Chapter 139

Sgt. Digby rummaged her filing cabinet and gathered copies of Verryn’s paperwork, his backgrounder, her reports, his criminal record and all the pictures of him she had gathered for his file.
She called the clerk desk.
“Kim?”
“Yes, Biz?”
“Can you get me a plane ticket for Montreal Airport? I need to leave, tonight. And the address of Montreal city police headquarters, directions how to get there on the subway...”
She gathered the file up and placed it inside a thick leather carrying case, then zippered it shut.
She was about to leave her desk, but instead she shook her computer back awake and printed out a copy of another file.
Kurtis Dale Raymond Missions, 18.
She stuffed Kurtis’ file into the zipper case as well, on top of Verryn’s.
Staff Sgt. James Keetch was sitting at his desk in the penalty box, talking on the phone. Keetch had a shaved grey head and a goatee. His eyes were bright green and always seemed to carry a fearful, worried expression.
She knocked the Plexiglas wall, startling him.
He held up one finger and wrapped up his phonecall, then waved her inside a moment later.
“James?”
“Digby?”
“I need to go to Montreal.”
“Montreal? What for? For how long?”
“A day or two.”
“What for? A concert?”
“A case.”
“What case? Your not on any cases. I need you here, while we clean up the Verryn stuff. You need to be in the building. The J Division boys are still investigating.”
“I thought they were finished?”
“What case is it?” Keetch asked, ignoring her question.
“What case do you think? The Lee case.”
Keetch stood up from his chair and started unbuckling his belt, theatrically, like he was going to whip out his penis. “Okay. You know what to do…”
She ignored his joke. “I need you to authorize my expenses.”
Keetch grinned and sat back down, rebuckling his belt. “The Lee case is over, Digby, for all intents and purposes. Kyle Verryn is dead. He did it. They found rat poison in his apartment. He was spotte don video near the scene. The end.”
“They found rat poison?”
“Yeah. He had it in a hairspray bottle, the little cocksucker. They think he sprayed it on Jack’s food or on his marijuana, maybe. Verryn apparently helped Jack trim his marijuana, at harvest time. He couldhave sprayed the rat poison on, while he was trimming”
“Huh. Good.”
“Yes,” Keetch said. “It is good. And the shooting has cleared.”
Digby couldn’t help but feel relieved. Her conscience felt relieved. “Okay. But what about the Missions family?”
“The Who family?”
“James, if you’re worried about everything lining up, then just let me go to Montreal. It’s that simple.”
“Why?”
“I got a call from a Montreal city detective, working a homicide of a girl that died two days after the Lee’s were killed. He got a link to my case through ViCLAS. Did you fill out my ViCLAS booklet?”
“You’re welcome. And if you fail to fill out one more booklet, one more time, I’ll going to write you up. I mean it this time.”
“Go ahead. That’s three murders, possibly four, all potentially by our killer.”
Staff Sgt. Keetch jerked forward slightly and stood up again. “Kyle Verryn?”
“It’s not Kyle Verryn.”
“Why not?”
“Well, maybe it is. If it is, don’t you want to know it? I still have to investigate the links, don’t I?”
“Why do I get the feeling this is a wild cooze-chase, Digby? Four murders, two that we’re not investigating, one halfway across the country. A ViCLAS computer link which could easily be based on a series of coincidences… We already have a perfect suspect in Kyle Verryn. He knew the Lee’s. He had motive. He had opportunity. He tried to flee the country. He tried to kill you when you tried to stop him. You’re still under inquiry for his death, for Christ sake!”
“I need to go to Montreal,” Digby said, staring at the wall now. “Don’t be a cheap prick.”
“’Don’t be cheap,’” Keetch repeated in a mocking voice. “If it was my money, I gladly give it. What am I supposed to do? Every file we have would run over bugdet if I wasn’t a prick. And then what? Are you willing to give up your vacation this year?”
“This is not every file,” Digby said. “I’ll just leave it at that. This is national embarrassment, if we let a multiple killer slip away. This is my next promotion. Your next promotion. It’s not over, James. Or maybe it is. That’s the problem: I don’t know. All I know is a lead is now leading me to Montreal. Who knows where it will lead after that. Hopefully someplace warm. Are you going to let me go, or not?”
Keetch looked her in the eyes for a long moment, then gave his answer: “You sleep at the cop shop, and fly standby-”
Digby stood up, smiling and made a b-line for the door.
“-and close this off,” he called out, after her. “Close this off for good. No closure, no vacation this year. I mean it.”
She closed the door gently behind her. If he’d said no, she would have slammed it.