The Strings Retied: Keynotes, #3

By Ruth Hay

Rosalie Frobisher finds herself in a desperate condition.
 She must make a break with everything and everyone she has relied upon and throw herself on the mercy of a family she has treated very badly.
 She must flee to the other side of the world and seek redemption, while leaving behind in Canada, two men she cared for, and who are unaware that one of them is the father of her unborn child.
 Rosalie knows she is risking everything, but she can see no other option.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ruth Hay
• Release date: Oct 26, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201525286

Book preview

One

Hazel Frobisher opened her eyes on another day of relentless heat.

She raised her head from the pillow long enough to swallow her medication with a sip of water.

In thirty minutes, the pills would take effect and she could function more or less normally.

If so, it would be a good day.

On a bad day, she slipped into a dream of long ago when her home in Canada resounded with music. She and Kevin often played and sang together at the piano. Rosalie would be listening while she did her homework, and Mark would be practising his trumpet in the basement.

Myra, her youngest, preferred to play with her dollhouse upstairs in her bedroom with the door closed.

That was then.

Nowadays, Kevin and Mark spent most of their working hours in and around the Sydney Opera House with rehearsal groups of different types. Neither of them had the time or energy to play any music at home.

The piano sat silent and neglected while its owner languished in a mist of chemically-induced calm that robbed her of all joy and ambition.

The doctor said that one day she would be strong enough to face reality.

Hazel did not want to face reality so she continued to take the pills and wait for the pain of her losses to subside.

It was not like this in the beginning.

When they moved across the world to Australia, it was all about a new beginning with grand prospects and Mark and Myra eager to experience an entirely new world.

Kevin was leading the charge with prospects of his new position in one of the foremost opera sites in the whole world.

Of course, there was the ache of separation from her older daughter Rosalie, but Hazel convinced herself that she would follow them when she realized how much she would miss her family.

They all worked hard to settle into the new country and for quite some time the constant changes and excitements of life in a premier city that positively buzzed with differences everywhere, concealed the fact of loss.

Hazel had a new home to establish and new work routines to master for her two men and her daughter.

But, when the home was furnished to her satisfaction, and she began to attempt to get around Sydney alone, by train, the loss became greater rather than less.

Everywhere she looked, women went around in pairs. Friends, mothers and daughters, even mothers with a brood of children seemed to be the norm.

It began to wear on Hazel that she was more alone here in this vast bustling city of Sydney than she had ever been before.

Rosalie had gone with no forwarding address and no contact.

Myra was totally absorbed in adjusting to the exciting opportunities her new city provided for her. Vincent, Myra’s Australian boyfriend who loved the wild country outside the city’s sprawl, enticed Myra to go backpacking at every opportunity.

They climbed in the Blue Mountains and trekked over the terrain by open car, spending nights in tents and days out of touch with phone lines and most amenities.

Myra loved it. Of the four of them, she was the most enthusiastic about her new lifestyle.

Until the night when she found a nest of spiders in her sleeping bag.

---

Vincent was Australian born and bred. He knew about all the natural hazards of the insect population and he recognized the Funnel Web Spider as a rarity that had been virtually exterminated in the wild.

The trouble began immediately. Myra screamed and struggled to escape her sleeping bag causing the spider to react in defence of her nice soft home where she had been settled for two days while Vincent and Myra had roamed further afield in the Subaru Outback car.

Myra’s leg was bitten in two places and she reacted badly at once.

Vincent grabbed his phone and his first aid kit while trying to comfort Myra.

The phone was unable to connect with city services as they were far from city limits.

The first aid kit held basic medical help, but Vincent knew this was an emergency.

He loaded Myra into the car wrapped in a blanket from his sleeping bag, while he killed the spider and took its body tied inside Myra’s sleeping bag and started to drive in the dark as far and as fast as he could toward civilization.

Hazel knew the story well.

No one could blame Vince. He contacted the emergency services as soon as he was within range of Sydney and they took over from him.

Whether it was that Myra was not used to the flora and fauna of the country or that she was one of those rare individuals particularly susceptible to poisons, whatever it was, she did not die but she was very sick for a long time and she continued to be in and out of hospital to this day.

---

Kevin and Mark busy, and involved with their musical pursuits.

Rosalie gone.

Myra an invalid.

Hazel Frobisher did not have far to look for reasons to explain her persistent depression.

Two

"Look Dad! I know this is hard, but I have really good prospects with the orchestra and you have more work conducting than you would ever be offered in Canada. We can’t just reverse the plan and head back home without jobs or enough money to start over again.

Hopefully Mom will get better in time, but Myra is in the best place in the world for treatment therapies for her illness."

I know! I know, son! But Mark, you can see as well as I can that your mother is not improving very fast. I have run out of ideas to help her. She now detests Australia and blames our move here for all her problems.

"I can see that, Dad, and I hate the situation as much as you do.

Is it possible to make another try at finding Rosalie? Even phone contact with Rosalie might have a good effect on Mom."

"I wish, son! When we first came here, I tried contacting her old girlfriends but no one had a clue where she went. They searched phone books for me, and cell phone numbers, but it was as if our Rosie disappeared shortly after we left.

What if she married, or moved to some distant part of Canada? It’s impossible!"

All right! We are running out of options. Why don’t we try the professionals?

"You mean employ some agency in Canada to look for Rosie?

Hmmm! It’s not a bad idea, Mark. It would take the pressure off me, and your Mom might respond more positively to the idea. I’ll start right away by contacting my friends in Toronto.

Now, get a move on, son! We have a busy day of rehearsals ahead of us."

Kevin Frobisher’s subsequent enquires led him to an agency that was willing to take on the missing person case for him.

It required a conference by phone to collect as much information about Rosalie Anne Frobisher as her father could summon. He had to refer to Hazel for most of it. He figured his memory had obliterated all the stuff about Rosalie’s boyfriend, a man he had only met once, and who did not leave a good impression on him.

The Canadian investigator could not promise much with so little information to go on, but he said he would use all his sources and compile his findings into a document to be sent on to Sydney as soon as possible.

Kevin thought his wife perked up remarkably at this news and he was hopeful for at least three weeks, until a slim document of two pages arrived by email.

---

With respect to your enquiry of January 16, Mr. Frobisher.

Our sources had some difficulty tracing the current residence of your daughter, Rosalie Anne Frobisher.

However, we did find a considerable amount of information from Toronto Police Services on the man you described as your daughter’s ‘boyfriend’.

Russell Morgan is currently serving a sentence in prison in Toronto for abduction of a female known to him from a personal relationship, and also, for pursuing and threatening other females who had spurned his advances.

The abduction case involved a Rosalie Anne Frobisher, who was not required to appear in court owning to the amount of evidence compiled by the police.

Further enquiries established the residence of your daughter in the downtown area of Toronto where she currently works in a Data Collection Centre.

One of our agency employees approached your daughter at her residence, where she was subsequently given permission to forward to you, your daughter’s phone and computer connections with a view to re-establishing your contacts.

Rosalie Frobisher wishes me to encourage you to contact her as soon as possible.

I believe this concludes our business, Mr. Frobisher. The cost of our services is charged to the credit card number you supplied to us.

We trust you are satisfied with our services.

Thank you for your business,

Sincerely,

John Crane, of Crane and Company, Private Investigators.

---

Following the signature was a page of charges and, finally, the phone and computer information that would allow him, at long last, to contact his Rosie.

Kevin Frobisher went immediately to his wife with this contact information and he saw a light that had been missing for far too long, brighten her eyes.

"Do it! Call her now, Kevin darling! I can’t wait another minute.

Show me that report again.

Where does it say how Rosalie is? Did she suffer at the hands of that damned man Russell Morgan? I knew in my bones he was no good but Rosalie had stars in her eyes and she could not see what I saw.

Why did they not report on her health and welfare?

Please do it now, Kevin!"

Hazel, my sweet wife, It’s the middle of the night back in Canada. We must wait a few hours and get a grip on what we will say to Rosalie.

What do you mean, Kevin? Surely she will want to come to Australia at once and get away from all the bad memories of the abduction?

Kevin comforted his wife as much as he could, but it was in his mind that, lacking an update on their daughter’s health situation, it might be impossible for Rosalie to travel to Australia at this time.

He had no idea of his daughter’s vaccination standing. Only a few months before, Sydney was in lockdown because of fears of a new wave of coronavirus infection.

Even if he was wrong about Rosalie’s mental health being affected in some negative way, his heart quailed at the prospect of Hazel taking on not one,