Final Act (21 page)

“
Did you mix with many
powerful players
when you were on the squad?
”

“No
.
The squad doesn’t let anyone get too close to the big boys until they got a lot of experience under their belts
, there’s t
oo much to lose if something goes wrong.  I was a
side
player, hanging out at the clubs, monitoring the young crowd, seeing who was who. 
Most of the
kids were out for a good time.  The serious users were on the street, not in the nightclubs.”

“Meet anyone you knew?”

“No.  In my neighbourhood, they didn’t play with drugs, they took them very seriously.  
T
he ones I watched were a different breed altogether. 
I h
elped one mixed up kid one evening.  Watched how the two guys she was with were setting her up.  Followed them out to the parking lot, scared the shit out of the punks
,
and drove her home.  She got out of the car without so much as a thank you.  Lived in one of those homes
a few miles from your
neighbourhood, can’t remember what street it was now.
There was s
omeone behind the curtain
in the upstairs
watching though. 
I walked the girl to the front door and
n
ever laid eyes on her again.”

“Watch your
back, Roger.
  Don’t take any risks.”

“The squad’s got my back.  If someone wants me, they’ll smoke them out.  I’m not worried.  What have you got your head buried in?”

“Interview files.  There’s something we’re not seeing.  We should have had our finger on the pulse by now.  I don’t have a good feeling about this one, Roger.
I noticed...
”

“Don’t go getting all superstitious on me.  Something’s bound to turn up soon.  Look,
I’m tired, let’s finish this in the morning and
pack it in for the
night?
”

“Sounds good.  Do you want a drive?”

“No,
I’m going to type up my interview report on Ward before heading out
, b
esides
the fresh air will do me good. It’s only a ten minute walk.”
 

She watched him open
his briefcase that was covered in racing decals
and take out his notes
.
 
“Okay.  See you tomorrow.”

Seven minutes later,
Kate
p
ulled out of the precinct parking lot,
t
ac spinning. 
In less than ten minutes, she was s
liding into
her spot in the condo’s underground parking.  A slow jog u
p the flight of steps,
fast walk across
the lobby,
key out of pocket and into door, lights switched on.  She stood and listened. 
Silence. 
David didn’t come back. 
She wrote on the paper by her phone
,
call locksmith
,
and
headed for her beloved shower. 

***

It was two
hours later
that
a tired Roger put the finishing touches on his report, turned the lights off,
and
waved good-night to
the Duty Sergeant
in lobby.  The night air was cool
, refreshing as he hoped.
The sidewalk was congested with people pouring out of the Metro Centre
after the Rock concert,
it had been a wet one
judging by the high spirits of the crowd.

At the thought of spirits, he quickened his pace and sprinted down the hill, past the row of nightclubs and bars, to the next intersection.  Only five minutes away from a
cold glass of beer and the taped NASCAR race,
he thought, as he waited for the light to change
.
  He heard a shout, turned and saw a group of people hovered over a body lying on the sidewalk. 

Damn, not now. Will this day never end? 

He reached into his jacket for his cell.  His gun and badge
were
locked away in his desk drawer but he doubted he would need either.  As he approached the group, he slowed his pace and put his cell back in his pocket. The person wasn’t injured; he could see him smiling up at the gathered group
, bunch of kids carrying on
. 

He had turned to go when the blow struck.  As he sunk to the sidewalk,
he saw the metal pipe directed
towards his head. 
He tried to dodge
it
by
turning to
the right but
something slammed into his gut;
his body felt
like it was packed in wet sand. 
He felt himself slipping away into darkness. 

***

Hanya hung up the phone frustrated that Kate wasn’t answering at home or at the office.  No sense waiting around, I’ll have to take the bull by the horns and pay them a visit
myself
.
She didn’t like interfering with other people’s lives but what she heard had
last night
made her nervous. 

It was
G
ina
, a 30 year old drug addicted mother of two, who
worked the streets
, that gave her the news
. 
Gina had lived on the reserve until her life began to spiral out of control because of her drug use.  She had contacted Hanya two months ago and asked
about her two children she had left behind with her mother.  After their initial meeting, 
Hanya began to meet with her regularly once at week in the evening at the small downtown park. 
 

She picked up the phone and dialled. 

***

“You’ll never guess who that was,” Susan said
.

“Probably not, so why don’t you just tell me”, Alexis said.

“It was Rev. Hanya. Remember, we were introduced to her at the funeral reception
, charming woman.  She’ll be here in 30 minutes.”

“Did she say why she wanted to meet with us?”

“No.  She asked if
she could come over for a chat, said
i
t wouldn’t take long.”

Alexis returned to Louise Penny’s newest release and immersed herself in the magical village of Three Pines
, re-emerging only at the sound of the intercom.

Susan seated Rev. Hanya on the love seat directly across from them. The first ten minutes were filled with condolences, small talk, and tea until Rev. Hanya laid her cup on the table, refused another éclair, leaned forward and in a very firm, but kind voice informed the two women that there was a very important matter she needed to discuss with them.  

Susan and Alexis leaned forward
.

“It has been brought to my attention, ladies, by a friend of mine, who will remain anonymous, that the two of you have been frequenting a rather unsafe area of the city
during
the evening hours.
”

Susan and Alexis exchange a quick glance.

“The neighbourhood’s a bit risky, but that’s not my concern.  I
t’s the questions you have been asking the ladies who make their living on these streets that’s disturbing.  I usually don’t interfere in other people’s business
but I need to speak to you about your visits with the ladies.”

Two bright spots blossomed on Alexis’ cheeks.

“Y
ou
r questions could be putting you in danger.
My friend informed me
some of
the women are starting to get pissed. 
They
said
the two of
you were scaring their clients
off because they
thought you were mothers on the search for their daughters.  I was asked to tell you, and I’m sorry to give offence, to
take
your geriatric butts off their turf.”

“
Oh goodness, there’s been a misunderstanding”, Susan said. “Once we clear it up with the ladies, there will be no danger.
We’re simply doing research.  We have been asked to take part in a play,
Ladies of the Night
,
one of our friends has written. We thought it would be good to get the true picture of what it’s like to work the streets
.  It
would help to make our acting more authentic.”

Susan turned to Alexis.  “Perhaps we didn’t make the purpose of our questions clear enough.  We’ll have to rectify that.”

Hanya sat mute, too stunned by Susan’s response to reply.  

Alexis chose to remain mute.

“
W
e appreciate your concern but
o
nce the
ladies
realize we have no interest in competing for clientele...”

“Really Susan”, Alexis said.  “Do you honestly think they were, for one moment, concerned about us stealing clients?”

Hanya
b
egan to cough
, n
ot that the other two were aware. 
She was glad she
didn’t take another éclair;
she
could have choked to death.

“Come off it Alexis.  Get real.  Sex knows no boundaries.”

Having caught her breath, Hanya decided it was time to intervene.

“I understand what you are saying, Susan, and I commend your efforts to strive for the most authentic performance in your friend’s play.  An interesting one, no doubt
, and I certainly support
redemptive themes.” 

Not quite a lie.
 

“
Not every role is best researched by hands on method
. 
T
here is a real danger.  My source tells me some of the, leaders, shall we call them, are getting nervous and there’s been talk of ‘
teaching a lesson to the d
o-gooders, one they won’t forget
’
.”
 

“Well, that does change the water on the potatoes,” Susan said.

“Beans, Susan.  Changes the water on the beans,” Alexis said.

Hanya was tempted to get into the act and start rolling her eyes but refrained.

“Yes,” Hanya said, “I’ve been working in the neighbourhood for a couple of years now and most of the people are harmless.  Confused, abandoned, defeated, addicted, unloved, homeless, in need of mental and physical care, but not usually violent.  By a cruel twist of fate, it is their so-called protectors – the drug dealers and pimps – who feed off their need
that are
the dangerous ones.
”
 

Susan paled. 

“I apologize if I was too glib and shallow in my response.  There will be no more nightly visitations.  Thank you for taking the time to warn us.”

“Yes,” Alexis
echoed.

“How is your friend,” Susan asked.  “I’m assuming your source is a friend you’re working with?”

“She’s struggling
.”

“
Sad.  The whole district is sad.  There was one character we kept running across, never spoke to us, mumbled a lot but last night, she spoke to us.  Grabbed me by the arm, commented on my red hair, and then shook her head no, and mumbled, ‘not tall enough’.  I asked her what she meant.  She smiled and said nothing.  I gave her $50.00 and she talked.  Said that someone wasn’t sure if it was a man or woman, with red hair,
could have been a wig, she wasn’t sure,
dressed in a long black coat and fedora hat, stopped her one night and said something about a contract person.  When I asked what kind of contract person
,
she laughed and said I had to be kidding.  I told her I wasn’t and she said the person was looking
for
a hired killer,
someone to take out a black cop who was making a pest of himself. 
I felt my jaw hit my belly button, t
he street lady
smiled
and walked away.
The talk of killing, red hair and the tall figure in the long black
coat
psyched me out and Alexis and I headed for home.”

“Can you describe the
street
lady”, Hanya asked.

“She was thin, wore bangles,
there
must have been 15 or more on her right wrist.  She had a large diver’s watch on her left arm.  She wore a long skirt – purple weave with embroidered red roses
– it was filthy and h
er fingernails were gross but her
hands
had been washed,
hair and teeth brushed.
”