Chapter 9

Cooper was sitting at his desk, reading reports, and sipping on a coffee when a female detective poked his head into the office.

“Those reports can wait until later. Come on, they want us in the big conference room right now.”

“What’s up?” Cooper asked. He shoved the reports back into a folder, grabbed his coffee, and followed her out of the office.

“I’m not sure, but something big might be going down. All I know is that a couple of RCMP officers from Ottawa arrived this morning, and started talking about a joint operation.”

The moment Cooper entered the room he spotted the RCMP members. A man and a woman dressed in civilian clothes were huddled around a desk with Lieutenant Harris. As soon as everybody arrived, Harris introduced the visitors.

Inspector Janet Shouldice, head of the RCMP fraud division did the explaining while RCMP Detective Ron Baldwin passed out papers to all in attendance. “Our computer expert discovered suspicious bank activities regarding this guy. After a thorough investigation, we came to believe he might be the person responsible for hacking into bank accounts. We hope you will help us garner as much information as possible about him before we arrest him.”

Cooper listened with growing interest, then glanced down at the picture which carried the name of the suspected. He muttered an “OH SHIT” loud enough for the whole room to hear.

Shouldice stopped her explanation and glared at the detective. She didn’t like being interrupted or upstaged by anybody.

“You got a problem with something, Detective Cooper?

“Well, kind of. This perp’s name popped up during the investigation of another matter, but I dismissed it because the source didn’t appear all that reliable.”

“Really,” Shouldice scolded. “You acted kind of hastily, didn’t you? In light of what you just learned, do you now believe this source might have information that could be useful to us?”

Cooper was red faced. “Well, it originated from a crank call so I didn’t take it too seriously. It was a complaint about somebody stealing Nick James’ garbage. When I tracked her down and told her to cease and desist, she insisted she could prove Nick James was as phony as his rare coins.”

Shouldice shook her head in disgust. “And you dismissed her, as what? A nut case?”

A thoroughly embarrassed Cooper nodded and admitted. “I guess I should have taken her more seriously, but she didn’t seem believable at the time.”

“Well, if she has information about Mr. James that can help us, perhaps we should talk to this person before making a move.”

Shouldice turned to Harris with a look that demanded he should do something.

He interjected. “She’s probably right, Detective Cooper. Since you have her address and already talked to her once, go pick her up so we can hear what she has to say.”

Cooper stormed down the hallway with Harris in pursuit. “What’s wrong? It should be easy enough to find her.”

“It may not be that easy. You know the garbage theft you told me to investigate? It’s her, and I don’t think I made too good of an impression on her, so she might be uncooperative.”

“So what? Go find her, and bring her in. It’s important we talk to her,” Harris replied.