main road on the reserve ran within a kilometre of the shoreline of Queesik Bay. The closer the road came to the lake, the more likely someone would be parked there in order to access the water to fish or swim. This was whathe’d have to do – locate a lookout on the Eagle in a bend in the road close enough to the water to disguise why he was there. He’d brought a pair of high-powered binoculars, and when he was installed on the shoulder beside a marshy tract of land, he lowered the two rear passenger seats and lay between them on his stomach. With the glasses steadied against the rear window, he was able to see the comings and goings through the front door of the Eagle, although the activity inside was hidden.
Janice had made him a special lunch for his “first stakeout,” a cloth lunchbox that zipped shut and contained a rare roast beef sandwich on a baguette, two large red apples, a Thermos of coffee, a big bottle of water, and some whole grain crackers with a hunk of cheddar in cling wrap. He was to text her every hour, or whenever something exciting happened. He stared hard through the binoculars and watched a number of people enter and exit Eagle Smoke and Souvenir. He texted Janice:
Stakeout under way
. An hour later, he texted,
Numerous cigarette and souvenir purchases have been duly noted
. At one o’clock in the afternoon, he forgot to text, and she wrote to him asking what was happening. He wrote back,
Bored silly
.
He’d worked out categories and taxonomies by the middle of the afternoon. General categories were
On foot
and
By vehicle
, and
By vehicle
was subdivided into
Car
and
Taxi
. There were categories for
Alone
and
Not alone
. Some people came out with bags, some not. There was no wayof knowing if the bagless people had made purchases or not, but a person buying only a pack of cigarettes wouldn’t have a bag.
No one who went in alone came out with anyone. No one who went in with someone left without that person. People who came in taxis left in taxis. Sometimes a person who came on foot left in a taxi. That was the only variation. By three in the afternoon, he was out of food and water and more or less out of patience. He called Hazel. She answered curtly and wouldn’t talk to him for more than a few seconds. He hung up and stared out the rear window. Real romantic, a stakeout. He made a checkmark under
On foot
as a man entered the shop from the road.
Hazel dropped her mother off at home. Emily said, “Off to visit the undertaker now?” as she closed the door to the house, but she’d ignored the sniping. The whole time she’d been in Pass’s office, the facts of the case were piling up in the hopper of her mind. There was a point when likenesses and dissonances began to coalesce in a case. She didn’t have all the hints, all the resonations in place, but there was too much lining up. Not enough for an image to form, but enough to sense one.
Now she was thinking again that it had to do with money. A precise amount. The girl had taken precisely what she’d been owed. But then she’d also torn the office apart looking for something else. The money had been right there in thefront hall, in a drawer. Unless that was where she’d looked last. She didn’t seem to lack confidence, this girl. Stunning the wife, conking her in the head and ransacking the place wasn’t exactly subtle. And why had she left Cathy alive? Had this girl
intended
to kill Henry?
Finally, could there be a connection to the casino? What if Henry had gone back to a forgotten vice and somehow gotten entangled with this girl? When she got back to the station house, she had Cartwright track down a wallet-sized picture of Henry Wiest. She tucked it into her breast pocket, along with a photocopy of the police sketch of the thoughtful-looking young woman.
] 13 [
Afternoon
Hazel Micallef parked her unmarked as close as she could get to the casino’s doors so the walk from the car to the entrance would be as short as
Janice had made him a special lunch for his “first stakeout,” a cloth lunchbox that zipped shut and contained a rare roast beef sandwich on a baguette, two large red apples, a Thermos of coffee, a big bottle of water, and some whole grain crackers with a hunk of cheddar in cling wrap. He was to text her every hour, or whenever something exciting happened. He stared hard through the binoculars and watched a number of people enter and exit Eagle Smoke and Souvenir. He texted Janice:
Stakeout under way
. An hour later, he texted,
Numerous cigarette and souvenir purchases have been duly noted
. At one o’clock in the afternoon, he forgot to text, and she wrote to him asking what was happening. He wrote back,
Bored silly
.
He’d worked out categories and taxonomies by the middle of the afternoon. General categories were
On foot
and
By vehicle
, and
By vehicle
was subdivided into
Car
and
Taxi
. There were categories for
Alone
and
Not alone
. Some people came out with bags, some not. There was no wayof knowing if the bagless people had made purchases or not, but a person buying only a pack of cigarettes wouldn’t have a bag.
No one who went in alone came out with anyone. No one who went in with someone left without that person. People who came in taxis left in taxis. Sometimes a person who came on foot left in a taxi. That was the only variation. By three in the afternoon, he was out of food and water and more or less out of patience. He called Hazel. She answered curtly and wouldn’t talk to him for more than a few seconds. He hung up and stared out the rear window. Real romantic, a stakeout. He made a checkmark under
On foot
as a man entered the shop from the road.
Hazel dropped her mother off at home. Emily said, “Off to visit the undertaker now?” as she closed the door to the house, but she’d ignored the sniping. The whole time she’d been in Pass’s office, the facts of the case were piling up in the hopper of her mind. There was a point when likenesses and dissonances began to coalesce in a case. She didn’t have all the hints, all the resonations in place, but there was too much lining up. Not enough for an image to form, but enough to sense one.
Now she was thinking again that it had to do with money. A precise amount. The girl had taken precisely what she’d been owed. But then she’d also torn the office apart looking for something else. The money had been right there in thefront hall, in a drawer. Unless that was where she’d looked last. She didn’t seem to lack confidence, this girl. Stunning the wife, conking her in the head and ransacking the place wasn’t exactly subtle. And why had she left Cathy alive? Had this girl
intended
to kill Henry?
Finally, could there be a connection to the casino? What if Henry had gone back to a forgotten vice and somehow gotten entangled with this girl? When she got back to the station house, she had Cartwright track down a wallet-sized picture of Henry Wiest. She tucked it into her breast pocket, along with a photocopy of the police sketch of the thoughtful-looking young woman.
] 13 [
Afternoon
Hazel Micallef parked her unmarked as close as she could get to the casino’s doors so the walk from the car to the entrance would be as short as
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