Sign of the Cross

A MYSTERY

ANNE EMERY

Copyright © Anne Emery,
2006

Published by
ECW PRESS
2I20
Queen Street East, Suite
200,
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4E IE2

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and
ECW PRESS.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Emery, Anne
Sign of the cross: a mystery / Anne Emery.

ISBN 978-1-55022-819-9

I. Title.

PS8609.M47S53   2008 C8I3’.6   C2007-906559-7

Cover and Text Design: Tania Craan
Cover Image: Chris Amaral/Nonstock/Firstlight
Typesetting: Mary Bowness
Production: Rachel Brooks
Printing: Transcontinental

This book is set in AGaramond, and printed on paper that is 100
%
post consumer recycled.

The publication of
Sign of the Cross
has been generously supported by the Ontario Arts Council; by the OMDC Book Fund, an initiative of the Ontario Media Development Corporation; by the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada; and by the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (
BPIDP
).

DISTRIBUTION
CANADA
: Jaguar Book Group, 100 Armstrong Ave., Georgetown,
ON
L7G 5S4
UNITED STATES
: Independent Publishers Group, 814 North Franklin Street,
Chicago,
IL, 60610

PRINTED AND BOUND IN CANADA

for J and P

I would like to thank the following people for their invaluable assistance: Joe A. Cameron and Patrick Duncan, Q.C., for their expertise in criminal law; Dr. Laurette Geldenhuys for the details only a pathologist can provide; Heather MacDonald for advice on forensics; Kevin Robins and Katie Cottreau-Robins for their knowledge of Halifax history and architecture; my troika of first readers: Rhea McGarva, Helen MacDonnell, and Joan Butcher; Jane Buss and the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia; my editors, Edna Barker and Gil Adamson; and, for many reasons,
PJEC.

All characters in the story are fictional. Most locations are real; a few are made up. Any liberties taken in the interests of fiction, or errors committed, are mine alone.

I am grateful for permission to reprint extracts from the following:

MAN IN THE LONG BLACK COAT
by
BOB DYLAN
Copyright © 1989 by Special Rider
Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Reprinted by permission.
BROWN EYED HANDSOME MAN
words and music:
CHUCK BERRY
Copyright © 1956 (Renewed) Arc Music Corporation
(BMI)
SO IN LOVE
words and music by
COLE PORTER
© 1948
COLE PORTER,
© Renewed
and Assigned to
JOHN F. WHARTON,
Trustee of the
COLE PORTER MUSICAL
&
LITERARY PROPERTY TRUSTS
Publication and Allied Rights Assigned to
CHAPPELL
&
CO.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission
MACK THE KNIFE
English words by
MARC BLITZSTEIN
original German words by
BERT BRECHT
music by
KURT WEILL
© 1928
UNIVERSAL EDITION
© 1955
WEILL-BRECHT-HARMS CO., INC.
Renewal Rights Assigned to the
KURT WEILL FOUNDATION FOR MUSIC, BERT BRECHT
and
EDWARD
and
JOSEPHINE DAVIS
, as Executors of the
ESTATE OF MARC BLITZSTEIN
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission
I6 ANGELS
by
LENNIE GALLANT
Lifeline — Lennie Gallant © Revenant Records,
Canada (
SOCAN
)
http://www.lenniegallant.com
NEEDLE OF DEATH
by
HERBERT JANSCH
Copyright © Careers-BMG Music
Publishing (
BMI
) on behalf of Heathside Music Ltd. (
BMI
) administered by
BMG
Music Publishing Canada Inc. (
SOCAN
)
AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’
music by
THOMAS “FATS” WALLER
and
HARRY BROOKS
words by
ANDY RAZAF
© 1929 (Renewed)
EMI MILLS MUSIC INC., CHAPPELL
&
CO.
, and
RAZAF MUSIC CO.
in the U.S.A. All Rights Outside the U.S.A. Administered by
CHAPPELL
&
CO.
,
EMI MILLS MUSIC INC
. and
ALFRED PUBLISHING CO., INC.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission
WHAT WAS IT YOU WANTED
by
BOB DYLAN
Copyright © 1989 by Special Rider
Music. All rights reserved. International copyright secured.
Reprinted by permission.
DON’T LET ME BE MISUNDERSTOOD
words and music by
BENNIE BENJAMIN, SOL
MARCUS
and
GLORIA CALDWELL
© 1964
BENNIE BENJAMIN MUSIC INC.
© Renewed and Assigned to
WB MUSIC CORP.
,
BENNIE BENJAMIN MUSIC, INC.
and
CHRIS-N-JEN MUSIC
All Rights for
BENNIE BENJAMIN MUSIC, INC.
Administered by
CHAPPELL
&
CO.
All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission
SHOOTING STAR
by
BOB DYLAN
Copyright © 1989 by Special Rider Music. All
rights reserved. International copyright secured. Reprinted by permission.
DORCHESTER
by
MATT MINGLEWOOD
Copyright
© Matt Minglewood, Cape Music
MORE OFTEN THAN NOT
by
DAVID WIFFEN
Copyright © Bytown Music Ltd.
SOMETHING UNSPOKEN
by
LENNIE GALLANT, CHRIS LEDREW
Lifeline — Lennie Gallant © Revenant Records, Canada (
SOCAN
)
http://www.lenniegallant.com
ELIZABETH LINDSAY MEETS RONALD MACDONALD
by
JOHN ALLAN CAMERON
Copyright © Tessa Publishing Company (
BMI
) (Administered by
MCS
America,
Inc.) All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.
TURN AROUND, LOOK AT ME
words and music by
JERRY CAPEHART
© 1961
(Renewed)
WARNER-TAMERLANE PUBLISHING CORP.
All Rights Reserved
Used by Permission
LEAVING NANCY
by
ERIC BOGLE
Copyright © Eric Bogle
FARE THEE WELL LOVE
by
JIMMY RANKIN
Copyright © Jimmy Rankin/
Song Dog Music Company Limited (
SOCAN
).
All rights reserved

He looked into her eyes when she stopped him to ask
If he wanted to dance; he had a face like a mask.
Somebody said from the bible he’d quote.
There was dust on the man in the long black coat.
— Bob Dylan, “The Man in the Long Black Coat”

I

Gargoyles. I hardly notice them anymore. Gargoyles are a part of your life when you’ve spent your entire career in the criminal courts. The creatures you see leering out at you from the Halifax Courthouse on Spring Garden Road are technically known as grotesques, fang-baring faces that were set in stone when the building was constructed in 1863. A plaque on the building describes the “vermiculated” stonework; it looks as if worms tunnelled through it. I’m not surprised.

Thursday, March
I,
1990 was a typical day at the courthouse. I had managed to get my client off unexpectedly at the conclusion of a three-day trial on charges of assault, extortion and uttering threats against his old girlfriend’s new boyfriend. His gratitude lay unspoken between us. He swaggered from the building, trailed by three teenage girls in leggings and stiletto heels.