Art and Murder. Don Easton

in his voice.

      “Damn it, Jack, is it Klaus who has a bullet in his head?”

      “No. Why are you angry with me?”

      “Because I know how protective you are of your informants and how you feel about men who abuse women.”

      “Sure, I would’ve loved to put a bullet in him, but I didn’t.”

      “So they did kill Clive Dempsey.” The staff-sergeant sounded matter-of-fact.

      “You already knew he was going to be whacked?”

      “Yes.”

      “How —”

      “I’ll get back to that. What did you do to Klaus? I know you would have done something.”

      “I, uh … he may be roughed up a little, but I didn’t kill him and —”

      “That’s a relief.”

      “Yeah, well … and as far as Dempsey goes, he was shot by one of the guys I have hog-tied.”

      “Okay, starting from when you roughed up Klaus a little, what happened?”

      “Dempsey volunteered to compensate me with a pound of coke. I left Laura and our informant to guard Klaus and Liam. Dempsey then drove me to where I am, and I met two guys called Anton and Bojan. After Anton spoke on the phone a couple of times, he gave me the coke and I had Laura cut Klaus and Liam free. Then Anton shot Dempsey. I got the drop on them and tied them up. That’s when I called Laura and she said to call you. I don’t want to report Dempsey’s murder because it’ll burn my informant.”

      “Christ, you want to hide a murder?”

      “These guys killed Dempsey just for bringing me here. Imagine what they’d do to my informant.” When Rose didn’t respond, Jack went on, “They also have access to blank passports. That, combined with Anton talking on the phone before killing Dempsey … and trying to kill me, I’m sure I’m on to something bigger than the two yokels I’ve got here.”

      “You’re right that you’re on to something big,” Rose stated flatly.

      “So fill me in,” Jack said.

      Her hesitation, Jack guessed, was because she was a bit afraid of how he’d respond.

      “What’s going on, Rose?” he pressed her quietly.

      “You’re not safe, Jack. How long do you think you have before Klaus and Liam show up? We better get the troops over to where you are before they do.”

      “Forget the troops. That would burn everything. Besides, I have reason to believe they won’t show up for at least a few hours, so quit stalling. Tell me what’s going on.”

      At last the words spilled out of her. She told Jack about her calls from Interpol and everything the French knew about the Ringmaster, leading up to their undercover officer being murdered.

      Jack wanted to cry out in both pain and rage, but managed to remain stoic as Anton and Bojan watched him from the far end of the building.

      “You there, Jack? Speak to me,” said Rose softly.

      “Yeah … I’m here,” he replied. “Something doesn’t add up. These guys never searched me or found my badge. There’s no way they think I’m a cop.”

      “Then it doesn’t make sense.”

      “It does if they were testing Kerin,” Jack said. And he failed the test big time, all because of me. He swallowed, then asked, “Was he married?”

      “I don’t know. A moment ago I got a call direct from Paris telling me about their investigation into the Ringmaster. We didn’t know if you’d been killed, too. I’m expecting another call any minute from a Maurice Leblanc. He was Kerin’s partner and he’s at the scene.”

      Jack knew it was not a good idea to take his eyes off his captives, but he turned away briefly and pretended to cough as he wiped the moisture from his eyes with his knuckles. “And they don’t have any idea who this Ringmaster is?” he asked, sounding croaky.

      “A witness heard the shot and saw a man running from the washroom, but there haven’t been any arrests. The killer left a watch behind, along with a pistol. The French are not optimistic that Forensics will come up with anything.”

      “What kind of pistol?”

      “I don’t know yet. The person I spoke with wasn’t at the scene.”

      “What about the guy they call the juggler? Is he in custody?”

      “No, Roche Freulard slipped away during the commotion … although then the officer I was speaking with changed it and said they didn’t have any grounds to arrest him, so they let him go.”

      “Yeah, let him go without any surveillance on him. Meaning whoever you spoke with was too embarrassed to say they lost him.”

      “They’re pretty upset.”

      “No more than me.” Jack was bitter.

      “No, but imagine the panic. Roche took second seat to finding the killer.”

      A plan began to formulate in Jack’s mind. “I’m glad Roche slipped away.”

      “Why?”

      “I don’t want him arrested. I want the Ringmaster.”

      “Nobody knows who he is.”

      “I’ve got Anton. He might know. He’s Roche’s brother, after all.”

      “Possible, but the French say only the higher echelons know his real name and that Anton reports to Roche.”

      “All the more reason not to arrest Roche,” Jack said.

      “You’ve already got some sort of plan, don’t you.”

      “I’m working on it.”

      “What are you thinking?” Rose asked.

      Jack paused, then said, “Will you let me handle this the way I want?”

      “Depends on what your plan is,” Rose replied firmly.

      “To start with, I have to protect the informant.”

      “Will she accept Witness Protection?”

      “It shouldn’t be offered. She’s young and not all that bright. Her parents and siblings live here, and even if she agreed, I know she’d back out or turn around and return to her family later. That’s if her family’s still alive. These guys seem vengeful.”

      “I agree with you on that,” said Rose.

      “It’s not only the Europeans we have to worry about,” Jack went on. “We have our local hoods involved, as well. Liam was crying like a baby tonight, but I saw what they were doing to my informant for fun. Imagine how they’d retaliate if they found out she was an informant.” He paused, then added, “Besides, I gave her my word that I would protect her.”

      “I understand.”

      Good. Then there’s no need to explain to you the judicial repercussions if defence discovered I was a cop. Smacking a guy’s teeth down his throat and letting Brandy clean out a wallet while I shove a shotgun up a guy’s ass would likely not go over well.

      “So what do you want to do?” asked Rose.

      “To continue my undercover role and find out who he is,” Jack said determinedly.

      “But you’ve got a murder victim where you are,” Rose replied “You can’t get around that without blowing your cover.”

      “I can if I don’t report it.”

      “You can’t do that! You witnessed a murder. You’ll have to report it.”

      “Okay,