Authors: Dianne Yetman
“Yeah, well I’d like to be in on the ground floor.”
“Get a clearance from your doctor and we’ll welcome you back with open arms.”
Kate
hung up and
walked back in the room just as Shirley was wrapping up. Withers shook his head and said nothing.
“I don’t buy Henry as the killer.
I just got off the phone with Roger and he agrees with me.”
“Not that again Kate
”, Withers said
. We’ve got the killer. His gun was found at the crime scene. He hated Stone. Why he killed Catherine
is another question I’m not sure we’ll ever get the answer to.
We need to find out how he got access to the poison
, and
that
shouldn’t be too difficult. The
y were a tight knit social circle;
I bet you his name is on the visitor’s log.”
Shirley opened the envelope and read the names.
“More like whos
e
name isn’t on the list. We have
Donald
, Jim
and
Brenda
of course
, and there’s
Eleanor,
Henry, Andrew and
yes, Henry, and some
names I don’t recognize. Business associates I assume. All
within the last two years.”
“Damndest, murkiest business I’ve been involved in”, Withers said. “Well, I’m off
, e
arly morning line up tomorrow.”
Kate took a coin out of her pocket.
“Want to flip to see who interviews Eleanor or Brenda
.
Let’s book them tonight. I don’t feel like interrupting another rehearsal, Charlotte’s heart might not stand it.
”
Chapter 18
Shirley
, having won the coin toss, was interviewing Brenda in
Gordon’s office.
Kate sat in her office catching up on paperwork until Eleanor arrived
, another thirty minutes or so from now.
Eleanor’s timing was perfect; Kate had
just
finished her report when she knocked on the door. Kate
positioned Eleanor in the hard plastic chair a few feet from the corner of her desk. She didn’t want her face blocked by the computer on the desk that butted against hers.
Eleanor looked very uncomfortable.
“Thanks for coming to the precinct, Eleanor, I appreciate it. Did you have any trouble parking?”
“No, I grabbed a cab.”
“I’ve asked you down here because our investigation has turned up a few new developments and I need to clear up a few things.
You and Donald were divorced
two years
ago. Is that correct?
“Yes, but what has that to do with anything?”
“During the time of your marriage and divorce, did you ever tour the premises of your husband’s plant?”
“Yes, of course, quite a few times when we were married. I’ve been in the plant only once since our divorce.”
“On any of those occasions, did you enter the room where
Prussic acid
was manufactured?”
“I believe so. Donald liked to show off his security
. It was state of the art, very impressive.”
“Did you ever enter the room unattended?”
“Of course not.
”
“Have you ever been in the room when only you and Donald were present?”
“No, not that I remember”, Eleanor said. She paused for a moment and then resumed speaking. “There is a log book outside the room for people to sign before entering the room. It should be easy enough to check.”
“How long has it been Eleanor since your daughter was killed in the car accident?”
An
angry looking red
welt appeared on her neck. “I don’t understand why you’re asking me this, Kate. I find the whole thing very painful to talk about.” She sighed. “It’s a little over a year now. Last winter, the roads were bad. She hit a guardrail and went over the embankment.”
“Did your daughter have an active social life before her accident? Did she date a lot?”
“I wouldn’t say she dated a lot, but she dated.”
“Who
did she date
?”
“Boys, high school boys. Do we have to talk about Sybil?”
“Yes. I’m afraid we do. Was Sybil close
to
Jeffrey?”
“Jeffrey? She knew both Jeffrey and Catherine on a social basis. We would have them over to dinner and they would reciprocate. She enjoyed their company but I wouldn’t say she was close to them.”
“Was she closer to Jeffrey than Catherine?”
“No. I told you
,
she wasn’t close to either of them.”
“Were you aware of the rumours about Jeffrey, ho
w he dated young girls, underage girls.”
“Oh no, Kate, is that what you’re saying?” Panic increased the intensity and pitch of Eleanor’s voice. “Jeffrey and Sybil? No. Never.
What kind of filth are you implying? Sybil was a good girl; an excellent student, polite, upstanding. I won’t listen to the likes of this.
”
“I’m sorry to have to do this Eleanor but I’m going to show you a picture.”
Eleanor
turned her head.
“No you’re not. I
re
fuse to look at
the
picture.
I know which one it is, her sixteenth birthday; Jeffrey has his arm around her. So what? It doesn’t mean anything.
I
still find it extremely painful to see her picture. If you insist
on showing it to me,
then I’m leaving.
”
“
I’m not going to force you to look, Eleanor, we can talk.”
Eleanor stood, her body vibrating.
“
No we won’t.”
Eleanor slamm
ed
the
door shut on her way out.
***
Minutes later a
tiny knock
. Kate
lifted her head off the desk.
“
Eleanor just went charging by me.
That bad was it”, Shirley asked.
“
Yes
.”
“What happened?”
She recited word for word what had happened.
“You know I’ve heard about denial but this is the first time I’ve seen it face to face. I think Eleanor has blinded herself to the truth. She had means, motive and opportunity. She could easily have gotten her hands on the poison with no one at the plant suspecting a thing. And she
certainly had a motive for killing Jeffrey but Catherine
’s the
stumbling block.
Eleanor was close to her and had no reason to want her dead.
Anyway, how did it go with you?”
“
To my surprise, both husband and wife showed up, they were
cooperative and in the beginning, friendly, like
I was one of their close relatives or something.
Brenda is a very folksy, down-to-earth person who is afraid of giving offence to anyone so goes out of her way to be nice. Her
husband however is different, cooler, more detached. He answered my questions about how Prussic acid was manufactured, stored and secured but h
e wasn’t comfortable doing it.”
Kate rose at the sound of the knock on the door
and
took the ticket stubs for the lotto draw from Kelly
. Once the door closed, Shirley resumed speaking.
“T
hen
I
asked Brenda if she had ever had the opportunity to visit the room. She was delighted to talk about it and sang the praises of the security system her husband was responsible for implementing. They both
said
they had been in the room in the last six months.
Something was off but I couldn’t figure what.
No more open gazes and smiles, in fact, they didn’t even look at one another. I switched the focus and asked Brenda about how she got her start in the theatre.
”
Kate
laughed. “You could have been let in for a long listen at that question, Shirley.”
Shirley smiled. “
I lucked in
. She went straight to her sister,
said Barbara was responsible for her becoming involved in the theatre troupe because she had asked Brenda for help in finishing a screenplay the students were going to put on in the park. I didn’t want her getting caught up in the story of how it led to her becoming one of Jeffrey’s protégé so I steered
the conversation back to her sister.
”
“Does Barb still live with her”, Kate asked.
“No. She m
oved out shortly after graduation. I showed her the head shot I had in the file and she said stated it was her sister, Barb. The picture upset her
, began to cry,
asked me why I had it.
”
“Do you think the tears were real
?”
“Yes, I think so.
I asked if
either one of them were aware of Jeffrey Stone’s involvement with young girls
. Brenda fell apart;
I didn’t think she would ever stop crying. Her husband
helped settle her down.
She said she knew about the affair and
that’s the
reason B
arb
is
attending university in England.
”
Shirley
paused and
opened her notebook.
Kate quickly checked the copy of the lotto numbers while she waited. Nada.
“Once the tears dried, here’s what she had to say, an
d I quote
:
‘
It was a crushing blow.
Jeffrey
was my mentor and he was having an affair with my baby sister. I spoke with Barbie first. She said yes, that it was no big deal; she had grown tired of the young high school boys, they only thought of themselves. And then she told me she was getting tired of Jeffrey as well. I suggested she might like to attend school in Europe and she agreed. I made arrangements for her move as soon as possible.
’
”
Kate
leaned back in h
er
chair, arms behind h
er
head. Did Brenda speak to Jeffrey about the affair?”
“
She said she hadn’t. It was over and there was no point in accusations, recriminations and the like. After all, men of genius had their quirks and that was Jeffrey’s.
“
“Great mom substitute wasn’t she”,
Kate
said.
“Shrugging it off might have been an
act;
both she and her husband had a motive. Did they say anything else?”
“No, Brenda said she had a bitch of a headache and wanted to get home and take some meds before a migraine set in. And that was the end of the interview.”
“Shit, I hope Gordon doesn’t fixate on this gun business.
One or both of the
Parsons, or Eleanor, are looking likely to me.”
Shirley agreed and the two women began to build another report for their already bulging files.