“It looks like it’s on here as well.” He hit play again.
“The teenage boy is on the phone,” said Linda. “And the guys at booth five are laughing. Look there; the woman in booth five has her phone out. She’s taking pictures.”
Alex made a note. By 10:43:40, the teenage boy was off the phone and the woman and two men at booth five were busy eating. The man in the aisle seat in the fourth booth looked down at the phone on the table and picked it up.
Alex hit pause. “If it’s on, for some reason he wants to have a closer look.” He hit play and they both leaned in closer to the screen. The guy holding the phone turned away from the man on the inside and craned his neck to look out the window. He turned back to his companion and there was a brief discussion between the two. He appeared to be showing him his phone. The man sitting on the aisle appeared to reach into a briefcase or bag on the seat to his right. He turned back to the man on the aisle, then all three men turned towards the window.
“Here comes Ann,” said McLelland. At 10:45:23, she was abreast of booth four when her body jerked, obviously startled. She looked to her right, then back at her tray. She turned around and headed back towards the camera.
“That would be when I found the bomb and made a run for it.” Alex rewound until just before Ann entered the picture. He waited until the man sitting on the inside of the booth turned toward the window, then paused the video.
“I think the guy on the inside is Kirigin,” said Alex.
“If it is, he dyed his hair,” said Linda. “Or he’s wearing a wig.”
“Neither would be surprising. He’d be aware that there’s a warrant out on him, worldwide.”
Alex hit play again. Almost half an hour passed. The guy sitting across from the man Alex identified as Kirigin, pulled out what could have been a map and spread it out on his side of the table. They all leaned in. At 11:25:20, he folded his map and the man on the aisle signalled to Ann. When she got to their booth, they placed an order. She returned a few minutes later with water glasses and cutlery. When the meal hadn’t arrived by 11:40:00, the man on the inside turned toward the camera, obviously looking for Ann, a full-face view.
Alex hit pause. “Kirigin. Knew it! I’ve got you, you bastard,” he muttered, noting the time. Shortly after, Ann delivered their lunch. They ate quickly and were gone just after 12:00 noon. Kirigin put his hat on as he was leaving the booth. The angle of the hat partially hid his face.
Alex ejected the CD and handed it to Linda, then popped in the parking lot footage.
“How long will it take to get stills?”
“Not long. Jamie’s in today. She’ll print those for you.”
“Is Ann working at the restaurant today?”
“I think so,” said Linda.
“Could you ask her to drop by the office after her shift. I want her to have a look at the people sitting at booth five. I’m especially interested to know if she can identify the woman. If we can, we can get a copy of the photos she took. She may have caught the man sitting across from her, the guy on the inside with his back to the camera.”
Linda left the room and Alex started viewing the parking lot footage. He clicked on it at approximately 12:00 noon and hit play, watching the main door. Several minutes later, the three men emerged. Two of them were in dress shoes, no overcoats. The one wearing boots made his way quickly to a late model, dark green GMC SUV parked in the back row. He unlocked the car as he approached it, got in, started it up and pulled around to the restaurant entrance. Alex hit pause to get the plate number, but it was covered with snow.
“Damn,” he muttered. He hit play and watched as the two men at the curb quickly piled in on the passenger side. The driver took the parking lot exit onto Cariboo Highway and turned right.
Linda knocked and entered, photos in hand. She walked over and handed them to Alex.
“They’re surprisingly good. Jamie’s making copies?”
“They’ll be ready in a few minutes. And I reached Ann. She’s coming here when she finishes her shift, about two thirty pm.
“Good. I need the CCTV footage for the intersection at Cariboo and First Avenue the same day. Could you copy it to a flash drive and bring it here? I don’t want to risk using the online equipment.”
“Give me a few minutes,” said Linda. She left the room.
Alex checked for messages. There was nothing from wikem. He went to the staff room to get a coffee and brought it back to his desk. Linda arrived back with the flash drive. Alex popped it in, queued the footage to 12:14 pm and hit play.
“There they are,” said Alex, “heading north.” They watched as the vehicle signalled and moved into the right-hand lane.”
“They’re turning onto First Street,” said Alex. “They’re heading for my place.” They watched the SUV turn the corner and head east. His hand curled into a tight fist.
“Do you know who was on roadblock duty closest to my house?”
“No,” said Linda.”
Alex called Kennedy and asked him.
“I called Thomas and Wyatt in from patrol,” he said. “They were set up at First Street and Pine.”
“I’d like to talk to them. Are they on today?”
“Yes. I’ll call them in. Did you get anything from the footage?”
“Some stills that I’m pretty sure are Kirigin and his partner and another unknown male.”
“I have to take a meeting off site,” said Kennedy. “You’ll be joining us?”
“I’ll bring copies with me when I come.”
The loudspeaker blared, calling Alex to reception. Ann had arrived.
“I’ll get her,” said Linda, and left the office. She met Ann at reception and escorted her back to Alex’s office.
“Thank you for coming in,” said Alex. “I appreciate it.”
“Anything I can do to help, Sergeant,” said Ann.
Alex came around to the front of his desk and took one of the chairs, then reached for his coffee and gulped some down.
“Come around the desk Ann, and have a seat here,” said Linda.
Ann joined her behind the desk and took off her coat.
Linda said, “We want you to look at some of the restaurant footage the day they found the bomb.” She hit play and both women leaned in.
“We’re interested in the men sitting in booth four as you’re walking away from the cash register. We noticed that the three people sitting one booth past them were celebrating something. Watch; right there. The woman facing us is taking a picture of the man on the other side of her booth with his back to us.”
“I think that’s her dad. It was his birthday,” said Ann. “I don’t know her name, but she works at my bank—the Bank of Montreal.”
“At the corner of Fourth Street and Birch Avenue?”
“That’s right. We can go there right now if you like. They’re open till five today. If she’s working, I can point her out to you.”
“Let’s do that,” said Alex. “If you could give me just a few minutes, Ann. There’s someone I need to speak with before we go.”
“No problem.”
Linda rose from her chair. “Come on, Ann. You can wait for Alex at the entrance.”
The two officers who were working the roadblock at the end of Alex’s street arrived soon after and came through to Alex’s office. He sat them down and showed them the photos.
“I remember that guy,” said Dale Thomas.
“He was driving?” asked Alex.
“Yeah, a late model GMC, I think,” said Thomas, turning to Wyatt.
“A Yukon,” said Wyatt. “My brother-in-law drives one.”
“Can either of you identify the driver?”
“No,” said Wyatt. “He was chauffeuring the other two though. Had to be. They were both sitting in the back.”
Alex asked them to take a seat and view some footage from that day. He had cued the parking lot footage to just after the thre
e men exited the restaurant.
“That’s definitely the driver,” said Wyatt. “He seems familiar, but I’m not sure why.”
“And his passengers,” said Alex. “Can either of you remember your conversation with them.”
Thomas thought about it. “Other than the usual concern over an officer being targeted. But everyone asked that.”
“What did you say?”
“What we said to everybody. That no one had been hurt.”
“What time did you arrive to set up the roadblock?”
“Close to half an hour after we were called,” said Wyatt. “Kennedy pulled us in just after we finished a call. We were out on Horse Lake Road.”
“Can either of you remember anything about the two in the back seat?”
“It’s hard to forget guys that dress like that,” said Thomas. “They were dripping money. Said they had friends on the street. Wanted to know if Sergeant Desocarras was okay.”
“They were from out of town for sure. I remember the one guy had an odd accent. US—east coast maybe. He wasn’t local,” said Wyatt.
“Thanks for coming in,” said Alex. “Call me if you remember anything.”
“Will do, Alex.”
Linda poked her head in, just as the two men were leaving.
“Anything else you need me to do?”
“Put together a list of anyone in the area who drives a dark green GMC Yukon hybrid SUV.”
After she left, Alex put out a call to Marchand and Goodwin, who were patrolling the downtown core. Ten minutes later they picked Alex up, and Marchand followed Ann’s car to the Bank of Montreal. It was getting close to the end of the day when they arrived. Goodwin accompanied Alex and Ann into the bank. She identified the woman they were looking for. Lettering on one of the glass partitions read: Clare Walsh Loans Officer. She was meeting with a customer.
“Okay, Ann. I think we’re good. Thanks for your time. We’ll let you know if we have any further questions.”
“Happy to help out, Sergeant,” she said, then promptly left the bank.
“I’ll let them know we want to speak with Clare Walsh,” said Goodwin. He approached the reception desk and spoke quietly with a man at the counter before returning to Alex.
“Reception will let her know we’re here. There’s an empty office we can wait in,” said Goodwin.
They made their way to the last cubicle and sat down. Alex took the chair facing the street and pulled out his burner. There was a message from his dad.
Hi Alex. Thanks for getting in touch. Your mother and I were so relieved to hear you and Gwen are okay. How come you’re back to work so soon? Never mind. I know that’s a dumb question. You know it’s not too late to become a scholar. The only thing you’d have to watch out for is paper cuts. As for your question: wikem means to look, in order to see. But a deeper kind of seeing, I think. It can also mean simply to see. We love you. Please be careful.
Alex fired off a thank you to his dad, then texted Linda:
Did you get digital copies of the pics from the restaurant?
She replied quickly and sent the pictures as attachments.
Alex pulled up the Tor browser and navigated to protonmail. There was nothing new for him. He copied and pasted the picture of Kirigin and the unidentified guy beside him who Alex suspected was Eric Severall, exited the program and shut down Tor. His phone dinged before he had a chance to close it. It was a message from Linda with a picture attachment.
I found our guy. Dark green GMC Yukon leased by Winston Creek Mines. Their manager Brian Sullivan is listed as the principal driver. Picture matches our guy in the restaurant.
Where does Sullivan live?
Ralston Road, Lone Butte, 50-acre farm
Copy that. Check for a connection between Winston Creek and Batlan’s company Northfor Tech
Copy that
Alex called Kennedy and filled him in.
“Sullivan. The name doesn’t ring a bell. Mostly ranching in Lone Butte.”
“Kirigin could be staying there. Linda is checking for any connection between Winston Creek and Northfor Tech,” said Alex. “I’m moving Gwen to the lodge tonight.”
“Good idea. I’ll get this information to Brandeis and let him know you’re on the way with Gwen.”
Alex leaned back in his chair and stretched his neck from side to side. His neck and shoulders were stiff. A good night’s sleep would be welcome, but he wouldn’t be getting one any time soon. His thoughts turned to the lodge and the cook. He wondered what he was making for dinner. Something delicious no doubt. He picked up his phone to text Gwen but was interrupted by Clare Walsh coming through the door. Both men rose.
“Please sit down. How can I help you?” she said, directing the question to Goodwin. They sat down, and Alex explained why they were there.
“I suppose you’ll want to see my phone.” Again, this was directed to Goodwin. She didn’t hide her distaste at the idea.
“Yes, I do need to have a look at your phone,” said Alex. “I’m interested in the photos you took at Barney’s Restaurant. You may have captured images of the men sitting in the booth beside you. If you did, they could be helpful in our investigation.”
“Is this about the bomb threat?” She looked at Alex directly for the first time.
“I can’t really talk about that, Ms. Walsh.”
“I’ll email you the pictures. Just give me your number.”
“I’d like to have a look at the pictures now, if you don’t mind.”
She hesitated, clearly not happy with his request. She looked to Goodwin for support. He raised his eyebrows and cocked his head a little. “I’ll get my phone,” she finally said and left them to retrieve it.
“She doesn’t want you to see her phone, that’s for sure,” said Goodwin, with a smile.
“No, she doesn’t,” said Alex. He wasn’t smiling.
She wasn’t gone long and when she returned, she sat down, pulled up the restaurant shots and handed the phone to Goodwin. He accepted the phone and passed it to Alex, without taking his eyes off Clare Walsh. She was clearly pissed off with that move and happy to show it. She glared at Alex. He ignored her and scrolled through the photos. And there it was. The one that would give him exactly what he needed—both Kirigin and Severall looking directly at the camera.
“Ms. Walsh, did you delete any of the photos you took?” Alex kept his tone even.
“No.” She bit the answer out between clenched teeth.
“Did you post any of them to social media?”
“Not yet.”
Alex nodded and worked silently with the phone for half a minute.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m sending a copy of the photos you took at the restaurant to my phone. That’s done, now I’m deleting the message to me.” He looked at Ms. Walsh. “Unfortunately, I also had to delete one of the photos from your phone. I’ll return the deleted photo to you as soon as the case is closed.”
“How dare you!”
“I had to delete the photo. If posted online, there is the possibility that it could put people’s lives at risk.”
“You had no right to do that! You could have just told me not to post it!”
Alex nodded and said nothing.
“I’ll be complaining to your supervisor,” she hissed.
“If you like, I’ll leave the name and number of the person you should contact.” Alex handed the phone back to her and rose from his chair.
“Thank you for your help, ma’am,” said Goodwin. Clare clutched her phone and glared at Alex as he left the room. Goodwin followed him out. He didn’t catch up with Alex till he reached the bank entrance.
“What the hell do you suppose was wrong with her?” said Goodwin.
The naivety of his fellow officers no longer surprised Alex. Clare Walsh was upset that he lived in the same world she did. “People are very attached to their phones,” he offered.
Alex had put the battery back in his regular work phone, just in case Kirigin wanted to get in touch. On the drive back to the office, Alex checked both cells for messages. Sure enough, there was a text from Kirigin:
You survived Alex. But not for long.
He immediately called the officer guarding Gwen’s door.
“It’s Desocarras. I just got a text from the bomber. Is everything okay there?”
“We’re good, sir.”
“Tell Gwen to prepare to leave. I’ll be there shortly.”
“The two guys working the night shift will be arriving soon.”
“Say nothing to them or anyone. We’ll take care of that.”
“Copy that.”
They arrived at the office. Alex gave Jamie his burner and showed her which photos he wanted her to copy. He asked her to isolate the head shot of Kirigin and asked for copies of all the photos they had thus far, enough for everyone working the case. Kennedy was off-site. Alex went to the visitor’s bathroom. It wasn’t in use. He entered and locked the door behind him before dialing Kennedy’s number.
“Alex. What’s up?”
“Are you at the lodge?”
“Yes.”
“Kirigin texted me another death threat.”
“Shit… Wait a second. I’ll put you on speaker.” Alex listened as Kennedy pulled in Brandeis and a few others. “Where are you now?”
“At the office.”
“Your wife will be safer here,” said Brandeis. “I sent two officers to your motel. I assume you’re on your way there now?”
“Shortly. I’m waiting for copies of pictures you need to see.”
It was nearly dark when Alex left the station with Goodwin and Marchand. When they dropped him off, they were about to get out of the car to accompany him to his suite when he told them he wouldn’t need them for the rest of the evening.
“Just call and we’ll come running,” said Marchand.
“I’ll let you know if I need you tomorrow,” said Alex. He’d already spotted Brandeis’ men at the end of the parking lot. Gwen’s point person was sitting in his car directly opposite the motel side entrance. Alex entered the motel. Brandeis’ team waited for Marchand and Goodwin to leave before following Alex into the motel. Alex let the guy at the door know that someone would get back to him later in the evening if he and his partner would be needed tomorrow. He left.
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