LITMIR.BIZ

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      “What kind of work does the missing girl do?”

      “Contract work for the government. Citizenship and Immigration.” “Immigration?” Green let his imagination roam. “Could there be anything there? Sensitive file?”

      Li chuckled. “No. She was in Haiti last winter after the earthquake, helping to sort through immigration red tape, but back in Ottawa she mostly drafts policy positions for someone else’s signature. I talked to her boss, who said she does a good job but really wants to get back overseas. That’s their plan after the wedding. He was going to work for Doctors Without Borders in Ethiopia and she was going to teach school.”

      Green was still searching for a connection to Jules. “What’s the fiancé’s name?”

      “Dr. Brandon Longstreet.”

      Green’s interest spiked again. “Related to Elena Longstreet?”

      Li looked alarmed. “Who’s Elena Longstreet?”

      “Big name attorney in town. Years ago she used to do criminal cases, but now it’s mostly complex appeals. Charter challenges are her big thing. She also teaches criminal law at the University of Ottawa.” Green searched his memory for long-forgotten details. Only two stood out. Elena Longstreet was as much a master of courtroom drama as of the law. Her regal elegance and sleek black hair captured centre stage whenever she was in the room. As well, she’d been a ferocious critic of the police for lazy and incompetent case preparation. If the police had fouled up a single step of an investigation, Elena would find it and demolish the case. Even experienced officers had been known to quail under her cross-examination.

      Being her daughter-in-law would be no walk in the park. But surely not enough to drop out of sight.

      Green pondered the other revelations in the case. “So we have a bright, optimistic young woman on the brink of an exciting new adventure, who becomes upset about something she doesn’t tell her fiancé and then disappears in the middle of a Canadian winter.”

      Li grimaced. “Gives me a bad feeling.”

      Privately Green agreed with him. Teenagers went missing on a whim, but seemingly happy, well-adjusted women did not. He couldn’t ignore the darker side of love, which slipped so easily into the toxic swamp of obsession, betrayal and murder. Dr. Brandon Longstreet would have to be investigated.

      “Expedite those enquiries,” he said. “And take a close look at the fiancé. Anger issues, jealousy, previous girlfriends. Also previous men in her life. Have you asked Inspector Hopewell for extra manpower?” Green had learned the hard way not to step on other people’s turf. Luckily Li had not asked him the reason for his sudden interest in the case.

      Li nodded. “She asked if you could give us someone to search Meredith Kennedy’s living quarters. She’s living with her parents at the moment.”

      That in itself sets the girl apart, Green thought. He was mentally running through the list of general assignment detectives when a raucous laugh burst out. It sounded familiar, but it was a long time since he’d heard it. He rose and peered through the door into the Major Crimes room. Detectives were unhurried, coasting towards the holiday season when loneliness, alcohol and too much family togetherness would give them plenty of work.

      A familiar fuchsia jacket caught his eye. It was a long time since he’d seen that either. Sue Peters was sprawled in her chair like old times, legs outstretched and head tossed back. Bob Gibbs had evidently told a good joke, for she was still laughing. The affection between them was palpable.

      A plan began to take shape. Green turned it over in his mind, weighing its wisdom. Missing Persons did not fall under his command and rarely would a Major Crimes detective be tied up in a MisPers investigation unless something sinister was suspected. But all was quiet on the second floor, and this case felt wrong. Staff Sergeant Brian Sullivan, head of Major Crimes, was out on indefinite sick leave and his acting replacement, seconded from Patrol, was over his head trying to keep track of the dozens of active cases currently on the books, let alone managing to give the detectives any useful advice.

      Detective Sue Peters was currently relegated to entering data in online tracking forms, a mandatory but tedious clerical job that would not provide her with the confidence and skill to return to full duties. She had come a long way physically in her recovery from a near-fatal beating two years earlier, but the fuchsia jacket and the hearty laugh were the first signs that her spirit was returning as well. She was not yet well enough to pass her Use of Force test that would allow her back on full active duty, but a simple, behind-the-scenes assignment supporting Bob Gibbs might be the perfect nudge.

      He called them both into his office, watching her try to conceal her stiffness as she hovered in the doorway. Li struggled to rise and offer her the only chair, but she dismissed the offer and stood warily just inside the door. Green had not missed the spasm of alarm that crossed Gibbs’s face as well, and realized its source. Everyone was afraid of being transferred out.

      He held up a reassuring hand and explained the case. “Bob, I’d like you to search the missing woman’s room for clues to her whereabouts and explanations for her disappearance. While you’re there, re-interview her parents. Sue can follow up the leads you uncover.”

      Peters flashed a grin, lopsided now due to her injuries. “I get to go out on the call, sir?” she asked as if not quite believing her luck.

      He looked at her in silence and saw her smile slowly fade. To his surprise, she didn’t argue. “There will be plenty of leads to follow up on the phone,” he said. “Interviews with friends, old boyfriends…”

      Despite her obvious disappointment, Green knew even this was a huge step for her. He was aware of the anxiety she was trying to hide. Peters had been alone when she was attacked, making inquiries in a rough bar while her partner was elsewhere on the strip. To ask her to make cold calls to potentially violent men was a risk, but he knew the challenge was crucial for her. The old Sue Peters would have bulldozed forward without a backward glance.

      “Sergeant Li is running the case,” he added. “He’ll fill you two in on everything you need to know.”

      “She was about to get married, wasn’t she, sir?” Peters asked.

      Green and Li nodded in unison. “Reason enough to disappear,” she said with another hearty laugh. This time Green sensed it was forced, and she cast a small, uncertain glance in Gibbs’s direction as she did so.

THREE

      Sue Peters kept quiet as Bob steered the unmarked Impala cautiously through the narrow residential streets, dodging the piles of snow pushed aside by hasty plows. She was marshalling her arguments for the next battle. Once they’d left Green’s office, she’d managed to persuade Bob to let her ride along in the car.

      “I have to get away from these four walls, Bob,” she’d said. “I’ve been staring at computers for so long, I’ve forgotten what a field call feels like. How am I supposed to get back on my feet if I don’t start somewhere?”

      She could see him wavering, so she pushed. “I can just sit in the car and observe the neighbourhood, make calls while I wait for you.

      It will hardly be different from the station but it will feel different.”

      It wasn’t really a fair fight, for Bob Gibbs never could say no to her. Not when she faced him square on and looked up into his brown puppy-dog eyes. She said nothing more while they were driving out to the Kennedy house. She knew he was taking inventory of the neighbourhood and mentally preparing himself for the encounter with the distraught parents. The initial police notes had described them as a “good family”. From a police officer’s perspective that usually meant nothing more than gainful employment and a lack of criminal connections. It said nothing about whether the father drank or the wife beat the kids, as long as nothing had landed on their police database.

      The neighbourhood wasn’t

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