WHEN I WOKE up, I asked what time it was. Then I asked what date it was. Everyone around me looked like they worked in a hospital, which kind of confused me. Either I was in a hospital, or the bar patrons had all sworn an oath to “First, do no harm,” and that clearly wasn’t the case.
Once I’d sorted myself out, the story was that I’d been taken to St. Mary’s General, after the traffic patrol car that usually patrolled close to the bar pulled into the parking lot while I was being tossed out the front door. They hit the lights, made a few arrests, and called an ambulance for me. Which was nice of them.
Unfortunately, Alex Macey and Jimmy Reece got away during the fracas, so for my one step forward, I was now one step back. And I had a black eye, a bruised jaw, something like 27 stitches from various wounds. And three broken ribs. It hurt to breathe. At least I wasn’t shot.
I called Vijay, who had nothing yet, and Lacroix, who drove down to meet me at the hospital.
“How long did you have to wait?” was the first thing he asked. It’s actually a pretty common question when going to a hospital in Canada.
“I don’t know. I was unconscious for most of it.”
“Lucky. If you’d walked in, you might still be waiting.”
“Yes, yes. State of Canadian healthcare.”
“You know, my girlfriend had to wait 13 hours to be seen, one time.”
“You don’t have a girlfriend, Lacroix.”
He shrugged. “She’s from Canada.”
“Uh-huh.”
We shared what information we had. Lacroix did some digging, and he told me Molly had an arrest record. She was involved in several violent incidents with Reece and Macey. Mostly with other girls—some drug possession, some physical assaults. But she was a minor, and they had nothing they could hold Reece and Macey on. Her friend Olivia was also brought in on a prostitution charge. The charge was dropped after GHB was discovered in her system. The counsellor said she was addicted to OxyContin and did a lot of ketamine and other party drugs. Looks like the guys drugged her and rented her out to men. Again, nothing strong enough to hold them on, since Olivia wasn’t cooperative. I said that made sense, since she recently got herself a bodyguard to keep them away. She was probably safe for now.
Lacroix informed me that Reece and Macey were still at large, but we could probably get an arrest warrant out on them for assault and gun charges. He said I should take the hint and stay away from them. But, he added that if I ignored his advice and brought them in, they’d be facing some serious charges. And if they were responsible for Molly’s death, they needed to come in fast. Even faster if she was still alive.
It was now late in the 3rd day of her disappearance. I really wanted to get back to the bar and pick up the lost trail, but as I was passing out again, I asked Lacroix to take me home to my bed and my bottle of painkillers.