because only through projection do we realize their enormity and horror.
—Henry Miller
I arranged a meeting with Garth Kane hoping to persuade him to help me recover any recorded videos or other material that Gwen James might use to blackmail me.
He dropped by my condo that evening and listened sympathetically to my case.
"What you've got to understand, Ethan, is this isn't something glamorous or romantic such as spy versus spy scenarios you see portrayed in films. Intelligence gathering is a necessary evil, but it is an evil. You end up in a sordid business of matching the deviousness of your enemy and being reduced to his level."
"I realize that Garth—I don't want revenge, I simply want to recover what was stolen from me—private moments that I don't want uploaded to the Internet."
He sat back and sipped his coffee, listening patiently to my arguments but I could see he wasn't buying what I was selling.
"You see, I'm desperate—I know Gwen James can use videos of my past indiscretions with women and it just doesn't seem fair to allow that."
"You're right, Ethan. It isn't fair. But breaking the law isn't the answer. Besides, now that I've disabled the snooping devices, she knows you're onto her. She's probably already moved the evidence to a more secure location."
"Damn! I hadn't thought of that—you're right. I'm doomed—at her mercy whenever she decides to blackmail or embarrass me by posting the evidence on line."
Garth held up a hand to stop me. "It's not as bleak as you think. Gwen has an accomplice, Trish Simpson. She's the weak link in this business. If we can get to her, we may be able to get to Gwen James."
"Yeah, but what leverage do I have to convince Trish to cooperate with me?"
"All we need to do id convince Trish that we're onto her but are willing to guarantee her immunity from criminal prosecution if she flips on her boss."
I felt a small glimmer of hope as I listened to Garth but still couldn't conceive of Trish confessing and turning on Gwen.
"It sounds like a good plan, Garth, but how can we swing it?"
"Simple. You arrange to meet with Trish in a restaurant and tell her you hired a former spy and ex-RCMP officer who tracked the signal from the spyware to her apartment. Tell her you're willing to deal in order to get to Gwen James. You'll guarantee her immunity from criminal prosecution if she cooperates."
"So, we don't even need probable cause to get a search warrant—all we need is to convince Trish that we have evidence the signal was tracked back to her apartment, implicating her in the crime?"
"That's right. If you have a connection with Trish where she's already partial towards you and you offer her a way out of being charged with a crime, she'll be more inclined to cave to your demands."
"Then what happens once she agrees?"
"I'll be taping the conversation and I'll take it to a judge and get a search warrant for both premises—Trish's and Gwen's."
"What happens if they moved the evidence to a secure location?"
"We have enough evidence from Trish's admission on tape and there's a good chance that our search might turn up other related evidence that implicates them further."
By the time Garth left that evening I had a workable plan to convince Trish and implicate both women in the crime.
Beatrice was right—it was absurd to contemplate breaking the law in order to right a wrong.
Besides, the more I thought about it, Garth's proposal would effectively prevent either woman from trying to use any material they obtained to blackmail me in the future.
If everything worked according to plan it would amount to a win-win situation but for now, I just wanted an end to the torment I was experiencing.