Flashback (9 page)

'Going golfing when you get off work?'

He looked around. 'Not me. That was there when I came on at twelve. The detectives found 'em at the motel where you caught the Hanson kid.'
 

I hadn't seen any clubs in the motel room but then, I hadn't looked in the closet. But I checked them out anyway. A fine-looking set including three different putters. And the monogram on the bag was JW, the same one I had noticed on Waites' shirtfront at the funeral parlour.
 

 

 

 

CHAPTER 5

 

 

The constable said, 'Don't touch it, it's tied in with that homicide this morning.'

'I know. And I'd be happier if it was out of the way until the detectives can fingerprint it. Could you put it somewhere?'

'Sure.' He picked the bag up carefully, putting both hands on the soft sides where his prints wouldn't blur any that already existed, and carried it into the inspector's office.
 

I thanked him and went back to the car and headed down the highway. Daylight was beginning to seep into the sky. It was almost fully light when I reached the Harbour and drove through town, slowing down to check from the car that no windows had been broken in any of the Main
 

Street properties. Normally I did it on foot but I was tired and I didn't stop, just went up to my house and let Sam out to seek again around the property.
 

There was nobody around and I stopped on the dock for a minute or two, watching the night mist dispersing on the surfaces of the lake and listening to the redwing blackbirds in the reeds. I was one lucky man, I figured.
 

But I was still alert, so I sent Sam into the house ahead of me to check it was clear before I went through to the kitchen and put some coffee on while I made the phone calls I had planned.
 

I let the baby announcements wait until I'd called George Horn in Toronto. He's a one of a kind guy, an Ojibway from the local reserve. He saved my hide one time, using skills a non-Indian doesn't have. Since then he has out-performed a whole crowd of city-bred hopefuls by graduating high in his law class. Now he was articling in the Crown Attorney's office in Toronto, on a fast track to a judgeship, I reckon. A lot of guys would get swelled-headed to have done what he's done but there's not an ounce of arrogance in him. He's stayed the same as he was when he ran the gas pump as a kid at the marina. I reached him at his apartment.
 

'Hi, George, Reid Bennett. How are you?'

'Hey, Reid, good to hear from you. How's Fred?'

I told him about the baby and he congratulated me. Then I asked, 'Do you have any time to do me a favour?'

'I can make time. What's up?'

'Well, there's three people I'd like to know more about. One of them is in custody for drug trafficking. Should be simple to chase him up.'
 

'In custody where?' He doesn't waste words.

'Parry Sound. The detectives will be following up, I guess, but it would be faster for you, he's a Toronto resident.'

He wrote down Hanson's name and then I told him about the other two. 'This is a bit more complicated. First, a guy called John Waites. He's a lawyer.'
 

'Why are you interested?'

'His car was stolen and recovered with a dead woman in the trunk. She's a Parry Sound resident so they're following up, but this guy identified her as his wife at first, and now the dead woman's husband and Waites' wife are missing.'
 

We talked it over and he made notes. 'I've seen his name around the courts,' he said thoughtfully. 'He's a criminal lawyer. He's good. You think he killed this woman?'
 

I explained about the golf club and the concussion and he was quiet a moment. 'This guy Hanson, he had the clubs, right?'

'In his room at the motel. Only the driver was missing and that could have been the murder weapon.'

George was thoughtful. 'You'd think he'd have enough moxie to get rid of them if he'd killed that woman.'

'That's the way I see it. The other thing is, he claims, naturally, that he doesn't know anything about the PCP in his room. There could be a case that whoever dosed him up with the stuff also left the clubs there to incriminate him.'
 

'That's what a good lawyer would claim. You'd never get a jury to convict on a case like that.'

'Yeah, well, that's why I want to know about Waites. If he's a criminal lawyer he knows his share of rounders, guys who might off his wife for him and stick the blame on this dumb kid.'
 

'But you said it was a woman from Parry Sound killed.'

'She and the dead woman are very much alike to look at. If my theory is right, a contract guy may have goofed.'

He digested that in a moment's silence, then asked, 'So where does this Marcia Tracy fit in?'

'She knows both men. No law against that. But she knows Waites well enough to drive him out to the highway when his car was recovered and she had dinner with the Hanson kid the same night.'
 

He was silent again, recalling his days at the marina, trying to recall Marcia Tracy. 'She the woman who owns the old Dalton place on the west side of the lake, half a mile down from the lock?'
 

'That's where she lives when she's here. I don't know anything about any Dalton.'

'Before you came to the Harbour, Reid. He was a banker. He was widowed and married again. He died in Toronto around ten years back. I remember it involved pills and there was some discussion about did he fall or was he pushed. I guess Marcia Tracy is his widow.'
 

'Different name,' I objected.

'She's a big F feminist, in case you hadn't noticed. Likely that's her maiden name.'

'Apparently she's big in the film business in Toronto. A producer. Fred says she's well known, a ballbreaker with a couple of husbands behind her.'
 

'What's the name of her company?'

'Northlands Productions, I don't have an address.'

'OK. I'll look into it. Some of it I can do myself but I'll get Bill Serrel to do any legwork. Remember him?'

'Hell, yes.' Serrel was a sixtyish ex-cop. On retirement he had gone to work for the Crown Attorney's office. He was a quiet, thorough man, inclined to spend too much of his lunch-hour in the beer parlour, but aside from that a sound guy. 'Tell him hi,' I said.
 

'Will do. I'm coming to the Harbour tonight. It's my mom's birthday tomorrow so I've begged a day off to add to the weekend. I'll bring what I can find out with me, unless I hit something vital. Then I'll call.'
 

'Thanks, George. I owe you one.'

'
De nada.
See you tonight, and give my best to Fred.'
 

I hung up and called my sister in Toronto. She was just heading out to her job as creative director at an advertising agency but she cheered with delight at news of the baby and put her husband on to say hello. He's a Toronto homicide detective by the name of Elmer Svensen. I played Cupid for them a couple of years ago when Elmer and I worked on a case together in Toronto and he met Lou, who was divorced. He made all the usual noises about the baby and then I had a word of shop with him.
 

'Ever run into a lawyer name of John Waites?'

'Yeah. Tough sonofabitch in court. You've seen him there.'

'Don't remember him. It's been three years, remember.'

'He's been around longer than that. I recall he was in on a case of yours two, three years before then. Junior counsel representing that bank robber you shot.'
 

'Kershaw?'

'Yeah, that's the guy. Took a woman hostage. You got your picture in the papers over that one.'

'That's the guy who skipped his guard on a day pass from the pen, right?'

'The same one. Crazy, eh? We lock the bastards up and the parole board says they can go to ball games with some dopey baby-sitter.'

'And Waites was his lawyer.'

Elmer picked up my tone. 'What's he been up to, Waites?'

I filled him in on the homicide and he clicked his tongue. 'You know, from this end, it sounds to me like Waites could've been paying somebody to off his wife only they got the wrong girl.'
 

'That's what I'm thinking, too. Any chance you could do a little checking for me, Elmer, See if she was rich or if he had a big insurance policy on her.'
 

'I can do that. Although you've already got a motive. A guy like Waites wouldn't want a divorce. Under Ontario family law he'd have to give her half of everything if they'd've split up. He's a high liver. He wouldn't want her cutting into that.'
 

'Well, he's not exactly living high, taking his vacation at Pickerel Point Lodge. It's pretty fancy by our standards up here but the Côte d'Azur it ain't.'
 

'I'll ask around,' Elmer said. 'Gotta go. Louise has got her hand on the doorknob.'

'Thanks, Elmer. 'Predate it.'

The next call I made was to Fred's parents. They live in the interior of British Columbia, which is three hours behind us on the clock. But her mother answered, sleepily.
 

'Good morning, Ann. It's Reid. I wouldn't have woken you up at four-thirty but there's great news. You're the grandmother of a beautiful little girl.'
 

'Oh Reid, that's wonderful.' Her soft West of England accent still persists after forty years in Canada. 'How's Fred?'

I gave her all the details and she asked all the right questions. Then I asked the ugly one. 'How's Harry today?'

'Still asleep, He had a bad night, Reid. God forgive me, I sometimes wish for his sake that it was over.'

'Maybe the good news will give him fresh heart.'

'I hope so. Look, it's impossible to travel right now. But as soon as you can, I hope you'll come out and see us. He'd love that.'
 

'Week after next unless something unforeseen crops up. Take care of yourself.'

'Bless you, Reid. I'll send Fred some flowers as soon as the store opens.'

That reminded me what I had to do: order some flowers and put an announcement in the paper. But it was too early to do either for another hour so I took my coffee into the living-room and sat on the couch. An hour later I was waking up, the full cup still in front of me. I got another cup and showered again and changed, then called and ordered roses at the Parry Sound florist's. I also placed an announcement in the paper. After that I put Sam in the scout car and drove down to Main Street.
 

Things move slowly in a resort town. The bait shop was open, of course. Gilles gets there at first light to be on hand for the early fishermen, but the grocery was just opening and the bank and liquor store employees were arriving for their ten o'clock starts. I stopped in to chat to Gilles, telling him that Hanson wanted to compensate him.
 

'I lost four rods an' five reels is all. I'll make up a bill,' he said angrily. 'But y'know, Chief, that young guy, 'e should do community service, 'im. Make 'im clean up in some place messy.'
 

'It could come to that. He's up on a couple other charges.' I was going to leave but he remembered Fred and I shared the news with him, which was a faster way of getting it around town than taking an ad in the newspaper.
 

It worked that way. I had trouble getting out of the station where I went to check the teletype. There was nothing on it about Kershaw. He was still at large but the phone rang continually with well-wishers. I managed to call Fred, who sounded strong and happy. I told her I'd be in at two o'clock and when I'd hung up I put the phone on the answering box, asking people to ring Parry Sound OPP if they couldn't reach me. I didn't want the air filled with congratulations and I'd be in touch with Parry Sound myself to pick up anything worthwhile. Next I took a quick run to the Northont Motel to see if the owner remembered any visitors to Hanson's cabin. He didn't and seemed glad of the fact. The cabin was locked and sealed with an OPP sticker, which had angered the owner even further.
 

I went back to the station and called Parry Sound to talk to Sergeant Holland. 'He's headed down your way, Reid,' the constable told me. 'He's going to get a statement from this Waites guy whose car was stolen.'
 

'Waites is still here?'

'Guess he must be. That's where Bill's headed.'

'Thanks. I'll join him there.'

Pickerel Point Lodge was busy. Four couples were out playing tennis and other people were getting ready to take their boats out but they were all comfortable Mom and Pop types, not like Waites. A yuppie like him would have been as out of place here as an ocelot at a kid's pet show. Coming here had been a real concession on his part. Maybe he really had been trying to please his wife. And maybe she had been genuinely difficult to get along with. But had he set her up for a killing?
 

There was no police car outside, so I parked and got out, taking Sam with me. It was going to be Holland's investigation. I would just wait and work with him, making sure Waites didn't leave.
 

Mrs James was in the lobby and she told me that Waites hadn't been down for breakfast. There was a 'do not disturb' sign on his doorknob. I asked her to head him off and call me if he came down, then walked through the lounge and out to the back of the building. The lounge gave on to a broad deck with recliner chairs on it and a sandy beach in front. A couple of pleasant-looking young mothers were sitting on the deck watching their children play at the water's edge. To the right was the long wall of the building, cut off from the deck by a five-foot wooden fence. To fill time while I waited for Holland I went down the steps in front of the deck and walked around the building the long way. That was when I noticed the rope.
 

It was the primitive fire-escape from an upstairs room, a two-inch rope with knots every few feet. Normally it should have been coiled under the window of the room but in one case it was hanging down, reaching almost to the ground.