When I stopped chuckling about the cleverness of the Royal Canadian Mounted Hackers name, I asked, "How long will that take them?"

Lorne shrugged. "Depends on how solid the firewall, the anti-virus, and so on. The easiest way is to attack his computer – fool him with phishing and plant a trojan horse."

Cynthia looked up from her screen, shaking her head. "Phishing is so obvious. Mine all go directly to the spam folder, and I usually have a few good chuckles at the ludicrousness of some of them as I comb through to delete."

"Ah, yes, the blind attempts – hoping for a dupe or two in the email list they've bought or hacked. But if the message comes from a known account and contains specific and relevant information, it's far more likely to be let in and opened."

"A known account? Like what?"

"An email account – like yours would be known to him, Cynthia. But that is useless for this purpose. I'm sure he now knows you're onto him and that you've contacted the police. Besides, what would you say to him?"

"True."

"Do you know of any others he might have engaged by email?"

Cynthia pursed her lips and shook her head. "He shared nothing with me except the essentials. Seems I'm the only dupe outside his circle."

I raised a finger. "What about the company that does the logoed pens, bags and so on?"

"Stupid me! Of course. Ruth."

"Ruth?"

"At Logo To Go. She'd have emails back and forth with him for each opening."

"Oh my, how ironic! By wanting to control everything, he may have given away the entire game with this. Do you trust Ruth?"

"Absolutely, Lorne. She used to work for me; her branded merchandise venture was a sideline until it grew too big for her to do both. She still uses me to bounce ideas about logo designs."

"With attachments?"

"Oh, wow!" Cynthia fist-pumped. "That's the way into his computer. Ruth grumbled to me that Frank was too nit-picky with designs, always wanting adjustments and tweaks."

"Great! Would she be willing to work with the Mounties?"

"I'm sure she would. But how?"

"Give them access to her email account, describe her interactions with him and help them find the best way in."

"Ooh! I love this."

Cynthia phoned Ruth, and while Lorne began composing another email to the Mounties, I worked on a much more mundane task – compiling a grocery list for First Resort – items and ingredients for three meals a day for three people. For how long, though? I asked Lorne.

"The perishables – meat, vegetables and so on, for three days, the non-perishables for two or three weeks to save reordering."

"Two or three weeks?"

"Maybe more. The Mounties know better than to rush this. It's far more than taking down one person. They must track the entire network and gather evidence on them all. Link them to criminal activity and find admissible evidence."

"Yes, of course."

"And there might be someone handling the scam back east – maybe someone above him. The whole country seems too much for a bumbler such as Rinaldi."

"And all the Italian names he used – maybe the Mafia, not just bikers."

"True. But the Mounties' first step is to assess the ways to break into his computer and choose the right one. A failed attempt might give a warning, making another attempt far harder – maybe impossible. They're playing with a huge fish on a very thin line; patience and delicate moves are essential."

Nodding, I returned my attention to checking what food remained in the freezer, fridge and cupboards. A few minutes later, I paused when Cynthia clicked off her phone and said, "Ruth has a preliminary design for Suprême ready, and she's working on two others for him, both in Calgary."

"Excellent!" Lorne looked up from his computer. "Is she willing to help?"

"After I gave her the horror story, nothing could stop her. I told her to wait until you contact her."

"Great. Send me her phone number."

Lorne phoned Ruth and explained the need to allow the Mounties to handle all further communication with Frank, pretending to be her. "You may monitor the process, but do not engage in it."

He winced at us and clicked his phone to speaker, and we heard Ruth say, "... derstand. Nothing from me."

"They should contact you within the hour. Best you have the three logo files ready to send to them, so they can see which of them is best to use and how. They will likely engage you in a long interrogation-style session, wanting to understand the nuances of your interactions with Frank. Don't be put off by this; it's essential they know how to pretend to be you."

"Wow! Like in the movies."

"Indeed, but this is reality, Ruth. Deadly reality. And we don't want them to slip away."

"So, is Cynthia really safe? Or is she just saying she is?"

"She's safe and comfortably hiding with us. Though they trashed her hotel room and torched her office, they didn't touch her. To ensure she remains safe, you're the essential key in getting these people off the street and locked up."