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apartment. She gave each of them two dollars and their dark eyes lit up.
    â€œThanks a lot, Doctor Jordan,” said Michael.
    â€œYou need anything, just call us,” Eli added. They sped off on their bikes to spend their reward money.
    Jordan’s apartment was at the back of the medical center. Using the key she’d been given, she tried to open the door, only to find it was unlocked. Inside, it smelled of fresh paint, and Jordan had to smile.
    Christina had made good on her promise. The walls were a warm, light color somewhere between lemon and cream, and the apartment had improved drastically since Jordan had last seen it on her first visit.
    That day, these walls had been a nauseous institutional green.
    â€œCan you tell this was where the cops stayed overnight before they got their trailer?” Christina had groaned. “They must get this paint free from the government. I think a nice warm lamb’s wool shade for these walls, don’t you?”
    â€œWhat color’s lamb’s wool?”
    â€œI dunno.” Christina had shrugged and shot Jordan a wicked grin. “I’m just trying my damnedest to impress you. I saw it in a Martha Stewart magazine.”
    Jordan smiled now, remembering. There was an exuberance about Christina that made her irresistible, and obviously Eli had inherited it.
    The paint made the small area welcoming, but the place was still strange to her, and she was suddenly achingly homesick for the familiarity of the Kitsilano apartment she and Garry had shared.
    But not homesick for Garry. She shivered. Over the past few weeks she’d had to alert security at St. Joe’s, and she’d called the police and threatened to get a restraining order when he had turned up at the door of the motel one night.
    Cancel, cancel. No more depressing thoughts. So she had no idea how to make a fire in the iron cookstove. She’d learn. The hot plate she’d ordered in Tofinowouldn’t be delivered for a couple days, but she’d brought a lot of cereal and apples. It wouldn’t do any harm to fast a little.
    She walked around, taking stock of her new home. It was clean, sparsely furnished but adequate, with mismatched furniture and an odd but generous assortment of dishes in the kitchen area. A distinctive and colorful native painting hung on one wall, and someone had obviously hand-carved the two beautiful wooden bowls on the counter.
    She opened the door wide to get rid of the smell of paint, hung up her jacket on a wooden peg and began unloading the groceries. When Billy arrived with her suitcases, she’d unpack and add her own small touches to the decor, like the soft turquoise silk shawl her brother Toby had sent for her birthday.
    She’d use that as a table cover. And she had an old black-and-white photo of her and Toby when they were little to put on the bedside table. One of her mother, as well.
    It would soon feel like home, she reassured herself. This wasn’t the same as when she was a child, shuffled from one home to the next, sharing bedrooms and sometimes even beds with other foster kids.
    This apartment was hers alone. It had been her choice to come here, and she’d do her best to turn this little place into a sanctuary.
    F ROM A WINDOW in the band office, Silas watched the new doctor walk past with Eli and Michael. He’d honored his promise to Christina; although he was a member of the council, he’d deliberately been absent for the initial meeting with the doctor. Instead, he’d hiked up island to visit an elderly couple recovering from a severe bout of the flu, but he couldn’t deny he was curious. Ahousaht was a small, close-knit community. The addition of someone from Away always had repercussions.
    Jordan Burke was tall, maybe five-nine or ten—or maybe she only looked that tall because she was long-legged and very slender. Her thick chestnut hair, down past her shoulder blades and silky straight, was