She Felt No Pain Read Online Free Page A

on the dot. Degenerative disc disease hastened by a daring rescue during a convenience-store robbery had forced her to give up an active career just as she had made corporal. Instead of heading up the detachment by replacing retiring Reg Wilkinson, she drove a desk. The RCMP tried to make accommodations for its staff, especially since they were moved from post to post after only a few years and subject to morale challenges. “Last week Sean Carter said he spotted the first...guest. When you came last fall, the homeless had already moved back to winter quarters in Sooke or Victoria. With that large parking area and the sheltered places under the high bridge, the Bailey fills up fast in the summer. Get used to the minor annoyances and an occasional fight. It helps to set down the rules right off the bat. That’s what I di...used to do.”
    “Better than gang wars, I suppose.” Holly felt questions worm themselves around her temple. The more she learned about her turf, the better. Proactive beat reactive. Trouble was easier to head off when anticipated, rather than fighting a defensive action.“But they don’t have vehicles. Where do they get their food? They’re not eating at Nan’s, and the gas station carries mostly junk food and picnic supplies.”
    “Some have old bicycles. And it’s easy to hitchhike on the island. People are more laid-back and trusting. Pick up simple groceries like bread, peanut butter, tuna, soup, stuff that can be eaten cold from the can. Pastor Pete does a sandwich run with the Helping Hands van weekdays on his way home to Jordan River. We’d rather he didn’t, since it only makes it easier for them to stay. But try to tell him that.” Ann spread her large hands in a gesture of helplessness.
    “Enablement is a problem everywhere, and a tough call. Are they all drifters? What’s the profile? Are drugs involved?” Ann and Chipper had come the year before Holly had arrived. As post leader, she was in the initial throes of trying to identify her team’s strengths and build upon them. Rivalry did not belong in the cards. But if she’d been Ann, she would have had a tough time adjusting to being second in command, especially to a leader ten years younger.
    “It’s usually a pretty harmless group. At least they’re not hanging around schools like in Victoria, moving in at night with sheets of plastic and sleeping bags, leaving needles and human waste behind. A few older regulars know how to work the resources. Some even have small pensions. Reg said that until a few years ago, there were full-time shacks at Sombrio Beach.”
    “That was in my time. Sort of an old hippie hangout. Malibu North. Everything changed when the Juan de Fuca and West Coast Trail system got going. The authorities cleaned house for the tourists.” Holly leaned against the wall and folded her arms. “Sounds innocent enough. I don’t want to come down too hard. Usually it’s live and let live around here. But the panhandling complaint worries me. It was a man, I’m presuming. Was he particularly aggressive? Any charges possible?”
    Ann plunged into a slim “in” pile on her desk and consulted a paper. “There was no contact. The guy backed off.” She gave a bark of a laugh. “Wish you’d seen the complainant. About fifty, dressed head to toe in Tilley gear, hat that went through the guts of an elephant, jungle jacket, belt knife. Aluminum water bottle in a case around his shoulder.”
    Holly smiled at the picture. “No pith helmet?”
    “Do knee socks and shorts count? You know the kind. He didn’t feel that beggars belonged in his dream vacation spot. He’d had enough of that sightseeing in Vancouver and Victoria. ‘Are there no workhouses?’ he asked. ‘Then throw the bastards in jail.’ I don’t know how I kept my big mouth shut.”
    “We rarely enforce vagrancy laws out here, unless assault’s involved,” Holly said. “Sounds like a malcontent who expected Disneyworld.”
    They heard loud