asked Jenny.
“Yes,” replied Jack. He tried to smile at the child but felt awkward to be smiling in front of Holly.
“My name’s Jenny. What’s your name?”
“I should be going,” said Jack, looking at Holly. He stood up.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name,” said Holly.
Jack took a deep breath and then let it out as he sat down again. “My name is Jack Taggart.”
Holly shook her head and said, “No, I asked you what your name is.”
Jack swallowed, and then explained that Jack Taggart was his name, too.
“That’s my daddy’s name,” said Jenny. “That’s funny!” She laughed and then said, “Isn’t that funny, Mommy?”
Jack looked at Holly and said, “I don’t work on Homicide. I work on an intelligence section dealing with organized crime. Corporal Crane called me to tell me about your husband. She thinks he may have been murdered as a result of mistaken identity.”
“Oh,” Holly said, and then stared past him down the hall. Jack wrote his own phone numbers down for her, including his cell, his office, and his home phones.
“If there is anything, anything at all, that I can do for you. Please ... please call me.”
Holly nodded and gave a perfunctory smile before slipping the information into her purse.
Jack saw the counsellor watching from across the hall and spoke with her as he was leaving.
“I’m a policeman,” he said. “Where’s her family? Why isn’t someone here?”
“Jenny and Charlie are her only family now. Neither she nor her husband had siblings. Her husband’s parents are in a nursing home and her own parents died several years ago.”
“Neighbours? Someone?”
“I asked. She said she didn’t live in the sort of neighbourhood that was conducive to making friends. Sounds like she didn’t have the time or the money to go out. She was either waitressing in a coffee shop or looking after her children while her husband went to school.”
“There has to be somebody!”
“Apparently not. I’ll watch her. She won’t be going anywhere as long as her son is in OR.”
“And if he doesn’t make it?”
The counsellor bit her bottom lip and didn’t reply.
Jack reached for his wallet and said, “If that happens, please call me. I’ll help.” He gave her his business card and included all his numbers.
Jack was just leaving the hospital when he met Connie Crane coming in.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded.
Jack looked at her and said, “That sounds familiar. Think you’ve asked me that before.”
“I did on another investigation, and you didn’t mind your own business then, either.”
“I just wanted to see her. See what she looked like.” “Did you?”
Jack nodded.
“No tattoos,” said Connie. “No weathered face. If her makeup wasn’t smeared all over she would look like what I think she is.”
“How’s that?”
“Innocent!”
Jack sighed. “That’s my read too.”
“So I’m just having a hard time believing your crap that it’s all a coincidence. I want names. Who do you suspect?”
“That’s just it, I don’t suspect anyone.”
“You take down a bunch of Satans Wrath labs today and think it’s all a coincidence?”
“They know me. They also know Natasha and they know we don’t have any children. It’s not them. I have a good source. If it turns out to be some low-level punks working the bottom end of the labs, I’ll find out.”
“These guys were professional. Cold and calculating. They shot him in the heart first. Didn’t care that he was holding his baby. That’s when his wife and daughter showed up. Then they stepped forward and shot him in the back of the head. After that, they just turned and walked away. These were no punks. These bastards have killed before.”
“It still could be a coincidence. Completely unrelated to me.”
“Could be, but I want you to think about it. Tomorrow morning I want a list of possibilities. After that, keep your head low and butt out this time!”
“If this isn’t personal, that is exactly what I intend to do.”
“And if it is?”
Jack turned on his heel and walked away.
chapter three
It was nine o’clock in the morning when Staff Sergeant Luigi “Louie” Grazia strode across the carpeted floor in Assistant Commissioner Isaac’s office and then stopped in front of his desk, waiting for him to look up.
For management purposes, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was broken down into four regions Canada-wide: Atlantic, Central, North West, and Pacific. Assistant Commissioner Isaac was the criminal operations officer who oversaw all the operational investigations in the Pacific Region.
Louie knew that Isaac deserved the respect that went with his position. He was a shrewd and tireless worker. He could quote policy and legal matters to the point that Louie wondered if it was true that he had a photographic memory. Isaac was also unbending when it came to policy — something that made Louie uncomfortable. His section tended to have many grey areas when it came to what was right or wrong. Well, actually some things are clearly wrong...
Eventually Isaac glanced up and said, “How long have you been in charge of Intelligence, Louie?”
There were three leather upholstered chairs facing Isaac’s desk, but he did not gesture for Louie to sit so he remained standing. “Coming up ten years, sir,” replied Louie casually, trying to get a read on Isaac’s disposition. As usual, Isaac’s face revealed nothing.
“Still plan on retiring this coming summer?”
“Yes, sir. I’ll have my thirty-five years in this July.”
Isaac nodded before continuing. “What can you tell me about this Taggart matter? Is the Jack Taggart who works for you the target of someone who wants to kill him?”
“Not that I know of, sir. I-HIT is investigating. I spoke with Jack and he thinks it might all be a coincidence.”
“I want I-HIT, you, and
