back on the bed, a heavy metal object fell out of the pillow and hit the ground.
Milo reached down and picked up the handgun, which he quickly stashed back in its hiding place. He needed to find a better place to hide the gun, but that would have to wait. Right now he had to help his unsuspecting landlady with a boost for the car he’d need to borrow again later this week.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
It was a little after one-thirty in the afternoon when Declan and Charlie entered Jasper National Park. The drive from Calgary had taken longer than expected, due to a traffic accident on the slippery highway—one of the reasons Declan had suggested that they use his van rather than Charlie’s car. While the car would have been more fun for the road trip, the van had better gas mileage and weighed six hundred kilos more—weight they wanted in winter conditions in the mountains.
The forecast had been for blowing snow, so they had left Calgary early, and Declan had chosen the longer, safer route to Jasper—north on Highway 2 to just south of Edmonton, then westbound on the Yellowhead Highway coming into Jasper from the east. If the weather turned fair, perhaps they would return via the shorter route down the Icefields Parkway, but the road conditions on the high passes could be treacherous. If a winter storm descended, there was a high probability of being stuck behind a road closure, trapped in a mountain blizzard or worse, an avalanche.
Declan took a glance sideways. Charlie had fallen fast asleep, his head bobbing with the motion of the vehicle. Declan decided not to wake him as he pulled off the highway to refuel. By the time he got back in the van, Charlie was stretching his arms and stifling a yawn.
“Good morning, sleepyhead,” Declan said as he started the engine.
Charlie took in his surroundings. “Wow, I had no idea it was this bad,” he said, pointing to the charred remains of the forest on the edge of town, burnt during the previous summer’s wildfires.
Declan nodded and pointed to the snow-covered mountains surrounding the town. “It’ll take a long time to recover, but it doesn’t take away from the beauty of the area. When I booked our accommodation, they were happy we were coming. The owner said whatever was burnt will come back better and stronger in the future. He said that fire cleanses the past. I don’t know how people make it through their present suffering, though.” They sat in silence as they drove through the town.
Ten minutes later Declan pulled into the parking lot of the Miette House Motel. Charlie got out first. Declan reached into the back seat to grab his duffle bag and felt the cardboard box.
Shit.
He’d been so preoccupied that he’d forgotten about the photo and teddy bear he’d stowed there the other day. He fished them out of the box and placed them in his bag. He’d show Charlie after they’d checked in.
“It says ‘No Vacancy’,” Charlie said, pointing at the sign out front.
“I booked ahead. I got the last room at the inn.”
They made their way inside to the check-in desk. The young woman, who looked like she was barely out of high school, asked what name the reservation was under. After several failed attempts at spelling ‘Hunt’, she finally found their booking. “It only has a single king-sized bed. I’m not sure if you were told about that when you booked.”
“That won’t be a problem,” Declan said with a smile.
“Oh. I see,” she said as she winked at them. “Enjoy your time in Jasper.”
