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are.”
    â€œMay we talk, please?” Reimer indicated that they were to step apart from the rest of the group. Cole lifted himself from the rock on which he sat and followed the inspector.
    â€œHomicide suit you, Inspector?” Cole asked as they moved a few hundred feet apart from the group. They were near the cluster of tents.
    â€œWe call it Major Crimes, and it does. So, what was your role in this little adventure, Mr. Blackwater?”
    â€œHaven’t we got to a first-name basis yet?” The RCMP inspector didn’t say a word. “I was hired by a client out of Vancouver called Nexus Energy to represent them on the steering committee of the Alternative Energy Group. Brian Marriott was the executive director. I have a lot of backcountry experience, so when we decided to put this fam tour together, it was logical for me to come along and help out.”
    â€œFam?”
    â€œFamiliarization tour. The intent was to highlight the impacts of climate change on Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. We wanted to use it as an example of the real-world impacts of climate change. No glaciers, less water, and so on.”
    â€œAnd your guests?”
    â€œPolicy makers, a reporter, experts on climate change, a token environmentalist to keep us all honest.”
    â€œTell me about Brian Marriott.”
    â€œHe was hired about eight months ago to lead the AEG . He used to work for the oil and gas lobby. He was an Ottawa insider, tight with ministers and Members of Parliament. I guess he had some kind of conversion awhile back, read a few books, got excited about climate change and the role that alternative energy could play to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
    â€œYou don’t sound convinced.”
    â€œDon’t I? I don’t know; I think he meant well. I’m just never sure when people have these so-called conversions if they really leave their pasts behind.”
    â€œDidn’t you?”
    â€œWhat? Have a conversion? I don’t think so. I’ve always been who I am today.”
    Reimer flipped through a notebook. “What was your relationship like with Mr. Marriott?”
    â€œIt was getting better. It wouldn’t take much to dig up evidence that for a long time Brian and I were on opposite sides of the fence: on climate change, oil and gas exploration, just about every other environmental issue you could think of. I’m sure there’s lots of tape of he and I arguing on Question Period or The House about endangered species or drilling in protected areas. But that was a long time ago.”
    â€œHow long?”
    â€œAt least five years now. More like six. I’ve been out of the Ottawa scene for that long. I left all that behind when I moved to the coast.”
    â€œHow did you feel when you learned that your old arch enemy was going to run the show?”
    â€œIt wasn’t like Superman and Lex Luther, Inspector.”
    â€œWhat was it like?”
    â€œI wasn’t very happy. But I got over it.”
    â€œHow did things turn out?”
    Cole looked out across the cluster of tents, then at the peaks that rose all around the plateau. He was sweating under the blazing sun. “It was still too early to tell.”
    â€œYou had your doubts about something?”
    â€œNothing I could put my finger on. Just a suspicion.”
    â€œDid you ever talk with him about it?”
    â€œNot in so many words.”
    â€œMr. Blackwater, you understand that this is a murder investigation. There isn’t much doubt that Mr. Marriott didn’t die in the fall. We’ll have to confirm this once we recover his body and the ME has an opportunity to do an examination.”
    â€œHow did he die?”
    â€œI’m not at liberty—”
    â€œHe was shot, wasn’t he?”
    â€œAgain, I can’t say. My point is this, Mr. Blackwater. We’re in the middle of nowhere. There are nine of you up here, along with