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Halifax, May 9
2:45 p.m.
When Allan returned to the crime scene, the barricades were still up. A uniformed officer waved him through.
The press remained camped out at the corner of South and Lower Water Street. Through the side window Allan saw a reporter spot him and begin jockeying for position. To avoid him, Allan edged his car up behind the mobile command station and parked. He signed himself in to the scene and briefly conferred with Sergeant Malone.
The Underwater Recovery Team, he saw, had moved their search farther from shore. Jim and Harvey from the Ident section had walked every inch of the parking lot a second and third time. Soon, they decided, it would be released back for public use. Nothing of value had been found.
The door-to-door canvass wasn’t going well at all. Nobody interviewed had seen or heard anything suspicions.
The search of the alleys and Dumpsters had generated few articles of interest—a butter knife, a jackknife, and a screwdriver. None were close to the approximate length or thickness of the blade used in the murder.
The missing notepad wasn’t found either. Allan believed the killer of Brad Hawkins had either disposed of the items in the unyielding depths of the Halifax Harbor or simply carried them off.
He spent the remainder of the day assisting with the canvass, and then he gathered up the reports from officers and returned to the station. He stopped at the coffee room for a fresh cup of brew and then went to his office. Seated at his desk, he read over logs from the previous night to familiarize himself with the calls. Perhaps his mystery truck had been involved in another incident.
Motor Vehicle Collision – 9:16 p.m. A two-vehicle collision occurred at the intersection of Quinpool Road and Oxford Street. One driver was charged with operating a motor vehicle without a valid license. Neither party involved required medical treatment.
Assault With A Weapon – 10:13 p.m. Gottingen Street. A lone male was approached by a group of four males asking for a cigarette. When he said no, the victim was beaten and struck in the face with a metal pipe. He was taken to QEII for treatment of facial lacerations. No description of the suspects could be made, only that they were all wearing bandanas over their faces. The matter is under investigation.
Motor Vehicle Collision – 10:42 p.m. Kempt Road. One vehicle struck another from behind. Driver of struck vehicle was taken to QEII for non-life-threatening injuries.
Vandalism – 11:25 p.m. 7890 Waterloo Street. Homeowner called to report two people throwing beer bottles on his property. One vehicle was damaged. Two males matching the description of the suspects were detained on South Street. The pair will appear in court on Monday.
Robbery – 12:05 a.m. Stan’s Variety. Robie Street. Owners, who live upstairs from establishment, called after hearing noises in their store. When officers arrived, a lone male fled on foot. After a short pursuit, he was caught. The suspect will appear in court on Monday to face several charges.
Assault – 1:38 a.m. Lower Water Street. An older red sedan approached a lone male, 21. Inside, 4 males and 1 female uttered verbal threats. They were described as being between 17 and 25. 2 blacks and 3 Caucasians. When the victim ignored them, the 5 suspects exited the vehicle and proceeded assaulting the man. They fled in the vehicle. The victim was taken to QEII for treatment. The incident is still under investigation.
Assault With A Weapon – 2:06 a.m. Waterfront Bar & Grill. Hollis Street. An altercation ensued between two males who were ordered out of the bar. One male produced a knife and stabbed the other man in the abdomen. Additional officers were dispatched to disperse the crowd that had gathered around. The victim was taken to the QEII. He is in serious condition. The suspect will appear in court at a later date.
Suspicious Death – 5:45 a.m. Lower Water Street. A man’s body was found in the Impark lot by a coworker. Responding officers pronounced the victim dead at the scene. Major Crimes and the Forensic Identification Unit were notified. The incident is still under investigation.
Allan leaned back in the chair and entwined his fingers behind his head. Time, he knew, had an unsettling way of mocking a murder investigation. Once the hours begin ticking away, the greater chance witnesses can forget what they saw, and the greater chance suspects can form alibis. If the ongoing door-to-door canvass didn’t produce any witnesses, Allan knew he was in for a long haul.
If Brad had been someone else, then a lead might be easier to establish. The investigation would reveal who the victim was, the people he hung with, the enemies he might’ve had. A meaningful chronology of what he did in the last hours of his life could be created.
Allan had a gut feeling Brad Hawkins had walked into something that cost him his life.
But what?
Allan pored over the canvass reports and concluded the officers who handled the neighborhood Q&A had done a good job. From the reports, he made a list of who lived where. What addresses had no answer, so a follow-up could proceed in the morning. He began running the names of those interviewed through the computer for prior criminal histories.
He worked into the early evening, when the phone rang. He snatched at it.
It was the serology department at the forensics lab. Preliminary results were in from the blood typing of Brad Hawkins and the mystery blood found on the wharf. It was already evident that there was no match. Brad Hawkins had type O blood, common in over forty percent of the population. The blood on the wharf was type B, much rarer.
Allan straightened.
He said, “Thank you for the information. Do you have an ETA for the DNA profile?”
The female voice on the other end paused a moment. “At least a month, Detective.”
“Please keep me apprised of any further developments.”
“We will. Take care.”
Allan hung up and closed his eyes. All at once, he felt drained, enervated by the activities of the day and lack of food.
He stared at the pile of paperwork on his desk, wondering who the mystery bleeder was. Suspect or another victim? If another victim, then who? Was the person injured or dead?
Allan picked up the telephone and called around to the local hospitals to see if anyone had shown up with stab or cut wounds throughout the early-morning hours. No such luck.
His last call was to the Vice Unit to see if anyone had been reported missing from the night before. Only one, he was told—a local prostitute named Trixy Lynn Ambré. She had failed to come home from work. Her sister filed the report earlier in the day.
Allan said, “I’ll come down to look at it.”
“Face it, Al. You just miss us here in Vice. And you use any excuse to come back and see your old friends.”
Allan smiled at the joke. The rich baritone voice on the other end belonged to Marc Zwicker. He had worked with Allan during his brief tenure in the Vice Unit.
“You got me,” he said.
“Come on down. I’ll have the report waiting for you.”
When Allan got back to his office with the file, he spread it out on his desk. The report revealed Trixy Ambré was last seen leaving her apartment on Brewer Street at approximately 10:30 p.m. The probable cause of her disappearance was unknown. She had no previous history of going missing before. A dental chart was unavailable. She had no acknowledged disability or dependency. She was known to Vice as a prostitute who had been arrested twice in the past year. At any rate, Trixy Ambré did not seem to have a reason to disappear.
Vice had already made visits to the local hospitals, the train station, and the airport. No one had seen her.
The supplementary report listed blood types. All were circled unknown.
Allan picked up the accompanying photo. It showed a young woman with a pale, unblemished complexion, not covered by makeup. Her blond hair was tied in a ponytail. Her level blue eyes conveyed a somewhat serious look.
Allan turned back to the main page of the report. The person who had reported Trixy missing was Cathy Ambré. It was then he noticed the two women lived at the same address.
After gathering up the file, he left the office for his car.
