Part 42 (1/2)
”Why would anyone choose Lyle over Robert?”
”It's his middle name.
”Anyway, Robby got a hog and a nod from the brothers, and roared off with the pack.”
”Did he finish the degree?”
”He completely dropped from sight. He attended cla.s.ses for a month or two, then his professors never heard from him again.”
”There's no record of where he was? Driver's license? Tax return? Credit card application? Blockbuster members.h.i.+p?”
”Nada. Then Crease resurfaced in Saskatchewan in '89, working the crime beat for a local paper and doing some on-air stories for the evening news. Eventually he was offered the job at CTV and relocated to Quebec.”
”So Crease was interested in bikers as a student. That was the Ice Age, remember?”
”Apparently Crease left Saskatchewan in a bit of a hurry.”
”Oh?”
”Ever hear of Operation CACUS?”
”Wasn't that an FBI sting using informants inside the h.e.l.ls Angels?”
”Informant. Tony Tait joined the Alaska chapter in the early eighties then rose through the ranks to national prominence. He wore a wire for the bureau the whole time.”
”Angels Forever, Forever Angels.”
”I guess Tony preferred cash.”
”Where is he now?”
”In witness protection if he's smart.”
”What does this have to do with Crease?”
”It seems the Mounties had their own investigation going in the eighties.”
”Are you telling me Lyle Crease was an RCMP informant?”
”No one will talk and I've found nothing on paper, but I've always heard we had someone inside for a while. When I leaned on a couple of long-timers, they wouldn't confirm, but they didn't deny.”
He paused.
”And?” I prodded.
”This is just for us, Brennan.”
”But I share everything with my hairstylist.”
He ignored that.
”I run my own sources on the street. s.h.i.+t, I can't believe I'm telling you this.”
I heard rattling as he switched the receiver to his other hand.
”Word is someone was definitely going to church with the Angels back then, and the guy was American. But it was a two-way street.”
”The snitch was working both sides?”
”That's the story my sources gave up.”
”Risky.”
”As a cerebral hemorrhage.”
”Do you think the plant was Lyle Crease?”
”How else does a guy completely bury six years of his life?”
I thought about that.
”But why would he reappear in such a public line of work?”
”Maybe he figures visibility confers protection.”
For a moment no one spoke.
”Does Claudel know this?”
”I'm about to give him a call.”
”Now what?”
”Now I dig deeper.”
”You'll question Crease?”
”Not yet. We don't want to spook him. And Roy owns Claudel's a.s.s until this funeral is over. But then I'll get him to help me take a run at the guy.”
”Do you think Crease was involved in the Cherokee murder?”
”There's no evidence of that, but he may know something.”
”That cap didn't belong to Cherokee or Dorsey.”
”How do you know that?”