by Lou Allin
Holly Martin is a new corporal of the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in charge of a detachment of three officers in tiny Fossil Bay on Vancouver Island. After basic training and seven years as a constable, she has come home to British Columbia.
Holly, Fossil Bay is so small. Is there much crime?
Normally, not much happens in Fossil Bay other than routine traffic checks and the occasional domestic. However, one day I was dispatched to a small camp of summertime homeless and found the body of a man in his fifties who had apparently died of a drug overdose.
What happened?
An autopsy revealed that he had died from a powerful synthetic opiate mixed with his heroin. He also had several hundred-dollar bills on him.
Did anyone help you with this case?
One of our volunteers, a boy of twelve, helped me find a geocache in the woods nearby where the body was found.
A geocache? What is that?
Geocaching is a worldwide game where people hide small treasures according to Global Positioning System coordinates.
What treasure did he find?
Inside a wrapped coffee canister was a faded notebook with several acts in an old-fashioned play. What did it have to do with the mans death? Why had he been hiding it? Who was he and why had he returned to the island after nearly thirty years?
How has this case affected your life?
An ongoing mystery in my life concerns my mother. She disappeared over ten years ago while deep in the bush in the northern part of the island. An activist fighting for the welfare and rights of women, she came in contact with many people who wished her harm. I live with my father, a professor at the university, who also has been devastated by our loss.
Thank you for talking with us today. Geocaching sounds fascinating, and I am glad it helped you with this case.
Lou Allin has published ten books, starting in 2000. She Felt No Pain is the second in her Holly Martin series set on Vancouver Island. It was released in the fall of 2010. Her other series is set in Northern Ontario and features a realtor, Belle Palmer. Her books can be found on Amazon. Lou Allin can be reached on her website www.louallin.com or emailed at louallin@shaw.ca.