“We’ll show Ty Binty Vanessa North’s photo today,” Mal says. “And see what he says. We’ll also take her photo to the yoga studio, and we’ll bring both Daisy and Jon Rittenberg in for further questioning.”
“His Audi is full of mud,” says Arnav. “The mud could come from a dump site. It was raining heavily that night.”
“Right,” Mal says. “We’ll keep scouring cam footage to see if we can pick it up along Marine. And we’ll also need to secure warrants to access Darling’s phone and financial records. Her recent financial transactions, who she called or texted, who contacted her—it will all give a clearer picture of her movements leading up to the violent event. We also need to keep eyes on socials.”
Mal checks tasks and questions off on her fingers. “Do the Rittenbergs have social media profiles? We know Darling runs an Instagram account using the handle @foxandcrow. What has she posted there? Does she have any other accounts in her own name? We need history going back to her ski resort days. Her friend, Boon-mee Saelim, spoke of a traumatic event in her past that caused Darling to drop out of school and leave town. What was that event? We need to locate her diary. We also need to delve into the Rittenbergs’ backgrounds. Jon Rittenberg was on the national ski team. The ski team has a lodge and trained in the town where Darling grew up. There’s potential for crossover there.”
As Mal assigns tasks, there is a sharp knock on the door. They all look up as a uniformed officer enters. His eyes are bright.
“We’ve got ’em!” he says. “We found the two vehicles on CCTV footage. The Subaru and the Audi.”
Tension ripples through the room.
“Can you bring it up on this monitor?” asks Benoit.
Within minutes they are gathered around the table, leaning forward in silence as they study the grainy CCTV footage.
“See here.” The officer points. “A Subaru Crosstrek and an Audi S6 sedan are captured exiting Marine Drive. And on this cam, where they’re heading into the North Vancouver industrial area. And over here we pick them up again outside the ADMAC construction site on the water. The area is fenced off for the redevelopment of the abandoned grain silos and old dockyard. We approached ADMAC, and they have security cameras on site. They gave us access.” He hits a key.
They watch the Audi S6 sedan and Subaru Crosstrek traversing the area in front of the grain silos.
“Another ADMAC cam picks them up again there.” He points. “Crossing the railway tracks heading toward the water.” They watch as the two vehicles, one behind the other, cross the tracks and move away from the camera. The vehicles bump along what appears to be a potholed and muddy track parallel to the shore. They disappear from camera range. The weather is foggy. Wet. It’s dark.
“Unfortunately the cam trained on the dock is out of order. But seventeen minutes later, here the Audi is, returning. It crosses in front of the silos here”—the officer points—“then exits the ADMAC site there, and heads back up to Marine. We pick it up again crossing the Lions Gate Bridge.”
“Possibly going home to Point Grey,” Benoit says.
“What about the Subaru—any footage of the Subaru exiting the site?” Lula asks.
“Negative. The Subaru never came out. We sent officers to the site. We just got a call from them. There are three fairly fresh sets of tire tracks. Tracks matching standard-issue Subaru tires go straight to the dock. There are signs the vehicle went right over into the water. Two sets of footprints around the area. Also drag marks through mud. As though something heavy was pulled to the edge of the dock.”
“I think we found our dump site,” Mal says quietly.
The mood in the room shifts.
Benoit says, “The Audi is the same S6 model as the sedan parked outside Rose Cottage.”
Mal clicks the back of her pen, in out, in out. “We need samples of the mud on Rittenberg’s tires. Can you zoom in on the Subaru and Audi registrations as they enter the ADMAC site?”
“We managed to enhance the Subaru plates. It’s registered to Katarina Darling. But mud obscures the Audi plates.”
“You said three sets of tire tracks,” Mal says.
He smiles and pulls up different footage. “This is shot from the cam up on the bridge—the so-called jumpers cam. It captures some of the area below the bridge. Watch this—it occurs eleven minutes before we see the Audi and Subaru arrive at the ADMAC site.” He hits PLAY.
They watch in silence as a large luxury sedan drives along the water, approaching the bridge, then disappears under it.
A sly smile curves the officer’s mouth. “That, my friends, is another vehicle. The third one. A Mercedes-Maybach. And while the Subaru disappeared over the edge of the dock, that Mercedes Maybach was still parked in the shadows under the bridge. There is no way out other than the way it drove in.” He hits PLAY. “And there it goes again. Leaving.”
They watch the Mercedes-Maybach exiting from under the bridge. It drives through the fog and rain back along the track that parallels the water. It disappears out of camera range before it reaches the dock.
“After we picked up the Mercedes,” the officer says, “we searched farther back in the ADMAC cam footage. The Mercedes enters the ADMAC site eleven minutes before the Audi and Subaru arrive.” He points to the footage. “You can see there—looks like two people inside the Mercedes. One in the driver seat, one in the passenger seat. The driver looks to be female because of the long hair. The Mercedes then exits the ADMAC site seven minutes after the Audi leaves the area. Still two people inside.”
“Did you get the registration on that Maybach?” Benoit asks. “Because whatever went down off camera at those old docks, the occupants of the Mercedes-Maybach had to have witnessed it.”
The officer pulls up an enhanced close-up of the Mercedes plate. He meets each of their gazes in turn and grins. “You’re never going to guess who the sedan is registered to.”
“Oh, go on, spill,” says Lula in a mocking voice.
“Tamara Adler. Of Kane, Adler, Singh, and Salinger. The top city law firm handling that big case that’s been in the news involving a member of the Legislative Assembly for Vancouver–Point Grey, the Honorable Frank Horvath?”
“Adler is our witness?” Gavin asks.
“Whoever those two people are inside Adler’s car—they are our potential witnesses,” Mal says quietly. “And whoever they are, if they did see what went down, they did not call this in, and they did not come forward. I want to talk to Tamara Adler.” She surges to her feet. “Lula, loop the North Van RCMP in on this. Have them cordon off that entire ADMAC construction site. Jack, contact ADMAC—all work on their site stops right now. Gavin, get the paperwork rolling on the warrant for Rittenberg’s Audi and a search of Rose Cottage. I want Jon Rittenberg brought in. I want a DNA sample from him, scrapings from his nails, photographs documenting his injuries, the works. I want DNA samples from Daisy Rittenberg, too. And we need a dive team and support craft out to that dockyard stat.”
DAISY
October 29, 2019. Tuesday.
Two days before the murder.