Diamond Run

by Michael Croucher

  In the meantime, I asked her to let Danielle Garvey and another female officer be her police guards inside the house. I said I would stay as well, when off shift. I would arrange for our crews to sit on or very near the property twenty-four seven, and ask Hamilton PD to provide two-man patrol cars to be on site, and rotate regularly to keep the crews fresh.

  Sue was okay with the suggestions. I took her upstairs. She dropped onto her bed in her clothes and was asleep within minutes.

  Short of us capturing or killing Marco, there was only one way he would give up the hunt: if he knew she’d talked to the police about the location of the keys and the deposit box information, and that we’d recovered the contents. The press release had to make him think that there was nothing left in Nathan’s boxes. We needed that information out there, on the radio, on television, and in the newspapers. The Hamilton PD might not go along with the press release, they saw the house and the boxes as a lure, a trap for Marco. They would prefer Sue to leave for a week or two.

  I went downstairs, looking for Roy Jacobs and Ernie. Step one was to sell them on what I had in mind for the release. Hopefully Roy could get the brass at Hamilton to buy in.

  As soon as I stepped out of the house, I found Ernie and Jacobs together. They were standing by a small gate at the rear of Sue’s property. I walked over to them. They were about ten yards from the charred wheelbarrow. A guy from the Hamilton Identification Unit had just finished taking pictures of the wheelbarrow and bagging some evidence. He was snapping shut the metal clasps on his kit as I arrived. He nodded at us and headed back towards the house.

  Jacobs was leaning against the gate.

  “How’s she doing, Phil?”

  “Out cold,” I said. “Sleeping like a baby.”

  The breeze off the lake picked up, it was getting cool. Ernie zipped up his jacket. “Are you moving her to a secure location?”

  “She won’t hear of it. That’s what I needed to talk about to you guys.” I looked at Jacobs. “Roy, I need to tighten this place right up while she’s here, and get some information out there that will get Marco’s ass moving elsewhere.”

  “I don’t think there’ll be much resistance to more manpower at this stage, Phil. But what kind of message do you want to put out? Our brass thinks we’ve got a better chance of catching him if he sticks around.”

  I filled him in on the manpower requests for securing the house first.

  “Consider that done,” Jacobs said. “What about this information?”

  “Roy, how are your media connections in Hamilton?”

  “I have a few I could call on. It depends on what you’ve got in mind.”

  I explained to Jacobs and to Ernie about the index card, the Allen key, the hidden compartments, and their connections to the safety deposit boxes. Also, that these were the items that brought Marco to Hamilton in the first place.

  Ernie bought in quickly. “You want to throw him off the scent, Phil.”

  I figured Roy was mulling it over, but wanted to hear more. I kept talking.

  “Sue said we could go ahead and find the compartments in the stairs. I just did that. Danielle Garvey was with me. The safety deposit box keys were all there.

  “Here’s the thing. I think at this point, it could work to our advantage if we leaked out that large stashes of stolen diamonds have been recovered from various Hamilton banks. That’s not quite true yet, but we have the keys. We just need some time to get the search warrants together. Marco doesn’t know any of that. When the news comes out, he’ll want to get his ass out of town.”

  Roy’s face showed his concern.

  “Well, that might solve the security risk, but it would remove the bait that would keep Marco within our reach. If we lose him, or if it turns out there’s nothing in those boxes, shit will drop on our heads from some pretty high places. The body count around this thing already has the brass freaking out. They want certainty, and they want some files closed. Plus, our department wants Hamilton PD people involved when this gets wrapped up. That’s why they pushed for Danielle and me to work with your unit.”

  Ernie crushed out a butt on the path by the gate. “It’ll work well, Roy, you and Garvey head up the local stuff. Phil and I will have our hands full with the Toronto cases.

  “I agree with Phil. A well-timed press release would work in our favor. We’ve got a decent chance of flushing him out with a bit of news. We might even scoop him up before he gets out of the Hammer.”

  “That’s why I want to keep Marco guessing for just a bit longer” I said. “If we have this place crawling with cops for twenty-four hours, he might come close, but not in...He’d stay close, sizing things up, waiting for an opportunity. That would suit us just fine. Once the press release goes out. We’d have a rough fix on his starting point.”

  Roy still had his poker face on. “How would we set things up, Phil?”

  “If we time the press release just right, we can have every train station, bus depot, and airport for miles around on high alert, and we’ll set up roadblocks around this area. As long as the brass from Hamilton and all the other departments shell out manpower, we’d have a good chance of nailing him when he bolts.

  “Roy, if you could arrange a release to hit tomorrow’s morning papers, we’d have time to set everything up. The local radio and television stations would carry it right away. As soon as he gets wind of our raids on the boxes, he’ll be looking to get out of here.”

  I could see Roy warming to the idea. “That makes sense, Phil,” he said. “But we’re really putting our butts on the line. It’s risky. I’m not sure I can pull this press release off....But, screw it. I’ll take a run at it.”

  Roy stepped away from the gate. “We can’t sit on our asses till it’s done, we need to set some other things in motion.

  “Right, let us know when Jasper’s paper work is done. Ernie and I will take a crack at him and feel him out. There are lots of locals who should be interviewed, but we can hold back on them. Let’s focus all our resources around Sue’s house until the news release. Until he thinks we’ve got the goods, Marco’s staying in spitting distance.”

  Chapter 42

  Jasper Bain was not being held in Hamilton. In order to reduce Marco’s ability to have someone get at him, arrangements had been made to keep him in isolation at the Metro West Detention Centre in Toronto. We got to the centre not long after he did. I doubt if he’d even been to his cell yet.

  A guard led the way. Jasper was shackled at the ankles and wrists, sitting at a steel table in an interview room near the isolation unit. His leg and wrist bracelets were linked to a floor-ring.

  Ernie carried three coffees in a bag. The guard unhooked Jasper’s handcuffs from the chain to give him enough range of motion to handle a coffee, and then left the room. The barred door closed with a solid clank.

  Ernie placed a coffee on the table. “Is black all right, kid?”

  “Does it come with my lawyer?”

  We ignored the question and doctored our own coffees. Eventually Bain pulled the lid off his Styrofoam cup. I sat on a steel bench on the other side of the table, directly in front of him.

  “If you want your lawyer to come over here to see you,” I said. “That’s no problem, we can put in a call. He said he was going back to his office after your remand. But you should hear us out first.

  “You see, Jasper, we’d rather not lay any more charges, because you’ve already had the book thrown at you. You’re facing some heavy shit.

  “Mind you, we’ll know more about this after the toxicology reports come in, but it sure looks to us that Lemon took a hot fix. We think that’s what killed him, so does the coroner. We wouldn’t have to connect many dots to pin that on you, especially after my partner found another works and its residue in that washroom. We could get that stuff checked fast. But what’s the point? When push comes to shove, we figure that if left as it is, his death could be attributed to a self-inflicted overdose. We’ve already got enough to
weigh you down for a lot of years, so why bother adding another ten or fifteen?”

  Jasper leaned back against the wall, trying to look relaxed. His lip quivered just enough to be noticed.

  Ernie lit up two smokes. He offered one to Jasper. “You could really lighten your load, son; avoid the heaviest charge of all... Murder. And it’s a murder that would be all on you, can’t be written off to Marco. Help us to fill in some gaps on that creep, and we’ll get busy chasing him down. We don’t need the extra charge on you, or the paper work. But if you don’t help us out, what options do we have? If we don’t get Marco, the Crown will want everything we find piled on you. Especially another damned homicide.”

  “You mean you want me to turn him in. Well I’m no snitch. I don’t rat on my friends.”

  Ernie sat on the edge of the steel table and looked down at him. “Let’s get something straight, Jasper. We’re not a couple of kids here. We’ve been around a long bloody time, and we know more about this asshole Marco than you ever will. And, we sure as shit know that you couldn’t turn him over if you wanted to. That’s because you have no idea where he might be now, or where he’s going. So, quit playing Cool Hand Luke. Just damn well listen, all right?”

  Jasper stared at the table top and took a long drag on his cigarette.

  Ernie continued. “Do you know why you’re in isolation?”

  A plume of smoke drifted away from Jasper’s mouth. “Not a clue.”

  “If both of you had left Lemon’s place together, or met up after, Marco’d still be going strong and we’d find you tits-up in a field someplace. That’s how he works. When he’s finished using someone and thinks they know things that are a risk to him, he snuffs them. If he has connections among the population of this place, or any other institution you end up in, he could have someone get to you. So, we put you in isolation to cover your ass for a while.”

  Ernie moved away from the table. I leaned forward and Jasper’s eyes shifted to me. “We found everything you were looking for at that house,” I said. “Marco won’t be getting his hands on those safety deposit box keys, or the list that goes with them. Pretty soon, he’ll hear all about it on the news, or see it in a paper.

  “The only thing he’ll be worrying about then is getting his ass as far away from Hamilton as he can, and doing it in a hurry. He’ll forget all about you. But he may have made a few calls by now. We don’t take chances. We moved fast to get you segregated.

  “Instead of helping Marco, you should be thinking about when your feet will ever hit the streets again.”

  He ignored me. I gave him a tap on the upper arm with my knuckles. “Well, am I right?”

  “Whatever, man. What’s your point?”

  “That’s easy—-we want Marco, so do a lot of other jurisdictions. All we need you to do is help us figure out the places he went to and some of the things he did over the last few days. We could learn things that might point us in the right direction. Help us out, and we’ll make sure the Crown Attorney hears about your cooperation. Everyone wants Marco so bad, you could get a softer landing on sentencing.”

  “Yeah, right. Will you put that shit in writing, in front of my lawyer?”

  “Not a chance, Jasper. Not yet. Right now, it’s just you and us. You help us out, then we’ll start pulling strings.”

  “I’ve done this dance before,” he said. “Bullshit promises don’t cut it.”

  I leaned in, smelled his stale sweat and sour breath. “I’ll guarantee you this, if you help us, we’ll submit a report to the Crown about your help and recommend consideration on sentencing. That could save you quite a few years.”

  Jasper’s expression didn’t change. He downed what was left of his coffee, and then started working the Styrofoam edges of the cup, making dents on the rim with his dirty fingernails.

  “Here’s another promise, Jasper,” I said. “Listen closely... If you don’t help us out, we’ll give Lemon’s overdose a real close look. So, let me tell you where you stand on that. We’re cynical bastards. We know you helped his death along.

  “The crime lab has the syringe that killed Lemon. And my partner found that second syringe on the bathroom floor. It had traces of juice in it. A few simple tests will show the strength of both doses, and whether or not that other needle was ever used. If the traces in both syringes are the same strength, we would have found another body, right? But we didn’t. We only found Lemon. That second syringe was never used, Jasper. We know that, and you know that.”

  Ernie looked at his watch. “Well, there it is, son. The kind of evidence we have could pump a lot of life into a homicide file, and it would have your damned name all over it.

  “We’re leaving here in a few minutes. You can give us your answer now, or when we get back. Give us a hand, or we’ll find a way to keep you locked up for the rest of your bloody life.”

  We sat and waited, kept our mouths shut. If any more words were to be spoken in that interview, they would be spoken by Jasper Bain.

  Two minutes passed in silence. We signalled the guard and left. Jasper needed time to think, and we couldn’t do much until the morning papers hit.

  Chapter 43

  We returned the next morning and interviewed Jasper in the same room. This time, we didn’t ask the guard to free his wrist cuffs from the anchor chain, and we didn’t bring coffees, just the early edition of the Hamilton Spectator. When the guard left, Ernie dropped the newspaper on the steel table and opened it at the appropriate page. He pointed to an article that covered about one-sixteenth of the page.

  Safety Deposit Boxes in Hamilton Banks Contain Fortune in Stolen Diamonds.

  Because certain details were evidentiary, putting them on public record could weaken the impact of any statement made by an accused. That included Jasper. Anything he said would be important to his, or Marco’s prosecution. Roy Jacobs had been advised by the Crown Law Office to give no details on the release about the hunt for the keys, where they were found, or what banks were involved.

  The press release couldn’t mention that the boxes had been searched, because although search warrants had been applied for, it would take several hours to get them approved. The release had to be vague. It was a skinny authorization, given reluctantly, a concession to the importance of arresting Marco Ranez quickly. I was surprised and pleased that Roy had been allowed that much. We were really pushing the envelope; creating future opportunities for sharp defence lawyers to challenge any statements, verbal or otherwise, from Jasper or Marco.

  I had a chuckle over the idea of Marco ever talking. He wouldn’t give a statement or make a useful utterance under any circumstances. I understood The Crown’s position though, he had Jasper’s cases to prosecute, with or without Marco. We hoped the headline alone would do the trick, it was as suggestive as Roy could get it. He’d fluffed up the actual release as much as he could. The newspaper guy must have owed him big-time because the article went out pretty much as presented, the radio and TV broadcasts weren’t much beyond the headline and the promise of an update via a news conference. Enough, I hoped, to get Marco moving. The newspaper was our prop for another go at Jasper.

  Jasper glanced at the headline, but paid little attention to the article. He sat back and looked at Ernie. “Can I bum a smoke?”

  Ernie tapped one out of his pack, placed it between Jasper’s fingers, and helped him to light it.

  “You know what this means, Jasper? It means Marco knows that he has no hope of recovering those stones, and there’s no sense in him hanging around. We’ve got to get on his ass. That offer we made still stands, but if you haven’t bought it by the time we leave here, it’s off the table. Your choices are: help us, and get some considerations on sentencing, or keep your mouth shut and we’ll add a homicide rap for Lemon. It’s now or never. Make your choice.”

  Jasper raised his cuffed hands and took two drags on his smoke before mumbling his response. “What do I have to do?”

  I moved over to the same place on the be
nch where I’d in earlier. “We need you to retrace every thing you saw or did with Marco. Tell us about every place you took him, and every conversation you or anyone else had with him. Everything...from the day you two hooked up.”

  Jasper nodded. Ash dropped from the cigarette that was now clenched between his teeth. Specks of it trailed down his shirt.

  “The more you help us to get this asshole off the street, the more we’ll help you.” I said. “Is that fair enough?

  He took the smoke out of his mouth, moistened his lips with his tongue, and let out another stream of smoke.

  His response was barely audible, but I heard it. “Fair enough.”

  We got out our pads of foolscap and got to work.

  Later, on the way to the car, I looked over at Ernie. “That went well, but things will get tougher from here. I know the press release could be enough to get Marco going, and that all the traps have been set. But something’s bugging me. I’m not quite sure if this is the right approach to nailing him. What about you... do you think our little scheme could work?”

  “Not exactly to plan, Phil. These things never do. We need to chase all this information from Lemon down, and hope we come up with something solid. There’s no other choice.

  “Marco’s not the panicky type. He’ll figure out what we’d expect him to do, then find ways to fuck us up. There’s only one thing we can count on with him: he’ll throw us some kind of a nasty curve... I think we should be ready for a dog fight.”

  Chapter 44

  Sue didn’t sleep well the night after her rescue. She’d napped three hours straight after the police interview and her talk with Phil. But at bedtime she’d stayed wide awake and restless, all thanks to recurring visions of Marco, his wandering hands, and her nightmarish confinement.