Heâd just have to keep it a secret from his mother. And his father.
In the back by the washrooms, Dougherty found a pay phone and called in.
Ste. Marie answered, âWhere the hell is Caron? I called him three times.â
âI can find him.â
âCan you find him in the next five minutes?â
âYeah,â Dougherty said, âheâs here with me now. You want us to come in?â
âNo, weâll pick him up, where are you?â
âYou know the Disco-Salon, on LeRoyer?â
âShould have known youâd be in a strip club. Sober him up and wait out front, weâll be there in five minutes.â
Dougherty pulled Caron out from under a dancer and dragged him out to the sidewalk in front of the club. He was thinking along the way how Ste. Marie had said to sober âhimâ up and that theyâd pick âhimâ up but it didnât really register until the unmarked car pulled up and Ste. Marie, in the passenger seat, said to Caron, âLetâs go.â
Caron climbed in the back and as Dougherty leaned in he saw Paquette in the driverâs seat. Dougherty said, âWhere to?â but he had a feeling what was coming.
âItâs not the whole squad,â Ste. Marie said. âWe got a tip on the shooter from Pegâs, we donât want to spook him.â
âJust you three going?â
âA couple others, theyâre watching his place now.â
âWhose place?â
Ste. Marie said, âWeâll bring him in tonight, let him sweat, talk to him tomorrow. Be at the office by ten.â
Then Paquette pulled a U and Dougherty watched the car turn onto St. Laurent and gun it. He was pissed off and feeling like he was being pushed out of the special squad but he didnât know what to do about it.
He started to walk back to Bonsecours, thinking heâd just go home, but he saw a pay phone and called Judy.
She said, âYeah, sure, we can complain about your job and my lack of a job.â
CHAPTER
SEVEN
Dougherty got to the bank office at ten but there was no one there, so he went down to the greasy spoon on the corner and had eggs and sausages and toast. He was finishing his second cup of coffee when Caron came in and sat down on the next stool.
â
Tabarnak
, did you hear everything?â
âI didnât hear anything.â
â
Juste un café.
To go.â He turned to Dougherty. âWhat a fuck-up, where you been?â
âWhat happened?â
âIt was crazy.â
âHave you been up all night? Why didnât you call me?â
The guy behind the counter put a couple of paper coffee cups with plastic lids on them in front of Caron and Dougherty put down a five-dollar bill.
On the way to the bank office, Caron said, âIt was Big Jim Sadowski.â
âYouâre sure?â
âOh yeah. We had his place staked out last night, apartment building on Sherbrooke, corner of Benny, you know it?â
âYeah,â Dougherty said, ânew one, fifteen storeys, all concrete.â
They went into the bank building and passed the elevator, taking the stairs up to the fourth floor.
âWe waited in the garage below the building. Big Jim was at Pegâs, we knew that.â
Caron was out of breath by the second floor. Dougherty was a few steps ahead, and he stopped and looked back. He had a feeling what was coming, but he let Caron tell it.
âWe waited for a couple hours, it was after three when he got there.â
âTo the garage,â Dougherty said.
âYeah.â Caron started up the stairs again, passing Dougherty. âFucker started shooting as soon as he saw us.â
Dougherty said, âShit, anybody hurt?â But he was glad Caron was ahead of him then and not looking at his face. Dougherty knew what had happened and he listened while Caron told him how Sadowski got out of his car and Ste. Marie told him to put up his hands and Sadowski