“You come up with anything?” asked Jack.

“As a matter of fact, I think I did,” Connie replied as she sat down. “I may have figured out how they found Amanda.”

“How?” said Jack, feeling the guilt contract his stomach and paralyze his lungs.

“I interviewed her this morning. She said she told the secretary at Queen Elizabeth her new address so some mail could be sent to her.”

“I told her not to tell anyone,” lamented Jack.

“I know. She told me, but said the secretary is an older lady, really nice, and would never tell anyone. I met with the secretary at her house. She is a nice lady. Unfortunately, too nice to think like a criminal.”

“Meaning?” asked Jack.

“Her office is open to everyone passing by. She stores the files in a cabinet that she locks at the end of the day. She doesn’t lock her office at lunchtime and can’t even remember if she put Amanda’s address away promptly or left it on her desk until later.”

Jack put his elbow on the table and covered his eyes with his hand. He wished he were alone right now. I should have told her that someone else would get her mail…

“It’s a big school,” continued Connie. Lots of students and lots of teachers coming and going. Everybody busy and nobody paying attention. You know how it is.”

“Yeah, I know how it is,” replied Jack, looking up. “How is Amanda doing?”

“Okay, all things considered. They are releasing her this morning. Her parents showed up and are taking her back with them to Victoria.”

“Seems soon,” commented Laura.

“I thought so, too, but I guess the hospitals are busy and her injuries are not serious. She will need to make a lot of visits to a plastic surgeon.”

“I suggested she go live with her parents before, but she refused,” said Jack.

“She’s not now. She doesn’t even want to go back to Gabriel’s to pick up her stuff.”

“I don’t blame her,” said Laura.

“When we’re done here, I’ll call the hospital and see if Laura and I can pick up some of it for her,” said Jack. “At least her purse and some clothes.”

“No need,” replied Connie. “I got uniform to do it.” She glanced at her watch and added, “Actually I imagine she’s on her way to the ferry as we speak.”

“What about her car?” asked Jack.

“Uniform delivered that to the hospital for her, as well. Her mother is driving it back so everything is looked after for the moment.”

“Anything from the punks who were arrested last night?” asked Sammy.

“No,” replied Connie. “They were demanding lawyers before I could finish reading them their rights.”

“Any evidence to link them to Sy?” asked Jack.

“Nothing,” replied Connie, tapping her pen on the edge of the desk while she pondered what could be done next.

“At least you guys got lucky last night,” said Sammy. “Hell of a good coincidence that the slimeballs ended up in the hospital next to their victim.”

“Yeah, sometimes we get lucky,” responded Connie. Her mind toyed over the word coincidence. She looked across the table at Jack. Coincidence was a word she knew all too well from past investigations. There were always coincidences when Jack was involved.

“So what’s next?” asked Sammy.

“We’re no further ahead on identifying Cocktail than we were months ago,” replied Connie. “I hate to think that your UC is our only option. It might be easier for your informant to wangle a meeting with Cocktail than either of you. Maybe your informant could wear a wire.”

“Out of the question,” replied Jack. “We promised our friend that we would never divulge his or her identity.”

“Witness protection?” suggested Connie.

Jack shook his head and said, “Our informant has lots of family members in the lower mainland. The Brotherhood knows a lot of them. If our source is burned, they’ll kill someone else if they can’t get their hands on the source. You saw what they did to Amanda. Imagine what they would do to one of their own who turned. Laura and I should be able to gain Sy’s trust. We’ve worked on smarter people than him.”

“Don’t forget,” said Sammy. “We’ve still got a dirty narc someplace.”

“I always presume there are dirty cops someplace,” replied Jack. “It pays to be careful all the time.”

“Even if you gain Sy’s trust,” said Connie, while glancing at Laura’s bare legs, “how do you plan on getting him to introduce you to Cocktail?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Sy met him before. With Varrick out of the way, maybe Sy will be meeting him again.”

“So what will you do?” asked Connie, while watching Jack closely. “Follow Sy and hope he meets Cocktail someplace like a park where you could bump into them or something?”

Jack’s face remained unchanged and she wondered if her suspicions were unfounded.

“We need Sy’s trust first,” said Jack. “Then I’ll say we have a buddy, maybe Sammy, who is interested in setting up a lab. Do something to see if we can draw Cocktail out.”

“I could handle that roll,” replied Sammy. “How big is your buget?”

“Connie says we’re only authorized for twenty grand.”

“That’s not much,” commented Sammy.

“They’re not buying dope,” said Connie. “It should be lots to rent an apartment for a couple of months.” She looked at Jack and said, “Isn’t it? Things are tight. I had to beg to get that much.”

“We’ll see,” replied Jack. “I’ve already spent half of it.”

“What the hell you talking about? You haven’t even moved in yet!”

“Damage deposit, months rent in advance, furniture rental, renting a moving truck, dishes … other stuff,” replied Jack.

“That shouldn’t be much more than five grand,” said Connie. She looked at Jack and said, “What’s the other stuff?”

“Two new plasma televisions and two cases of Russian vodka,” replied Jack with a grin aimed at Sammy.

“What? You’re not serious?”

“Laura and I can never agree on which channel to watch, so we decided we would each get our own set.” Jack cast another smile at Sammy and added, “Also thought we should have some booze around in case we throw a party.”

“Yeah, right,” replied Connie. “You had me going there. I thought you were serious.”

Sammy grinned also. He was a trained undercover operator. He knew that Jack was serious … at least for what was purchased.

“Anyway,” continued Jack, “as long as we remain in the background and make sure we stay out of court, it could work. Speaking of court, I have a trial coming up in Victoria in a couple of weeks. The nutcase I bought coke from. It won’t interfere with doing the UC here.”

“One of the punks arrested last night lived in Sy’s apartment building,” said Connie. “I expect the three of them will be released soon to await trial.”

“So what,” replied Jack. “He’s never seen my face.”

Connie looked at Jack. I wonder if he’s ever heard you …

“What are you thinking?” asked Jack.

“Doesn’t matter, I guess,” replied Connie. “The guy has two broken collarbones. He can’t even wipe his own ass. I heard the nurses say he was moving back home with his parents so they could look after him.”

“Certainly a couple of lucky breaks last night,” said Jack.

Connie ignored the pun and said, “Getting Sy to introduce you to Cocktail won’t be easy.”

“We’ll figure out a way,” said Jack. “We’re operators. It’s what we do. Sy isn’t all that bright. He uses the kids, but in reality, Cocktail and the bikers use him. Getting him to trust us will be … like a walk in the park,” he added, giving Connie a shallow smile.

His remark caused her to drop her pen. She stared back at Jack, not bothering to pick it up. His face was without expression but she thought she saw a slight nod.

Coincidence, my ass!

Chapter Twenty-Two

At nine o’clock Friday morning, Jack and Laura, driving an SUV, arrived at Sy’s apartment complex followed by a local moving truck. Sy gave them the keys to their apartment and the underground parking garage. By three o’clock that afternoon they were completely moved in and unpacked. Their furniture was rented and their dishes and cutlery had been purchased from Walmart.