Reserved For Murder

by Kevin Hopkins

  ‘I’ll get a warrant to stop you.’

  ‘You can try,’ the Chief challenged. ‘But, just remember, you have zero evidence and zero jurisdiction here. Technically you are just a common citizen, with no greater power than anyone else walking the streets. Your badge means nothing here. And since Travis died on tribal land, we can handle this as he wanted. We strongly believe in respecting an individual’s wishes. If he wanted to be buried in a traditional manner, without an autopsy, then that’s what will be done.’

  ‘How do you know he died on tribal land?’ Penner asked, grasping at straws, hoping that he would say something, anything, incriminating.

  ‘Barry said he found him in the woods,’ the Chief answered, walking back over to Penner. ‘That’s our land. Barry, I think it’s time for our guests to leave and head back to the city where they belong. Do me a favour and go get Detective Millar. No point in him waiting in the woods any longer. I’ll make some calls to have Travis’s body brought back for burying.’ He paused before continuing, ‘Oh, and you can let Constable Grant know that we won’t be needing his services out here anymore. We’ll find someone else to help out at the drop-in centre.’

  Barry looked back and forth between Chief Ravenclaw and Penner. His head dropped. ‘Sorry,’ he said under his breath to Penner as he stepped outside to retrieve Millar from the woods.

  ‘I don’t know how you can live with what you’ve done here,’ Penner said softly, looking the Chief in the eyes. ‘Don’t you have any morals?’

  ‘You’re going to talk to me about morals?’ the Chief asked, returning her look with venom. ‘After what your people have done to us for hundreds of years? How can you live with yourself, knowing you’re living on stolen land, forcing us, the original residents, to live in slum-like conditions? You take what you want, destroying the land, with no thoughts of the consequences.’ The Chief snorted with contempt. ‘Get off your high horse, Detective, you’re just as bad as I am. But at least I’m trying to make a difference. Now, if you don’t mind…get off of our land,’ he said, walking past Penner and holding the door open.

  For once, Penner was at a loss for words. After a few seconds, she walked out through the door, barely clearing the step before the Chief slammed it behind her.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Penner stood outside, trembling with fury and helplessness. She tried to think if there was anything they were missing. She still had the gun to be tested—maybe they could get a print off of it. Or maybe off of the note found in Sammy’s pocket. She knew it was a long shot, but that was all they had. One of them would have to stop by the hospital to get it from Mrs. Greycrow. ‘I should have taken the note as soon as I saw it,’ she thought to herself. ‘Tried to keep it from being handled too much.’ She knew there was no point in regretting what couldn’t be changed, but still—she hated to think that she may have let a piece of evidence get away. She started walking back to Grant’s place. She had to let him know that they had to leave. Let him know that she had kind of just got him fired from his side hustle. Sure, it was all volunteer time, but still—it was something he enjoyed. She walked past the coffee shop and was assaulted by the smell of roasting coffee beans. ‘Oh, I’m going to miss this place,’ she thought. Walking up the wooden stairs, she opened Grant’s door without knocking.

  ‘Hey, Detective.’ Grant looked up from where he sat on the lumpy sofa. ‘All packed and ready to go?’

  ‘Um, no, not yet,’ said Penner..

  ‘Is something wrong?’

  ‘Well…I kind of had it out with the Chief.’

  ‘Really?’ Grant said, surprised. ‘I thought you were just going to say good-bye. Was Barry able to get onto the computer?’

  ‘No,’ Penner said, sitting down. ‘Sooleawa took the computer into town to have the hard drive destroyed and replaced. Said they found a virus. Oh, and the Chief said he found this on the computer.’ She took the printed copy of Travis’s confession out of her pocket and passed it to Grant. ‘Take a read. Nice little work of fiction. But again, I can’t prove who wrote it. Or what it really means. Argh.’ Penner put her head in her hands. ‘This whole computer virus thing. I guarantee he was trying to get rid of evidence.’

  Grant looked up from reading the note. ‘Think we can get to town before it’s worked on?’ he asked.

  ‘Wouldn’t do any good. We don’t have a warrant, so we can’t seize the computer,’ Penner said, her head still in her hands. ‘And, with the little we have to go on, we wouldn’t get a warrant.’

  ‘There’s gotta be something we can do?’ Grant said, more as a question than a statement.

  ‘If there is, I don’t know what,’ said Penner, slumping down in her chair in defeat. The door opened again and Millar walked in, followed closely by Barry.

  ‘So, you got us kicked out of town, eh?’ Millar said. Grant looked at him, then to Penner.

  ‘Yeah,’ said Penner. ‘Sorry, Grant. Looks like your services here are no longer required. Chief Ravenclaw wants the three of us to leave the reserve. Doubt we’ll be allowed back any time soon.’

  ‘Really?’ Grant said with disbelief. ‘I didn’t expect that. So, that’s it then?’

  Penner sighed. ‘I think so. Unless we find a print on the gun or Sammy’s note, I don’t know what else we can do. The Chief is too smart to say anything to incriminate himself, and you can bet he told Sooleawa not to talk to anyone.’

  ‘I can ask around the reserve—keep it on the down low. Just see if anyone has any info,’ Barry offered. ‘What about getting a warrant for searching the band office? Maybe the Chief left something there?’

  ‘I don’t think we would get one,’ Penner said. ‘We don’t have enough evidence against the Chief.’

  ‘No, but we have a note supposedly written by Travis, right? If a judge sees that, it’s a confession that he killed Jonny. And Travis wasn’t a member of the band—he was a Federal employee. We may be able to get a warrant, just to verify that it was him.’

  Penner’s face lit up. ‘And if we can get that, then it could include the computer, right? We might even be able to check the timestamp on when the supposed suicide note was written. Maybe we could prove that it would have been impossible for Travis to have written it. Barry, you’re a genius! How quickly can we get a warrant out here, do you think? I have no idea when Sooleawa took the computer to town, so it may already be too late.’

  ‘I’ll go right now, see what I can do,’ Barry said. ‘With any luck, I’ll get it signed off on within the hour.’

  ‘You have Grant’s number?’ Millar asked, as Barry was heading out the door.

  ‘I do. I’ll give you a call as soon as I can,’ Barry said. ‘Stay out of the woods, so you have a signal.’

  ‘Do you know where she took the computer?’ Grant asked.

  ‘All I know is she took it to town,’ Penner replied. ‘I’m guessing to an electronics repair shop, but I didn’t get a name.’

  ‘I’ll go see if Barry knows where she may have taken it. I should be able to catch him before he drives away,’ Grant said, sprinting out the door.

  ‘I don’t think we have a snowball’s chance in hell of nailing him,’ Millar said, stretching out his legs and crossing his ankles.

  ‘Me, neither. But, we’ve gotta try, right?’ Penner said. ‘If he gets away with this, what’s to stop him from killing someone else the next time he wants to get attention for a cause?’

  ‘Well, let’s hope Barry can convince the judge we have a good reason to search the band office,’ Millar said, turning his head as the door opened again.

  ‘So, there’s a particular shop in town where the band has an account,’ Grant said, panting slightly. ‘Tang’s Electronics. Maybe we should go straight there. See if we can stall them from working on the computer—if it’s not already too late.’

  ‘Sounds like the best plan we have,’ said Penner.

  ‘Well, it’s the only plan we have, so that makes it the best,’ Millar said, standing up
. ‘The quicker we get there, the better. I’ll drive.’

  ‘If anyone’s going to get us there quick, it’s you,’ Penner said, as they headed out the door. ‘Afterwards, we should stop by the hospital and get the note from Mrs. Greycrow. I want to dust that to an inch of its life, and hope we find something.’

  ***

  ‘Alright, so I think it should be just up here,’ Grant said, studying a map on his phone from the back of Millar’s car. ‘Turn right on the next street.’

  Millar turned the corner, checking the addresses on the facades of the buildings. ‘Should be on your side,’ he said to Penner.

  ‘There it is,’ Penner said. ‘Pull up just there.’

  Millar pulled up alongside the curb, just past Tang’s Electronics. ‘Is that Sooleawa?’ he asked, looking in his rearview mirror as he backed into the parking spot.

  Grant turned to look out the back window. ‘Shit, it is,’ he said. ‘And she’s carrying the computer. We’re too late!’ Sooleawa walked to her car, carrying the computer tower. She put it on the ground while she fumbled with her keys and opened the back door. After putting the computer on the back seat, she closed the door and walked around to the driver’s side. Without a second glance, she got in and drove off.

  ‘Maybe not,’ Penner said. ‘The Chief said she was coming in to get the hard drive replaced and to have the old one destroyed. She may have had the new hard drive installed, but the old one may still be there, waiting to be destroyed.’

  ‘I guess we’re due to catch a break on this case soon,’ Grant said. ‘Let’s go see what they have to say,’ he said, unbuckling his seatbelt and stepping out of the car.

  Grant held the door to the electronics store open for Penner and Millar. Computers and other types of electronic material were piled along the perimeter walls. Some of the equipment stacks looked like they could topple over with the slightest bump.

  ‘Hello? Can I help you?’ an elderly Asian man asked, shuffling out of a back room.

  ‘Um, yes, hopefully,’ Penner said, pulling her badge out of her pocket. ‘Are you Mr. Tang?’ He nodded, and Penner continued, ‘Mr. Tang, one of your customers just left—we believe you replaced the hard drive in her computer. Have you started working on the old hard drive, yet?’

  Mr. Tang reached down for a pair of glasses that hung around his neck from a gold chain. He put them on and moved closer to examine Penner’s badge. ‘Ottawa Police? What is Ottawa Police doing here?’

  ‘We’re investigating a case,’ Penner said. ‘Can you tell us if you’ve started working on the hard drive?’

  ‘This is not Ottawa,’ Mr. Tang said, shaking his head. ‘I can’t help you.’

  ‘We are in the process of getting a warrant,’ said Millar.

  Mr. Tang slowly turned to look at Millar. ‘Do you have it now?’

  ‘No, I said we’re getting it,’ Millar said.

  ‘Then I can’t help you. Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do,’ Mr. Tang said, turning to go back into the back room.

  ‘If you start working on the hard drive before we’re back, you can be charged with tampering with evidence,’ Penner called out in desperation.

  ‘No, I can’t,’ Mr. Tang called back. ‘Without a warrant, it’s not evidence yet. I have work to do.’

  Penner thought for a second. ‘When we get the warrant, it will just be for a hard drive,’ she said, looking around the store interior. ‘Seems like you have a lot of hard drives here. Probably have to take them all with us to make sure we have the right one.’

  Mr. Tang slowly turned around. ‘That’s not how warrants work. You can only take what is outlined in the paperwork,’ he said, not sounding as confident as he had before.

  ‘Maybe. Maybe not,’ Penner said. ‘But it’s up to you if you want to take that chance. If we have to take every computer out of here, if could take us months and months to analyze them before we could return them. How do you think your customers will like that?’

  ‘Are all Ottawa Police dirty like you?’ Mr. Tang asked, looking at Penner with barely concealed disgust.

  ‘I prefer resourceful.’

  ‘I think you’re bluffing.’

  ‘It’s up to you,’ said Penner, motioning to Millar and Grant to walk out of the store. ‘Take your chances, if you want. We’ll be back, either to take one, untouched hard drive, or everything in your shop. Your choice.’

  They walked out of the store, leaving the man to contemplate his next move.

  ‘Didn’t see that coming,’ Grant said. ‘You always seem so nice.’

  ‘I thought I was pretty nice,’ Penner said. ‘There’s a difference between being not-so-nice and being intimidating.’

  ‘And a fine line between the two,’ Millar said. ‘Right, might as well head to the hospital—see if we can get the note back.’ He checked his watch. ‘Doubt Barry will have the warrant any time too soon.’

  ***

  On the drive over to the hospital, Grant’s phone rang. ‘Hello? Barry, so what’s the word? He will? That’s awesome! How long? Okay, good. Give me a call when you have it in hand. We’re on our way to the hospital to pick up the note from Mrs. Greycrow. We’ll want to get to the electronics shop before going back to the band office—no guarantee the shop owner’s going to hold off on destroying the hard drive. Perfect, talk to you soon.’ Grant hung up.

  ‘He got it?’ Penner asked, excitedly.

  ‘Not yet, but the judge has agreed. Said it would be good to make sure Travis was actually the one involved,’ Grant said. ‘Should have everything signed off in the next fifteen minutes, or so.’

  ‘Maybe we have a bit of luck working with us after all,’ Millar said, pulling into the hospital parking lot. ‘Why don’t you run in, grab the note. I’ll just circle around until you’re back out,’ he said to Penner, pulling up by the main door.

  ‘I’ll be quick,’ Penner said, hopping out of the car. She walked through the main lobby of the hospital and turned down the hallway towards Sammy’s room. She came to an abrupt halt. ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, seeing Chief Ravenclaw walking towards her.

  ‘I came to see how our young lad was doing,’ the Chief said, walking up to Penner. ‘I thought you had gone back to where you belong.’

  ‘You’re not getting rid of us that easily,’ Penner replied. ‘Not by a long shot. I’m going to find something on you. You’re not that slick. You had to have made a mistake somewhere along the way.’

  ‘A mistake?’ the Chief scoffed. ‘Not likely. Ravens don’t make mistakes. Have you ever watched a raven in the woods? When they have excess food, they’ll hide what they don’t need until later. If they see they’re being watched, they’ll pretend to hide the food in one place, then actually hide it somewhere else. They leave no trace, leave no clues.’

  ‘Aren’t they also seen as inherently evil, too?’ Penner said. ‘Sounds about right.’

  ‘Oh, Detective Penner. And I thought we were going to be friends when you first arrived,’ the Chief said, walking past her. ‘A shame, really. You could have been a good ally to have back in Ottawa.’

  ‘Yeah, dream on,’ Penner said, watching the Chief walk towards the exit. She hurried on towards Sammy’s room. When she got there, Sammy was standing up beside the bed and his mom was helping him put on his shirt. ‘Well, look at you,’ she said. ‘Good to see you out of bed. Heading home soon?’

  ‘Yup,’ Sammy said. ‘Doctor just came in—said I could go home today.’

  ‘As long as he promises not to scratch the stiches and to rest,’ added Mrs. Greycrow.

  ‘And he agreed?’ Penner asked.

  ‘Of course,’ Sammy said, and with a sly look added, ‘Well, I agreed not to let mom catch me scratching. But, I can’t be watched all the time, can I?’

  ‘What am I to do with him, eh?’ Mrs. Greycrow said to Penner. ‘It was much easier when he was a baby. Just wrap him up in a swaddle so he couldn’t move.’

  Penner laughed. ‘Could tr
y that now, I guess. Would need a big swaddle, though. Glad you’re feeling better,’ she said to Sammy. ‘Mrs. Greycrow, can I get the note that was in Sammy’s pocket? We want to run some tests on it.’

  ‘I don’t have it anymore,’ said Mrs. Greycrow, her eyes growing instantly worried.

  ‘What do you mean? What happened to it?’ asked Penner.

  ‘I gave it to Chief Ravenclaw,’ Mrs. Greycrow explained. ‘He said he was going to give it to Barry. Said he was going to help figure out what really happened.’

  ‘The Chief? The Chief has the note?’ Penner asked. ‘I’ve gotta go,’ she said, running out of the room and into the hall.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  ‘That bastard,’ Penner thought, running through the front doors of the hospital. She stepped out into the sunlight and frantically searched for the Chief. He had a few minutes’ head-start on her, but he couldn’t have gotten far. ‘Where is he?’ she cried. She started running through the parking lot, looking for the Chief’s SUV. A car honked its horn behind her and, as she looked over her shoulder, she saw that it was Millar.

  ‘What’s going on? You look like a crazy woman,’ Millar said as Penner got into the car.

  ‘Did you see the Chief?’ Penner asked, still scanning the parking lot.

  ‘The Chief? No, why?’ Millar asked. ‘Is he here?’

  ‘He was,’ Penner said. ‘Mrs. Greycrow gave him the note. He told her he was going to get Barry to test it.’

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding.’ Grant pounded his seat in frustration. ‘Just when I thought we were catching a break. Now what?’

  ‘I guess we wait for Barry to get the warrant,’ Penner said. ‘When’s he supposed to call?’