Giles Blunt - The Delicate Storm

Bressard took a deep breath, sighed, shook his head.

‘You know, I might be inclined to think it had nothing to do with you. Somebody had an argument and got rid of the body in your old neck of the woods, maybe. But there’s one thing bothers me, and I hope you can explain it.’ He waited, but Bressard didn’t look at him. ‘Just tell me this, Paul. How’d you get the scratch on your front passenger door?’

No answer.

‘You might want to respond to that one, Paul. Because our scene man, and the Forensics Centre, and Ford Motors all say the paint we found on a stump in the woods matches the paint on your Explorer.’

Bressard sucked on the straw of his Coke until the contents rattled.

‘You may think I don’t know anything about you, Paul, but in fact I have a very good idea how you make your living. Number one, there’s the trapping – you have good years and bad years with that, like everything else. Number two, there’s the odd job for Leon Petrucci.’

The corner of Bressard’s mouth lifted in the beginning of a smile, but he didn’t take the bait.

‘Leon Petrucci. It’s been a while, maybe, but we know you’ve worked for him in the past. Number three, there’s the guiding. I know that a good part of your income comes from taking novice hunters out into the woods and finding a bear or two for them to shoot. And I also know that you don’t rely on luck for that. Put a few steaks out on the trail at the right time of year, you’re going to see a bear – especially if you know where they live, which I’m sure a long-time professional like you does.

‘Howard Matlock told the Loon Lodge people he was interested in ice fishing. He didn’t bring any guns or knives with him. Didn’t show the slightest interest in hunting. Now, I don’t mean to sound unpleasant, but how does Mr Matlock come to be eaten by bears near your old shack, Paul?’

Bressard burped quietly, picked up the Coke can and read the French side of the label. Cardinal had been at this game long enough to know when he was getting nowhere. One more shot, he thought. I’ll just give it one more shot.

‘You had a fight about something. Maybe he came after you first. Maybe you shot him accidentally – I won’t even pretend to know how – and then you decided to get rid of the body. I have to give you credit for originality there. But however it happened, unless you give me some kind of explanation, there’s a good chance you’ll go down for second-degree murder on this. It may take us a while to make the case, but we have a good beginning.’

Bressard set his Coke can on the table, turning it slowly. Cardinal grabbed it and tossed it into the wastebasket, where it landed with an enormous racket.

‘All right,’ Cardinal said, rising. ‘I was trying to help you, but you’re just making things worse for yourself. Unless you give me some reason not to, we’re going to have to charge you with murder. The Crown already has the paperwork; he’s just waiting to hear how co-operative you were.’

Bressard didn’t move a muscle.

‘Oh, for Chrissake,’ Cardinal said. ‘Let’s go.’

He reached for Bressard’s elbow, but before he could take hold, Bressard swung mournful eyes his way and said, ‘I got a serious problem.’

That’s a world-class understatement, Cardinal thought, but he didn’t say so. He sat back down and all he said was, ‘Tell me.’

‘If I don’t say anything, you take these bits and pieces you have and put me away for life – maybe or maybe not.’

‘You fed him to the bears, Paul. I don’t think there’s a lot of maybe here.’

‘So, me, I have a question.’

‘Shoot.’

‘What exactly can you offer in terms of witness protection? Would I get a new name, resettle somewhere?’

Cardinal sighed. Since Canada inaugurated its witness protection program in 1996, every thug with even the most tangential connection to organized crime has fantasies that, should the day come when the gang gets rounded up, he’ll turn ‘state’s evidence’ in return for a new identity and a nice cottage on a distant lake.

‘I have no control over witness protection, Paul. The Mounties decide who qualifies, and it’s seriously underfunded. I wouldn’t hold my breath.’

‘Then why the hell should I give you Petrucci?’

‘Are you saying you killed this guy for Leon Petrucci?’

‘I didn’t kill nobody. Me, I’m just asking a question. If I go to prison, at least I get life. With Petrucci, I get a nice view of the bottom of Trout Lake.’

‘So you’re going to go down for him? You want to do his time for him? You’re a nicer guy than I thought, Paul. Lot of guys wouldn’t sacrifice their entire lives for a guy like Petrucci. It’s very thoughtful of you, and I have to wonder how much he’ll appreciate it.’

‘So you, you keep talking, Cardinal. You got nothing to lose. Me, I got everything to lose.’

‘You’re making a mistake about Petrucci. I’m not an organized-crime expert – that’s an RCMP job, thank God – but I can tell you this: Leon Petrucci is not Don Corleone. Leon Petrucci has a distant, and I emphasize distant, connection with the Carbone family in Hamilton. They back him on a few enterprises up here in return for their cut, but they do not whack people for him, and I don’t think they’re going to miss him a whole lot if he gets put away.’

‘So, what do I get if I do this?’

‘Concentrate on what’s going to happen if you don’t. You will go down for murder. A murder you say you didn’t commit. If you can help us nail Leon Petrucci, you’re still an accessory after the fact, but I will ask the Crown to reduce your charges to something like interfering with a dead body or whatever the hell the statute is.’

‘Interfering? ’ stie , I’m no pervert.’

‘I just mean you disposed of the damn thing. You fed it to the bears, right?’

‘Okay, I fed it to the bears. But I don’t want no stories getting around I interfered with it.’

‘Depending what you can give us on Petrucci, I’m prepared to ask the Crown to push for protective custody. And I’ll talk to Musgrave about witness protection.’

Bressard stared down at the floor and cursed. ‘Like I say, I didn’t kill nobody. Last Sunday, it’s nine in the morning, me and the wife are having breakfast. The doorbell rings. My wife goes to answer it and there’s no one there, just a fat envelope stuck between the doors. The envelope is marked Personal for me, nothing else on it. I open it up and there’s five thousand dollars cash, along with a note.’

‘What’d the note say?’

‘The note says, “At your shack you’ll find a fresh supply of bait. There’s another five thousand when the bears have had their dinner.”’

‘Was it signed?’

‘Just P. Initial P. Petrucci, he has to write everything. He’s got no voice box.’

‘I know that. Was it handwritten or typed?’

‘Typed. First I was gonna toss it, but you never know how things are gonna turn out. I thought maybe I might need it.’ Bressard reached into his pocket and pulled out a wallet.

‘Wait,’ Cardinal said. ‘Don’t touch it any more than you have to. Just dump it on the table there.’

Bressard held his wallet upside down so that a square-folded piece of paper fell to the table, along with some coins and half a dozen Lotto tickets.

Carefully, using just his fingernails, Cardinal unfolded the paper without smoothing it out. The wording was pretty much as Bressard had said: There’s a fresh supply of bait at your old shack. There’s another five when the bears have had their dinner. It was signed simply P. It looked like it was from a computer printer; they wouldn’t be tracing any typewriters here.