Page 59 of The Attercop

He started by searching for Jules on Facebook. He found one account. It was marked as private. Charlie made a friend request, but if Jules was kidnapped, he knew she wouldn’t be able to acknowledge it. The photo on the account appeared to be from a birthday party. Jules was wearing a hat that said ‘Kiss The Birthday Girl’.

She didn’t seem to have an X, or Instagram account and she was completely absent from TikTok. Maybe with the potential of her mother stalking her, she had limited her social media profile to ensure she couldn’t be easily found.

Charlie then did a quick search for information about her mother Sandra Slate, and her alter-ego Gloria, to see if there had been any mention of her being put away, but that was a complete dead end. While the story Jules had told was disturbing, it was a private family matter and wouldn’t likely have made the papers.

As for Jules’ father, Charlie found a listing on LinkedIn. He was a business development consultant in the mining industry and a graduate of the Harvard Business School. Not much to go on. The profile was strictly professional, with no other personal information.

Where do I go from here?

Charlie pulled up a program he had developed at university that could match names from different sources and identify where they intersected. He may not be able to find Jules through her Facebook page, but his program could cross-reference her name with the billions of other Facebook profiles and perhaps find places where she had commented on someone else’s page that wasn’t protected.

He would also put in George Slate, Gloria Slate, and Sandra Slate for good measure. The program would run all night, trying to hunt down leads. In the meantime—

I can’t shake it.

This feeling, I can’t take it.

Anymore.

Charlie left his computer and went into Declan’s office. There was a pad of paper in the centre of his desk with a list of names under the heading ‘Who would like to see me dead’. A chill ran down Charlie’s spine. It was the list of names Sawchuck had asked for on Wednesday morning. To actually see a list of people that might want to do his boyfriend harm…

Charlie examined the first entry on the list which he thought had been added as a joke—‘See directory of the Calgary Police Service’. Charlie knew Declan had some haters on the force from the time that he was a cop, but many of those had moved on. Charlie also knew that hatred was like a virus—easy to pick up from a few remaining embittered sources, like Gerry McKeckran. McKeckran had a real hate-on for Declan.

Charlie recognised other names on the list, most from old cases Declan had worked on. Many were in prison but some might still have contacts on the outside that could do some damage. He decided it was best to pass the list on to Gary Sawchuck and let the cops deal with it.

The more he looked at the list, the more Charlie realised that Declan lived a life that was always on the line. Now they both did. Charlie’s gut told him something was wrong. Really wrong. The details of the break-ins and the message ‘Come For Me’ swirled in his mind. What if Declan had discovered something related to the break-in? Maybe he’d figured out who the man in disguise was. Worrying wasn’t going to help. He had to pull himself together.

“What would Declan do if the roles were reversed and I was missing?” he asked himself. “First, he’d check on all of my regular haunts.”

Charlie knew Declan wasn’t at Bar-None. Where else could he be? He hated to explore this option, but given the circumstances, he had to. Charlie called The Greek.

“Good evening. May I help you?” a voice answered.

“Hey, Mateo, it’s Charlie Watts.”

“Charlie, long time no hear. How are you?”

“Been better, thanks. I’m looking for Declan. He seems to have gone AWOL. I know you have a no-snitch policy, but I have to ask—is there any chance that he’s there?”

“Oh, Charlie. You know I can’t tell you that. If word ever got out that I told you who was,or in this casewasn’t here, we could lose a lot of business.”

Charlie got the message. “Thanks a lot, Mateo. I understand, and I appreciate your discretion.”

Charlie hung up and stared at the phone. “Oh, you idiot,” he yelled. Charlie had set up their phones so that Declan and Charlie could track each other, similar to what Charlie had done with Jules’ phone. Charlie’s phone might be missing, and he didn’t have Declan’s, but there was a workaround.

Charlie opened Declan’s computer. He had helped Declan set up a remote locating tool for just this situation. He accessed ‘Find Devices’. It asked for the phone number and the passwordfor the device. Charlie knew Declan’s passwords better than Declan did. He just prayed that Declan’s phone was still on. He entered Declan’s number and password and, lo and behold, a map appeared. Declan’s phone was at an address in Northwest Calgary that was a fifteen-minute drive away. Charlie didn’t have time to think about anything else. He got in his car and drove as fast as he could.

When Charlie arrived at the location, he immediately spotted Declan’s van. He parked behind it, then did a walk-around, looking in through the windows. No Declan. He tried the driver’s door. It was locked. Charlie shrugged. He had his own set of keys. After a few minutes of searching, he located Declan’s phone in the glove box.

Why would he leave it here?

Then another thought crossed his mind.What if he knew he was in danger? What if he needed me to find it.

Charlie looked up and down the deserted block. So many houses. Declan could be in the house behind the van, or he could be blocks away. It seemed too late to start knocking on doors. He couldn’t handle this alone. He would have to get help.

Charlie locked up the van, went back to his car and took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy. It was three a.m. He used Declan’s phone to call Sam and Gwen’s home number.

“If this is a fucking wrong number I will hunt you down.” It was Sam’s voice.