Final Turn: A story of adventure, intrigue and suspense. Read Free Page A

evenings.
    Shadow, Roger’s woolly dog, was lying on the living room rug. Shadow was a cross between a Chow and an Alaskan Husky; medium height, wide and solid. He had the disposition of an absent minded Professor and mostly stayed at Sam’s house. Here he had a back yard and a park nearby for daily excursions.
    After receiving his well-expected pet and belly scratch, Shadow followed Roger as he skipped through the kitchen and out into the gazebo. Sam was seated in an oversized wicker chair with neatly stacked piles of papers on a desk in front of her, the nearest pile held down by a glass of wine. To one side another table held more papers and files while the couch opposite was nearly obscured with the same. Sam sat in the center as if she had summoned the files to her for consultation. Sam always sat well postured, her shapely figure just on the lean side of plump, contoured as if by a lustful sculptor. She still had all the style and rhythmic sway given to her by her Caribbean ancestry. An athletic scholarship had brought her to Canada from Jamaica. In university, Sam had been a classical hundred-meter girl, strong and fast. For a few years after graduation she had coached a track team. Sometime later the Caribbean female instincts must have taken over. Her athletic bounce on muscular ebony legs had transformed back to a gentle, rhythmic sway when she walked and a posture that belied a basket of breadfruit balanced on her head. Her gentle country ways and happy outlook were an enchantment to Roger. A finely sculptured face and oversized soft brown eyes forewarned of a quick mind and an agile imagination. She had a heart melting, honest smile delivered by a perfect set of large pearly teeth.
    Sam had been Roger's steady partner for nearly three years. Roger thought of his relationship with Sam as the right one, one waiting for something to finalize it. So did she. Yet, they had different ideas of what that meant and neither had an immediate motivation to do anything. Sam was a self-made woman. She took pride in telling people that she had never worked for anyone in her life. Her success was her own and she conveyed the kind of confidence envied by many and sought by all. Behind the charm and beauty lived a shrewd, passionate and competitive woman. She had one of those ways that made men feel like she lived partly in their camp and made women wonder what she did there.
    For the last few years Sam had been operating a small company specializing in producing family histories for clients. A Genealogist, she called herself when asked. With plenty of skills based on a healthy interest in people, a gift for foreign languages and an acute acumen for digging into things, she had decided there was a good market. So far she was right. Some clients were the curious; others were the very serious. Sometimes someone looking for their natural parents sought her services or perhaps a dispute over an inheritance brought her business. Sometimes the clients were just people with a genuine interest in their roots.
    "What you up to?" Roger asked giving Sam a hug and kiss from behind the chair.
    "I think I might be the one bright spot in the local economy. A family has just contracted me to establish their relationship with an Austrian nobleman who died recently. There are big dollars in the estate." Sam welcomed Roger with her radiance. She sat before her profusion of letters and newspaper clipping all held down by her wine glass. The bottle stood at the edge of the desk with an empty glass waiting for Roger to arrive. He helped himself.
    "Is this a done deal already?" Roger asked as he settled back into a vacant spot on the old chesterfield with his glass, a profusion of hanging plants, garden tools and netting as a background.
    "It's a done deal and I'm already into it. There is even a chance there may be a trip to Austria in this."
    "Trip to Austria. These people must really want to know their relatives."
    "The man is a retired Colonel in