Who killed whom? How many people made choices that night? How many people were duped?

When I took the job, I didn't think about anything at all outside of getting the Teacher of the Year award for going above and beyond my duties with the student's best interests in mind.

Despite the long ferry ride, I busied myself with my binoculars and caught some incredible sights. My husband, more into women than anything else, found the first blonde and started a conversation.

Her husband and I were colleagues of a sort. Her husband, Bruce, was an elementary teacher, while I was the high school English teacher at Waglisla School on Bella Bella Island.

I emerged from the berth we rented to a sketchy scene: David sat with the woman while her husband stood far away from the water.

I avoided them and returned to where I had been looking through my binoculars earlier on in the ride. Deena and Bruce were spatting, and my husband, David. helping them through their spat.

"Wow, this should be interesting! We fight constantly, and he doesn't do anything to help our relationship! In fact, he antagonizes and provokes me."

Only this time, he charmed Deeana, who thought him sweet and cute.

"Yuck, she can have him. I don't give a shit anymore."

Bruce eventually returned, and the three got along famously after that. I avoided them like the plague and made a point of staying out of sight.

#

Arriving at the island was like walking the red carpet. The kids watched us unload from the ferry and stared at us without expression. I immediately thought, "These poor bastards: it's apathy."

After we had driven to the teacher's compound, the two school principals welcomed us. One was a male around my age, and the other was a woman a few years older than me.

Immediately, the overwhelming sense of interest they had in me overwhelmed me. I saw them watching my every move and wanting to be a part of everything I did.

We unloaded our stuff, and they were there to help us. They asked a million questions and never stopped speaking about the beautiful things you could do on this island.

The room fell silent when I finally found a way to ask a question.

"So you two stay here because this is your cash cow. Is that it? You make a lot of money and don't have any overhead, right?"

Their faces turned two shades of red. His like a red delicious and hers like a cherry plum tomato.

"No, you see. We live here because this is the safest place to live in Canada—right now," Scott said. His wife, Catherine, nodded in the background.

"Yeah, we're trying to live clean, and part of that means living up here in the north, where the air is purer than most other places on Earth," she spouted like a textbook.

"Oh, silly me. I thought you two were banking as much money as possible for the last seven years, almost over $600,000 or more. so you could leave here and pay cash for a house."

"Well, that may appear to be the case, but I can assure you that I don't stay here because of the money," Catherine said.

"Maybe it's for your marriage then?" I asked.

She turned and gave me a curt look. "I never said that."

"You didn't have to," I said, and then we both got something to drink. She immediately grabbed my arm and clung to me like I was a boat safety ring.

#

The next party we threw was at our house. My Marlo baby girl turned one. Everyone came, and we had a blast. The Benwells were off the hook for hosting.

"Why aren't you drinking?" Scott asked me as I stood alone on their back balcony, looking at the bush.

"Me? Oh, it's a long story. You don't really want to hear." I paused and then turned to look at him, seeing in his eyes that he did want to know.

"I have inside me another child I never wanted, and I can say it was forced on me. If you know what I mean,? But I'm making the best of it. Despite hating my husband, the pig that he is, for ruining my life."

"You went through all that with this guy? Why did you bring him along?"

"It's like this, Scott. Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. That's why I brought the bastard with me. But truth be told, I can't stand him." I smiled at him, winked, and left him alone on the porch.

I saw Catherine coming and exiting before she got there as if to let her know we were just in a moment by happenstance. She smiled at me, and we exchanged glances as we passed.

#

We threw the next party because our house was the largest one on the compound. Before long, Scott was sitting on the floor next to me. I turned to my left, and there he was.

"Fancy meeting you in a purple shoe," I said.

He laughed and said, "We're making a purple stew, whoop whoop whoop," and we both laughed. "I see you know your stuff! That's the makings of a great teacher," he said. And he took my hand in his and raised it in the air like we were champions. We both laughed and laughed.

What we didn't see was what everyone else was doing. Both of us were having too much of a great time together, acting silly and like we were the only two in the room. In those few moments of storytelling, we had somehow bonded on the porch; that was the solid, honest-to-God truth.

Someone ordered pizza, which needed to be picked up at Shirley's.

Suddenly, I felt someone grab me onto my feet and heard Scott say, "We'll go get the pizza. Jo and I. We'll be right back. Jo will collect the money." Then he pushed me forward with an upturned hat he removed from his head.

People stuffed their bills into the hat, and when we left, we were singing and laughing. I grabbed the stash of cash and put it into my pocket to count it when we got into the truck.

Before I got into the truck, I felt a sting on the back of my legs.

I screamed out, "Agh, what the fuck?"

Scott came around to my side of the truck and saw David standing over top of me.

"Get away from her," Scott said.

"Fuck off, Scott. She's my wife. I'll tell her what she can do, where she can go, and with whom," David said.

"You're right. You can. But I wouldn't." Scott flashed his weapon and told David to sleep on the boat tonight and that he should leave now. Scott helped me up and asked me if I was hurt anywhere.

When we got inside the truck, Scott told me, "I'm going to kill that son-of-a-bitch one day."

"Please don't waste your time thinking about him. My marriage is over. You know he's fucking the social worker? That's where he's probably going now."

"I'll just go and find out. After we pick up the pizza," Scott said.

We returned with the pizza about half an hour late because Shirley was running late. Nobody believed us, so we had someone call Shirley and ask her. She told everyone she was running a half hour or more late due to a fire in the kitchen. Catherine breathed a sigh of relief.

The people danced as the music played, and it was soon down to four or five. Catherine and Scott danced to some Irish jig. It looked like Celtic dancing to me. But the rest of us danced around them anyway.

At around 12:30, everyone cleared out pretty fast. Scott said something to Catherine.

She shook her head, waved at me, and left alone.

Scott turned to me and said, "I'll help you clean up a bit," and then I'm going to see where David went. Do you want to come?" I looked down at my feet, and something made me say, "Yes."

We were on foot, and we moved in synchronized steps. Scott knocked on her door and asked to come in. "I need to talk about something I witnessed about David and Jo. It's urgent."

"Sure," she said, "come on in."

"Is there someone else here with you?" Scott asked.

"What? Why is that any of your business?" she said defensively.

"Because if it is David. He is dangerous. He knocked Jo to the ground. She's five months pregnant. What kind of a man does that? And for no reason!"

"Whoa. Hold on. He did what?" she said. "He knocked her onto the ground? How?"

"He threw a ball with a line attached to trip her," Scott said. "He's a psycho.

"I guess you're right. Thanks for telling me. Okay. We'll chat more about this tomorrow at school and bring Jo in, too." She smiled at Scott and led him to the door.

Scott and Jo waited outside, behind Kate's house. The lights went off and then on again. The back door opened, and out came David. Scaddily dressed, a look of hatred crossed his face. So pissed off that he barely noticed the two standing watching him.

Scott spoke first. "Stay on the boat from now on. You come home only to watch your daughter and hand her over to Deena. Then, you leave before Jo gets home. You are done living with her on this island."

"Fuck you, Benwell. You want her now, but you won't when your child comes along, and she'll come running back to me. She could never catch someone like me. I'm a model. Look at her. She's not a model." David finished with a laugh.

Scott heard all he could hear. He charged him, and fists flew. Scott was two heads taller and about 100 pounds more than David. David's only defence was to kick snow in Scott's face. Scott pulled his gun from its holster.

Snow and fists and a gun flew until a shot rang out.

Jo yelled, "Call an ambulance, please."

David fell over, stunned. Scott saw the black and brown handled gun contrast the white snow that contrasted with the blood as it drained from one of the main arteries.

Kate opened her back door and applied pressure. The ambulance came and whisked the injured away, who later died at the hospital. The baby was old enough to survive and was saved.

The following Tuesday, Scott, Bruce, David, and Tony went on an overnight fishing and camping trip. Only three men returned.

Scott was stuck between two opposing sides and didn't know which one to choose. So, he decided on the safest bet—the one he knew best and could control the best since he was a master manipulator.

Knowing Jo would be the correct choice, Scott knew kids, and David would forever be a noose around Jo's and his necks. Catherine was always out. She knew his liaisons were meaningless in the end since he always came back to her.