MONDAY, AUGUST 15
Three women, one baby and a lawyer sat across the table from Lane and Keely. The lawyer insisted the detectives meet around a table at the lawyer’s downtown office.
“We have some information on the deaths of Stan Pike and Kevin Moreau. What we’d like to do is gather as much additional information as possible to determine where to proceed from here,” Lane said.
Keely shifted in her seat, leaned back and tried to get comfortable.
The woman sitting next to the lawyer was about thirty but had the eyes of someone much older despite her long blonde hair.
She could have been a model if she was interested in that kind of life, Lane thought.
The woman turned to face Keely. “Can I take a look at your wound?”
“Who are you?” Keely asked.
“Candace Barnett.” She pointed at Rita. “She’s my aunt.”
“What’s your interest in what happened to me?” Keely asked.
“Professional. I work for MSF,” Candace said.
“MSF?” Keely asked “Médecins sans frontières. I often see gunshot wounds. I just wonder what one looks like when a vest stops a bullet.” Candace kept her tone neutral.
She paid for the lawyer and now she’s trying to gain a little trust with a ‘sister’, Lane thought.
“You a doctor?” Keely pushed her chair back and stood up.
“Nurse.” Candace got up and walked around the table.
Keely turned her back to Lane. He turned to watch the lawyer. The lawyer stopped smiling when she saw the detective watching her. The lawyer, Ms. Scott, had short blonde hair and wore a white blouse, black slacks and a tailored black jacket.
Candace pointed at the stitches on Keely’s forehead. “Moreau went for the head shot?”
“I heard a bullet go past my ear,” Keely said.
Lane turned to watch the show.
Candace leaned to take a close look at Keely’s breast. “And then he went for the heart shot.”
“We figure that Pike and Moreau were involved in a series of murders, including Zander, of course. I guess you heard about Roberta King?” Keely asked.
Nice work, Keely. Let her know you won’t be played, Lane thought.
“No, I haven’t heard. What happened to Ms. King?”
“Someone poured gasoline around her house and set fire to it. She died in the fire,” Lane said.
“That’s a shame. It doesn’t surprise me, though. And you can’t be so naïve as to think they haven’t killed a few more people over the past ten years. I mean, for a few years you must have suspected them for any number of drive-by shootings as they established their territory and then consolidated it.” Candace stood up straight. “Be careful with that. The bruising looks pretty deep.”
“That’s what my doctor told me after he put me on blood thinners.” Keely buttoned up her blouse, turned around and sat down.
Candace walked back around the table. Her hand brushed Rita’s shoulder as she passed.
“Can we get down to business?” Keely asked.
Candace frowned. “I was in the car when Pike and Kev picked up Zander. They said they were trying to teach his big brother a lesson. Robert Rowe was Zander’s older brother. He and Kev had a falling out. Robert was a passenger during a drive-by where one of Kev’s cousins was killed.”
“You know where they took Zander?” Lane asked.
“It was a shop in an industrial park. I think Moreau’s grandfather owned it at the time. Kev said they were going to leave Zander there overnight as a warning to Robert. But that’s not what happened, obviously.” Candace looked at her aunt.
“When did you know that they’d killed Zander?” Keely asked.
“I didn’t know for sure until I got a call from my mother telling me that his body was found. Then I got another call explaining that Aunt Rita was in trouble. I did start asking questions about a week after they took Zander. But Kev and Pike, well, they had ways of getting people to shut up.” She turned her focus to Lane. “You know all about it.” She looked at Rita. “My aunt knows all about it. You either played along with Kev or he made you pay.”
“Where were you three days ago?” Keely asked.
“Africa,” Candace said.
“Why are you here now?” Lane asked.
“I heard about what happened. It was time for me to come back and tell what I know. What I saw. To put what Rita and Mary did into some kind of context. If you know what happened to Zander, then you know why Mary did what she did. And you know why my Aunt Rita did what she did.” Candace put her palms down on the table. “Mary?” Lane waited for eye contact before he asked, “What was Pike doing at your house the day he died?”
Mary lifted her head. Joshua stuck a plastic toy in his mouth. A pool of drool appeared on the front of his red T-shirt. “He came to the door and said he was taking Joshua away. I tried to stop him. He hit me in the face and went upstairs. When he came back down with Joshua, I had a knife. Pike was holding Joshua out like a shield, so I aimed for Pike’s crotch.”
“Anything happen after that?” Keely asked.
“I took Joshua and walked away. Caught a bus and asked the driver where the women’s shelter was. That’s where I met Rita,” Mary said. Joshua pulled the toy out of his mouth. A thread of drool connected boy and toy.
Rita looked around the table.
“Go ahead,” Candace said.
“About six months after I retired from drivin’ bus for the city, I came to volunteer at the shelter in my neighbourhood.” Rita saw Lane’s frown and said, “You’re wonderin’ how I could afford to live in such an expensive neighbourhood aren’t you?”
Lane nodded. She’s quick.
“Moved there twenty-five years ago. Wasn’t such a trendy place then. Anyway, I saw what Candy had done with her nursing with MSF and decided I could help out too. I took care of the gardening at the shelter. Made it a nice place outside, you know, a peaceful place. When Mary and her little one came there, I’d already heard what happened to Pike. My sister still lives in the old neighbourhood; she told me. So I put two and two together, you know.” Rita waited for a moment then asked, “You want me to keep goin’?”
Keely nodded.
“Mary and I got to talkin’. I told her about what happened to my Candy,” Rita said.
Candace blushed and looked away.
“Sorry, Candy. It was a long time ago, you know. Anyway, Mary knew about Zander, too. Guess her husband told her ’bout his part in takin’ Zander to see Moreau and Pike that day after school. Then I saw the news. Moreau had some free apartments. I knew it meant that anyone who turned Mary in would get a free place to live. So I kept an eye out for Mary and the baby. They were gonna come and stay with me ’cause it was only a matter of time before Moreau or one of his people showed up. And he did. Walked right past me after he shot that one over there.” Rita turned to Keely. “Sorry, it happened so fast, there was nothin’ I could do.”
Keely shrugged and the movement caused her to grimace.
“How come Moreau didn’t see you?”
“I was workin’ at the corner of the hedge. I ducked behind it when Dee Dee opened the gate for him.”
“Dee Dee?” Lane asked.
“The one he shot in the backyard. She was collecting on Moreau’s offer of a free apartment. Anyway, I got mad at myself for standing around. I’ve been mad for a long time about what he did to Candy. I went to the side of the house. I could see what was going on from there. Kev had his back to me and was pointin’ his gun at Mary. So I took my shovel and swung it like an axe. The blood splattered on my face. After that I picked up the gun and pointed it at him.” Rita looked at Lane as if asking him whether she should continue.
“Who called the ambulance?” Lane asked.
“I did,” Mary said. “I picked up Joshua and went around to the front door and inside to use the phone. Rita stayed outside and watched Kev. When I came back outside, Moreau was lying on his side, kind of panting and shivering.”
The lawyer, Ms. Scott, said, “Candace insisted that all three stories be told at one time, so that the entire series of events could be put into context.”
Lane frowned.
Candace asked, “Is there a problem?”
“When you examined Keely’s wound, you knew that Moreau would go for a head shot and the heart. How did you know that?” Lane asked.
The lawyer grabbed Candace’s forearm. Candace shook it off. “He used to take me target shooting. He bragged about what a good shot he was and that only one shot was usually necessary. But his backup was the heart shot. He used to say that life on the streets was hard.”
“Why were you involved with him?” Lane asked.
Candace looked at her aunt then at Lane. “I was in love with him — or, at least, that’s what I thought at the time.”
“Who’s paying for the lawyer?” Keely asked.
“Me,” Candace said.
“How?” Keely asked.
“I’ve been putting money away for years. There aren’t very many opportunities to spend money in the places where I work,” Candace said.