His approach to the bedroom window is stealthier than previous visits. Though unintended, he had killed. The local newspaper and media reports had put the community on edge. Respected and above suspicion, much was at stake during each intrusion, but a sexual fetish was the driving force. A branch snapped. Frozen in place, only heartbeats marked the passage of time. Finally feeling safe, he drew closer to her home. Huh! The lover’s car is parked in the drive. The light went out in the bedro...

Sunnyvale is located on the southern shores of the fresh waters of Georgian Bay, Ontario, three hours north of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Originally named Stuart Mills after its first resident, it changed when the community was informed that they could not use that name for its post office. Over time, shipbuilding, one of its principle industries, fell to the wayside along with other industries. A destination for winter and summer recreational activities, it became a four seasons playground for tour...

Juarez was like the House of Mirrors at a fair, his mastery of camouflage had even hidden him from himself. He was an actor who played a part in a very dangerous game and who had come to accept that the identity he assumed was in part a reflection of who he really was; an identity that had come to take up full-time residence in his head. Time’s irrevocable vortex had propelled him deeply into society’s dark, murky underbelly and his talent for mimicry metamorphosed him into someone almost soc...

Paul Federocko restrained his impulse to run and kept his eyes focused ahead. He did not want to attract even the slightest attention. But his height, size and thick blonde hair naturally drew attention from each passerby. Several police cruisers, sirens blazing, sped by on their way to Memorial Gardens. Ahead, the 12-storey limestone structure of the Stuart Hotel loomed above Mills Street. His destination lay behind one of the oriel windows that lined the top floor below the hotel’s steep copper r...

Julia Gibbs’s high-back chair had barely become cold when Ramon Zdunczyk sat his fat ass in it. With a large double-double in one hand and a Boston cream donut in the other, he swiveled round to face the back wall and planted one foot against it, followed by the other. He bit into his donut while he cursorily surveyed her degrees and testimonials. Ten years had gone by since he had been passed over for the position of Chief of Police. Playing second fiddle to the likes of her irked him. He stuffed ...

Charlotte Bradley sat nervously awaiting the results of the operation on her close friend Julia Gibbs. Gathered in bunches throughout the crowded waiting room of the Owen Sound Hospital were police and news reporters. She remembered a time five years ago when she waited at the very same location for a different person. Kill any sonofabitch that gets between you and freedom. Juarez’s words rushed into her memories like an out-of-control freight train. She stood and went to the vend...

Edward Slocum and Janet Thompson landed at Lester B. Pearson Airport from Ottawa shortly after 6:00 p.m. On a half-full plane, disembarkation was made that much easier for them since they had only carry-ons to worry about. By-passing the baggage carousel, they went directly to the set of sliding doors that led into the air terminal.

Edward peered in one direction then the other. “Do you have any idea Janet which way we should go to find car rentals?” he asked, scratching his head. &ldqu...

“All of this must appear so much on the fly and we’re sorry about that,” Beatrice said. “But, be patient. It’s not unusual at this stage. Once all the parts are up and running everything will be tickety-boo.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Juarez knows the three of you?” she asked with a scrutinizing glance.

“More Janet and I than Edward,” Charlotte replied.

“Would he trust you?”

Charlotte stared ...

Edward stood in his old office. Five days had passed since the meeting at the home of Kenenstatsis. He surveyed the room. Not much has changed. A new chair or two but otherwise the same. The sun poured in through the large window. He took in a deep breath and walked to it. Main street stretched out below and his gaze followed it to its intersection with Toronto Street. Karen. Was she carrying my baby? A chill rippled up his back. The last thing she must have heard was metal hitting ...

Edward left Soranus Pharmaceuticals much later than expected. His meeting with the Board of Directors had gone smoothly and by the end of the day he had signed a six-month contract. He found his luncheon with Jagdeep, on the other hand, strangely unsettling. From the moment of their meeting, it did not escape his attention that Jagdeep appeared nervous and generally out of sorts. By the time lunch arrived, Jagdeep had finished three vodka martinis and had ordered a fourth. His slurred chatter throughout ...

“Have a rough night?” Charlotte asked. She poured coffee into her mug and then filled his.

“That obvious, eh?” Edward stared at his Marvin the Martian mug

“You’re sure not pretty to look at if that’s what your asking,” she replied with a snicker. “By the way, I gave Jagdeep his medication. Pass the honey.”

Edward slid the jar across and cringed as he watched her put two heaping teaspoonfuls into her coffee. “I know. I hea...

Carmella’s skin shone with vitality as she neatly applied the finishing touches to her make-up. Her cellphone pinged. The messenger was unknown, but his signature familiar and trustworthy. Juarez will be at Barrhead Bar and Grill at 7 pm. She examined her freshly painted nails then stared at her reflection in the mirror and remembered a time when she was sixteen. How foolish I was to drop out of school. I was so very angry then. Alone, I had no sense of belonging. I didn’t know who I was....

A good forty-five minutes before the graveyard shift ended, James Brant eased into his chair at Sunnyvale Police Department (SPD) with a large Tim Hortons coffee and the Globe and Mail newspaper tucked under his arm. It was a routine he had addictively followed since becoming a member of police services many years before. The ‘dog watch’ as he referred to the shift provided quietude to fire up his brain cells before the day began. Also, it afforded a reluctant opportunity to break the ice wit...

It was the fifth time in one hour that Juarez had driven past the well-lit maroon exterior of the Barrhead Pub and Grill. Getting the lay of the land was an integral part of his reconnaissance. He pulled the car over and placed it in park. Through his open window he snapped pictures of the vehicles in the lot with his cellphone. A few minutes later he turned onto Main Street and drove a short distance before he parked and turned off the ignition. He still had a half hour before his meeting with Carmella....

She stared at him for the longest time, neither saying a word. “The night of the Urquiza raid,” Carmella began, “five years ago. Do you remember it?”

“How can I not. That’s how I got this.” Juarez drew his hand along his white strip of hair to uncover the scar beneath. “Did you get that there too?”

She withdrew her hand and rested it on her lap. “That night you said something to me in Spanish. Because of the commotion, I was unable t...

An azure sky accentuated the emerald fairways of the Sunnyvale Golf and Country Club. Normally, the late autumn warmth would have filled the fairways with golfers, but the grounds were locked up tighter than a sardine can to accommodate the very private meeting of forty wealthy individuals from across North America. The usual caterers, staff and security of the Golf and Country Club had been replaced for this occasion by personnel, attired in black, from environs outside the local boundaries. The word ha...

The patchwork of green and brown that scattered across the hilltop facing the Sunnyvale Golf and Country Club became even more varied from shadows cast by clouds streaming overhead. Leaves from bountiful maple trees gently fluttered to the ground adding to the plethora of scarlets and gold already present. James Brant adjusted his position. An earthy odour oozed up to assail his nostrils while the leafy carpet beneath him crackled. He had already been there three hours. Cold air seeped through his clothi...

Richard Lyle Mills nursed a glass of brandy while he waited. His membership at the Sunnyvale Golf and Country Club afforded him a few exclusive privileges. On a silver tray on the table beside his velvet and bronze wingchair, its sidekick kitty-corner to him, sat one of his most prized privileges, namely, a bottle of Napoleon Grande Fine Champagne Cognac. One of the world’s finest and most expensive cognacs, it was securely kept under lock and key when he was not present.

He breathed a sigh o...

“Doubt is our product,” said Bernard Carleton, a louche-looking young man, plucking away at his plate of smoked-salmon canapés. The public relations firm Colton & Touche, whom he worked for, made no bones about the reason for their success. He peered at Richard Lyle Mills. “But I think you know that, otherwise we wouldn’t be here.” He returned to picking at the morsels on his plate. “These are usually my favorites but for some unknown reason I’m off.&rdquo...

Eunice loosened the chin strap on her full-face helmet and adjusted her rucksack. Straddling her softly purring Harley-Davidson Softail Deluxe, she studied the grounds beyond the gates of the Richard Lyle Mills estate. She had already scouted the estate’s perimeter searching for entry soft points, but her instincts kept directing her back to the front entrance. The drive beyond the cast iron gates snaked its way through an assemblage of naked maple, oak, chestnut trees and a series of cameras that ...

A broad, satisfied smile was hidden under Eunice’s helmet when she mounted the bike and began to motor away from her clandestine location, one kilometre from the Mill’s estate. An early Christmas present, she mused. Yet her instincts were beginning to set off alarm bells and she did not know why. Was it too easy? No hitches and no close calls always bothered her, especially when the location was as heavily monitored as the Richard Lyle Mill’s estate. She stopped her bi...

Twenty-one eighty-four Elm Street was in darkness except for a light flickering in the bottom window. Juarez parked his Wrangler opposite the yellow bricked and white aluminum side-split home and left his engine running. His instincts told him that something wasn’t right. Eunice’s bike with the red dragon heads spitting fire painted on its sides was not parked in its usual location. Either she had not arrived yet, which was highly unlikely since he was much later than expected, or he had misj...