by Marc Strange
“Are they close?”
“In my pocket.”
“Let me see them.”
“I don’t think so. You can squeeze the envelope. See? Nice big stones inside. That’s enough. Let’s go get the gun.”
“No, I go by myself.”
“Oh don’t be stupid, Sergei. You think I’m going to let you run off to collect a weapon and then show up armed and greedy? That’ll be the day. No, we’ll go there together, and we’ll do an exchange like civilized people, and you’ll be very careful because I’m not as trusting as my partner was.”
“So then, Citizen Grenkov, how’d you mess up your hand?”
“I tripped.”
“Really? Over someone’s face?”
“The sidewalk.”
“That where you ripped your trousers? Which sidewalk? Local, or a hundred kilometres north of here?”
“I fell down. That’s not a crime.”
“Also not an answer. Where did you fall down?”
“I don’t remember.”
“Okay, let’s work it out. When did you fall down? Last night?”
“No.”
“Can’t be much before Friday night, Saturday morning. Sound about right?”
“Yes.”
“Yes. Good. So where were you Friday night, Saturday morning?” No answer. “You forget?” Sullen. “Okay, I’ll tell you where you were, you were in Dockerty, breaking into a doctor’s office and putting her in the hospital, then you broke into someone else’s apartment. Didn’t find what you were looking for, did you? That’s why you’re still looking.”
“You have no proof of this.” Something caught his attention and he leaned sideways in his chair to see past her shoulder. Anya Zubrovskaya was standing at the table. She had approached so quietly, Stacy hadn’t heard a thing. The Citizen gave a low, involuntary moan as he registered yet another inconvenience in a long, unsatisfying weekend.
Anya smiled at Stacy. “Hello, Detective. I am pleased with you. You are good at your job. May I join you?”
“Please do.”
“Your partner is in the laneway talking to that little peacock. I was hoping she was going to shoot him, but no luck, so I came inside. She is very tall, is she not? Like a flagpole. But she did not lose me. I am happy about that.” She smiled at the man across the table. “You can arrest this one for assault. He tried to kill me two nights ago.”
The chair didn’t scrape and the table hadn’t budged, but Stacy was standing. “That true, Citizen?” She had her cuffs in her left hand. “You might as well turn around. I have to take you in.”
“Because she says so?”
“Because I say so.” As before, when she frisked him, Stacy’s tone was calm, polite and unequivocal. “Turn around please, hands behind your neck, fingers interlaced, I’m sure you’ve done it before.”
“I demand a lawyer.”
“Supreme Court says this week you don’t rate one. Last time, turn around, hands behind your neck. Don’t make it worse than it is.”
“Go to hell.” Yev kicked over the table and threw a bottle followed by a roundhouse punch at Stacy. She avoided all three without appearing to do more than twist her shoulders and arch her back. She chopped down on his right kneecap with the heel of her boot, dislocating it immediately and rendering that leg unusable. As he lost balance, she hacked his throat with the axe edge of her hand, stabbed him in the solar plexus with a dagger made of stiffened fingertips and swept his one serviceable leg out from under him. He dropped to the barroom floor, retching and gasping. She was on him like a leopard; a hard knee dropped onto the small of his back, an arm twisted between his shoulder blades, and then handcuffs. Citizen Yev was under arrest.
Stacy looked up to see a dozen men, most of them standing, all looking at her. “Please stay back, gentlemen,” she said. “This doesn’t concern you.”
Anya was applauding. “Bravo,” she said.
“Do me a favour? Fetch my partner.”
“Of course, Detective.”
The laneway was deserted. Not a crow in sight. A few gulls, the small ones with the black wingtips, she liked them, they reminded her of somewhere else. She caught a glimpse of Sergei and the tall woman going into the parking lot at the far end.
In the parking lot, Sergei was opening the passenger door on the red BMW. He bent over and rummaged under the seat. Anya saw the tall policewoman unsnap her holster and put her hand on the butt of her pistol. “Now, Sergei,” she said, “I want you to be very careful lifting it out of there.”
“It’s wrapped in a plastic bag.”
“I’ve seen weapons go off inside a cardboard box. Now hand me the bag with your left hand. Good.”
“Detective. Your partner wanted me to fetch you.”
Adele swung around. “You. Get over here where I can see you. Stand there.”
“Sergei Gregorovich, you got fat.”
“You got old.”
Anya pulled off the dull brown wig and didn’t look nearly as old. “But not fat,” she said. “Did you hear what happened to poor Louie?”
“You two can catch up on old times later.”
“We had a bargain.”
“Oh, you can forget about that, Serge. You’re under arrest.”
“For what?”
“Start with possession of stolen property. That’s my partner’s service revolver. It could be the murder weapon in an unsolved homicide. That will do for now.”
“My prints are not on that gun.”
“Couldn’t care less.”
“I have done nothing wrong.”
“That’s good. You can explain it all to the three or four police outfits on your case. Plus the Canadian government will likely get involved, probably the Russian government. You guys are ass-deep in all kinds of bad shit. At least that’s how it looks to me. Turn around, hands on your head. Don’t fuss, I’m good at this.”
“Detective? Your partner . . . ?”
“Right. You walk ahead of me, dancer lady.”
“Anya.”
“Whatever.”
Most of Captain Émile Rosebart’s homicides were either domestic or gang-related; a case involving crown jewels, Russian thugs and ballet dancers would have been an interesting way to end the work week were it not for the .357 Smith & Wesson revolver with special grips in a clip-on holster on his desk, along with the brown envelope (now unsealed) holding a sapphire and four diamonds and the mini-cassette labelled “Della #2 FYI-only-P.” He shook his head and looked up at Adele, pacing the room, then at Stacy, sitting up straight and perfectly composed. “Brennan sent you down here? Jeeze, he’s a persistent bugger. This woman? She wanted for something?”
“The Chief was worried about her,” Stacy said. “Her place was robbed, there was a mugging and she was also assaulted.”
“By the big Russian. The one with the dislocated kneecap.”
“He resisted arrest.”
“In my town.”
Adele spoke up. “I was otherwise engaged, Captain. Otherwise I would have made the arrest.”
“Of course. You had other Russians to bust.” He looked again from one to the other. “So how’d this go down again?”
“Detective Crean’s a friend. I had a day off, she had a day off, you know what cops are like, let’s have a coffee, why don’t we swing by this Grova’s place . . .”
“Yeah, that’s what I generally do after breakfast. You ever hear of this Grova before this?”
“No.”
“But the ballet woman knew him?”
Stacy spoke up. “His was one of the names she gave the Dockerty police when she told them about the jewels. I had him on my list of people to check out.”
“So you two swung by there as a, what, just a natural progression after breakfast?”
“
That’s right, sir.”
“Unh hunh. Right. And out of the blue you walk in on a crime scene and a murder victim and the missing woman and you decide to trail two strange men you see in the crowd.”
“We were trailing her; she was trailing the two men,” Adele said.
“One of whom turns out to be the very man who was calling you at Delisle’s place and hinting that he had Paul’s gun.”
“Worked out that way.”
“A natural progression. This guy Sergei some kind of secret agent? Or just a hood dealing in stolen goods?” He picked up the brown envelope. “Goods which belong to . . . ?”
“Most likely the Russian government, sir,” said Stacy.
“Better and better. Governments. Mounties. Frickin’ CSIS maybe. ’Cause if they want ’em, they can have them.”
“Except there’s the dead pawnbroker.”
“Maybe I’ll get lucky. Maybe the pawnbroker was a foreign agent, too, and they can take all of ’em off our hands.” He spread his arms across the inventory on his blotter. “It’s a clusterfuck. No doubt about it.” He gave Adele a searching look. “And you knew dick about this? Nothing? Your partner.”
“Whatever it was, he was doing it on his own.”
“Where’d he get his hands on these things?”
She sighed. “It’s on this cassette, how he picked up two diamonds at a crime scene.”
“More than two diamonds in here.”
“Yes, sir. It’s on the tape. He went back the next day and found them. Wrapped in a pawn ticket.”
“Pawn ticket in here?”
“Haven’t found it yet. Probably somewhere in Paulie’s apartment.”
“Right. So. One blue, four white, five stones. Your friend signed, too.”
“I figured I should have a witness.”
“Okay. And it’s his gun? Definitely?”
“Yes, Captain, definitely.”
“Shit!”
“Yes, sir.”
“Match?”
“Peel’s got the bullet. It’s pretty mashed up. They’re trying to match it. Should get back to us today.”
“Who’s the guy I talk to? Speed it up?”
“A Staff Sergeant Hurst,” Stacy threw in. “He’s heading up the investigation into the other . . .”
“Right. The Nimchuk.” Rosebart poked the plastic bag and the revolver spun a lazy quarter turn to point across the desk in Adele’s direction. “Where this weapon was used. Maybe. By one of my detectives. Maybe.” He shook the brown envelope. “While stealing a sack of jewels. Maybe. Jesus H. Christ. And it goes on. The two jokers you brought in, what do they have to say? He tell you how he got his hands on Delisle’s piece?”
“I didn’t question them. Turned them over to Lacsamana and Heatley forthwith. I’m staying arm’s length. Keeping my distance.”
“Except you’re already in it.”
“I didn’t ask for it. I just picked up Paulie’s phone. This guy Sergei said he’d trade the weapon for the jewels. I convinced him I was willing to do that. When he turned over the gun I arrested him. That’s as far as I went.”
“Well, shit, I don’t know what we’ve got here. Those Russians, they look good for the pawnbroker?”
“Not my call, sir. They were nearby, they knew the deceased.”
“Right. And the dancer lady? She look good for it?”
“I wouldn’t say so. But not my place to say.”
“Right. Not your call. That prick partner of yours is lucky he’s dead the way this thing’s shaping up.”
“I read those jewels as evidence that Detective Delisle didn’t get a chance to turn in before he was killed. If it turns out different, I won’t be the one who makes the call.”
“Evidence of something, that’s for goddamn sure. With extras. Don’t suppose this cassette says how he came to lose his service piece?”
“No, sir.”
“Or why he didn’t report it missing?”
“No, sir.”
“Kee-rist!” Rosebart pulled a Kleenex out of the box on his desk and blew his nose. “Snow mould,” he said. “My wife says when the snow melts off it lets out crap that’s been trapped all winter.” He wiped his eyes, gave his nose another rub. “All right. So you,” looking at Stacy, “come down here looking for the dancer, who just happens to show up at a murder scene, along with two Russian hoods, who all seem to know each other from the last movie.” He shook his head slowly and began collecting the pieces of evidence. “I give up. Hand this stuff to Lacsamana and Heatley, they can log it in. Give them what you’ve got for facts but don’t go speculating. Let them do their jobs and we’ll deal with it.”
Stacy stood up. “It was nice meeting you, Captain Rosebart.”
“Sure, sure. Tell that big busybody you work for I don’t need any more of his business.”
“I will.”
Rosebart motioned for Adele to stop before she went out the door. “Moen? You all right? I thought you were taking some more time.”
“Soon as I hand things over.”
“Slug got mashed up on the bed rail. They might not get a clean match. It was likely a Smith revolver, that’s as far as they’ll go. Doesn’t mean it wasn’t his gun. Probably not crucial. It’s not like he’ll be on trial.”
“He may be dead, but he’s still on trial,” Adele said. “There’s going to be an inquest. If the coroner pins it on Paulie, that costs him his pension, his reputation, screws up his kid’s life.”
“Well I can’t bury it. It’s got to play out. You stay away from it. You’re too good a detective. I don’t want you smeared with this.” He waved his hand vaguely, either dismissing her or dispersing a bad smell. “You got any other thoughts about this?”
“I hope to Christ Paulie’s clean.”
“Yeah. You can hope.”
The Pimple and the Toothbrush had been very happy to see her again, very happy to take away her cigarettes and make her wait two hours before they allowed her to pee. It was disappointing that her favourite policewoman was not allowed to question her, or even the tall one with the sad eyes, but she took her medicine, sat quietly and answered patiently.
It is hard sometimes not to think police are stupid, the way they go over and over a thing, but that would be a mistake. They plod because it is the surest way of getting somewhere. They write things down so they can reexamine the facts at a later date, catch you in a lie, confuse you with your own details. You cannot gloss over things. You cannot assume they will connect the dots on their own. And so she plodded with them and after a while they got bored with her story. They were much more interested in Sergei and his thick-necked partner, with stolen property and suspicion of assaults and robberies.
They provided accommodations in a holding cell and said they’d get back to her.
The bed was hard, but she’d slept on worse. With any luck she’d get a few hours rest, uninterrupted by dreams of killers. She might be locked up, but for now she was safe.
Pete Lacsamana’s moustache wasn’t exactly like a toothbrush, but it did have a squared-off bottom edge and clipped sides. Dale Heatley was taller, and likely to develop a dowager’s hump if he wasn’t careful, the way he nosed around like a vacuum cleaner. They both stood, both leaning on the front of her desk, bending over, pinning her down. Fuck ’em.
Adele sighed. “Shit, and I was almost out of the building.” Stacy was waiting for her on the other side of the room.
“We haven’t got enough to do with this Grova business,” Heatley started, “now you dump a bunch of Russians on us?”
“Spread the action around.”
“Yeah, well, Hong and Siffert are taking a few days off.”
“If they fucked up and Paulie’s shooter walks, they’ll lose more than a few days.”
“No big deal. He just got mispl
aced.”
“Fucking idiots.”
Lacsamana wasn’t about to lose the advantage. “What was all that shit you laid on at the crime scene?” His tone was accusatory. She wasn’t offended. That’s how cops start most conversations.
“No shit. My friend was looking for the ballet woman; she found her. I was looking for Paulie’s gun; I found it. Now you’ve got the whole bag. Where’s the problem?”
“What about this shooting in the Beaches?”
“It’s on the tape,” Heatley said. “Where he says about the diamonds. What, eight years ago?”
“Before my time, Dale. Check Paulie’s files.”
“I’m checking the files. Can’t find a report.”
“Still an open case, right? I don’t think they made an arrest. Paulie might have copied me in after O’Grady left. Have you checked with him?”
“Yeah. Sort of,” said Dale. “Talked to his campaign manager. He’ll come in ‘as soon as he can make room in his schedule.’ Frickin’ politicians.”
“Maybe I can track down Paulie’s paperwork.”
“Yeah, well, we need to get into Paul’s place.”
“Knock yourselves out. Give you the spare key.”
“To have a look around.”
“Do what you have to do,” she said. She pulled the spare off her keychain and fished around in her drawer. “You’ve got everything I found so far, but there’s still a lot of shit to go through.” She found a piece of string. “Fair warning.”
“It’s his gun,” Dale said.
“Yeah, I know.” She hung the key on the string and tied a big bow.
“I mean in the Nimchuk thing,” Pete said.
“You got a match?”
“Nothing that’ll hold up. Slugs all bent to shit. All they know is it was a Smith, Magnum, .357.
“Dead end.”
“Except this is his weapon. And he showed up in Dockerty without it.”
“Far as I know.”
“Next thing, this Russian dude has it.”
“Look guys. I don’t want to know. It’s all yours. If Paulie comes up dirty, it’ll be because he was. And if there’s a different way it went down, I know you guys will keep an open mind as much as you can. I’m taking some time off.” She handed Dale the key.
