Chapter 22

Jennifer was still fast asleep when a scratching at her bedroom door woke her up. She stumbled out of bed to check out the noise. It was Hugo. She studied the dog through half-open eyes. “What are you, an alarm clock? Hugo stared back at her and sat down on the hallway in front of her door.

She muttered. “I guess there’s no sleeping in with you around, is there?”

Jennifer was about to shut the door and crawl back into bed when the smell of fresh-brewed coffee wafting through the air changed her mind. Instead of going back to sleep she showered, dressed, and made her way to the kitchen.

Detective Cooper was already gone. When she poured herself a cup of coffee she discovered the note he left for her. It made her fully awake.

“Sorry, but I had to leave for work early because we lost track of Nick James. Shortly after midnight the tails we put on him observed two members of the Montreal mafia breaking into his house. He avoided them and left his residence at a high rate of speed in a black Porsche. The city police gave chase but couldn’t catch him. Please feed my dog and make sure he has plenty of water to drink. And mostly importantly. Try to stay out of trouble. Brent Cooper.”

Jennifer smiled as she read the note several times. She was pleased with the fact that Detective Cooper was considerate enough to provide her with details regarding Nick James’ escape. The chase and search would make an exciting beginning to her expose on him, but she hoped it wouldn’t prematurely alert the media to the true nature of his crimes.

Hugo started scratching at the back door ... Jennifer let him out and opened up her laptop. The story was trending all over the internet but the details were sketchy. All anybody knew was that there was a car chase last night and that the city police and RCMP were looking for an unnamed suspect in commercial-industrial area north of the Yellowhead Trail, and between St. Albert Trail and 149 St.

She let Hugo back inside, filled his bowls with food and water and spent the next couple of hours drinking coffee and following the story on the internet.