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Dan was halfway back to the office when his cellphone rang. He reached into his pocket and fumbled it out. He hated cellphones and barely knew how to use one, but Markleson insisted that he carry one whenever he was off the boat.
The ringing stopped before he had figured out how to answer it and he stabbed at the redial button as he pulled over to the side of the road.
“Connor,” he mumbled.
“Rediger. You got a message from a Mr. Ishikawa. He says he’s got some information for you.”
Ishikawa! The sensei had come through.
“I’ll be there in about ten minutes. How long ago did he call?”
“Just finished talking to him.”
Dan threw the phone onto the passenger seat and swung back onto the highway, the big tires on the SUV spraying gravel as he pushed the accelerator almost to the floor.
He made it back to the office in less than ten minutes, put the car back in the lot and ran inside to the desk. “You got a number for Ishikawa?” he asked Rediger as he handed him the keys.
“On the slip,” Rediger replied, handing Dan a printed message form in return.”Before you go, have you got a word for ‘Empty house for beach dwellers”. Five letters. Starts with “S”.
“Shell,” Dan answered as he headed for a phone.
***
ISHIKAWA ANSWERED ON the second ring.
“Sensei, this is Dan Connor. I got a message that you had called.”
“That is correct.” As always the sensei was unhurried and courteous. “I wished to let you know that I believe the man you asked me to watch for was there at the house with Mr. Halvorsen a short time ago.”
“Mr. Halvorsen?” The formal title momentarily was momentarily confusing. Dan had only heard it used before to refer to the older man, Victor’s father. “Are you talking about Victor? The son?”
“Indeed, and I believe it was his truck they arrived in. It is a blue pick-up. I have seen Mr. Halvorsen drive it several times before.”
“Do you know if they are still there?” Dan asked.
“No. They left almost immediately. They seemed to be in a great hurry. It was a little strange.” Dan could almost see the old man shaking his head.
“Strange in what way, Sensei?”
There was a pause which Dan found familiar. The sensei always chose his words with great care, deliberating over each one to ensure his meaning was precise and clear.
“They parked in the driveway and opened the garage door. They did not enter the house. There is no direct access to the house from the garage, only a door to the basement. I know this because both my wife and I visited there many times before Mr. Halvorsen’s father became ill.”
“Perhaps they had forgotten something in the basement. Or maybe they were dropping something off?” What Dan had heard so far was interesting, but it hardly qualified as strange.
“Perhaps, but Mr. Halvorsen was carrying a box of pizza. I recognized the box and it had the name Pizza Express written on it. They took it to the basement, but returned almost immediately without it. Why would you take a pizza down to the basement and leave it there?”
It was a very good question, Dan thought. Why indeed.
“So they came back without the pizza, and then what?” he asked.
“The man you asked me to watch for had a bag with him. He must have collected it from the basement because he did not have it when he went in. He carried it out to the pick-up and then they both got in and shut the garage again.”
“And they left right away? They took the bag with them?”
“Indeed.”
“Did you happen to see what kind of a bag it was?”
“It was very similar to the ones many of my students use. It was dark blue and it had the word Adidas written along the side. It looked full.”
Dan thanked the sensei and hung up the phone. If only other witnesses were as precise and careful with their reports, his job would be much easier.
He went back to Rediger’s desk. “Markleson in?” Dan asked. “I need to see him.”
Rediger was still working on his crossword puzzle and didn’t look up. “Far as I know. He was a while ago, but he doesn’t always share his schedule with me.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Dan headed down the hall.
***
MARKLESON WAS ON THE phone when Dan opened the door, but he beckoned him in and pointed to the chair in front of his desk.
“So what have you got?” The growl was even rougher than usual.”Better be good news. That was the hospital. Got another kid in there with an overdose. A girl. They’re not sure she’s going to make it. If she doesn’t, it makes three deaths in a week.”
Dan leaned forward. “I think if we can move quickly, we might be able to find the guy who’s distributing it.”
Markleson had been reaching for his pipe when Dan started speaking and his hand froze in mid-air as he heard the words.
“The distributor? You’re talking about the drugs?”
Dan nodded.
“So how the hell does a big-time drug distributor become part of your investigation into a couple of missing guys?”
“A couple of missing guys and two murders.” Dan didn’t want to spend any more time than he had to explaining the background. All that could come later.”It’s all linked, and I can give you all the details, but I need you to get men out there looking for two guys in a blue pick-up truck. I think if we can find them quick enough, they’re going to have enough drugs with them to get them off the street for a good long time.”
Markleson leaned forward in his chair. “You’re going to have to give me some more details. I can’t just call up the detachments and order them to put their guys out on a search without giving them a good reason.”
“Okay, here’s the thing.” Dan ran his hand through his hair as he thought about where to start. “Remember that guy we talked about last time I was here—long, dark hair but I didn’t know his name?”
Markleson nodded.
“His name is Eric LaSalle, and he’s friendly with Victor Halvorsen. I think the two of them are in this together. LaSalle either brings the drugs into Vancouver himself—he’s in the import-export business so it’s possible—or he has a supplier there. Doesn’t matter. Either way he has the drugs put into bales of fish food—they call them totes—that get shipped up here to the farms. They mark those bales somehow and a contact here—I think it’s a man called Steiger who works in the yard at Knudsen’s—either removes the drugs or more likely makes sure they’re delivered to a certain farm. Our friend LaSalle comes up here on a yacht owned by one of his business associates, collects the drugs, and re-packages them. The re-packaging is done in the basement of Halvorsen’s house.”
Markleson stared at him. “Can you prove any of this?”
“Some, and some of it is still just guesswork, but if I’m right, they’re out there right now with an Adidas sports bag full of pills. If we can catch them with that, we can clear it all up at the same time.”
“Both those two murders you’re looking into are tied into this?” Markleson’s hand was already moving towards the phone.
“I think both Farnsworth and Jules saw something they weren’t supposed to see. Farnsworth for sure. Jules might be something different, but I’ll explain that after you’ve made the call.”
It took almost fifteen minutes for Markleson to finish phoning the detachments to organize the search. Then the two men sat quietly, both impatient to hear the results of the search while they worked on a fresh pot of coffee Dan had made.
“So tell me about Jules and this “different thing”. I assume it’s also linked to the drugs?” Markleson reached for his pipe again.
“Yeah.” Dan could picture the various scenarios in his mind. “I think he was taken—bribed, kidnapped, I’m not sure, but coerced in some way, and forced to help move them. Either he escaped, or they didn’t have any more use for him, so they got rid of him.”
“You keep saying “they”. You’re talking about Lasalle, Halvorsen and Steiger or is there someone else as well you’re thinking about.”
“Well Steiger would have had to contact somebody to get Jules involved. Either that, or someone on the farm Jules was working on gave him the okay to leave and go somewhere else. Both Jules and Manuel worked on the same farm, so I’m thinking one of the supervisors over there might be tied up in this somehow. I got a list of the supervisors from Matti Knudsen. I think it has to be a guy called Anderson. Looks like he was on when both Jules and Manuel disappeared.”
“Shit. So what about Manuel? You think he’s floating out there somewhere too and just hasn’t been found yet?”
Dan shook his head. “I think Manuel’s still alive. At least he was about an hour ago and I don’t think they would feed anyone they didn’t plan on keeping alive for a while longer.”