Fugitive in the Forest: The Vangie Vale Mysteries, #6

By R.L. Syme

Even in the great white North, Vangie gonna Vangie. She just cannot keep herself out of trouble, no matter where she goes. And when an old nemesis shows up and surprises her on her vacation, she can't help but investigate.

This was originally written as a novella for the Passport to Murder anthology in Summer of 2021, but it's on its own now, and we hope you enjoy!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hummingbird Books
• Release date: Jan 12, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215876824

R.L. Syme

R.L. Syme writes hot Highlanders and sexy Chefs, and not always in that order. She lives in Montana with her cat who drinks wine and does not answer back when she talks to him.

Book preview

Fugitive in the Forest

FUGITIVE IN THE FOREST

THE VANGIE VALE MYSTERIES

BOOK SIX

R.L. SYME

Hummingbird Books

Copyright © 2023 by R.L. Syme. All Rights Reserved. Published by Hummingbird Books.

This book was originally published in the Passport to Murder anthology in 2020, and has been re-published independently, by Hummingbird Books.

No part or parts of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, in any language, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Under no circumstances may any part of this book be photocopied for resale.

This is a work of fiction. Any similarity between the characters and situations within its pages and places or persons, living or dead, is unintentional and coincidental.

Cover by Mariah Sinclair

Recipes tested by the R.L. Syme Test Kitchen Team

CONTENTS

Dedication

Epigraph

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Next up for Vangie…

Also by R.L. Syme

The Full Metal Frangipane Recipe

Acknowledgments

DEDICATION

For Rob.

Because you were the first Canadian.

"The last act is the greatest treason.

To do the right act for the wrong reason."

- TS Eliot

CHAPTER ONE

Fort Stewart, Alberta, Canada

How many towns can there be in the world that are just like Saint Agnes? With its quaint alpine architecture, its frosted peaks nestled up against kitschy tourist joints, its rugged small town innocence?

Apparently, a lot. Because as Emma and I discovered, driving through the Rocky Mountains, everyone thinks they invented this. The quintessential mountain town, I am learning, is more ubiquitous than quintessential.

Whatever those words mean.

But there we sat, in the Grizzly Bear Cafe in what appeared to be an exact replica of the touristy mountain town we left across the border in Montana. Emma needed a getaway, and she suggested Banff. But when we reached Banff, it was over-crowded, so we kept driving. Lo and behold, we drove into Fort Stewart, and it felt like coming home.

It’s outside a national park, just like Saint Agnes. It had cute cafes and bakeries, just like Saint Agnes, and it had a hunky sheriff, just like Saint Agnes.

Not that I would call Malcolm hunky.

But Emma and I couldn’t throw a stick in Fort Stewart without hitting the hunky sheriff. We’d spent two days eating at the Grizzly Bear Cafe and, so far, the sheriff had been holding court for five of the six meals.

Of course, they don’t call a sheriff a sheriff in this town. They’re called Mounties. Still. Law enforcement. Uniform. And cute as a button.

He had a little cadre of friends—one other officer and three locals—who took up the corner booth in the Grizzly Bear Cafe. And the hunky Mountie was making eyes at Emma for a solid day.

It was adorable.

The Grizzly Bear Cafe was nestled among cute shops along the single street of downtown that Fort Stewart boasted, with an incredible view of the Canadian Rockies in the middle distance. The mountains weren’t quite as close as they were in Saint Agnes, but you can’t have it all, y’all.

Emma’s idea of a vacation was hiking to lakes and looking at rocks and such. Not my bag, but she was my best friend, and she needed the break, so I indulged her. It was early Fall, so it was still warm enough during the day, and cool at night, and we spent a good amount of time sitting on the porch of our rental cabin, reading and talking and decompressing after the way the last year had gone.

She hadn’t admitted this to anyone else, but the day her divorce