THE DEPARTED
Princetonian, Olympian, Financier, Fugitive
Nothing to say after reading this ...
"On a Tuesday morning last November, Harold Backer went for a bike ride and disappeared.
His wife, Elizabeth Hardy, would later tell police that he planned to cycle the Galloping Goose Trail, a popular bike path near their apartment in Victoria, British Columbia. Harold often rode the trail, she said. He’d been clear he wouldn’t be long.
Kip Mcdaniel A Note From the Editor
When her husband hadn’t returned by nightfall, Hardy called the authorities. Search and rescue teams scoured 40 miles of the trail overnight, aided by unusually warm weather and clear skies. Backer could have been injured, prone in a ditch with a broken leg. But by dawn, searchers found nothing and went home.
At 8:00 am on Wednesday, a police constable approached the local boathouse where the 52-year-old Backer regularly rowed. He asked to speak to one of the coaches alone. Had he heard from Harold that morning or the day before? No, the coach responded. Not since Monday morning, when Backer had arrived, as usual, for a row with three friends on the tidal waters of Victoria’s inner harbor, at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. He had departed quicker than normal afterwards, but the coach hadn’t thought anything of it. The officer left, giving no indication of what the Victoria Police Department may have already suspected.
Harold’s passport, authorities had discovered, was missing. He had not gone for a casual Tuesday ride on the Galloping Goose. Instead, the 6’3”, graying Backer had put on a red jacket and black cycling pants, along with a black skullcap under a silver helmet. He took with him a large backpack, Therm-a-Rest mattress, two waterproof packs that attached to his rear wheel, and a water bottle. On his black Cannondale bike he headed west towards the harbor, just yards from his apartment building’s front door. His passport was checked; he paid the $24.50 fee; then with bike and gear in tow, Backer boarded the 10:30 am Black Ball Coho car and passenger ferry. The boat set off for Port Angeles, a mountain-ringed town on Washington State’s Olympic Peninsula. The trip would take 90 minutes, a southern shot across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. ...
.... My daughter Teya, when she heard, asked, ‘Don’t you know you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket?’ I said that’s true, but a very close friend can be one basket. I can’t even get mad at him. It just hurts. That son of a *****, you know?” "
We should all be reminded of Teya's comment, friends co-workers or family ... a very sad ending, or that of a new beginning for one individual.
http://www.ai-cio.com/The-Departed.aspx
