Sunny stumbled into work Monday morning after very little sleep following a Sunday night event that lasted longer than he'd predicted; who would have known the group he was visiting would have had the energy to celebrate into the night, especially on a Sunday? Granted, they were retirees and didn't have to go to work in the morning, but he'd still thought they would have tired early and let him go. They'd been so enthralled by him and his platform, however, that he couldn't pull himself away early, and Tori had stayed with him the whole time, encouraging him to remain, so she would be just as tired this morning as he was. That was his only consolation.
The event, of course, had followed a full day of door-to-door canvassing with Tori and Tej in the Queens Park and Uptown neighbourhoods, getting a decidedly mixed reception from the old-money Whites and the new-money Asians owning property in the area, stiff-smiles and silence in response to his platform, and that had followed a morning at Gurdwara, which was the last time he remembered sitting down that day. Yes, being tired was an understatement.
In retrospect, he wished he hadn't agreed to that dinner with Birinder and his family. He'd discovered very little of value to the case for the amount of time it had taken from his weekend. His father had been tickled to hear of Birinder's father's esteem for him, and making him smile had made it almost worth the time he'd taken out of his free Saturday to learn it. So had been seeing his friends and, delightfully, Regan, who seemed to be getting along with Lauren like a house on fire, and who'd given him some helpful tips on his campaign while he'd driven her home. Still, he'd had barely any time to sit and relax that weekend, and though he should have expected this running a campaign off the side of his desk, his body still felt it. He wasn't twenty anymore, able to walk around the Expo 86 site with Tej all day and still have enough left in the tank to make love to her all night, and then go to work at his summer job the next morning. He almost hadn't taken the time to recite his morning prayers, so tempted had he been to sleep past dawn because he was just so bagged.
So, you could imagine his surprise and consternation when he found Birinder waiting in the lobby, Tori waiting with him. When the other man saw him he stood, looking pathetically glad to see him. He had a take-out Starbucks cup in each hand. "Mr. Parhar!" he said. "Could I just talk to you for a few seconds?"
"I told him he needed to make an appointment," Tori said.
Birinder looked a little wide-eyed and jittery, like he'd been up all night drinking coffee in the Starbucks from which he'd taken those cups, and Sunny didn't think it would be a good idea to turn him away; in this state, Birinder might be capable of anything, and an outburst in a quiet law office on a Monday morning was the last thing anyone needed. Plus, the man had been gracious enough to have him and his family over for dinner on Saturday when he barely knew him. Sunny felt he at least owed the man a few minutes of his time and, to be honest, he was curious about why he looked so panicked.
He also hoped one of those coffees was for him.
"Hold on," he said, raising a finger to Birinder and taking Tori aside. "Do I have anything first thing?" he whispered in her ear.
"Not until ten-thirty," she whispered back, "but I didn't think it was right for him to just barge in here and demand to see you when he didn't have an appointment."
"He may have a reason; something happened on Saturday, I'll tell you about it later."
Her eyes widened, and she nodded. He hadn't had a chance to tell her last night because they'd been so focused on the campaign, but if it was serious enough to send Birinder to his office first thing Monday morning, then it had to be big.
Sunny walked back to Birinder and said, "Come into my office."
He closed the door as soon as the other man was seated, sat behind his desk and turned on his computer. Birinder placed one of the cups before him and said, "I didn't know if your drank coffee. I know it's not forbidden like alcohol, but some Sikhs don't drink it."
"I do," he said, taking it gratefully. "You don't know how much I need this. Thank you."
"It's black, I didn't know what you took."
"Black is perfect," he said, taking a sip and groaning in pleasure. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company first thing Monday morning?"
"I think I need a lawyer," Birinder replied.
Sunny nodded. "So, that's why you came to my law office, but unless you want to divorce your wife or plan a will, I'm not sure I'm the lawyer you need."
Birinder blinked in surprise. "Uh... no, it's neither of those things... Naira and I have only been married a year, why would I want to divorce her?"
Sunny shrugged. "Marriages have had much shorter life spans than yours."
Birinder nodded thoughtfully. "Can I tell you something?"
"What is it?" Sunny asked, feeling his heart speed up.
"I was married once before."
"Oh." He tried not to sound disappointed; he thought Birinder was going to confess to a crime.
"It was... a mistake," he said. "We weren't compatible. She was a cop, her hours were all over the place, and my parents didn't get on with her."
"Traditional, are they?" Sunny asked.
"It's not that they thought my wife shouldn't have a career," he said. "I mean, Naira is a real estate agent, same as me, and they're fine with it. I was just having a hard time, you know, worrying about her out there, and my parents absorbed my anxiety. It just wasn't a good fit."
"So, this previous wife of yours," Sunny ventured, "where is she now?"
Birinder shrugged. "As far as I know, she lives in New West, but across the bridge. She's still a cop; we meet yearly with our lawyers to work out alimony, and that was the last occupation she listed in her forms."
"Was she also Sikh?"
Birinder blinked in surprise. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, when you say she was a cop, I think white," Sunny said evasively. "It sounds a little racist, doesn't it, to assign professions to certain ethnicities."
Birinder nodded. "I don't blame you for assuming. No, she was Sikh. We met at Gurdwara."
"You mentioned on Saturday that meeting a woman at Gurdwara wasn't an option anymore. Is that why?"
"Well, yeah, I mean, divorce isn't easy. Her family still goes there, and for me to meet someone new there, that would be like a slap in the face, wouldn't it."
"Yeah, you're absolutely right. Is that why you don't go?"
Birinder shrugged. "I guess. Khalsa life isn't as important to me as it is to you, though."
Sunny had gathered that much from the man's passive aggressive comments in the past. "So, do you need representation in your dealings with... I'm sorry, what was your first wife's name?"
"You're not going to believe this," Birinder said, "but it's Naira."
Sunny pretended surprise. "Your first wife has the same name as your current wife?"
"Pure coincidence, I assure you," Birinder said, waving off his reaction. "No, the lawyer I retained for the divorce still represents me on that front."
"Then I'm at a loss, Mr. Sandhu. Why come to me?"
Birinder leaned in as if to confide in him, even though Sunny's office door was closed and no one outside would have heard anything. "I've had the police by my house late Saturday night, after you left."
So, Tracey and company hadn't dawdled. "Are you serious?"
Birinder threw up his hands in frustration. "I know. It surprised the hell out of all of us. My poor parents weren't able to turn in at their usual time, and they were shaken for hours after the police left. It's not good for their health, and worrying about them, as well as myself, has fucked me up. I haven't been able to relax since they came."
Sunny shook his head in mock consternation. "Why in the world would you get a visit from the police?"
He sighed, and Sunny could tell the man was more exhausted than he was. "They wanted to know my whereabouts in the latter part of last week, and who could vouch for it. They grilled Naira too, if you can believe it."
"What?!" Sunny thought he was doing a good job acting surprised and offended for the man, when in reality he was pleased the police were doing their job.
"Yeah, and can you believe it has something to do with my first wife? Apparently some guy she was seeing is missing, and they think I had something to do with it."
"I... wow, that's... weird. Does your current wife know about your previous wife?"
"I had to tell her, because of the alimony arrangement. We don't talk about her much; she's weirded out by the coincidence of the names." Birinder shook his head in befuddlement. "I have no idea what the fuck is going on. I haven't seen Naira in months, and suddenly I'm supposed to know why the police can't find someone I don't even know, just because I was once married to the woman he's seeing? And what do I tell my current wife Naira? She's freaking out thinking I'm a criminal!"
Sunny thought furiously about how to phrase his next words. "Have you tried contacting your first wife?"
"Are you kidding? We only talk through lawyers. It... wasn't an amicable divorce. She's a little... intense. Well, I guess if you're a cop you have to be willing to tackle things head on, but she actually scared me a little with her energy."
It was interesting to hear a little more about the woman Jordan was seeing, a woman he'd never met and who was still assumed missing. Jordan hadn't really described his girlfriend except as someone smart enough to help him develop a tracking device, and a photo didn't really show the woman inside. The way Birinder described her allowed Sunny to colour in the line drawing that was the first Naira Sandhu, at least a little. Knowing she wasn't a perfect person made her a little more real in Sunny's mind, and maybe a little more interesting.
"Well, Birinder," he said, throwing up his hands. "If you're worried about your continued freedom, then it's a criminal defence lawyer you need. I can recommend someone for you."
Birinder nodded, his relief so palpable that Sunny felt it as a force field pushing against him.
Sunny wrote Mandeep Randhawa's number on a post-it and handed it to him. "Now, Mr. Randhawa is Amritdhari like I am. Will that be a problem?"
Birinder chuckled awkwardly. "Why would it be a problem? I like you well enough, and if he's as capable as you are, I'll like him too."
"Thanks for your esteem," Sunny said with only a hint of sarcasm. "Thanks also for having us over for dinner on Saturday. I'm only sorry that the night ended for you the way it did."
Birinder shrugged. "It wasn't your fault the police came around."
Wasn't it, though? Sunny kept his face as straight as he could.
He shook Birinder's hand and led him out of the building. "Call me if you need anything," he said.
"Thank you for this," Birinder said, gesturing with the post-it in his hand.
After he left, Sunny went back to his office to get ready for his meeting with his 10:30 client. Tori entered soon after and closed the door behind her. "So?" she prompted.
"So?"
"You were going to tell me what happened Saturday! Don't leave me hanging now!"
Sunny leaned forward and said, "Jordan's missing."
"What?!" she squawked. "The guy who first came to you about his girlfriend?"
"Yup."
"So, first she goes missing, and now he's missing too?"
"Apparently so, and I never found any clues to either disappearance in Birinder's house."
"How did the dinner go, by the way? You never said."
"It was nice. I think my son has a crush on Birinder's wife... well, second wife. He just admitted to the first one while he was in my office. He met her at the gurdwara I go to, but he met the second one on a dating site for South Asian singles."
Tori stewed over what he'd said for a minute. "Do you think he was drawn to her name? Is that why he picked her off the dating site?"
"You know, my friend theorized that on Saturday evening, while we were all gathered at the block where Jordan's house was, waiting for the detectives to question us."
"You mean Lauren?"
"No, Rachel."
"The one who worked here? She's the other girl in your detective club thing?"
Sunny chuckled. "Yes, although Tej has been made a member too."
"I wish I was there," Tori said wistfully. "It sounds exciting."
"You didn't miss much, just a lot of standing around and talking. You deserve a weekend, or part of one, at least."
"It still beats doing laundry and binge-watching TV."
"Why, Tori, don't you have a social life?"
"If I'm running your campaign, that should give you your answer."
"Speaking of campaigns, Regan was there."
"Regan? What the hell was she doing there?" Now Tori sounded jealous. Was she suddenly proprietary of Sunny's attention?
"Lauren called her; I think a friendship is budding between them. She was just off a campaign event and rode her bike to Queensborough. That woman has us beat in the moral high ground department, Tori; she rides to her events."
"In hilly New Westminster? What is she, a masochist?"
"Or just healthy and committed." He sat tapping his pen against a legal pad on his desk, thinking.
"What's going on in that head of yours?" Tori asked. "Thinking about the debate Wednesday?"
"No... well, yes, we need to go over possible questions."
"Some of them will be coming from the audience, so we need to be ready to wing it, and by that I mean answer their question by linking it back to a plank in your platform."
He sat tapping his pen another few seconds.
"We can do that later, though," she said. "What else is going on? Still thinking about Jordan?"
He nodded. "You know, all this time we were worrying about Naira, trying to find out more about her, and we've gotten nowhere beyond a couple of facts about her being a cop. Now that Jordan's also missing, I think I need to find out more about him and see if we'll have more luck; maybe we'll find a thread that leads us to what happened to him."
"Why don't you just Google him and see what comes up?"
He nodded slowly. "Yeah, why the hell not?" He typed Jordan Trevelyan in the Google search box and viewed the results.
Tori went around the desk and looked over his shoulder. "Check that LinkedIn page," she said.
There he was. He'd uploaded a photo when he'd first made his page but had never updated it. Sunny was exactly the same; when you already had a good job, it was easy to let little things like this slip by, updating a page potential employers looked at.
"I only saw him from across the room," Tori said. "Now I wish I'd said hello."
"You'd have had to get in line behind Regan for his attention." Sunny scrolled down and checked his employment status. "IT Director at Chimeronics Inc. What the hell is that?"
"It's linked," Tori said. "Probably a company page showing their directory of employees."
He clicked on the name of the company. The mission statement read, "Body, mind and tech in harmony."
"Is Chimeronics even a word?" Tori asked.
"Probably a mishmash of two other words. The first half probably comes from chimera, a beast from Greek mythology resembling a lion with a goat's head protruding from its back and a tail ending in a serpent's head. One monster with three parts. Interesting how the mission statement is like a chimera, being one result, harmony, from three sources. I wonder if that was their intent."
Tori was only half listening. She was scrolling through more of the page. "This is some interesting stuff. At the low end it's just apps that measure your biometrics, like heart rate, blood pressure, blood oxygen, stuff that's all the rage right now but all on the outside. At the high end is stuff like implants to better regulate your body chemistry, all communicable with your phone and shareable with your family doctor. They're even working on nanotechnology that can bond with your cells, potentially helping in the fight against infection and even cancer."
"Wow," Sunny breathed. "This is Star Wars level technology. I remember when Expo '86 gave us a vision of the future that seemed so advanced, but we left all of that behind in the rear view mirror."
"It's very cool, but you have to wonder where all this data is going, because it's a crazy amount of data about you and your health." Tori tapped her chin as she thought about it. "Your man Jordan is probably monitoring the servers collecting this data."
He found Jordan's name in the directory of employees, but it was what he didn't find that was more interesting. "Notice Naira Sandhu isn't on this list," he said.
"Huh," Tori said, surprised. "Maybe they don't list all their employees. Or maybe Naira wasn't full time, maybe just a contractor. If she was a cop working undercover, that might be the more desirable status."
There was a darker explanation: the company had erased Naira from its directory because it had erased Naira. He couldn't prove it, though, and the idea was too horrible to think about. "That device Jordan and Naira were working on," Sunny said. "It seems very in line with the kind of products marketed by Chimeronics. You don't think they were stealing intellectual property, do you?"
Tori shrugged. "If they were, the correct thing to do would be to fire them and possibly sue them for copyright infringement. The legal thing. Making them disappear seems like a rather extreme action to take."
"True, but what if there's more to this device? Maybe there's technology in it that Jordan never mentioned, something so secret that if it came out it would ruin the company. Or maybe it has nothing to do with that device; maybe Jordan really did develop it himself. What if he and Naira stumbled on something else? If Naira was working undercover there, and the company found out, they might have felt threatened enough to do something drastic."
"Jesus," Tori breathed. "And if they knew Jordan was working with her?"
"Then maybe Birinder has absolutely nothing to do with it, just as he claims."
Tori straightened back up and walked back around the desk. "The cops will probably check into his work, right?"
"They said they would."
"If Naira was working undercover, do you think the RCMP would tell the New West police about her work? Maybe they can share information?"
Sunny shrugged. "Maybe, but police forces haven't done the best job of sharing information. Remember the Pickton fiasco?"
"Don't remind me," she said, rolling her eyes. "I still get chills when I think about that farm."
Sunny stared a little longer at the directory, thinking about the absence of Naira's name. For a brief instant he considered looking her up on LinkedIn, but decided it was a dumb idea; cops probably didn't announce themselves on social media, especially undercover ones.
"I better get ready for my 10:30," Sunny finally said. "And then later I think I need to call the others. This is something they need to know."
Thanks for reading this far! The Pickton fiasco Sunny mentions was also remembered by Lauren in the second novel of this series, "Rude Awakenings." Robert William Pickton murdered almost fifty women over a span of twenty years by bringing them from their strolls in impoverished areas like the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver to his property in Port Coquitlam for parties, luring them with money, drugs and alcohol. He continued to evade capture and prosecution mainly because where the women came from and where they met their fate were policed by two separate constabularies, neither of whom communicated with each other.
If you liked what you just read, hit "Vote" to send this title up the ranks. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!
Before we get back to Lauren and a development she never expected, let's see when Sunny first meets Jordan by clicking on "Continue reading."