Queen's Park

Thursday, August 10
CHAPTER 26

“How’s Randy going to help us if he won’t talk?” Harper said.

Lane turned the wheel and eased into the west entrance of Queen’s Park Cemetery. Harper looked out the side window. The new detective rubbed his palms on beige cotton trousers and shifted his shoulders around inside the jacket. Then, he reached for his belt to adjust his new Glock hand gun.

“Randy’s smart and it’s hard to predict how he’ll react.” Lane wanted to ease the tension between them.

The lines at the corners of Harper’s eyes and mouth looked like they’d been stretched tighter. The muscles of his jaw worked under the skin. His mustache twitched.

I’ve gone too far, Lane thought. Treated him like he’s a rookie.

“What’s he look like?” Harper said.

“Over six feet. Lean. Walks like a jock. Has a red hard hat. Usually, he’s around the mausoleum.” They passed the grey concrete building. No sign of Randy. The road descended. Trees sprinkled the car with shade. “There.” Lane pointed at the man kneeling at a grave. Randy’s hands were up to the wrists in loam. Nearby trees stretched at least ten meters high. As they eased closer, they saw a bag of wildflower seeds. Randy bent forward revealing the name on the gravestone.

“Ernesto’s?” Harper said.

“Yep.” Lane flicked the toggle switch on the door’s arm rest. His window slid down. He stopped and turned off the engine.

Randy turned and looked at them. Then he lifted an orange marigold in a plastic pot and turned it upside down. His left hand righted the plant and he set it in a hollow scooped out of the loam. He packed soil around the plant before easing back on his heals, standing and leaning to pick up a watering can. With a graceful back and forth motion, he sprinkled water over the grave. Setting the watering can down, he turned. The knees of his work pants were stained black. Randy brushed at them with his hands, then bent to wipe his palms on the grass over Helen’s grave. “He used to call this rubbing her back. Ernesto liked flowers so much, I thought it would be nice to plant some perennials.”

Lane opened the Chev’s door and stepped out, “We’ve got a bit of a problem.” He looked past Randy to the A frame building further up the hill.

“Don’t worry about Tony. If we move away, he’ll just get more suspicious. If we act like we’re having a conversation, he’ll get out the binoculars. He says he can read lips, but he says lots of things that aren’t true.” Randy lifted the hard hat and wiped his forehead.

Harper stood at the front of the car.

“This is Detective Harper, my partner.”

Randy stared for a moment, looked at Lane, then back at Harper. “Read something about you. A few years back you were shot in the leg and another officer saved your life. Lane was never formally recognized.” He smiled at Harper’s obvious discomfort. “I must say this is a surprise.”

“Surprising things happen,” Lane said, determined not to allow Randy to take control of the conversation this time. “We’re here to deal with the present. Ernie’s depressed and sleep deprived. He’s having trouble eating. Some reporter tried to talk with him this morning and the boy ended up in hospital. Beth thinks it might have something to do with the sexual assault.”

Randy frowned.

“Since we haven’t been able to locate Bob Swatsky, Ernie thinks it’s only a matter of time before his Uncle comes back to finish the job.” Lane leaned back against the car.

“Anybody think to get the kid a shrink?” Randy said.

Lane watched Randy’s eyes. Let him work it over for a second, Lane thought before he said. “I’ve got a theory about what happened and one living witness who won’t talk. I figure Ernie’s telling the truth. And I’ve got another problem.” He indicated Harper. “My partner thinks hiding the truth only makes the situation worse. Thinks it’s our job to find out what happened and it’s up to the courts to decide after that.

“I figure this reluctant witness won’t talk no matter what. Either he knows he’ll lose his job because he helped dispose of the body or he figures telling what he knows will hurt someone else. That leaves us all with one big problem. Ernie.

What do we do about the boy?” Lane looked at the graves. “Ernesto wanted to take care of the boy. Leona wanted to do the same. Beth wants help for her son. She’s afraid she’s going to lose him.”

Randy said, “He knows all of it?” He looked at Harper.

“That’s right,” Harper said.

“You’re big on the public’s right to know?” Randy said to Harper.

“No, just big on the truth,” Harper said.

Lane suppressed a smile. Good move, he thought.

Randy said, “The way I see it, the truth gets lost when ratings and money are involved. The more sensational the story, the bigger the ratings. The truth gets twisted and a kid who’s already in rough shape can become a basket case. Reporters will turn his world upside down.”

“Lying to protect Ernie hasn’t done him much good so far,” Harper said.

Randy said, “So, either way, the kid gets hurt. I guess the question really is whether or not you think we have the right to determine how badly he gets hurt.”

“Beth and Ernie are going to have something to say about this,” Lane said.

“Then bring them here.” Randy made it sound like a challenge.

“V Channel News at six.” The anchor stared into the camera. Her shoulder length blonde hair was parted down the middle. Her white blouse was buttoned to the throat. “Reporter Ralph Devine has a story about the perils a journalist faces while getting to the bottom of a story.”

A head and shoulders shot of Ralph smiling into the camera, “Getting the story can be a little dangerous.”

Cut to a shot of Scout barking, teeth bared.

A shot of Beth’s angry face. She said, “You tell her.”

Cut to Ernie on the ground.

Cut to Ralph with a broken camera on the hood of a V Channel van. “V Channel refuses to be intimidated by those who would attempt to hide the truth behind the disappearance of Bob Swatsky.”

The anchor’s eyes narrowed as she turned to face the camera. “Reporter Ralph Devine will continue to dig for the truth behind the disappearance of Bob Swatsky. Swatsky is wanted for questioning by the RCMP and Calgary police. It’s believed he holds the key to a land scam involving an estimated 15 million dollars.”