Troop 18 Read online

  Slow, slow, think. “And yet you signed a permanent contract with the RCMP,” Andy said quietly. To her surprise, Kate grinned.

  “I know, ass backwards isn’t it?”

  Andy couldn’t help but smile at the expression on Kate’s face. But she didn’t comment, waiting for Kate to explain.

  “I realized I needed to start making actual decisions about my life, no more coasting. And I knew I needed to think about the choices I had and what I wanted to do with my career.” Kate hiked the blanket up higher on her body. “I liked working with the RCMP, but I wasn’t ready to leave the ER. When Superintendent Heath gave me the flexibility of part time, it seemed like the perfect fit. But I knew I had to make the decision not knowing if you would take me back.”

  “So right now you’re wondering if we walk into camp in an hour holding hands?”

  “Exactly,” Kate said, clearly relieved.

  “Here are my thoughts, let me know what you think. We don’t hide our relationship but we certainly don’t flaunt it. I figure if Staff Sergeant Finns wouldn’t make out with his wife at the office, why would I?”

  Kate tilted her head back and laughed, a delighted sound that echoed off the walls of the cabin. Andy shifted in close to Kate, slid one hand around the back of her neck and kissed Kate’s throat.

  “But just so you know, it’s going to be next to impossible not to touch you. You, Dr. Kate Morrison, civilian consultant with the RCMP’s E-division, are going to be the most incredible distraction.”

  Kate had her eyes closed, and her whole body shivered at Andy’s touch. “But we can do this,” Kate said, somewhat breathlessly. It was both a question and a statement.

  Andy pulled back and waited for Kate to open her eyes. “Yes,” she said simply.

  Kate’s brown eyes sparkled. “Then we should probably get going. I’m on probation for the next three months so we better put on a good show.”

  Andy gave Kate one last kiss, leaving them both breathless.

  “We always do.”

  *

  When they arrived, camp was quiet. They could hear the low rumble of voices coming from the meeting hall, and Andy recognized the even, steady pitch of Constable Meyers’s instruction. It was raining steadily and it wasn’t supposed to let up for the next few days, according to Kurtz. She’d driven Kate and Andy up to camp, wanting to check out the state of the temporary road and make sure there was no risk of wash-out during this soggy, wet season.

  “The instructors are probably in the kitchen,” Andy said to Kate. Wood smoke mixed with the smell of wet pine, wet rock, and burnt toast as Andy pulled open the door .

  “Good morning, Sgt. Wyles,” said Sergeant Trokof. Impeccably dressed, he sat ramrod straight with a triangle of lightly blackened toast and a coffee in front of him. Zeb and Les were also at the table, Les looking through a stack of marking, Zeb peering down the cracked barrel of a 12-gauge shotgun, its bright orange stock identifying it as a non-lethal or bean bag round. Andy had to assume the medic was hiding in her cabin.

  “Everyone, this is Dr. Kate Morrison, civilian consultant with E-division and our new camp doctor.” Andy didn’t stop the swell of pride at introducing Kate to her new team.

  Kate stepped forward and shook hands with the instructors. As Les sat down again, she shot Andy a quick, questioning look. Andy just smiled and Les gave a subtle thumbs up, grinning.

  “How are things going this morning?” Andy said, dropping Kate’s medical kit next to the door and taking a seat. Kate sat across the table, her expression open and curious.

  “We did roll call at six this morning, ran them in the rain, which they hated, and then gave them ten minutes to dry out. They’ve been in the classroom ever since,” Zeb said, twisting the barrel of the shotgun in his hands, looking annoyed. “These fucking things are going to be the death of me,” he grumbled, untwisting it again and peering closely at the grooved threads.

  “Constable Zeb,” Trokof admonished, putting down his coffee.

  Zeb looked up, confused. “What?”

  “That’s unacceptable language with ladies present.”

  Andy, Les, and Kate looked at each other, amused.

  “Really, Sergeant?” Les said. “To which ‘lady’ might you be referring?”

  Trokof looked between the three women. “Well, we don’t know Dr. Morrison, do we? We should be showing her our best side, even out here at Camp Depot.”

  Kate shook her head, a perfect, mischievous smile on her face. “There are a lot of things you can call me, Sergeant Trokof, including Kate. But I’m afraid ‘lady’ isn’t one of them.”

  Les laughed out loud, smacking the top of her pile of marking with her palm. Zeb grinned and even Trokof managed an amused shake of his head.

  “Well, let’s just keep our language in check, shall we? We are peace officers, and we have an obligation to maintain a sense of duty and decorum at all times.” Sergeant Trokof paused, and then he dropped his voice, the Newfie accent once again emerging. “Even when we don’t fuckin’ want to.”

  Andy gave a shocked laugh at hearing Sergeant Trokof, the toughest bastard at Depot, dropping the f-bomb. She caught Kate’s eye and grinned.

  Just then the door to the kitchen cabin opened and Constable Meyers walked in. Andy quickly introduced Kate, and he shook her hand politely.

  “I’ve given the cadets a quiz,” Meyers said in his quiet, assured voice. Andy wondered if anything ever worked the man up. He had the most even temperament of anyone Andy had ever met.

  “Aren’t they going to cheat?” Kate said to the tall officer as he poured himself a coffee and sat down.

  Meyers shrugged. “It’s a warm up quiz, doesn’t count for anything. So I gave them five minutes to cheat, then they’re on their own.”

  Andy checked her watch and saw it was just after ten. She was going to have to leave soon to take the still-missing medic into town.

  Trokof noticed her check her watch. “What’s the plan, Sgt. Wyles?”

  Andy looked around the table, the members of her new team looking back at her expectantly. “Are the cadets in class all day today?”

  “All day,” Les said.

  Andy indicated Kate with a quick nod of her head. “Dr. Morrison would like to do a physical on each cadet. We’re going to set up the spare cabin as an examination room. If you could release the cadets from class one at a time to see her, we should get through the whole troop by the end of the day. Then tonight, I’d like to have a team meeting, gather impressions and information and see where we stand with Troop 18.”

  Trokof and the instructors all gave their agreement. Kate shifted in her seat and leaned forward, waiting for a nod of approval from Andy to speak.

  “I just want to clarify one thing,” Kate said to the group, her voice quiet and confident. Andy knew not everyone could address a room full of uniformed cops and have the assurance their opinions mattered just as much. It was one of the things Andy had always loved about Kate. “It’s been made clear to me by Chief Training Officer Lincoln that a physical exam is a requirement of the cadets. If they refuse, they could have their training agreement cancelled.”

  Kate waited for any questions before carrying on. “Normally, when a patient walks into my exam room, I automatically assume a doctor-patient confidentiality agreement, both ethically and legally. The cadets have, to a degree, waived that right, so any information I gain which is pertinent to their mental or physical performance level or that I believe makes them unfit to continue their contract, can be shared with this team.”

  Andy rolled this piece of information around in her head, trying to see it from all angles, to figure out the advantages and disadvantages of what Kate had just shared. There was no question that Kate was right. She would know the legal boundaries of this better than anyone else in the room.

  “This isn’t new to the cadets, I take it,” Les said, her expression thoughtful.

  Kate shook her head. “No. They would have signed somethin
g to that effect when they accepted the contract at Depot. But I will make it clear to each cadet as they walk through the door today, just so there’s no confusion. I am not their family physician. Information shared with me may not necessarily be kept confidential.”

  “But then they’re less likely to admit anything to you,” Zeb said, frowning.

  “True,” Kate said. “But ethically, I need them to understand the situation. And besides, it doesn’t exactly sound like this troop would willingly give me any information, confidentiality agreement or not.”

  She was dead on as usual and Andy saw that none of the instructors opposed this statement.

  “So then will you be willing to also share your impressions of the cadets, Dr. Morrison?” Sergeant Trokof said.

  Kate smiled at Trokof. “I’ll be happy to share my personal observations on who is compliant, who’s a pain in the ass, that kind of thing.”

  Tension eased out of the room a little as Kate skilfully smoothed over any snags, creating a sense of team and trust and absolute confidence. Andy felt her heart kick and suppressed a foolish grin of pride. She had always loved to watch Kate at work.

  Meyers checked his watch and lifted his mug to drain his coffee. “Five minutes is up,” he said, then he checked in with Andy for any last minute directions.

  “Class and physical exams are what we’re focusing on today,” Andy said. “I’ll take the medic back into Kamloops, and I’m guessing I’ll need to get groceries, so give me your requests now. Then tonight, let’s say nine o’clock, team meeting. Questions?”

  Andy surveyed the room, checking for any signs of dissent or disapproval. As the team broke up, back to their individual tasks, Andy caught Kate’s eye, and she knew with absolute certainty what that look was. Together, Kate’s eyes said. We’re back together.

  Chapter Eight

  “I still say he’s hiding something.”

  Zeb stubbornly repeated the same message about Cadet Foster for the last ten minutes. It was after eleven, the gas furnace of the kitchen hummed and rattled as it warmed the cabin where Andy, Kate, Sergeant Trokof, and the three instructors were meeting. Andy shifted her annoyance to the background and forced herself to give Zeb’s strong opinion the same weight as everyone else’s, no matter how much she disagreed.

  “He’s so quiet, but you can tell he’s itching to talk back,” Zeb continued, though no one offered a contrary opinion. They’d already tried and Zeb refused to listen.

  Andy had assembled the troop’s files, and they’d been going through the cadets one by one, offering opinions and insights, seeing where their observations overlapped or jarred. So far it had been pretty straightforward, Andy encouraging the team to offer what they were thinking without coming to any conclusions or making definitive statements about the cadets as individuals or the troop as a whole. But as soon as they’d come to Hawke Foster, they had disagreed instantly.

  “But he’s not talking back. He’s following orders like he should,” Les said, her tone showing that her patience was wearing thin. “Just because it’s clear he’s got some attitude underneath that, doesn’t set him apart from fifty other cadets at the training academy right now.”

  Zeb shook his head, his mouth set in a hard line, but he didn’t say anything. Andy was confused at his strong reaction. Zeb didn’t seem to dislike Hawke, but he did seem mistrustful. Andy wondered if shades of prejudice coloured Zeb’s opinion of Cadet Foster. Andy waited to see if anyone would offer anything into the silence, but the team seemed to have all said their piece.

  “Dr. Morrison, may we ask your opinion?” Sergeant Trokof broke the silence, turning everyone’s attention to Kate. She’d been generally quiet through the whole discussion, occasionally offering an insight or asking a question. Andy wasn’t the least bit surprised at how focused an opinion she already had of each cadet, how well she was able to pinpoint a characteristic or a personality trait, even though she’d only spent at most twenty minutes each with them.

  “You’ve all read his file, I assume.” Kate looked around the assembled group who all affirmed the assumption. “Then I can tell you that Hawke Foster’s medical file supports his cadet file. Given his difficult history in the foster care system, I imagine Constable Zeb is right. Foster probably has a lot of secrets.”

  The group was quiet, digesting Kate’s words. Even Zeb seemed taken aback at Kate’s quasi-agreement. Hawke Foster’s case file read like a thousand files Andy had seen of young offenders. But Foster’s had two differences. At the age of twelve, he had testified against a former foster parent who was brought up on charges of physical abuse. The man was eventually sent to jail. And the second difference was that she was looking at his file because he was in the process of becoming a peace officer, not a criminal. So yes, Foster probably had a great deal to hide, but that didn’t mean it had anything to do with the situation they were currently investigating.

  Andy was just opening her mouth to drive this point home with Zeb when the sound of a door slamming across the quad caught her by surprise. She only had time to quickly check her watch—twenty minutes after cadet lights out—when the shouting started. Meyers and Zeb were the closest to the door, Meyers reaching it first and swinging the door wide. Andy followed quickly, hearing the rush of feet behind her.

  Her eyes took a moment to adjust from the bright lights of the kitchen cabin to the diffuse orange light from the hydro pole. She heard sounds of a struggle, fighting, more screen doors being slammed as cadets poured out of their cabins, all watching the two figures grappling at the far side of the quad. Andy squinted as she tried to figure out who and what she was seeing.

  Andy clearly saw Greg Shipman’s face as he straightened up, then reached down and across the back of whoever he was wrestling with, grabbing the man’s shirt and pulling, hockey jersey style. His opponent went low and grabbed Shipman around the legs, lifting him in a dump tackle. Shipman landed flat on his back in the wet gravel with a sharp grunt.

  Meyers reached the pair first, placing himself between the attacker and Shipman, who had rolled over onto his side on the ground, but made no other move. Meyers had his hands out and used his tall frame as a barrier, moving whoever it was backwards. Zeb knelt down beside Shipman and Andy, seeing the cadet’s eyes open, figured he was fine and continued to advance on his opponent, who Meyers had steered back and away from the group of wide-eyed cadets standing in a nervous circle.

  It was Foster.

  Andy followed Meyers as he continued to separate Foster from the rest of the group, the cadet walking backwards, his hands clenched in fists at his side, his eyes locked at a seemingly random point over Meyers’ shoulder. Meyers stopped and let Foster take a few more steps back, then looked at Andy. She took a step in, letting Foster register her presence and take a few more steadying breaths. They could hear voices in the background: Andy sorting through Trokof’s harsh commands, Les’s neutral directions, Kate’s soothing assessment. Andy waited, but of course Foster offered nothing into the silence, his posture remaining tensed.

  “What happened, Cadet Foster?” Andy said.

  Hawke Foster looked up at Andy and met her eyes for one brief moment before looking back over Meyers’ shoulder. It was long enough for Andy to see his raging defiance. This is what Zeb sees, Andy thought to herself. His defiance seemed to be deliberate, an odd kind of control.

  “Answer Sgt. Wyles, Cadet Foster,” Meyers said quietly, an edge of authority to his tone but completely lacking any kind of threat. Andy kicked her estimation of the man up a notch.

  “Shipman and I had a disagreement,” Foster said, his words precise and neutral.

  “A disagreement about what?” Andy said, knowing he was going to give the least amount of information possible without being insubordinate. It was a good trick Andy had used often enough herself, but she had no intention of letting him get away with it.

  “Music,” Foster said.

  Andy caught Meyers’s eye in the dim light. Music.


  “Cadet Foster, do you really expect me to believe you and Cadet Shipman risked being kicked out of Depot for conduct unbecoming of a cadet over music?”

  Foster tensed. It was barely noticeable, just a tight line of his shoulders and chest under the thin grey t-shirt. It could have passed for a shiver of cold, but Andy knew better. Foster cared very much about his place in this troop, in becoming an RCMP officer. Again, she stored it. Again, she waited.

  “I asked you a question, Cadet Foster, and I expect an answer.”

  “We had a disagreement over music,” Foster reiterated, and this time it sounded beyond neutral. Rote.

  Andy gave him an absolute look of disbelief, staring him down, waiting for him to shift or blink or fidget. Foster unfocused his eyes and remained perfectly still. Andy had a grudging respect for Hawke Foster. She recognized a good defence system when she saw one.

  The gravel crunched behind Andy. She didn’t turn to see who it was, but she caught the light scent of her shampoo as Kate joined them, standing between Andy and Foster, angled slightly towards the cadet. Foster reacted with a quickly controlled startle, like he had not anticipated anyone being anywhere close to his side in this. Kate gave Andy a questioning look, and Andy gave her assent to speak to the cadet.

  “Are you hurt?”

  Hawke looked at Kate, blinked, then flicked his eyes to Constable Meyers.

  “You may answer the doctor when she asks you a question, cadet,” Meyers said.

  Hawke shook his head. “I’m not hurt,” he said, his voice an unemotional monotone.

  Kate waited, but Foster offered nothing else. “Do you know where to find me if you need to follow up?” she asked.

  Clearly Hawke Foster was not used to neutrality, let alone an offered kindness. Another controlled flinch, a knock to his defence system. Andy wanted to smile. Kate had that effect on people.