“A thrill kill?” replied Jack. “Why drive him all the way out there for that? Except for the victim, the hit matches a lot of organized crime type hits.”
“Organized crime! Get off it! This isn’t The Sopranos! I don’t see what business it —”
“Cool the attitude,” said Rose quietly. “We are all on the same team. Gun smuggling from the U.S. into Canada is a major concern. Perhaps you aren’t aware of it, but our office was instrumental in seizing several automatic weapons last weekend.”
CC paused and said, “Sorry. And yes, I’m aware of that case. Randy and I talked to Mad Dog about it after he was arrested.” She glanced at Jack and Laura and added, “Good going, by the way.” She turned to Rose and said, “But this is different. No Mac-10s and Uzis here.”
“Maybe you’re right,” said Rose. “But if it is a juvenile gang, let’s put a stop to them before they do become The Sopranos. I really don’t see what the problem is.”
CC eyed Jack suspiciously. With you, there is always a problem.
“Our office will concentrate on following the trail of the gun and your office can handle everything else,” continued Rose.
“Okay,” sighed CC. “You work on the gun. Good luck. I think you’ll find it to be a dead end, but if you do discover something, I expect to be notified immediately.”
“Naturally,” replied Jack. “By the way, Dallas told me Melvin had a clear garbage bag over his head and upper torso. Kind of unusual.”
CC pulled up a chair to sit in while Rose perched on the corner of Jack’s desk.
“Kids watch a lot of CSI these days,” replied CC. “Maybe they thought it would stop us from finding any DNA in their van.”
“Van?” asked Rose.
“No witnesses to anything, or tire tracks. We’re guessing he was hauled out of a van by the way his heels were dragged in the parking lot.”
“Why would anyone kill Melvin?” asked Laura.
“Kids … no conscience,” replied CC. “Probably their way of getting an adrenaline rush.”
“You seem certain that it was kids,” said Jack.
“We’re checking into the possibility that it was someone who knew him, but it doesn’t look like it. The cheap pistol found at the scene was sold to some guy in the States who didn’t have a record and has since died of old age. I meant it when I said good luck on finding anything out about it.”
“We’ll give the gun a shot,” replied Jack.
“I’m so tired, I actually think that is funny,” said CC. “But I’m sure we’ll discover the murder is connected with a youth gang. Kids won’t keep it a secret for long. Eventually somebody will talk.”
“Yes, or eventually someone else will be murdered,” suggested Jack.
“Yeah, well, there is always that possibility,” said CC, getting up to leave. “Nice to have met you, Rose. Sorry if I sounded off before. I haven’t had much sleep.”
Jack followed her into the hallway and said, “Listen, CC. I don’t have any intention of looking over your shoulder. I only want to help out a bit.”
“Help out a bit? Yeah, I’ve heard that one before. Can you blame me for being a little paranoid? Last night I find Natasha’s name on the victim. An hour later I watch you kill a cat at the crime scene. Speaking of which, that really shook you up, didn’t it?”
“It bothered me,” admitted Jack.
“I know. You were shaking afterwards.” Connie shook her head and said, “You’re a hard guy to figure out sometimes. Which is why I’m not exactly ecstatic that you’ll be part of the investigation. I’ve been down this street before and it wasn’t pretty.”
“This is different. All I want to do is lend a hand. If I can trace the gun it might help.”
“So you don’t know Melvin Montgomery? Never met him?”
“No. He was only a friend of my wife.”
“A friend?”
“I mean, patient,” Jack hastened to say.
CC gave Jack a hard look. Oh, fuck.
10
The next week drifted past with Jack and Laura getting bits and pieces of the information they sought through the police in Georgia in an attempt to track the pistol. There wasn’t much. They learned that the gun was bought new eleven years ago by a man who lived in Savannah Beach, Georgia. The man had no criminal record and was sixty-four years old when he bought the gun. Records showed he bought a second handgun two years later — a Smith & Wesson revolver.
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