by Chris Ryan
“Okay, got you now.”
Next on the list was Randy.
“Randy, what have you heard about Leo?”
“Not a lot, other than Darlene said she saw him walking around Big Pond this morning around eleven o’clock. He was on this side of Big Pond.”
“What did she say he had on?”
“He was wearing a black coat and rubber boots below the knee. He was walking with his head down and didn’t make eye contact with her.”
“Randy, the big question is how the fuck he got out of the house and got to Big Pond.”
“I don’t know, Dutch. I’d love to know. I guess we’ll know sometime tonight or tomorrow.”
“Okay, Randy. If you hear anything, call me. I’ll be over to Tina’s. Or call Joe and fill him in.”
“Not a problem, Dutch.”
I called Jeff back.
“Jeff, me again.”
“Yes, Dutch?”
“Jeff, I was just talking to Randy Cat and he told me Darlene saw Leo walking around Big Pond at eleven this morning.”
“Are you serious, Dutch?”
“Well, that’s what the Cat said. Jeff, I’ll find out for sure later today or tomorrow morning when I have a chat with Darlene. Did you listen to what Kevin said, about what Boyd Merrill said over by Uncle Tom’s house?”
“Yes, Kevin told me that.”
“But it seems like Boyd Merrill is not being totally honest here. He said they arrested Leo without incident. They may have arrested him without incident, but the arrest never happened in Bay Bulls. So someone is not being upfront with the people of this town or this province.”
“So Dutch, you’re calling him a liar.”
“No, I won’t call him a liar. I don’t like to call anyone a liar. Liar is a very powerful word, but someone is fucking lying about this, though. They know much more than they’re saying. I’ll bet on that. You wait and see. I guarantee you, time will tell.”
“Merrill said ‘arrested without incident.’”
“Yes, we heard that. But where, Mr. Merrill . . . where? Tell the public the truth and the whole truth.”
“Dutch, man, relax, relax. I’m not arguing with you. But I have to give some credence to what Merrill said.”
“Well, I’m giving him fuck-all credence. Because he is fucking lying, or someone is. You tell me why he never told the whole truth, like exactly where Leo was arrested. What’s the delay in revealing that? You tell me why. There should be absolutely no delay. Jeff, ever hear the saying, ‘Honesty is the best policy’?”
“I heard it, Dutch. But a long time ago.”
“Listen, I promised Tina that we’d go out to supper tonight. Jeff, call me the second you hear anything. And I mean the second. Going out to supper will be a waste. I won’t enjoy it. I have to know the full details of this story.”
“Okay, Dutch. Enjoy your meal. Well, if you can’t enjoy the meal, you’ll have very nice company.”
“I agree. Tina has great patience with me.”
I called my brother. “Joe, talking to anyone since you left the pit?”
“No. You?”
“Yes, Randy Cat. You won’t believe the story that he told me.”
“What, Dutch, what?”
“Darlene saw Leo walking around Big Pond this morning at eleven, and she said he was on this side of Big Pond.”
“You serious?”
“I swear.”
“Holy fuck, Dutch. How did he get to Big Pond this morning?”
“Joe, the big question is where did he stay last night? Somewhere between Bay Bulls and Big Pond?”
“I’d love to know the answer to that.”
“Joe, you and I know that what Merrill is getting on with is bullshit.”
“Yes, Dutch, and not factual. But Dutch, the big question is, why isn’t he telling the full and complete story as to the arrest of Leo?”
“I guess there’s a reason. But what? I guess we’ll know in very short order. Whatever the reason, it will get out. Guaranteed the media is putting this together. Especially after what I told the Telegram reporter about what we saw. Or, should I say, about what we never saw. I’m sure he is talking to other like-minded media people.
“Listen, the second you hear anything, call me. That goes for the next twenty hours. Joe, we have to figure this out. We can’t be after spending the best part of eight days in the pit and not know the full story of how this ended. Who can we call in Goulds for some info?”
“Dutch, the crowd, or the few, in Goulds most likely know less than what we know.”
“We know he didn’t come out of the house. What Merrill is getting on with, I don’t know about it being bullshit, but there are facts missing in what he is saying, and not little facts. Then we have Darlene’s story of seeing Leo walking around Big Pond. And what Kevin said, told to him by his buddy in Goulds. Anyway, Joe, there is a story in the making.”
“Actually, Dutch, a couple of stories.”
“I agree, but with major parts missing. Just think, Joe, they were spraying water into an empty house. Only in Newfoundland! Okay, got to go. Remember, Joe, I’m the first person you call when you hear anything.”
“Yes, I promise, Dutch.”
I called Tina’s father next.
“Hello, Michael—what have you heard?”
“Nothing other than Leo being arrested.”
“Yes, but where?”
“Dutch, I guess they arrested him at his house.”
“No, never happened.”
“What do you mean, never happened?”
“Leo was not brought out of that house.”
“Well, Dutch, you tell me where the fuck he was. He’s been in that house all week. So how the fuck do you think he was not in there when they went in?”
“Michael, me and Joe were staring at the house. They did not bring him out.”
“Dutch, you must have wore out your eyes, having been looking in those binoculars all week.”
“Well, if I did, Joe did, too, Michael. And Joe doesn’t even wear eyeglasses. Michael, listen to me. I have more news since I was talking to you. Sit down and listen. Please don’t interrupt me. I know that will be hard to do. Leo Crockwell was arrested in Goulds.”
“You’re off your fucking head. Now, Dutch Ryan, you’ve lost it if you think that Leo got out of that house with all those cops looking at it non-stop twenty-four hours a day.”
“Well, the report is he was arrested in Goulds. Well, actually, me and Joe know he never came out of that house.”
“Chris, for Jesus’ sake listen to me. And I’m being serious—go home and have a long, long nap, b’y. You poor fellow, you’re losing it. Listen to the radio, they’re saying ‘arrested without incident.’”
“Yes, but they’re not saying anything about where the arrest took place. You tell me why they’re not saying ‘arrested at his home in Bay Bulls.’ I would expect coverage like that, especially on a story of this significance. Wouldn’t you? Don’t you find it fishy that their news bleep is so short after an eight-day standoff? One of the most exciting and interesting news stories in Newfoundland or Labrador in recent history.
“I bet it didn’t happen in Bay Bulls. I tell you what, Michael. If Leo was arrested in Bay Bulls, I will give you my thousand-dollar binoculars. And you know what I think of those glasses. At least then, if you win, you will have a real set of glasses.”
“Listen, I got to go. Phone me back when you’re making some sense, because you’re not making it now. You sure you and Joe weren’t drinking over in the pit?”
“Joe doesn’t drink. And I don’t like to drink alone. So that rules out any booze today. You wait and see, Michael. I bet you I’ll be right. And remember I said that.”
> “All right, b’y.”
I went back to Witless Bay and Tina and I got ready to go to supper in St. John’s.
“Tina, you drive, please. My back is killing me. And besides, I’ll be on the phone trying to put the story together on Leo.”
“So where would you like to eat? I’m thinking Fog City.”
“Your choice, baby. My treat. A little treat for all the clothes you brought me back from New Hampshire and Maine.”
“You paid for them. I only picked them up.”
“That was the hard part.”
“Nothing is hard when you’re shopping using someone else’s credit card.”
“Okay, Fog City it is.”
Half an hour later we arrived at the Avalon Mall in St. John’s and were soon sitting at a table in the restaurant.
“Listen, babe, you scan the menu for a while. You know what I want. The regular, rare steak. I’m going out to use the phone, there above the elevators. If anyone calls you looking for my cellphone number, for God’s sake make sure you give it to them. Could be important. Might be something on Leo. Better reception out there than in here.”
The first person I called was my brother. “Joe, you hear anything?”
“No. But the six o’clock news will be on in a few minutes. I’ll call you back within five minutes. If there is anything to be reported on this, it will be on the NTV six o’clock news.”
“Joe, record it, please.”
“Dutch, didn’t I tell you I don’t know how to use that machine?”
“Yes, you did. Sorry, forgot. Okay, as soon as you hear the details on Leo, call me back.”
“Okay.”
I went back into the restaurant. My meal had arrived. Just as I started wolfing it down, my cell rang. I took it out beside the elevators.
“Hello, Dutch. Bingo—I knew we were right. Arrested in Goulds.”
“They said that?”
“No, it flashed across the screen the second the news started. But they did say it after.”
“Yes. Tell me exactly what it said.”
“‘Leo Crockwell was arrested without incident at his brother’s home on Petty Harbour Road.’”
“Yes!”
“Listen, Dutch, be quiet. It gets better. Dutch, shut up and listen, for God’s sake.”
“How could it get any better?”
“It does.”
“Okay, tell me. Please, please tell me.”
“Arrested by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. RNC.”
“Ha! Put that in your pipe and smoke it, each and every officer in the RCMP. Joe, talk about looking bad. Looks fucking good on them. The RCMP with that house surrounded for seven days and then the Constabulary do the arrest. Without incident. Jesus . . . why was he so dangerous all week? It makes the RCMP look so fucking stupid. And they’re still looking more stupid as the time goes by. And Merrill not telling the whole story, why didn’t he come clean with the public the minute he knew the whereabouts of Leo? And about the arrest. Instead of trying to cover up the fact that the RCMP never got their man. It was the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary who got their man for them. What an ending to the Eight-day Fiasco.
“Joe, this backs up everything that I told ten people today in Bay Bulls, and Tina’s father, since we left the pit. They all said I was cracked, that me and you were blind, that he was taken out of his house. I told them no, no, no. And none of them would believe me, other than Randy Cat. I’ll give him some credit.
“Got to go. I have to phone Tina’s father. He virtually told me I was nuts. Thanks for the update. You hear anything more, call me.”
“Okay.”
I punched in Tina’s father’s cell number.
“Michael, did you watch the NTV news suppertime?”
“No, why? Did I miss something?”
“Are you sitting?”
“No, why?”
“Well, sit down and smoke this in your pipe. Leo Crockwell was arrested at his brother Billy’s house in Goulds. To be more specific, on Petty Harbour Road.”
“No, no, no, Dutch. That is screwed up. They’re not telling the right story.”
“Michael, what is it going to take to get it through your thick head that Leo did not come out of the house in Bay Bulls?”
“I don’t care what they’re reporting. Leo Crockwell never got out of that house. I’ll bet money on it.”
“You’re going to waste your money.”
“Dutch, you need those eyeglasses changed.”
“Anyway, Michael, I have to go. I’m out to supper with your most beautiful daughter.”
“She’ll wake up someday.”
“Love you too, Poppy. Bye.”
“You foolish bastard.”
I went back to Fog City and my meal.
“Tina, I was just talking to your father. He is so thick-headed.”
“Yes, a lot like you. That’s why ye get along so well. Almost like father and son.”
“Tina, Joe just told me that Leo was arrested at his brother Billy’s house on Petty Harbour Road in Goulds. Joe saw it on the NTV news, it flashed across the screen. I called your father the second I got off the phone with Joe and he still won’t believe me.”
I had a couple more bites of steak and then left the restaurant again to make a few more calls.
“Hello, Jeff. Did you see the news? I’m in town, but I was talking to Joe. He filled me in on what he saw on the TV.”
“So, Dutch, you were spot-on.”
“Jeff, I said it to you and ten or so other people around the harbour and they all looked at me like I had two heads. I know what Joe and I saw, or, should I say, did not see. And we did not see Leo come out of that house.”
“So you were right on about Boyd Merrill as well.”
“I said he wasn’t telling the whole story. I wonder how the RCMP are going to backtrack on this?”
“Should be interesting to watch. Talk about having egg on your face. Apparently, Dutch, there’s a news conference planned for Monday morning. Leo will be formally charged tomorrow morning.”
“I wonder if the public can get in for the hearing?”
“Why wouldn’t they, Dutch?”
“Apparently Sunday at the courts is different than weekdays. I don’t even know if the public can get in on any of the weekend sessions. But I guarantee you, Joe and I will be there for all the weekday sessions. We have to get a delegation, a crowd from Bay Bulls in court to show support for Leo. To let him know he’s not alone. Remember, Jeff, Leo caused none of this. It was the RCMP who mishandled all of this from the get-go, the first day. And turned it into the fiasco that it became.”
I decided to call Randy Cat. If anyone had anything to add to this, it would be him.
“Randy, see the news? So, you read the details on Leo that flashed across the screen?”
“Most definitely.”
“Going to be very interesting to see what he’s charged with. No charges in relation to his falling out with Cathy or his mother. They’re hardly going to testify for the Crown against Leo. Not going to happen, I guarantee that. That family is very close, one of the closest families you will find in this community.
“Don’t worry, the cops will come up with a few petty and stupid charges. They’ve got to, to make Leo look like the devil and make themselves look like angels. If there is any such thing as stupid angels.
“Randy, Leo did three things in this incident. One, he had a dispute with his sister, involving a weapon. Two, he walked out into the yard with a weapon. Most likely it was not loaded. And three, he refused to come out of the house. Big deal. Other than that, he did fuck all besides fire a few shots at a robot and maybe fire two shots into the ceiling or floor.
“Randy, I kno
w of a case in a community not far from Bay Bulls where a man walked out in the yard with a rifle. Not loaded, mind you. He got bail, without any money down for bail. Released on a surety. And I know what I’m talking about because I signed the surety. When he had to answer for the charge, he got probation. An almost identical case to Leo’s. So you tell me that there wasn’t something behind why Leo was treated different when the initial call went into White Hills. Someone might try to tell me, but there’s nothing anyone can say that will convince me that Leo Crockwell wasn’t handled and treated different than the average person.
“The RCMP are the ones that locked down half the north side of the harbour. Closed five businesses for eight days. Had our mail sent to Witless Bay for a week. Disrupted many people’s lives. Leo caused none of that. Those issues were caused by the RCMP.
“You wait and see. By the time all this is over, Leo will come out of it smelling like a rose. Didn’t he in 1998? He will again.”
“Okay, Dutch, I have to run.”
“You hear anything, call me. Okay, Cat?”
“Will do, Dutch.”
I went back to Fog City, sat down, and finished my meal.
“Tina, that was an awesome steak. Fog City always has good steaks. And they know how to cook a rare steak. Because most restaurants give you a medium when you ask for rare.”
“Chris, let’s go to a movie.”
“Tina, I can’t.”
“Why?”
“My mind is up the Shore trying to figure out how Leo got out of the house and got to Goulds. If I go to a movie it will be a waste of money. I promise I’ll go to a movie with you some night this week.”
“You promise?”
“I promise.”
“Oh my. All right, let’s go back up the Shore.”
“Thanks, babe.”
We left the mall and went up Kenmount Road, heading for Mount Pearl and the Goulds bypass highway.
“Turn on VOCM, please, Tina. If either radio station is going to have anything on about Leo, it will be VOCM. Let’s go to your father’s. I’m wondering if he’s starting to accept the fact that Leo was not in the house when the cops entered it today.”
“Chris, don’t go arguing with him. You know what he’s like, especially if he has a few drinks in him. And being Saturday night, you know he’s having a few.”