A Delicate Matter. Don Easton
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you do then?”
Jack’s face darkened. “I’ll cross that bridge if and when I need to,” he replied.
Rose stared after him as he walked to his desk. And no doubt that bridge will cross a deep chasm with slippery slopes. Hope for your sake that a body doesn’t show up at the bottom.
Chapter Eleven
Jack and Laura spent most of the day writing reports and exchanging phone calls with Sammy. He confirmed that his team was watching the stash house and Bob’s semi, but had nothing of importance to report.
Late in the afternoon Sammy called again. “It doesn’t look good for us to scoop up a sample of weed before the truck leaves. Neal, Bob, and Roxie have been home all day.”
“Then steal it from Neal when he’s making his last delivery tonight,” Jack suggested. “If he makes two deliveries like he did last night, he should have about seventy-five kilos. Taking that much won’t affect their delivery to Dallas. They’d probably have enough at the stash house to cover it.”
“That would be one hell of a big sample, but as nice as that would be, I don’t think we’ll get a chance to steal any of it,” Sammy replied. “Neal takes it straight from the stash house to home. It’s not like he stops for a beer along the way.”
“Is Benny Saunders still on your team?” Jack asked.
“Yeah … why?”
“He’s a good undercover operator. Get him to help you steal it when Neal is hauling the last load back.”
“How can we do that without Neal knowing we’re on to him?”
“And you call yourself an operator,” Jack said mockingly. “Guess I better get someone in uniform to help you. Do you know Constable Sophie White from Surrey Detachment?”
“We can’t have uniform seize it! They’d be heated up for sure. You don’t want to chance that.”
“That’s not what I had in mind,” Jack said.
Moments later Sammy chuckled as he listened to Jack’s plan.
Minutes after talking with Sammy, Jack received a call from Connie.
“What do you know about a gang called the Cobras?” she asked bluntly.
“Not a lot,” Jack replied. “They’re a low-level street gang, maybe comprising a dozen dealers. Their territory is in New Westminster and they hang out in a bar called the Shot Glass. Why?”
“Do you know one of them by the name of Jamie King?”
“He’s the ringleader. He used to live in Vancouver. Don’t know if he still does or not. At one time they were calling themselves King Cobras, but later it got shortened. They deal a lot of dope on the street, but are still too low level for us to pay much attention to. The Anti-Gang Unit has photos and dossiers on them. We do, too, but ours are a few years old. Theirs might be newer.”
“They do. I’ve already got copies, but like you, they haven’t had much time to work on them.”
“Why are you interested?”
“When I got back to the office this morning, I found out that King has a boat in the same marina as Larry. I did a walk past on the pier. It’s a small speedboat and I saw what looks like blood splatter inside on the stern. It also has twin Evinrude motors and there’s a fresh scrape on one of the cowlings, like from a rock. Everything fits. I’ve got someone watching his boat while I get a warrant to seize it and search his house.”
“That’s fantastic! They’re definitely the type of guys who’d do rips.” Jack smiled at Laura and gave her a thumbs-up. “I knew you were the right person for the job, Connie.”
“Yeah, well, there’s still a long way to go. I showed the photos to Larry. He recognized King from seeing him at the marina, along with another Cobra by the name of Craig Dutton.”
“Dutton’s a skinny little guy they nicknamed Weasel,” Jack said.
“Yeah, I can see the similarity in the photo. Larry made several trips hauling hydro equipment and fertilizer to the island. King and Weasel may have clued in and followed him.”
“How’d Larry respond to seeing the pictures?” Jack asked.
“What do you mean, how’d he respond? He’s thrilled. What’re you getting at?”
“Do you remember how he acted when we told him his brother had been murdered?”
“Yeah. He was upset. Blaming you to start with.”
“Not that,” Jack replied. “It was his demeanour later on. He was angry and thinking of taking matters into his own hands. I called him on it. Remember?”
“I remember, but the poor guy — his brother had just been murdered. Of course he was angry, but he never said he was going to take matters into his own hands.”
“He didn’t say in so many words, but he was thinking it.”
Connie gave an unladylike snort. “Not everybody thinks like you.”
“I’m serious. He’s also not that bright. I suspect doing stupid things comes natural to him.”
“I hope you’re wrong, but even if you’re not, I doubt he’ll get the chance. He’ll be in hospital for another two days and King is already in custody.”
“You’ve caught him?”
“About ten minutes ago. He’s still living in a run-down house in Vancouver. I had an arrest team waiting for him to show up. They’re bringing him in now.”
“That’s great, Connie. Good police work. Let me know how it goes, will you?”
“Be glad to. Maybe you being ordered to watch from the sidelines isn’t a bad thing,” she joked. “This time I managed to bring in a live one.”
“King’s not at your office yet,” Jack cautioned.
Connie laughed. “You asshole. I’ll call you after I interview him.”
That evening, Jack was at home when Cockerill called him. “I got somethin’ you should probably hear,” he said.
“Can you speak up? We’ve got a bad reception. Are you calling from a parkade at some mall?”
“That … that’s not funny,” Cockerill stammered. “Do you wanna hear what I got to say or not?”
Jack could tell by the sound of Cockerill’s voice that he’d been drinking and decided not to fuel the anger. “I’m listening.”
“We found out it’s a chicken-shit gang out of New Westminster that’s been doin’ the rips. They call themselves the Cobras.”
“How do you know it was them?” Jack asked, knowing full well how they knew.
“The cops sort of tipped us off,” Cockerill replied. “They showed pictures to Larry, who recognized two of ’em from being at the marina. Larry’s still in hospital, but called one of the GDs, who went over and talked to him.”
“What are you guys going to do about it?”
“We met with the Cobras a few minutes ago.”
“You should’ve told me before the meeting,” Jack said tersely.
“I didn’t know until I got there, then it was too late to be callin’ anyone. The Cobras hang out at a bar called the Shot Glass. We paid ’em a surprise visit.”
“Bust any skulls?”
“Not yet. ’Cause I’m still gimpin’ around with my cast, I was told to stand six by the door. I wasn’t able to hear everything that was said, but it went smooth like it was supposed