don’t have any choice,” muttered Connie. “If it is a homicide, we can’t leave any stones unturned. Besides, like you said, we need answers fast.” She reached for her phone and punched in Jack’s number.
Listen to what my gut tells me … Jack Taggart … oh, yeah, this is a homicide all right. She glanced at Boyle as the phone rang. Poor sap. He’s got no idea of what we might be getting into. Guess I don’t, either … other than to expect more bodies …
Chapter Five
It was six o’clock in the evening when Jack and Laura arrived at Connie Crane’s office within the Major Crime Unit based out of Surrey. Introductions were made with Stan Boyle and the four sat around Connie’s desk as she explained what she knew so far.
Jack noticed that Boyle sat with his arms folded across his chest while making frequent glances at his watch. “You need to be someplace?” he asked.
“No,” replied Boyle.
Oh, so what you were really saying is that you feel that inviting us over is a waste of time …
“I’ve had someone drive past the Hanoi House, but there was no sign of the van,” continued Connie. “The 911 call for the hit and run came in at twelve-forty-eight, so who knows where the van could be by now.”
“If it is even relevant,” yawned Boyle.
“What have you done with Nancy Brighton?” asked Jack.
“At the moment, we’ve talked her into staying with friends in Chilliwack, but she isn’t happy about it and I doubt she will stay there long.”
“Witness Protection?” asked Jack.
Connie shook her head. “I already brought that up with her and there is no way she will accept it. Being as we’re not sure it wasn’t accidental, or even had anything to do with her, I can’t say as I blame her. Not that it would matter. She made it perfectly clear that even if it does involve her, she’s not going into the WPP.”
“Our office hasn’t had anything to do with that restaurant in over three years,” said Jack. “It came up as a haunt for a lot of Asian drug dealers. Most of them low-level. We turned it over to Drug Section who made some buys and busted a few of them. I called them after you called me. Everyone they busted has already been through the court system and, for the most part, received probation. They’ve had no interest in the place since then.”
“I was hoping you might have an informant with the Viets to let us know what is going on, or if the van was even involved,” replied Connie.
“We don’t have any Vietnamese informants at the moment,” said Jack. “Even if we did, the odds are remote that the informant would know anything about it. There are dozens of different Vietnamese gangs and they seldom have anything to do with each other. The situation with all the gangs is fluid. Those who are allies today could be enemies tomorrow. At the moment, the Vietnamese look after the majority of the marijuana grow operations and come under the control of Satans Wrath, who use them to insulate themselves from prosecution.”
“The bikers’ involvement in marijuana crops is a huge concern for us,” said Laura.
“Who cares about pot?” snorted Boyle. “It’s not exactly a hard drug. Bet more people smoke it than don’t these days … or have a least tried it.”
“It’s the ideal wedge into corruption,” explained Jack. “There is huge money to be made from it and many people share your belief that it is not really a bad thing. That makes it an easy tool for criminals to open the door to corrupt officials who might not otherwise be corrupted.”
“Once the initial corruption takes place, the corrupt officials are then easy prey when it comes to other organized crime favourites,” added Laura. “Like influence-peddling, market manipulation, drug-trafficking, slavery prostitution rings, union corruption … and of course, the murder of rivals or those who are innocent or refuse to be bought.”
“Kind of like using good old B.C. bud as the key to opening Pandora’s Box,” said Connie.
“Exactly,” replied Jack. “The same thing happened over alcohol during the Prohibition years in the U.S. It was how organized crime really managed to gain control over a multitude of other criminal activities.” Jack gave Boyle a hard stare and said, “Which is why it concerns us that an organized crime family as strong as Satans Wrath is in control of the marijuana situation.”
“So you’re saying the bikers could be behind it?” asked Boyle. “Maybe Mia Parker is a girlfriend to one of them?”
“In my opinion, the bikers wouldn’t contract out a hit for something so trivial,” replied Jack. “Especially over a girlfriend. She might not even be convicted.”
“Might get Parker’s fingerprints on the bags,” said Boyle. “Coupled with an eyewitness … she’s done.”
Jack glanced at Boyle and said, “I take it you’ve never worked drugs. Her lawyer will attack the credibility of the witness. An older, retired woman peering through blinds or curtains on a window. Does she wear glasses? Was she sure she had them on? When was the last time her eyes were checked?”
“Yeah, but fingerprints —”
“If fingerprints are found, the lawyer will get the client to take the stand and say she dropped her purse, saw the dope, and touched it before realizing what it was and putting it back. Which he will suggest is what the witness saw. Parker has no previous criminal record. I’d say her chances of being convicted are about fifty-fifty. The bikers know this, so I would be surprised if they had anything to do with it.”
“So you’re saying it isn’t a homicide?” said Boyle, with a nod of his head at Connie to say he had been right all along.
“I didn’t say that,” replied Jack. “I’m saying I can’t think of a probable motive, but it doesn’t mean there isn’t one. Also, it’s not only the bikers who are involved. Although they basically control the Vietnamese over the marijuana crops, the Viets still have a lot of their own action going and are comprised of dozens of different groups who generally operate independently of each other.”
“So having one informant, unless by fluke he was with the right gang, wouldn’t be able to tell us much,” said Connie.
“Yes, although the higher up you go on the corporate ladder, significant decisions become limited to a select few,” said Jack. “At the moment, a lot of B.C. bud is heading south of the border. With Satans Wrath’s guidance, the Vietnamese are trading a lot of the marijuana for guns, heroin, ecstasy, and cocaine with the Chinese gangs. The Chinese are well established up and down the west coast of North America and have been handling much of the actual smuggling going on back and forth across the border.”
“So what the hell does all that have to do with our hit and run?” asked Connie.
“Good question,” replied Jack. “If this was a hit, I think we’re missing the real motive at the moment. I’m not saying that the Viets aren’t involved. Someone else could have hired them, but it doesn’t fit in with a normal Asian organized crime hit. They’re usually bloody and done with machetes or guns to make a statement.”
“To
