Police Procedural
Excerpt from Chapter 1
Monday, August 1
The five of them met for dinner. The table overlooked the lake and the surrounding mountains tipped with white.
Matt had lost weight, was shaving every day and wore his black hair cut short. He said, “It would be nice to stay for a few more days.”
Christine said, “You know, this is the first time I’ve been to Jasper. And the first time I’ve seen a grizzly.”
Daniel, her brown-haired boyfriend, was taller than Christine, slender and introverted. He was finally beginning to feel relaxed enough around Lane to open up. “The grizzly was incredible.”
Lane nodded. “It was a thing of beauty. A hunter.” It’s good to be talking about bears instead of cancer, surgery, scarring, fatigue and what the last doctor had to say.
“Okay, tell us what you’re thinking.” Arthur looked out over the water. His new exercise program was beginning to pay off. His belt had two old cinch lines in the leather to prove it. It hadn’t, however, helped him grow back the hair atop his tanned head.
“I was thinking how it’s good for all of us to be here. I was thinking I’m glad you don’t have to have chemo. And I was thinking we should go to California next. Maybe San Diego.” Lane looked around the table, gauging the reactions of four people.
“Can Daniel come?” Christine asked.
“Can we stay close to the beach?” Matt asked.
Lane’s phone began to vibrate in his shirt pocket.
Arthur smiled. “That’s not what I asked you. That’s not what you were thinking. You just changed the subject again.”
“You really want to know what I think of grizzlies?” Lane asked.
He felt their curiosity pique and the resultant attention shift in his direction.
Lane ignored his phone. “The bear was afraid of us, yet we fear it. It’s a hunter. It’s very good at what it does. And it makes us feel like prey. Still, we’re not the endangered species.”
“Like you,” Matt said. “You’re a hunter.”
“And people fear you,” Daniel said.
Lane picked the phone out of his pocket and flipped it open.
Christine grabbed it from him and put it to her ear. “Hello?” She slapped Lane’s hand away as he reached to take the phone back. “Hi, Keely. How are you? Yes, we’ll be back tomorrow. Probably in the afternoon.” She listened for a minute, then said, “I’ll pass the message along. He’s right here, but we were in the middle of a good conversation, and he was using your call as an excuse to avoid answering a tough question. You know how he avoids answering the questions he doesn’t want to answer? I’ll get him to call you right back.”
“What’s up?” Lane asked.
“I’ll tell you when we finish this conversation.” Christine curled her fingers around the phone.
“Could I have my phone back, please?” Lane motioned with his open right hand.
“No.” She put the phone on the table, covered it with a napkin and put her hands over top.
Lane looked at Arthur, who was getting his spark back after a double mastectomy. It had been a long haul. There was the shock of the diagnosis, the operation and recovery from surgery, then the chemo and all of those lovely side effects.
Arthur said, “She wants some answers. You expect the same from us. Remember your big speech about us being honest with one another?”
“Okay. What do you want to know?” Lane refilled his coffee from the carafe at the centre of the table.
“Do you admire the grizzly because it’s a hunter like you?” Matt asked.
“Or because it’s feared and misunderstood?” Arthur asked.
“What about the fact that it’s nearly extinct?” Christine asked.
Lane joined in on the laughter.
Daniel said, “Of course it’s not because male grizzlies sometimes kill male cubs.”
Christine glared at Daniel. “How did you know that was what the call was about?”
Christine will forever be leaping to conclusions after the way she was mistreated in Paradise, Lane thought, then asked, “About what?”
“Keely said they found the body of a missing boy. She thinks it may be related to one of your unsolved cases.” Christine lifted the napkin and handed him the phone.
Chapter 2
Thursday, July 8
“We want you to work with Nigel Li,” Harper said.
Lane studied Deputy Chief Cameron Harper before answering. Cam’s height and athletic physique filled the office. Behind his black moustache, now sprinkled with grey, his round face was a mask.
Chief Jim Simpson’s more delicate features were similarly blank.
Lane looked down at the round table in Harper’s office and then at the triangle formed by the chairs they sat in. His eyes focused on the mochaccino in the white paper cup. He could smell the chocolate. Now it all makes sense. He looked at Harper and Simpson again and sensed their discomfort.
“Think about it.” Simpson wore his uniform jacket with all of the necessary braid. His blond hair was trimmed short.
“For a day.” Harper lifted his coffee with hands that made the cup look like a child’s.
“We were hoping to hang on to Detective Saliba.” Simpson studied Lane’s face. “The RCMP wouldn’t listen to us. They said that her particular skill set was required elsewhere.”
“But we understand why she moved down east to get a fresh start.” Harper put his cup down, sat back, and squirmed in his dress uniform.
“And it’s important that we continue the process of passing on your skills, your techniques, to a younger detective.” Simpson looked sideways at Lane.
Lane was surprised at his annoyance with their use of the word we and thought, Get to the point. Both of you are so worried about following the rules that you’ve handcuffed yourselves. “Who is Nigel Li, and what are you holding back?” He raised the mochaccino, took a sip, and smiled. “Don’t think you can buy me with one good cup of coffee.”
Simpson blinked and smiled. He stood up, loosened his tie, took off his uniform jacket, and hung it on the back of his chair.
Lane spotted the darker blue patches under Chief Simpson’s arms.
Harper stood up, took off his jacket, and rolled up his sleeves. “Li is a colossal pain in the ass.”
“And a brilliant one. He speaks English, Spanish, and Mandarin.” Simpson sat down again and reached for his coffee. He used his left hand to hold back his tie as he sipped.
“So, which is it? Is he brilliant or a pain in the ass?” Lane looked at the liver spots on the backs of his hands.
“Actually, he’s both.” Simpson smiled as he gauged Lane’s reaction.
Before Lane could ask his next question, his phone rang. He raised his hand, pulled the phone from his jacket pocket, and read the name on the display. He looked at the men in front of him. “It’s Lori. I have to take this.” He pressed a button. “Hello?”
“Tell those two bigwigs that we need you,” she said.
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