“Yes, it’s the one we always stay at. It’s where Earl was before he took off to another motel last time.”

“Which you can’t remember the name of.”

“I think it had the word Sunset in it. Why is it important?”

“We want to make sure you’re not bullshitting us on anything. The boys will be checking you out to make sure you’re not trying to set us up for a rip or anything. I was told to get details. Any little details that don’t jive … ”

“God, no! After last night … man, I wouldn’t lie to you about anything. I’m being totally straight with you.”

“Good. Keep it that way.”

“I will.” Slater paused for a moment, unsure what to say.

“What’s on your mind?” prodded Jack.

“About El Paso … I guess we can drive down together. It’s best to leave on the Sunday when there is lots of border traffic. Less chance of being checked.”

“Fuck that. I’m not some flunky. I’ll fly down and meet up with you.”

“Oh … yeah. I guess that would be better.”

Jack took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. It was not good news that the motel was one picked by Tio. It could mean they knew the owner and the presence of anyone there to assist Jack could put the investigation … and Jack, into jeopardy.

Let the games begin …

chapter eighteen

Monday morning was busy for Connie Crane. Given the short time frame, she classified her operational plan a priority and had it approved regionally before it was forwarded to Ottawa. She also made calls to the FBI and the DEA in El Paso. Neither agency had any concrete leads to identify Tio. There were lots of “uncles.”

The FBI said they would also check to see if any unidentified female bodies found in the area were a match to Lily Rae, as well as trying to locate the motel she had been taken from. Photos of the man who sneered at the apartment security camera were also transmitted to the FBI.

Wilson had news on two fronts. He said it took their mechanics five hours to figure it out, but by adjusting various knobs on the dash of Porter’s truck, a hydraulic system raised the rear deck of the pickup truck to reveal a hiding spot that was shallow, but took in an area almost as large as the box of the pickup itself. Plenty of room to hide a lot of money.

The second piece of news from Wilson was that enhancement of the security camera images from Porter’s apartment was not successful enough for positive identification of the second man, but it did show he was missing an earlobe.

Connie called Jack with the information and he quickly dubbed the second man Lobulo, after the Spanish word for lobe.

Connie sent an addendum to her operation plan, confirming the accuracy of the information Jack had received in regard to the hidden box on the truck, as well as forwarding Lobulo’s photo to the FBI.

Before the day was over, Connie heard back from the FBI. They had located a motel on the outskirts of El Paso called The Cactus Sunset. The owner said a young couple had checked into a room twelve days ago on a Wednesday night, under the name of J. Roberts from Kelowna, Canada, and paid cash for the room. The owner of the motel said they left behind two suitcases. One full of men’s clothes and the other woman’s clothes. Neither suitcase had any identification. The motel did record the licence plate number when they checked in.

The FBI had already run the plate. It was registered to Earl Porter. The FBI would continue their search for possible witnesses, although said it was the type of place where couples often used false names.

The FBI also confirmed that Lily Rae did not match any unidentified bodies. Given the short time frame involved and her long, red hair, she would easily stand out. They had also checked with local hospitals in the event she had been admitted in an unconscious state, but were told she hadn’t.

The FBI agent did note the Cactus Sunset Motel was located on the edge of a desert. Disposal of a body would be relatively easy and the wind would quickly cover any tire tracks.

At the RCMP headquarters in Ottawa, the prioritized operational plan was accepted with little fanfare. Requests for Canadian investigators to travel to the United States were a matter of routine and the U.S. was always quick to give permission. Given the short time frame when travel would be necessary, a reply from the U.S. was expected either that afternoon or Tuesday morning.

This time was different. Approval did not come through regular channels, but a response came late Tuesday afternoon with a highly unusual request for a meeting between the U.S. ambassador in Ottawa and either the RCMP commissioner or a high-ranking officer if the commissioner was not available. A meeting was subsequently scheduled for eleven o’clock Wednesday morning when the commissioner would be available.

RCMP bureaucrats in Ottawa pondered over the situation. What was different about this investigation that would call for a face-to-face meeting with the ambassador?

In advance of the meeting, a team of bureaucratic RCMP officers did an analysis of the operational report submitted by Connie Crane. A name caught their eye. Jack Taggart had submitted a lot of reports over the years. Rumours and suspicions had percolated for ages about his methods and the deadly consequences of some of his investigations. Past investigative reports involving Taggart were scrutinized again.

Some of these reports had hand-written notations added by senior officers. Suspicions had been strongly aroused as to how he could so accurately predict in advance the organizational changes taking place in some organized crime families. His predictions about the future murders of some of the organized crime figures and who would replace them had also proven to be surprising accurate.

It was noted that Taggart had a knack for developing confidential informants who gave him inside information, but, that aside, if was generally felt there were far too many coincidences and Taggart’s predictions were too accurate to accept that there was not an underlying complicity of criminal involvement on his part.

One chief superintendent questioned why so many criminal groups Taggart investigated seemed to self-destruct in a spree of murder and mayhem shortly after his investigations began, usually with the criminals apparently killing each other. The chief superintendent had even underlined the word apparently with a comment he had made to the Pacific regional commander, Assistant Commissioner Isaac, while discussing his concerns.

Hand-written notes that followed on the report noted that Isaac also had concerns about Taggart and agreed it appeared there were far too many coincidences to rationally believe the mayhem that befell the criminal organizations could all be coincidental to Taggart’s seemingly innocent involvement.

That being said, Isaac did state there had never been any concrete evidence to prove that Taggart was a rogue officer. Isaac noted Taggart had been the subject of several Internal Affairs and Anti-Corruption investigations without any evidence of wrongdoing ever being uncovered.

It did not take the bureaucrats in Ottawa long to form an opinion.

Yes, the meeting with the U.S. ambassador must somehow involve Taggart.Did the U.S. somehow possess information about him to support the rumours? Perhaps even have evidence to lay a criminal charge? There was consensus that the Americans must have substantially solid evidence if they were going to accuse an officer in a foreign government of misconduct.

The scheduled meeting with the U.S. ambassador was immediately classified as on a need-to-know basis … and it was decided nobody outside of a handful of bureaucrats in Ottawa needed to know.