‘Yes, that is very thoughtful and very sensitive of your Mr Hennessey.’
‘I think so,’ Yellich smiled. ‘I like working for him. .’
‘And there is also the issue of the Canadian man who was apparently stalking her. . and he is your prime suspect.’
‘Well, looking for her, sir. . rather than stalking her.’
‘Yes. . better, stalking means something else. . yes, and the implication is that he found her and left her on a canal bank to die of exposure. Cold winter you are having.’
‘Unusually so, Aiden, confess this is warmer than we expected.’
McLeer glanced to his left out across the low-rise roof of Zehrs to the still bare trees and the blue sky beyond. ‘Yes, seems spring is early this year, but don’t get fooled. It will freeze tonight. That’s why you can walk out in shirtsleeves right now but the lake is still iced over. When the sun goes down the temperature will drop like a stone. This warmth won’t hang around; if you’ve brought your thermals with you, you’ll need them this evening.’
‘I see,’ Yellich followed McLeer’s gaze. The bare tree branches said it all for him. He was pleased he had indeed brought warm clothing. ‘Small town,’ Yellich observed. ‘Seems so. .’
‘Yes, Barrie is quite small but,’ McLeer smiled and shrugged his left shoulder, ‘it’s enough to keep us busy. Our buckets are full every Friday and Saturday night. So you have no local suspect for the murder of. . the lady in question?’
‘None. . none at all, Aiden. All signs point to the Canadian gentleman who was trying to track her down. He paid cash wherever he went so as to avoid leaving a trail for us to follow and the photofit. .’
‘Yes,’ McLeer picked up the photofit, ‘square-jawed, bearded, no distinguishing features at all. . there’s many like him in Barrie.’
‘More’s the pity.’
Ventnor glanced casually out of McLeer’s office window and watched a young woman in jeans and a sweater push a young child in a buggy along the pavement beside Zehrs and he thought that he could be viewing a similar street scene in York, or indeed anywhere in the UK, except that, when she crossed the road, the young woman looked left before looking right.
‘Well,’ McLeer sat back in his chair and interlaced the fingers of both hands behind his head. ‘Not a lot to go on but we have solved cases with less to go on and we rise to the challenge. So, tell me, gentlemen, how’s your French?’
‘Non-existent,’ Yellich admitted.
‘Same here,’ Ventnor added, with a distinct note of apology in his voice. ‘Why?’
‘Ah. . the English,’ McLeer smiled a broad smile and released his fingers and placed his meaty hands gently on his desk, ‘you expect everybody to speak English but you do not attempt to learn other languages. Not true, I know, but I have heard that said of the English many times.’
‘We don’t really have the incentive to be fair,’ Yellich said defensively, ‘English being the international language, especially of commerce and air travel.’
‘Fair enough, but the reason I ask is the name, Piers. . Piers, you see, is French, and one of the names the deceased used was Edith Lecointe. Lecointe is French also. If I know Canada, if I know my country, I think we will be venturing into the French Canadian community. Mainly it is centred in Ottawa and the rest of Quebec province but we have our fair share of French Canadians here in Ontario. . people. . families. . and I mean whole kinship groups for whom French is the language of choice. They are well integrated, they have not formed a ghetto or been forced into an enclave but they still form a distinct and separate group of citizens. Piers might well be an alias but the choice of Piers as a name would be a choice made by a French Canadian. Did he use a car when in the UK?’
‘Yes, he did, we believe, a hire car, but no one took a note of the registration number,’ Yellich explained. ‘No one had any need to do so. And he wasn’t caught on CCTV. Where he went was a bit remote for CCTV. . even in the UK.’
‘And paid in cash. He was a man who clearly put a lot of effort into covering his tracks. I can see why you are suspicious of him.’ McLeer paused. ‘Seems to me we will need a French-speaking officer. I speak a little. It is expected of our officers to be as bilingual as possible but my French is not good enough if there is a possibility that we are going into the French Canadian community. . the French Canadians have developed their own form of French which makes French purists cringe.’
‘I see,’ Yellich said for want of something to say in reply. ‘Interesting.’
‘Not to worry, I have an officer in mind but she has authority in this matter, she has tactical command. This is a Barrie Police investigation. We must agree on that now.’
‘Understood,’ Yellich nodded. ‘And agreed.’
‘Clear as a bell,’ added Ventnor, ‘protocol will be observed.’
‘Cooperation will be of the fullest, of course, and we are keen to know how come Edith Lecointe’s or Avrille’s name was used. . like, where is she now? There may be a heap more to this than the murder which occurred in England.’
‘Absolutely, as is always the case.’ Yellich raised his eyebrows and settled back in his chair. ‘Yet the lady was frightened. She was scared of something or someone. She was in hiding, going out in disguise and doing what she could to raise hard cash and we don’t know who she was, because neither her fingerprints nor her DNA are on our database.’
‘None on ours either.’ McLeer pronounced ‘either’ in the American way of ‘ee-thuer’ which grated on the ears of Yellich and Ventnor who both pronounced ‘either’ and ‘neither’ as ‘I-ther’ and ‘ni-ther’ as they had been taught and as they believed was the right and proper pronunciation. ‘So,’ McLeer continued, ‘we have to find out who Edith Lecointe or Avrille is. . or was.’
‘It’s the only place we can start,’ Yellich offered.
‘Yes, yes it is. How are you feeling?’
‘Tired.’ Yellich forced a grin.
‘Yes, you would be.’ McLeer looked at his watch. ‘Four p.m. . your body clock is at eight p.m., just a few hours’ time difference at the moment. Usually it’s five but we put our clocks forward two weeks before you do and back two weeks earlier also. So there are two two-week periods each year when we have a four-hour time difference, once in the spring and once in the fall but even so, four hours is still four hours and after a long flight. Is the hotel to your liking?’
‘Yes, thank you.’ It was, thought Yellich, a diplomatic reply.
‘We put you centrally but you will find that it will be quiet. Barrie is not New York City, as you will see. Tomorrow I will introduce you to Sergeant Auphan, the French-speaking officer I have in mind. Sergeant Auphan has room at the moment to work with you on this case.’
‘Thank you.’ Yellich stood, as did Ventnor. Both men were weary and in need of a shower and a long sleep.
‘So this is it. . this is where it all ended for little you. . little you and your little games.’ The man looked at the area beyond the blue and white police tape which fluttered loudly in the strong breeze. ‘. . All just to fetch up here. . and isn’t it just such a lonely place to die? What a dance you led me. . what a dance, but I got you in the end, didn’t I. .? Eh. .? Didn’t I get you in the end?’
Sunday, 29th March, nine a.m.
The woman was tall, dark-haired, slender with high cheekbones. She had a gentleness of manner and a soft speaking voice which appealed to both Yellich and Ventnor. Particularly to Ventnor. She smiled warmly as she entered the room in which the two officers had been asked to wait, which overlooked the 400 Highway, the rooftops and thick stand of trees to the high-rise development of central Barrie in the mid distance. She extended her hand and said, ‘Hello, I am Detective Sergeant Auphan, Marianne Auphan’. She slid gracefully behind the desk in the room and laid a manila folder on her highly polished desktop. She immediately invited Yellich and Ventnor to resume their seats with a deft feminine wrist action. ‘So,’ she said, ‘Edith Lecointe.’ She spoke with a slight French accent which suggested that was her dominant language although she was to prove herself word perfect in English. ‘I have her file here. She died three years ago, aged forty-seven years. Is that in keeping with the age of the deceased in question?’