I headed back to the office and, as we now knew where he was staying, Mark and Kevin headed to the Friendship Centre to get the numbers from the BC plate on the boat. I’d already run him on the computer and nothing had come up, so I needed to look elsewhere for information. From his Driver’s license I knew that his address was Incline Village Nevada, so I decided to start there. I tracked down who was responsible for policing Incline Village, and ended up talking with a Sheriff’s Deputy down there.
When I asked him if he knew Michael J. he said he did, but that not as a criminal. He said that he was a stock broker, who’d just gone through a messy divorce, and that he was kind of intense. He then said that there was a warrant for an outstanding fine, but nothing that we would be interested in. I was left, I thought, with nothing to go on.
The BC Trailer plate came back registered to another person, this time from Sardis BC. Again it didn’t come back as stolen, but I called both Victoria PD and Chilliwack Detachment to check with the registered owners and find out what was up with their plates. I then sat back and waited for Michael J. to arrive, not knowing as much as I would have liked.
Before he arrived, Victoria Police got back to me. They’d been to the address of the elderly couple that owned those BC plates. Unfortunately they had apparently moved out, and no one knew to where. Trying to track down a new address for them by computer was fruitless, and I just kept getting the original address. Now that I had nothing concrete but the ringing alarm bells I began to imagine worse case scenarios and began to think that Mr. and Mrs “Smith” were in a shallow unmarked grave somewhere.
When Michael J. arrived, one of the first things he said to me was “I remember my Uncle’s name now.” Oh? “Yes, it’s Joseph and Margaret Smith.” ??? Sorry, your UNCLE’S name is Joseph and Margaret Smith? “Yes that’s right”. Okay. (ding ding ding)
We started off talking about his vehicle, and I let him know that he could not drive it until it was properly registered, and he asked me how he was to do that. When I said that he’d have to contact whoever issued plates in Nevada he looked at me puzzled, and said that he wanted to register them here. I told him that he had to be a resident to do that, and when he persisted I just pointed him in the direction of the local license issuer and would let him explain it to him.
So I asked what brought him to La Ronge and he told me that he had come up do some fishing. When I pointed out to him that there was still four feet of ice on the lake and that fishing wouldn’t be open to non-residents for some time, he simply stated that he planned on sticking around until break up and fishing season and that he planned on camping out on the lake for as long as he could. What did he do in Nevada that would allow that sort of time? He told me he was semi-retired. From what I asked, and he told me he was a banker (ding ding). Oh, I see and did he have any family? His eyes rolled down in a look of despair, as he told me that his family was all killed in a fire. (ding ding ding).
But after a little more conversation surrounding the plates (How did you get them? My Uncle gave them to me) etc. I had no choice but to bid him goodnight, the alarm bells that were still ringing in my head were not getting any quieter.
Comments
3 responses
Another good yarn Clare.
Good to see another story unfolding!
Clare, I hope you’re not going to make us wait too long for part three! (-: