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a few faces, some parents of kids he’d known. Even after his family moved to the South Shore, Dougherty finished his last year of high school in Verdun and still hung out with his friends from the Point. He’d thought he’d stay friends with them forever but when he’d started working construction instead of going into one of the factories or the railroad or working the port unload­ing ships they’d started to drift and when he’d joined the police that was it. He knew going to the French elementary school made him different when he started at Verdun High in English and the Point didn’t really like anyone different.
    A woman’s voice said, “It must be Brenda, it’s gotta be,” and then a man’s voice said, “Dougherty, is it Brenda?”
    It was becoming a crowd and Carpentier said, “It’s like in Nap’s,” and Dougherty said yeah, feeling the tension and fear coming off the people in the street.
    â€œDid you find her?”
    â€œWhere is she?”
    â€œWho did it?”
    Carpentier said, “Don’t say anything,” but Dougherty looked at the crowd standing in the street and said, “We have to take Mr. and Mrs. Webber to headquarters,” and a woman said, “I knew it.”
    A man said, “Jesus Christ,” and another man said, “Take that frog cop with you. Didn’t do fuck all to find Brenda.”
    Then Reverend Barker was coming out of the house with Millie Webber and Carpentier said, “My car,” and motioned to the Ford. Reverend Barker helped Millie into the back seat and Carpentier drove down Coleraine Street, the crowd not moving quite enough out of the way and the men brushing up against the car as it passed.
    Arlene was out of the house then and picking up the little boy and looking at Dougherty. “I’ll go get your father and take him to the station,” he said, “then I’ll bring them both back in a couple of hours.”
    The look on Arlene’s face was blank — she was in shock — and Dougherty said, “Is he yours?” and Arlene said, “Yeah, Mickey. Michael. We live upstairs now, I married Bobby Buchanan.”
    Dougherty said, “That’s good, he’s a good guy,” and Arlene nodded.
    Then Dougherty got in his squad car and the men crowded around it and walked in front of it and beside it, only letting Dougherty crawl down the street. He recognized the men, a lot of them had been in Nap’s, Carpentier was right about that — Danny Buckley; one of the Murphy kids and his father; Gordon Malley; Scotty Kendricks.
    At the Canada Packers plant loading dock Joe Webber looked at Dougherty the way every guy in the Point looks at a cop, like he was going to take a swing at him, until Dougherty said, “It’s Brenda,” and Joe just stared at him. Dougherty got him in the car and drove to Old Montreal, to police headquarters, where he handed him over to Carpentier, who was waiting by the front desk with Reverend Barker and Millie Webber.
    It was very quiet in the lobby then, the place empty except for the desk sergeant reading a newspaper. Dougherty had no idea how long Joe and Millie Webber would be in the morgue but didn’t imagine it would be more than a few minutes. He lit a cigarette and leaned against the wall and was thinking about Brenda’s body, something about the way it looked, and then he was startled by the bang of the front door of the building being pushed open hard and a man’s voice saying, “They’re not here yet,” as a few reporters and photographers rushed into the building.
    Dougherty looked at the desk sergeant, who was standing as the reporters crowded around the counter. Dougherty tried to get his attention, to motion to him that he’d get the squad car and drive it around back and the Webbers could come out that way, but just then Vachon and Meloche came into the station and