LLOYD, NORMALLY A SLIPPERY EEL, didn’t budge in his chair. For Daniel, that was proof of his interest in the deal. They waited for MacKinnon to arrive. He parked himself, arms crossed, against the wall beside the door. Touesnard stood beside him. They looked skeptically at Lloyd.
Daniel locked onto Lloyd’s squirming face, his eyes shifting between Daniel, the two cops leaning near the office door, and his computer screen. “What did you need me for?”
Lloyd remained still.
He’s trying to make up a story. Daniel knew how to push. “Remember, no co-operation, no deal, right?” Daniel looked over his shoulder at MacKinnon, who nodded.
Lloyd’s words seem to bubble up from some abyss in his personality. “High-tech start-ups. Spinoff companies from universities.”
Daniel needed a moment to find the words to respond. “Wow, I’m flattered. You and Forrestal must think highly of me.”
“You’ll do.”
“Which universities?”
“Dalhousie and Calgary.”
Calgary. Another coincidence with Alberta. “But that doesn’t answer my question. What was I supposed to do?”
“Not much.”
Daniel leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms.
“You’re just supposed to talk about the project,” said Lloyd.
“But I don’t know anything about it.”
“That’s what Patrick was going to explain when you saw him.”
“It never happened. He was dead before I saw him.”
“That’s why Mr. Larch wants to see you. To get you on board.”
“Are you serious?” Daniel tipped his chair forward onto all four legs with a bang and leaned over the desk, collapsing the physical and psychological distance between him and Lloyd. “He wants to see me for only one reason. He wants me dead. Our encounters so far have made that clear.”
“No,” Lloyd snapped, “his job is to convince you to sign up to front the projects.”
Daniel turned again to the detectives. “What do you think? He wants me dead or he wants me as a business partner?”
MacKinnon spoke first. “Oh, I’d say dead. He’s a contract killer. He has an impressive resumé.”
Touesnard joined in. “Once you identified him, we checked out his Interpol file. At least ten professional hits. All big-time political targets. Whoever hired him knew to hire the best.”
Daniel could see that Lloyd was genuinely surprised.
“Impossible,” Lloyd protested, “Garth sent him personally. I talked with him yesterday myself.”
Daniel smiled. They were getting somewhere. “You mean Garth Haynes?”
Lloyd nodded.
MacKinnon leaned forward. “What is your relationship with Mr. Haynes?”
“A business one. A private one.”
Daniel stopped. “This is weird. Forrestal abandons his life in Edmonton after the fire. The photo you showed me before.” He looked at MacKinnon. “He had a family. A son. He changed his name. Jesus, he just didn’t abandon his business, he abandoned his own family, his only son —”
Lloyd’s face reddened. “Are you people fucking nuts?”
MacKinnon sprang away from the wall. “This Larch guy killed Mr. Forrestal. And he doesn’t want witnesses.”
Daniel saw the beginnings of doubt on Lloyd’s face. He pushed harder. “So you don’t know everything that’s going on, do you? Did you know about Patrick’s relationship with Garth?”
Lloyd shook his head. “You’re making this up. Garth’s father passed away when he was a child. He told me so himself.”
Touesnard said, “We have a credible source.”
Daniel edged closer to Lloyd. “He didn’t pass away, at least not until two days ago. He abandoned his family, including Garth, when a deal went bad. He’s been hiding ever since. But Garth found him. And sent Larch to exact revenge. You’ve been working with a professional killer, Lloyd. He’s just waiting to off me, before he gets new orders to take you out, too.”
Lloyd said nothing.
“So you wanted me to talk nicely about your new projects in Halifax and Calgary?”
“You’re only for the Halifax deal.”
Daniel frowned.
Lloyd continued, as if the revelation about Larch forced him to question other assumptions. “People know you. You’re on TV. They ask for your opinion every time there’s a big business story that affects the region. You know powerful people in government. But you’re not too close to them to be thought of as co-opted or corrupted.”
“And you have someone else lined up for the Calgary project?”
“Of course. And he’s been much less trouble than you.” He flicked a glance to the officers. “So I have my protection now?”
MacKinnon pushed away from the wall near the door. “We can certainly discuss the details at the station. You’ll have to come with me.”
Lloyd stood up and grabbed his jacket, fanning one neat stack of papers on his desk onto the floor. He walked out with MacKinnon.
Daniel grabbed Lloyd’s arm. Something sounded a bit too coincidental. “What’s the Calgary deal about, really?”
Lloyd glared at Daniel’s hand on his arm. “We develop the neighbourhood for the spin-off companies from the university. And sell it to the government.”
“At a substantial risk premium, no doubt. You’re waiting for the referendum to pass. Then a new and inexperienced Alberta government takes power. They’ll be desperate to buy, trying to make a big splash to show their new citizens a shiny new future. They’ll have no bargaining leverage. They’ll pay whatever you want.”
“Timing is everything, as they say.”
Daniel hissed at Lloyd’s pompous airs. “You’re a greedy and selfish bastard. When’s the sale?”
“Why do you care?”
“Humour me.”
“Next week.”
Daniel released his arm and watched Lloyd and MacKinnon walk down the hall and out of the business building.
Touesnard accompanied Daniel. “What was that about?”
“Don’t you find it odd that Alberta keeps coming up? Lloyd and Forrestal send a lot of money to some lawyer in Calgary. MacKinnon said the intercepted weapons were destined for a right-wing fringe group in Alberta. The founder of this group is now the leader of a referendum campaign that concludes in two days. Larch takes his orders from this leader. And now, Lloyd has been working on a property development project to be sold to the government in Alberta.”
Touesnard nodded.
“And there’s something special about the timing of the deal, too. Another coincidence. Right after the referendum. Do you believe in coincidences, Detective?”
“I wouldn’t be alive if I did.”