Law and Disorder

by Mary Jane Maffini

  LAW &

  DISORDER

  A Camilla MacPhee Mystery

  Mary Jane Maffini

  Text © 2009 Mary Jane Maffini

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, digital, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior consent of the publisher.

  Cover art by Christopher Chucky, design by Emma Dolan

  We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP) for our publishing activities.

  RendezVous Crime

  an imprint of Napoleon & Company

  Toronto, Ontario, Canada

  www.napoleonandcompany.com

  Printed in Canada

  13 12 11 10 09 5 4 3 2 1

  Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

  Maffini, Mary Jane

  Law and disorder / Mary Jane Maffini.

  (A Camilla MacPhee mystery)

  ISBN 978-1-894917-86-5

  I. Title. II. Series: Maffini, Mary Jane. Camilla MacPhee mystery.

  PS8576.A3385L39 2009 C813’.54 C2009-904775-6

  In memory of Lyn Hamilton, world traveller,

  inspired mystery writer and wonderful friend

  Contents

  ONE

  TWO

  THREE

  FOUR

  FIVE

  SIX

  SEVEN

  EIGHT

  NINE

  TEN

  TEN

  ELEVEN

  TWELVE

  THIRTEEN

  FOURTEEN

  FIFTEEN

  SIXTEEN

  SEVENTEEN

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  ONE

  How do you keep a lawyer from drowning?

  -Shoot him before he hits the water.

  Less than two short weeks after I’d shoved my thermal socks to the back of the drawer, the temperature hit 32° Celsius with a humidex reading of 40°. Welcome to June in Canada’s capital.

  I blotted my forehead with one hand as I chugged up the wide stone stairs to the Elgin Street courthouse. The excellent air conditioning system in the building was only a secondary factor in my decision to spend the morning in court. It seemed like the right day to look into a murderer’s eyes as his seemingly endless trial drew to a close. I was looking forward to the final arguments. Lloyd Brugel was about to get what was coming to him: a guilty verdict. In time, that would be reflected in an appropriate sentence: twenty-five years without parole if not actual dangerous offender status. But one step at a time. Conviction first.

  Don’t take my word about Brugel. Ask any of the kids who found themselves hooked on crack cocaine at bargain introductory prices or the fifteen-year-olds who were forced into prostitution. Or pick one of the hundreds of broken people who got in his way. I knew many of his victims personally. I wished more of them were alive to see Brugel go down. I tried to resist rubbing my hands in glee, but only because that would have meant spilling my iced cappuccino.

  In the course of the trial and the interminable months leading up to it, I’d repeatedly reminded myself of the principles of law that keep me going:

  Innocent until proven guilty? That’s the biggie.

  Reasonable doubt? Also high on the list.

  The right to representation? No argument.

  In spite of all that, I believed Brugel was guilty from the second he was frog-marched out of Red Roxxxy’s, the sleazy strip joint where he based his underground kingdom. I had done a little dance when I’d first heard the news. Hey, appropriate is not my middle name. I planned on doing a joyful jig when the sentence was read. I just hoped I wouldn’t throw my back out.

  In the foyer near courtroom 23, I narrowly avoided Sergeant Leonard Mombourquette slithering out of the elevator.

  “Hey, Leonard, watch out for your—”

  “Don’t start with me, MacPhee,” he said, narrowing his beady eyes. “I’m one month from retirement, and I’m facing a lot of paperwork.”

  Fair enough. Mombourquette had been my brother-in-law Conn McCracken’s partner in Major Crimes for more years than I could count. Even though Conn now wasted his days on the golf course, I saw no harm in being civil to his former partner, this once. With his soft, greyish skin, twitchy nose and missing chin, Mombourquette might be the spitting image of a rodent, but, after all, he was our rodent. Practically a family pet. He not only continued to hang out with that same brother-in-law and my sister, but he seemed to have a thing going with my old buddy Elaine Ekstein, the well-known rogue social worker. All to say, opposites attract and there’s no accounting for tastes and any more aphorisms anyone else would care to contribute.

  I just hoped the decidedly NDP Elaine and the definitely Conservative Mombourquette never chose to talk politics. Kaboom.

  Before we could enter, we idled by the metal detector outside the courtroom, and I made nice while the female police officer checked the contents of my handbag and we went through the detector one at a time. “So, Leonard, you here to see Brugel go down? Payoff time?”

  “You betcha. Wouldn’t miss it. Seeing that scumbag convicted will be the highlight of my year. Maybe even two years. Worth not retiring last winter just to savour it.”

  “For me too. I wish Laurie Roulay was still alive to see it.”

  Mombourquette shook his head. “That was a real shame about that girl. Thorsten sure took her apart on the stand.”

  I paused, thinking before I spoke. Laurie Roulay’s suicide two weeks after her testimony had shaken me badly. After a moment, I managed to say, “It was brutal. There’s no trick too low for our Rollie. I’m glad Laurie held together long enough to testify. Her testimony will help sink Brugel. I wish I’d realized how fragile she was.”

  He glowered. “Me too.”

  “But hey, Leonard, not even that scum-sucking bottomdweller Thorsten could get Brugel off this time.”

  An assistant Crown attorney swung past us in the hallway, his black gown billowing. He snickered and called back over his shoulder, “Don’t hold back, MacPhee. How do you really feel about Thorsten?”

  “Jackass,” I muttered.

  Mombourquette pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the back of his neck. “Gonna be a scorcher. Enough to make you hope the trial drags on until July. I’d like it to be cool for my remaining days.”

  “Hard to believe it’s your last twenty.”

  “One hundred and sixty hours, but who’s counting.”

  “Excellent. Let’s go watch the circus.”

  You would think, with a case of this magnitude, that courtroom 23 would be standing room only, but there were fewer than twenty people in the room, not counting judge, jury, plaintiffs, court staff, cops, and a solitary reporter. Even so, the early morning scents of aftershave and fruity shampoo were gradually being replaced by sweat and overheated footwear. The few people in the room were buzzing softly. Madam Justice Pierrette Lafontaine sat purse-lipped at the bench. I wondered idly what that would do to her signature red lipstick. My sisters tell me that’s a dated look, but on Judge Lafontaine, it sent a powerful message: Don’t mess with me or I’ll drink your blood. She feared nothing. Especially not passing trends. Maybe that’s why I always admired her.

  The Crown attorney fidgeted like a kid awaiting Christmas morning. Would Santa bring him closing arguments that would lead to a conviction? And eventually a life sentence? Or would some small word or concern reduce the sentence to the lower end of the scale? Twenty-five with no parole would be good for the Crown attorney’s career. It would help in
moving up and out.

  I glanced around for my friend P. J. Lynch, who covered the courts for the Ottawa Citizen, but there was no sign of his carrot top and gap-toothed grin.

  In between eyeing the prisoner’s dock with amusement, the Crown appeared to be flirting with his blonde colleague. I assumed she was a new assistant Crown and I figured the ink wasn’t dry on her yet. The rumour among those who cared was that she was so good, she would leave him in the dust. I certainly hoped so.

  There were no legal aid lawyers for Brugel. He could afford to hire and fire the very best. Rollie was Brugel’s third lawyer and perhaps his most expensive.

  On the right side of the line of lawyers, a thin and jittery young man glanced behind him, his forehead furrowed in concern. He was wearing a navy suit that seemed to have been intended for a larger man. From my previous court visits, I recognized Jamie Kilpatrick. He loosened his white shirt collar with his fingers. I knew he was the one junior lawyer that Rollie had on his payroll. In this case, rumour had it that the indentured serf took care of all the work, while Rollie did whatever you do when you’re a scum-sucking bottom dweller. Although right at that moment, the scum-sucker was nowhere to be seen. The hapless Jamie seemed even more nervous than usual.

  Maybe Rollie was in the men’s room, adjusting his handmade silk tie. He was as expensive as he was effective, and he did look very good in Harry Rosen suits. I took comfort in the thought that even he was not likely to win this time.

  Brugel faced the bench and the jury behind bulletproof glass. The rest of us got a view of his shaved head gleaming, his neck as thick as a fire hydrant. He was one scary dude. He’d built a business running drugs and prostitutes, with extortion as a sideline, and yet, he’d never done a minute’s federal time. He gave the impression he thought he was top dog in this court, and he’d probably be in charge behind bars too.

  The Crown maintained that Brugel had ordered the crime, and an underling named Guérin had delivered. Guérin’s own legal team had cleaned him up, cut his hair, somehow even covered the jailhouse tattoos on his neck, but he’d still oozed criminality. Some gifted dentist had done a cosmetic job on his teeth, no doubt using the proceeds of a couple of wasted young lives. But no cosmetic procedures could fix those hard, dead eyes. They were the kind of eyes you might expect on someone who had dumped a bound and injured competitor into a car and set it on fire. That fire had spread to the victim’s home, killing his seven-year old daughter and leaving Laurie Roulay, his common-law wife, with scars from the third degree burns. That’s what she got for trying to save her child. Guérin was a guy with fifty priors, who’d already served more than ten years in prison, not counting the misdeeds no one had ever pinned on him. He hadn’t had much to hope for except a view of bars and razor wire, so he’d managed a deal of sorts in return for testifying against Brugel. It was a case of the puppet fingering the puppermaster, and the prosecution had gone for it in a big way. When the time came, Judge Lafontaine was likely to dish out the most stringent sentence against Brugel. Even that would be a disappointment for those who favoured drawing and quartering.

  Of course, the defence was expected to keep things rolling.

  Judge Lafontaine had now narrowed her eyes. I knew Lafontaine had a long fuse, but when it hit the end: look out. Rollie Thorsten had definitely tried to ignite that fuse during Brugel’s trial. Next, Lafontaine would flare her nostrils. I’d enjoyed it when Rollie had tested the judge’s tolerance. Privately, I’d been rooting for a contempt of court charge against him, but I never got lucky.

  There was a rustle by the door in the back. Mombourquette and I turned as the door opened and a court officer rushed forward up the left aisle. A murmur swept the room. I didn’t know this officer, but like everyone else that morning, he was sweating.

  At last, flared nostrils from the judge.

  A whispered consultation.

  The judge spoke to the court clerk.

  The clerk said, “All rise. This court is now recessed until this afternoon at two.”

  The judge always gets the last word. She said, “Mr.

  Kilpatrick, you may join me in my chambers.”

  As we trickled from the courtroom into the third floor foyer, we were passed by P. J. Lynch, my redheaded reporter friend. P. J. was running late, swimming against the tide and elbowing his way to the front of the courtroom.

  He turned and mouthed, “Hey, Tiger. What the hell happened?”

  I just grinned. P. J. brings it out in me, although as a rule I trust him as far as I could throw my Acura. Never mind, I like his giant freckles and the gap between his teeth as well as the carrot top. “Don’t ask me. You’re the reporter. But now that I see you, I believe you still owe me twenty dollars.”

  Mombourquette merely sneered. Reporters have that effect on him. Come to think of it, so do lawyers. We flowed toward the elevator, although I was tempted to watch and see if P. J. would get out of line and try to ask the judge a question. A contempt of court charge might be interesting, but, after all, most of the time P. J. is my friend, so I called after him. “Remember the rules.”

  “Well, that was a letdown,” I said to Mombourquette. “I was hoping to see Brugel get hammered by the Crown.”

  “Me too. But there’s always this afternoon. By the way, Elaine tells me you’re selling the house on Third Avenue,” Mombourquette said, casually, as we ambled along, in no hurry to get back outside to the hot mist. That’s the problem with having your friend date a cop, there’s even less privacy than usual.

  “I’m thinking about it. I never felt right living there. I don’t feel entitled to the money either.”

  “You take life too seriously. Think about it. You work for ten years, you get injured, you get beat up, you get halfdrowned, you get evicted, then someone leaves you a house and some money. You can’t just accept that and chill out?”

  “Guess not.”

  “No wonder your sisters always get their backs up.”

  “My sisters’ backs are not my problem. I’m considering a plan to make things right with that house.”

  “Going to get Justice for Victims going again? Did I forget to mention your office got blown up?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t think I’m going back to that. There’s a lot more assistance for victims now than there used to be. There’s victims’ support in the Crown’s Office, in the police department, and some high profile groups offer it too. It was just me and Alvin at JFV anyway. I think we’ll both be glad to move on.”

  As Alvin Ferguson has always been the world’s worst assistant, the modern office equivalent to wearing a millstone around your neck while being taunted by an albatross, I felt the need to add emphatically, “In separate directions, it goes without saying.”

  Perhaps the emphasis came from the fact that Alvin had been camped in my house since his most recent housing problems. This was hard for many people to understand, but suffice to say that I am a MacPhee from Sydney, Nova Scotia, and Alvin is a Ferguson from Sydney, Nova Scotia, and, as long as my father is alive, I will have to honour the Cape Breton tradition of helping one’s compatriots.

  Mombourquette had moved on conversationally. “You’re what, forty? You could go back into practice. Maybe even legal aid.”

  I thought he was going to choke from laughing. When he pulled himself together, he said, “Hey, why not join one of the big criminal defence firms? You could end up representing guys like Brugel.”

  “True enough. Or I could just stick pins in my eyes. In the unlikely event that I go back to legal aid work, I’ll let you know, Leonard. In the meantime, try not to worry your fuzzy little ears about me.”

  “Speaking of Alvin, that place of yours might have been easier to sell before your crazy assistant redecorated.”

  I shrugged. What could I say? Alvin has an artistic talent that has to be experienced to be believed and a spirit that can’t be crushed. I’d been in Italy. He’d been watching the fort. The house was just in the wrong place at the
wrong time. And after all, it wasn’t like I even liked or wanted it. On the other hand, I couldn’t let Mombourquette take a free shot at Alvin.

  “I kind of like the Italian theme,” I lied.

  Mombourquette rolled his eyes and kept pressing my buttons. “Pull the other one,” he said before changing the subject yet again. “What about Ray Deveau in Sydney? Anything happening?”

  “Does the entire population of Ottawa have to be informed about every detail in my life?” I snapped.

  I had reason to snap. My sisters were bullying me to remarry. Edwina, Donalda and Alexa kept harping that ten years was long enough to be widowed. Everyone in my family found Sgt. Ray Deveau of the Cape Breton Regional Police irresistible. I found him irresistible too, maybe even more than irresistible. Calm, gentle, supportive, cute, widowed as well. He’d been a good husband, and he was still a fine father. Maybe they were right. I kept mentioning that there are 1,641 kilometres of Trans-Canada Highway between Ray and me. I guess I was the only one who thought that was any kind of an impediment.

  “You’ll be the first to know if anything changes in my relationship status, Leonard. But you know what, that would make us cousins of a sort.”

  He flinched.

  I grinned. Wolfishly, I hoped.

  Mombourquette averted his eyes. “Something’s happening.”

  Kristen Wentzell, a cop I knew by name and reputation, was approaching us. With her blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, she could have had any of the more commanding female roles in a Wagner opera. She ignored me. “Did you hear the news, Lennie?”

  “Hear what?” Mombourquette said. His whiskers twitched. He did not tilt his neck to look up at Wentzell, who was easily six foot two. She took up a lot of space. The Kevlar vest didn’t flatter her, but it did add to her imposing demeanour. For a split second I wanted one for myself.

  “You call yourself a detective? We just got the word about Thorsten. Do you know where he showed up?” Wentzell was enjoying herself. Cats and canaries came to mind.