Dead Ends. Don Easton
my family! How could you do that? What kind of person are you to —”
“Mom! What’s wrong?” interjected Noah as he bounded into the kitchen at the sound of his mother’s yelling. When he didn’t get an answer, he stood between the two adults and looked defiantly at Jack.
Jack eyed him briefly. You feel you had to become the man of the house when you dad died. Protective … “Son,” said Jack quietly, “A terrible thing has happened. People, even adults, are upset. It will be okay.”
“I’m not your son,” said Noah defiantly. “Don’t ever call me that.”
“You’re right,” said Jack, “and I apologize. You’re the one who found the bad guy for us. Pretty impressive that you could keep your cool after what has happened.” Jack looked at Gabriel and said, “I bet you’re awfully proud of him.”
“I am,” replied Gabriel. “I’ve always been proud of him.”
Jack nodded. The break from the previous conversation served to calm Gabriel’s voice.
“About the bad guy,” said Jack, “the choice to keep him in jail was not mine to make.”
“But if he didn’t quit, why didn’t you arrest him again? Why did you let him stay here?”
“I’m sorry,” replied Jack sincerely. “About a year and a half ago, seven labs were raided by the police all in one day. Many people were arrested. They were all released shortly after appearing in court. I work for an intelligence unit dealing with organized crime. The majority of the people arrested that day were too low on the criminal ladder for me to keep track of. There are far more criminals than there are police officers. We simply don’t have the manpower to keep following everyone we would like.”
“These men commit murder and you’re telling me they are too low on the ladder for you to work on?” she replied bitterly.
Jack sighed and said, “Maybe you have a right to condemn me, but I still need to drive you all to the hospital. My wife works in a medical clinic, but she has made arrangements to see that Faith receives priority.”
Gabriel did not utter a word during the forty-five minute drive to the hospital. Noah was a little more inquisitive, but was content to hear that it was a matter of routine for everyone to be checked by a physician under such circumstances.
When Gabriel took her children to meet with a physician, Jack spoke to a grief counsellor at the hospital by the name of Phyllis. He gave her his business card and asked her to help Gabriel and let him know if there was anything he could do.
“I’ll be glad to,” replied Phyllis. “Gabriel is lucky to have you involved. So tell me, how are Holly and Charlie doing? Do you see them?”
Jack was taken back. He did not know Phyllis, but during a previous investigation he had dealt with Holly and her young son, Charlie, who had become paraplegic as a result of a bullet. A bullet meant for Jack.
“Holly opened up a small restaurant on the North Shore,” said Jack. “I still see her on occasion. She and Charlie, and her daughter, Jenny, seem to be doing okay.”
“Good to hear,” Phyllis replied. “I saw her about a year ago when she brought Charlie in for a check-up.”
“Have you and I met?” asked Jack.
“No, but I saw you coming to visit Charlie. Holly thinks the world of you, by the way.”
“Thanks,” said Jack. “Holly is a nice lady. So is Gabriel, so I would appreciate anything you can do for her. I would also like to be kept in the loop.”
“I’ll do what I can for her, but as far as keeping you apprised of anything medical … well, I shouldn’t really do that without Gabriel’s permission.”
“I’m not exactly in her good books. One of the men running a lab in her basement is someone I had arrested before. I never kept track of him after the arrest and he simply changed locations and set up a new lab in Gabriel’s basement. He’s still awaiting trial. Indirectly I am to blame for this.”
“You’re responsible? What about the man you arrested? Seems to me we should hold the criminals responsible for their actions.”
Jack snorted and said, “Novel idea. You should suggest that to our judicial system.”
“The point is, it wasn’t you who would have released him.” She pointed her finger at Jack’s chest and said, “You’re not responsible. Indirectly or otherwise.”
Jack smiled politely. “Thanks, I guess you’re right.” Except I know he was released to an unsuspecting public. Knowing all that and I still didn’t do anything …
Phyllis agreed to keep in touch. Before Jack left the hospital, he once more met with Gabriel and handed her his business card.
She took it reluctantly and said, “I called my sister. We’ll spend the weekend with her.”
“My cell number is on the card,” Jack said. “Call me when you need to go home.”
“I don’t need your help,” she replied bitterly.
Jack stared at Gabriel momentarily and said, “I promise you that I will get who did this.”
“That will not bring Father Brown back,” replied Gabriel, “nor will it help my children. God will decide what mercy these men should receive.”
Jack thought about Gabriel’s comment on his way back to the parking lot. His self-incrimination became replaced by something else. Rage. Rage at a justice system he knew to be inept. By the time he arrived at his car, he lost his ability to hold his emotions in check. It resulted in a couple of bruised knuckles and a dent in his car door.
The trouble is, lady, your religious placebo might work for you … but I don’t believe in gods … or showing mercy to people like Varrick.
Chapter Five
Chapter Five
It was late afternoon when Jack returned to the office.
“How did it go?” asked Laura.
Jack shrugged and said, “Did what I could. Put Gabriel in touch with a grief counsellor. It’ll be a few days before the doctors know anything. How did you make out?”
“The only address on Varrick is the one he gave when he was arrested last time. It’s his parents’ house in Port Coquitlam. He has the same address on his driver’s licence, but doesn’t have any vehicles registered to him. He was released without any reporting conditions. Connie has a team sitting on the parents’ house, but it doesn’t look good.”
“I’m sure it’s not. When’s his next court appearance?”
“He’s had his prelim and is scheduled for trial at the end of April.”
“Three months away.”
“Connie wasn’t happy when she heard.”
“We’ll find him before then,” replied Jack.
Laura gestured to a mound of reports on her desk and said, “I’m trying. I’ve collected every scrap of info I can on him and anyone he has been known to associate with.”
“He could still be taking orders through some prospect with Satans Wrath.”
“I know, but nothing is popping up to indicate who. I’ve been trying to triangulate any common denominators, phone numbers, anything I can find. Keeping track of Satans Wrath and their associates was bad enough before. Now that they are affiliating with all these street gangs it is worse. This is a mess,” she said, gesturing at all the reports. “It didn’t sound like he actually lived in Gabriel’s basement, but where he is staying is anybody’s guess.”
“He probably didn’t sleep at Gabriel’s because of the danger to