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instinct, was following her?
Keeping her vehicle off the gravel and out of the other lane was
plenty of distraction. The roads were slippery.
    She could only devote so much
attention to the mirror.
    The headlights blinked out. He went
north, or to her right in the mirror.
    “ Unit Nine. Okay, he’s
turned north, back onto Pontiac Road.”
    Ah, maybe the dope was along there
somewhere. He must have had a minute and a half or so to do
something with it while she was turning around. The fellow wasn’t
completely stupid, that was for sure. Never underestimate a
perp.
    “ Roger that.”
    “ Unit Fourteen. Check that
out please. I’m turning around ASAP, ETA about three
minutes.”
    Coming up from the same direction,
behind the perp, the guy would never guess the headlights in his
mirror were a second unit.
    “ Fourteen is inbound.
Repeat, inbound.”
    With a little luck, the guy would be
careless and think he was all free and clear.
     
    ***
     
    Somewhat to her relief, the little car
kept going. It was still dawdling along at seventy kilometres an
hour or so, north on Pontiac Road, and it soon re-entered the city
at the stop-light intersection on the outskirts of Pomfret,
population 74,000.
    That was much ado about nothing. She
still hadn’t seen any baggies or packages, not even a smoke pack or
a beer can, no fast-food packaging, nothing on the road or along
the verge where the snow was piled high. They had now lost the
chain of evidence, or custody, and it was over.
    “ Unit Nine.”
    “ Go ahead,
Fourteen.”
    “ It’s like looking for a
needle in a haystack.”
    That would be true enough for one
single joint. She accepted it. There was only so much you could do.
If it really was one joint then the guy no longer had any real
reason for cruising, did he?
    So why not turn around and go back to
town. There was some element of logic in it.
    “ Roger that.”
    They held up side by side for a
moment.
    Reynolds was in Fourteen tonight. He
hit the button and lowered his window. His bland face looked over
with a nod.
    “ Who’s on break?” Bill was
a pretty good guy.
    “ Ah, I don’t
know.”
    “ I’m not real hungry. Why
don’t you go first.” It wasn’t exactly a question and it wasn’t
exactly a statement.
    “ All right.” Laine dropped
the cruiser into gear.
    There was a Tim Horton’s less than a
three kilometres up the road.
     
    ***
     
    “ Hey. Constable
Barrett.”
    She turned for a look. Having had to
piddle, she was in the store, rather than just making a grab and go
at the window.
    “ Sir?”
    The guy she had just stopped stood
there with a wallet in his hand. He pulled a coin out of one side
pocket.
    “ Yeah, I thought that was
you.”
    He made a motion with his head. Her
order was ready.
    Laine turned and picked up her medium
coffee and her strawberry-filled donuts with the white icing and
the sprinkles on top in their little brown bag and turned to
go.
    He stepped up to the counter but the
lady bustled away for some reason as they often did. He met Laine’s
eyes again and shrugged. There was something intriguing about
him.
    It was like he just didn’t give a
shit, for surely he must know better.
    “ It didn’t take you too
long to get back to town.”
    “ Ha. I swear to God,
Officer, I drove at or below the speed limit…” Stopping there, he
bit his lip and sort of flushed with colour.
    He gave her a wry smile.
    “ Sorry.”
    “ That’s okay, sir.
Honestly, Mister, ah, Jacobs. I, ah…I really don’ t take it too
personal.” She regarded him in level fashion.
    He seemed sort of embarrassed all of a
sudden. She ground on relentlessly as he blinked a couple of
times.
    “ Yeah, it takes all kinds
to make a world…”
    He had the grace to look
embarrassed.
    She fed him a couple of lines but he
was hard to shake. He sort of swallowed and looked away a couple of
times, coming back with a bit of a pained look but still doggedly
persistent nevertheless.
    Laine kept getting one sort