Gold Fever (37 page)

Inspector Starnes went to confer with McKnight.

My feet healed quickly, although I wouldn't be going back over the Chilkoot Pass any time soon. I could get around without being carried but was limited to the distance covered by the direct route between the Savoy and Mrs. Mann's boarding house. My son seemed to enjoy looking after me, and I enjoyed his attentions. Ray continued to look excessively pleased with himself, and that I was not at all pleased about. I suspected Irene was making friends with Ray in order to try to squelch any gossip about herself and Maggie. Poor Ray.

I'd worry about that tomorrow. Today a small crowd stood at the gangplank leading to the steamboat
Queen Victoria
.

Mouse O'Brien and Martha Witherspoon had come to say their farewells. Ray Walker and Richard Sterling were there also. Mary stood close to Angus, who held on to her small cardboard suitcase. A large coloured woman was with them, wiping her eyes on an embroidered handkerchief. Yesterday, my lovely son had gone upriver to Moosehide Island, by himself, to talk to Bishop Bompas. It had been agreed that the steamboat would drop Mary off at the village, and she could stay with the Bishop and his wife while he looked for a place for her.

“I have them all, Fiona,” Euila said.

“All what?”

“Martha's notes. She said she won't be needing them, and I can do what I want with them. Wasn't that nice of her?”

“Very nice,” I agreed. I tossed a glance to where Martha stood, her arm tucked into the protection of Mouse O'Brien's good one. His other arm was cradled in a snowy white sling. Martha's face was flushed with the pure joy that hadn't left her for most of the week. He was still in his hospital bed, in the middle of a crowded ward, when he'd asked Martha to marry him. She accepted on the spot, and his wardmates had broken into a round of applause.

Graham Donohue had come, as flushed with the thrill of writing up the hostage-taking for his newspaper as Martha with a proposal of marriage. He hadn't asked me to read his epistle, thank heavens. This boat would carry his dispatches Outside, to where any news from the fabled Klondike, no matter how fabricated, was almost as precious as the gold itself.

Richard Sterling smiled at Euila and wished her well. Inspector Starnes had decided, I'd heard, that the town of Dawson was growing so fast, it needed a second town detachment. And, so I had also heard, newly-promoted Corporal Richard Sterling was to be in charge of it. I hoped he wouldn't be too busy with his management responsibilities to drop by the Savoy now and again.

The steamboat whistle sounded. Everyone else had gone on board. A crewman stood at the top of the gangplank, ready to pull it up.

Euila clutched her reticule to her chest. “Fiona,” she said. “I simply cannot wait,” I said, “until those stories are in print.

You must send us a copy the moment they're off the press.”

“I will,” she said, looking at her shoes. “I'm glad we met again, Fiona.”

“I am too, Euila. You'd best be going, or the ship will leave without you.”

She started up the gangplank, a tiny figure in a dull brown dress. What would the dreadful Percy think, his sister returning with, instead of a husband, the ambition to be a writer?

She was halfway to the safety of the boat, but I called to her. “Euila!” She placed a white-gloved hand on the railing and turned towards me.

“Write to Alistair. Tell him you saw me and that I'm doing well.”

“Fiona…I…”

“Tell Alistair I remember him. Tell him I have forgotten nothing.”

Sincere thanks to my great critique group, Dorothy McIntosh, Jane Burfield, Donna Carrick, Madeleine Harris-Callway, and Cheryl Freedman. Write on, women! Thanks also to Verna Relkoff of the Mint Agency for manuscript suggestions and to Jerry Sussenguth who helped with the German accent, and to the great people at RendezVous for their help and support.

I have attempted wherever possible to keep the historical details of the Klondike Gold Rush, and the town of Dawson, Yukon Territory, accurate. Occasionally, however, it is necessary to stretch the truth in the interests of a good story. The historical record says that there wasn't a single murder in Dawson in the year of the town's heyday, 1898, therefore I have taken the liberty of inventing one. A few historical personages make cameos in the book: Big Alex McDonald, Belinda Mulroney, Inspector Cortlandt Starnes, but all dramatic characters and incidents are the product of my imagination.

The reader who is interested in learning more about the Klondike Gold Rush is advised to begin with the definitive book on the subject,
Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush
1896-1899 by Pierre Berton. Also by Berton,
The Klondike Quest: A Photographic
Essay 1897-1899.

Other reading:

The Klondike Gold Rush: Photographs from 1896-1899.
Graham Wilson

Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush
. Lael Morgan
The Last Great Gold Rush: A Klondike Reader.
Edited by Graham
Wilson
Women of the Klondike.
Francis Blackhouse
The Real Klondike Kate.
T. Ann Brennan
Gamblers and Dreamers: Women, Men and Community in the
Klondike.
Charlene Porsild
The Klondike Stampede.
Tappan Adney.

For information about the NWMP:

They Got their Man: On Patrol with the North West Mounted.
P.H.
Godsell
The NWMP and Law Enforcement 1873-1905.
R.C. Macleod
Showing the Flag: The Mounted Police and Canadian Sovereignty
in the North, 1894-1925.
W.R. Morrison
Sam Steele: Lion of the Frontier.
R. Stewart

Vicki Delany was fortunate enough to be able to take early retirement from her job as a systems analyst in Toronto and is now enjoying the rural life in Prince Edward County, Ontario, where she rarely wears a watch. She is the author of several stand-alone novels of psychological suspense as well as the Constable Molly Smith series (
In the Shadow of the Glacier
) published by Poisoned Pen Press.
Gold Fever
is the sequel to
Gold Digger
(RendezVous Crime, 2009). She can be visited online at:
www.vickidelany.com

Gold Fever

A Klondike Mystery

Vicki Delany

Text © 2010 by Vicki Delany

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, digital, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.

Cover design: Emma Dolan

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities.

RendezVous Crime an imprint of Napoleon & Company Toronto, Ontario, Canada www.napoleonandcompany.com

Cataloguing and Publication Information Available from Library and Archives Canada

We acknowledge the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts
and the
Ontario Arts Council
for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the
Government of Canada
through the
Canada Book Fund
and
Livres Canada Books
, and the
Government of Ontario
through the
Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit
and the
Ontario Media Development Corporation
.

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J. Kirk Howard, President

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