The Dark Edge Chronicles - Hardwire

Investigation

"You think? Total and mass destruction? Bodies everywhere?" McLaughlin barked a short, humorless laugh before abruptly turning away. "Shit, this is Calgary, for God's sake. Not downtown Beirut! We're not supposed to have this sort of thing happening here." His face tightened. "And certainly not in my precinct!" He turned intense brown eyes onto Dee.

"If you want my opinion, Mac, forget Simpkins and the taskforce. Go and find that bum you call a partner and figure this thing out on your own. That's the only way it's gonna get done, before Simpkins panics and calls in the RCMP. You can have whatever resources I can give you out of the precinct. Just solve this damn thing before any more bodies show up!" And then he was gone, the constables in tow as he stormed down the hallway away from the interrogation rooms, leaving Dee frowning in his wake.

Duffy was sitting at his usual table in the back when Dee pushed open the doors to Callahan's later that afternoon. It was a small, downtown pub in the shadow of the Husky tower and skyscrapers of Calgary's core, a favorite haunt of oil company suits and the city's muckity mucks. Its dark walls were filled with character and its cozy confines had born witness to not a few power meetings that had seen the movers and shakers of Alberta's powerful oil industry make deals with not only national, but international repercussions as well.

But none of that entered into Dee's mind as she let the door close on pneumatic hinges behind her as she waited for her eyes to adjust to the rather dim light inside, after the bright October sunshine outside. As she stood in the doorway, the slender detective ignored the sharp scent of new cigarette smoke and old beer that haunted the pub's shadowed corners like a lover's caress. They were scents that she was all too familiar with, much to her chagrin.

When she finally could see, it didn't take Dee long to spot Duffy at his favorite spot, in the midst of lifting a martini glass to take a sip from its contents. Only to discover that he had already drunk it all. As he frowned at the empty glass, Dee began to walk firmly towards the bedraggled-looking man, intent on dragging the drunk out into the street and beating some sobriety into him.

"Alas, poor Yorick!" Duffy rasped, his Oxford accent even heavier now that he was so drunk he squished when he moved. He looked at the empty glass in his hand with a sad expression on his lined and jowled face, half propped up on one elbow as he held the glass only a few centimetres from the tip of his nose.

"Horatio, I knew him well." Hiccuping loudly, he carefully set the glass back onto the tabletop in front of him, his hand remarkably steady despite the amount of alcohol he had clearly imbibed. It joined a number of other already empty martini glasses, nearly a full dozen.

"Drinking your pension away, Duff?" Dee hissed tightly as she came to a half in front of the table, clearly in Duffy's path of vision as she crossed her arms beneath her breasts to stare down hard at the rumpled looking detective.

Duffy frowned, as if hearing something just outside of his sensory range. It looked almost natural on his creased and stubble-covered visage. Then with deliberate care he lifted his head and focused on Dee's tall form.

"Why, Detective McMaster! A pleasure seeing you here. Care to join me for a drink?" he asked, his words only slightly slurred as he pasted on a broad smile of genuine pleasure at seeing his partner standing in front of him.

"No, Duffy, I don't. And that'll be quite enough for you too!" she snarled, reaching out to take the man by his rumpled and sweat-stained collar, hauling him out of his chair with her considerable strength. Holding the swaying man upright, she looked over at the fellow working the bar, a youngish-looking man in stylish clothing, his hair cut in the latest fashion.

"Taking Duffy home to sober him up, Jeff," she said in the way of an explanation, giving the drunken detective a bit of a shake as she mentioned his name. "Just put the martini's on his tab, will ya? I'll make sure he covers it later."