Eleven

“16Bravo4. Back in service.”

“16Bravo4. While you were in court, that same woman who was in here last week left another message asking you to call her. Do you need the number?”

Matt’s stomach tightened. The only other time Sarah had left a message at the station was when she could make a positive identification on Kincaid exchanging money with Donnie. He had no doubt that for her to, once more, run into the station on her way to the university meant something equally as important had happened. “I have it.” He checked the time. “I’ve got to add this to my calls today. It’s a follow-up to a current file. Was there any specific message?”

“No message, just the phone number.”

Matt gave the dispatcher Sarah’s address and checked the time. He had to trust that if it were something urgent, she would have said so.

Matt took care of two of the prior calls that had backed up while he was in court in order to time himself to arrive at her apartment building shortly after she arrived home from classes.

He drove onto Sarah’s street at the same time as he saw her little blue car disappear into the entrance for the underground parking.

He punched a ten-seven into the computer to let dispatch know that he was out of service unless something urgent came up and quickly entered a few notes about his last call. Once he figured he’d given Sarah enough time to park her car and get up to her apartment, he locked up the squad car and made his way to the main entrance of the apartment building.

This time, she answered his buzz only a few seconds after he pressed the button. She wasn’t waiting for him at the elevator, but when he arrived at her door, it opened before he knocked.

“I just got home a couple of minutes ago. Your timing is great. Would you like me to make coffee?”

Matt glanced over Sarah’s shoulder into her apartment. In order to talk at a location away from the scene of the alleged crime, they had no alternative but to meet on personal territory—his church, her home, or in a public restaurant—when he was on his personal time. But this time, he was in uniform and on duty. For reasons of personal safety, it was against department policy for an officer in uniform to accept food or drink from anyone, including trusted informants. He knew Sarah was safe, but still, if he let her make him coffee, the visit would feel too social, and for him, at that moment, it was very much business.

Up until now, because he liked Sarah, he’d conveniently forgotten why they had come together in the first place. He was an upholder of the law. He was there to investigate a crime in progress. She was finished working, and in the comfort of her own home, but he wasn’t.

Therefore, Matt remained standing in the foyer, just as he would have if he were questioning someone he didn’t know.

“I’d better pass on the coffee. But thanks for asking. What happened?”

“I didn’t see Kincaid today. He must have been there when the place was busy. Donnie had more money. The more money I see, the more I’m pretty sure they’re laundering money. How is it done?”

“Commonly it’s filtered through legitimate businesses in phony sales and supplier invoices, and there would be many bank accounts set up in different names under false identifications. Everything has to run through consistently and not in sporadic huge lump sums so it doesn’t cause any raised eyebrows at the taxation department. Most is done through independent, non-franchised businesses.”

“Just like Donnie’s Donuts. So that means this could have been going on for a long time. Years even.”

“Yes, that’s what it means. Although, in this case, I tend to doubt it’s been that long.” Matt happened to know that Kincaid had only been out of jail for seven months. “Didn’t you tell me that Donnie has only been coming in for the graveyard shift for the last six months or so? Tell me, didn’t you think it was a bit unusual for the owner to be coming in and working in the middle of the night?”

Sarah shook he head. “No. Donnie had just fired a really awful night manager, and that’s when he started coming in late. I thought he was having a hard time finding a reliable manager, and he’d eventually hire someone. Kristie and I got used to seeing him, and it’s normal now. But I’m working graveyard shift because I’m going to school during the daytime. Maybe Donnie has something else to do during the daytime too.”

Matt didn’t want to think of what Donnie could have been doing during the daytime if he was taking in Kincaid’s drug money at night.

Since turning in his original report to the shift NCO, he’d discussed his findings with the staff sergeant and had been assigned as the officer in charge. The department had gone over what was happening at Donnie’s Donuts at a couple of recent debriefings. Apparently, Kincaid was already under suspicion. After being seen repeatedly at Donnie’s, a general bulletin had been put out for all members to keep an eye on things.

Being a donut shop, open twenty-four/seven, it was an easy thing to do. Since his report had been officially discussed, more and more members of the force were gradually filtering through Donnie’s on their breaks at varying times of the day and night, hoping to see something. The staff sergeant had instructed all the members to take their breaks at Donnie’s and treat it as a callout, just to keep a constant eye on things. Already some of them had noticed suspicious activity going out the back door.

Not wanting to give Kincaid or Donnie any indication that the police knew something was going on, the timing of their surveillance had to be increased very gradually. Their biggest downfall was that a member in uniform, even on breaks, wasn’t a very subtle form of observation. They hadn’t been able to gather enough evidence of a magnitude that would justify an undercover surveillance team. The last thing they could afford to do was have Kincaid and Donnie shut down or move the operation because the place was suddenly swarming with cops.

So far, their best source of information was from someone working on the inside, and that someone was Sarah. With what appeared to be “only” money laundering happening, at least as far as Donnie was concerned, Matt figured that if she were careful not to be noticed, and if she were careful that no one saw her talking to the police, she was safe. The RCMP would eventually get their man.

Matt removed his notepad from his pocket and scribbled down some notes. “So you saw more money, but you didn’t see how it came in.”

“Wait. That’s not all. Today I saw something else.”

Matt’s hand froze midword. With Kincaid involved, a sensation of dread coursed through him.

“I saw Donnie with drugs today. And it wasn’t medicine-type drugs. It was the bad kind.”

“What exactly was it? Do you know how much there was?”

She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. “I couldn’t see that well through the vent, and remember, the vent is right next to the floor, so I was looking up. I only know that it was a black duffel bag, about twice the size of my purse. I saw it on the desk when Donnie was counting the money. When he finished with the money, he reached into the black bag and pulled out a sandwich bag full of white powder. He dropped the bag on the desk when the phone rang, and some powder spilled out. That’s how I saw it.”

Matt stiffened from head to foot. What they were talking about was probably either heroine or cocaine. As accurately as he could recall, Sarah’s purse wasn’t huge. However, it was large enough for her to hold a book, her umbrella, plus the regular paraphernalia women liked to carry around for no good reason.

In that case, if the only contents of the duffel bag in question were drugs, then the quantity was far more than could be considered reasonable for personal use.

This was trafficking. Kincaid was supplying. Donnie was selling to pushers.

Sarah was right in the middle of it.

The concept that she wouldn’t be in danger dissolved like a sugar cube in a cup of hot coffee. Suddenly, everything had become very complicated. Not only was Donnie laundering Kincaid’s money, he was also selling some of Kincaid’s drugs. They still had to follow Kincaid around and see where he was getting them. The department would be happy they’d pinpointed where some of Kincaid’s supply was going. Now they would have to determine to whom Donnie was selling it and at what level.

“What do you think Donnie’s doing with all that stuff?”

“I don’t know. We’ll have to find out. Somehow.”

Her eyebrows arched. She snapped her heels together and lifted one hand in the form of a salute. “Detective Cunningham, on duty, Sir!”

Matt sucked in a deep breath. When he’d called her Detective, he had only been joking around. There was nothing funny about what she was implying she would do. Quite the opposite, the situation was spiraling out of control and becoming more dangerous every time she came to him with additional information.

“This isn’t television, Sarah. It’s not as easy as it initially looks. There are real risks involved. This is no child’s game.”

“I know that. I don’t know how to describe what it was like to watch Donnie and then get out of there before anyone saw me and then tell you about it. It’s kinda fun and kinda scary at the same time. Know what I mean?”

She smiled from ear to ear, but Matt didn’t feel much like smiling back. He knew exactly what she meant.

As a police officer, he was well aware of the adrenaline rush when working a dangerous case. But he was a professional, fully trained, with a few years of experience under his belt.

And when worse came to worst, he was big and he had a gun. He also had a radio and the entire police force on call behind him. Even still, the good guys didn’t always win.

It would have been bad enough to ask any civilian to put their life at such risk, but this was Sarah. If something happened to her that he could have prevented, he would never be able to live with himself.

“No. I’ll brainstorm with my staff sergeant and see what we can do, and who we can get involved. Thanks for what you’ve told us so far, but this is now out of your hands.”

“But no one else would ever get access to see what I see.”

Matt’s stomach clenched. If she were caught, he didn’t want to think of what could happen. “You have no concept of what you’re getting involved in. If you really want to do something, yes, tell me who comes in and if you see anything. But please, stay out of the closet from now on.”

Her arms fell to her sides. “But. . .”

Matt stepped up closer to her until they were toe-to-toe. This time she had on a pair of fuzzy bedroom slippers, but they were flat and didn’t add anything to her height. He still had his boots on. The contrasting footwear added to his already pronounced height advantage. He now towered above her by a good ten inches.

Knowing how intimidating he could be when he wanted, he straightened himself to his full height and tipped his chin down. He tapped the brim of his hat, crossed his arms, and lowered his voice. “Promise me that you’re going to stay out of the closet.”

“But I—”

“I said. . . Stay. Out. Of. The. Closet.”

Her mouth dropped open and her beautiful green eyes widened, nearly causing him to lose it. He wanted to kiss her so bad it hurt.

“I mean it, Sarah. This is more dangerous than you think it is.”

Her voice trembled when she spoke. “If I see something, I can still tell you about it, right? Deal?”

He smiled and relaxed his position. “Of course.”

“If Donnie has a bunch of drugs, then besides watching for Kincaid, I should also be watching for anyone else too. But I’ve never seen Donnie take anyone besides Kincaid into his office, at least during the night shift. So I guess it would be easy for me to see, once I know what to look for, if Donnie is keeping company with any other suspicious characters.”

“I don’t want you hanging around and spying on people. Just do your job there, and if you happen to see something, then you—”

His radio blared from his shoulder. “16Bravo4.”

He turned his head and hit the button. “16Bravo4 copy.”

“Break and enter in progress at the storage warehouse 12th and Forbes. Request immediate response.”

Matt checked his watch. “16Bravo4 copy. ETA four minutes.”

“16Bravo4 copy.”

He reached for the doorknob as he glanced over his shoulder. “I have to go. Please, Sarah, stay safe.”

“I will. You too.”

He closed the door before he had time to reply. Right now, the elevator was his worst enemy. The indicator lights above the door indicated the elevator was currently going up, with eight more floors to go before began its descent. Matt glanced down the hall, then ran for the stairs.

On the way to the warehouse, he called the dispatcher to see who else was attending to discover he would be alone for approximately five minutes, which wasn’t good. But he would deal with that when he got there, if the perps were still on the premises. He was still worried about Sarah. He didn’t have the chance to finish what he was going to say before the radio called him out.

That today was Friday was in his favor. For tonight, she was safe, because she wasn’t going back to work until midnight Monday morning, which gave him the weekend to talk to her again. Today was his second day shift, ending at seven o’clock this evening. He didn’t have to start again until his night shift, at 7:00 p.m., Saturday.

That gave him a twenty-four-hour time period in which to convince her that now it was best for her to step back and let the police finish the job.