Blue Rubicon (7 page)

“I was thinking we could take all the kids
for a swim tomorrow,” Kat said, in between bites of potato. This was met by a
chorus of cheers from the four littlest members of our party.

“Sounds great,” I said. “What do you guys
think?”

Chen nodded, his mouth too full of steak to
be able to speak politely.

“Definitely,” Julie said. “Chen says you
guys have an awesome pool here.”

The Canada Games Aquatic Centre, formerly
the London Aquatic Centre—a huge pool with movable dividers breaking it into a
kiddy pool with a floor that could be raised and lowered, a center pool that
went from waist deep down to fifteen feet and a large diving well with boards
and platforms up to thirty feet tall. Unfortunately, the public access stopped
at the fifteen foot platform, but it was still an exhilarating jump.

“It’s great,” I said. “I’m sure the kids
will have a blast.”

Plans were made, times decided upon. Aidan
and Anya hadn’t brought bathing suits but they were the same age and close
enough to the same size as Link and Kasia that it didn’t matter. We always had
extras. When the summer hit and the backyard hot tub got turned down to a nice
temperature the kids were in it daily, sometimes more. I couldn’t dry the suits
or do the laundry fast enough to keep up. Now we had enough towels and bathing
suits to outfit the neighbourhood.

The moment the kids were given the green
light to be excused from the table they were gone, back to the basement to
whatever toys they’d been playing with or show they’d been watching. Kat and
Julie went into the living room to carry on their conversation and Chen and I
took over the cleanup.

The water felt warm against my hands as I
rinsed the plates and bowls into the sink, thankful for the garborator that
kept me from having to scrape the plates into the wastebasket. And to think
they were planning on banning the wonderful and time-saving devices. Something
about increased water treatment costs. Chen brought a plate over to me then
reached out and turned the water on full.

“Is there any other evidence?” He was
speaking softly, letting the rush of the water cover his voice.

“A thumbdrive, buts it password protected
and I can’t break it yet.”

“Shit. Can’t help you there.” Neither one
of us had been graced with a natural aptitude for technology.

“He had coded an occurrence number, when I
figured it out that’s where I found the warrant. Sealed into evidence. I still
have it, but I think the evidence room Sergeant is wondering why I haven’t
returned it.”

“He’s in on it.”

“That’s what I was thinking, but he’s a
good guy. Hopefully he’s not.”

“Link, you should know by now—good or not,
everyone always has something to hide.”

“Except you, you’re an open book.”

Chen laughed. “Of course. Never lied about
a thing in my life.”

“Especially not a piece of men’s
jewellery.”

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

Chen went back to clearing the table as I
rinsed the plates and cutlery and stuffed the dishwasher beyond capacity. The
kitchen and dining room looked as they had before, minus the crumbs and juice
drops on the hardwood thanks to the children. A job for another day.

The deck was beckoning, a place of freedom
from paranoia, a place I was hoping no one would think to bug.

“About Algonquin,” I said, sitting on one
of the patio chairs. “After I gave you the watch and went to the Commissioner,
I was waiting in HQ for a bit. I looked up and saw Jeffries walking toward me,
dressed in OPP brass. And it was like I was in one of my dreams, but this time
it was memories. I saw everything as it had been, sneaking out of the tent for
a midnight piss, being grabbed from behind and carried through the forest by
Jeffries, hearing him call me a ‘filthy nigger’ then feeling him beating me,
kicking me so hard he broke my arm.”

Chen looked uncomfortable. It’s worse when
it’s someone you know, and when it comes to horror stories about kids, it’s
worse when you have them. My past was every parent’s worst nightmare.

“I blacked out and when I woke up my dad
had found me and was fighting Jeffries, but he looked like he was losing.
Jeffries was on top of him. I felt around in the dirt and found the knife,
grabbed it as hard as I could in my good hand and jumped on his back, stabbing
him.

“I don’t know how I did it. Badly beaten
with a broken arm and only eight years old, but I put that knife right through
him, cut two ribs in half and even pierced my father’s chest slightly. Jeffries
threw his body back and tossed me off of him. I must have hit my head because
the next thing I saw was my father standing over me and Jeffries was nowhere to
be seen.”

“Fuck. So it really was you.”

“Yeah.”

“How’s Kat handling it? You’d said she
didn’t take you shooting Saunders well?”

“Not at all. An affront to God. But she
seems to be dealing with it. She’s going to church again, taking the kids too.
I’m not fighting it. It’s what she needs. She didn’t have as much of an issue
when she found out I killed Jeffries.”

“I don’t see how anyone could. He would’ve
killed your father then raped and murdered you. Not to mention you did the
world a favour getting rid of him. Who knows how many more kids he would’ve
killed.”

“That didn’t matter with Saunders. Even
though he killed a woman after I didn’t take the shot, and he had two more
planned when I killed him, she still didn’t think I’d done the right thing.”

“She’ll come around, Link. You know she
will. Just try not to kill anyone else for a while, eh buddy?”

I wanted to laugh, but it didn’t seem like
a joke. With what I was doing now, I couldn’t shake the thought that my life
was on the line once more.

CHEN AND I WERE UP late, trying to find a
way to unlock the secrets of Carter’s thumbdrive. ‘The stars will never steer
you wrong’. It seemed easy, something to do with Polaris or the Southern Cross.
Polaris, the North Star, was used for centuries as a means of navigation in the
northern hemisphere, same for the Southern Cross on the other side of the
equator. Neither worked.

It was hard to do but as midnight rolled
around we had to force ourselves to give up. The children wouldn’t sleep in
just because we’d been up to late, and swimming tomorrow would require us both
to be at least somewhat well-rested. Kat and Julie would have the easy job of
either lounging in the pool or staying dry and reading a book. Chen and I would
be pushed in the pool, dunked under the water, hit with pool noodles and forced
to, over and over again, throw the kids in the water.

Morning came fast, bringing with it
blinding rays breaking the quiet darkness of the bedroom. I rolled over and
looked at the clock. 7:10a.m. How I longed for the days when I could stay up
until three and sleep until noon. Those days were long gone now but the memory
hung on, taunting me and refusing to die.

I turned off the fan on my nightstand, a
source of white noise to help me sleep and was glad it had been on. The kids
were already up. All four of them. And they had turned my main floor into their
own personal racetrack. There was something else though, something that smelled
quite good.

I roused Kat, who was also less than happy
to get up after a few too many glasses of wine with Julie the night before, and
went downstairs. The smell of bacon cooking and coffee brewing was an instant
boon, waking me that last little bit and bringing some sunshine into my
morning.

“You guys really didn’t have to,” I said.

“The kids have had us up since six,” Chen
said. “Needed to do something to pass the time. And to thank you guys for
putting us up.”

“Well… thanks.” I wanted to say something
witty, some clever retort directed at Chen, but it was far too early and my
mind was still too slow—and filled with thoughts of bacon.

“OJ or green tea?”

Chen knew I was one of the few cops who
didn’t like coffee. I loved the smell, I’d probably be willing to bathe in it,
but to drink it? Not a chance.

“OJ’s good.”

It took some time to get the kids to calm
down long enough to eat, probably about the same amount of time it took them to
eat and get right back at it. As much as I would have liked some silence, it
was nice to see them having so much fun. And they didn’t get to see Aidan and
Anya very often.

“When are you transferring here, Chen?”

“Seriously? You think I’d want to with what
you’ve got going on?”

I smiled. “Douché.” Touché for a douchebag.

“What are you dealing wi-”

Chen cut Julie off before she could finish
the question. I looked at her and mouthed the words ‘dirty cop’. She nodded and
said nothing more, her inquisitive nature satisfied for the time being.

We finished our meal and managed to relax
for a bit by putting a movie on for the kids and making popcorn. I wasn’t going
to win ‘Father of the Year’ with popcorn before nine in the morning, but at
least it was quiet enough to take a break.

And there we all sat, peacefully on the
couch while a dog who believed he was a superhero, along with his reluctant cat
and overzealous hamster sidekicks, found and saved the girl he loved.

It was nearly eleven now and a very important
decision had been made—where to go for lunch. Sushi was my first choice,
authentic dim sum was Chen’s, Kat and Julie both wanted Thai, but the kids
united against us. McDonald’s it was, and one with an indoor playground. Their
idea had merit, all you can eat sushi would have given the lifeguards more work
than they needed once we all sunk like rocks.

The benefits of being a van owner were many—with
the seats out and an air mattress in it became a makeshift camper, I could load
almost as much into it as I could into a pickup truck, and it made me look
completely uncool and would, in time, embarrass the kids to no end. Today, we
were able to fit all eight of us in one vehicle—economical, loud, and a lot
more fun. With bags full of towels and swimwear we loaded into the van and left
for the nearest McDonald’s with a PlayPlace.

“A little rich for this neighbourhood,”
Chen said as he pointed out a brand new Porsche Cayenne SUV, complete with huge
rims and tinted windows.

“Never seen it before. Someone’s rich
uncle, probably. Can’t say I’ve ever understood buying an SUV made by a sports
car company. Seems like an odd combo.”

“Spend the money on one of the old Humvees.
Now that’s an SUV.”

That sent Link and Aidan into a lengthy
conversation about how cool the military Humvees were and how they were awesome
with roof mounted rocket launchers and hood mounted machine guns.

“Never should have bought him Battlefield
3,” I said to Chen.

“Don’t beat yourself up, I got talked into
it too. Hell, I play it more than he does.”

“Send me a message when you’re home, ten
bucks says I kick your ass.”

Chen laughed. “Nice try, you should see my
rank online.”

Kat and Julie were giggling with each
other.

“Anything to share, ladies?”

“Just wondering if you two will ever grow
up,” Kat said.

Julie joined in, “you’re both pushing
forty. Video games? Really?”

“Romance novels? Really?”

Chen had a valid point. At least our form
of escapism didn’t involve ‘throbbing members’.

The girls looked partially defeated, but I
knew it wasn’t the last we’d hear of it today.

* * *

Between lunch, ice cream and the playground
we managed to kill enough time before the recreational swim at the pool. With
bellies full of fast food we made our way back toward home, stopping off at the
airplane hanger-styled building that housed the pool. Civic architecture:
modernist architecture done as cheaply as possible. At least it made giving
directions easy.

The swim was as to be expected. Chen and I
were exhausted less than halfway in and near-death by the end of our time at
the pool. My ears were ringing with pain from the numerous forced dives to the
bottom of the pool, retrieving anything the kids could find to drop. Chen and I
were also persuaded into all sorts of acrobatics designed for persons far
younger than us while our wives watched on shaking their heads. And by the end,
my back was the colour of the evening sun, thanks to a front flip to dive that
I miscalculated. I over-rotated and landed flat on my back from the ten foot
springboard to a chorus of cheers and moans.

“That was awesome, Dad,” Link had said,
triumphantly. I was the cool dad, cooler than I would have been had my stunt
been a perfect ten.

We dried off and changed then loaded back
into our clown car of a minivan, making the short drive home to where the
greatest kitchen appliance of all waited: the phone. Pizza, delivered hot with
no hassle and hardly any cleanup.

I was first to the door and immediately
noticed something was wrong. The keyhole was upside down. It was a mark of a
lockpicker, an amateur as well. Or at least someone in a hurry. I tried the
door and found it to be locked. Whoever had come in had relocked the door,
leaving the keyhole in the wrong position. It was something that couldn’t be
done with a key, a key wouldn’t come out midturn.

Lockpicks could.

I put the key in partway, just enough to
spin the lock back to its ready position. The key slipped the rest of the way
in, with a turn the lock clicked and I swung the door open, hard. It was a
tactic I’d been trained to use for clearing houses, give the door a solid kick.
If it hits the wall and no one yells out in pain, there’s no one waiting behind
it to attack you.

The door hit the doorstop and bounced back.
I waited for the beeping of the alarm system but it never came.

Kat had been the last one out.

“Did you set the alarm, Kat?”

She thought about it for a minute. “I don’t
think I remembered.”

“You and Julie stay out here with the kids,
call 911. Chen and I are going in.”

There would be no one in there. Unless
their accomplice locked them inside. Still, I didn’t want the kids going in,
not until I was certain.

Chen and I worked through the house in a
two-man team, one standing guard in the doorway while the other cleared the
room. It was standard practice and by the time we were satisfied the house was
empty I hadn’t seen a thing that seemed to have been taken.

The thought dawned on me, late, as always,
and I sprinted up the stairs to the office. I knelt down beside the desk and
lifted the floor vent then stuffed my arm inside the ductwork. My fingers
brushed against a Ziploc bag and I could feel the outline of a thumbdrive, and
a thick stack of tightly folded papers within.

Whoever broke in had been looking for
evidence.

I stood up and looked at the desk. Papers
were strewn only slightly more than they had been before and I saw that my
notes, the solution to Carter’s occurrence number code, were now on top. My
elbow bumped the computer mouse and the screen came to life, a generic image
popped up and asked for a password. Beneath the password field, in red, were
the words “Incorrect Password”.

They were careful, but not careful enough.
The notes I had made had likely been photographed. Cell phones were now the
perfect espionage tool—small, discreet, and ubiquitous.

Kat’s muffled voice made its way through
the windows. The blinds were up slightly and I could see the blue and white of
a London Police cruiser, their ridiculous motto of “Deeds, Not Words”
emblazoned on the side. It made me wonder if London cops had to write reports
anymore, or if it was now sufficient to go in, arrest people, and not say a
word to them.

I went outside and met with the officer who
was taking down Kat’s information.

“Nothing was taken,” I said to the officer.
“Seemed weird that the lock was upside down, might have just been someone
messing around.”

The officer looked at me, a quizzical look
that I’d given many times before.

“Do you want to report it or not?”

“Nah. Sorry, overreacted. It doesn’t even
look like anyone was inside.”

The officer, Yung it said on his nametag,
flipped his duty book closed and snapped it shut then put it back into his
right breast pocket. The movements were deliberate, calculated to show maximum
effort, as if even doing that had been a waste of his time.

I waited for the near obligatory closing
line.

“If anything else comes up, don’t hesitate
to call.”

I nodded, “Thanks.”

Constable Yung sauntered back to his
cruiser, took one last look at us before climbing inside then drove off without
so much as a wave or a nod in our direction.

“What’s going on, Lincoln?”

“I think it has something to do with the
case I’m on Kat, they were looking for something. Or they may have been
planting bugs.”

She thought for a moment, her eyes shifting
back and forth as she seemed to weigh the circumstances.

“Are w—”

“We’re safe, Kat. I promise.”

“Aren’t you going to tell anyone?”

I sighed. “I can’t. Not yet, not until I
have more.”

“Can we get a hotel room?”

“It would seem too obvious if we did. If
they have the house bugged and we leave, or if they’re watching u—”

I stopped. The Porsche SUV. They’d been
lying in wait and as soon as we left, they struck. Whatever it was that they
were up to, it clearly paid better than legitimate police work.

Julie seemed uneasy. It was too much for
her to handle. I was going to say something but Chen picked up on it first.

“Link and I will take shifts, one of us
awake through the night. Nothing’ll happen, babe.”

“I hope not,” Julie said. She picked up the
bags of towels and bathing suits and walked toward the house. “Maybe next time
you guys can visit us, or how about somewhere else. Out of the country maybe?”

We all laughed uncomfortable laughs.
“Sounds good,” I said, already dreaming of white sand beaches, clear blue
waters and a bottomless mojito.