Lightning at 200 Durham Street

by Ron Finch

  With introductions and a brief chat out of the way, they felt a little more comfortable with each other and the interview commenced. The interview revealed relatively little new information; most of it had been passed on by Assistant Chief Rutherford the previous evening. When the interview was over, Chief Petrovic told Mrs. Carter he now wanted to interview Nurse Bella. Mrs. Carter informed him that she’d expected as much from her conversation with Assistant Chief Rutherford the previous evening.

  “I expect you would like some privacy for that interview,” said Mrs. Carter.

  “That would be best,” said the chief.

  “Then I’ll have Bella take me out to the back garden,” said Mrs. Carter. “It’s my favourite place to sit. Especially on a beautiful day like today. I’ve got a couple of books I’m keen on reading. Do you read, Mr. Petrovic? Maybe you’ve read one of them? I think I’ll start with The Bridge of San Luis Rey, by Thornton Wilder. It’s had very good reviews. Louise picked up another strange book for me on her last trip. Something called Steppenwolf, written by a Herman Hesse.” Once again the old woman teared up and once again quickly recovered. “This lovely morning, in my quiet yard, I’ll have a good opportunity to delve into these books. And to get some fresh air. I’ll get Bella.”

  Mrs. Carter rang her bell and a moment later Bella appeared. The nurse escorted Mrs. Carter to the back garden and promptly returned. Chief Petrovic inquired if Bella was ready to begin the interview.

  Nurse Bella smiled. She said her only concern was leaving Cst. Brown alone in the kitchen with her fresh baking. “But,” she added, “he has been warned.”

  They all laughed. Bella seemed to be in good spirits. That often boded well for an interview.

  “Before we start,” she said, “I’d like to let you know about a conversation Ruth Carter and I had earlier this morning, before you arrived. Mrs. Carter told me that I could speak to you about anything that was relevant to your interview questions. She said she could think of nothing that I shouldn’t talk about. She wants full disclosure.”

  The chief and detective looked at one another. That was quite an opening statement. This might turn out to be an interesting conversation.

  They proceeded with the interview and once the introductory questions were out of the way they got down to important matters. The most important part of the interview, of course, concerned the relationship of Louise Carter to her family members.

  “Tell us about the relationship that Louise had with her mother,” said Chief Petrovic.

  “They had a strong mother-daughter connection,” said Bella. “The connection became even stronger after Louise’s father died. Ruth and Louise obviously loved each other. I think Louise would have done anything for her mother. I don’t think they had any secrets between them. When Louise went on a trip, Ruth was always happy to see her off, but she was even happier to see her come home.”

  “What was the nature of the trips that Louise Carter took?” asked Det. O’Neill.

  “I think Louise just enjoyed travelling,” said Bella. “But she always had a purpose in mind. She was quite interested in Canadian and American history, so her travels usually took her to places on the continent where historic events had occurred. She would visit the historic sites and the local museums, and whenever possible she would bring back memorabilia and postcards commemorating the locale and the historic event.”

  Chief Petrovic found this insight into Louise’s character interesting but wasn’t sure how relevant it was to their investigation so he posed another question.

  “I understand that Louise visited the Chaseford area two or three times a year,” he said. “Do you know what her interest was there?”

  “Louise had fond memories of growing up and attending school there,” said Bella. “She still had many friends there and she loved the property the family owned in that bush. Ruth was quite enthusiastic about it as well. Before her stroke, Ruth visited the property a couple of times with Louise. Louise had that cabin where you found her body built about 10 years ago. It was a quiet hideaway for her; a retreat she could go to when she wanted some peace and quiet. She’d meet with some of her former friends from the Chaseford area there as well at times. She told me once ‘it’s my secret place’, but it wasn’t that much of a secret.”

  Chief Petrovic was surprised by this part of Bella’s answer. He’d been led to believe that the cabin was completely unknown to others. Apparently, it wasn’t the mysterious locale he’d assumed it to be. He decided that they would have to question the locals about their knowledge of the cabin in subsequent interviews.

  Det. O’Neill had been given what he felt was the best question and he asked it now: “Describe the relationship that Louise had with her brothers.”

  Bella frowned. “It’s a good thing Mrs. Carter encouraged me to speak freely,” she said. “I’d say the most distinctive thing about their relationship was their mutual dislike. Amos and Proctor are respectively five and seven years younger than their sister Louise and her seniority bothered them. In some ways, Louise had some of the same skills her father had. She was open, friendly, and found it very easy to talk to other people. She was actually interested in them. Once you got to know Louise, you just knew that she was a good person. Amos and Proctor don’t have her talent for winning people over. Don’t be fooled by them in the interview, though. They’re both very intelligent. They’re both university graduates, both self-made men, and both very proud of it. I think they feel like their sister was favoured over them by their parents. From what I can see that wasn’t true but that doesn’t change the way they feel about it. They’re both the kind of people who don’t think well of others, though Amos, the older one, may be a little less that way. They really don’t trust other people. If I wanted to use a fancy term, I’d call it paranoia. I think they’re both just a bit like that. When you first meet them you’ll probably think they’re both reasonable and intelligent, and you’d be half right. But don’t cross them. I’ve always been a little bit afraid of Amos and Proctor. They’re big men and they’re not always polite. I’ve never seen them raise a hand against anybody but they are intimidating. It’s been very obvious since I started working for Ruth that they don’t like either their mother or their sister. And it’s something I just don’t understand.”

  “Was there any specific problem you can think of that might have caused the disagreement between Louise and her brothers?” asked Chief Petrovic.

  “Well, they considered her travelling and her interest in history a waste of time and money. It could get expensive, you know. And if she wasn’t going to work then she should at least make her money work. Meaning: she should make her money work for them. I know they wanted her to invest in their companies. And I know she politely told them she preferred not to invest in their companies.

  “The other major disagreement I know about was over the bush land near Chaseford. She loved that land and said that, as long as she was alive, it wasn’t going to be sold. Her brothers saw that land as a waste. Four thousand acres of land, most of it bush, sitting there doing nothing. You couldn’t grow crops on it and even though it was a big bush it wasn’t worth the money and equipment it would have taken to harvest the trees. They felt pretty strongly that it should be sold and the money put into their business enterprises. They had a business bee in their bonnet.”

  By this point, the interview had lasted quite a while, and, although a lot of interesting information had come to light, Chief Petrovic and Det. O’Neill knew it had to be terminated so that they could get on with the rest of the day. They had the brothers’ interviews slated for the afternoon. They thanked Bella for her assistance and informed her that they may want to interview her again at some point.

  Bella stood up and asked if they would go to the garden to say goodbye to Mrs. Carter.

  “We’ll take the door from the kitchen to the garden,” she said. “There’s a door there that leads to the yard. I have to go there anyway to check on my baking. I wan
t to make sure it’s safe.”

  As they entered the kitchen, Cst. Brown stood abruptly, brushing cookie crumbs from his uniform.

  “Thank goodness we have the police to protect us from crime,” Bella said wryly.

  Cst. Brown blushed.

  “Mrs. Carter is just through that door,” said Bella, pointing.

  The lawmen proceeded through the door at the far end of the kitchen into the garden.

  Mrs. Carter, sitting in the shade, looked up from her book, smiled, and then set it down in her lap. They thanked her for her cooperation and bid her goodbye. It was about 11:30 AM.

  THEY DIDN’T HAVE A lot of time for lunch, but Cst. Brown said he knew a place, not far from the location of their next set of interviews, where they could get excellent homemade soup and sandwiches served with fried potatoes and salad.

  “It’s not fancy,” said the constable, “but it’s good and it’s economical.”

  “Sounds like the kind of place my budget likes to go,” said Chief Petrovic.

  The lunch was as good as the constable had promised and the service was friendly. Chief Petrovic and Det. O’Neill complemented Cst. Brown on his recommendation.

  “Say, George, you don’t happen to have any extra cookies with you, do you?” asked Det. O’Neill.

  Cst. Brown flushed. “Bella said I could have some of her cookies. I just wasn’t allowed to touch any of the other baking. And I didn’t.”

  “You’re a credit to the uniform, George,” said Det. O’Neill.

  They all laughed, although Cst. Brown didn’t seem quite as enthusiastic as the others.

  “If you’re done interrogating the constable, detective, we should probably be on our way,” said Chief Petrovic.

  They left the diner and five minutes later Cst. Brown was pulling the car to a stop in front of a three-story building on one of the main streets of Ottawa. Their timing was almost perfect.

  The sign above the door read Carter’s Surveys Inc. They climbed out of the car and entered through the front door, arriving in a reception area. There they were met by a large man, about six foot four and likely over 250 pounds. He had a neatly trimmed black beard the same colour as his hair.

  “Thank you for being prompt,” said the man, smiling at them. “I’m Amos. My brother Proctor is here as well, in one of the offices. I assume you’d like to interview us one at a time. Unless you’d prefer otherwise, I’m volunteering to go first. I have some clients I should get ready for that are meeting me here later in the afternoon. If you’ll excuse me for a moment, I’ll go and let Proctor know that you’re here. If it suits your purposes, we can use the first office down the hall on your left for the interviews.”

  With that, Amos Carter turned and disappeared down the hall. Cst. Brown took a chair in the reception area.

  “He’s kind of impressive,” said Det. O’Neill, turning to Chief Petrovic. “He obviously likes to be in charge. Let’s see what kind of an interviewee he is.”

  The chief of police and the detective walked into the office Amos Carter had suggested. The room had a lot of filing cabinets, a fair-sized table, and four chairs.

  “This looks like a good room to use,” said Det. O’Neill, looking around.

  They were joined less than a minute later by Amos who immediately sat down in one of the empty chairs.

  “How can I help you gentlemen of the law?” he said.

  Chief Petrovic and Det. O’Neill seated themselves and the interview began.

  They always started their interviews with a few easy questions. These questions were used to identify who the people being interviewed were, what they did for a living, and how they were connected to the investigation. With these preliminaries out of the way, they would proceed to some tougher questions. While the primary interviewer asked questions and tried to maintain eye contact with the person being interviewed, the second interviewer acted as a recorder and observer, jotting down answers and watching for any subtle body language or facial expressions expressed by the interviewee.

  In Chief Petrovic’s opinion, the interview was going well. Amos Carter did not appear to be uncomfortable, he answered their questions succinctly, and when asked he would elaborate.

  When asked about his mother and his sister, Amos said: “To others they seem to be very nice people, but my brother and I don’t get on with them at all. When our father was alive we were all cordial. He was a great peacemaker. And a man with ideas. He helped Proctor and me a great deal when we were setting up our businesses. When he died, Proctor and I naturally assumed, being the men of the family, that we would be making the decisions and building on his legacy. Our mother, Ruth, and sister, Louise, informed us in no uncertain terms that we were mistaken. They could look after themselves, thank you very much. So we let them.”

  Det. O’Neill had had a hunch which he’d discussed with Chief Petrovic over lunch and he pursued it now.

  “What do you think about your mother’s nurse, Bella?” he said.

  It was a wide-open question but they were curious to see where Amos went with it. Amos’s face coloured a bit.

  “I’ll say it as nicely as I can,” he said. “She’s an interfering busybody. She’s always offering opinions, even when she’s not being asked. I think she’s given some very poor advice to both my mother and my sister.”

  “What’s your opinion of the bush?” the chief interjected. “The property with the cabin where your sister’s body was found?”

  It was a quick change in direction for the interview but Amos had calmed down.

  “Simply put?” said Amos. “That bush is of no use to anyone.”

  “How did your father obtain the bush?” asked Chief Petrovic, curious.

  “That bush has been in the Carter family since the early 1800s,” said Amos. “But it holds no sentimental value for me. To me, it’s just a useless piece of land. The country near Chaseford was where my great-great-grandfather Titus settled. There are still many Carters in the area. One of them lives right next to the bush. Emeline Derrigan. She’s my cousin.”

  The interview continued for another five minutes then the chief ended it and thanked Amos.

  “Thank you for interviewing me first,” said Amos, rising. “I should still have plenty of time to get ready for my meeting later this afternoon. I’ll get Proctor and send him to you.”

  Amos left and closed the door.

  Once Amos was gone, Det. O’Neill turned to the chief.

  “He’s a pretty cool customer,” said the detective. “I can see why he’s so successful. Well spoken, but with a bit of a ruthless edge.”

  “We did get some good information,” said the chief.

  There was a knock on the door and the man they assumed was Proctor was invited in by the investigators.

  Proctor was similar in appearance to Amos but was two years younger, perhaps an inch shorter, and carried a little less weight. He was clean-shaven but had a moustache. Their faces were similar enough that it was easy to recognize that Amos and Proctor were brothers.

  In their introductory questions, the chief and detective asked about Proctor’s own business. Amos’s brother had started out with a small lumberyard and now owned lumberyards in Ottawa, Toronto, and Montréal. As the interview progressed, it became obvious that he was less confident than Amos and seemed to be a nervous person. From his demeanour, one might even say that at times he appeared shifty. He didn’t avoid answering any of their questions though. When they got to the relationship with his mother and sister his response was very similar to the answer Amos had given. When asked about Bella, however, he looked down.

  “I liked Bella,” he said. “We were friends. I’ve known her for several years. She’s a very competent person and a good nurse. When my mother had the stroke, I encouraged Bella to apply for the position of caregiver. I never told my mother or my sister about that, though, so unless Bella said something they were never aware of my recommendation. Once she got the position I gradually got cut off from
her. My brother Amos said ‘good riddance’, though. He doesn’t like Bella at all.”

  “Proctor,” said Chief Petrovic, moving the interview along, “you’re a lumber man. What do you think of the bush near Chaseford?”

  Proctor paused. “It’s none of my business,” he said finally. “My father left that bush to my mother and Louise. He did that even though he helped me set up my first lumber yard. That bush meant something to him, though, and I guess he didn’t want to see it tampered with. Sitting as it is now, it’s not of much use.”

  “Do you know anything about the cabin?” said Det. O’Neill.

  “I didn’t even know there was a cabin in the bush until I read about it in the paper,” said Proctor.

  The chief stood up. “Thank you very much for your time, Proctor. If there’s any need for a further interview, we’ll let you know.”

  Proctor rose from his chair, smiled nervously, and headed out the door.

  Chief Petrovic and Det. O’Neill made their way back down the hall and Amos emerged from his office and they thanked him for his hospitality. When they arrived at the reception area, Cst. Brown got out of his chair and the three of them exited the building.

  “George, find us a good place for a coffee,” said the chief when they got in the car.

  “I know just the spot,” said Cst. Brown.

  He drove a couple blocks, turned right, went half a block down, and pulled up in front of a small restaurant. They got out and went in. It was a pleasant, brightly decorated place with booths.

  “Perfect, George. We can talk here,” said Chief Petrovic.

  “Do you want me to take a different booth?” asked the constable.

  “No, that’s okay,” said the chief. “Sit with us.”

  “Before you order your coffee, I feel it’s my duty to inform you that they make great doughnuts here,” said Cst. Brown.