They followed Rachel out into the living room, where Emma had reestablished herself in the middle of the group of teens and tweens. It was interesting how they made room for her on the couch where she'd been previously, unconsciously aware that this was her house and she got pride of place.

"My laptop's upstairs, hold on," Rachel said.

"Maybe we should go up with you," Lauren said, "you know, just in case what's on that memory card shouldn't be seen by young eyes."

Rachel nodded and led them upstairs to her and Al's bedroom. Now Joe had the unpleasant sensation that he was looking at the bed on which Rachel and his wife might have had sex. Rachel sat on it, unconcerned, opening her laptop and slipping in the memory card with the dish gloves still on. She pulled the gloves off to better manipulate her touchpad and keys. Once she had the files open, she turned the laptop around and showed them the first photo that appeared.

Joe looked along with the others, strangely both excited and unsettled, not knowing what they were going to be seeing.

"It's a boat," Sunny said, sounding disappointed. Joe was too.

"Specifically, a fishing trawler," Lauren said. "My dad worked on these a lot. This one appears to be named Lookeeloo."

"What is a picture of a fishing trawler doing on a memory card in an envelope at the back of a drawer in Logan's room?" Rachel asked.

"Let's see if there are more photos. Maybe we'll get an explanation."

Rachel clicked, and the next photo appeared. 

"That's a picture of the hold," Lauren said. "The fish stay there until the boat returns with its catch. Some boats have freezers for long distance fishing. This one doesn't." She leaned in. "Rachel, can you enlarge the photo a bit?"

Rachel obliged, and the enlarging brought details into focus that weren't apparent before.

"Holy shit," Al said. "Are those wrapped packages of drugs?"

"It certainly looks that way," Lauren said.

"Not very original," Rachel said. "Aren't drugs always being smuggled in fishing boats in the movies?"

"Still, these are pictures of an illegal act," Sunny said. "We really should be turning this over to the police."

"Wait, we need to see the rest of them," Lauren said. "We need to see why these photos are in Logan's possession. What does a sixteen year old boy have to do with a drug smuggling operation?"

"You know, no one ever told us who their father is or what he does," Al said. "Maybe these are his photos, and Logan is holding them for him."

"He could also be holding them for a friend," Tej said.

"Why him though?" Rachel asked. "Why trust him with these photos?"

"Maybe because he's the last person anyone would suspect of having them," Lauren said. "Maybe he's like a safety deposit box no one could ever find."

"So, you think these photos are for blackmail."

Joe felt the blood rush from his face. "Guys, that's a dangerous business. Logan could be in jail right now because of what's on this memory card."

"But if Logan was blackmailing someone, wouldn't he be dead and not in jail?" Lauren asked, rather callously in Joe's opinion.

"How about this?" Tej said. "Logan is in close contact with the blackmailer. He goes out last night to meet this person, and during the meeting something bad happens; maybe the bad people being blackmailed surprise them and get violent, and Logan escapes but gets arrested by the police later."

Rachel's mouth dropped open. "If what Logan says is true, and his mom's dead, would that make her the blackmailer? She didn't seem like the calculating type to me, more the desperate, sad type."

"I agree," Lauren said. "Let's see if there are any more clues on this."

More pictures of the hold from different angles, and the cargo it contained, followed. These were followed by photos of booth seating in the boat, and then the same seats with their cushions removed, revealing hollows where more packaged drugs were stowed.

"This is a lot of fucking drugs, guys," Sunny said, sounding almost offended by what he saw. "These could be on the streets right now, killing people. These might as well have been the drugs that killed Danny Trybek. The police need to see this."

Nobody answered him. Rachel kept clicking. Pictures of people followed. Men, mostly, of all colours, wearing hip-waders, rubber boots and sweaters, either driving the boat or doing whatever it was people did on boats to assist in their running. Did people still swab decks? Joe was embarrassed that he had no idea. He had no idea what the instrument panels in the next photos were for either.

"It's too bad there are no captions for who these people are," Lauren said. "They must crew the boat, at least, if they aren't the smugglers themselves."

"I'm impressed whoever took these pictures seemed to do it without anyone noticing," Tej said. "Notice, though, that the pictures aren't of these people loading or unloading the drugs. You can't really prove they're involved. Maybe they piloted the boat but had no idea the drugs were there."

"You've got to be kidding me," Rachel said. "You think they don't know? They wouldn't be taking the boat out not expecting to load it with anything."

"I agree," Lauren said. "It costs a lot to fuel and maintain these boats. Fishing is a risky business because you might not even bring in a profit at the end of the season depending on the price you get for your catch. Most of what you make pays for the crew's wages and the fuel and maintenance of the boat. So, if you're not hauling something, be it fish or drugs, you're losing money."

"Maybe whoever took the photos was using their phone to do it, and using it while the loading and unloading was happening would look suspicious," Al said, "so they couldn't get the money shot."

Rachel clicked to the next photo. This appeared to be a wide angle shot of where the boat was docked. The next few photos were different angles of the area.

"This isn't Steveston," Lauren said. "That's where my dad and his crew took off. I don't recognize where this is."

"Those mountains in the background," Joe said, "they kind of look like the North Shore mountains, don't they?"

"Maybe," Rachel said. "There are quite a few docks that look across the Burrard Inlet. I wonder why he didn't take a picture of a sign, wherever it was."

"We don't know it was a he," Lauren said. "Maybe there wasn't a sign. Maybe this place is secret, because they needed it to be, given their cargo."

They all considered that notion and found it plausible. "Still, it couldn't be completely secret," Sunny said. "Nowhere along the Burrard Inlet is in the middle of nowhere."

"Maybe it could be, for all intents and purposes, if they're quick enough loading and unloading."

Rachel clicked to the next photo. Now there were documents. Pictures of documents.

"Can we zoom in on these?" Al asked. When Rachel did, they leaned in and looked.

"What is that, Spanish?" Joe asked. 

"I think so. Does anyone know any?"

Everyone shook their heads.

"We could use a translation program, but since it's a photo, we can't copy and paste the text," Lauren said. "It will take time to type in all the text."

"Again, we could let the police do this," Sunny said.

"Let's go back to it later." Rachel clicked again, and another Spanish document appeared. They had an official look to them, with seals and everything. The next document actually looked like it was Russian, and so did the next one.

"Jesus, these people get around," Tej said. 

"Well, you know drugs, it's a global operation," Al said.

"I'm sorry, do you know drugs? Because I certainly don't," Sunny said, sounding really annoyed now.

Al raised his eyebrows. "Sorry, Sunny, I was just joking."

"Exactly, and this is serious business."

"Okay, you know what?" Lauren said, raising her hands placatingly. "How about this. Let's make a copy of what's on here and give the original to the police. We stop our investigation and call them. I think you're right, Sunny. I think this is too serious for the Lawrence Street Detective Club to be sticking their noses in. If the people involved here even got a whiff of our soft, entitled group on their periphery, we might find ourselves in real danger."

Rachel squinted at Lauren and said, "I'm sorry, was that Lauren Hasegawa talking just now?"

Lauren rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, I know, but these guys, Rachel. These aren't the amateurs who beat the shit out of you and Joe last year. We get caught by these guys, and they'll take their time with us with blowtorches and pliers. We'll never see daylight again. We all have kids now, remember."

Her words hit Rachel like a punch in the gut, Joe could see. Sometimes Rachel still thought she was the twelve-year-old biking around Queensborough, looking for lost dogs with the LSDC. It was ironic, really, because of all people Rachel should have known better, should have had a little more concern for her well-being, after what Mr. Trybek had done to her when she was thirteen.

"Okay," Rachel said, sounding winded. "We make copies of these files and take a photo of what's on that slip of paper. I think it's the number of an offshore bank account, and the password to get in."

"That has to be the account they're wiring money to, whoever's being blackmailed," Tej said.

"Guys," Joe said, "have you thought about the fact that whoever's being blackmailed knows that Logan had this here?"

They were all silent at that. The notion was too frightening to consider.

"All the better we get this in the hands of the police," Sunny said. 

Rachel found an old flash drive and loaded the photos onto it, as well as a photo of the paper with the numbers on it taken by the camera on the laptop. Lauren snagged it and said, "I'm taking this to Justiciar and putting it in the safe. No copies should be in this house once the police have the originals."

Rachel nodded numbly and said, "I can't believe Logan had us at risk this whole time."

"I don't think anyone knew until now," Joe said in an effort to reassure her. He didn't like the little girl fear in her voice.

"Guys, if you're worried about people coming around," Sunny said, "you're welcome to stay with us, we can find some room for you."

"Us too," Lauren said. "We can set you up in the rec room in the basement."

Rachel looked at Al, her eyes brimming with tears. Al put a hand on her shoulder and said, "I'm fine with whatever you want to do. We can also keep a baseball bat handy."

She nodded and wiped her eyes. "Thanks, guys, you're great friends for offering. Can we think about it?"

They all nodded and looked away to give Rachel some dignity.

Lauren meant what she said about taking the flash drive to Justiciar. She did it right away, promising to be back as soon as she completed her task. Joe offered to go with her, but she said, out of earshot of the others, "I'd rather you stayed here with the kids, you know, just in case."

"Oh, shit, have I spooked you too?"

Lauren shrugged. "It's a very plausible scenario. We could very well be just one step ahead of these people."

"Well, what about you? Going by yourself?"

She gave him a pitying look and patted his arm. "I can spot a tail no problem, and the office is alarmed on the weekend. I'll be in and out, and the sword's at the office if anyone follows me there."

Joe wished he hadn't said anything now. "Okay. Keep in contact if anything seems suspicious."

"Will do."

He made sure she was escorted to the Highlander and on the road before he felt comfortable about her being gone. He didn't spot anyone threatening outside. The Brentwood area of Burnaby was as calm and bland as it had been an hour ago, before they'd known there were drug smugglers in their orbit.

When he returned, everyone was downstairs again, and Rachel was on the phone with the detectives they'd met earlier. When she hung up, she said, "They're coming around. They may want to chat with us some more, see if there might be any hiding places we missed."

"And that's why we're staying until they've been and gone," Sunny said. "I may not be in criminal law, but I'm not going to let them just go over your whole house, even if you did invite them in. Call Melinda Barber, too; she should be here in Logan's interest, and then I can get the measure of her."

Rachel nodded, smiling. "It reassures me that you're here, Sunny, whether as a lawyer or a friend."

Sunny smiled widely, his teeth very white against his beard. "No problem, buddy. In any case, I think our kids are having too much fun to go yet."

"We'll be here until Lauren gets back anyway," Joe said.

"Rachel," Emma called from the living room. "Can we get pizza again?"

Everybody laughed, and just like that, the tension of the past hour dissolved.

"You know what," Al said, "because all of your friends are here, let's do it and make it a party. We might have some company soon anyway, and I won't be in the mood to cook."

Thanks for reading this far! If you like what you just read, hit "Vote" and send this title up the ranks. If something doesn't ring true about fishing trawlers and their operation, leave a comment. I strive for authenticity. To read about Joe and Lauren's first real kiss, click on "Continue reading."