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But having Dante here – Avery too – was unnerving.
But especiallyhim.
No, she wasn’t in denial. She acknowledged her discomfort. There was an intense tension with Dante that she never felt with anyone. Not even her ex-husband. And it made her uneasy and downright irritated.
After her failed marriage, Sage concluded that the problem wasn’t her ex. Maybe she wasn’t cut out for relationships. She was too cerebral, always in her head. Her husband had complained that she was never emotional enough and called her ‘passionless’.
But now she felt anything but.
She was vulnerable here, showing Dante a piece of herself. The part that was relentless, bordering on obsession. Others would probably say she’d already passed obsession by now.
Maybe that was a good thing.
Fear had no place in her life. Whether she was scared or not, she was gonna jump. It didn’t matter if no one was there to catch her. Sage always landed on her own two feet.
“As you can see, I’ve put an enormous amount of time into Rosemary’s case. And into research about Midnight Carnage. Including the whereabouts of specific crew members around the time of Rosemary’s death,” Sage pointed to the wall with the crew profiles. “Her body was found submerged so that can affect decomp but according to the coroner, her estimated time of death was approximately three to four weeks before her body was found. That means beginning of April. Of the twenty-nine Alberta based members, only three of them were in the area around that time: Padraig Flynn, Raven Matthews, and Cashel Flood.”
“Excuse me?” Dante asked. “Did you say Cashel?”
Sage turned and noticed the shocked expression on his and Avery’s faces. What did they know that she didn’t?
“That’s right. This is his photo,” Sage pointed to a picture of a man in his forties with a salt and pepper beard, a tear tattoo on his left cheekbone and piercing green eyes. “You know him? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
Dante hesitated, glancing at Avery, then back at the picture. Then he nodded.
“It turns out Cashel used to be a Hellraiser,” Dante explained. “When Gage started the crew in 1998. Then he took off back to B.C. about a year later and Gage never heard from him again. We just found out that he’s been a member of Padraig’s crew for the past few years but he’s also missing. Well, maybe. Maybe not.”
“What does that mean?”
Dante sighed and ran a hand through his thick black hair. “The other day when you drove into town, you mentioned seeing Padraig and his crew drive off. He’d just stopped in to see me. Well, in a manner. He was passing on a warning to Gage.”
“A warning?” Sage asked, stepping forward.
“A severed hand,” Avery replied.
Sage’s stomach immediately roiled. “You can’t be serious?”
“As serious as you are about your sister’s investigation,” Dante responded, his hands on his hips. “We’re trying to find out who it is. We think it’s Cashel.”
Sage took a deep breath, but it was difficult. She swallowed back bile. Then she remembered who she was talking to and continued.
“My search on Cashel has a gap year when he was twenty. That fits in with what you just told me. Then he shows up in B.C. A lot of arrests for drugs, assault, racketeering. He’s been in and out of jail for years. He was an enforcer with Midnight, so it wouldn’t surprise me if he had a hand in Rosemary’s death or that he’s dead himself.”
“But you still think Padraig is responsible?” Dante added, his amber eyes unwavering.
“For sure. I think he got tired of her, or she found out something she shouldn’t have and he… silenced her.”
“Tell us about this government official that Padraig’s been bribing. How does that fit in all this?” Avery asked, changing topics.
Sage walked over to the opposite wall and pointed at another picture. At a man with a blond crew cut and dark glasses. “Cameron Hallsey. He works as the Liaison Officer for the minister of trade and transportation. He interacts with other provinces but also with the federal government when it comes to border services. That’s how Midnight’s operations have grown so fast. Their drugs and guns are getting waved right through. On both sides of the border and at the major ports in B.C. I’m pretty sure Padraig also has a U.S. border contact he’s bribing as well as other foreign contacts. Not only that, but Cameron has connections in the provincial police force. And most important, he’s friends with Chad Follet, one of the detectives responsible for my sister’s case.”
“Fucking hell,” Dante whispered, and Avery nodded. “Let’s see if we can get him to turn. He’s gotta have a red flag we can exploit.”
“It won’t be easy. Cameron doesn’t have any family except his brother in Calgary, but they’re estranged. His only weak point is his spending. He’s racking up a lot of debt, most of it on booze, gambling, and sex workers. So far, between his job and the bribes, he’s covering it, but I noticed a big uptick in his spending the past two months.”
“Where? And how did you access his financials?” Dante asked, his expression so intense that Sage backed up.
“I have my ways. And to answer your first question, he’s spending a shitload at a strip club in Canmore called Delirium. Guess who owns the club?”
