“It’s Superintendent Wigmore!”
“Yes, Superintendent Wigglemore?”
“Wigmore,” he replied, enunciating the name carefully.
“Wrigglemore,” the voice repeated carefully.
“For Christ’s sake! It’s Superintendent Wigmore! W-I-G-M-O-R-E!”
The caller hung up.
It was dusk when Lance walked along a path in Stanley Park. The street lights came on and he nervously looked behind him, didn’t see anyone, then walked up to Wizard and Rolly, who were sitting on a bench eating popcorn.
They stood up as he approached. Wizard jerked his head toward the path, indicating they should walk as they talked.
“So what’s the deal?” said Wizard gruffly. “How come ya want to meet us out here?”
“The deal is,” said Lance, his voice trembling, “I got a real nasty visit from two cops this morning.”
“What the fuck did they want?” said Rolly with a higher than normal laugh.
“They wanted me to become a rat is what they fuckin’ wanted!”
“What!” said Wizard incredulously. “What were they, two rookies tryin’ to give away a handful of cash?”
“These weren’t fuckin’ rookies,” said Lance. “One guy is fuckin’ crazy. Maybe both of them are, but one for sure. They took me to a graveyard and the crazy one jumps on me and starts chokin’ the shit out of me until I black out. When I come to, he’s still sittin’ on my chest!”
“Are you fuckin’ serious?” said Wizard.
“That ain’t all. Then I see that the other fucker has got a blanket spread out on the ground and is shovellin’ dirt onto it out of a new grave. Pretty fuckin’ obvious what they were plannin’ on doin’ with me!”
“You’re sweatin’ just talkin’ about it! You are fuckin’ serious, ain’t ya?”
“You’re fuckin’ right I’m serious!”
“Why? What the fuck did —”
“The crazy one said I tried to kill him two weeks ago.”
“What?”
“Remember Eddy? Behind the Black Water?”
“Yeah. Did he rat out on us?” asked Rolly.
“Whoever told you he was a rat fucked up real bad. Because Eddy was the crazy one who attacked me this morning! He’s an RCMP officer!”
“Fuckin’ Eddy is a cop?” Wizard looked astonished. “Can’t be!”
“I saw their badges. The crazy one said he’d let me live if I cooperated with them.”
“So what did you tell ’em?” growled Wizard. “How come he didn’t kill ya?”
“Fuck, I was in a bad situation! Then the crazy one says he wants me to testify about Lenny and also wants me to find out what Rolly did with the shotgun he used on some kid!”
“What?” yelled Rolly. “They know about me?”
“I told them I needed a couple days to think about it. I knew if you used a piece to whack someone that you would have tossed it, but I wasn’t gonna tell them that!”
“What made them think I whacked some kid?” spluttered Rolly.
“They know all about you two,” said Lance, while nervously looking around.
The three men stopped talking as a couple jogged towards them, then passed by.
“What do ya mean? What’d they say?” asked Wizard.
“They told me things I didn’t even know. Like they said that Rolly killed a little boy out in some abandoned farmhouse. They said you were with him when he killed the boy and popped the kid’s sister first.”
Wizard immediately grabbed Rolly with both hands around his throat and pinned him back against a tree. “You fuckin’ idiot! Who you been blabbin’ at?”
“Fuckin’ nobody, Wiz, fuckin’ nobody!”
“Then how could they have known?” yelled Wizard. “There was only the three of us there! The Suit wouldn’t have said anything! They even know which one of us did which kid!”
“No way! I haven’t said a fuckin’ word! I swear, not a word!”
Lance looked at Rolly and said, “They told me that you also whacked a guy last week. Someone by the name of Bobby Singh.”
“You stupid, stupid fuckin’ cocksucker!” screamed Wizard, pinning Rolly’s head against the tree and choking him with one hand while punching him in the face. Rolly’s nose crunched like a piece of celery and two teeth slid down the back of his throat like wayward Chiclets.
Rolly screamed out, more in fear than in pain. “Don’t, Wiz! Please! I haven’t said a word! I swear on my mother’s grave!”
“Well, how else could they have found out?” seethed Wizard, slowly releasing his grip. “How the fuck could they have known that unless you’ve been talking?”
Rolly shook his head, spraying blood across his shirt and Wizard’s face. “I haven’t been! No way! Maybe it was The Suit!” Rolly looked at Lance and said, “He’s the one who ordered us to kill the kids. ’Cause they saw him. They was loose ends!”
Wizard slapped Rolly across the face with the back of his hand and said, “The Suit didn’t know about Bobby Singh! How the fuck do you explain that!”
“I don’t know. I just don’t….” Rolly wiped his face with his hands and then wiped his bloody fingers on his pants.
Wizard spun around to face Lance. “So how come they haven’t arrested us yet?”
Before Lance could reply, Wizard continued. “I’ll tell you why! They don’t have enough evidence on anything, or else all three of us would be sittin’ in the slam. It was pretty dark the night we tried to do ’im in the alley. You’re probably the only one the pig can really identify. That fuckin’ scar of yours. Plus the interior light of the car came on when you got out. I bet he’s only guessing about Rolly and me.”
Lance shrugged and said, “I don’t know, but it sounds like they’re thinkin’ of doin’ somethin’ real quick.”
“So who are these two pigs? When did they say they’d get hold of you next?”
“They didn’t say, but the crazy one said he’d be in touch soon, and if I didn’t cooperate he’d either kill me or put me in jail.”
“Are these pigs the narcs from hell, or what?”
“No. They belong to some Intelligence thing, but I don’t know what it’s called.”
“What’s their names?”
“I only know the name of the crazy guy. The guy we thought was Eddy. His real name is Jack Taggart. Don’t know the other guy, but he does what Taggart tells him.”
“See if they’ll give ya their home numbers. Get licence plate numbers, anything to help us find out where they live.”
“I’ll work on it.”
“Yeah, do that. And hurry before they decide to scoop us!”
“Who’s this fuckin’ bozo who told you he was a rat in the first place? It seems to me he’s the one who set us up,” said Lance heatedly.
Wizard reflected for a moment, then said, “I don’t