Mountains of Dawn

"They contain special tokens which I'll leave where they are. But the floppies, the tapes…they have to disappear. This material basically duplicates what I just burned."

"Leslie," Jeff said, slowly unlocking a box, "I didn't know the deal for Kevin was a-a-"

"A fraud? But think about it, Jeff. Why would I pay you twenty thousand dollars for that transaction?" Leslie dropped all the contents of the boxes into a big suitcase. He moved to Jeff's side and helped him finish.

"It was the amount my wife, Eleanore, needed for her-for her problem. For her gambling debt. I thought you were being tactful in helping her-us."

"Please! You make me laugh. Do I look like a charitable institution? For God's sake, Jeff…wake up." He closed his suitcase. "Let's go now. I'll tell certain people to be generous with you in the next operation." Together, they exited the vault.

"What next operation?" he asked. Leslie hurried up the stairs, but Jeff didn't move.

"It's better if you don't know. It seems to work extremely well that way," Leslie shouted.

Jeff darted for the washroom.

Leslie rushed outside carrying the all-important suitcase with professional composure. He had just descended the few steps in front of the building when two officers approached and stopped him.

Detective Warner arrived at the scene, the brakes of his car squealing as he came to a stop in front of the building. One of the officers had just finished talking to Mr. Hadson. Warner approached the group and gently removed the suitcase from underneath Leslie's hand. "I'll take this, and relieve you of the load, Mr. Hadson. It won't be too useful where you're going, but it will be very, very useful to us, I'm sure."

Malcolm was sitting in the back of Warner's Crown Victoria. "Satisfied?" Warner asked as he returned to his car.

"Not bad," Malcolm replied with nonchalance.

"Malcolm, come on, I know you all too well. Hadson's arrest was the highlight of your week," Warner said. He laughed. "Of mine, too, I must admit."

Malcolm gave him a sidelong look. "Well, I admit it. The operation lifted my moral-something I very much needed."

The unmarked car took the Gardiner Express at full speed, heading for Pearson International Airport. "Are you sure you want to go alone to pay another visit to Mr. di Monteturro?"

"Yes. I just want to do some digging into his relationship with Tanya. I have the feeling there's more there than it appears."