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Up here?"
    "There's a ladder at the back. If you climb to the first floor roof you can come right around to our bedroom window. We use it sometimes. You won't tell Mrs. Lawrence?"
    "That's not very safe Amy. You might want to think about telling her yourself."
    "Okay. I guess I will," she muttered unconvincingly.
    "So Shannon knocked on the window and you let her in. What did she say?"
    "She said she needed to change clothes and she didn't want the Dragon—that's what she called Mrs. Lawrence—to catch her."
    "I see," Jesse stifled a chuckle. "I take it Shannon didn't get along with your housemother."
    " Shannon didn't like the way she stuck her nose into our business. I think she liked her okay, except for that."
    "Now about this man you say she met on Monday. Did you see him?"
    "Yes. I wasn't sure if she was really meeting someone or if she was making it up, so I followed her. She walked down Commercial to Hastings until a cab pulled up next to her and this Native guy got out. He opened the back door for Shannon and she jumped in. Shannon would kill me for telling this," she muttered and then stopped as if remembering that Shannon wouldn't be killing anyone.
    "It's okay Amy. Shannon would understand. What did he look like?"
    "Hot." She lifted her head and met Jesse's eyes. "Shoulder length black hair, tall, sexy butt. He looked like somebody important."
    "How's that?"
    "The way he was dressed. Not a suit, but slacks, nice sweater, the kind of stuff my dad wears. Not like most of the guys around here."
    "Anything stand out about him?"
    "Just that he was a hunk."
    Jesse grinned. "Okay. Thanks Amy. You've been very helpful." He opened the door so she could precede him down the stairs. "Is it okay to call you if I have more questions?"
    "Sure." Amy went to rejoin her friends with a secretive smile playing across her lips.
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
    Back in the Jeep, Jesse called Martine, got her voicemail and left a message that he was headed back to the Friendship Centre. Once there he left a note in Martine's inbox that he was planning to drive out to Hope and visit Spirit Water if she wanted to come along.
    At his desk, Jesse started on the paperwork that had piled up and moved a couple of appointments to the next week.
    An hour had passed when Martine poked her head in his doorway. "Sorry it took me so long. I'd love to go with you to Spirit Water's place."
    "Sounds good. Give me five and I'll meet you out at the Jeep."
     
    * * *
     
    "Spirit Water is kind of a loner," Jesse said, breaking the silence they'd maintained while he manipulated Vancouver 's urban congestion and crossed the bridge to Highway 1 headed toward Hope. "He lives in a log cabin built about forty years ago and he doesn't have a telephone. We'll have to take our chances on finding him home."
    "Sounds intriguing."
    "Oh he is that." Jesse's voice held a hint of laughter.
    As they sped along the highway, Jesse pointed out local landmarks and Martine kept her eyes peeled to the window. Finally, Jesse took a sharp right off the highway. "Better hang on," he cautioned as he steered the Jeep onto what was little more than a trail meandering through the grasses. They bumped and jolted along a pair of ruts, hitting potholes that bounced them to the roof.
    "The rest of us may be part of the twentieth century," Jesse said, after a solid jolt had them both rubbing the top of their heads, "but Spirit Water still heats his cabin with wood and fetches his water from a well."
    "We have a few old timers like that around Montreal ." Martine smiled. "Who's to say they aren't living better than the rest of us."
    "That a fact?" Jesse agreed. "We're in luck, there's smoke coming from the chimney and that looks like Spirit Water sitting on the porch."
    Jesse braked in front of an old weathered cabin. "Here we are."   He opened the door and stepped out of the Jeep. Martine jumped out of her side and met him in front. "These steps are a bit rough," he said, taking her