My pace quickened. I needed to get to the veterinary clinic. Calls to Jack and the diplomat informed them I would be delayed.

At the nearby vet’s office, I said to the receptionist, “Where’s Tracy Dominion?”

“Room two.” She pointed down the left hallway.

I hoped she understood upset and abrupt people.

In the examination room, my mother’s strong posture indicated her distress. My heart raced seeing Maori lying immobile on the table. Even her hair had dulled.

Our regular vet looked up. “Not good news, I’m afraid, Tari. Maori has a stomach tumor. That’s why she’s been throwing up.”

I glared at my mother. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“It only happened twice, and in the last week. Maori didn’t seem very upset.”

The harshness of my statement upset my mother, so I gave her a hug. “And I haven’t been home enough lately to even notice.”

I turned to Dr. Cabin. “Can you remove the tumor?”

“That’s the best course of action. However, I must warn you the chance of full recovery is less than certain. Maori’s not young, and I don’t know if the tumor is cancerous.” He gently petted Maori.

“When can you operate?” Mom asked.

“First thing in the morning. We’ll get Maori rested up tonight.” Dr. Cabin added, “There’s no reason for either of you to be here tomorrow. We’ll call as soon as the operation is over.”

Maori’s eyes seemed to plead with us as we took our leave.

Outside the clinic, my mother and I stopped to talk. “I really didn’t have a chance to tell you about Maori,” she said.

“I know, I know. I’ve been so busy practicing, when would you’ve had the opportunity? And now I’ll be around even less.” My mind flooded with questions.

Mom frowned and said, “What do you mean?”

“We’ve had a murder at the bowling alley—one of the aliens involved in the competition. So now I’m in charge of the homicide investigation and no longer on Canada’s bowling team.” My disappointment must have registered on my face.

“Oh, no! That’s a tragedy. You were so excited about the competition.”

“Yes, I was hyped, but the inspector didn’t give me any choice. And you know what inspectors are like.”

I couldn’t resist teasing her. My mother, Tracy Dominion, had been an inspector with the RCMP, and then an assistant commissioner. She had progressed up the chain of command until her recent retirement.

“And now I have to work with some alien diplomat; some diplomat who will be following me around. I also have a detective sergeant from Vancouver yapping at my heels. It’s not been a great day.” I sighed. “Do you want a ride home? I need to get back to the bowling alley.”

“No, I’m fine. Will I see you later?”

“I hope so.” We both pulled our coats and hoods tighter. Greater Vancouver’s fall monsoons were upon us.

I’d lived with my mother for the last year in our family home. Mom’s health had declined and, after I broke up with Smith Cannon, it seemed natural to move back to care for her. Healthy now, we cohabited peacefully.

Back at Revolutions, I found the diplomat waiting at the front counter, and Smith mentioned Jack had gone up to the second floor.

Ambassador Rare followed me upstairs.

“What are you going to let me do? Can I interrogate some of the witnesses? How about I snoop around and listen in on conversations tomorrow when the practicing starts again? Do you think one of the bowlers did this? And, ma’am, please call me Dino.”

I looked down at him—Rheinon were tiny. He had a large brown bag flung over his shoulder, and he rubbed his two hands containing a total of twelve fingers together backwards.

“Whoa,” I said. This situation needed all the tact I could muster. “Right now, I want you to stay beside me and take notes. You can help by recording your details and impressions, in case I miss a clue. This task is very important because you may recognize something, perhaps a behavior I would have no knowledge of. I’m sure you have a wealth of information.” My creativity pleased me. The diplomat might turn out to be useful—contrary to my initial belief.

Dino appeared to grin. “Great! I will start making notes immediately. How often do you want me to send them to you? Daily?”

“That should do nicely.” I hoped I’d given him enough tasks to keep him occupied.

On the second floor, we found Jack in the men’s washroom.

“I’ve found more evidence; your sweepers missed a few things.” Jack had a smug look on his face.

“Perhaps. Or perhaps the evidence was dropped by one of the investigators. Nonetheless, send it along to the lab.” One way or another, a mistake had occurred.

“Yes, ma’am.” Jack stashed his evidence bags in his pockets.

“Detective Sergeant Dominion, is this part of the happenings you want me to write up?” asked Dino.

Before I had a chance to reply, Jack said, “Who’s this?” I heard the non-vocal ‘bozo’ in his voice.

“Sorry, introductions. Ambassador Dino A Rare this is Detective Sergeant Jack Naven. Jack is a detective with the Vancouver police department. Vancouver is another community serviced by the RCMP. And, Jack, Ambassador Rare is a diplomat with the Rheinon contingent. We’ll all be working together for the duration.” So get along, I implied.

“Now what I want to do is make a run through this entire building. We’ll go from top to bottom, looking at everything. Ambassador Rare will take notes on our discussions. Jack, I want your perspective, so you’ll lead this secondary investigation.” Jack looked a little miffed, but didn’t comment.

So that’s what we did for the next couple of hours. And we did discover some areas that raised further questions, particularly pertaining to aliens.

“Let’s end our day by looking in the garbage bins. That should prove exciting,” I said.

The refuse containers were around the back of Revolutions. Jack and I gloved up and got to work. Dino stood aside. I don’t think his experiences had involved dumpster diving.

Other than some smelly unrecognizable food, we didn’t find anything interesting in the first ten minutes.

Then I watched Jack pull an object out of the garbage in front of him. “Okay, this is strange.”

Dino scurried over to see.

To add to the intrigue, Jack had found a melted bowling ball.