Cal Rogan Mysteries, Books 1, 2 & 3 (Box Set)

by Robert P. French

  I cut him off. “You just need to answer some questions.”

  He pulls himself together. “Anything.” I love the eagerness in his voice.

  “OK,” I smile at him. “First you need to know that the police have you dead to rights on the pornography charges, so anything you tell me now that might incriminate you on those charges is not going to make a difference. You understand that right?”

  He nods.

  “But if you help me now and your evidence brings a murderer to justice, then the Crown Prosecutor is more likely to give you a lighter sentence on the pornography charges.”

  “Anything.”

  “Mark blackmailed you into getting him a job on Canada’s Littlest Beauty because he knew about your kiddy-porn movies right?” He nods again. “Do you think he might have been blackmailing anyone else?” I dare not lead him here; the name Perot has to come from him.

  “Wouldn’t surprise me. Mark was always looking for chances to make a quick buck.”

  “So think back to those days. Who else might Mark have tried to blackmail?”

  “It could have been anyone. Anyone in the cast or the crew; we had a couple of cameramen, lighting people. Mark did the sound. There must have been ten or twelve people all told. It could be any of them.”

  He’s opening up. “Could any of them afford to pay blackmail?”

  He snorts. “Probably not. Most of ’em were film school students in need of a buck.”

  “It costs money to make a film. Who were the backers?”

  “I put up fifty-one percent and got a couple of old pervs to put up the rest. They gave me the money on condition that they could watch the filming. They liked to watch thirteen year-olds… Well you know.”

  My stomach turns. “What are their names?” I ask.

  “Doesn’t matter. Mark wasn’t blackmailing them.” He laughs. It’s not a nice laugh.

  “How d’you know.”

  “Two years ago they both got busted and ended up in prison. One died and the other one’s still inside.”

  “Anyone else you can think of?” I can hear a streak of desperation in my voice.

  “No. I made great money on the first movie so I had enough to produce the others solo.”

  “Why’d you quit making them?”

  “The market got weirder and weirder. People wanted stuff I wasn’t prepared to do. Really young kids, rape, snuff, like that. I decided to go legit.”

  I try to block the thoughts coming into my mind. If I don’t, I’ll be throwing up.

  “Where did you get the girls?” I ask. Not that it’s relevant to what I need to know.

  “You’d be surprised. Some were just precocious thirteen- and fourteen-year-old runaways. But some were there with their parents’ permission. Go figure.”

  Despite my revulsion at his answer, a penny drops in my head. “Could Mark have been blackmailing one of those parents?”

  He shrugs. “Sure. Why not?”

  “Do you have a list of their names?”

  “Yeah, they’ll be in one of the files the police seized from my office I guess.”

  Maybe there’ll be something. I’ll see if I can get Steve to let me go through the files. Right now, I just want to get out of here away from this slime bucket. It won’t be too many years until Ellie’s thirteen. I can’t imagine… I cut off the thoughts before they form pictures in my mind.

  I need him to offer Perot as a likely mark for Traynor’s blackmail.

  I start to get up. “Pity you can’t help me. I would have liked to help you.”

  “Wait. I had investors in Beauty. Mark would have known them. Maybe he was blackmailing one of them.” He’s desperate to help me in the hope of getting a lighter sentence.

  “That was a legal business, why would he blackmail one of them?”

  “I dunno. Maybe he saw something.”

  I sit down again.

  “OK, who put up money for Beauty?”

  “There was a guy called Milt Stafford and then Gabriel Schwartz—he’s a big wheel in reality TV—and a couple of small players from out of town. But my biggest investor was a company. I never actually met anyone from it, it was all done by lawyers.”

  Well this has been a big waste of time. I so wanted him to volunteer a link between Mark and Perot. In a last ditch attempt I ask, “Did Mark ever mention that he knew Edward Perot, the MP?”

  “Of course. Perot was on a government committee to boost the Canadian film and TV business. It was through him that I got the big investor. He’s a good guy. Came by the set, every week.”

  My spine’s on fire now.

  “So Mark Traynor had contact with Perot?”

  “Sure. Perot knew all the crew. He was always chatting with them. Typical politician, right? And he was really great with the kids and their parents.” The fire in my spine is raging now though Radcliffe seems unaware of my excitement. “He would do little magic tricks for them, y’know make a quarter disappear and then pull it out of the kid’s ear.”

  Radcliffe stops and for the first time sees the look on my face. “That’s going to help, right?” he asks eagerly.

  “Any of the families he particularly liked?” I ask.

  “Well, he was always hanging around Rebecca Bradbury. Probably angling for a campaign donation, right? Don’t get me wrong. He’s a stand-up guy. He was really good to Mrs. Norton when…” His voice trails off and there’s a shocked look on his face.

  The name Norton rings a bell. “When what?” I ask.

  “Nothing. I’ve said too much.” he mumbles.

  “If you want my help with the Crown Prosecutor, you’d better tell me right now.”

  He sighs. “When her daughter went missing.”

  That’s it! When Stammo was looking into the Facebook page of the phony kid ‘Justin’ he discovered that he had been corresponding with another girl, a girl from Coquitlam, a girl who went missing. Her name was Norton. What was her first name?

  Bingo! “Olivia Norton?” I ask.

  “How d’you know that?”

  I ignore his question. “Olivia Norton was a contestant on your show?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “And you say Perot was friendly. How friendly?”

  “What do you mean how—?” He stops and looks at me. “Oh.” We lock eyes. I don’t move a muscle in my face; I just wait. “It’s possible, I suppose.” Is he telling me what he thinks I want to hear? “Sure, it’s possible.”

  “You didn’t see anything…” I leave it hanging.

  “No. Nothing specific. He was very attentive to the kids, he’d, you know, push a stray hair behind an ear. Or give ’em a hug if they did a good job at something. I never thought of him as a perv and I’ve seen a few of them.” In the mirror for one, I think. “But it’s possible. For sure. Do you think Mark was blackmailing Perot?”

  I ignore his question. “The company that invested in you, the one where you never met the people running it. Was it Razor Point Holdings?” I ask

  “How the hell did you know that?”

  Now I know everything. It all fits. I even think I know where Ariel is being held.

  I get up. For once I’m eager to go and see Steve.

  “Wait. So what I told you was useful, right?” Radcliffe bleats behind me. “You’ll give a good report to the Crown Prosecutor about me. Help lighten my sentence.”

  I turn and look at him. He’s a maker of kiddy-porn and, even worse, when I first questioned him about Ariel’s disappearance he concealed the little matter of the disappearance of Olivia Norton.

  I look him in the eye and force a smile onto my face though it feels more like a grimace. “Not a chance, buddy. I wouldn’t piss on you if you were on fire.”

  I turn and walk out.

  When I tell Steve what I know he’ll get the full force of the Department to bust this case wide open.

  I just pray that Ariel is still alive when we get there.

  Then it hits me. There’s one thing that
doesn’t fit. It’s bothered me twice already but now it’s an itch I don’t have time to scratch.

  43

  Stammo

  Rogan has always been a keener, especially when he’s making a breakthrough in a case. But it’s not often I’ve seen him this wound up and ready to go. It’s like every second’s an hour of torture for him as we wait for Steve to join us in the conference room.

  Graveley Street is a new building and I never spent much time here when I was still with the VPD but it still makes me feel the loss. Not just the job but the ability to walk in here just like any other cop. The hangover doesn’t help much either, I spent far too much time with my old buddy Jim Beam after I spoke to Tyler’s Dad last night.

  Finally Steve makes his entrance and puts Cal out of his misery.

  “So guys, what’ja got? It better be good getting me to come in here on a Sunday.” he says as he sits down.

  “Three things,” Cal says. “We know who kidnapped Ariel and we know where she is, and we can hand you Carlos Santiago on a platter.”

  Talk about getting someone’s attention. I’m betting Rogan practiced that little speech and it sure worked. Steve’s eyes are as wide as they can go.

  “OK, let’s have it,” he says.

  “Ariel was on the show Canada’s Little Beauty. Well, it just so happens that nine months ago, a kid from Coquitlam named Olivia Norton went missing and was never found. She had been a contestant on the previous season of the show but for some reason, someone in Coquitlam RCMP either dropped the ball or could never make a connection with the show.”

  “Are you saying Thomas Radcliffe is the kidnapper of these girls?”

  “No. The girls were taken by a woman going by the name of Sherri Oliver; well, at least Ariel was. And when I questioned Radcliffe he gave me her name as someone he’d fired. He’d never have given me her name if he was involved.”

  Steve nods, he’s heard this before but he’s too savvy to say so and stop Cal’s momentum.

  Cal is smiling broadly; he’s enjoying this. “Well it turns out that Canada’s Littlest Beauty was financed in part by a company called Razor Point Holdings.”

  “What?!” I shout.

  Two pairs of eyes turn to me. Cal’s are frowning.

  I can’t keep the excitement out of my voice. “Razor Point Holdings is controlled by Carlos Santiago or at the least by one of his henchman, this mystery guy called the Bookman.”

  “How d’you know?” they say almost in unison.

  “The Bookman drives a Shelby GT 350 and it’s registered to…” It’s my turn for the dramatic pause. “Razor Point Holdings.”

  “Perfect.” Rogan’s smile gets wider. “You see, Steve, this Razor Point holdings has come up in another context. You know I’m doing some work for Larry Corliss in his bid for the Vancouver East seat.”

  “Yes, but hasn’t he withdrawn his candidacy?”

  “He has, but only temporarily, and Steve, you’ve gotta keep that confidential. He was being blackmailed and he pretended to accept a bribe. When the bribe money came, it was paid by the same Razor Point Holdings.”

  “Sure,” Steve jumps in. “I can see why Santiago would want to get rid of Corliss. Corliss is a big campaigner for drug legalization and that’s the last thing Santiago wants. But are you saying Santiago is the kidnapper too?”

  Cal doesn’t answer directly but goes on, “The other big winner from Corliss’ withdrawing from the race is Edward Perot. He’s the incumbent in the seat for eight years and suddenly he’s losing in the polls. But what’s interesting is, Perot was the one who introduced Razor Point Holdings to Canada’s Littlest Beauty. So Perot is in bed with Santiago.”

  “Why would Santiago launder money through a TV show?”

  “He’s not. You see on the strength of making the introduction, Perot would frequently drop by the set and chat with the girls. He was particularly close to Ariel and Olivia Norton. On my way up here, I stopped off to talk to the detectives who are combing through Thomas Radcliffe’s books. They told me Razor Point only invested two hundred grand in the show. That’s nothing to Santiago. I’m betting he did that as a favour to his buddy Perot to give him access.”

  “Access to what?”

  “The little girls,” Rogan says.

  “Are you saying Perot’s a pedophile?” Steve asks.

  Rogan nods. “Yes and I think Mark Traynor knew and that he was blackmailing Perot. That’s what got him killed. Another favour from Santiago.”

  “And the kidnapping?”

  “I think Carlos Santiago is doing it and he’s giving them as gifts to Perot.”

  “Sick fuck,” I say. How could anyone do that to a kid?

  There’s silence for a while.

  “You know where he’s keeping Ariel?” Steve asks.

  “I think so. I tracked the phony policewoman Sherri Oliver to an internet cafe on Salt Spring. She left there in a boat that went in the direction of Pender Island. So I also dropped in on the drug squad this morning. You had told me that Santiago had a villa in the Gulf Islands, they told me it’s on Samuel Island, just a bit northeast of Pender Island. I’m betting that’s where they’re holding Ariel right now, if she’s still alive.

  “Steve, you need to get a warrant to search Santiago’s property on Samuel Island.”

  Steve gets up and paces the room for a bit. Rogan is tapping his finger silently on the tabletop. He’s getting agitated and I wonder if Steve is trying to annoy him. Steve has never really forgiven Rogan for taking drugs in the first place back when they were partners; the fallout from that delayed Steve’s promotion to sergeant. And then, while Rogan was still an addict, he solved the case of his buddy’s murder when we’d ruled it suicide. Then on top of that, after me and Rogan solved the case of that kid’s murder, Rogan takes the edge off of Steve’s glory by quitting the department to work with me. Yeah, Steve’s playing him.

  Finally he speaks.

  “I can’t get a warrant on that.”

  “What?” we shout in unison. If Steve’s playing Rogan, he’s taking it too damn far.

  “There’s a little kid being held captive by a major drug dealer and you can’t get—”

  “Just hold on a minute there, Cal.” Steve is mad. “You can’t come in here with a bunch of circumstantial evidence and demand that we start asking the Court for warrants.” He stops to take a breath and as Cal opens his mouth Steve stops him with an upheld hand and a face of steel. “Hear me out for once,” he continues. “Can’t you see the holes in your case? It all seems to revolve around this Razor Point Holdings but you have nothing to tie it to Santiago other than the fact that it owns a car that is used by someone who you think might be linked to Santiago. Hell it could be a car leasing company.

  “Plus what have you really got on Perot? I’ll tell you what… Nothing. Perot arranges financing for a local production company: well that’s his damn job as an MP. He hangs around the set during filming: maybe he just likes the TV business. He’s friendly with the families of two girls who go missing: maybe he’s friendly with all the families. What hard facts have you got?”

  “Talk to Radcliffe,” Cal says, “he’ll tell you.”

  “Radcliffe would say anything if he thought he could use it to bargain for a lighter sentence.” Steve’s tone is dismissive.

  Steve’s right. Although I’m sure Cal is correct, the evidence is all circumstantial. We really need something more solid. Maybe if Tyler could confirm that the Shelby is owned by Santiago that would… No. Like Steve said, Razor Point could just be a leasing company.

  I look over at Cal. He knows it too. We need to get some solid evidence. Suddenly he stands up. “OK. Just promise me Steve that you’ll get your guys looking into this Razor Point Holdings and looking into Perot too.”

  “I will for sure,” Steve says.

  Without another word, Cal turns and walks out. I shrug at Steve and wheel after him.

  I’m betting he has a plan in mind. Then it hits
me.

  During the entire time in there, Cal never once mentioned Dave Bradbury, the man behind Razor Point.

  44

  Cal

  The house is beautiful. It’s on the waterfront in West Van and, although it’s not as impressive as his ex-wife’s house, it is beautiful.

  The woman who opens the door looks to be in her early twenties and is as stunning as the house. Obviously, Dave Bradbury has wasted none of the short time since he separated from Rebecca. I can feel my anger at him starting to simmer.

  “Hello,” she says, showing perfect teeth in the perfect smile.

  “I’d like to speak to Bradbury. Tell him it’s Cal Rogan,” The anger ratchets up a few degrees. “I’m investigating the disappearance of his daughter.”

  “Come in.” She opens the door wide and I step through. “Darling, someone’s here to see you,” she calls. “Come with me.” Her smile is genuine and I feel sorry for her.

  Bradbury appears from a room to the right of the hallway and his face speeds through a minuscule play. Act one: annoyance. Act two: puzzlement. Act three: fear. He can see my anger.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing here?” The fear is in his voice as well.

  I leash in the anger. So far it’s had a good effect by putting him off balance but I need other skills right now.

  I smile. His face starts to relax. He breathes in as a prelude to speech but I pre-empt. “Mr. Bradbury, why were you partying at The Lift on the evening of the day your daughter disappeared?”

  The girlfriend walks over and stands beside him.

  The question catches him by surprise. “How did you know where I was?”

  “Just answer the question, please.”

  He hesitates. Probably not used to being talked to like this. “Well, I just thought that she was probably playing it up, staying at a friend’s house. I had no idea that she was actually missing.”

  “Come on. She’s eight. If it were my daughter, I’d be beside myself.”

  “It was the sort of thing Ariel might do.” He sounds as if even he doesn’t believe it.