Читать книгу Birds of a Feather - Don Easton - Страница 11

Earl Porter heard the light knock on his door. It had only been twenty minutes since the policewoman had left. He picked up her card from his coffee table and looked at it. Corporal Connie Crane. The knock came again.

“Who is it?” he yelled.

The quiet, but persistent knock continued.

Porter cautiously made his way to the door and looked through the peephole. What he saw was a young girl dressed in a Girl Guide uniform. He breathed a sigh of relief, unlocked the door, and opened it.

Two men burst inside. One pointed a pistol at him while the other brandished a hunting knife. The man with the knife mockingly said, “We have something to discuss, Señor Porter.”

Connie Crane and Jack Taggart were walking out of the courthouse together when Connie received a call on her cellphone. Jack saw the shocked look on her face as she listened.

“I was just there,” she said. “Less than two hours ago … I was interviewing him over a missing person … his girlfriend … Lily Rae.”

Connie paused and stared at Jack suspiciously and added, “Jack Taggart from Intelligence asked me to talk to him. Before this morning, I had never heard of the guy. I’m with Taggart now … not a problem, we’ll both be there.” After Connie hung up, she stood quietly staring at Jack.

“What’s up?” asked Jack.

“What’s up? You mean you’re going to stand here and tell me you don’t know?”

“If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking. Why are you looking at me like that? What’s going on?”

“That was Wilson from VPD Homicide. After I left Porter’s this morning, a maid went in to water plants because she thought he was still out of town. She found him tied and gagged to a kitchen chair … with his throat slit.”

“What the hell? I had nothing to do with it. I was in court. You know that. I’m trying to find Lily Rae. I didn’t want the guy who could tell us where she is, getting murdered. Think about it.”

Connie paused for a moment, biting her lip as she pondered the situation before replying, “Yeah, okay, I believe you.

“You should.”

“Shit, don’t blame me for being suspicious. It’s not like you don’t have a long history for doing things you shouldn’t … and don’t give me that act surprised, show concern, deny, deny, deny routine. There have been far too many bodies turning up around you and far too many coincidences.”

“So … how’s it feel with the shoe on the other foot?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well … you know I’m going to have to be truthful when I talk to Wilson. You were the last person to see him alive. You then came to see me and appeared angry. As I recall, you even made some comment about feeling justified smacking him around. Jesus, CC. Why did you do it? You must have known you would get caught.”

“What the fuck? Jack! I didn’t! It was just a coincidence that —”

“A coincidence?” Jack grinned. “Where have I heard that word before?”

Connie scowled at Jack. “You prick. Quit screwing with me.”

Connie and Jack arrived at the condo building and a uniformed member of the Vancouver Police Department opened the lobby door to let them in. Minutes later, Detective Wilson came out in the hallway to talk to them outside of Porter’s penthouse.

Jack told Wilson what had prompted his interest in Porter, as well as Drug Section’s past interest in Porter and his associate, Clive Slater.

“Business interests in Mexico,” mused Wilson. “We already ran the footage on the apartment security cameras. The cameras show two men sneaking in through the underground garage this morning. They both look dark and I was thinking they were Aboriginal, but now that I think of it, they do look Mexican. One looked up at the cameras. I expected him then to try and hide his face. It was the opposite. The asshole sneered into the camera and laughed.”

“He sneered and laughed?” said Jack, incredulously.

“We don’t have sound, but you can tell he did. His sneer is one I won’t forget, either.”

“Let’s nickname him El Burla,” said Jack.

“Al who?” asked Wilson.

“El Burla. The Spanish word for sneer is burla.”

“Sounds good,” replied Wilson.

“You’ve got their faces, then?” noted Connie.

“El Burla for sure. Stocky, black hair covering the tops of his ears, and a very flat and wide nose. He acted like he thought he was invincible. As if he thought we couldn’t touch him. I’ll love showing a jury the camera footage once we catch him. The other guy’s image isn’t quite as clear. I’ll have to see if we can enhance it.”

“Porter was really paranoid when I came to see him,” said Connie. “Now it makes sense. He knew somebody was after him. The thing is, he wouldn’t open the door, even for me, until I held my badge up to the peephole.”

“The door isn’t damaged, so maybe he trusted whoever he let in,” noted Wilson.

“Are you going to grab Clive Slater for questioning?” asked Jack.

“Definitely.” Wilson looked at Connie. “Maybe you and I should work together. You for the missing girlfriend and me for her boyfriend’s homicide.”

“Sounds good to me,” replied Connie. “Let’s hope it doesn’t turn into a double homicide.” She looked at Jack. “Anything to add?”

Jack shook his head. “Not now. You two do your thing, but keep me apprised. I’m willing to help out with a UC approach if it is warranted. Maybe on Slater or whoever else surfaces.”

“You said a UC was tried on Slater before,” said Connie. “It didn’t work.”

“There are different approaches or styles to UC work,” replied Jack.

“Yeah, go figure,” said Connie. “And please, tell me, what would your style —” Connie quit talking as Jack walked past her a short distance down the hallway and gingerly picked up a small piece of cardboard.

“What is it?” asked Wilson.

“A cut-out picture of a Girl Guide,” said Jack. “Explains why Porter opened his door.”

“It does?” asked Wilson. He looked at Connie and she shrugged.

Moments later, both Wilson and Connie took turns peeking through the peephole in Porter’s door while Jack remained in the hall holding the picture up close to the peephole.

“I’d have sworn it was a real kid standing in the hall,” muttered Connie.

Wilson went to Clive Slater’s apartment and found he wasn’t home, so he stuck a business card in his door. A couple of hours later, Wilson received a call from a lawyer by the name of Jenkins who said he was representing Slater and asked what it was about. Wilson told him and Jenkins said he would call back. Minutes later, Jenkins called again and said Slater had agreed to meet Wilson as long as Jenkins was present. Wilson tried to set up an appointment immediately, but Jenkins said his calendar was full. Eventually the lawyer agreed to meet at Wilson’s office the following afternoon at three o’clock.

Connie called Jack to let him know.

“Four hours after a murder and he’s already lawyered up without Wilson even talking to him?” Jack was incredulous.

“Yeah, how about that.”

“You can bet his hands are dirty, too,” muttered Jack.

“Sounds like it. With his lawyer, I doubt Wilson will get much, but who knows. Wilson does have a good rep for being sharp. I’m going down there tomorrow when he interviews him.”

“You going to interview him, too?”

“Not until I hear what he says to Wilson. Later, if need be, we can use Lily Rae as another excuse for me to interview him. Wilson might touch on her disappearance because they would expect us to know she was Porter’s girlfriend, but we will likely hold back on any serious questioning in her regard until later. Maybe catch him without a lawyer. I’ll be down at VPD to confer with Wilson if he feels the need. Would be good if we could reach you, as well.”

“I’ll be available on my cell,” replied Jack. “Tonight, if you don’t have any objections, I’m going to drive out and tell Marcie that Porter was murdered.”

“Not a problem.”

“What about Lily Rae’s mother?” asked Jack. “She should be told, too.”

“Go ahead. Saves me from telling her. Let me know if she says anything that will help. Also, if Lily uses a computer at home, I’d like to get it. Same for anything else you see that might help.”

“Will do … and tell Wilson good luck.”

“Don’t get your hopes up. With the lawyer there, I bet it will be a short interview.”

“I’m sure you’re right,” agreed Jack before hanging up. He brooded for a moment as he formulated a plan on how to get Slater to talk.

Slater won’t think it’s a short interview when I talk to him. In fact, I bet he will remember it for the rest of his life …