I tossed the bridge token into the toll machine and advanced, signalling to turn left. The Dodge was right behind me. I thought about the location of the labâoff the back end of a warehouse building in the more isolated part of the industrial park. Feeling vulnerable, I needed to think about this carefully before I got there. There was a Tim Horton's drive-through on my right. Without signalling, I impulsively turned in. He didn't follow me in. As I stopped to place my coffee order, he turned right at the intersection just past the doughnut shop. I breathed a sigh of relief.
When I pull out, I thought, I won't turn but will go through the intersection and take an alternate route to the park. I set my coffee into the holder and pulled out into the traffic. As I approached the intersection the light turned red. I was second in line. That's when I saw the Dodge in the parking lot of the Shell station across the road. So, he either turned around or he got into the lot from farther up the road. The driver was now out of the car, leaning on the trunk, smoking a cigarette. He was wearing a leather jacket and Matrix-style sunglassesâand he appeared to be looking my way.
Run or make a bold move?
I pulled into the Shell and drove up to the pumps. “Washroom?” I asked.
“Just around the side there. Key's inside,” said the attendant. The side he indicated was exactly where my friend was waiting. After I paid for the gas, I pulled off on the other side of the lot, parked and walked into the station. I could see him through the narrow side window. The washroom key was on a peg behind the counter. There was a long-haired kid of about sixteen working the cash. “Can I get the key?” He handed it to me.
“Listen,” I said. “Do you happen to recognize that man leaning on that blue car out there? Is he a regular?” He leaned forward and looked. He shrugged. “I don't remember seeing him before,” he said.
“What kind of car is that, do you know?” I asked him.
“It's a Shadow,” he said, knowledgeably, “a Dodge Shadow. They stopped making them in '93 or '94. My brother used to have one.”
“A Shadow. Thanks.” This karma of names thing was a bit uncanny. “Do you have a telephone I could use?”
“Payphone,” he said, indicating a payphone on the wall just outside the door.
“Look,” I said, “I need your help. I don't want that guy to see me making this call. I think he's following me. ”
His blue eyes widened. “Come down to this end,” he said, suddenly engaging and pulling a telephone out from under the counter. The counter formed an L-shape going towards the back. “Thanks,” I said and dialed McBride.
Miraculously, he answered.
“It's me. Do you remember what kind of car your thugs were driving that night?”
“It was too stormy to see details,” he said, “but I'd say it was an older Dodge or Chryslerânothing fancy. It was a dark colour.”
“Well, I think he's on my tail. I'm at a Shell just across the bridge,” I said. “Can you get out to the lab quickly, just in case? That's where I'm heading. I'll stall here for awhile.”
“Where is he?” he asked.
“He's sitting out in the parking lot, bold as brass, just waiting.”
“I'm out the
door,” he said and hung up.
“He still there?” I said to the kid, pushing the telephone back across the counter.
“Yeah.” The kid leaned over the front side of the counter and peered out the side window.
“I'm going to the washroom. Just keep your eye on him for me, if you can. But don't do anything.”
“Okay,” the kid said, now completely intrigued by the idea of someone being followed.
Here it goes, I thought. I went out the front door and turned right, walking along the front of the garage. At the corner of the building I turned right again. He was dropping his cigarette to the ground and stepping on it as I turned. I didn't look at him directly, but glanced at the plate, which he concealed partially. I made out the letters “CSV.” I walked straight to the washroom and went in.
Four or five minutes later, I opened the washroom door and retraced my steps. A quick glance told me he was now sitting in his car with the engine running.
I would take a longer route to the lab. If he didn't get behind me I would've brought McBride out for no reasonâbut it wouldn't be our first wild goose chase.
As I returned the key, the kid said, “I saw him get in his car.”
“Thanks for watching.” I decided it was almost time to leave the station.
To give McBride a few extra minutes, I sauntered over to Old Solid. I opened the trunk and took out the windshield wiper fluid. Then, I opened the hood and took my time emptying the fluid into the receptacle. After strolling over to the pumps to discard the bottle, I went back to the car, got in, and pulled round so I could drive past the Dodge and back out onto the main road. I had certainly delayed long enough for McBride to get across the bridge. I would drive the lower route slowly. I turned right out of the lot and proceeded, keeping my eye on the rear view mirror. There he was. He'd pulled out and was a couple of cars behind me.
A large district of warehouses and retail and wholesale businesses, the industrial park could be a mind-boggling maze if you weren't certain where you were going. Once you turned up one of the major arteries into the park, many of the side roads wound around in circles or became cul-de-sacs. My experience was that it was best to go directly to your location or risk getting hopelessly lost. Though the Shadow was quite far back, I could see he had made the turn and was still tailing me. Now there was a large transport truck separating us.
I turned onto a side road, went along towards the warehouse, drove past the courier depot through a narrow laneway and around to the back of the next building where the lab was located. I pulled in and parked the car near the lab office door.
I was hoping to see Ruby Sube waiting there, but there was no sign of McBride. And oddly, no sign of Matrix-man coming along behind me. I jumped out of the car and sprinted into the office.
“Hi Miriam,” I said to the receptionist, who was standing at the water cooler swallowing some pills. “How are things?”
“Roz, I haven't seen you for awhile.” Her voice was hoarse.
“No,” I said, “I guess you were at lunch when I dropped the samples off yesterday.”
“No, I just came back to work todayâI was out sick for a week. Even though I got my flu-shot and everything.”
“Don't believe in them myself, but lots of people swear by them. How are you now?” I turned to look outside through the glass door.
“I guess I'm a little better but it's still hanging onâyou know, coughing at night and thatâI'm taking these decongestantsâ¦Hey are you okay? You seem kind of jumpy.”
“Right, I guess I am. I was expecting McBride. Can I use your phone?”
“Go ahead.” She walked to her desk and pushed the phone towards me.
I dialed his number. No answer. So he was gone. But why was he taking so long to get here, and where was my pursuer? It was at times like this that McBride's cellphone would be just the thing. I made a mental note to push him to replace it.
“Thanks,” I said to Miriam, hanging up. “So I'd better get those lab results.”
“Right here,” she said, taking a brown envelope from a box on her desk. She sneezed loudly as she handed it to me. “Oh god, sorry.” She wiped the envelope with her sleeve.
“Bless you,” I said, watching her blow her reddened nose.
“See what I mean? It's still hanging on. I don't knowâmaybe I should go home⦔
She was still talking as I tore open the envelope and took out the contents. The report indicated that both the seeds and the foliage were highly poisonous. The analysis of the sample I submitted indicated that “the decoction from just 50â100 grams of needles or a mere 50 seeds could be fatal for an adult, depending on weight. The action of the poison is extremely rapid because taxine is quickly absorbed in the digestive system.”
“Ohâhere's your partner!” I looked up to see McBride exploding into the office.
“Dammit! There was a stalled bus clogging traffic on the Macdonald,” he said. “I had to go around and take the MacKay. But you were right, Roz,” he said. “I'd say same car, same guy. Oh, hi Miriam.”
“You saw him?” I asked, before Miriam could respond to his greeting.
“I practically crashed into him two minutes ago. I was driving pretty fast to get hereâand there he was at a standstill just around the side of this building. I almost rear-ended him. I managed to stop about two inches from his back bumper. He got a look at me as I was getting out of my car, put the thing in gear and peeled off in quite a hurry. You should have been able to hear the tires squealing from here.”
“I didn't, but I'm all blocked up from this cold and I can't hear anything. I was just telling Rozâ” Miriam started in on her saga, hoping for some sympathy from McBride.
“Did you get the plate?” I asked, interrupting her.
“Only part of it,” he replied.
“Let me guess,” I said. “CSV.”
“CSV,” he said. “Well, even with that, we should be able to get a lead through the Registry of Motor Vehicles. They should be able to narrow it down for us since we know the make. I'll give them a call first thing in the morning.”
“Great. The sooner the better,” I said. “That creeped me right out, being followed.”
“Oh yeah, that would creep me out, too,” Miriam added, and broke into a hacking cough.
“Now what do those test results say about the yews on the property?” McBride asked, indicating the report.
“The stuff's deadly,” I replied, trying to keep my I-told-you-so vibes down to a dull roar. “So what's the next step, McBride?” I asked as we were leaving the lab. I turned back and said, “Thanks, Miriamâhope you're feeling better soon.”
“Thanks, Roz. Bye.” She waved a tissue at me.
“I guess we better approach the Chief Medical Examiner for a permit to exhume our victim.”
“Hey! Great idea, boss,” I said. “Why didn't I think of that?”
McBride had arranged to meet Sophie
in the afternoon and he suggested I follow him to her place, where we could work out the details regarding Aziz. I was still edgy, but saw no further sign of the blue Shadow.
Sophie invited us in to have tea. She had just received a gift from a friend whose horoscope she had done, a personal blend of Indian and Chinese black tea; we all sat down at her kitchen table as the pungent brew was steeping.
“So what's the goal?” she asked, true to actor form, I thought.
“The main goal is simply to get Aziz on the phone and make a safe arrangement to meet him so he can drop the information to us.”
“Okay. Do we know his last name?”
“I don't know it. I heard someone address him as Azizâthat's all I've got.”
“Wait a minuteâwouldn't I know his last name if I was his cousin?” Sophie said, cracking herself up. Her laugh was infectious. It felt good to laugh and relieve the tension of the day. Still giggling, she poured the tea for us and passed the honey in my direction.
“Okay, so I guess that makes me a friend or just some kind of acquaintance. What else don't we know, detective,” she teased. “What's his position there?”
“Most likely some kind of file clerk,” McBride said. “It's possible he floats between different departments. But when I saw him, he was in Planning, and if I remember correctly that's how he originally described himself.”
“Okay, so I manage to get him on the phone. Then what?”
“You need to convey to him that you know me and that you'd like to set up a meeting. You don't have to say anything about delivering information. As soon as he hears my name he'll know that's what it's about, if he is indeed the contact.”
“So what is it that you're after?” Sophie asked.
“He indicated that he may have information about what happened to Peter King,” McBride offered. “He wanted me to get it that night in the parking lot, but then he got frightened off and seemingly for good reasonâsomeone was keeping an eye on him. I might have been able to get it yesterday if I had followed him down to the archives, but three men he knew got on the elevator and I didn't want to put any focus on a connection to me.”
“Okay. Leave it with me. I'll figure out a way to meet him. But, I have to be by myself to make the call,” she said. “It's not just pretend, right. I have to get into it. I'll do it tomorrow morning. I'll let you know as soon as it's set up.”
I could see McBride was a little nonplussed by Sophie's take-charge approach, but he didn't argue.
“Sorry to cut this short, but I have to get to work on Ophelia's mad scene now,” she said. “I'll see you at rehearsal Roz.”
That was it. We were out of there.
Once home, I got out the card that Eloise Radner had given me for the lawyer, Harvie Greenblatt. It wasn't five o'clock yet and with any luck I could set up a meeting with him for the following day. He was part of a firm that was notable for taking on high-profile civil rights cases and winning. No wonder he'd had a strong connection with Peter King. However, the secretary who answered said Harvie had recently left the firm and had gone to work for the Public Prosecution Service as a Crown Attorney. “We miss him,” she said, giving me his new number. When I called I got his voicemail. I left a message, mentioning both Eloise Radner and Peter King, and asked him to call me back as soon as possible.
I went down to the kitchen to find something to munch on while working my way through the next section of
Hamlet
. The brutal Gertrude/Hamlet scene was coming up and I needed to look it over. “One egg and the heel of a loaf of sourdough. Looks like it's a fried egg sandwich,” I said to the cat, who, in her customary style, materialized out of nowhere. She had clearly been down for her afternoon nap and was stretching, with her long fur every which way. I bent over and scratched her chin. She rubbed herself against my legs, and went and sat by her dish.