Holiday Drama - 3. HD Chapter 3

I sent a quick response to let them know that we had decided to stay overnight in Vancouver to recover from jet lag before we continue to their home, and that we were currently enjoying lunch at a nice little café near a large park on the edge of the city. Taking a quick photo of the view of the park from our outdoor café table, I attached it to the email before sending. It wasn’t long before I received another email from them.

“Hi, we know that café very well, please say hi to the owners Larry and Martin, and let them know that you are staying at our place, and they will look after you, S & M.” This response surprised me a little bit, but I decide not to say anything to the owners or staff, but I did make sure to give them a very good tip for their wonderful meal and service. We spent two more hours looking around the city before returning to the hotel, as we were getting tired and needed to rest for the final stage of our trip to Vancouver Island in the morning.

The next day, feeling much better after a good night's sleep, we were packed and ready to continue our journey, having already booked our passage over to the island, where we would be arriving in the late morning. When we finally arrived at our holiday home, I started to relax, not knowing that it would change drastically within a few days. While Grant explored the house with a lot of excitement, I went directly to the kitchen counter, where a folder sat waiting for us.

“Hello, Myles & Grant. We hope that you arrived safely on our lovely island home and that you find everything to your liking. Just an extra bit of info for you. Before we left, we took delivery of an 18-metre sailing catamaran, which has 3 guest cabins and two crew cabins, which, we know, you can sail, and you are most welcome to use during your stay. You will need to give us a call so we can tell you where to find the keys for the cabin hatch of the yacht - Casia, which is moored at the nearby Sook Harbour Marina, Berth 12.”

I stopped reading to look at the photo printouts of the yacht when I heard Grant approaching. When I saw the expression on his face, I sighed, knowing that something was already wrong. “Dad, it looks like someone has been staying here; one of the big beds is not made up, and there are toiletry items in the bathroom,” he said to me. I followed towards the bedrooms, where someone had indeed been staying. Taking my son's hand, we headed back to the kitchen and looked up the number for Charles and Gloria, and I rang the number.

“Hello, this is Myles, my son, and I are staying at Sarah and Mike's place in Sooke,” I said when the call was answered. “Yes, hello, and welcome to Victoria Island and Canada, have you settled in, ok?” the female voice said in response. “Well, not yet, we have only just arrived, actually, and we have discovered that someone has been staying in one of the bedrooms, as the bed is unmade and there are toiletries in the bathroom,” I answered. “Oh! That’s not good. We will be right over. See you in ten minutes,” Gloria said before ending the call. While waiting for Charles and Gloria, I continued to read the letter from our hosts.

“The harbour master knows that you have our permission to take our yacht sailing and there is plenty of sheltered water around, if you want to have just easy sailing trips, if you would like a bit of a challenge, you are welcome to take it out to the passage of the Salish Sea, just be aware that the international border with the USA is located there, approximately 9 to 11 kilometres out from the coast. Port San Juan is an ideal place to visit, with a safe harbour to anchor. There is also the Port Renfrew marina on the south side of the harbour, which is about 70 kilometres or 38 nautical miles from Sooke Marina. Once again, have fun. Regards, Sarah and Mike”.

I made a mental note to ask Charles and Gloria about the yacht, to see what they know about it, as I went to the kitchen to make some tea and coffee for our guests. We nervously waited for them outside the house with all our luggage with us. As soon as Charles and Gloria arrived, they suggested that we remain outside while they investigated the situation, and just a few moments later, Charles was on his mobile phone talking to someone, while Gloria came over and stood near us for a few moments before I asked about the yacht. “Oh hell, I had forgotten about that, we'd better go and check it out too,” Gloria said just as Charles finished his call. “The police are on their way over, they said to stay out of the house for now,” he said to us.

“Grab your luggage and put it into our car, you will be staying with us for now. Honey, we need to check on the yacht, too. How about I take them to it, while you wait here?” Gloria suggested, to which Charles agreed to this. After loading up our luggage, we climbed into their car and made our way down the road to the marina, which was just an 8-minute drive away. The first thing we did when we arrived at the marina was to go to the marina administration office, where Gloria knew the manager and introduced us to him, before asking if there had been any unusual activity around Berth 12. The manager said that he had noticed lights onboard the yacht but had not seen any people actually entering or leaving the yacht while he was on duty.

Gloria explained the situation to Sarah and Mike back at their place and expressed concerns about an illegal entry onto the yacht, which caught the managers' full attention. He suggested that we go and have a look at the yacht now, to see if this is indeed the case, with Gloria suggesting we remain on the land, while the manager and her take the boardwalk to the yacht, which we agreed to. A few minutes later, they returned with mixed looks on their face. “It appears there had been attempts to enter the cabin of the yacht, but with no success, as there are motion lights and cameras up high on the mast, which whoever tried to enter must have spotted while trying to break in and abandoned after seeing them,” Gloria informed me, as she pulled out her phone and sent a text message, and receiving a response a few moments later.

“The police will come down and check on the yacht once they have finished at the house,” Gloria said to me, as we walked back towards the car. After a short drive, we returned to the house, where Charles joined us, and then drove to their home a short distance away. They have a lovely three-bedroom house, with one room used as a home office, and the guest bedroom has two king single beds, where we were invited to settle in and stay as long as needed until the situation is sorted. Sometime later, Gloria received a call, informing us that the Police had completed their search and forensic work, and that we would be notified when any results are revealed.

After some telephone discussions with Sarah and Mike, we decided that Grant and I would go sailing northwards for the duration of our stay on Victoria Island, instead of staying at the house in Sooke, which our hosts fully understood. After a good-sized shopping excursion, we were taken to the marina, where the yacht is berthed. Somewhat smaller than the catamaran that we have at home, it didn’t take us long to get settled in and on our way out of the marina, through the passage, where we set off northwards towards the many bays that we planned to visit over the next two weeks.

After we had decided to delay our train journey and spend some time out in the water, making sure that we stayed fairly close to the northern shore, well away from the USA water border. Over the next two weeks, Grant and I enjoyed a wonderful sailing holiday up the Canadian West coast, travelling all the way up to Port Edward, just east of Hecate Strait, in far Northern British Columbia. Grant himself had become a very capable sailor during this time, often spending hours at the helm while I relaxed and kept an eye on everything nearby, but I knew that we were in good, capable hands with him at the helm.

We were instructed to leave the yacht there in a Port boat pen, where Mike and Sarah would collect it when they return to Canada. From Port Edward, we would catch a flight back to Vancouver and continue our holiday from there. During our sailing holiday, we called into the many sheltered bays that are scattered up the coast, where we could explore the area with the two onboard kayaks, although we didn’t go too far away from the yacht since it is the middle of winter, and it is damn cold at this time of the year.

Once back in Vancouver, we spent a night just relaxing in a comfortable hotel where I was handed an express mail envelope that I put away in my luggage to look at later, before we boarded the train for the 5-day journey to Jasper, exploring the wonderful scenery that the Rocky Mountains provide, and visiting the few towns that are located on the main railway line between Vancouver and Jasper. When we were in the city of Jasper, Grant asked for my spare phone charger, and I told him to grab it out of my luggage.

He returned to the patio where I was sitting, enjoying the rather cool air, with a wonderful view of the surroundings, holding not just the charger but also an envelope. “What is this, Dad? It’s marked urgent, and it is postmarked in South Africa. Do we know anyone from there?” he asked me as he handed the envelope over to me. “Oh damn, yeah, that was handed to me at the hotel in the city, I just put it in my luggage and forgot all about it,” I responded as I looked at the postmark, then at the return address on the back flap, “PD Strommen and Associates – Attorney.”

I opened it, noticing that my son was looking at me with interest, “It's from some lawyers in Johannesburg, South Africa, it is where my father moved to when he left my mother and me on our own to start a new life,” I said, sounding a little annoyed at having to deal with anything from him, as I opened the letter and began to read. I had to read it twice more after the first time to understand fully what it was informing me.

“Dear sir, we regretfully inform you that your father, Christopher James Gregson, your stepmother, Savannah Margaret and your half-sister, Eliza Mary Gregson, were all tragically killed in a light aircraft accident while on a safari holiday, and their funeral was held in Cape Town, four days later, with all costs paid for by a prepaid funeral plan. However, your father’s twin sons, Ashton Henry and Jonah Hugh Gregson, were attending a youth camp at the time, and they are currently in the care of the staff at their private school in Cape Town.