“Yeah, well, that, too.”

“You ever lie to me about anything and the deal is off, do you understand!” said Jack, vehemently.

Virgil stared at the ground and nodded.

“What else did you do?” demanded Jack.

“Well, I kind of rattled my knife a bit on her headboard, just to tease her.”

“The papers said it was a man with a knife,” said Jack. “What else? You said a couple of things.”

Virgil swallowed and said, “Well … before I went in her room I was in the kitchen. In the past I always wore a ski mask, but I saw a container of flour on the counter so I uh, took the mask off and put flour all over my face. I was already hot and sweaty from climbing up the balcony, so the flour stuck.”

“Why did you do that?” asked Laura.

“I don’t know. I thought it would be neat. I always keep the light off, but I knew this would stand out.”

“That’s weird,” commented Laura.

Virgil gazed as though he was in a trance and said, “Imagine waking up in the middle of the night in your own bed and seeing a white face lookin’ down at ya …”

You’re a very sick bastard, thought Jack.

Virgil snapped out of his vision and turned his attention back to Laura and said, “Guess I did it for fun, to see how freaked out she would get.”

“You’re the freak,” muttered Laura, taking a step forward.

Jack stepped in between and looked at Virgil and said, “That is probably enough detail.”

“Yeah? So now what?” replied Virgil.

Jack grabbed him by the arm, propelling him around, and said, “We’ll go back to our vehicles and you can tell us about the murders. Then I want you to show me where this last rape victim lives. After that, I’ll read the investigative file to verify you’re telling us the truth. If you are, I’ll cut you loose.”

Once back to the SUV, Jack took the scabbard with the knife from his belt and shoved it in the glove box.

“You keepin’ it?” asked Virgil.

“For the moment,” replied Jack, as he placed Virgil in the back seat and sat beside him while Laura sat in the front.

“Let’s hear it,” said Jack. “Tell us about these murders.”

“Okay,” said Virgil, sitting back in his seat a little farther when Laura turned to watch him. “The guys who are doing the murders, well, one of ’em is my brother.”

“Your brother!” repeated Laura, shocked that he would turn in a family member.

“Yeah, Oskar.” He’s more of a high roller than me. He’s president of a company.”

“He owns a company?” asked Jack, for clarification.

“Yup. Actually he has been the president of several companies. He keeps changing the company names. Usually his companies are based out of Los Angeles, but he also works in Canada.”

“What kind of company?” asked Jack, making notes.

“An investment-type company. I don’t even know the current name, but it would be easy for me to find out. His company checks out something he calls ethical funds for other companies to invest in.”

“And who is being murdered?” asked Jack.

“Guys who work for his company.”

“You’re telling me he is killing his own employees?” said Jack. “Why?”

“For the insurance.”

“He insures his employees?” asked Laura.

“Some of them. I guess for corporations it isn’t uncommon. Once they go through head-hunter companies and the rest of the process to hire someone, they often take out a life-insurance policy on them.”

Laura looked at Jack and showed her skeptisim by raising on eyebrow.

“I have heard of it,” replied Jack. “I think it is properly called key executive coverage. In theory, it is designed to provide financial interm assistance to a company that might suffer a loss if a key employee were to die. It has also been called dead peasants insurance after it was found out some companies do it like gambling, hoping to make money off their employees’ lives. ”

Virgil leaned forward to ease the pressure on his handcuffed wrists and added, “You sure as hell won’t get me signing any life insurance policies.” After squirming in his seat, he leaned back again. “Anyway, then they whack the guys to make it look like an accident and collect the insurance. Pretty simple really.” Virgil paused, then muttered, “Probably better than runnin’ meth around the country.”

“Who, besides Oskar, kills these guys?” asked Jack.

“Oskar doesn’t do the dirty work himself. He only hires the right chump for his company. They got other guys who do the dirty work. Professionals who were specially trained in the military. They’re not with the company. My brother told me another guy he knows is the brains behind it. It’s that guy who sends the hitters in to do the job.”

“Who does Oskar work for?” asked Jack. “I thought you said he owned the company.”

“He does. The other guy isn’t with Oskar’s company. He is only Oskar’s boss when it comes to doing the murders. He’s the guy who came up with the idea and orchestrates the hits.”

“So who is this guy?” asked Jack.

“I don’t know. I’ve never met him. I did hear my brother call him one time. I think he called him Mr. Merlin or Mr. Marlin. Something like that. It was years ago, so I’m not too sure.”

“You said your brother did work in Canada, too,” said Laura. “Are you talking Vancouver?”

“Clients more than anything. He doesn’t have an office here. It’s a pretty small operation. Only a few people who work out of an office in L.A. Mostly secretaries. The others are legit and don’t know what is going on.”

“I take it your brother doesn’t hang around with the same kind of people as you do,” said Jack.

“That’s for sure. He mingles with a lot of high rollers from all over the world. People who got money to invest. Whacking people for insurance is sort of a sideline. Maybe it’s to help get them through these bad economic times.”

“Where is Oskar now?” asked Jack.

He lives on his sailboat, so he is kind of mobile. Sometimes he lives on it in L.A. and other times he stays in Victoria at a marina across from The Empress Hotel.”

“Where is he now?”

“Last I heard, he had left L.A. and was supposed to arrive at the Victoria marina sometime today.”

“Do you know the name of his boat?”

“Yeah, he calls it the Corporate Asset.”

“And you said they plan on committing three more murders?”

“That’s what Oskar said. Then he said he’s going to retire. He’s hoping to sell his company off to some older guy he knows who already has a similar company. Oskar told me that by Christmas, he will be sitting under a palm tree on some beach and enjoying the good life.”

“You said you met the first victim. When and where?” asked Jack.

“That was like, I don’t know. Eight or nine years ago at some hotel in Los Angeles. I don’t even remember the chump’s name. It was at a Christmas party Oskar’s company was putting on. He told me later the guy I had met would be dead before Christmas.”

“Can you remember what the victim looked like?” asked Laura.

“No, not really. I think he was wearing a Santa’s cap, but that’s all I can remember.” Virgil looked at Jack and asked, “Do you think there’s a chance you wouldn’t need to bust Oskar and just go after the other guys?”

“Probably not,” replied Jack.

“Oh, well,” replied Virgil. “Guess that’s life. Better him than me.”

Their conversation was interrupted when the police radio crackled to report the woman who had dropped off Peltier earlier, was driving back into the area.

Jack grabbed the portable radio. “Copy that. It’s dark enough that you could put a guy in the bush where she dropped Peltier off and have him jump in the car. He’ll have her in cuffs before she realizes it isn’t who she expected.”

“Yeah, copy that. Will do. In case it doesn’t work, I’ll put a car down the road in front to stop her if she tries to bolt.”

When Jack put the portable radio down he looked at Virgil. “Who is it?”