do you mean? He’s got a plan? You’re not getting involved with this shit.”
“Wigmore tried to fuck with my family! You’re damn right I’m getting involved!”
“What plan? What does he want you to do?”
“Talk, talk, talk. I’m horny. Let’s go to bed.”
“Tell me about the plan!”
“It starts off with the two of us having sex.”
“What?”
“That’s what Jack said I’m to do. Oh yeah, and tell you I love you because he says you really love me.”
“Jack said that?”
“Yup. Then we fuck Wigglemore after.”
“That’s Wigmore. And I don’t like it when you swear.”
“It’s your fault. I swear when I’m horny.”
chapter twenty-five
Jack listened to the news on Friday afternoon. “Vancouver City Police recorded the city’s largest ever seizure of methamphetamine around noon today. Fifty kilos of the drug were seized at the train station. Police attribute the seizure to an anonymous tip received by the police in Montreal. A juvenile from Montreal was arrested, along with a local man known in the underworld by the unusual name of Halibut. His real name…”
Jack’s telephone rang a minute later.
“You hear the news?” asked Danny.
“Sounds like the narcs will be happy with Eddy Trimble. Bet I could get them to buy me a beer.”
“No kidding! You were right about Bart and Rex. They’re trustworthy.”
“They even threw in the bit about the anonymous call in Montreal. They’re not only trustworthy, but they’re doing their best to protect me.”
“Or Eddy Trimble.”
“Whatever. It’s good news. This is just the beginning. I told you there would be no stopping us now. How’s Susan?”
“Her head hurts a little, no thanks to you, but she’s fine. We had a good talk last night. Thanks. I really owe you.”
“Talk? That’s not what I told her to do to you!”
Danny paused, then said, “Right. She fucked some sense into me, too.”
Jack chuckled and Danny continued, “Susan said you have a plan to get Wigmore off my back?”
“I haven’t worked out all the finer details. We’ll have to wait until Monday when he returns, but trust me, by then I’ll have it together. Need a woman to help us, though.”
“Susan’s primed. She wants to help.”
“Good. See you tonight at the office.”
“This time I’m driving!” yelled Danny. He was too late. Jack had hung up.
Danny checked his watch. The search of Wizard’s penthouse apartment hadn’t taken long. All they had found was a .357 magnum revolver stuck in a holster fixed to the back of a bedside table. None of the phone numbers they located had prefixes for outside the city.
“That was quick,” whispered Danny. “Took us less than fifteen minutes. Do you still plan on doing Rolly’s? His place is an old house; it’s going to take a lot longer.”
“Yes, I plan on doing Rolly’s! Just give me a minute.”
Jack took the .357 from its holster and stuck the barrel of the gun deep down into the dirt of a houseplant. He then tamped the dirt in the barrel with his pen, wiped off the outside of the gun, and replaced it in the holster.
“Maybe if we get lucky it’ll blow up in his face,” said Jack bitterly, ushering Danny out the door.
Danny’s silence as Jack drove to Rolly’s house betrayed his troubled thoughts.
“You’re quiet,” said Jack.
“Thinking about what you did with the piece back there.”
“Think it’s wrong? If he shoots at you it won’t seem wrong.”
“If we do find out Wizard and Rolly killed your sister’s kids, what do you plan to do?”
Jack parked a block down the street from Rolly’s house and they walked the remaining distance. It was in an older district that was heavily treed. A few street lights lit up the street, but the neighbourhood appeared to be asleep.
Only the top half of Rolly’s two-storey house was visible in the moonlight. It was completely surrounded by large cedar trees and was set back from the road. An eight-foot chain-link fence encircled the property at the edge of the treeline. Three strands of barbed wire stood out at an angle from the top of the fence, adding more height. A gate across the driveway was padlocked shut and bathed by floodlights.
Danny looked at the chain-link fence and then at Jack. “Well?”
“The gate’s out in the open.” Jack looked up at the fence and added, “My back and arm are still a little tender, but I can make it. It’ll be safer than picking the padlock. These trees should give us enough protection from the street.”
Minutes later, Danny was at the top of the fence. He flung his jacket over the strands of barbed wire before making his way down the other side. Jack eased himself over the top and climbed down to join him.
A low growl caused both men to leap for the fence. Danny reached the top as Jack yelled in pain. The German shepherd had its teeth clenched on a torn strip of his pants and he was slowly dragging the dog up the fence.
“He’s got me! Do something!” said Jack, gritting his teeth as the snarling dog shook its head in a frenzy while dangling from the torn cloth.
“I bet this is the dog the pervert used with Marcie! What do you think?”
“Christ! I don’t know! Do something!”
“Shake him off!”
“It’s all I can do to hang on! If I fall there won’t be enough of me left to make a stir-fry!”
“Want me to shoot ’im?”
“No. The noise will wake up the neighbours! If Rolly sees his dog dead…”
Danny watched as Jack tried to shake his leg. The cloth tore a little more, but then held fast at the seam at the bottom of his ankle. Danny eased back down the fence and kicked the dog squarely on top of the head. The dog didn’t let go, but Jack’s fingers slipped a notch.
“Don’t! Watch … Oh, great! Lights!”
Across the street a neighbour’s
