Monday Mourning (16 page)

“Task force had been backgrounding the thing for months.”

I let him go on.

“Couple of pharmaceutical pinstripes were pipelining pseudo-ephedrine under the counter. Stuff’s used in the production of methamphetamines. Product was warehoused in Quebec and Ontario, then trucked all over Canada and the lower forty-eight.”

Charbonneau hunched forward, rested elbows on thighs, and let his hands dangle.

“These bozos were supplying cookers from Halifax to Houston. Dragged forty-three to the bag on Friday, eleven more on Saturday. A lot of lawyers will be banking retainers.”

“Was Andrew Ryan involved in the sting?”

Charbonneau smiled and wagged his head.

“Even if he is SQ, that guy’s the stuff of legend.”

To say some rivalry exists between the SQ and the CUM would be like saying the Palestinians have some issues with the Israelis.

“Why is that?” I picked up a pen and began drawing squares inside squares.

“Saturday morning Ryan almost gets his lights blown out, right? That night I see him cool as an ice slick, squiring a number half his age.” Charbonneau leaned back and curved a figure eight in the air with his hands. “Very little spandex, acres of skin. Ryan’s what, forty-five? Forty-seven? Chick’s barely out of braces.”

I subdivided a square. Disinterested.

“The señorita’s hanging in, so I guess the guy’s still got what it takes.”

Ryan and I had been discreet. Beyond discreet. Charbonneau had no way of knowing we’d been lovers.

“Hanging in?” Casual.

Charbonneau shrugged. “I’ve seen them together before.”

“Really.”

“Let’s see, when was that?” Charbonneau sailed on, unaware of the reaction his words were having. “August? Yeah. August. It was hotter than a friggin’ banana boat.”

A meaty finger pointed in my direction.

“I came by here to ask about a case. You were down South. I had to testify, and the preliminary took place in early August. I spotted Ryan and the prom queen as I was leaving the courthouse. Yep. It was the first week of August.”

The first week of August. Ryan in Charlotte. An urgent phone call. Trouble with his niece. An unscheduled return to Canada.

I tossed the pen and buckled down my face.

“Monsieur Charbonneau, I called Friday because I’ve found information relevant to the pizza basement skeletons.”

Charbonneau slumped back and thrust out both feet. “I’m listening.”

“I got a second opinion on the buttons found by Said Matoub.”

Charabonneau looked blank.

“The owner of the pizza parlor.”

“The guy who found the skeletons.”

“Actually that was the plumber, but close enough. Matoub admitted to having pocketed three silver buttons while collecting the bones.”

“Right.”

“Your partner took the buttons to the McCord for evaluation.”

“Lady there said they were old.”

“Antoinette Legault. She was only partially correct.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“According to Monique Mousseau at Pointe-à-Callière, only two of the buttons are nineteenth century in age. The third is a forgery.”

“Meaning what?”

“She didn’t know.”

“How old is the fake?”

“She couldn’t assign an age, but doubted it was of much antiquity.”

“OK. So maybe the buttons don’t go with the bones. That ain’t exactly a smoking gun.”

“Have you heard of a man named Nicolò Cataneo?”

“Nick the Knife? Who hasn’t?”

“The building housing Matoub’s pizzeria currently belongs to Richard Cyr. Cyr purchased the property from Nicolò Cataneo.”

“Yeah? When?”

“In 1980.”

Charbonneau retracted his feet and sat up.

“How long did Cataneo own the place?”

“Ten years.”

Charbonneau frowned.

“Does that mean something, Detective?”

“Might.”

“I know Cataneo was connected.”

Charbonneau began picking at the cuticle on his right thumb.

“What is it you’re not telling me?”

Charbonneau looked undecided a moment, then slumped back.

“Things exploded here in the late seventies. The Calabrian and Sicilian factions went at each other big-time. Power struggle ended with the assassination of a boss named Paolo Violi.”

“And?”

“A new boss took over.”

Down the hall I heard one phone ring, then another, and another. LaManche was gathering his troops for the morning meeting.

“And?”

“New boss broke with the Bonannos in New York and established ties between the Montreal family and the Caruana/Cuntrera family.”

“Your point?” I made a show of checking my watch.

“It was a wild ride.” Charbonneau shrugged. “Bunch of guys got killed.”

“And maybe some girls?”

Charbonneau shrugged again. “You didn’t say anything about trauma to those bones.”

“I didn’t find any. You’ll speak to your partner?”

Charbonneau tugged an earlobe, rolled his eyes sideways, then back to me. He hesitated a moment, then seemed to arrive at some private decision.

“Luc’s spoken to Cyr.”

“I know.”

“Guess he didn’t tell you.”

“No.”

“We probably should have.”

“That would have been nice.”

“The old geezer never mentioned Cataneo.”

“Perhaps that has to do with your partner’s social skills.”

“You learn anything else?”

I told him about Cyr’s list of tenants, and about the phone calls I’d made.

“So who do you like? The drag queen or the guy in the side curls and hat?”

“Chabad-Lubavitch men don’t wear the
payot
or the
streimel.
”

“Just having some fun with you, Doc. You think either could be a player?”

“You’re asking my opinion?”

Charbonneau nodded.

“Not likely.” I rose.

Charbonneau lumbered to his feet, flipped his coat over one arm, and dug a paper from a pocket. “I’m supposed to give you this.”

The note contained the telephone number left by Mrs. Ballant/ Gallant/Talent, the name Alban Fisher, and an address in Candiac.

“That a phone trace?”

I nodded.

“Someone giving you a hard time?”

“Besides the freak that broke into my condo?”

“Oh, yeah?” Charbonneau’s face tensed.

Mistake.

“It’s nothing. Anyway, Ryan’s got stepped-up surveillance on my place.”

I glanced at the paper Charbonneau had handed me.

“This woman called claiming to know something about the pizza parlor bones.”

“What?”

“Beats me. She said she knew what had gone on in Cyr’s building.”

“You let me know what this lady says as soon as you talk to her. If you don’t reach her today I’ll take a spin out there. And you let me know if anyone hassles you, Doc. I mean it.”

Again, Charbonneau hesitated, longer this time.

“Don’t let Luc get under your skin. He’ll come around. And, Doc, he won’t stand for you being hassled either. You can believe that.”

I wondered.

Having survived the minefield of Charbonneau’s conversation, I should have been prepared for my next surprise. I wasn’t.

When I arrived in the conference room, the five pathologists were deep in discussion.

I mumbled an apology for my late arrival. LaManche slid a photocopy across the table.

Three autopsies had already been assigned. Pelletier got two crack addicts found in the Lionel-Groulx Metro. Morin drew a cyclist crushed by a fire truck.

I flipped a page and glanced quickly through the last two cases.

A man had been discovered facedown below the staircase at the Mont Royal end of Drummond.

Nom de décédé: Inconnu.
Unknown.

A woman had been found dead in her bed.

Nom de décédé:
Louise Parent
Date de naissance:
1943/6/18
Info.: Mort suspecte

My eyes dropped to the next line.

My heart dropped like a rock.

L
A
M
ANCHE
’
S VOICE GREW DISTANT
. T
HE ROOM RECEDED
around me.

Jamming one hand into the pocket of my lab coat, I yanked out Charbonneau’s note.

Sweet Jesus!

The address on the phone trace matched the address on the case file.

As I stared at the name, LaManche spoke it.

“Louise Parent.”

Ballant. Gallant. Talent. Parent.

Bands of tension squeezed my chest.

“Who discovered her?”

Everyone turned, surprised at my vehemence.

Wordlessly, LaManche pulled out the police report.

“Claudia Bastillo. The victim’s niece.”

“What happened?”

LaManche read silently for several seconds.

“Madame Bastillo was in the habit of talking regularly with her mother. The mother, Rose Fisher, and the victim, Louise Parent, were sisters, sharing a residence in Candiac.”

LaManche filtered the pertinent facts.

“Over the weekend, Bastillo’s calls went unanswered. Early this morning she went to check and found her aunt dead in bed.”

Dear God! I’d been trying to reach Parent during the same period as her niece!

“Rose Fisher is all right?”

LaManche finished skimming.

“The report says nothing concerning the whereabouts of Madame Fisher. I assume the lady is among the living since she is not on her way here.”

“Cause of death?” I knew it was stupid as soon as I asked it.

LaManche looked up over his glasses.

“That is why Madame Parent is coming to us.”

Questions swirled and tilted.

Foul play or ghastly coincidence? Had Parent been killed, or had she died of natural causes? Was her death related to the calls made to me?

Had
the calls been placed by Louise Parent?

Say something? Hold off?

I glanced at the box indicating police jurisdiction.

SQ.

I decided to wait until I’d spoken to the investigating officers. Until LaManche had completed his autopsy.

“Dr. Santangelo, please take the staircase gentleman,” LaManche continued.

Santangelo marked her list.

“I will take Madame Parent when she arrives,” LaManche said.

LaManche jotted “La” next to Louise Parent’s name. Business concluded, everyone rose and filed out.

Back in my office I wasted no time dialing Ryan’s number. He answered on the first ring.

“Who’ll be working the Louise Parent case?”

“Yes, it is nice to hear your voice. Yes, it is a bit warmer today. Yes, it was a bitch of a weekend,” Ryan said.

“How was your weekend?”

“A bitch.”

“The big sting?”

“All wrapped up.”

“They’ve cut you loose?”

“Yes.”

I waited. He did not elaborate.

“Who’ll be working the Louise Parent case?”

Squad room noises indicated Ryan was a few floors below me.

“Candiac?” I prodded. “Sixty-year-old woman found dead in her bed this morning. Who’ll catch the case?”

“You’re looking at him, kid.”

“They didn’t give you much downtime.”

“Seems I was missed here.”

“Find anyone who’ll pal around with you yet?”

Several years earlier Ryan’s partner had died in a plane crash while escorting a prisoner from Georgia to Montreal. Since then Ryan had been working alone, shifting from one special assignment to another.

“The charisma is simply too overpowering.”

“Could be the aftershave.”

“I like flying solo.”

“Why did Parent come in as a
mort suspecte
?”

“My guess would be the death looked suspicious.”

“You’re a laugh riot, Ryan.”

“Vic was in good health, not that old. No malfunctioning space heater. No leaking gas or carbon monoxide. No history of depression. No suicide note. Vic’s sixty-four-year-old sister’s in the wind. Disappeared. Candiac cops thought it called for a look-see by the big boys.”

“LaManche is doing the autopsy this morning.”

I pictured Ryan shoulder-cradling the phone, ankles crossed on his desk.

I pictured Ryan lying in my bed.

I pictured Ryan strutting with a prom queen.

“Vic’s niece found the body. Claims it’s out of character for her mother to take off without telling her.”

“Rose Fisher.”

I heard paper rustle.

“Bingo.”

“You’re trying to locate her?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Who’s Alban Fisher?”

Hitch of hesitation. “I can find out. Why?”

“Remember the woman who phoned about the pizza parlor skeletons?”

“Yes.”

“Remember I thought her name was Ballant or Gallant or something like that?”

“Yes.”

“Both calls came from Rose Fisher’s house in Candiac.”

“Parent.”

“Sounds similar over a bad connection.”

“The phone account’s in the name of Alban Fisher?” Ryan guessed.

“Yes.”

“Alban in the directory?”

“Hold on.”

I laid down the receiver, pulled out the phone book, and thumbed to the F’s. Sometimes detecting doesn’t take much genius. Alban Fisher was listed at the Candiac address.

“He’s there.”

“The niece didn’t put anyone else in the picture. Said the women lived alone. I’ll give her a call.”

“I’ll get back to you when LaManche finishes.”

“Could be a simple heart attack.”

“Could be.”

“Happens all the time.”

“Second leading cause of death.”

“You sure the ticker isn’t
numero uno
?”

“No.”

“Anything else breaking?”

“Actually, yes.”

I told him about the forged button. He asked what it meant. I told him I hadn’t a clue.

Then I told him about Nicolò Cataneo.

There was a pause, after which Ryan’s voice sounded different. Harder, somehow.

“I don’t like the sound of that, Tempe. Wiseguys value life about as much as they value used dental floss. You watch your back.”

“I always do.”

“Window fixed?”

“Yes.”

“I missed you this weekend.”