by Marc Strange
“Yeah. That sort of thing usually goes government to government. Happens all the time — works of art being identified, recovered, returned to their rightful owners. Might take a hundred years, but there are procedures.”
Adele pointed at Stacy’s uneaten muffin. “Gonna eat that?”
“Help yourself.”
Adele had a bite, wiped honey from her bottom lip. “So, if he doesn’t have some piece of paper giving him diplomatic immunity or some such bullshit, which I doubt, then my friend Sergei’s just another shitheel looking for buried treasure.” She had another bite. “We got a picture?”
“Of Sergei? Nope. Description from the Daniel woman — this is at least ten years old — not too tall, black hair, ‘nasty eyebrows.’”
“Yeah, he sounds like the kind of prick who’d have nasty eyebrows.” Adele finished the muffin. She’d run out of things to eat. She still looked hungry. “I don’t think you want to get stuck in this,” she said.
Stacy laughed. “Are you kidding? I mean, come on! Russian royal treasure. A ruby as big as a hockey puck. My boss figures I’ve got until maybe noon Monday before visitors start showing up: your guys, Peel Division, maybe Montreal, maybe even the Russian ambassador. After that I’ll be on the sidelines. You, too.” She put money on the table. “My treat. I’ve got an expense account.”
“Forty-eight hours?”
“Give or take.”
Both entrances to Grova’s Pawn were taped and guarded. Patrol cars were parked at angles in front of the building, lights flashing. Traffic was crawling, uniformed officers in the street, drivers inconvenienced and unhappy about it.
“Well now,” said Adele, “what have we here?”
“Something serious.”
“Oh yeah, definitely.”
“Can you get us in?”
“Kidding me? I own this town.”
Adele parked in a no parking zone with her red four-ways flashing. Her stride across Danforth with arms spread could have parted the Red Sea. Stacy had to jog to catch up with her. Adele flashed her badge at the uniform at the entrance. “Goin’ on?”
“The owner. His son found him. Body’s still up there.”
“Who caught it?”
“Heatley and his partner.”
“Lacsamana,” Stacy threw in.
The uniform looked at Stacy.
“She’s with me,” Adele said. “Dockerty PD. We’re working a homicide that’s likely connected. Door unlocked?”
The uniform opened the door next to the shop entrance. A staircase went straight up. Stacy looked back to catch the uniform watching her climb. Well, who could blame him? He blinked and closed the door.
Two more uniforms were on the landing outside the apartment door. Adele showed her badge and they shifted sideways. The main room was crowded; medical examiner’s crew, crime scene techies. The body of an old man was being bagged. Stacy saw blood on a handlebar moustache before the zipper hid his face. In the kitchen area, two detectives were talking to a man with stringy hair and a dirty shirt. The man was sitting at a cluttered kitchen table. He looked numb, or badly hung over. One of the detectives spotted them, said something to his partner and headed in their direction.
“Yo, Moen. Thought you were in the Bahamas.”
“Somewhere down there.”
“Missed the wake.”
“That was my evil plan. You remember Detective Crean?”
“Crean the brain. Right. How’s it goin’?”
“Detective Lacsamana. Nice to see you again.”
He looked them over briefly. “What’s up?”
Adele took it. “Vic is the owner? Louie Grova? We were on our way to talk to him.”
Lacsamana nodded at Stacy. “Your interest?”
“My Chief’s got a bee in his bonnet about Detective Delisle’s missing revolver. Sent me down to look for it. Was this guy shot?”
“Not hardly. Lamp cord around the neck. He died hard. You find his piece?”
“No sign of it yet,” said Adele. “We took a break. You ever see Paulie’s apartment?”
Lacsamana made a snorting noise. “Sure, we were asshole buddies from way back. Hell, count the number of beers we had with what? One finger?”
Adele nodded. “Yeah, he wasn’t much for hanging out.”
He gave them both a hard searching cop look. Like most detectives, he disbelieved most of what he saw and all of what he heard. “How do you figure his piece was here?”
“All I’ve got is a list of names that might be connected to that ballet dancer he tracked to my town,” said Stacy. “She’s gone missing. Del and I were looking to talk to her.”
“How’d this go down?” Adele wanted to know.
“Somebody was looking for something. Vic was put through some serious pain, looks like. Burned fingertips, split lip. Worse than that maybe.”
“Yuck.”
“Definitely. Know what they were looking for?”
Adele stood aside to let the medical examiner and the body squeeze by down the stairs. “Something worth more than Paulie’s old six gun.”
“You make a connection, you’ll let me know.”
“Oh yeah. Happy to hand it off.”
The other detective, Heatley, was motioning for his partner to wind it up. Lacsamana had a last, dubious look at the two women. “Stay in touch,” he said.
“Count on it,” Adele said.
At the bottom of the stairs the ME’s team was having some trouble squeezing the gurney through. Adele, two steps above, leaned over them to hold the top of the door, then followed them to the back of the meat wagon.
“So what’s it look like to you guys?” she asked. “Strangled?”
“Won’t know for a while,” said one of the men. “Just a guess, I’d say he had a heart attack.”
“Hate that,” Adele said. She slammed the car door and fired up the engine. “Hate it. Did it all the time, but I don’t like it.”
“You didn’t lie.”
“Didn’t tell the truth either.” She checked her mirrors. “I was always covering Paulie’s ass. He was not a team player.” She stared across at the pawnshop. “I don’t see your ballet dancer pulling a stunt like that, you?”
“Not the type, wouldn’t have thought. Tough little cookie, though. Come up behind him with an electrical cord. Could happen.”
“And the burning?”
“That’s nasty.”
“Oh yeah. Fucking jewels, hunh? Never could see it myself. You?”
“I got a diamond ring once. Gave it back.”
Adele laughed. “One more than me.” She put the car in gear and eased out into the traffic stream. The uniform in the street made a space for her. Horns honked. Adele thanked him with a wave.
“Next move?” Stacy asked.
“I’m open to suggestions.”
“How be we park around the corner for a while? Check out the sightseers.”
“Better than my plan.”
“Which was?”
“Feeding my face.”
“You still hungry?”
“I get like that when I go mental.”
“Pizza joint over there. I’ll get us a couple of slices, two birds with one stone.”
“Deal. No anchovies. Coke.”
“You got it.”
Adele whooped her siren twice and did a one-eighty across the crawling traffic to park outside a Pizza Pizza. Stacy headed inside. Adele turned off the engine, looked back down the street. They were half a block from the cruisers. The meat wagon was departing. Spectators were being kept to the far side of the avenue.
Stacy came out of the pizza joint. She didn’t get in the car, walked around to Adele’s window. “The pepperoni just came out of the oven.”
“All ri-ight.”
&nb
sp; “Doing good business in there.”
“Street theater. Better than reality TV.”
Stacy put her box on the hood of the car, wrapped her slice neatly in a paper napkin, stopped, halfway to her mouth. “That’s her,” she said. She pointed the pizza across the street.
“What? Where?”
“Bag lady. By the phone booth. Brown hair, brown coat.”
“You kidding me?” Adele took a big bite of warm pizza. “The little hunchback?”
“She’s hunching on purpose.”
“How do you know it’s her?”
“The way she’s smoking.” She handed Adele a cold Coke. “The way she holds her smoke. Like she’s hiding it.”
Adele popped open the can, took a gulp. “Looks like a . . .” she burped delicately, “ditzy old broad to me.”
“It’s an act. Watch her for a while. Everybody else is gawking at the store, waiting for something to happen, hoping somebody’ll take their picture. She’s checking faces. She’s looking for somebody.”
“I thought she’d be pretty.”
“She’s wearing a wig. Lipstick’s on crooked. It’s her.”
“We grab her?”
“We could. But . . .”
“But?” They were both talking with their mouths full.
“Technically she hasn’t done anything.”
“Well, technically, maybe not, except she’s definitely connected, except you came here looking for her, except she shows up at a murder scene.” She laughed, shook her head. “Sounds bustable to me.”
“Except.”
“Except.”
“Wouldn’t you like to know . . .” Stacy wiped her lips, “who she’s looking for?”
“I say fuckit, bust her and sweat her.”
“Bust her you’ll have to turn her over to Lacsamana.”
“Eventually.”
They thought about the situation for a long moment, different priorities, compatible objectives.
“She knows what I look like,” Stacy said. “If she starts moving.”
The two women finished eating, sipped their drinks, both watching the woman across the wide avenue.
Ugly is the best disguise. People look away from ugly. In the movies when a pretty woman wants to disguise her appearance she changes her hair colour. But still she is pretty. Give yourself a strawberry mark across one side of your face, people will not look at you. It is a lesson Sergei should have learned, but he was a dandy and would never let himself be less than presentable. There he was, trying to be one of the crowd, trying to blend in, and wearing a foulard and a waistcoat. I see you, Sergei. My my, but you have let yourself go. Look at you. You must weigh ninety kilos. You have a belly. What have you done to yourself? Who has been feeding you all this time? Who has been paying the bills to keep you here? Someone has to pay for all the steaks and wine. Pastries, too, by the look of it. You always were a greedy little shit. Who do you report to these days? Do you check in regularly? Do not tell me you work for somebody official. After so many years. And so many pounds. I think somewhere along the way you took a bite of the forbidden apple, did you not?
Standing beside Sergei was her assailant of last night, the clumsy ox with the torn pants. He was wearing a bandage on one hand. The two fools were lurking, no other word for it, lurking in a doorway down the block from Grova’s pawnshop. Police all around. They might as well be wearing signs. When the body was carried out of the building, they got into a heated discussion and Sergei punched the big man on the shoulder, twice. The big man looked hurt, but not from the punches.
And poor Louie, look at you, carted away like a dirty carpet, leaving all your precious things behind. They could not let you take even one? What would it have been, Louie? Of all your things, what would you have chosen to carry to the other side? An impossible choice, I know, especially since the only thing you ever wanted, you could never have.
And look, there is that clever detective from Dockerty. She moves like a dancer and watchful as a cat. That’s very convenient. And who is that with her? A tall woman, all elbows and big hands, bullying her way through knots of people and telling the uniforms what to do. The clever detective from Dockerty has a comrade. Good. Let us see just how clever they are.
When Sergei and his friend began to walk oh so casually from the scene, heading west, on foot, bypassing the Woodbine subway station, Anya followed from the other side of the street. Now we are making progress, she thought. Things were going rather well. Too bad about Louie, but it was inevitable really. And probably necessary. He had pulled the real evil out of the shadows. She had seen his face.
Adele was on foot, staying on the opposite side of the street, a block behind Anya. For a crookback little bag lady, the woman could motor when she had to. Nothing the matter with her legs. You’re hard to keep track of, sweetie, tiny frame, dull clothes, disappear in a blink. Watchful, too. You’ve done this before, haven’t you? Spot me twice it’s game over. I can’t vanish the way you can. But you’re not checking behind you very much are you? Whatever you’re after is up ahead. Where are you going, sweetheart? Who are you chasing? Who’s out of place on this fine Saturday morning? Families heading out on shopping expeditions, home for lunch, off to Chinatown for dim sum, moo shu pork. I ate too fast. That damn pizza’s repeating on me.
Those two men up ahead. She’s matching their pace exactly. Oh yeah, got you now, boys. Mutt and Jeff. Hey, if she’s tailing you two, she’s got some stones. Or a weapon. Makes my job easier; the big one sticks out worse than I do. Square head, sideburns, iron grey hair, wavy, way too long. Not army, not official, some sort of muscle. And the guy he’s yakking to — short, pudgy, nice jacket, fedora, silk scarf, trying to be dapper. Is that you, Serge baby? Yeah, I like you two jokers a lot. I can track you easy enough. So can she. Hasn’t once looked in your direction but she’s following every move, aren’t you, dearie? All those reflections, yeah, you’ve done this before. Every time one of them turns his head you start poking around in your bag like you’re looking for something real important.
At Coxwell the two men entered a parking lot. Well now, here’s where it could get tricky.
“She’s trailing two men. Roly-poly little guy in a fancy jacket, and a big dude, looks like a gorilla in a bad suit. Where are you?”
“A block behind you, heading west.”
“The men are getting into a red Beemer, B-B-X-G, Bravo, Bravo, X-Ray, George, 227, two-two-seven.”
“Got it. What’s she doing?”
“Heading for the subway.”
“Okay, I’m seeing the Beemer. How do you want to do this?”
“You stick with the car. I’m taking the subway.”
“Which way is she heading?”
“West . . .”
Sound was cut off as Adele went underground. West. Okay by me, Stacy thought, same direction as the BMW.
Anya knew where they were headed. When the car pulled out of the lot, she watched its reflection make a right turn and head west down the Danforth, she knew. She ran into the subway, threw a handful of change into the box, more than enough she was certain, ran down the stairs to the westbound platform. They were going back to the old place. If it is still there, she thought, it has been twenty years at least since she had been inside, fifteen since she had been in the neighbourhood. But that is where they were headed. She was sure of it. Greektown. And not one Greek in the bunch.
Sergei’s distant cousin — or the brother of his cousin’s step-uncle, or perhaps a former lover, Sergei was never clear on the relationship, a man named Groszvili, a Georgian, son of a Stalinist, grandson of an anarchist, great-grandson of the Revolution — had a three-storey building on the Danforth with four apartments on the top two floors and a bar at street level. Bakunin was the name of the bar, a dark and sullen place as she remembered it. Groszvili liked to foster the impression
that his bar was a hangout for Russian mafia and international men of mystery, but any real crooks who might have dropped by did so by accident and doubtless departed shortly. Instead it had by default become the hangout for a bunch of disaffected Bulgarians and resentful Macedonians, the inculcated offspring of unsaved Bolsheviks, Trotskyites, even a few diehard Stalinists, endlessly repeating their fathers’ and grandfathers’ arguments about political niceties they had never been forced to enjoy. The little band of gypsy smugglers had fetched up there when they first defected, when there were five of them, still deciding what to do, even before Sergei went home to claim his reward for being a good little boy. She had only stayed two weeks; it wasn’t big enough for them all, and by then there was nothing but fighting and bad feelings. But the place itself was not bad, if it was still the same, if it was still there at all. By Moscow standards, it was a palace. The refrigerator and stove worked, there was plenty of hot water. Two bedrooms, Vassi and Ludi insisted on having one to themselves, Viktor and Sergei in the other one, arguing all night, and she in the living room, on that ugly red sofa with the coffee stains and the tape on the arms, hearing desperate love-making sounds from the end of the hall, and whining and snarling through the other wall. There was no need for her to suffer with the robber band. She deserved better. Toronto was, after all, where Baryshnikov had found rescuers and harbourers when he made his dash for artistic freedom in the West. And there were people in the city who knew of her, ballet lovers who had seen her with the Kirov. They were lining up to ease her into freedom. She was at the apartment or the bar below only as much as loyalty and shared liability demanded, but it was often enough to watch the train wreck unfold, the bickering and blaming.
And then Sergei decided to take his chances back home and Viktor started making trips to Montreal.
“West” was the last word Stacy heard as Adele disappeared into the Coxwell subway stop, but how far west was anyone’s guess. Keep driving. Keep the phone handy. At least the red BMW was easy to track.
