Authors: Dianne Yetman
“
Always good to
knock a few off
.
”
“
He
thought he know
how t
he killer may have gotten hold of morphine
used to sedate Camira
, phoned around
and
discovered there
was a break-in at the
QEII
hospital
, three vials of morphine were stolen,
four days
before
her death.
”
“
Good.
Jeffrey’s poison was much rarer, harder to come by.
We were working on that one together. Any new notes?
”
“
Yes,
h
e
’s
narrowed it down to one possibility
,
G
& M Manufacturing
.
He had
an appointment to meet with t
hem at 2:00pm tomorrow
afternoon.
Did you want to cover it or shall I go?”
“
You take it
on; I’m going to do a one-on-one with Catherine Stone. I hear the company is rehearsing the next production. Soon as we finish I hear, I think we should pay them a visit.
I’ve got something
else
to run by you but there a few things I need to clear out of the way first.”
Kate scanned her e-mail. The usual – updates from the Union, lists of upcoming workshops and seminars, monthly feel good message from the Police Commissioner, latest crime stat reports, bulletins outlining changes in policies, procedures and of course, joke of the week.
She went through
the written
messages, nothing that couldn’t wait. She
wrote a note to herself to return Hanya’s call
, shut down her computer and resumed her conversation with Shirley
.
“
I fo
llowed up
on
Jeffrey’s propensity for young girls and h
ad some news back from a NYC precinct, can’t remember which one now, it’s somewhere here in my correspondence, positively mind boggling how many stations they have. Anyway,
there was a s
pot of trouble around a minor. Apparently charges were brought by the 1
6
year old girl’s parents but dropped two days later. According to the officer’s report, parents said they had misunderstood the circumstances, had jumped the gun too quickly. Having no evidence to proceed on their own, the police dropped it.”
“So Ward was right.
The bastard
liked them young.”
“
Yeah
.
Background check on Ward is in. Y
oung girls aren’t his style but gambling is. T
he man’s debts are staggering.
Maybe he was trying
a bit of blackmail
on
Stone
and it went bad
.”
“
Sounds probable
.
”
“
Yeah, but y
ou know what keeps cropping up,
Shirley
? Young girls. Beautiful young girls. It struck me when I thought about Camira. Young, beautiful, starting out in the theatre,
she was just 19,
do you suppose there was something between her and Stone? Thought I might question
cast and crew some more.
If there was something between them, one of them is likely to be aware.”
“Young girls? You used the plural.”
“
Yeah. Roger
’s beating ties into these two murders. Has to given the warning from the drug squad.
Here’s my th
inking on it
.
Stone, Eleanor and Philip
all
have daughters that
fit the
same
age group
. Philip’s
daughter is studying
at Dalhousie,
Stone’s
is overseas somewhere
.
El
eanor’s daughter was killed in a car accident
, no drugs
detected
in her system
.
But d
rugs
and
young girls
are
a lethal murderous mix.
Maybe that’s the motive.
The drug team are
out in full force and believe me, the drug community has more leaks than my aunt’s bladder. We should start to hear things pretty soon.”
“A vein worth needling
.
I mean he hadn’t been on the streets for two years and drug dealers don’t wait that long for revenge.”
“I
’m going to have to play this tight;
I’ve been warned by Gordon to stay off the case.
Alright,
let’s go to the theatre and do some digging, deep digging, deep enough to know if the company members still have tonsils.”
Kate and Shirley checked out an unmarked police car and headed towards
the centre of the city.
They drove past
the fort
as the noon day canon
boomed
; the s
easoned j
oggers
mounting the hill didn’t
miss a beat. Shirley manoeuvred the car through the congested noon day traffic and managed to catch the light at one of the longest intersections in the city.
“
Good save Shirley.
What other hidden talents do you have?”
Nothing I’m going to share with you, Shirley thought. I’m taking it slow with you.
“That’s it I’m afraid.”
“I doubt it.”
N
either woman
spoke for the new few minutes.
“I wonder what’s up with Withers. He’s been acting strange lately, not himself at all. Almost carefree, for God’s sake.”
“You mean you haven’t heard?”
“Heard what”, Kate asked.
“
He
’s fallen for June, hard. The man’s hurting.”
“June Grayson?”
“That’s the one.”
Kate smiled. “I’ll be damned
; Withers
in love
with a
potential
suspect, now there’s one for the books.
”
“Not potential anymore Kate, according to Roger, her alibi is solid.”
The two women lapsed into a longer silence.
Shirley thought about Gordon’s call inviting her to become a temporary member of the Murder Squad, working under Kate’s supervision, as an Acting Sergeant Detecti
ve
. It took all her self-control not to show her elation and she was able to give a calm, respectful response.
Her elation died a few minutes later when she was telling her husband. She thought of the reason for her opportunity; an officer down and for all she knew, fighting for his life.
She had trouble sleeping. Shirley stifled a yawn; the autumn sun pouring into the car was making her dozy.
Her body jerked
wide awake
at the sudden yell from Kate.
“Stop the car
, now.”
“What the hell”, Shirley asked.
“Just stop the car dammit!”
Shirley hit the brakes and Kate was out of the car running towards a tall, black man carrying a briefcase. She watched in horror as Kate grabbed him by the jacket and pushed him up against the brick wall
.
Although she couldn’t hear what
Kate
was saying over the roar of passing traffic, she knew
it wasn’t good.
Shit, shit, shit, what do I do now? One wrong move and I’m off the team.
She pulled the car over, opened the door and walked slowly towards them.
As she approached, she saw Kate grab the man’s briefcase.
“Where did you get this? Tell me now loser. Where did you get it?”
The man tried to speak but couldn’t. Kate had pinned him against the wall; her arm across his throat.
Shirley moved in and stood to the right of Kate.
“Kate,
let him go. Drop your arm. Now.
”
Kate was shaking; her breathing ragged but Shirley
thought she had eased her grip.
“Good,
Kate,
b
reathe. That’s right. Now drop your arm, let him go.”
Kate
released her grip and stepped back. T
he man bent over and spewed on the sidewalk.
No one spoke.
He
lifted his head,
wiped his mouth on his sleeve
, and glared at Kate.
“What’s wrong with you lady? Are you crazy?
”
“I’ll tell you what’s up, you bastard”, Kate said, “
The briefcase you’re carrying
belongs to a good friend of mine who’s lying in a hospital bed, his body beaten to within an inch of his life.”
“
You’re nuts.
I’ve had this case for years. I got it at a car rally in ’95. See the date inscribed o
n the medallion. See my name.” He reached in his back pocket. “Look at this bitch, read it, see my name; same as the initials on the briefcase.
Is that good enough for you
?” The man reached for his cell. “If not,
you better get out of my face before I call the police
.”
“Come on Kate”, Shirley said
. “Let’s go.”
Kate paled, and shook like one who had just been suckered punched.
“Get lost lady.
I don’t have time for this
shit;
I’ve got a room people waiting for my presentation.
”
He turned to Shirley. “If I were you, I’d see that your friend gets help.”
Shirley
steered Kate towards the car, got behind the wheel and sped away, n
either woman spoke for the next five minutes.
“I swore it was
Roger’s
briefcase, Shirley. I mean,
the racing decals, the same colour.
Christ almighty, how many race jocks are there in this city?”
“Roger’s briefcase, together with his gun and shield, are in his lock up. First thing I was asked to check
on this morning
.
I didn’t think to mention it during our briefing.”
“
Didn’t think about nails it. I want to know everything, understand. Savy? Never hold anything back from a working partner. Nothing.”
“I hear you and it won’t happen again. But I’m not the cop who slammed Joe Citizen around for nothing.
As far as I’m concerned,
it
didn’t happen. One more hint of something else like this
though,
I’ll spill my guts to everyone and anyone who will listen. I have a lot to learn but one thing I know, our job is to protect the public, not menace them.”
Kate stared out the window and said nothing.
***
Andrew
stood on the sidelines and watched the first rehearsal of Arthur Miller’s
play
,
Death of a Salesman
.
He paid careful attention to
Charlotte
;
aka
Willie Loman’s wife
,
as she
stretch
ed
her arms, mim
ed
waking up, put on her robe,
and
tr
ied
to
portray a woman who is
listening
for her husband to arrive
.
James, as Willie Loman, the Salesman, enter
ed
carrying two large sample cases. He crosse
d
the stage to the doorway of his house, his exhaustion apparent. He unlock
ed
the door, c
ame
into the kitchen, and
dropped the cases.
“Willy!” Linda calls.
“
Stop
”, Henry says.
The two actors turn to their Director.
“Charlotte darling, the tone isn’t quite right. It implies a much younger wife who can’t wait to get Willy in bed.
Linda loves her husband, more than loves him, she admires him, his mercurial nature, his dreams and little cruelties but it is a love of wisdom, not passion. Y
our motivation is
good, and great job on the listening.
But a
temper the passion in
saying his name...”