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Lopez came in, followed by Kevin Farzaneh. “Got a call from the Chief,” the detective said. “What’s up?”

“Where’s Madison?”

“Talking to Mrs. Steiner,” Farzaneh answered. “In the presence of her lawyer. He said I can sit in on this interview.”

Winters explained what he’d learned about Diane Barton’s possible involvement in the recent spate of B&Es.

The three men walked into the interview room. Barton had made an ashtray out of her coffee cup, and a couple of butts floated on remains of the dark liquid. “No smoking in the building,” Lopez said.

“Arrest me,” she replied. Her dark eyes, magnified by thick glasses, skittered about the room, between the three men, to the door, her hands, the coffee cup. They sat down, and Lopez switched on the recording equipment. Winters stated the date and time and the names of those present. He told Barton she was not under arrest; they just had some questions for her.

“Do I need a lawyer?” she said.

“Up to you.”

She leaned back in her chair. “Go ahead.” Her left leg was twitching, the foot beating out a tattoo on the wooden floor. Seeing Winters’ eyes on her, she pressed her hand onto her thigh and the movement stopped.

“Why are you still in town?” Winters asked. “Your job here is obviously finished.”

She attempted to shrug, but the movement didn’t cover her nervousness. She wiped her hands down the front of her pants. “Maybe I like it here. Actually, that’s a lie. I don’t like it here. My job, as you put it, is over because someone bumped off the boss. Definitely terminated, not only the job but my expense account as well. I would very much like to go home, except the bitch of a wife has my photographs. Besides, in case you’ve forgotten, I have to appear in court on Thursday.”

“You can come back for the court appearance.”

“Travel costs money. Some of us can’t afford to criss-cross the country whenever we want.”

“Short of money are you, Miss Barton?”

“If it’s any of your business, yes. I’m unlikely to get paid for not only the last week of work, but all my expenses as well, and I’m out the proceeds from my photographs unless her ladyship decides to give them back. Which will happen about the time hell freezes over.”

“You’ve been staying with your cousin Mike Stanford?”

“Can we hurry this up? You know perfectly well where I’m staying considering you found me there.”

“When did you first arrive in Trafalgar?”

She leaned back in her chair, and chewed at the nail on her index finger. “March fifth.” The leg began moving again.

“Have any contact with Mike or his sister, Amy, between then and when you came to stay with them?”

“Sure. They’re my cousins. I called to say hi.”

“Is that all?”

She looked at him through narrow eyes. “Why are you asking me about them? Mike didn’t know Rudy and far as I know they never met.”

Winters thought. So far no one had mentioned the dog day care or the B&Es. Should he let her think he thought Mike was implicated in the death of Steiner? She was obviously anxious and trying to hide it, but that meant nothing. Lots of people, with absolutely nothing to hide, got jumpy at police attention.

“Let me repeat the question, Ms. Barton. Did you visit your cousins since coming to town before moving in with them?”

“Yes, I did. Amy’s a retard but she’s an okay person. I went over for dinner once.”

“Once?”

Her eyes jumped between the men. “Once. Twice maybe.”

“What did you talk about at dinner?”

“I didn’t tell them they’d find Rudy alone in his room in the evening and they could bump him off, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That’s not what I’m asking.”

“We talked about family mostly. Who’s doing what. Jobs, children.”

“Jobs?”

“Yes jobs. My sister Fran’s a law clerk and she got a new job in Toronto. If you want the address of the firm I’ll get it for you.”

“Did you talk about Amy’s job?”

It was almost imperceptible, but Diane’s face relaxed and she lost some of the tension in her shoulders. She lowered her glasses over the bridge of her nose and rubbed at her eyes.

“Amy’s job?” she said, when she could see again.

He said nothing. Farzaneh looked confused, but Lopez almost grinned in understanding.

Barton’s eyes slid to one side. She glanced at the camera mounted on the wall. “Amy’s a retard. She doesn’t have a job.”

“Amy might be slightly
mentally handicapped
,” Winters said, “but I’ve found her to be bright and engaging. Some people, people others might make fun of, have no need to deceive. They tell the truth, when asked, because they have no reason not to.”

“Yeah, well, some people make things up too.”

“So they do.”

“You know what I think? I think this is a way of getting at me for that fight the other day. It wasn’t me who bopped the blond cop. You should be talking to Josie, but I guess you don’t want to bother her. After all, she’s staying at the hotel, not on the couch of a relative’s cheap apartment.” She placed her hands on the table. The shaking had stopped, and her leg was still.

“The matter of the altercation between you and Mrs. Steiner isn’t our concern right now. Nor is the death of Mr. Steiner.”

Something moved behind Diane’s eyes, and Winters’ nerves stood to attention.

“I’m asking you,” he said with great care, “if Amy told you about her new job.”

“Now that you mention it, she might have said something. She’s so proud of some stupid minimum wage gig, you’d think she hit the jackpot.”

“Perhaps for Amy her job is good enough.”

“Whatever.” Barton waved one hand in the air. She’d relaxed, and as he spoke Winters’ thoughts raced back over the conversation.

“Tell me what she had to say about this job.”

“She walks dogs and picks up their shit. Fun, eh? She babbled on like the moron she is about how important it is to clean up after the dogs because you don’t want to dirty the park.”

Winters could imagine what had happened. Barton had paid a courtesy call on her cousins because her mother told her to. That done, she wouldn’t have given them the time of day again, except for something that Amy let slip about her job.

“She talk about the clients?”

“No. Just the dogs. How much they like her.”

“Ms. Barton, Amy told one of our officers that you asked her about the clients’ schedule. Specifically who was going to be away for an extended period of time. Can you tell me what interest you have in that?”

“Making polite chit-chat, pretending I give a fuck.”

“Not.” Lopez spoke for the first time. “The sort of thing I’d ask just to be friendly.”

“I really don’t care what you’d ask.”

“Ms. Barton. Why did you ask Amy Stanford about the vacation schedules of the regular clients at Debby’s Dog Centre?”

“No reason,” she said.

Winters stood up. “Diane Barton, I am arresting you for breaking and entering 702 Station Street on April 7th. It is my duty to inform you…” He finished the statement. “Do you have anything to say?”

She looked at him. She mouthed the words, “Fuck you.” Her eyes were dark with anger, but there was something missing, and he almost hesitated.

“Detective Lopez, take Ms. Barton downstairs and meet me in my office.”

Winters walked out, Farzaneh following.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY-EIGHT

Winters was standing at the window when Ray Lopez walked into the GIS office. Diane Barton had been checked in and a legal aid lawyer called.

Winters turned. “We’re going to have to move fast on this. I don’t have much more to hold her on than my suspicions. General chit chat amongst relatives about someone’s new job is unlikely to stand up in court and the minute that lawyer arrives, he’s going to realize it.”

“You’re sure she’s guilty?”

“Absolutely. The timing is right and you can be sure she didn’t ask Amy about the job to be polite. I doubt if she knows how to be polite unless it’s to get her something. Go around to Frank Spencer on Station Street and get a proper description of the person he saw taking pictures. Get a warrant for Barton’s camera, her computer, and for her room at Stanford’s place. And get it fast. Then go around to the other neighborhoods and start asking if anyone saw someone taking pictures. I’m guessing that once Amy told Barton who was going to be away for a few days, she checked out the house pretending to be snapping pictures of the street.”

“Got it,” Lopez said. The game was on, and his heart was racing. He knew why Winters needed to move fast. If the lawyer could get Barton out of jail, she’d be erasing everything on the cameras and ditching the stolen property.

“I’ll get out of your hair,” Farzaneh said, “as this obviously has nothing to do with the Steiner case.”

“Don’t be too hasty. Take a seat,” Winters said. “Ray, I started the ITO, work on it while you’re listening to this.”

Farzaneh and Lopez exchanged glances. The Mountie sat in the spare chair and wheeled it across the room. Lopez activated his computer, found the ITO and started to type.

“When I went around to get Barton, she had the look of the mouse being sized up by the cat. Too bad we can’t convict people because of the look in their eyes. It would save us a lot of time and bother.”

“You got that right,” Farzaneh said.

“She was nervous and frightened, and I figured right then we could get her for the B&Es.”

Lopez turned around. “We know that, Boss.”

Winters stretched out his legs. He ran his thumb across the face of his watch, and Lopez knew he was thinking. Farzaneh lifted one eyebrow in question, and Lopez could only shrug in return.

“But, as soon as we got down to the brass tacks, she relaxed. Notably.”

“They all try to act casual,” Farzaneh said, “some get weepy in disbelief that we could possibly be thinking of blaming them, some get super defensive, and some try to sound all cocky and not bothered. That was her.”

“Agreed,” Winters said. “That was her. At first. But when she realized where I was coming from, that we were talking about the B&Es, she didn’t just pretend to be not bothered. She
was
not bothered.”

“What? You said a moment ago you knew she was the one, and now you’re not sure?”

“I’m sure all right. She’s up on charges for assault and causing a public disturbance, and now she’s arrested for a B&E. Judges don’t like to see someone using the courtroom door as if it revolved. So why would she not be too concerned at the possibility of charges?” Winters looked at Lopez, waiting for an answer.

“Maybe Langois threatened her for fighting with the boss’ daughter, and she thinks jail’s a good place to spend some time while he cools off,” Farzaneh said.

“Possible,” Winters said. “But she wasn’t happy to see me at first, as she would have been in that scenario.”

“Why would someone be happy to be charged with a B&E?” Lopez said, very slowly.

“Because they’re guilty of something a lot more serious,” Winters answered.

“Steiner?” Farzaneh said. “You think she did Steiner?”

“Yes, yes I do. She thought she was being questioned again about the murder of Rudy Steiner, and when she understood I wanted to know about a reasonably minor series of B&Es she relaxed considerably.”

Lopez had abandoned the ITO. “Sorry, Boss, but it won’t wash. You’ve been out of the loop, remember. I checked into Barton’s activities that night. She’s in the clear. Has an alibi.”

“Alibis can be broken.”

“She was having dinner at eight-thirty, and stayed at the restaurant for a good long time. Trafalgar Thai. The waitress remembers her.”

Winters turned to Farzaneh. “You’re still sure of the time of death?”

“Pretty much. Steiner was seen by the room service waiter at 8:38 in the company of…uh…of…”

“A woman, yes, I do know that.”

“Estimated time of death is 8:38 to eleven, but the witness who heard a shot puts it just before nine.”

“Time for Barton to abandon her dinner and get to the hotel?”

“It would be very tight. Too tight, I’d say. The waitress said Barton had several beers and lingered over her food. She’s sure of the time. It was getting dark when the woman arrived, and sunset these days is just after eight.”

“Okay. Let’s work on making sure that B&E sticks. Meanwhile, I’m convinced Barton has something to hide about the murder. We’ll keep trying to break that alibi.”

“Sergeant Winters,” Farzaneh said. “Sorry to have to remind you, you’re not to be involved in that case.”

Winters smiled without humor. “Got carried away there.”

“I’ll tell Madison I have a gut feeling about Barton.”

“Thanks.”

Ray Lopez worked on the warrants after Winters and Farzaneh left. The Mountie to update his boss, Winters to call on Frank Spencer to get a description of the person he’d seen taking pictures. When Lopez finished, it was getting late, close to eleven o’clock. Too late to make random calls on neighbors, but tomorrow they’d re-visit everyone in the vicinity of the B&E’s. With luck, that might not be necessary. Barton might still have some of the stuff in her possession, and there was a good chance she’d have kept the shots of the neighborhoods on her camera. She’d have trouble explaining to a judge why she happened to have pictures of houses that had later been broken into.

Lopez pushed the keys to send the ITO on its way. Hopefully they’d have the warrants first thing tomorrow. Tonight Barton was tucked up in the cells; the lawyer would be arriving in the morning. He took off his gun belt and locked it in the office safe, and then called home, knowing someone would still be up.

Madeline answered.

“I’m finishing here, and I’ll be leaving in a few minutes. Need me to pick up anything?”

“No thanks. I made beef stew for dinner. You know it keeps well,” she said. He knew.

“Becky’s quite upset about tomorrow,” Madeleine said.

“Why?” He put on his jacket and turned off the office lights. The corridor was dark and quiet; a glow came from the lights in the entrance and over the dispatch area.