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half day. He had spoken to her from the clubhouse, Fred told me, where he'd come in from the first tee to answer his pager. I guessed he'd lingered to hit a few balls but he was there in ten minutes, a small, young guy with round glasses and not much of a tan.  
    He whisked me out of the room to examine her, then came out to report. 'It may be some time,' he said and immediately went over my head with details of dilation. 'Are you attending the birth?'  
    'I've taken the classes but honestly the idea scares the hell out of me. I don't want to be in the way.'
    'Thank God,' he said earnestly. 'Some of the fathers are a royal pain in the ass.' He gave an apologetic half-smile and went on, 'You won't be needed for a couple of hours anyway. Why don't you talk it over with your wife? Then, if you've got anything else to do come back at— 'he checked his watch—'let's say six o'clock.'  
    'Thank you, Doctor.' I went back in to see Fred who was being moved out to a pre-natal room. I walked with her as far as the door. The nurse left us there for a moment to talk, tactfully heading off somewhere else.  
    'Look, Reid, you don't have to be here, you know,' Fred said.
    I stopped and gave her a quick kiss. 'I'm all trained up to help, wouldn't want to waste all that knowledge.'
    'Yes, you would,' she said firmly. 'Why don't you head out for an hour or two anyway? If you come in with me now you'll have to gown up and you're stuck here for the rest of the time.'  
    I weakened, very easily. 'Well, I have to check with the local people. I didn't tell you before but a Parry Sound woman has drowned at the Harbour. I should talk to the police here.'  
    ' Vaya con Dios ,' she said and waved me away.  
    The nurse must have been hovering. She was back in a moment, all brisk. 'You can come inside but you'll have to change.'
    'I'm coming back later.' Fred was with me on the decision, so why did I feel like I was retreating under fire?
    The OPP constable on duty at the Parry Sound desk was a fishing buddy of mine and he stuck out his hand and asked after Fred. 'In the hospital, the doctor says to come back at supper-time. Figured I'd check on the Carolyn Jeffries investigation.'  
    'The inspector's in his office. Come on through.' He flipped up the hinged section of the desk and opened the gate.
    'Thanks, Mike.' I went through and tapped on Inspector Dunn's door. It was open and he was on the phone. He waved me in. 'Chief Bennet just walked in, I'll put him on,' he said. He handed me the phone. 'S' arnt Holland, he's at the Jeffries' store.'  
    'Thank you.' I took the phone. 'Hi, Bill, Reid Bennett. What did you find out?'
    'Hi, Reid.' Bill Holland is a good detective although he hasn't had much homicide experience. 'I was just in the store. There's a kid working there, says she hasn't seen hide nor hair of the Jeffries since yesterday. She came in and opened up like always, nobody there. First time ever.'  
    'Do they live over the store?'
    'No. Got a place on the water on the edge of town. The girl, her name's Peggy Lindhoff, says she's rung the house, no answer. First time she's ever had to open up on her own. She figures something's wrong.'  
    'Let me explain. The owner of the stolen car says his wife had big eyes for this Stu Jeffries guy. She was a good friend of the wife but her husband led me to believe that she liked the husband a lot.'  
    'You sayin' they might have killed the wife so they could be together?'
    'It's possible, but according to the husband, who's a lawyer, his wife and the Jeffries couple were all kind of hippy. They'd have shacked up together or something like that if they had hankerings. Not the types for a crime of passion.'  
    'Well, it's strange. This clerk says the Jeffries were always there ahead of her. She's not a partner or anything, only helps out in the summer, says they're nice people.'  
    'I don't know much about them, except that the other woman's husband doesn't