Square Snapper (Detective Inspector Burgess) (11 page)

“You mean a hit man?”

“Shut up, you idiot! You’re on your cell phone!” He had raised his voice and noticed it sounded a little reedy. He would need to pitch it back lower to reassert his authority. Hell, he needed to get a grip on himself.

“Okay, I hear you.” Even though the other’s voice was hoarse, it came out more like a whine than a statement. “I’ll do some more digging over at the precinct and see if my informant can find out how much they know.”

“You do that.” He slammed the phone down and started drumming his fingers on his desk. He was furious. What a godforsaken mess this had all become. He couldn’t believe how it was spiralling out of control. Who would have thought that the Bermuda Police would have ever caught the Jamaican? There had to be a way to sort this out. In the meantime, he needed to talk to
his
man in the States. This was a nightmare of his doing and he had better come up with a way to recompense him for all the money he stood to lose, not to mention the danger of exposure. This could be the end of a beautiful and lucrative friendship.

Chapter 22

With the press conference over, Burgess was on his way home having first stopped off at Lindos supermarket in Devonshire to get in supplies for his barbecue. The drive gave him time to relax and reflect on the excellent timing of the arrest. For the first time in the last few days he had a chance to take in the beauty around him. The poinciana trees were like huge shady umbrellas topped with blazing orange flowers. Oleanders and hibiscus bushes along the sides of the road were a riot of pink and red. The whole island was in a festive mood in time for the long weekend which would start tomorrow, Thursday, and run until Sunday. The supermarkets were doing a roaring trade; the weather forecast called for sunny skies and people were knocking off early to shop last minute for food and that special Cup Match outfit. The holiday was as much about seeing and being seen as it was about cricket. Burgess had bought enough steak, chicken and side dishes to feed the Bermuda regiment. He had invited Jacintha Brangman, Archie, Pamela, Sergeant De Souza and his wife, as well as Jan du Bois and her team for an evening of well deserved R&R before the holiday began. He knew that Nana would have put together a dessert to send down. She always did that for him and he loved her for it. He hoped she had made her special rum cake with the Goslings Black Seal rum. That was always a huge hit, especially with people from out of town. The Canadians would love it.

He and Archie had agreed to meet up at the end of the shift and get things underway for the barbecue. They would then have time for a cold one before everybody started arriving. What a day it had been. He felt exhilarated by the capture of the Jamaican and the fact he and the superintendent had been able to report to the parents of the slain girl that they believed they had their daughter’s murderer in custody. He hoped that it would bring some form of closure for them. Their son had flown in to formally identify his sister as his parents were not in the best of health. They would be flying in after Cup Match to take her body home for burial. He did not relish meeting them and experiencing their grief. That was a part of the job that really took a toll on him emotionally. The next stage would be the arraignment and trial. That could go on for several months. He felt confident, however, in the Canadian forensics group and in his own team which had followed procedure to the letter in terms of evidence gathering and handling. What luck that Archie had spotted him when he did. The thought, however, continued to nag at the fringes of his consciousness that someone might have tipped off Williamson that they were coming for him. Was there a mole in his department? He couldn’t shake off the uneasy feeling. He would need to keep a close watch on things from now on.

As he pulled into his driveway, there was Archie on his bike laden with brown paper grocery bags which appeared to be filled more with bottles than anything else. Oh yes, this was going to be a party! He found himself looking forward to the arrival of Jacintha and secretly hoped the evening would go well and perhaps be the chance to break the ice and get to know her on something more than just a work basis.

Archie and he decided to fire up the barbecue and get everything laid out for the party so they would have time for a beer. Before long the guests would arrive and they would have time to celebrate with them and enjoy the moment. Nana came down with her rum cake. Burgess was delighted. He loved that cake and Nana was a real star. He did not know what life would be like without her and didn’t want to contemplate the fact that she was close to eighty. He invited her to stay and she sat with him and Archie sipping a ginger ale. Both detectives knew that she probably wanted to get a look at Jacintha to make sure she was good enough for her grandson. They exchanged smiles over her head and looked forward to the encounter! Nana was in high gear quizzing them both on the capture and arrest and scolding Archie for driving too fast on his bike. It was a good thing the evening news had edited out his “at the scene interview” with Johnny McCabe, otherwise Archie would have had hell to pay for his “lack of respect.” She did compliment them on their press conference appearance, clearly proud of them both and the fact they had been singled out for praise by the Premier. Her stature at Church would be greatly enhanced after this public acknowledgement of their “heroism” and she was already looking forward to Sunday. Archie, for his part, would never admit it but he loved to be fussed over by Nana. He had no family in Bermuda and she had taken him under her wing as if he were another one of her grandsons. In a matriarchal society, Nana was a true example of the Bermuda “mama” at her best and had both men eating out of her hands.

As the sun began to set over the ocean, the tree frogs began their evening chorus. It was hard to believe that these miniature frogs, the size of a man’s thumbnail, could make so much noise. Sounding like thousands of tiny reindeer bells, they are capable of driving a visitor mad if they focus on them while trying to fall asleep. Bermudians, however, are so accustomed to their chirping that they scarcely notice them. Tonight they were just wonderful background noise that added that extra exotic touch of “the islands” as everyone began to arrive. Jacintha, her hair in a ponytail, arrived in a fitted top and shorts that accentuated her slim legs and delicate figure. She had brought a bottle of red wine and some flowers for the table. Burgess was entranced by her and it was not long before Nana was also completely won over. Having decided her grandson was in good hands, she said her goodbyes and went back upstairs. The forensics group arrived with a couple of bottles of champagne, which Archie immediately opened, and the celebration began. Everyone was in high spirits. The music and laughter got louder and the jokes and stories began to flow as fast and furious as the beer and wine. The moon, bright as a searchlight, grew higher in the sky and illuminated the sea. The house, set as it was on the hillside provided an expansive view of the south shore and the group could see the waves creaming on the reefs by moonlight.

Burgess had placed himself between Jan and Jacintha and was enjoying the two ladies’ company. Jan was full of questions about the island, its history, its culture and just about everything. Inevitably, the tree frogs came up. She found them delightful and was desperate to see one.

“It’s unusual to see them unless you have a lot of shrubbery near the house. They love banana trees because they have pockets of water in them and so there’s a lot of moisture.” Burgess felt a little like the sudden resident expert on the subject.

“There are some banana plants in the garden of my hotel. I’m going to explore with a flashlight and see if I can see one.”

“Better not do it too late at night,” interjected Archie. “They might take you for someone who’s planning to break in! That would look good in the paper the next day… I can see the headlines now: ‘Canadian forensic specialist found lurking in bushes’.”

“Cute, Archie,” giggled Jan, “always the policeman and now, since you’re such good friends with the media, I see you keep a close eye on the PR aspects of a case!”

“Well, you have to recognize that your name and picture have been in the local press on several occasions. You are, by now, a local celeb.”

“I’ll bear that in mind next time I want to go lurking in any bushes!”

Inevitably the conversation steered towards the murders and the heroin smuggling.

Pamela turned to Burgess and inquired, “Buddy, do you think we’ll ever get to the bottom of this? You know what this island’s like. Nobody is going to want to talk.”

“Who can say, Pamela. Somehow, I have a feeling that people are really unhappy with the way the island is going, especially in terms of gangs and drugs. I feel hopeful that we’ll get lucky on this one. The murder of the girl is also a reminder of the murder of the Canadian boy years back and nobody wants to see this murderer go free. It also helps that he’s not a Bermudian. At least he’s not related to anybody and people won’t feel they’re shopping their relatives.”

“I’m pretty certain Gonzalez and Hofstein will come up with some leads in Miami too,” added Archie. “They strike me as two pretty switched on detectives and, if they get help from the big guns like the FBI and DEA, I think they’ll have all sorts of resources both in terms of manpower, fire-power and technical equipment to help them out.”

“I swear,” continued Burgess, “she knows more about what’s going on, when it’s going down and who’s doing what to whom than anybody I know. Which reminds me, would anyone like to try her home-made loquat liqueur?”

“I wouldn’t want to miss out on that,” said Jan.

Burgess set about making some after dinner drinks for the team and, as the evening began to draw to an end, they all realized that they were reluctant to go home so they decided to go to John Smith’s Beach for a moonlight walk.

“I need to walk off that steak and, in particular, your grandmother’s wonderful rum cake,” said Jan. “I don’t even want to think about the mix of cocktails I’ve had this evening. Let me see, champagne, wine, rum in the cake and you said the loquat liqueur had a vodka base? I’m going to be a little under the weather tomorrow!” The other Canadians echoed her sentiments and put their shoes back on for the steep walk down Knapton Hill.

Archie decided to take his bike and Burgess would take his car to bring everyone back afterwards. Everyone agreed that Knapton Hill was beautiful, except when you were at the bottom looking up!

If they thought the beach would be peaceful, they were wrong. Campers had reggae and hip hop playing; there was the lingering smell of barbecues and several people were in the water. The mood was festive, carefree and relaxed. The moon was so bright that they had no trouble seeing in the dark. Archie took Pamela’s hand as they walked along the sand. Both knew that that one action had changed their relationship forever. Archie hoped he knew what he was doing. He had had a lot of girlfriends but none had impressed him or got under his skin quite the way that Pamela had. He hoped this would work out because he would hate to lose her as a friend. Pamela, for her part, was enjoying every moment of this evening. The bike ride had been too short and she realized that she was falling for Archie big time. She knew he had a track record with women and it frightened her to think that he had so much power over her. This would also surely complicate things at work. Right now though, she didn’t care about work. She wanted to soak in every detail and replay all the memories tomorrow.

The others had already sensed the attraction between Pamela and Archie and let them go on alone on their walk. Burgess felt that he needed to stay with his guests, although he would have liked to have had Jacintha to himself. Patience, however, was one of his long suits and he was quite prepared to wait for the right moment. He sensed that any relationship with her would be complex and he was not going to do anything to force it or jeopardize it. He wanted to get to know her better and find out what made her tick and why she had chosen to become a pathologist. There had to be a story behind that career choice. For the moment, he was content to relax and walk with her and the others and enjoy the small talk and banter that differed so greatly from the topics of their work conversations. Tomorrow was another day and she had agreed to accompany him to the cricket match. Things were looking good.

Chapter 23

Burgess sat up with a start. Someone was in the house. He then recognized the sound of pots and pans clanging around in the kitchen. He had a monumental hangover and, for a moment, was confused as to the origin of all that noise. He looked across at the empty space next to him and remembered saying goodbye to Jacintha when they got back from the beach. Good. He hadn’t done anything stupid! Peering cautiously out of his bedroom, he could see Nana in the kitchen trying to get rid of the chaos from the night before. Now normally, Nana would not intrude on him, so he felt that she must have a very good reason for coming down.