A Delicate Matter Page 32
Buck’s face revealed his shock. “You were here? You didn’t go to Grandpa’s?”
“I told you that because I wanted to watch. I was upstairs looking out the window when you loaded him into the van.”
Buck was aghast. “H-how’d you know about it?” he stuttered.
“Who do you think placed the call to Basil pretending to be my lawyer’s secretary?”
“You! Oh, God, Mom … why?”
“Because I’ve had enough of the bullshit, that’s why! My whole life with him has been a sham! We were never a family. The only thing I had left was you — and he was going to let them take you away. All for the sake of the fucking club.”
“Mom, you set Dad up to be killed!”
“Damn right I did.”
Buck clenched his fists in anger. “You could’ve gotten us both killed!”
“What’re you talking about? It was your dad who ratted.”
“Jesus! You stupid stupid bitch! You dunno nothin’, do you?”
Vicki slapped him hard across the face.
His eyes blazoned with fury. “Do that again and I’ll drop you like the piece of shit you are!”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Vicki challenged.
“Wouldn’t I? Who the fuck do you think wore the wire to get Dad’s confession this morning while the three-three listened outside?”
“You wore a wire?”
“Yeah, and who the fuck do you think wasted the rat bastard afterwards?”
Vicki stared open-mouthed. Her voice became a whisper. “They made you kill him.”
“I had to prove who my real family was,” Buck replied. “If I ever had any self-doubt, I sure as hell don’t anymore, not after talking with you.”
Vicki watched in silence as he walked away.
Jack, Laura, and Rose were parked down the block from Damien’s estate. When they first arrived they’d seen Buck drive through the main gates and now they were waiting for him to leave.
“What if he takes Vicki with him?” Rose asked from the back seat.
Jack’s fingers drummed nervously on the steering wheel. He glanced at Laura, who was watching the gates through binoculars, then made eye contact with Rose through the rear-view mirror. “If he does I’ll pull them over. Make it look like an arrest scenario until we sort things out.”
“If she’s still alive,” Rose noted. “There could be a body in there.”
“If she’s dead I don’t think we’ll find her body,” Jack said. “With as brazen as Pure E was, I’m sure Damien’s body is well hidden, too. They’ll probably try to make it look like he fled to avoid charges. It would be too embarrassing for them if word got out that he was an informant. The Europeans wouldn’t be impressed.”
“And I-HIT doesn’t think they can trace his phone for another hour or two?” Rose asked.
“Doesn’t matter.” Jack’s tone showed his frustration. “I’m sure wherever it is, or was, has long since been cleaned up. Pure E and his three-three team wouldn’t chance it otherwise.”
“When you think that Pure E had Bob and Roxie killed for no reason, who knows what they might do to Vicki,” Laura said.
Jack grimaced. “I’ve been thinking about it. Buck is a member of the club and that might change things. I doubt he’d stand for having his mother tortured to death simply to torment Damien. Also, as far as Buck goes, the club wouldn’t want to kill one of their own when he had no idea what was going on.”
“So you think Vicki will be okay?” Rose asked.
“I’ll feel better about it when I talk to her.” He looked at his watch. “Almost one.” He redialled Ed Gosling’s office. This time a female voice answered.
“Good afternoon. Law firm of —”
“I need to speak to Veronica Daley,” Jack said tersely.
“I’m Veronica. What can I do for you?”
“It’s Corporal Taggart from the RCMP. Your phone call to Basil Westmount this morning has put people’s lives at risk — including your own client, Vicki Zabat. It’s extremely urgent that I contact Mrs. Zabat, but the number I have is no longer in service.”
“But I’ve never made any calls to Basil Westmount,” Veronica protested. “Perhaps you should speak to Mr. Gosling. One sec, and I’ll transfer your call.”
“He’s there?” Jack asked in surprise. “I was told he was having a tonsillectomy today.”
“Unless that procedure is being performed in his office,” Veronica said dryly, “he’s been here all morning.”
Jack’s mouth flopped open. Someone pretended to be from Gosling’s office and knew Veronica Daley worked there. Who would do that, yet try to hide their involvement from either me or the club? Vicki’s anger at Damien the night he and Laura showed them the video came back to him, along with what she said later when they met her in the hotel room. As far as Damien goes, he could die for all I care. Jack felt stunned. How could you do this? He died saving you … “You bitch,” Jack said aloud.
“I beg your pardon?” Veronica said sharply.
Jack came back to his senses. “Sorry, not you. Don’t bother transferring my call,” he added before putting his phone back in his pocket.
“What happened?” Rose asked. “You look perturbed.”
“Perturbed?” Jack said. “I’m not perturbed, I’m angry.”
Copyright © Don Easton, 2016
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All characters in this work are fictitious or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Editor: Maryan Gibson
Design: Courtney Horner
Cover Design: Laura Boyle
Front Cover: 123RF.com/Mariuz Blach
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Easton, Don, author
A delicate matter / Don Easton.
(A Jack Taggart mystery)
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-1-4597-3427-2 (paperback).--ISBN 978-1-4597-3428-9 (pdf).--
ISBN 978-1-4597-3429-6 (epub)
I. Title. II. Series: Easton, Don. Jack Taggart mystery.
PS8609.A78D44 2016 C813 .6 C2016-900385-X
C2016-900386-8
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