Chapter Nineteen
Declan was coming out of the kitchenette with a cup of coffee for Gwen when Gary Sawchuck walked into the main room of the office above Gwen’s café.
“G’morning, Gary,” Declan said.
Gary nodded back. “I got here as fast as I could.”
He turned to Sam and Gwen, who sat on the couch. “I’m sorry this happened.”
Duck rose from his spot in front of Mrs B, walked over and sniffed at Sawchuck, then returned and leaned against Mrs B’s leg.
“Is he new?” Gary asked.
“This is Duck. He’s the latest addition to Declan Hunt Investigations,” Mrs B replied. “He’s the one that discovered the break-in up here.”
“Duck? Okay,” Gary said.
He returned his attention to Sam and Gwen. “The police are going over the café with a fine-tooth comb. It looks like the suspect broke in through the back door. When they’re done down there, they’ll take a look up here. In the meantime, I have a few questions.”
He pulled out a notepad. “To start with, when did you leave the shop last night, Gwen?”
“I closed just after six. I did a little tidy-up then headed out.”
“Through the front or back?” he asked.
“Back. That’s where the car’s parked.”
“And you’re sure you locked the door?”
“For Christ’s sake, Gary, she knows how to close up shop,” Sam snapped, putting his arm around Gwen’s shoulder.
Gary looked at Sam, then turned his attention back to Gwen.
“I always double-check the doors before I leave,” she answered. “Front and back.”
Gary nodded. “And what time did you come in this morning?”
“I was running late. I didn’t get in until about six-thirty.”
“And the message—the one on the counter downstairs—any clue as to what that means?”
“No idea,” Gwen said.
Declan moved to the window and looked out at the street. “I have a feeling Gwen’s just collateral damage. But I think we should talk about that after you finish getting what you need from Gwen.”
Gary nodded.
Sam looked at Gwen. “Just to be safe, once the police have finished up here, we’ll put a ‘Closed for renovations’ sign on the window.
I’ll have motion detectors and glass breakage sensors added to the security system and we’ll stay closed until whoever did this is caught.
And don’t fight me on this one. Right now, the only thing that matters is your safety. Okay?”
Gwen nodded in agreement.
Declan was surprised. For the first time, he witnessed Gwen putting her fight in her back pocket.
Gary jotted down a few notes before asking, “Have any of you noticed anyone suspicious hanging around the café lately?”
Gwen said, “Well, I didn’t think anything of it yesterday, but there was a guy out front begging. I gave him some food and sent him on his way.”
Mrs B scowled. “Was he in a long, dirty trench coat, hair all matted?”
“Yeah,” Gwen answered. “That sounds like him.”
“Duck and I ran into him yesterday, and Duck didn’t like him one bit.”
Gary leaned in. “And neither of you had seen him around here before?”
Both shook their heads.
Declan turned around. “Wait a minute, I think we ran into the same guy last Saturday. I gave him twenty bucks.”
“Twenty?” Sam said. “It’s no wonder he keeps showing up.”
“Can anyone be more specific about his appearance?” Gary asked.
Declan closed his eyes and tried to picture the man. “The best I could tell from the loose-fitting clothes he had on, he was probably around six-feet tall, medium build. Caucasian. Light-brown hair. Light-green eyes. Charlie, did you notice anything else?”
“Now that I think about it, there was something strange about him. For someone so dirty, he smelled…clean.”
“I know what you mean,” Gwen added. “You’d think a guy that was living on the street and looked that filthy would smell the part.”
Gary made more notes but offered no opinion.
“If there isn’t anything else,” Sam said, “I’d like to take Gwen home.”
“That’s fine. I’ll be in touch,” Gary replied.
Sam’s eyes travelled between Declan and Charlie. “And you two…I suppose you’re going to involve yourselves in all of this, no matter how much the police tell you to sit still. I’m just going to ask you both to be extra careful. This person you’re dealing with is clearly unhinged.”
“Sure,” was all Declan said.
Charlie said nothing.
Sam took Gwen by the hand and they headed down the stairs.
Gary sat down on the couch. “Let’s move on to the break-in up here. Was anything missing?”
“Nothing, other than the medal that was found in Gwen’s coffee grinder,” Declan said.
The dog whined.
“Duck thoroughly searched the place,” Mrs B offered, “and he found no evidence that whoever broke in went any other places than through the washroom and up the stairs to the apartment.”
Gary laughed. “We’ll be double-checking that. After all, he’s not a trained police dog.”
“Well, perhaps not, but he did make the discovery,” Mrs B said, folding her arms.
Gary shrugged and turned back to Declan. “Do you have any idea why someone would go to all the trouble of breaking in just to steal that medal?”
“Possibly. Maybe we could head into my office and discuss it further.”
Gary got a puzzled look on his face. “Oh…kay.”
Mrs B briskly made her way across the room. “I’ll be at my desk with the dog if you need anything.”
Declan led the others into his office, then turned to Charlie and said, “Close the door behind you.”
He took his seat behind the desk. Charlie and Gary took the facing chairs.
“I didn’t want to say anything in front of Gwen, Sam or Mrs B, but I think that this might be connected to something weird that happened last week.”
Gary frowned. “Why am I not surprised that something weird has happened to you. What was it?”
“Whoever broke into our place had the same MO as the person who broke into my therapist’s place last week.”
“Your therapist?”
“Yeah.”
Gary rubbed his face with his hands. “Why is this the first I’ve heard about this?”
“I didn’t tell you about the break-in because it seemed that nothing was missing.”
“You still should have called the cops.”
“Well, we didn’t because it only appeared to affect me,” Declan argued. “It seems that whoever broke in had been looking at my client files and had downloaded my session recordings from Michael’s computer.”
“What the fuck? Did you know about this?” Sawchuck asked Charlie.
He slowly nodded.
Declan continued. “That’s not all. When I talked to Angel yesterday at the hospital, he said something very specific that connected to a session I had with Michael.”
Gary scratched at his chin. “There are way too many coincidences all linked to you, Declan. This sounds personal.”
“I gotta agree with you on that,” Declan said. “And now with this break-in, it’s like the person was trying to get under my skin by showing how close they can get to me.”
Gary said, “Well, maybe the homeless guy is the key. Maybe he’ll return to the scene of the crime to see what trouble he’s caused.
I’ll put a description of him out there in case he’s stupid enough to come back.
We’ll also check local businesses to see if we can track him on their CCTV cameras.
In the meantime, you should take care of yourself and upgrade your security system. ”
“I’ve already got some ideas on that,” Charlie said.
Sawchuck stood. “I’m heading back downstairs. Do me a favour and write down the details of the break-in up here. And while you’re at it, you might want to make a list of anyone you think would have a grudge against you.”
“Why don’t I just give you the phone book.”
Gary glowered at him, opened the office door and quickly walked out.
Charlie got up and closed the door. “I can’t help wondering about that guy we saw on Saturday. The bum. I mean, he looked different, but he was about the same height as the guy from the bar. The guy who beat up Angel. You don’t think maybe it’s the same person in disguise, do you?”
Declan thought about it. “Why don’t you run with that.
Can you take the image from the bar’s surveillance footage and try to clean it up?
Then we can see if anything about him resembles the bum.
And you might be right about the vagrant’s smell, or lack of it.
It’s looking more and more like he was just wearing a disguise. Good work.”
“Thanks.”
Charlie paused. “About the break-in at Michael’s— She thought the person who broke in might have been someone who’d been in her office and knew her security system. What if it’s the same here? What if it’s a client or a contact? Someone like that.”
“Could be, I guess,” Declan replied. “I’m more concerned about the break-in at Gwen’s and that message—‘Come For Me’.”
“It seems like the person who’s doing this wants to be caught,” Charlie said. “But why?”
Declan sat in silence for a moment. “I’m not sure, but I have a terrible feeling we’re going to find out.”
* * * *
Charlie stared at his computer screen pondering the earlier part of the day.
The police investigation connected to the break-ins had gone early into the evening.
While they’d dusted for fingerprints—unsuccessfully—Charlie had attempted to create a composite sketch of the homeless man.
He’d compared the result to the surveillance footage captured outside Bar-None to see if there could possibly be a match.
The heights were similar, but there wasn’t really a clear enough shot to analyse things like facial features.
Eventually he’d given up. Mrs B and Duck had gone home over an hour ago.
The last one to leave was Sawchuck, who had promised he would follow up on all the enquiries connected to the break-ins, both in the café and the office.
Declan poked his nose into Charlie’s office. “How about a field trip to Bar-None?”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
“And why don’t you print off the video capture of the guy we’re looking for and your composite sketch of the bum. We’ll ask around. Maybe somebody there actually knows who he is.”
“Will do,” Charlie said.
They jumped in Declan’s van and made the short drive to the bar.
When they arrived, Bar-None wasn’t very crowded, even for a Wednesday night. André was working, so Charlie figured Mickey must still be at the hospital.
“Any word on Angel?” Declan asked.
“Mickey was in earlier and said he’s showing steady improvement.”
“Good to hear. Now, do you mind if I make an announcement?” Declan asked him.
“Be my guest,” André said, then yelled out to the denizens of the bar, “Hey. Eyes up here. Declan’s got something to say and I want you to pay attention.”
The bartender smiled at Declan. “The stage is yours, my friend.”
Declan called out, “Okay, I think we all know what happened to Angel here last week. We now have two pictures of the possible suspect. We think he might have been wearing a disguise and we need your help. If anybody has any information about the guy in these pictures, we need to know.”
Charlie grabbed the printouts of the images and moved among the crowd, showing them to everyone.
A few claimed to have a rough recollection of seeing the guy from the CCTV footage.
One person thought they’d seen the bum on the street, but nobody knew anything about either of them. He was a stranger to Bar-None.
After an hour of enquiries, Charlie and Declan were no further ahead than when they’d started. Charlie turned to Declan and said, “Let’s go home.”
Declan handed the pictures to André. “Put these up behind the bar and, if you see either of these guys, call me.”