Still Water by Stuart Harrison

she’d got out of his car. He sensed that the subtle change he’d detected in her mood the night he’d been to her house for supper had become a tangible distance between them. It bothered him when he’d thought they were getting on so well. Either he’d been fooling himself, or they had both been on the verge of something more than just a mutual attraction. He didn’t think he’d been wrong to sense that Ella shared his feelings, though maybe she’d been approaching the issue more cautiously than he had. That was understandable, and in truth he wasn’t against the idea of slowing things down a little. They had both suffered ruinous relationships in the past, and he’d wanted to take the time to get this one right. He knew that he could easily allow himself to fall in love with Ella, but he’d made a promise to himself once that next time it would be for ever. Now as he worked, holding up a cross beam while Henry nailed it, Matt wondered what had changed to make Ella back off. He thought again about how she’d threatened Bryan with a rifle, and he felt uneasy about it. How did that old saying go? Don’t point a gun at a person unless you intend to use it. He couldn’t avoid the suspicion that Ella’s attitude towards him, and Bryan’s disappearance were somehow linked.
    A little after eight the phone rang in the house and Matt went inside to answer it. He picked up the receiver and Ella was on the line. She sounded strained. She told him she was at the police department.
    “Chief Baxter wanted me to come in and answer some questions. I told him I wanted to call you first.”
    Matt was confused. “Has Jake changed his mind about bringing charges?”
    “I don’t think this is about Jake.” Ella sounded cautious. “Matt, I wouldn’t ask for your help, but you said if there was anything, that I should call.”
    He felt the hand of trepidation on his shoulder, but when he spoke he tried to keep it from his voice. “You did the right thing. I’m glad you called.”
    “Thanks,” she said, her relief obvious.
    “What has the chief said to you?”
    “Nothing much, but I think it has something to do with Bryan.”
    Matt tried to sound confident and put her at ease. He could hear the worry in her voice. “Whatever it is, we’ll get it sorted out,” he assured her, but his disquiet was growing by the second. Tut Chief Baxter on.”
    He waited while the phone changed hands and Baxter came on the line. “What’s this all about, Chief?”
    Baxter hesitated, and Matt guessed that Ella was standing right next to him. “I think you might want to come down here and hear this in person.”
    Matt said he was on his way and asked Baxter to put Ella back on the phone. “Don’t say anything until I get there, okay?”
    “All right.”
    “And don’t worry,” he added before he hung up the phone.
    He went outside and told Henry he had to go into town, then quickly changed into a shirt and pants. On the way to the police department he made a hurried stop at his office. From his window he looked down on the street below. There were a few people about even though it was early. Across the street, Catherine Lunt who ran the little fruit store was coming out of the door to the apartment she lived in over her store. Most mornings he went in there to buy peaches or maybe a melon. He used the coffee shop along the street where he had begun to chat with the regulars, and people had started to stop and pass the time of day in the street. He knew that to a lot of them he’d always be a pointer, somebody from away, but he hoped in time the islanders’ reserve would break down to some degree. His life here had already taken on a whole different rhythm from his previous existence. Just sitting on the porch at night playing chess with Henry and watching the sun go down while the lights came on in the harbour gave him a good feeling. He’d come to believe that moving to the island had been the right thing for him to do. In