“She can give them a better life than I ever could.”

Fortin tensed when he heard a noise in the living room.

Reflexively, he extended his weapon.

Somehow Lori had gotten out of his car, switched on the TV and DVD player, and was watching Road Runner cartoons. The lyrics sounded throughout the house, something about the Coyote chasing you and what will happen if he catches you.

Lori’s little face was smeared with blood. It had to be from Fortin’s shoulder when he’d carried her. She stared at the TV screen, tears rolling down her little cheeks as she shouted.

“Billy, wake up! Daisy, wake up! Wake up and watch TV with me, please!”

Fortin wanted to take Lori to a neighbor’s house, the Starners, but it was too far and he couldn’t leave the scene. He didn’t want to call them because he needed to protect the scene. He wanted to seal it with tape starting at the entrance to the property but he’d adhered to the fundamental rule.

Never leave a scene unattended.

Help was coming. Help was on the way.

So he sat with Lori among the dead, bleeding and trembling with his ears ringing. While he watched the Coyote chase the Road Runner, he struggled to suppress the piercing cry rising in a terrified corner of his heart before he realized that it was the sound of approaching sirens. And at that moment he felt as if he’d stepped from a cliff like the Coyote and was plunging at whistling speed, down, down, down, into a dark canyon.

-Chapter 8-

Southern Alberta

The chaos soon yielded to procedure and the order of an investigation as a stream of people arrived.

There was the Major Crimes Unit out of Calgary, its detectives would lead the investigation and were among the best in the country. There were the forensic experts who’d set up lights, pulled on their moon suits, and began processing the aftermath, probing the house, the porch, and Fortin’s patrol car. The Serious Incident Response Team arrived to conduct its separate investigation. And Fortin’s staff rep for the region was there, advising him on how he should cooperate as more people joined the scene.

Victim Services took care of Lori while waiting for her aunt and uncle to arrive. They were rushing from Medicine Hat to Lone Tree to get her. Soon reporters, who had monitored police dispatches on radio scanners, started rolling up. The first were from Lethbridge – “Your Live Action News Team!” Later, more press would come from Calgary and Medicine Hat. More news crews would arrive from Edmonton and Great Falls, Montana.