Page 36 of Justified Lies

Fortunately, the politics weren’t any of Gabe’s concern—he was here to work the scene. Nodding to officers and a few CSIs he recognized, Gabe handed over his credentials to another uniform. Past him, the victim lay behind a cordoned off section of sidewalk in front of the building.

“Figured you’d show up, Williamson.”

The man handed back his credentials and gave Gabe a log-in clipboard to sign. Gabe patted the man on the shoulderbefore hurdling the yellow tape. A familiar barking laugh pulled his attention to a small group of men who were watching the technicians work. Dan looked up and made eye contact with Gabe.

The men often worked two sides of the same coin. In Vancouver, like most big cities, drugs, gangs and homicides went hand in hand. There was even talk about a combined special enforcement unit they were putting together to handle the current wave of organized crime.

“Why do you look like shit? Ya just got here.” Dan asked as he sauntered over.

“Fill me in.” Gabe asked, not in the mood for their usual banter.

“It’s D.D. Peters.”

Gabe’s eyes rounded.

“Yeah, something tells me this is going to get a lot worse. I put a call into The Six. He’s been living in a condo on Lake Ontario and staying under the radar for the past nine months. Fell off the map completely about two weeks ago. Shows up with his throat slashed to the bone on the steps of the US Consulate in Vancouver.”

“Shit,” Gabe went to run a hand through his hair then remembered he was wearing a beanie to fight off the early morning chill.

“And get this. It’s all on surveillance video. Three guys carry him halfway up the steps, lay him down, then one of them turns and flips off the camera.”

“So, this is a secondary scene.” Gabe made a mental note. “We get any hits on them?”

“All had masks on, long sleeves and pants. They knew the drill. Got in a vehicle out of camera view between the building and the intersection. We were able to pull footage from the traffic cam, based on the time stamp. Big black SUV.”

“And I’m sure we’ll find it burned out in a ditch by mid-morning.”

Dan grunted his response as the two walked in unison to view the victim. A female in head-to-toe white protective gear was just finishing bagging the victim’s hands. She paused to smile up at Dan before she went back to her task. The forensic photographer was snapping his last pictures and their victim was minutes from being put into a body bag. The downside of living in the burbs, Gabe was never first on scene anymore. The plus side, a better quality of life for Jake. That was the only side that mattered.

Gabe took in the gruesome image. Even without the surveillance footage, he could tell the man wasn’t killed here. Only a minimal amount of blood surrounded the head, which was contorted to an obscene angle. However, his clothing was saturated with the crimson liquid. If he hadn’t known how much pain and suffering the exiled leader of one of the city’s largest organized crime syndicates had caused while living, he would have felt bad for the guy.

“Huh?” Dan seemed to be looking for the answer to a question.

“What’s that?”

“You okay? You seem distracted … again.” Dan said.

“No, I’m tired as shit.”Among other things. Gabe couldn’t open up to Dan. While he was his best friend, Dan’s emotional maturity was on par with a pre-teen.

“I said, you wanna go look at the footage? In an hour, this consulate is going to be a mad house. I’d prefer to be back at the office by then.”

Gabe looked at his watch. Not even 7:00 AM. That was good, he needed to be back by early afternoon for the boys’ flag football game.

“You walked?” Gabe asked, noticing Dan’s running shorts and sneakers.

“Jogged. Needed to clear my head.”

“All right, I’ll drive.”

“Then I’ll buy the donuts.” Dan smirked as Gabe led him away from the scene.

****

Lianna woke up feeling like she had an epic hangover. She was exhausted, her eyes swollen as if she had been crying, and her head pounded. Then she remembered. The encounter with Darren, blowing things with Gabe, and then the phone call.

Dragging herself out of bed, her mind was laser focused on acquiring caffeine. Yes, she could make coffee, but she could also walk ten minutes to the café and get coffee that was drinkable. That would also get her some much-needed exercise. She hadn’t jogged recently, unless you counted when she scared herself into sprinting away from lost drivers. Her jeans were starting to notice.

After washing up and making the bed, Lianna stretched, because she was really buying into this whole exercise thing. Then she quickly donned the blackest hoodie and leggings in her closet, preferring when her attire matched her mood. Pulling messy, bed flattened curls back into a high ponytail as she walked, she paused to grab some change from the entryway console.

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