“Hey, I can drop you back in Magog,” a second man who has been pumping gas into his car offered.
“We wouldn’t want to put you out of your way,” Cam answered.
“I have to go in town anyway. Been putting it off. Might as well do it now.”
“That would be great!” Neil answered. “I can come out and check the car later with Billy and you can get whatever you need done.” He looked at Cam to confirm his answer.
“That would be real kind of you, if you’re sure it’s not out of your way,” Cam said sweetly with a big smile. It was time to be a poor lady who needed a good man’s help.
“Sure enough,” the man answered. “No problem at all.”
“I’ve got to get something to drink first.” Neil said, “What do you want, Cam?”
“Water!” She answered. “Lots of it.”
Neil rushed into the store.
“Whenever you’re ready,” the man who had offered the ride said, “but don’t rush.”
“Couldn’t if I tried,” Cam said with a friendly smile on her face.
“How far have you been walking?” he asked. “Oh, by the way, I’m Cull Waverly.” He held out his hand to shake hers.
“Janet Cameron,” she introduced herself as she reached for his hand. She used a name she had used before when she wanted to hide her identity, but kept her real name as a surname because Neil has already used it in front of them and so he wouldn’t get confused. “I’m not sure how far back it was but it feels like we’ve been walking for weeks!”
“Did you pass all those RCMP cars? I guess something had happened out on the back road. Whatever it was, they were quiet about it. I saw three RCMP cars race by at about nine o’clock but they came back slower, one at a time about an hour later.”
“Was that helicopter part of it, too? I know he flew around over by my place for quite a while,” Cull added.
The mechanic shrugged. “It was probably a drug bust of some kind. I know there has been talk for years that there’s some kind of drug house back there about ten or fifteen miles or so.”
“If it was, let’s hope they got them all. I don’t want my kids playing around with drugs and drug dealers in the area.”
Neil came bouncing out of the store with an arm-load of water bottles and a plastic grocery bag. He handed one bottle of water to Cam who opened it and took a long gulp right away.
“Thanks,” Cam said. “These fellows were saying that they think there was a drug bust ten or fifteen miles from here.”
“Around here?” Neil exclaimed, his eyes wide.
“Yes,” the mechanic answered. “I understand they’re all over the place.”
Neil reached into his bag and handed Cam a steaming hot dog. “That’s all they had in there but I knew you’d be hungry.”
“This will be fine for now,” she said, taking a bite of it.
“Then we should get going,” Cull suggested.
“Yes, please.”
“Oh, Tom,” Cull called to the mechanic, “will you put today’s gas on my bill? I’ll pay for everything at the end of the month.”
The mechanic nodded and wrote something into a little notebook in his shirt pocket.
“Let me give you a little toward it,” Cam said, reaching into her shoulder bag for her wallet. She handed Cull a twenty.
“It won’t take that much gas to drive twenty miles into Magog!” Cull objected.
“Did I hear you say you had children?” she asked.
“Yes, three.”
“Then buy them a hamburger or something. Tell them it’s from a grateful lady you helped today.”
Cull smiled widely. “That I can do,” he said.
Chapter 21
Cam breathed a sigh of relief as Cull’s car pulled up in front of Preston’s.
“Thank you so much, Cull!” Cam said, as the car stopped. “Have a good day and tell your kids what a super dad they have.”
“Good luck,” Cull said as he shook her hand.
“You, too.” She and Neil got out of the car and waved as Cull pulled away. They both turned and walked up the front walk. The door flew open a very short time after they rang the doorbell.
“Where have you been?” Preston asked as soon as they walked in. “I’ve been calling you and Ken and I couldn’t get an answer anywhere.”
“Well, you won’t be talking to Ken for quite a while. His place got busted by the Mounties!”
“What?”
Neil went on to explain everything that had happened.
“Are you two okay?” he asked.
“Exhausted and dehydrated, but at least we’re free.”
Preston nodded and sent Billy into the kitchen to get more bottles of water and a box of energy bars. Cam and Neil started in on them immediately.
“Are you hurt anywhere?” Preston asked.
“Just some scratches from the bushes. Nothing broken or bleeding,” Cam answered.
“I’m okay,” Neil added. “Just tired feet.”
“I’ve gotta go call Rosie and see what she wants done,” Preston mumbled.
Cam sighed. “And I’ve got to get out of here. That was too close this morning.”
“Come on downstairs and I’ll get you settled up.”
Neil and Billy headed down into the basement.
Cam started for the stairs, as well.
As soon as she saw her, Laurie gave her the biggest, brightest smile she could.
Cam smiled. “Hi everyone,” she said. Then she held her hand out to Laurie. Laurie came right over to her and Cam hugged her tightly.
Laurie held her hand out to the other young girl there.
“This is Janelle,” she addressed Cam. “I don’t think l introduced you to her at the club last week. And this is Tommy. He was at the party.”
Cam shook hands with them.
“Weren’t you sitting on the couch?” she asked Tommy.
He nodded. “That was me.”
“What happened out there? Where were you?” Laurie asked. “Preston was frantic.”
“We were lucky,” Neil started. “We were waiting for Ken’s men to pack everything up and Cam and Ken started talking about how to set up a shop, so he took us outside to show Cam his fire-bins and all of a sudden, this helicopter flew over and a whole team of Mounties showed up at the compound. We were right next to the woods, so we just slipped away. The helicopter flew over a couple times but he didn’t see us, but my car’s still there.”
“Damn!” Billy swore, his hands balled into fists. “As soon as they check the registration, they’ll come for you.”
“Is there stuff in the house?” Laurie asked, fear on her face.
“There’s some in my room,” Billy admitted. “Not a lot, but enough. What about your room?”
“No drugs. We did them all the other night, but all my pipes are there.”
“Damn. We’re really screwed. I’ve got a little in my room, too.” He balled his fists and turned around quickly. “Why the hell is this happening?”
“It’s too late to worry about the whys. Now we should be thinking of the what nows!” Cam reminded them.
“We can’t go back to the house,” Neil decided.
“Do you think Rosie would know where we can crash?”
“Preston will have to call her and find out. I think we should all lie low for a while,” Neil said, looking at the others in the room. Everyone nodded.
Neil went over to the cabinet and opened the doors.
“Well, at least we’ve got your coke,” he said with a sigh. There were still a large supply of packets lying in there on one shelf but only three on another. “How much did you want?” he asked Cam.
“Six bags of coke,” she answered.
“Sure that will be enough?” he asked.
“It will have to be, won’t it?” She stared into his eyes.
He went over to the cabinet and took out six packages. There were quite a few packets left in there.
�
�Where are you going?” Laurie asked.
“Away,” was Cam’s answer.
“Going back to the States?” she asked.
Cam took a step back. “What’s with the twenty questions?” she inquired, looking from face to face.
Laurie bowed her head. “I was just wondering.”
“You know I’m not accustomed to answering a lot of questions.” She took a breath. “I’ll be back when I get here.”
“But you know we like to keep track of each other,” Laurie added.
“I don’t need anyone keeping track of me.” Cam scowled.
“Sorry,” Neil said. “I hear you, Cam. Here, have some of this, on the house. After what we went through this morning, I think we deserve this.” Neil slid a package of white powder across the counter to her. He also slid a short straw with it.
“Coke?”
Neil nodded. He opened the package and started to razor out a couple lines on the counter.
“Well, I won’t turn down a free hit,” she said. She licked her finger, placed it at the end of one of the lines, and brought it to her tongue. Yes, it was coke.
“One for everyone,” he said as he took his hit and handed Cam the straw.
Cam sniffed up the coke. She savored its freeze and handed the straw to Laurie. One by one, they each took a hit. She noticed that the young girl declined.
“Nice shit,” Billy said. “He’s sending better stuff every time.”
“Yes, it’s a lot purer,” agreed Cam.
Suddenly there were sounds of a scuffle upstairs and loud voices.
“Shit,” Neil exclaimed. “What’s all that?”
They listened.
“I think we’re being busted,” Billy said, his eyes wide.
Everyone looked around for somewhere to run but the windows were all boarded up and there was only one set of stairs. There were no hiding places.
Cam took her gun out of her belt, dropped it onto the floor, and kicked it under the table.
There were police coming down the stairs, their guns drawn.
“You are all under arrest. Put your hands on your head and get down on your knees.”
Cam looked around. These were not Mounties. These were province or city police.
Holy fuck, she thought, how do I get out of this without blowing my cover?
Cam, Neil, the two younger people, and Laurie, sank to their knees and put their hands on their heads. The other man, Billy, started to balk, but the presence of the police guns stopped him. He finally knelt, too. They were all frisked.
“Whose purse is this?” one asked picking up Cam’s shoulder bag.
Shit. “It’s mine,” Cam admitted.
The officer opened it and looked inside. “Are you sure you want to claim it?” he asked.
“My ID’s in there, too,” Cam mumbled. How could she deny it was hers?
Cam felt handcuffs tighten around one wrist, then both hands were brought behind her back and the other handcuffed as well.
“Hey,” one of the officers said loudly. “Whose gun is this?” He snapped a rubber glove onto his hand, then reached down and picked up the gun. He slipped it into a plastic bag and handed it off to a superior. “No one wants to claim it?”
Everyone was silent, although Laurie glanced at Cam, then down to the floor.
One of the officers pulled Cam to her feet. Within minutes all six of them were shackled and being led upstairs. There had to be at least ten officers. Upstairs, Preston was also handcuffed and awaiting transport. The look on his face was a combination of fear and disgust.
Cam, Laurie, and Janelle were put in one patrol car, the other three guys in another. Preston was taken in the main patrol car. Cam sat there silently as Laurie had tears running down her face and Janelle was crying.
* * * *
When they got to the police station, they were unshackled and all put in a holding cell. They’d be taken from there, one by one, to be processed.
“What’s gonna happen now?” Laurie asked as she sidled closer to Cam.
“They’ll take your names and addresses and fingerprint you. They’ll ask a lot of questions, but you don’t have to answer anything without a lawyer present. They’ll try to make you confess to all sorts of things, but remember, you don’t have to say anything except your name.”
Janelle came up to Laurie. Tears were running down her face. Laurie put her arms around her and held her tightly.
“It’ll be okay, honey,” she whispered. “You didn’t do anything.”
“Will they let me call my mom?” she asked between whimpers.
“Yes. Just don’t let them make you confess to anything.”
Two police officers entered the cell block.
“Ladies first,” the patrol officer stated when he came to unlock the cell. Cam looked at Laurie and Janelle, who were both scared out of their minds. Cam nodded to them and turned to go with the officer.
She was led into a smaller room, asked her name and address, where she worked, and a few other items of identification. She listed Maggie as her next-of-kin and Maggie’s address as her home and Maggie’s psychiatric clinic as her place of employment. She didn’t mention her new address.
They emptied the contents of her purse onto the counter. Her wallet still had her old Maryland driver’s license in it. Of course, none of her new address or her government ID was there. She’d known enough to leave those at home. A female officer returned all but her wallet and the drugs to her bag.
“Quite a lot of drugs in here,” the older, male officer noted. He slit open one of the packages and dropped a small pile of the powder into a test bottle he had on the desk. The liquid in the vial immediately turned a bright blue.
“Cocaine,” he told the female officer who assisted him. She wrote that on the form they’d started to fill out. “Six packages.” He turned to Cam.
“Anything else you want to admit to?”
Cam shook her head.
“An American, eh?” the interviewing officer asked. “Today was not the day to come across the border, was it?”
Cam again shook her head as the other officer laid out the cards to take her fingerprints.
That done, the first officer said, “I want to take a blood test. Is that okay?”
Cam knew she could refuse but figured it wouldn’t make a difference and would show that she was being cooperative. She nodded.
The female officer took out the equipment and, in a few minutes, had vial of Cam’s blood.
“Okay, up against that wall.” The first officer indicated a step in front of a wall with height lines across it. He handed her a board with plastic letters spelling her name, the date, and a case number. Her picture was taken, both front and side.
Then she was handed an orange jumpsuit and a large plastic bag.
“Put this on and put your street clothes in the bag. You can write your name on the front.”
There was another small room off to the side. The officer motioned to it and Cam went in to change. She knew there were cameras watching her, but what choice did she have?
The female officer stood at the door watching. “No bra,” she said as Cam started to get into the jumpsuit. Cam sighed, took off her bra, and proceeded to change.
Once that was done and her bag of clothes was taken, she was led into another office. A higher-ranking officer was sitting behind the desk. He motioned for her to sit down. She waited while he read through the forms she’d filled out.
“May I say something?” Cam asked.
“I know. You were framed. Your friend brought you to that house and you didn’t know what it was,” the officer said sarcastically. “I’m sorry, but there was a lot of cocaine in your purse, so that alibi won’t work.”
“No, I was going to ask if I can make a phone call.”
“We’ll get to it.” He asked a few more questions.
Cam sat there silently as the officer reread her papers a second time.
“What are you doing in
Magog?” he finally asked.
“Taking some time away from Baltimore. This was sort of a vacation,” Cam replied.
“Why Magog?” he asked next.
“It was a small city. I was looking for a quiet place to get my head together. I needed the solitude.”
Another officer walked into the room and handed him a sheet of paper. The interviewer read it through and looked up at Cam.
“I see this isn’t your first arrest,” he said. “You’ve been imprisoned in Maryland for selling cocaine. Now you’re arrested here for buying it, or were to taking it to sell?”
She looked into his face, but he was reading the arrest report again.
“I think you’ll find Canadian prisons a little different from American,” he said. He took a deep breath. “You’re in time to be seen by the judge this afternoon. He will decide how long your stay is with us.”
Cam was surprised. He motioned to the other officer. “Seven.”
The other officer pulled Cam to her feet and ushered her through the hallways of the station. They entered a cell block, stopped at one door, and he opened it. It was to a small cell with a bed and toilet.
“These are your accommodations for your stay with us.” He waited until Cam had entered and closed the door behind her.
The door to the cell was solid metal with a small window with a shade that could only be opened from the outside. The lock in the door clicked much too loudly to her ears. It recalled memories of when she had first been arrested back in Baltimore.
She sat down on the bunk. How was she going to contact Jean-René? When Michael got home and she wasn’t there, she’d surely think to ask around, wouldn’t she?
Chapter 22
A half hour later, Cam heard someone at her door, a key was turned, and the door opened.
“Come on,” the jailor said. “It’s time to meet the judge.”
Cam was taken from the cell and ushered downstairs to a large room. Neil, Billy, Preston, and Laurie were there. A judge was sitting behind a desk.
The judge looked over at his clerk who handed him a packet of papers. He scanned them and looked around.
“The quest for drugs wasn’t very successful today, was it?” he asked looking at the five. “Mr. Shermer, Mr. Alison, Mr. Troup, Ms. Andrews, and Ms. Spaulding; approach the bench please.”
Bodies Out Back Page 15
