“A wire on Goldie might give you whoever did it,” said Sammy. “Maybe identify The Shaman and The Enabler, or even the guy in the suit with dead eyes.”

“Even if we did get a wire on Goldie, do you really think he would ever talk about it and go over the details again with whoever did it? At least in a place where we could hear? I bet this is as close as you would ever get … and it isn’t nearly enough. It would be nice to know who the guy with dead eyes is, though.”

“And The Enabler,” said Jack.

“You don’t know if he was the one laughing in the park with Goldie,” said CC. “His name wasn’t used to clarify if he was the third guy.”

“Goldie thought the idea wasn’t professional,” said Jack. “He asked and was told it was on a need-to-know basis. It had to be his boss, which is the one they call The Enabler.”

CC shrugged and said, “Logical, provided we’re even talking about the same incident.”

Her choice of words irritated Jack. Incident? He knew that was how it would be referred to in a courtroom. Grabbing an innocent man … sticking a plastic bag on his head and chasing him through the woods to murder him would be simply stated as an “incident.”

“What about a search warrant?” suggested Laura. “Maybe we could find a dirty shoe or boot in Goldie’s house that the lab could match with the dirt in the park where Melvin was killed?”

CC frowned and said, “Sorry, I doubt we have grounds for a search warrant, either. And as far as lab evidence, it sounds like you’ve been watching too much CSI on television. Things tend to work a little differently in the real world.”

“I know, but occasionally we get lucky with the lab,” countered Laura.

“‘Occasionally’ being the operative word,” said CC. “Another issue with courts would be potential motive. Why would someone like Goldie, if he did do it, deliver some wino —” She paused, catching a dark look from Jack before correcting herself and saying, “Okay, homeless person, to a park for a couple of other guys to shoot him? Tell me how you would answer that question to a judge?”

Jack thought about it. He knew CC was right. Her reasoning was sound. Why would anyone do it? Goldie is wealthy. Whoever he works for must be more so. Is there some past connection to Melvin’s life that nobody knows about? His own choice of words caused him to reflect and think deeper. Nobody knows about? … Nobody … like Ophelia said, “People who got it don’t give a shit about people who don’t. We’re nobodies.” Goldie said they were laughing. They wouldn’t be if there was a specific reason to murder Melvin. It would have been strictly business. Whatever their reason, Melvin was a random pick. The motive for the crime was the murder itself. The victim could be a nobody. But why would any presumably sane person want to murder an innocent person for no reason? Or is the person behind this whole situation even sane?

“Well, sorry if I brought you in on your day off for no reason,” said Sammy. “It seemed important to me.”

“It is important,” said Jack. “I need time to go over it in my head. But I’m positive we’re on the right track. We’ve got to identify these three guys. The Shaman, The Enabler, and Dead Eyes.”

“And I’m not saying it isn’t important,” said CC, defensively. “All I’m saying is that so far, don’t expect much judicial backing.”

“I never expect that,” said Jack evenly.

CC gave a sharp glance at Jack. “Don’t even think about it!” she said tersely.

“About what?” asked Jack, his voice sounding both innocent and surprised.

“Don’t give me that shit! About whatever it is you’re thinking.”

Jack slowly shook his head and said, “I’m thinking we need to come up with a plan. Something to gather more evidence to support the judicial criteria you need to make a case.”

“Are you ridiculing me?” asked CC, her voice tinged with anger.

“No,” replied Jack. “I wish I was, but I respect your abilities and your opinion. If you say we don’t have enough, then we don’t have enough.”

By his sincerity and the sadness in his voice, everyone knew that Jack meant what he said.

“We need to keep digging,” continued Jack. “And we definitely need to find out who these other guys are. We’ll get more evidence … somehow.”

It was the somehow that bothered CC. Which is why I told him not to do whatever he was thinking in the first place! God, here we go. Full circle.

“Any plan come to mind?” asked Sammy. “Not that it is any of our business. We’re concentrating on drugs, but if there is something we can do to help, let us know.”

“I appreciate that, Sammy,” replied Jack. “If we come up with something, I’ll be sure to contact you.”

CC looked at Jack. If we come up with something? Give me a break. You already have. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. Time to have a private chat with Staff Sergeant Rosemary Wood. I wonder if she knows what Jack Taggart is really all about? Hell, I don’t even know what he is all about. Everything with him is smoke and mirrors. Lies and deception …

It was late Monday morning and Rose glanced at Jack and Laura as they sat across from her desk while Jack brought her up to date on the investigation. The private meeting she’d had earlier at Starbucks with Connie Crane still weighed heavily on her mind.

“So, from our perspective,” said Rose, sounding businesslike, “this investigation, which started out under the auspices of gun smuggling, has changed to ecstasy, meth, and heroin? Knowing of course, that the murder in the park is under I-HIT’s mandate.”

“The drug investigation is legitimate,” replied Jack. Why is Rose sounding so officious? Not friendly like before … “I feel that it is significant enough to fall within our job description.”

“I agree,” replied Rose. “But I was also at that meeting with Drug Section two weeks ago when they said their budget did not allow them to purchase large enough quantities of heroin to allow them to work their way up to the kingpins. Even if we combined our total budgets between our two sections, the penalty someone might receive for drug trafficking would not be worth the cost.”

“I’m well aware of the budget restrictions,” replied Jack. “That’s nothing new.”

“So, with that in mind, are you proposing we enter into a long-term investigation … likely taking several years, in the hope of nailing some of the kingpins through some type of conspiracy charge? I’m not against that, although again, the cost would be prohibitive for what we would achieve in the way of doing any significant damage as far as organized crime goes.”

“No, I agree,” said Jack. “The time it would take, including using all available personnel over that time frame, even if successful, would likely see the rise of several other crime families in the meantime. We would end up one step ahead and three back.”

“Then what is your solution?”

“They’re talking about a man by the name of Woo maybe moving to Montreal and looking for someone to move product. They’re hoping to expand operations.”

“Are you thinking about working a joint project with our unit in Montreal?”

“No. We don’t know for sure that Woo is even going. Even if he does, I don’t see that being overly productive to help us out here. I’m not thinking of using them to help. I was thinking of someone else.”

Rose caught the sideways glance that Laura gave Jack. She has her doubts about something … Connie warned me …

“Are you familiar with the Irish Mafia in Montreal?” asked Jack.

“A little. The Irish Mafia is one of the oldest and makes the top three list for being the most influential organized crime families in North America. In Montreal, they are known as the West End Gang.”

“That’s the boys,” said Jack.