Picture Perfect 50
The week old newspaper headline read. “RCMP Pranked”
A local detachment was sent to that ratty hotel on a goose chase. Ha! That comes as no surprise does it. They were never that bright. Whoever it was picked the right bunch to annoy though. These Quintex snoops. Maybe that will discourage them because they aren’t going to find anything. I made sure of that. If the Mounties didn’t find a trace of their man then these TV snoops will never find anything now.
That summer it was such fun watching McKillop and his half-assed deputies asking questions. When they interviewed me I knew they were desperate, clutching at straws. I did tell them the truth. Perhaps if they asked the right questions I might have told them more but they were just as bad as the other men though.
Sick minded men who wanted children for their own twisted needs. I could see that. I could feel that in their touch, when I let them touch me, that is. It was amazing to see how they stopped thinking when they got aroused. How they’d let their guards down and tell me anything. Fools that were so easy to fool.
But it doesn’t look that being made fools of will stop them from snooping around. Digging up all these old memories from people who have put the past aside, left it wherein belongs. It’s not as if they can bring those children back to life. Resurrection isn’t possible. At least not in the flesh. That flesh is gone but there are their faces again in the paper, on the TV.
I wonder who they’ll find all that willing to talk about what happened? Because there is no one who knows. They couldn’t find anyone then could they. Sure they talked to parents. The guilt they’ve lived is what they deserve for being so careless as to let their children wander, let them out of their sight long enough for me to scoop them up.
It was so simple too. So trusting in those days. Not gullible but eager for distraction. All so willing except for that one boy. He knew I was up to something. I could see it in his eyes but he took the challenge. Thought he could out smart me. None of them could out smart me. I knew that by then.
The Mounties were too caught up in their little turfs, their own precious little pastures, to even trust one another. They made it so easy to hide anything from them. Hide it right under their noses.
How kind of Quintex to make their plans so public. This map shows where they’ll be each step of the way. Digging and interviewing. I suppose they end up talking to cousins, school teachers? Yeah, a lot of old bats by now.
I see they’ve brought in some psychic. What a con that is. Like that Madama Cabanalla in the circus that year. I saw her two times and she didn’t even recognize me the second time. Told me crap about tall, dark strangers, money from an unexpected source and travel.
I knew exactly where the money was coming from, he wasn’t tall or dark, but she was right about the travel. I was so happy to get out here when that summer was over. So happy to leave everything & everyone behind.
It must be true there is no way you can escape the past, it always catches up to you. At least I can see it coming back and heading it off wouldn’t be that difficult.
Dan was surprised to see Robert Warszawa in the war room.
“After talking with the district commander it was decided that a liaison between the force and Quintex was needed. Someone not in the employ of Quintex, I might add.”
“And you were nominated.” Dan said.
“With the case being officially reopened, the force wanted some one with an unbiased eye to step in. So this is your war room” Warszawa walked around the table and sat at the head of it. “Someone’s been watching too much TV.”
Curtis Baxter & Glaucia Vidro came into the room.
“If it’s going to be on TV it has look like it always does on TV.” Baxter explained. “Pleased to meet you. I’m Curtis Baxter. ” He reached out and shook Warszawa’s hand. “Stephanie told me you would be arriving. I hope there is no … animosity between out show & the RCMP.”
“Nothing that can’t be dealt with. And this is?” Warszawa nodded to Glaucia.
“This is our psychic advisor Glaucia Vidro. I take you already know Daniel James?”
“Yes we’ve worked on a few cases in the past.”
“Let’s get down to business.”
They all sat around the table.
“What did you find out from Miss McKay?”
Glaucia filled them in on their meeting with the school teacher. Dan nodded in agreement. Adding a few details here and there.
“One thing I wondered about.” Dan said. “Is this lack of communication with the communities. I’m sure the sub-divisions weren’t that isolated from each – so isolated that they didn’t have any idea what was going on. Would there be any reason one would withhold information from the others?”
“You mean deliberately to obstruct the investigation?” Warszawa asked Dan.
“I didn’t want to say it that directly.”
“You mean the officers here might not have wanted the suspect caught?” Baxter said. “Why?”
“It could have been someone they knew. Someone they felt they had to protect?” Glaucia said.
“That’s a wild accusation.” W said. “Allegations like that need more substance to be taken seriously.”
“It would make some sense though,” Dan said. “The cases got buried fairly quickly.”
“The fact that they couldn’t find anything doesn’t mean they were buried, Dan.” Warszawa said.
“How do we know that?” Baxter said. “It wouldn’t be the first time evidence was lost or falsified to protect someone.”
“Who was the lead investigator for the case?” Dan asked Warszawa.
“All I know is who was serving during that time. Most of those records have been warehoused. You know that Dan.”
“I know.”
“Warehoused? A good way to bury something, wouldn’t you say?” Baxter said.
“It’s standard procedure. We’ve been through that already. Everything eventually gets funneled to Ottawa for archiving. Paper gets shredded after so many years. Yes, they were using paper in those days. Not bytes.
“It could be on microfiche.” Warszawa suggested. “They had started do that in the late 70’s when it was clear there was more paper coming in & none going out. Now that the cases have been reopened they’ll be looking through the archives for what they can find.”
“How quickly can that happen?” Glaucia asked.
“If my memory serves me well,” Dan said, “We’ll be using when filming the sequel. Years probably.”
“We do know some of the officers are still alive though and we’re already talking with them to see what they recollect. Sometimes they keep their notes from cases that don’t work out. They want to get their man.”
“Great.” Dan said.
“Can you give a day to coordinate with other detachments in Nova Scotia. It will be efficient if they are prepare to cooperate than me showing up at their stations flashing my badge.” Warszawa said.
Baxter consulted the interview schedule on the wall.
“Okay. I can get Stephany can contact the one we have scheduled for tomorrow. We can pick it up later.”
“That’ll give me a chance to check out the Circus Museum.” Dan said.
“Circus?” Glaucia said.
“Yes. The one me and Timmy had planned to see the day before … we left.”
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