The Touch of Ghosts by John Rickards

Author:John Rickards [Rickards, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780718146498
Publisher: Michael Joseph Ltd
Published: 2003-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

18.

When I told Flint about what we’d found at the hotel, I first had to convince him that it might have something to do with him and his case and shouldn’t just be shuffled on to narcotics, then that I hadn’t hopelessly screwed up the scene and ruined any chance of catching the drug traffickers. In the end he told me to sit tight and he’d come out with his partner, who’d at one point been on the Northern Drugs Taskforce, and they’d see for themselves.

It was about an hour until I heard two cars approaching. Another couple of minutes before a Taurus and a Neon bumped down the broken track and into the ruined town before pulling up, line astern, in front of where Ed and I were waiting. Flint climbed out of the first vehicle and stared at his surroundings with tired, sunken eyes for a moment, frowning. His partner in the Neon was a short woman about my age with quick, dark eyes.

“Alex,” Flint said. “This is Detective Fiona Saric.”

“Mr Rourke,” she said. She had a throaty, smoker’s voice. She extended a hand. “That's the building, huh?”

“What made you two want to go looking around in that dump?” Flint said.

I gave them the potted version. The break-in at the house. The tracks in the snow. Meeting up with Ed to check it out. I skipped over the part about his granddaughter and he didn’t mention it either. If Flint wanted to remember it for himself he was welcome to.

“You should’ve reported what happened at the house.”

“I’ve got no desire to turn it into another crime scene. The guy had gloves on — in this weather, everyone does. You wouldn’t have gotten anything anyway. If he came here and what we found is anything to do with him, I reckon you’ve got a much better chance at nailing him.”

“Describe these packages again,” Saric said.

“White powder, maybe a few brown-white impurities, sealed in plastic. About a pound, I'd guess.”

“They haven't been opened at all? This isn't just some big-time junkie's private stash?”

“They're so tightly covered they could’ve been shrink-wrapped.”

She nodded. “And you left them where they were?”

“Put them back under the tub, right where I found them.”

Ed nodded. “Uh-huh. Just like Alex said. Ain’t been no one else out here since we called you, either.”

“We’ll still need to go check it out,” Flint said. “Top room, you said? Let me go see.”

“Do you mind if I come too, sir?” Saric said before he could leave. “I’d like to see the building and have a proper look at what we're dealing with.”

“Sure.” Flint shrugged irritably. “You’re the expert. We just need to check these men’s stories, make sure nothing’s missing, so you go and I’ll wait here. No sense in us both climbing all that way. Don’t disturb anything if you can.”

Saric tramped off. Flint watched her go. “Gemma told me heroin was pretty big in Vermont,” I said. “Does much get smuggled in this way?”

“Some, I guess, if this came down from Canada, but not very much comes cross-border.

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