Flashback

by Ted Wood

  Reid. Talked to Chuck about Kershaw. He says K. was running an investment brokerage, small stuff. He thinks K. had dipped into the money, $2-3 hundred thou. His bet went sour and he tried the bank caper. Seems there was a shipment of negotiables coming in that day and he knew about it. Not a standard robbery. Also, Chuck says the investment that failed was a movie. Does this help? There was no charge laid on the scam, his wife made the losses good.

  'Listen to this.' I told Holland. 'The circle keeps on getting smaller and smaller.' I read him the Fax and waited.

  He said, 'Yeah. Could tie in, I guess, if it was Tracy's movie.' He didn't sound enthusiastic and I knew why when he went on. 'Alla this stuff's older'n hell. I don't see how it helps to know what happened six, seven years back. We got three warm corpses to worry about. We've got reporters up the yin-yang here. Everyone's wantin' to know when we're gonna make an arrest and we keep comin' up with stale stuff.'

  I took a moment to get my excitement down to his speed. He didn't see the connections the way I did. It all seemed academic to him with media people chasing him for action. By the morning the media would be down here, bugging me when they realized that the OPP didn't have any sexy answers. Then I might feel like he did.

  'It ties in,' I said slowly. 'From where I sit, and I'm sitting because I'm just as pooped as the rest of you, we've got some kind of reunion of rounders. First one of them we can get hold of, including the Tracy woman, and this thing's gonna come to pieces in our hand. You'll be promoted, Dupuy will get to be Prime Minister and I'll get my week's pay.'

  He knew I was right but his agreement was feeble. 'I know, Reid, but we got three people, four if you count this Kershaw guy, all of them can untie this thing for us and one or other of 'em's gonna turn up soon. I say we call it a night.'

  I could imagine Dupuy sitting across from him, nodding agreement. An arrest would profit them. They belonged to an organization with room to move ahead. But they were weary.

  'OK. It's a night,' I said.

  'Yeah. Good idea. Get back at it first thing. Meantime we'll check all the motels, see if they've got the Tracy woman staying there. Shouldn't be hard to track her down if she's in town.'

  Not if she was dumb enough to take a motel, I thought, but she wasn't. Either she would rendezvous with somebody and drive away or else she would check in at some guest house run by a widow who would have the lights out by now and wouldn't be checked.

  'I'll look in on her house on my way home,' I said. 'Talk to you tomorrow.'

  'Right, thanks. Oh, and the inspector says, can you send us a copy of the Fax, together with the source.'

  'Will do, but don't call them, he's a cop too, working on a homicide in Toronto. He needs his sleep as well. Besides, he's my brother-in-law.'

  'Small world,' Holland said and hung up.

  I sent them the message, along with Elmer's name and rank in the Metro department, then closed up the station and drove back to Main Street, over the bridge and up the side of the lake to Ms Tracy's house. It was in darkness and there was no car outside but I was wary and drove by without slowing and stopped around the next bend in the road. Then I took Sam and walked back down there and checked the house. The padlock was in place in front and the back door was shut and didn't look as if it had been forced. I'd bolted it when I closed the house up and had not yet given Ms Tracy the key. She was still away.

  I stood there and thought for a while, wondering what to do next. I hadn't thought to ask Holland the time she had checked out. Maybe she was still on her way down here. Maybe. And in the meantime I had nothing to do but sleep till morning.

  That decided me. I've slept out a lot. Camping with my family as a kid, and most of the nights I spent in Vietnam. And I had Sam with me, he'd wake me if anyone showed. I would rest here. I moved out into the bush beside the house, close to the road, took off my cap and stretched out on the dry duff of needles and debris from the pine trees overhead. Sam settled beside me and I lay there and relaxed in the warm night, glad that the mosquitoes had given up, as they do after midnight. Pretty soon I was asleep.

  Sam woke me, stirring slightly, and I opened my eyes and sat up, wide awake, the way you are in the boonies when the guy on watch nudges you. A car was coming up the road towards us. I checked my watch, it was three–eighteen.

  I crouched up as it pulled into Ms Tracy's driveway. Someone got out of the passenger side. Her car! And she was not alone! I had them!

  I pulled my gun and stepped out on the driveway with Sam beside me. I was thirty yards from the car and edging closer when I heard Ms Tracy swear. 'There's a goddamn padlock on here. Help me.'

  I stopped as the driver got out of the car. There were two other people inside I saw, and then, outlined against the glare of the headlights I saw that the man was carrying a long gun. 'Police. Drop the gun,' I shouted.

  He whirled towards me, levelling the gun and I fired twice and dived sideways into the trees as the orange muzzle flash from the shotgun bloomed towards me, round and bright as the sun.

  Shot crashed into the branches over my head and I heard Ms Tracy scream. Then the car roared back towards me and past, the driver's door open with the driver craning up over the roof. He fired again, too high and I fired back, emptying my pistol at the tyres, but he wheeled back and slammed the door as he raced off up the side-road, back towards the highway.

  I shouted 'Fight' at Sam and he bounded to the step where Ms Tracy was still screaming, his barking blending with her voice.

  'Guard,' I shouted and he fell silent, crouching in front of her, baring his teeth as I sprinted for the scout car.

  I was almost a minute behind them but I roared after them, staying in second gear, siren blaring, hoping one of my good citizens would hear and phone the OPP. There was no sign of the car ahead but I drove flat out, pushing the car to the limit of my skill. Back I raced, to the north side of the bridge opposite Main Street, alone in the darkness. And then, far ahead at the edge of the highway, I caught the flash of their headlights in the trees as they slowed there before turning north. I followed, driving one-handed now, frantically adjusting the wavelength on my radio to the OPP frequency . It was hard at the limit of the car's speed, watching for oncoming traffic, trying to catch a smaller, faster car screaming down the middle of the road, but at last I got close and bellowed into the microphone.

  'Bennett, proceeding north from Murphy's Harbour. Hot pursuit of a blue Mercedes. Shots fired. Do you read?'

  There was a squawk, broken up. I was far enough off frequency to be unreadable, I guessed, and gave the knob a tiny flick. I repeated my message three times, flicking the frequency each way, bracketing the OPP wavelength the best I could. Then I came over a hill to look down at a mile-long slope on the highway ahead and saw no car. I'd lost them.

  I kept on, adjusting the set again until finally the OPP man answered. 'Bennett, location please? Location, over.'

  'Seven kilometres north of the Harbour. No sign of the car ahead. Car may have pulled off into Honey Harbour or along side-road 513. Have my dog holding Ms Tracy at her house. Send a PW down for the interrogation. Will proceed as far as Wildhaven Lodge and then return to the Harbour.'

  'Roger, hold, Bennett.' The dispatcher said anxiously. 'Here's the inspector.'

  It was Dupuy. I briefed him in two sentences and he told me to return and hold Tracy at her house. A policewoman would join me in twenty minutes.

  So I killed the siren and turned back, taking time now to check a few hundred yards into the Honey Harbour exit from the highway, finding it as peaceful as my own community was, on good nights. No Mercedes. Then I sped back to the Tracy house.

  She was standing on the porch, motionless, Sam in front of her. I shone my flashlight over her and saw the terror in her eyes. I told Sam, 'Easy boy. Good boy,' and made a fuss of him before telling her. 'Sit down, Ms Tracy. I have a policewoman coming and then we'll take you to the station. You're under arrest.'

  I hadn't worked out what the charges wo
uld be and she didn't cut me any slack. 'What for, for God's sake? I get a ride home from Parry Sound with some people and you come out of the bushes shooting at them. What's going on? Tell me that.'

  'Who were they?'

  'I never saw them before.' Her voice was clear and confident. She was going to lie. I gritted my teeth and hoped the OPP would trace the other car. She was only a minor part of the mystery. She hadn't done any of the killings and it was the killers I wanted.

  'Make yourself comfortable. We have about ten minutes to wait,' I said.

  'I need to use the bathroom, you bastard.'

  'Ten minutes,' I repeated.

  'I can't wait that long. I was terrorized by your goddamn dog.'

  'Then step down into the side somewhere. He'll come with you. I'll wait here.'

  She swore angrily and sat down, her back against the door with its padlock still in place. I ignored her, reloading my revolver and glancing around. There were maybe half a dozen places within a couple of hundred yards each way but there were no lights showing. People were asleep or didn't want to get involved, which was good.

  'Who was in the car with you?' I asked.

  'How would I know?' she said angrily. 'I got out of the hospital and as I was walking down the street in Parry Sound they gave me a lift.'

  It was too early to lean on her. I needed a woman there to remove any chance of her claiming I'd molested her. Tough as she was, she would do it automatically to discredit me and any evidence I got from her. But maybe I could trap her into something. 'How many people were in the car?'

  She thought that was innocent. 'Three. Besides me.'

  'Two men and a woman?' That had been my reading, although I hadn't had time to concentrate on the others once I saw the driver had a gun.

  'They didn't talk, I don't know.'

  'You're lying,' I said. 'That was your own car.'

  She didn't answer for a moment, then sneered. 'I thought it seemed familiar. Small world, isn't it?'

  'Either you help us or you're going to be in jail for aiding and abetting an escaped prisoner in the commission of a murder,' I told her. 'Now you sit there and think about that for a few minutes until my partner arrives.'

  'I've got nothing to say, now or later. This is all ridiculous,' she said but there was fear in her voice. I said nothing, just stood and waited for ten long minutes until I heard a car coming.

  It was an OPP cruiser and Elaine Harper got out and walked up to us. I did everything formally. 'Officer Harper, this is Ms Tracy. She is under arrest for aiding and abetting an escaped prisoner in the commission of a homicide.'

  'Sounds like you're in a whole lot of trouble, ma'am,' Elaine said cheerfully. 'Where d'you want to do this, Chief, here or at your office?'

  'At the station, please. Will you take Ms Tracy in your car?' Thank the Lord they're allowing women into the OPP. There would be no chance for our prisoner to allege misconduct.

  'Fine. Come with me, please.' Elaine made an 'up' gesture with her finger and Ms Tracy stood slowly. 'Do you have any cigarettes?' she asked.

  'Don't use 'em,' Elaine said.

  'Then may I open my house and get some?'

  'What do you think, Chief?' Elaine turned to me.

  'If we go in there I'm going to conduct a search for drugs,' I said. 'Do you still want to open your house, ma'am?'

  'Where's your warrant?' Ms Tracy demanded. Her voice was strong but it had a nervous tremor.

  'I'm going to apply for one as soon as we reach the station. It will be issued while you're in the cells. This way I save time. What would save more time is for you to admit that you have drugs in there, if you do, and I won't have to turn my dog loose.'

  In the starlight I could see the policewoman looking at me strangely. She hadn't heard about what the suitcase contained. She thought this was a fishing trip.

  Ms Tracy said nothing for about half a minute. Then as Elaine reached out to bring her along she spoke. 'The hell with it, I need a smoke. Do you have the key for this padlock?'

  I undid the padlock and she produced the front door key. 'Where did that come from? You had nothing with you when you left here?'

  'It was under the mat,' she said angrily. 'Even with your dog after me I picked it up.'

  Not an honest answer, but credible. We followed her through the verandah and she unlocked the inner door with the same key. 'I have to use the bathroom,' she said, switching on the light.

  'I'll have to come with you,' Elaine said. I watched the tension between them. Elaine was smaller, only around five-six and slight, with the bulk of her gun incongruous on her slim waist. Ms Tracy was taller and older and her contempt was enormous.

  'Afraid I'll hurt myself?' she sneered.

  'Maybe. Or flush your dope down the john,' Elaine said. 'Let's go.'

  They went into the bathroom and I looked around, wondering where drugs would be hidden if she had any. There were a thousand hiding-places but I knew Sam would find anything so I relaxed and waited.

  When they came out again I asked Tracy, 'Do you have any drugs here, ma'am?'

  'It's not ma'am. It's Ms,' she hissed. 'And no. I don't have any goddamn drugs. But I have friends who use this place from time to time. Maybe one of them has put something somewhere that I don't know about.'

  I smiled. 'There. Now you're golden. I'll get my dog to check.' I bent to fondle Sam, holding his head between both hands to get his attention. Then I told him Mei Kong and stood up.

  The women watched, fascinated, as he stiffened and turned his head slowly, sniffing the air. Then he sniffed the couch and one of the chairs, growling softly. Someone had used dope in this room, sitting there. And at last he went over to the bookcase and sniffed up high, then stood on his back legs to claw at a shelf of books about four feet off the ground.

  'Easy,' I told him and lifted the books down. There was nothing behind them but his head sank to one of the books and he barked again, scratching at its cover with one foot. I picked it up. It was old, red leather bound. Supreme Court of Ontario Decisions 1899. I read and opened it up. The centre of the pages had been hollowed out and there was a plastic bag of white powder inside.

  'Is this your book?' I held it up to Ms Tracy.

  'That belongs to John Waites. He left it here. Said he might have to consult it occasionally,' she said. 'Happy now?'

  'Happier,' I admitted. 'Take your cigarettes and let's go.'

  Elaine took her arm and we left, me carrying the book with its white cargo. It might prove something, I thought. She would get off a charge of possession by blaming Waites, but if the chemists could prove it was identical to the contents of his suitcase we might be able to find out more about its source. And the find put more pressure on her. Now, she might volunteer some help.

  I watched Elaine put her in the cage of the patrol car and then whistled Sam and checked the driveway where the man with the shotgun had been standing. I couldn't see any evidence that I'd hit him but I found his shotgun shell, and then, lower down the driveway, where he had fired as he backed out, I found two more. I picked them up on the end of my fingers and put them into the windshield of the cruiser. Once we found the gun I could have ballistics check the cases and see if they matched. Then I'd have attempted murder to add to the charges. Good additional material if it got down to a plea bargaining situation.

  Wearily now I drove around and over the bridge to the police station. All I could think of was that I should have shot out the back tyre before I challenged the gunman. That way I would have stopped the car. Dammit, Bennett, you're getting slow, I told myself.

  Elaine was waiting at the station and when I unlocked the back door she got Ms Tracy out and led her inside. We booked her formally, Elaine charging her and reading her rights. Then I stepped out into my office while Elaine searched her. She opened the door a couple of minutes later. 'She's clean. Nothing but some cash and her cigarettes.'

  'OK. Let's call the inspector, see if he can join us and we'll talk to her,' I said. '
And I'll put some coffee on. I can hardly stay awake.'

  'Getting old.' She grinned. 'Let's put her in a cell and do it.'

  We went back out to the cells and Elaine ushered Ms Tracy into the cell farthest from the door, the most isolated and therefore the most frightening. She said nothing and we left her there and came out to the telephone. Elaine phoned Parry Sound and the dispatcher told us that Inspector Dupuy was out, supervising the search for the Mercedes. He would try to raise him on the radio.

  Elaine took over the coffee-making chores, laughing that she had tasted my coffee and wasn't going to set me loose with a pot ever again. It took a while to perc and we had some and offered a cup to Ms Tracy. 'Ready to talk yet?' Elaine asked.

  'I want a lawyer,' she said. 'I get a phone call, don't I?'

  'Sure. You said "no" earlier. Have you changed your mind?' They might have been college buddies, kidding, from Elaine's tone, no threat, no tension.

  'I want to call,' Ms Tracy said and Elaine led her through to the office. I went with them and watched as Ms Tracy dialled, wondering how many people around know their lawyer's phone number without looking it up. She waited for about ten seconds, then said, 'This is Marcia Tracy. I've been arrested at Murphy's Harbour. It's now—' she glanced up at the clock—'four-fifty, Saturday morning. Can you help?'

  She hung up and we led her back to her cell where she sat on the wooden board bunk and sipped her coffee. 'You haven't got long to plea bargain,' Elaine said quietly. 'Did you think of that? We're going to find that car, come daylight. And when we do, your help won't be worth spit. Act now and we might be able to bargain with the Crown Attorney.'

  Ms Tracy set down her coffee cup and lit a cigarette from the little pile beside her. 'This has been the worst day of my life. I've been raped, beaten up, knocked unconscious, terrorized by a slavering dog and arrested. What can I say?'

  'You lied about the rape,' I said. 'We found Waites' suitcase. It contained some interesting things, including your production file.'