James Carol: The Quiet Man

Winter kept quiet.

‘Come on, Winter, I know what’s going on here. I’m not stupid. This is why you wouldn’t let me step in and stop the interview. You wanted Delaney to make Cathy cry.’

He took another drag and blew out some smoke. ‘Look around, what do you see?’

‘It doesn’t matter what I see. What do you see?’

‘I see a disaster just waiting to happen. You know how this one’s going to play out as well as I do. Freeman is going to have shooters on rooftops and people watching all the ways in and out of the hotel. It’ll be total overkill, but that’s the way it’s got to be done because that’s what it says in the rulebook. The problem is that the rulebook doesn’t work in this situation. If Gifford gets even a hint of a trap he’s going to disappear. This is strictly a one-shot affair. We don’t get a second chance.’

‘You knew that Delaney wasn’t going to stick to the script. You knew that she was going to attack Cathy.’

‘Not for certain.’

‘But you strongly suspected that it might happen.’

‘I’ll admit to that much.’

‘At what point are you going to tell Delaney that you’ve pointed a psychopath in her direction?’

Winter took a long pull on his cigarette. ‘Do you know how many views “FBI Guy Loses His Shit” has had on YouTube? Almost quarter of a million. That means that two hundred and fifty thousand people have seen Delaney dissing Gifford. And you can bet that a fair few of those views were actually made by Gifford himself. Then there’s the fact that the interview was on heavy TV rotation. Delaney might be saying what everyone else was thinking, but that’s not how Gifford will perceive it. Every time he watches the interview it reinforces the idea that Delaney has a vendetta against him.’

‘And the interview with Cathy is going to reinforce that idea even further,’ Anderton said.

Winter nodded. ‘His obsession with Cathy has just been awoken after a long slumber. Despite everything that happened, I’m betting that he’d welcome her back into his life with open arms. He’s probably itching to get all those pictures out of storage so he can hang them up around the house.’

‘He’ll be looking for a big gesture to win her back,’ Anderton said. ‘Let’s face it, a bunch of roses and a box of chocolates isn’t going to cut it in this instance. How do you think it’ll go down?’

‘His MO has worked up until now, so he’ll probably stick to that.’ Winter took another drag. ‘This is the point where you’re going to try to convince me that we need to involve Freeman. Before you do, I’ve got a question. What did Freeman say to you when he pulled you aside in the conference room?’

Anderton hesitated, her face suddenly hardening. ‘He thanked us for bringing Cathy in and asked if we could hang around to babysit her through the interview.’

‘And what else?’

‘He said that after the interview we should make ourselves scarce.’

‘Okay, here’s another question. If you take this to Freeman, what will he do with it?’

Anderton sighed. ‘He’ll bring in the shooters and the watchers, and it’ll be a complete circus.’

‘The other thing to bear in mind is that there’s no guarantee that Gifford will go after Delaney. You wouldn’t want to get charged with wasting police time.’

‘Right now, that’s the least of my concerns.’

‘So what are your concerns?’

‘Where do you want to start? Okay, firstly, there are only two of us. That’s nowhere near enough manpower to carry out an operation like this.’

‘Agreed. So what’s the minimum amount of people you’d want on an operation like this?’

‘That would depend on the size of Delaney’s house.’

‘Judging by what I saw on Google Maps, I’d say it’s about half as big as Sobek’s.’

‘In which case I’d want at least four people. Two to watch the front, two to watch the rear. That would be the absolute minimum.’

‘That’s what I figured, and that’s why I’ve asked Sobek to arrange for a couple of PIs to join us. They’re already at Delaney’s house, keeping an eye out for Gifford. Me and you make four. Okay, what’s your next concern?’

‘As much as I hate the woman, we can’t just put Delaney in danger like this.’

‘She won’t be in any danger. If Gifford sticks to his MO then he’ll want to be in place before she gets home.’

‘And what if Delaney gets home before him? He altered his MO with the latest murder, remember? He waited until the Hoopers were asleep before breaking in.’

‘I remember, and if he tries that here we’ll be ready for him. He’s not going to get anywhere near Delaney. A guy acting suspiciously in the dead of night is going to be easy to spot.’

‘A guy who might have a bomb,’ Anderton put in.

‘A small bomb. Worst-case scenario, he blows himself up in the middle of the street and wakes the neighbourhood. Nobody’s going to get hurt, and nobody’s going to cry at his funeral. Okay, next concern?’

Before Anderton had a chance to say anything else her cell phone rang.

‘That’s probably Jefferies,’ Winter said. ‘He’ll be calling to tell you that Gifford has hacked into the Shangri La’s computer system and gained access to the guest register.’

Anderton took out her phone, glanced at the display, then connected the call. The conversation lasted less than twenty seconds. She hung up and put the phone away.

‘That was Jefferies. Gifford has hacked into the Shangri La’s computer system. He now knows that Cathy checked into room 325 at lunchtime.’ She paused. ‘Or should that be he believes she checked in, since she isn’t actually staying here?’

‘Gifford is comfortable with computers but I’d venture that hacking into a hotel system goes beyond his capabilities.’ Winter paused. ‘On the other hand, Sobek’s computer guy would be more than capable of pulling off something like that.’

‘The one who found the RAT on Eric Kirchner’s laptop?’

‘One and the same. Anyway, that’s who hacked into the Shangri La’s system.’

‘And the reason you got him to do that is because you want the police to think that Gifford is coming here.’

‘I just want to make sure that Freeman stays out of our way.’ Winter took a last drag on his cigarette and crushed it out in the smokers’ trash can. ‘You brought me to Vancouver because you wanted my input. From what I know about Gifford, softly-softly is the way to go. That said, this is your call. If you think the way forward is to take this to Freeman, then go for it. It would be a mistake, but that’s just my opinion.’

‘Do you really think we can pull this off?’

‘I’m sure of it.’

‘How sure? And be honest.’

‘About ninety-nine per cent. Which is as good as it gets.’

‘How likely is it that Gifford will go after Delaney?’

‘I’d say about fifty-fifty. We’ve presented the bait in a way that’s tempting. Whether Gifford takes it or not is down to him. But even if he doesn’t, I’d say there’s a good chance that he’ll try to reach out to Cathy. To do that he needs to break cover, and when he does, he’ll get taken down.’

Anderton frowned as she weighed up the pros and cons.

‘Okay, your turn,’ Winter said. ‘Do you think Freeman could do a better job than us? And be honest.’

Anderton’s head went slowly from side to side. ‘No, I don’t.’

Anderton parked one street away from Delaney’s house. The car was filled with the smell of hot coffee and there was a box of doughnuts on the back seat. Stake-out supplies. Winter found his cell and called the number Sobek had given him. The man who answered sounded confident and in control. He was economical with his words and precise with their delivery. Winter told him where they were parked and he said he’d be there in two minutes. One minute and five seconds later a figure emerged from Delaney’s street. Fifty-five seconds after that he was sliding onto the back seat of the Mercedes. He was older than Anderton and thin to the point of malnutrition. His skin was deeply tanned, like he’d spent most of his life outdoors. Anderton turned in her seat and smiled at him.