“Which may have prompted him to change how he selected his victims,” said Jack. “Did the assaults take place on the weekends?”

“Only some,” said McCormick. “The last three were on Sundays, the second one was on a Monday, and the first one was on a Tuesday. I looked at a list of known offenders for some who may be working and have Sunday and Monday off, but with an assault on a Tuesday, it counteracts that theory.”

“I might have something for you,” said Jack, flipping to certain pages he had tabbed. They were all pages corresponding to the page numbers that Virgil had crossed off on the map booklet in his car. “I’ll show you different sections of the map,” said Jack. “I would like you tell me if your victims lived in the vicinity.”

“Yes, the fourth victim lives on that page,” confirmed McCormick as Jack held the booklet in front of her.

On the second page McCormick said, “Right again. The third victim lives there.” On the third page her reply was, “Nope, nobody there.”

Jack turned to the last page and said, “This one is where Amanda lives.”

“How do you know all this?” asked McCormick.

“It’s the parks,” said Jack. “Your suspect watches for women playing with their children in the parks on weekends. It leads him to the conclusion that they might be single parents. I believe he then follows them to see where they live and perhaps watches their place to confirm they are a single parent before making his move.”

“One of them was negative,” said McCormick, “meaning that another assault went unreported.”

“So how did you know about these specific areas?” asked Dyck.

“The perpetrator has a map with page numbers crossed off. Every page had a park. My guess is he doesn’t target the same area twice. If you do surveillance of other parks on weekends, you might spot him. I think if you flip either ahead or back a few pages, there is a good chance you will find where he would intend to strike next.”

“We don’t even know what he looks like,” said McCormick.

“A guy watching a park looks suspicious to me,” said Jack. “Perhaps he will still have the map and also the knife, but I would suggest you catch him in the act in case —”

“And if you’re wrong and he goes somewhere else?” said Dyck. “Not to mention that we hardly have the manpower to cover off all the parks. What we need, Corporal, is his name, so we can get a search warrant or follow him twenty-four-seven. It is time to quit screwing around!” He glared at Rose and said, “Give me the bastard’s name!”

“As much as I would like to,” said Rose, “I can’t.”

“Can’t? Or won’t?” said Dyck, slapping his hand on the desk in anger.

“Sir,” said Jack, “since we last talked, I believe I’ve uncovered the name of the first murder victim. More importantly, this morning I found out that the latest intended victim … a man from Seattle, is in Russia and may already be dead.”

“And your informant identified this person?”

“Not by name, but the victim is from Seattle and arrived in Moscow last week. I put in an urgent request to the Russian police to try and locate him. I believe the informant is reliable about the murders and feel compelled to uphold my promise not to assist the police in regard to Amanda Evans.”

“If you know about the so-called latest victim, then it sounds to me like you don’t need your informant anymore,” barked Dyck. “If any of this is actually true, at this point you should be able to piece it together without your informant.”

“I told you, I won’t work that way. I gave my word.”

“These other rapes committed by the same perpetrator didn’t involve Amanda,” said Dyck. “Give us the name of who attacked them.”

“No. Doing that would be the same as identifying Amanda’s attacker.”

“This is ridiculous,” said Dyck. He cast a glance at Rose and looked back at Jack and said, “Corporal Taggart, being as I outrank Staff-Sergeant Wood, I will rescind her order for you not to divulge the name. I am now ordering you again to tell me who your informant is.”

“Excuse me, sir,” said Rose. “You do outrank us, but the three of us work in an Intelligence Unit on highly sensitive investigations. It involves organized crime, crooked politicians, judges, police officers … that’s just to name a few.”

“I really couldn’t care less,” snapped Dyck. “I outrank you, so consider it an order.”

“Let me point out,” said Rose, “that our security clearance is above yours. That, I believe, leaves us with some prerogative in what we decide to divulge.”

Jack looked at Rose with greater respect. It was an angle he hadn’t considered.

“That’s nonsense,” said Dyck. “I am a commissioned officer. I have top-secret clearance.”

“Sir, with all due respect there is a level above T-S,” said Rose. “Which everyone in my unit has.”

“Is that true?” Dyck asked, shocked.

“S-A,” said Jack.

Dyck looked back and forth at Rose and Jack. “S-A? What the hell is that?”

“Stands for special access,” said Rose. “Few people have it.”

Dyck was quiet for a moment, then glared at Rose. “Well, you better be telling me the truth, because the next meeting I will be scheduling will be with Assistant Commissioner Isaac!”

As soon as Jack, Laura, and Rose arrived back at their own office, the secretary told them that they were scheduled for a meeting with Assistant Commissioner Isaac and Inspector Dyck at nine o’clock Monday morning.

“He’s not a bad guy, really,” sighed Rose.

“Who?” asked Jack.

“The big dick. He’s compassionate and trying to do his job.”

“Think Isaac will back us?”

“Normally I would think so, but this is a really ugly situation. I don’t know. It could go either way.”

“You know I won’t divulge the informant’s name,” said Jack, adamantly.

“Then unless you’re thinking of switching to another career, it might be a good idea to get back to work. Maybe try to dig up more evidence to show that Paul Jennings didn’t really fall off his ladder through a plate glass window. At least not without some help.”

Minutes later, Jack returned to his own desk and discovered the urgent message to call Max Romanov. He dialled the number immediately.

“Yes, comrade. I call you two hour before,” complained Romanov.

“You should have called me on my cellphone.”

“I try. Number no good.”

Jack had Romanov repeat the number and corrected him on a number that was missing.

“Okay, maybe next time work,” said Romanov. “I have good news. I find your American. He’s name is Lorne Welsh. He in hotel here in Moscow. Room 812. Ben Pike stay in same hotel. Room 904.”

“Excellent! That is terrific,” said Jack. “Good work.”

“What you want I should do?”

“That’s really up to you how you want to handle it. It’s in your jurisdiction.”

“Okay, but if I help you, maybe I come to Canada to tell judge, yes?”

“If this goes to a murder conspiracy, you might be called to Canada to testify,” said Jack.

“And you pay for trip, yes?”

“Of course. Airline ticket. Hotels, meals, and expenses.”

“Good. What you think I should do now?”

“Do you know if Welsh is in his room?”

“I call room one hour ago to pretend I make mistake call. His phone busy.”

“Good. I would go to Welsh and warn him and see if he will co-operate. We need evidence. I would ensure there is a surveillance on him at all times. With his permission you could bug his room with audio and video.”

“His permission to do that? Why permission? You make joke?”

“Uh, yeah, guess things are different there. I would also suggest you get a room next to him for security. If there is any hint that things are leading up to something, you will need to save him. I am told they will try to make his death look like an accident.”