Inspector Green Mysteries 9-Book Bundle (242 page)

In the Major Crimes Unit, detectives were using the lull to catch up on paperwork or follow up on existing cases. They hunched over computers or talked on the phone, jotting notes. Green could see Detectives Bob Gibbs and Sue Peters at their adjacent desks, unconsciously leaning towards each other as they worked.

On his desk in front of him, Green had assembled the stack of performance appraisals prepared by his NCOs, and he was trying to make decisions he hated. Who to transfer out, who to keep. Organizational policy required police officers to move at least every five years. He knew all the bureaucratic reasons. In theory, it was to ensure a well-rounded, experienced police service, to allow for fresh perspectives and enthusiasm, and to avoid burn-out in the high stress jobs. In practice, it usually meant that just as an officer became really good at the job and developed a network on the street, he or she was moved out, leaving the supervisors with a continual pool of inexperienced, uncertain staff.

Bob Gibbs was one of the officers he’d been trying to shelter for months. The young detective had always been the most valuable geek in the unit, roaming the vast world of cyberspace with ease to track down bad guys and ferret out information. Now, however, he was finally beginning to gain some confidence and skill as an interviewer. He was a far better detective than he would ever be a front line officer, a paradox Green could relate to. If he himself hadn’t had Jules to rescue him from the uniform division, he likely would have been turfed out of the force within a year. Or quit in a fit of righteous pique.

Yet Superintendent Devine, herself the master of job hopping her way up the ladder without staying long enough in any job to get really good at it, had issued Green an ultimatum after yesterday’s meeting. She had her quota of underlings to move as well and had hinted that Green’s own name could be on the list if he didn’t play the game. He knew that he was well past due for a transfer and stayed at the helm of Major Case Investigations only because she’d decided no newbie inspector would make her look as good. It was a dubious vote of confidence that could be rescinded on a whim. Barbara Devine was famous for whims.

Devine argued that more experience in other areas, particularly in Patrol, was just what Gibbs needed to put the necessary swagger in his step and teach him to make decisions in the span of two seconds. “Not just high-pressure decisions, Mike,
any
decisions,” she’d said. Green wasn’t so sure. It might make him, but it might also break him.

Mercifully, the phone rang before he had to decide. He pounced on the distraction, expecting the MisPers sergeant, only to hear a slight pause followed by a breathy, little-girl voice from long ago.

“I want her home for Christmas, Mike.”

He felt his jaw clench. How his first wife still had the power to do that was a mystery. She’d walked out on him eighteen years ago, putting a bitter, moribund marriage out of its misery. His second wife, Sharon, had brought him infinitely more joy in the years since then, along with a son who had the dark, curly hair and laughing brown eyes of his mother, but whose stubbornness and intensity was all Green.

Green glanced at his watch. Barely eleven o’clock in the morning, eight o’clock in Vancouver. The crack of dawn for Ashley. She must have been stewing all night.

“Good morning to you too, Ashley.”

“It’s time this nonsense ended. I want to see her. It’s the least you can do, Mike. You don’t even celebrate Christmas!”

“She’s eighteen. I’m not stopping her. She makes her own decisions.”

“She’s done that since she was two years old,” Ashley retorted. “But you could encourage her. Tell her it’s time to mend fences. You have Tony too, but Hannah’s all I’ve got.”

Green heard the catch of well-rehearsed tears in her voice. He could have argued the point. Children were not interchangeable or replaceable, and Ashley had had Hannah all to herself for the first fifteen years of her life. But he knew she was right. For her own sake, Hannah needed to reconnect with her mother. She was no longer the defiant, resentful teenager who had landed on his doorstep nearly three years earlier. She was on track to graduate from high school with full honours this spring, an edgy, thoughtful young woman who could run rings around her empty-headed mother.

In the silence, as Green struggled with his own reluctance, Ashley pressed her case. “I’m not going to force her, Mike. Fred and I have done a lot of talking, and I know that doesn’t work. But she’ll listen to you. She’s just like you. Tell her I’ll promise not to fight with her.”

A promise that will last precisely half an hour, Green thought.

In a tight spot, fighting was still Hannah’s preferred mode of expression. It was all she’d known when she’d arrived in Green’s life. Fortunately, however, conflict resolution between mother and daughter was not his responsibility. He only had to get Hannah on the plane, and the rest was up to Ashley and Fred. Disguising a tightness in his chest, he agreed to try.

No sooner had he hung up than there was a soft knock at his door, and the Missing Persons sergeant poked his head in.

A twenty-four year veteran of Patrol, Li had been on modified duties for nearly a year while he awaited hip surgery. Most of the time, Missing Persons was a clerical job of filling in forms, making internet and phone inquiries, and liaising with other units and agencies. Every few months a genuine mystery came along that the missing persons team could sink its investigative teeth into. Li looked as if he was long overdue.

Green beckoned him in and watched as Li eased himself into the plastic guest chair wedged in the narrow space between the desk and the door. He had packed an extra fifty pounds onto his mid-size frame since being parked behind a desk, and his bad hip obviously complained at each new move.

“I’m guessing this is about the missing girl,” Li said before Green could even form his question.

Green masked his surprise. “What’s the story?”

“So far, it’s not clear. Her name’s Meredith Kennedy, thirty-two years old, good family, no known criminal ties. Fiancé called it in last night.”

Green’s thoughts were already racing ahead, wondering about Jules’s connection to a thirty-two-year-old from a “good family”. Jules was a lifelong bachelor at least twenty-five years her senior. “Any leads yet?”

“Dead ends. We did the usual checks—hospitals, ambulance, accident reports—with no results. By all accounts the young woman has fallen off the face of the earth. Family hasn’t heard from her for two days. She was set to get married soon, and her fiancé and friends say she was looking forward to the big day.”

“Banking and cellphone enquiries in the works?”

Li nodded. “We should have that info by tomorrow.”

“What’s the last known contact?”

Li flipped through the file. “That’s the really interesting part. Jessica Ward, a close friend, spoke to her at 5:45 Monday evening. Our girl sounded upset, said she really had to talk to her, and could they meet somewhere for coffee. Jessica couldn’t because she was working an evening shift, so they arranged to get together the next day after Meredith’s work.”

“That would be Tuesday? Yesterday?”

“Yes. She never showed up, never phoned to cancel, didn’t show up for work either.”

“Any prior history of similar behaviour? Or mental health issues?”

Li shook his head. “Everyone says she’s pretty solid.”

“What’s Jessica’s theory on the disappearance?”

“She’s scared. Thinks something has happened to her.”

“What kind of work does the missing girl do?”

“Contract work for the government. Citizenship and Immigration.” “Immigration?” Green let his imagination roam. “Could there be anything there? Sensitive file?”

Li chuckled. “No. She was in Haiti last winter after the earthquake, helping to sort through immigration red tape, but back in Ottawa she mostly drafts policy positions for someone else’s signature. I talked to her boss, who said she does a good job but really wants to get back overseas. That’s their plan after the wedding. He was going to work for Doctors Without Borders in Ethiopia and she was going to teach school.”

Green was still searching for a connection to Jules. “What’s the fiancé’s name?”

“Dr. Brandon Longstreet.”

Green’s interest spiked again. “Related to Elena Longstreet?”

Li looked alarmed. “Who’s Elena Longstreet?”

“Big name attorney in town. Years ago she used to do criminal cases, but now it’s mostly complex appeals. Charter challenges are her big thing. She also teaches criminal law at the University of Ottawa.” Green searched his memory for long-forgotten details. Only two stood out. Elena Longstreet was as much a master of courtroom drama as of the law. Her regal elegance and sleek black hair captured centre stage whenever she was in the room. As well, she’d been a ferocious critic of the police for lazy and incompetent case preparation. If the police had fouled up a single step of an investigation, Elena would find it and demolish the case. Even experienced officers had been known to quail under her cross-examination.

Being her daughter-in-law would be no walk in the park. But surely not enough to drop out of sight.

Green pondered the other revelations in the case. “So we have a bright, optimistic young woman on the brink of an exciting new adventure, who becomes upset about something she doesn’t tell her fiancé and then disappears in the middle of a Canadian winter.”

Li grimaced. “Gives me a bad feeling.”

Privately Green agreed with him. Teenagers went missing on a whim, but seemingly happy, well-adjusted women did not. He couldn’t ignore the darker side of love, which slipped so easily into the toxic swamp of obsession, betrayal and murder. Dr. Brandon Longstreet would have to be investigated.

“Expedite those enquiries,” he said. “And take a close look at the fiancé. Anger issues, jealousy, previous girlfriends. Also previous men in
her
life. Have you asked Inspector Hopewell for extra manpower?” Green had learned the hard way not to step on other people’s turf. Luckily Li had not asked him the reason for his sudden interest in the case.

Li nodded. “She asked if you could give us someone to search Meredith Kennedy’s living quarters. She’s living with her parents at the moment.”

That in itself sets the girl apart, Green thought. He was mentally running through the list of general assignment detectives when a raucous laugh burst out. It sounded familiar, but it was a long time since he’d heard it. He rose and peered through the door into the Major Crimes room. Detectives were unhurried, coasting towards the holiday season when loneliness, alcohol and too much family togetherness would give them plenty of work.

A familiar fuchsia jacket caught his eye. It was a long time since he’d seen that either. Sue Peters was sprawled in her chair like old times, legs outstretched and head tossed back. Bob Gibbs had evidently told a good joke, for she was still laughing. The affection between them was palpable.

A plan began to take shape. Green turned it over in his mind, weighing its wisdom. Missing Persons did not fall under his command and rarely would a Major Crimes detective be tied up in a MisPers investigation unless something sinister was suspected. But all was quiet on the second floor, and this case felt wrong. Staff Sergeant Brian Sullivan, head of Major Crimes, was out on indefinite sick leave and his acting replacement, seconded from Patrol, was over his head trying to keep track of the dozens of active cases currently on the books, let alone managing to give the detectives any useful advice.

Detective Sue Peters was currently relegated to entering data in online tracking forms, a mandatory but tedious clerical job that would not provide her with the confidence and skill to return to full duties. She had come a long way physically in her recovery from a near-fatal beating two years earlier, but the fuchsia jacket and the hearty laugh were the first signs that her spirit was returning as well. She was not yet well enough to pass her Use of Force test that would allow her back on full active duty, but a simple, behind-the-scenes assignment supporting Bob Gibbs might be the perfect nudge.

He called them both into his office, watching her try to conceal her stiffness as she hovered in the doorway. Li struggled to rise and offer her the only chair, but she dismissed the offer and stood warily just inside the door. Green had not missed the spasm of alarm that crossed Gibbs’s face as well, and realized its source. Everyone was afraid of being transferred out.

He held up a reassuring hand and explained the case. “Bob, I’d like you to search the missing woman’s room for clues to her whereabouts and explanations for her disappearance. While you’re there, re-interview her parents. Sue can follow up the leads you uncover.”

Peters flashed a grin, lopsided now due to her injuries. “I get to go out on the call, sir?” she asked as if not quite believing her luck.

He looked at her in silence and saw her smile slowly fade. To his surprise, she didn’t argue. “There will be plenty of leads to follow up on the phone,” he said. “Interviews with friends, old boyfriends…”

Despite her obvious disappointment, Green knew even this was a huge step for her. He was aware of the anxiety she was trying to hide. Peters had been alone when she was attacked, making inquiries in a rough bar while her partner was elsewhere on the strip. To ask her to make cold calls to potentially violent men was a risk, but he knew the challenge was crucial for her. The old Sue Peters would have bulldozed forward without a backward glance.

“Sergeant Li is running the case,” he added. “He’ll fill you two in on everything you need to know.”

“She was about to get married, wasn’t she, sir?” Peters asked.

Green and Li nodded in unison. “Reason enough to disappear,” she said with another hearty laugh. This time Green sensed it was forced, and she cast a small, uncertain glance in Gibbs’s direction as she did so.

THREE

Sue Peters kept quiet as Bob steered the unmarked Impala cautiously through the narrow residential streets, dodging the piles of snow pushed aside by hasty plows. She was marshalling her arguments for the next battle. Once they’d left Green’s office, she’d managed to persuade Bob to let her ride along in the car.