The Passenger

by Rosemary McCracken

About the Author: Rosemary McCracken writes the Pat Tierney mystery series and teaches novel writing at George Brown College in Toronto. Safe Harbor, the first novel in the series, was shortlisted for Britain's Debut Dagger Award in 2010. It was published by Imajin Books in 2012, followed by Black Water in 2013, Raven Lake in 2016 and Uncharted Waters in 2020. “The Sweetheart Scamster,” a Pat Tierney short story in the crime fiction anthology, Thirteen, was a finalist for a 2014 Derringer Award.

Excerpt

Stéphane glanced at his watch. “Mon Dieu! What can be keeping him, Pat?”

It was approaching three o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, and Stéphane and I were eager to hit the road to Toronto. We’d spent two days behind a table in Kingston’s Holiday Inn ballroom with fellow financial planner, Murray Klein. We’d handed out brochures and chatted up the merits of careers in financial services with whomever came our way. But the weekend job fair in Kingston had not had a great turnout, which I put down to the glorious spring weather. After a long winter indoors, people were probably more interested in soaking up the rays than exploring career options.

The crowd had thinned to a dozen people. Stéphane and I had already checked out of our hotel rooms, and our luggage was under the table. The only thing keeping us there was Murray. He’d left for lunch at ??:??. He’d also left his camera, three boxes filled with copies of his new book on retirement planning, and stacks of brochures on the table. Stéphane and I had promised to keep an eye on all of it. But we hadn’t thought Murray would be gone two and a half hours.

“He probably met up with a friend, and they got talking,” I told Stéphane.

He groaned. “This is the last time I let the Council talk me into working a job fair,” he said, referring to the organization that certifies financial planners. “Most of the people we’ve spoken to weren’t interested in jobs in financial services. They were looking for investment tips.”

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