Chapter Twelve
Three months later
When he opened the front door to Ava's house for their date, Kennex was momentarily struck speechless. Ava wore a close fitting strapless ankle length green gown and a black short-sleeve waist length jacket. Her outfit was completed with black one inch heels and grey makeup. She carried a small black leather clutch in her right hand. He wore a navy blue suit with a grey dress shirt and no tie with black dress shoes and a black ankle length coat. That was much more formal then what he usually wore on their dates, but tonight was a special occasion.
"You look beautiful," he complimented her.
"Thank you. You look quite handsome yourself. Shall we go?" she replied. He nodded and they made his way to his car. They had been dating for six months now and Kennex had picked a fancy restaurant downtown tonight to mark the occasion. Kennex knew that most women wouldn't have had the patience that Ava had shown him so far, so he was very happy that she was still his girlfriend. He had requested that no gifts be exchanged between them tonight because Ava herself was all he wanted. He also remembered what Anna's gifts to him had hidden and he didn't want to repeat that experience. Once they were seated and had ordered their meal he placed his right hand over her own.
"I'm sorry about Patrick's recent death. I know how much that dog meant to you," he stated.
"Thanks for your sympathy. Unfortunately Patrick was eleven years old and Irish wolfhounds don't tend to be a long lived breed," she replied.
"Will you be getting another dog?" he wondered.
"Not right away but maybe in the future I will," she responded.
They had just finished their appetizers when the hostess that had seated them approached their table. She held out an envelope to Ava.
"I have something for you here," she said. Kennex looked at the woman in surprise.
"Who is it from?" Ava demanded.
"A man with dark hair delivered it," the hostess told them.
"I see," replied Ava. She took the envelope and opened it. A moment laster she frowned as she read the electronic paper. Then she swiftly handed the electronic paper to him.
"John, you should read this," she insisted. He took the electronic paper and read the following written in red:
You'll be next Ava.
Kennex paled. Was this note the work of inSyndicate, he wondered. Had they been the ones behind the death of Seamus? Paul had never established a clear motive for that death, but perhaps it was meant as a message from inSyndicate to Ava that no one was safe from their reach. He would do everything to make sure his girlfriend didn't meet the same fate as her ex-boyfriend, he decided.
"Follow me, Ava," he declared after he had put the electronic paper back into the envelope. He immediately walked towards the front of the restaurant where the hostess stood.
"Is everything all right, sir?" she asked.
"Do you have cameras inside this restaurant?" he asked the hostess.
"Yes, but I can only show that footage to the police," she protested. Kennex put away the envelope in his pocket and then pulled out his badge.
"I am the police. Now show me the footage," he insisted. She nodded.
"Follow me. Here you go. This is the last ten minutes, detective," she replied after they had walked to a small office at the back of the restaurant. The hostess placed her hand on the screen which activated the camera footage.
"Thanks. Now leave us alone," Kennex demanded. The hostess quickly left the room and closed the door of the office behind her.
"Facial recognition identifies the man who delivered the envelope as Daniel Sala," Ava observed as they both looked at the footage.
"That's the same man who stole your purse on our date," Kennex realized as he looked at the image more closely.
"As I recall, when my purse was stolen it contained my wallet, my phone, and my coin stick in it. Sala could have used that in order to track me even though I've replaced everything since then," Ava stated.
"Have you noticed a drone following you recently?" he asked.
"No. I haven't noticed anyone I didn't recognize following me either. But what criminal organizations in the City know about our relationship?" she wanted to know. He stared at her in surprise for a moment.
"Why do you ask that?" he wanted to know.
"Because if a criminal gang uses the threat of harm against me to distract you from a case, they might just get away. That explains why you've never discussed the specifics of any of your investigations with me," she explained. Ava really did pay close attention to details, thought Kennex with a mixture of admiration and annoyance.
"Right now I need to get this envelope to the police lab and arrange for protective custody for you," he insisted.
"Fine," she agreed. They quickly left the restaurant then Kennex drove to the police lab. On the drive there, he phoned Maldonado who agreed to have a transport for Ava meet them at the lab. She also asked Stahl to look into Daniel Sala more closely.
"Stay here in the car. I'll be back soon," he told her. Kennex took the envelope into the lab to be analyzed. By the time he had returned to his car a transport had arrived with Detective Leung and his MX. Kennex walked Ava over to the transport and nodded in greeting to Detective Leung.
"Thanks for coming, Leung. Take good care of Miss White, all right?" he insisted.
"Of course, Kennex. Get in the back of the car, Miss White," Detective Leung insisted. The MX opened the back door of the transport and Ava climbed inside. Before the door was closed by the MX, Ava gave Kennex one last glance. Detective Leung and the MX quickly drove away. Kennex made his way back to his car and then drove to the station. Once he arrived there Kennex was told to go to the conference room by a MX. He quickly found Dorian, Paul, Stahl, and Maldonado who all sat around the table. He took a seat as Maldonado nodded in greeting.
"Half an hour ago, there was a theft in the Western District from an armoured truck carrying semi automatic rifles. The vehicle was stopped by a parabolic pulse charge which killed both the driver and the security guard sitting beside him. Once the armoured truck had been stopped, the weapons in the back were loaded into a black truck. We're running the plates now but that will be a dead end if they are using a tag scrambler," Maldonado explained as she played video footage of the robbery.
"The white masks are a trademark of inSyndicate and they do engage in weapons trafficking," Stahl reminded them all.
"Could inSyndicate be selling these weapons on the black market?" Kennex asked.
"That possibility is worth looking into. Paul, round up the local arms dealers and question them," Maldonado ordered.
"I will look into recent reported stolen vehicles and see if any of them match this description," Dorian replied.
"I'll talk to the victim's families and see if they knew anyone who could be behind this attack," Stahl stated.
"Get to work. Kennex, can I have a private word?" Maldonado demanded. The others quickly left the room.
"What is it?" Kennex wanted to know once the door had closed behind them.
"Do you remember our first conversation on the day you returned to work?" Maldonado asked him.
"You thought someone in the precinct could be a member of inSyndicate. If they are, Ava's location at the safe house could be compromised," Kennex replied.
"John, I think your girlfriend is a diversion from this weapons theft. But just in case it's not, I'll keep a protective detail on her until this case is over. But there's another reason inSyndicate could be targeting you."
"What's that?"
"You prevented them from getting their hands on Danica. If they had, inSyndicate could have made what happened on Green Street look like a minor incident."
"I understand," he replied. A moment later he left the conference room and walked towards his desk. If Ava's life was in danger than he wouldn't hesitate to try and save her, Kennex thought as he sat behind his desk. But now was not the time to think about his feelings for Ava when he had a case to solve, he resolved.