The gist of the report was brief, but one word caught Rose’s attention. She glanced at Jack and said, “I know you are usually articulate when it comes to any reports containing informant information, but did you proofread this?”
“I did,” replied Jack.
Rose’s eyebrows furled. “On first read, it seems okay, but under close scrutiny there is something the bothers me.”
Jack nodded, indicating he knew, but Rose took it as a sign to continue and said, “Let me read this part aloud. ‘Dong Tran VC-1 gave Bien Duc VC-2 an order to murder a woman living at the aforementioned address with instructions to make it look like an accident. Bien Duc VC-2 had to pass the order on to Tom Nguyen VC-3, who ordered Anh Dang to complete the task. Anh Dang drove over the intended victim’s sister in a stolen car. To date, it does not appear that the murderers realize they killed the wrong person. Investigation further indicates that Anh Dang was assisted by others. It is not known if the informant will be able to identify who these others are without arousing suspicion.’”
“Sounds right to me,” replied Jack.
“Had to pass the order on?” said Rose. “It could be construed that you are subconsciously protecting your source for taking part in a criminal act … making it sound like he was forced to pass the order along. The wording could cause someone to think that Bien Duc VC-2 is the informant. Would you care to change it?
“No, I do not wish to change it.”
Rose eyed Jack for a moment. “Does the wording of your report have something to do with the leak that the Asian Organized Crime Task Force thinks they have?”
“That has crossed my mind, although this report is for I-HIT, not AOCTF. Unfortunately, one of the investigators at I-HIT is somewhat overzealous.”
Rose raised her eyebrows. “Overzealous?”
“I suspect he would like to identify the informant and have him charged. He has already made inquiries in that regard to try and identify our source.”
“He what? I’ll have his ass! Who is this —”
“His name is Constable Stan Boyle. A newcomer to I-HIT. Unfortunately, if he were to be confronted about his actions it could … uh, disclose a sensitive procedure used to obtain the informant, let alone cause another investigation that would ultimately identify the informant.”
“Sensitive procedure?” replied Rose staring at Jack.
“Grey area,” he replied.
“Grey area? I’m your boss. What did you do?”
Jack recalled what Rose had once said to him concerning an incident that resulted in her receiving disciplinary action precipitating a transfer prior to her arrival in the Intelligence Unit. He gave a half-smile. “My grounds for a search that identified the person turned into an informant may not have met the judicial criteria needed to conduct the search.”
Rose frowned as she recalled her own words, before taking a deep breath and slowly exhaling. “I see,” she said abruptly.
“Thought you might,” chided Jack. “However, concerning Boyle, I believe he will pass the report on to the AOCTF. How the report is worded will provide added protection for the informant.”
“And if you are right in your assumption that AOCTF will receive the report and it is leaked … close scrutiny of the wording may direct suspicion toward Bien Duc VC-2.”
Jack nodded. “Instead of the real informant.”
Rose gave Jack a hard look. “I-HIT could potentially be looking at you for conspiracy to murder.”
“Goodness, no,” mocked Jack, throwing his arms up from his sides, as a fake gesture of innocence. “Should that happen, I’ll explain that the triads operate like a paramilitary structure. My wording reflected that, when I said orders at the top had to be passed along.”
Rose raised one eyebrow and stared at Jack as she thought about it, then nodded and glanced at the report and continued, “You conclude the report by saying that the investigation is still in the preliminary stages and any obvious reason for trying to murder Nancy Brighton has not yet been positively identified. Further investigation will examine all associates of Dong Tran VC-1 in an effort to identify a connection or motive to the murder.”
“The top VC-1 would not normally be involved in a murder. I think there must be something personal that we don’t know about yet. Maybe he is doing a close friend a favour or something, but we need to dig deeper to find out.”
“You mentioned when we spoke earlier that Nancy Brighton had witnessed Mia Parker hiding some drugs and was responsible for having her arrested.”
“Yes, but it only resulted in a charge of possession. I’ve known a lot of Vietnamese in the past who have been charged with trafficking, yet did not resort to murdering witnesses. I think the whole situation needs to be investigated more thoroughly. If I suggested that as a motive and it later turned out to be wrong, defence lawyers would use it to tell a jury that someone else had reason to commit the murder. Nancy Brighton used to be a prosecutor, who knows, maybe it stems from someone she put in jail years ago.”
Rose stared silently at Jack, then said, “I think you are the reason I drink.” She then signed off the report.
When Jack returned to his own desk, he winked at Laura.
“She didn’t see it?” asked Laura.
“Oh, she saw it all right, but she still signed it off.”
“What if Boyle doesn’t pass it along?” asked Laura.
“It would make us look more innocent if he does, but if he doesn’t, then I’ll have a word with Roger and see if he will do it to see what transpires. The important thing is to protect our informant.”
“I still hate protecting guys like that,” muttered Laura. “Our informant should go to jail for what he did.”
“Think how stressed he already is. Believe me, we’ll make him pay his dues over a lifetime, far longer than the couple of years he would ever get in jail … not that there is evidence to charge him to start with.”
“So you don’t plan on cutting him lose after this investigation?”
“Hell, no. Not for what he did. I have long range plans for him. We’ll coach him in what is needed for his own advancement in the gang while targeting others who might be promoted over him. In a couple of years he’ll become a VC3, then later maybe a VC2. See how stressful he finds working for us then.”
“He’ll wish he had gone to jail,” said Laura, wrinkling her nose and sounding vengeful.
Later that Friday afternoon, Jack received confirmation from Connie that his offer had been agreed upon in writing by the prosecutor. Jack immediately provided Connie with a copy of his report so she could start working on the application for the wiretap over the weekend.
It was Monday morning when Roger Morris arrived at AOCTF and read Jack’s report. It was a photocopy and did not include the usual signatures at the bottom. He walked over to the secretary and waved the report in front of her. “Where did this come from? Has it been lying on top of my basket all weekend?”
“I first saw it this morning,” replied the secretary. “I was told that a Constable Boyle from I-HIT came over late Friday afternoon after we left. He said he had some intel on a murder and wanted to know if we knew anything about the guys in the report or if we thought the information was credible. It floated around the office all weekend and ended up in my basket this morning. I then put it in your basket as you arrived.”
“Something stinks,” replied Roger. “The last page looks like it had been cut in half before being photocopied. How come it’s not signed?”
The