Part 24 (1/2)
”It's wrapped in a plastic bag.”
”I've seen weapons go off inside a cardboard box. Now hand me the bag with your left hand. Good.”
”Detective. Your partner wanted me to fetch you.”
Adele swung around. ”You. Get over here where I can see you. Stand there.”
”Sergei Gregorovich, you got fat.”
”You got old.”
Anya pulled off the dull brown wig and didn't look nearly as old. ”But not fat,” she said. ”Did you hear what happened to poor Louie?”
”You two can catch up on old times later.”
”We had a bargain.”
”Oh, you can forget about that, Serge. You're under arrest.”
”For what?”
”Start with possession of stolen property. That's my partner's service revolver. It could be the murder weapon in an unsolved homicide. That will do for now.”
”My prints are not on that gun.”
”Couldn't care less.”
”I have done nothing wrong.”
”That's good. You can explain it all to the three or four police outfits on your case. Plus the Canadian government will likely get involved, probably the Russian government. You guys are a.s.s-deep in all kinds of bad s.h.i.+t. At least that's how it looks to me. Turn around, hands on your head. Don't fuss, I'm good at this.”
”Detective? Your partner . . . ?”
”Right. You walk ahead of me, dancer lady.”
”Anya.”
”Whatever.”
Most of Captain emile Rosebart's homicides were either domestic or gang-related; a case involving crown jewels, Russian thugs and ballet dancers would have been an interesting way to end the work week were it not for the .357 Smith & Wesson revolver with special grips in a clip-on holster on his desk, along with the brown envelope (now unsealed) holding a sapphire and four diamonds and the mini-ca.s.sette labelled ”Della #2 FYI-only-P.” He shook his head and looked up at Adele, pacing the room, then at Stacy, sitting up straight and perfectly composed. ”Brennan sent you down here? Jeeze, he's a persistent b.u.g.g.e.r. This woman? She wanted for something?”
”The Chief was worried about her,” Stacy said. ”Her place was robbed, there was a mugging and she was also a.s.saulted.”
”By the big Russian. The one with the dislocated kneecap.”
”He resisted arrest.”
”In my town.”
Adele spoke up. ”I was otherwise engaged, Captain. Otherwise I would have made the arrest.”
”Of course. You had other Russians to bust.” He looked again from one to the other. ”So how'd this go down again?”
”Detective Crean's a friend. I had a day off, she had a day off, you know what cops are like, let's have a coffee, why don't we swing by this Grova's place . . .”
”Yeah, that's what I generally do after breakfast. You ever hear of this Grova before this?”
”No.”
”But the ballet woman knew him?”
Stacy spoke up. ”His was one of the names she gave the Dockerty police when she told them about the jewels. I had him on my list of people to check out.”
”So you two swung by there as a, what, just a natural progression after breakfast?”
”That's right, sir.”
”Unh hunh. Right. And out of the blue you walk in on a crime scene and a murder victim and the missing woman and you decide to trail two strange men you see in the crowd.”
”We were trailing her; she was trailing the two men,” Adele said.
”One of whom turns out to be the very man who was calling you at Delisle's place and hinting that he had Paul's gun.”
”Worked out that way.”
”A natural progression. This guy Sergei some kind of secret agent? Or just a hood dealing in stolen goods?” He picked up the brown envelope. ”Goods which belong to . . . ?”
”Most likely the Russian government, sir,” said Stacy.
”Better and better. Governments. Mounties. Frickin' CSIS maybe. 'Cause if they want 'em, they can have them.”
”Except there's the dead p.a.w.nbroker.”
”Maybe I'll get lucky. Maybe the p.a.w.nbroker was a foreign agent, too, and they can take all of 'em off our hands.” He spread his arms across the inventory on his blotter. ”It's a cl.u.s.terf.u.c.k. No doubt about it.” He gave Adele a searching look. ”And you knew d.i.c.k about this? Nothing? Your partner.”
”Whatever it was, he was doing it on his own.”
”Where'd he get his hands on these things?”
She sighed. ”It's on this ca.s.sette, how he picked up two diamonds at a crime scene.”
”More than two diamonds in here.”
”Yes, sir. It's on the tape. He went back the next day and found them. Wrapped in a p.a.w.n ticket.”
”p.a.w.n ticket in here?”
”Haven't found it yet. Probably somewhere in Paulie's apartment.”
”Right. So. One blue, four white, five stones. Your friend signed, too.”