The Art of Murder

by Kevin Hopkins

  ‘No, of course. Right. Sorry. Okay, so we have one flight daily that goes to Labrador. Between you and me, I heard a rumour through the grapevine that that may end up changing. Budget cuts. People are going to have to fly into St. John’s and then take a different carrier to Labrador. I think it’s a bad move, but hey, who am I, right? I’ll just have to deal with the backlash once it’s done.’

  ‘So, are you able to look at the flight manifest for me?’ Penner hinted, trying to get Melony back on track.

  ‘Sure. Name?’

  ‘Could be under Gabe Tootsie or Jeremy Slice.’

  ‘Ooh, there’s two criminals? What did they do?’

  ‘Melony, I really can’t say anything about the case. I just need to know if anyone with either name was on the flight.’

  ‘Right. Sorry. Just seems so exciting. Give me a second here,’ Melony said, typing on her computer. ‘So, yesterday’s flight had seventy-six people plus the crew. No Gabes. No Jeremys.’

  ‘What about today’s flight?’ Millar asked.

  ‘Okay. Let’s see. There was a flight that left two hours ago. Sixty-eight passengers. Um. No one with those names, either.’

  ’Okay. Well, thanks for your time, Melony.’

  ‘My pleasure. Hope you’re able to catch them, whatever they did. Is there anything else I can help you with?’

  ‘No, that’s it for now. Thanks,’ Penner said. She and Millar walked away from the counter, and the man who had been patiently waiting behind them quickly took their place.

  ‘Well. Melony seems fun,’ said Millar.

  ‘No kidding. Let’s try WestJet, the counter’s right there,’ said Penner, pointing to the counter a short distance to their right.

  They waited until they got to the front of the line. This time, things went much more smoothly than with Melony. The man they spoke to behind the counter was quickly able to confirm that no one with either name had been on any of their flights in the last two days.

  ‘Try Porter?’ Millar asked.

  ‘Sounds good.’ They walked past a few counters and got in a rather long line-up. ‘They must have a flight leaving soon.’

  Millar fidgeted as they slowly made their way to the front of the line, listening to people complain about not getting a window seat, or how early they needed to get to the airport before the flight actually boarded.

  ‘Welcome to Porter Airlines,’ a middle-aged man said once they reached the front of the line.

  ‘Hi, Daniel.’ Penner used her nametag trick again. ‘I’m Detective Penner from the Ottawa Police. I want to find out if a person was on one of your flights either yesterday or today from Ottawa to Labrador,’ she explained, passing the warrant to the man.

  ‘I can probably help you with that, Detective. Our flights aren’t actually direct to Labrador. We only fly to St. John’s. From there, someone would have to get a connecting flight on a different carrier. But I’d be more than happy to see if whomever you’re looking for was on a flight to St. John’s.’

  ‘Perfect. They would have flown under either Jeremy Slice or Gabe Tootsie.’

  ‘Alright. Ah, here we go. There was a Jeremy Slice on the ten fifteen flight. He had a connection in Montreal and another in Halifax, then went to St. John’s. From there, he probably would have taken either a Jazz flight or maybe one of the other carriers. If you have a minute, I can get in touch with a representative out in Newfoundland and see if we can figure out which flight he took.’

  ‘That would be excellent. Thanks, Daniel.’

  ‘I’ll try to be quick,’ Daniel said, looking at the line of people behind Millar and Penner. He picked up the phone next to the computer and dialed a number. ‘Hey, John, it’s Daniel in Ottawa. Can you do me a favour and see if a Mr. Jeremy Slice was on one of your planes yesterday out of St. John’s? Yeah, no problem. He’s just checking,’ he said to Penner, covering the mouthpiece. ‘Okay. Okay, perfect. Thanks for that. Cheers. So, I was able to confirm that Mr. Slice did fly on from St. John’s to Happy Valley Goose Bay, Labrador. It’s a small airport, run by the military but small charter planes fly there as well. Just little prop planes with, like, fifteen people.’

  ‘That’s awesome,’ said Penner. ‘Thanks so much for checking that for me.’

  ‘No problem. Anything else?’

  ‘No, that’s great. Thanks,’ Penner said. ‘Sorry for the hold-up,’ she said to the line of people behind her.

  ‘So, he did fly out east. I’m kind of surprised, to be honest,’ Millar said as they walked away from the counter.

  ‘I’m surprised, too. But, maybe he doesn’t know that we’re on to him? Maybe he’s just keeping with this cover story and is actually going back to his studio to paint. Either way, I’m glad we were able to track him down,’ Penner said. ‘Any idea how big Labrador is?’ she asked. She’d really never given it much thought.

  ‘No clue.’

  ‘Me, neither. How are we going to narrow down where he lives out there?’ Penner asked.

  ‘Wonder if it came up in one of the interviews he did with Arden.’

  ‘You’re going to make me watch one of his interviews?’ said Penner.

  ‘Nope,’ said Millar. And then he smiled. ‘Going to make you watch two of them.’ He paused to pull out his phone. ‘Guess I can let Grant know we don’t need him to check the bus and train stations.’

  ‘Grant.’

  ‘It’s Millar. We found out that Jeremy took a plane out yesterday. You can stop looking and just go back to the precinct.’

  ‘Sounds good, I should be there in half an hour or so.’

  ‘Perfect. We’ll be back around the same time. There’s one thing we need to do, but we’ll meet you at the Captain’s office in an hour.’ Millar hung up his phone.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

  ‘How on earth does that guy still have a job?’ Penner asked Millar in disbelief. They had just finished watching Arden’s interviews with Gabe and were walking to the Captain’s office. ‘That face he pulls during interviews is the worst. And some of those questions he asked.’

  ‘Tell me about it,’ Millar said. ‘Well, at least we found out where Jeremy-slash-Gabe is supposed to live.’

  The Captain’s door was shut. Penner knocked and looked through the small window next to the door. Empty.

  ‘Should we grab a coffee and wait?’ Millar asked.

  ‘Might as well,’ said Penner. ‘I assume he’ll be back soon.’

  They headed to the kitchen. The smell of fresh brewed coffee filled the small space. Millar grabbed two mugs and poured each of them a cup. They sat at one of the tables and killed some time with small talk.

  After what they considered a decent amount of time, they walked back to the Captain’s office. This time, the door was open, and the Captain was sitting at his desk with Grant and Kulcheski sitting across from him.

  ‘Are you thinking of joining the best force in the city?’ Millar asked Kulcheski as they walked into the office.

  ‘Already a member,’ said Kulcheski.

  Grant got out of his chair and offered it to Penner. ‘I’ll stand, thanks,’ Penner said.

  ‘I’m not proud,’ Millar said, sitting down.

  ‘Alright. So, what did you guys find out,’ the Captain asked.

  ‘Well, sir. Yesterday morning at ten fifteen, Gabe boarded a flight to St. John’s under his real name, Jeremy Slice. From there, he got onto a small plane and flew into Happy Valley Goose Bay. So, he did tell Beverly the truth when he said he was flying back to Labrador,’ Penner said. ‘I’m surprised. I really didn’t think he’d be flying there. He’s going all out pretending to be Gabe.’

  ‘If you’re going to try and scam people, it’s better if you do it full throttle,’ the Captain said.

  ‘True,’ Penner said. ‘And we still don’t know if he knows the gig is up. It’s possible he really did go back to do more paintings. Or, maybe he’s gotten nervous that his lies were being found out and he’s making a run for it. Maybe he w
ent back home to grab some stuff and he’s going to take off.’

  ‘That’s a real possibility,’ the Captain said. ‘Thoughts?’

  ‘It would be good if we could go there and question him before he got a chance to bolt,’ Millar said.

  ‘True, but we don’t have any jurisdiction outside of Ottawa,’ said Penner. ‘Even if we went and questioned him, we couldn’t really do anything.’

  ‘We couldn’t,’ the Captain said. ‘But you could,’ he added, looking at Kulcheski.

  ‘Me, sir?’

  ‘RCMP are the police force in Labrador, aren’t they?’ the Captain said. ‘I know there’s the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary out there, but they don’t serve all of Labrador, I don’t think.’

  ‘No, sir, they don’t,’ Kulcheski said. ‘We have a detachment in Happy Valley Goose Bay. I had to go there last year for some training. Freezing cold place.’

  ‘According to the interview that Gabe, or Jeremy, did with Arden, he lives around a place called North West River, but has a studio in Happy Valley,’ Penner said.

  The Captain looked at his watch. ‘Alright. I want to set up a meeting, here, in an hour. Kulcheski, can you get in touch with your supervisor, see if he can attend. If not, he can phone in. I’m going to get this Inspector Wilson in as well, and his supervisor. I want the four of you there, too. Large meeting room on the third floor.’

  Millar looked at Penner. ‘Sir?’

  ‘Someone needs to go talk to Jeremy, and I want it to be us.’

  ***

  An hour later and the meeting room was abuzz with conversation. The long conference table seemed to have an invisible border down its centre. Ottawa police on one side—RCMP on the other.

  Kulcheski sat to the left of her supervisor, Monk. On his right was Superintendent Marsha Kane, Inspector Wilson’s superior. Wilson was pacing behind them.

  The Captain walked in and sat next to Millar.

  ‘Thank you all for coming on such short notice,’ the Captain said. ‘I trust you’ve all made the necessary introductions, so we’ll bypass that.’

  ‘Can you tell me what we’re doing here?’ Wilson said, still standing.

  The Captain stared at him. ‘Please have a seat, Inspector, and I’ll get to that in a moment.’

  ‘I’ll stand, thanks,’ Wilson said, arms crossed.

  ‘My meeting, my rules. Please sit, or you can wait outside.’

  ‘You can’t talk to me like that,’ Wilson said.

  ‘Sit down, Inspector,’ the Captain raised his voice.

  Superintendent Kane glared at Wilson. He sat down hard in his chair.

  ‘I’d appreciate if you can all just hear me out—keep any questions or comments until I’ve finished.’ The Captain looked at Wilson as he spoke. ‘There will be time at the end. As you know, we’ve been looking into the death of Mark Williams. According to the coroner’s report, it seems that he may have died from an overdose of insulin, which is rather suspicious.’

  ‘Why wasn’t I informed of this?’ Wilson interrupted. ‘I told that doctor that she was to let me know as soon as she had any information.’

  ‘Please, keep your comments to yourself and let me talk,’ the Captain said. ‘We are also aware that Inspector Wilson has been doing some investigation into some form of fraud related to Mark. Since he wasn’t willing to cooperate with anyone, it took us a while to figure out what he was doing. Thanks to my team and the help of Corporal Kulcheski, we believe we found what he was working on.’

  ‘I told you to stay out of this, Constable,’ Wilson said.

  ‘It’s Corporal, sir,’ Kulcheski replied evenly.

  ‘Alright, that’s enough. One more word out of you and you will be escorted out of this building. Do you understand?’ the Captain said to Wilson.

  ‘I apologize, Captain,’ Superintendent Kane said. ‘I can assure you, you will have our full cooperation on this and any other case. Isn’t that right, Inspector.’

  ‘But,’ Wilson started, but saw the look in Superintendent Kane’s eyes. ‘Yes, ma’am,’ he said, his shoulders sinking in defeat.

  ‘Good. So, there’s an artist who was in town—goes by the name of Gabe Tootsie. He was portraying himself as the grandson of one Dante Tootsie, a rather famous artist in his own right,’ the Captain said. ‘He was invited to town by Beverly Williams, Mark’s wife, to be a special guest at an art gala held at the Museum of History. It was the same night that Mark disappeared and was found dead. This man, Gabe, turned out to be an imposter. His real name is Jeremy Slice,’ he said, turning to address Wilson. ‘We assume that you were investigating Mr. Slice, but we’re not certain.’

  ‘I had received a call from Mark last week, saying he needed to talk to me about some possible fraud, but he didn’t tell me exactly what was going on,’ Wilson finally admitted. ‘I was supposed to meet him on Monday afternoon at a restaurant on Somerset, but he never showed up. I sat around and waited for over an hour before I left. I’ve been digging around ever since, trying to find out what he was concerned with. I assumed it had to do with his political dealings. I actually had no idea about this Slice guy.’

  ‘And that’s why you need to be more of a team player,’ Superintendent Kane said frostily. ‘We’ll talk about this back at HQ.’

  ‘So, that may have answered one of our questions. We couldn’t figure out how he ended up in the river, but if he was heading to see you after his presentation at the school—Somerset runs parallel to the river. If he was confused and disoriented, he might have ended up off course. Easy to do if you’re not paying attention and it’s snowing hard,’ Millar said.

  ‘Easy for you, at least,’ Penner said to Millar in a whisper. Millar rolled his eyes. His lack of directional awareness was legendary.

  ‘We’re not sure if Mr. Slice is involved in Mark’s death or not, but we need to talk to him. We’re assuming that he realized that Mark was onto him, knew he was an imposter, and that he decided to kill Mark to keep his secret safe. But, so far it’s just an assumption.’

  ‘Excuse me, sir, but I don’t understand why you called us all here,’ Superintendent Kane said. ‘Why don’t you just go question him?’

  ‘Well, ma’am, he’s no longer in Ottawa,’ the Captain explained. ‘He flew out of town yesterday and is currently in Labrador, around Happy Valley Goose Bay. We’re not sure how long he’s going to be there. If he knows we’re looking at him, he may run. If not, he may think he’s safe there.’

  ‘We have a detachment there. We can send someone to find him and question him,’ Superintendent Kane said.

  ‘And we’re hoping for your cooperation,’ the Captain said. ‘What I was also hoping is to send one of my people there to do the questioning, along with one of your officers. Mark was a friend and I owe it to his wife, Beverly, to find out what happened.’

  ‘I can go,’ Wilson said quickly.

  ‘Frankly, I don’t think any of my people would be very willing to travel and work with you. You haven’t proven to be the easiest to get along with up to now,’ the Captain said. ‘I was thinking of Corporal Kulcheski.’

  ‘Me?’ Kulcheski said with surprise.

  ‘You’ve been helping with the case since day one and have been more than forthcoming with information,’ the Captain said, glancing over at Wilson. ‘My team feels comfortable working with you, so I think it would be a good fit. I don’t expect it would be a long assignment. Two days travelling and a day to find and question Slice.’

  ‘I have no problem with her going,’ Monk said. ‘But we’ll have to see about budget. I’m not sure who I need to get approval from for travel expenses.’

  ‘I can take care of that,’ Superintendent Kane said. She sat, thinking. ‘Alright, we can make this work. When were you thinking?’

  ‘As soon as possible,’ said the Captain. ‘Like I said, if he thinks we’re looking at him, he may run. We have to get there quickly.’

  ‘Sir. From talking with the airlines today, it seems like
there’s only one flight a day out of Ottawa to Labrador,’ Penner said.

  ‘So, we need to book flights now,’ the Captain said. ‘I’d like them on a plane tomorrow, if we can.’

  Superintendent Kane nodded her head. ‘Book the flights and send me the bill for Kulcheski.’

  ‘Thank you, ma’am,’ said the Captain.

  ‘Which one of us is going, sir?’ Millar asked.

  ‘I was thinking Penner—that way the two of you can share a hotel room,’ the Captain said, looking at Penner and Kulcheski.

  ‘That’s fine, sir,’ Penner said. She stole a glance at Grant and could tell that he’d been hoping the Captain was going to choose him. But he’d understand.

  ‘Alright. If no one has any questions, that’s all I have,’ the Captain said. ‘Again, thanks for coming on such short notice.’

  ‘Thank you, Captain,’ Superintendent Kane said, standing up and shaking his hand. ‘Any time you need our help, we’re here. We’re all doing the same job,’ she said, looking at Wilson. He just stared at the top of the conference table.

  ‘Likewise,’ the Captain said. ‘Penner, Kulcheski, go get packed. Millar, see if you can book them flights. Grant, try and get them into a hotel, probably for two nights, but it will depend on when Millar can get them return flights. Sergeant Major Monk, perhaps you can get in touch with someone at the detachment out there, let them know what’s going on just so there are no surprises. I don’t want to step on anyone’s toes.’

  ‘Will do, sir,’ Monk said.

  ‘Good. Keep me and Superintendent Kane in the loop. I want to know flight times, hotel info and, most importantly, when we make contact with Mr. Slice,’ the Captain said. ‘Thanks everyone.’

  CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

  The next afternoon, Penner met Kulcheski at the airport. Millar had been able to book them on a flight with Air Canada, leaving Ottawa at two-forty. He had tried to get them on an earlier flight with a different airline but had no luck on such short notice. The tickets weren’t cheap, but the Captain and Superintendent Kane approved the purchase.