didn’t care about the new school. “So, October 2000. Party in the old building. Okay, Bernie, thanks. Just print me off a copy of your report before you go, will you?”
“Sure. No problem.” Bernie left the room with more spring in his step than when he came in.
A red light blinked from Neil’s phone. A text from Cornwall:
BN RBBD. ND BG BLND CP. HRY
What? She swore she used official texting acronyms but he wasn’t good with missing vowels.
Thea came in and saw him frowning over the message. “Problem, Chief?”
“Here, can you make out what Cornwall is saying?”
He should have known better.
Thea squinted at the message. “ ‘Been robbed. Need big blind cop. Hurry.’ Or maybe that’s ‘Need big blond cop.’ ” She glanced at his hair. “In which case, that would be you, Chief. Sounds like you should step on it.”
He snatched the phone back and willed his ears not to redden.
“Aren’t you going to reply, Chief?”
“No. Do you have something for me?”
“Lavinia is arranging for the night shift to cover the crime scene. Dwayne is at the site now, helping the guys tape it off. Cutler and Davidson came back, asking when they can get in to finish their salvage operation. They only have until next Friday before the demolition crew arrives.”
“They mentioned that.” Neil thought for a moment. “They’ll have to hold off for one more day at least. If that means the demolition is postponed, as well, then tough shit. Pull up a chair, Thea. Write this down.”
He waited until Thea was settled. “Check missing person reports for the past sixteen years. Young female, that’s all we know. Ask Public Works to search their records for work orders on the building going right back to the school closure. I want to know when the building was last accessed.”
“Anything else?” Thea asked.
“That’s all for you. Get Dwayne to help when he gets back. Tomorrow, I’ll talk to Cutler and Davidson again. I want to ask if there were any indications that the building was breached before they broke through the front doors. Davidson was pretty shook up today. Maybe he’ll remember more tomorrow.”
“Those two live in Dogtown,” Thea said from the door. “Are you going to take someone with you?”
“You think I might disappear and never be heard from again if I go there without backup?”
“Not the way you mean. Dogtown residents haven’t committed any serious crimes as far as I know. But word has it the clan is always looking for new breeding stock.” Thea looked Neil up and down. A brief smile flitted across her lips and disappeared so fast he wasn’t sure he had really seen it. “Just kidding, Chief. Have a good evening.”
Bernie tapped on the door frame. When Neil motioned him in, Bernie dropped his report on the desk and stood silently.
“Yes, Bernie?”
“I just thought of something. You might want to talk to Earl Archman. He’s the high school principal now and taught math at the old building. He’ll have a better handle on the dates you’re interested in. Maybe.”
Neil wrote the name down. “I’ll talk to him, thanks, Bernie. Good night.”
The red light on his cell flashed. Cornwall again:
BNG WRNT
He didn’t dare ask Thea what the shorthand meant. He stepped out of the warm building that housed the municipal offices as well as the police service. The snow had tapered off, but the wind off Lake Huron cut right through him. He fastened the ear flaps on his fur-lined hat. Only four o’clock and it was almost dark.
If there was any place more desolate than Bruce County in the winter, he hadn’t found it. No wonder most of the retired townspeople stampeded to Florida right after Christmas and didn’t return until April. The rest kept a few cases of beer in the fridge, gassed up their snow blower and snowmobile, and waited it out. Some days, he asked himself why he didn’t go back to Toronto where he wouldn’t have to fight his way through mountains of snowdrifts for four months of the year.
Before taking the chief of police position in Lockport three years earlier, he had worked the Drug Squad in Toronto, where he regularly witnessed grisly death and general mayhem. Here, he investigated stolen lawn ornaments, grow ops, highway carnage — and a few murders.
Neil decided to stop at the Chin Chin Restaurant to buy dinner before driving to Cornwall’s house on Morningside Drive. It was a safe bet she wasn’t cooking. While waiting for his order, he tried once more to decipher her cryptic second text message. This time his brain filled in the missing vowels. Warrant. She wanted him to bring a warrant?
He felt a sudden stirring in his groin. When the food was ready, he pushed money into the owner’s hands and hurried to the Cherokee.
CHAPTER
four
I took a cheese puff out of the bag and let it melt on my tongue. Just as I reached for another, someone tried to open the kitchen door behind me. Fortunately, I had locked it earlier.
A heavy fist slammed against the metal. I stood up, taking my time. I ate the last two cheese puffs, savouring every morsel. The hammering continued as I licked the pseudo-cheese off my lips, folded up the empty bag, and dropped it into the trash can. Then, I went to see what all the fuss was about.
I opened the door and looked up. Yes, exactly what I ordered: one big, blond cop. A white carry-out bag from Chin Chin’s dangled from a gloved finger. Perfect.
He leaned his muscular six-foot two-inch frame on the jamb and pulled on the right ear flap of his mad trapper hat. “I understand you’ve been robbed, ma’am.”
“Yes. Yes, I have, Officer. I’m extremely traumatized.” I placed back of wrist to forehead and fluttered my lashes.
“Sorry to hear that. What did the suspect take?” He cleared his throat and unbuttoned his coat.
“All my clothes are gone. As you can see, Officer, they left me nothing but this white, lacy thong.” I opened my robe, flash-freezing my ta-tas and throwing my high beams on.
He blinked at the thong, go figure. “I’m sorry for your loss, ma’am. May I come in and initiate an investigation?”
I held my ground. “Do you have the warrant?”
He moved closer, forcing me to back away. “I don’t need one. I suspect a crime has been committed on these premises. Please step aside and close the door, ma’am. I am officially freezing my ass off.”
“In that case, I guess you can come in.” I locked the door behind him. Taking the bag of food, I set it on the counter.
He dropped coat, boots, and socks on the floor, and kicked them aside.
“My
