章節 3: Chapter Three
CHAPTER 3
TOOK THE CONGESTED QEW, exiting on Mississauga Road. Traffic was surprisingly thick for a Saturday evening. The sun sat low in the sky, blinding me as I drove toward the lake and Port Credit area. I shoved my sunglasses on and lowered the visor.
My phone rang as I turned onto Lakeshore Road West. Expecting Eden, I pressed a button on the steering wheel to answer.
"Valor."
It was Edwards.
"You're riding solo at the moment. Gelekar called me back. She's at Sick Kids. They admitted Delilah. Didn't sound good, and she can't leave her alone."
"Her parents can't jump in?"
"Not this time. I don't think things are going well. She sounded rough, and she wouldn't be much help to you in her condition."
Eden's parents had taken on a huge responsibility a year ago when Eden's husband had been killed in a fluke traffic accident. She was a single parent, trying to raise a chronically sick seven-year-old girl while still working as a detective with the missing persons unit. More and more, it interfered with her work and left me without a partner. I tried not to complain, but I had a job to do, and the burden of flying solo was straining.
Eden had been dealt enough shitty cards for one lifetime, and I didn't have it in me to blame her. But things had to change.
"Find me someone. Maybe this baby is camping out with grandma, and it's nothing. But if it's as sketchy as you made it sound and Peel's right about needing our intervention, I'll be scrambling. I can't do this alone."
"I'm working on it. I'm told Peel has all available resources on hand. Use them."
"It's not the same."
"I hear you, Valor. I'm doing my best."
At the next intersection, police cruisers blocked the street, their lights flashing, traffic at a standstill as every car entering or exiting the area was stopped for mandatory inspection and a game of twenty questions.
I chirped my siren to encourage people to let me through, then weaved through standing traffic as I approached the cordoned-off area.
"Sarge, I'm here. I'll be in touch. Get me a partner."
I disconnected the call and rolled down my window as a constable made his way toward me, ducking his head and squinting against the sun as he tried to see my face.
I showed him my credentials. "Detective Quaid Valor. MPU. Got a call asking me to come down. You have a missing baby?"
The constable shed his hat and wiped the sweat from his brow before fitting it back on. "Yup. Down on Maple Avenue of all places. Can you believe it? You're looking for Sergeant Denver Ikeyo. We'll let you through, and he'll get you up to date."
"Thanks."
He guided me past the blockade, backing up a few steps to give me space.
I waved through the open window and continued on, letting the breeze from the Charger's motion cool my heated skin instead of the air-conditioning. I preferred approaching a scene with my senses on alert and uninhibited.
Maple Avenue ran perpendicular to Lake Ontario. Trees lined the street on either side, and large houses sat at the end of groomed lawns. It was a quaint and quiet neighborhood. The properties were large and spacious,
something you didn't see in the newer subdivisions of the greater Toronto area where the need to pack in more and more people meant living like sardines in a can, butting up beside your neighbors close enough you could hear them fart in their sleep at night.
The sidewalk leading in both directions was teaming with a growing crowd of adults and children alike who were being held back by a few constables. Four patrol cars lined the street next to the pale brick, two-story residence in question. There was a double attached garage, floor-to- ceiling windows across the front of the dwelling, stone pillars holding up a covered entryway, and a large, raised garden bed with colorful blooms and a woodchip matting that flanked either side of the open front door. A stone birdbath trickled in the center of the path leading to the house where a team of officers stood clumped together, chatting.
Mournful, wailing cries came from inside, cutting knifelike through the once peaceful day. They belonged to a woman.
I knew the heartfelt cries of a mother all too well. It was a sound that had precipitated many sleepless nights and was one of the unpleasant aspects of the job. The expelled sorrow was bone-deep and haunting. Nothing in the world made a sound quite like it.
I parked opposite the house and got out of the Charger, glancing at the surrounding neighborhood as I approached the group of men and women in uniform by the fountain.
Down the road a half dozen houses, balloons and streamers decorated a hydro pole. A hand-painted sign hung on the post at an awkward angle, too far away to be read. My best guess told me there was a party going on.
There were a number of cars parked in the vicinity, and more gawkers gathered outside to see why the police had shown up. In the other direction, a lawn maintenance company's vehicle was parked on the side of the road. Two men, their mowers and clippers silent, gawked as they took a break, drinking coffee from paper cups.
Two teenage girls sat on the front stoop of another house, whispering to each other, gazes riveted on the scene.
I neared the group of officers. Their conversation died off, and a stocky man with thinning auburn hair, pudgy cheeks, and freckles tipped his chin. "Can I help you?"
I showed him my credentials. "Detective Quaid Valor, MPU. I was told I'd find Sergeant Ikeyo here."
"I'm Ikeyo." A tall Black man in his late forties appeared from the open front door and hustled down the path at a jog. He was bald, his head glistening with sweat. Broad shoulders sat above solid arms. He had a thick, raven- colored mustache and stern eyes dark as pitch. "Tell me you're MPU."
"I am. Detective Quaid Valor." I held out a hand, and he shook it with a firm grip.
"Thank God. Denver Ikeyo, officer in charge of this mess. A rookie responded to the call. He was in over his head in an instant and called me. Got here as fast as I could. Been working on getting things in o
rder."
"What have we got?"
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