‘What about his favourite lunch spots? Did he tend to go to the same places?’ Annie probed.
Miss Mason responded immediately. ‘If he was staying local, he liked the seafood restaurant on the way out of town. It’s called Bernie’s.’
‘I know it,’ Bronski remarked. ‘Good food, but maybe not a place you might take an important client to?’
‘No, but it’s surprising how many of our clients like going there. The other restaurant he used a lot is Caruso’s Steak House on the turnpike. The surroundings are more impressive and the food is great.’
‘We can check those out, thank you, Miss Mason,’ Bronski responded.
Annie then continued her questioning. ‘Does the name Brian Bannister mean anything to you?’
The woman shifted slightly. ‘Father Bannister had an appointment with Patrick two weeks ago. Patrick gave him some pro bono advice. He made some notes, but never asked me to type any letters as a result. I made up a file and put the handwritten notes in it. I usually only type up notes if something comes of an appointment. I got the impression this one was on hold.’
‘Have you seen in the news that Father Bannister’s been murdered?’ Annie asked.
‘Yes, but surely there’s no connection with Patrick,’ Elizabeth said, frowning.
‘Why do you say that?’ Annie continued.
‘It was only the one appointment. There wasn’t even any correspondence. What’s going on?’ Miss Mason twisted the handkerchief she was holding and drew it through her fingers.
‘We don’t know yet. At this stage, we’re exploring any connection between two men who’ve both been murdered. Can we see the file notes?’ Annie asked.
‘I’ll have to check with Mr Atkinson.’ The woman stood up abruptly and left the room.
Annie turned to Bronski. ‘What do you think?’
‘At least we have one link. Let’s see what the file notes reveal.’
Elizabeth Mason returned with the file and a photocopy of the notes. ‘Mr Atkinson said you could have a copy of the notes. We need to keep the master file.’ She passed the file and the notes to Annie to check that nothing was missing. Annie was disappointed that the notes only amounted to a paragraph. ‘Did Patrick Mearn’s have a cellphone?’
‘Of course. Wasn’t it at his apartment? He always had it on him or in reach.’
‘It hasn’t been found. We’ll need the phone number. Did the phone records come here to the office?’
‘No, Patrick received them at home. He used it for business and personal use, so claimed back his work calls. I have the number written down. I’ll get it for you.’
They finished the interview, confirming again her conversation with Jim Capelli asking him to check her boss’s apartment. There were still time periods unaccounted for: the lunch hour and the time between Mearns leaving the office and the time of death.
Chapter 29
Annie and Bronski picked up some sandwiches on the way back to the station. They found Ellison on the computer as they walked in.
‘How’d it go?’ he asked, turning around in his chair.
‘We’ll tell you over a bite to eat. Hope you’re hungry as we got a ham and American cheese sandwich for you,’ Annie answered.
‘Now, you’re talking. I’ll get the drinks.’
Two minutes later they were sitting at the table in the kitchen. ‘Pickles, Macpherson? You are getting good at this.’
‘Thanks Ellison. Actually the pickles were Bronski’s idea. I thought of the potato chips.’
Ellison and Bronski laughed and Bronski added, ‘We’ll get her completely up to speed and then she’ll head back to merry old England.’
‘OK, enough. What have you been up to while we’ve been out?’ Annie asked, addressing Ellison.
‘I’ve been hounding Dan Parker over the computers of our two victims and I’ve got a search warrant for Mearns’ phone records. So as soon as we have the number I can start the process.’
Annie opened her notebook and read out the number.
‘Great, we should have the records by the morning. We still need to find out if Bannister had a cellphone and what the number was. Then we can see if the two were ever in contact.’
Bronski and Annie looked at each other. ‘We’ve got something on that, but let’s finish what you’ve been doing first. So, anything from Parker yet?’ Bronski asked.
‘You could say that. Bannister’s laptop has hundreds of stored images of kids. Some look quite innocent – groups of kids at church functions, carnivals, that type of thing. Others are of single kids either outside or in various indoor places. Some look like they were taken in the vestry. All of those so far are of young boys. There are still hundreds of files to go through and also email attachments. Parker is doing the initial trawl and getting back to me later. He hasn’t started on Mearns’ yet.’ Ellison bit into a pickle.
‘So we’re no further forward,’ Bronski summarised.
‘No, but give Parker time. He’s good at this. He’ll find everything, even if Bannister thought he’d managed to delete stuff. So, how did it go with Mearns’ colleagues?’
Annie answered as she put her sandwich down for a minute. ‘It turns out that Mearns had interviewed Bannister as part of his pro bono work. He hadn’t started a full file, so there’s only some notes from the first interview.’ Annie got up to retrieve the photocopy they’d been given. ‘It looks like notes and they’re pretty brief, but I’ll try and decipher it. His handwriting was awful. Let’s see …’
Several complaints from parents … John Merton notified police. Interviewed by Det. Baxter (? Phone number/New Haven station) No charges so far. Next interview end of September. Needs representation. Explained pro bono. Has own laptop. Not confiscated. Explained search warrant procedures. Suggest meet again week before interview with Baxter. Another father: Amato. Son at church. Nothing happened, but father very angry. Det. Baxter not mentioned this name. Date to be confirmed for police interview with lead Det. Baxter. Letter to Baxter about representation nearer the time.’
‘Is that it?’ Bronski asked, finishing off his coffee.
‘That’s it, except for contact details for Bannister, including a cellphone number.’ Annie looked at Ellison. ‘So, he must have had a cellphone. Wonder where that’s got to.’
‘Probably the same place as Mearns’ cell. My guess is both phones are with the murderer. Now that we have a number, though, I can get a trace on his phone records, while I’m at it,’ Ellison answered.
Annie picked up her sandwich again. Her two colleagues had finished theirs. ‘There’s nothing in the bishop’s file about Bannister seeking legal advice, either. So, the bishop might not have known it had gone that far, or there is more to it that he’s not telling us.’
Ellison looked at Bronski. ‘Now she’s suggesting that our revered bishop is lying to us.’ They both laughed.
‘Oh she of little faith,’ Bronski added with a grin.
‘You won’t be laughing when I’m proved right. You remember that,’ Annie riposted. ‘The Scottish Presbyterians will out.’
Her two colleagues laughed again. Ellison came back in, ‘So, after you finish your sandwich, Detective Macpherson, shall we visit Frances Amato and see if she remembers a letter of complaint? Then you might see what else you have in your case against the bishop. Interesting that the note mentions Amato: Bannister must have been anticipating more trouble from him.’
Annie picked up the sandwich wrapper and cup. ‘I’m ready when you are, Detective.’
The heat outside really struck Annie as they left the building. ‘Still quite warm,’ she commented as they got into Ellison’s car.
‘It’s what we call an Indian summer,’ Ellison replied. ‘Don’t complain. Winters here are pretty bad usually, so enjoy
the warmth while you can.’
‘Thanks, I’ll remember that,’ Annie replied. ‘I’ll miss a good part of the winter. My exchange ends a day or two before Christmas.’
‘How do you feel about that?’ Ellison asked, glancing in her direction.
‘I don’t like thinking about it, if I’m honest. I miss my mum and my brother, of course, but I’m enjoying the exchange. You and Bronski have been great with me.’
‘We aim to please,’ Ellison replied, thinking that he would really like the opportunity to please Annie even more. He wondered about her and Charlie and whether they had discussed her placement finishing but he wasn’t sure whether to broach the subject. So far, he’d only teased her about it. He hadn’t told her how he felt about her himself, except in a half joking way. He couldn’t compete with Captain Charles Hegarty.
‘So, are we almost there?’ Annie broke the silence.
‘My sister used to ask my dad that every time we went on vacation when we were little.’
‘Must be universal,’ Annie laughed. ‘I asked my dad the same thing.’
‘Next turn on the right.’ Ellison signalled, pulled into the right lane and took the turning. ‘We need number 36, which should be on the right hand side of the street.’
‘There,’ Annie said as Ellison parked the car in front of the white stucco house. Walking up the path, they decided Ellison would start the interview. A very small woman, with long brown hair pulled back into a high ponytail, answered the doorbell. Annie thought she looked anorexic. The two detectives had their badges out ready.
‘What’s this all about?’ Frances Amato asked as she led them down the hall into the living room. ‘I thought you were only interviewing my husband.’
‘We’re trying to clear up some details further to our other interviews, including with your husband,’ Ellison responded. ‘You may remember that we spoke to him about the complaint he made to Bishop O’Brien about Father Bannister. We also spoke to you and you confirmed his whereabouts for the morning that Father Bannister was murdered.’
‘I remember. I spoke to you, didn’t I?’ Frances Amato asked Annie.
‘That’s correct, you did.’
‘Mrs Amato, your husband said he wrote a letter of complaint to Bishop O’Brien, but when we interviewed the bishop, he didn’t recall your husband’s name, nor any complaint. We have a copy of Father Bannister’s file and there’s no complaint letter from your husband in it,’ Ellison continued. Frances Amato avoided Ellison’s eyes and kept twisting her wedding ring. ‘Mrs Amato, we need to clear this up. Can you explain the discrepancy? Did you see the letter yourself?’
It was a moment before she answered. ‘My husband loves our son and is very protective. Sometimes, I think he’s too protective. He sees evil where there isn’t any and jumps to conclusions far too readily. Of course, if I say that to him, he tells me that I’m naïve, that I think the world is a bed of roses, that I’m not in touch with the dangers that are out there.’
‘Mrs Amato, what are you trying to say to us?’ Annie asked.
The woman looked up and focussed on Annie again. ‘My husband showed me the letter. It was vitriolic. He wanted Father Bannister suspended from his duties. He threatened to go to the press. He threatened all sorts.’ She hesitated for a moment and then carried on. ‘He gave me the letter to put in the mail as I had errands to do the next day.’ She looked from Annie to Ellison. ‘I never put it in the mailbox.’
Ellison glanced over at Annie. ‘Has your husband been angry that he hasn’t had a reply?’
‘Yes, he rants about it from time to time. I usually say that it’ll be in hand and not to worry. I think he had a shock when you interviewed him.’
Annie remembered how angry he was. ‘Why didn’t you mail the letter?’
‘I don’t usually defy my husband. I did it for my son. Dominic was so upset that day when his dad picked him up. He thought he was in trouble and kept telling us that he didn’t do anything. It was so hard to persuade him that we believed him. That night he wet his bed for the first time in years. I never told Tony. He would’ve made more of it and Dominic had been through enough. I didn’t want to put him through any more. I was worried the bishop might ask to see him, ask him questions. I wasn’t going to have that. I thought Tony would get over it and calm down eventually.’ Frances Amato got up from her chair. ‘Would you excuse me for a moment, I need a glass of water. Can I get you anything?’
They both declined. When they heard the ice cube maker, Ellison turned to Annie and whispered, ‘What do you think?’
Before Annie could reply, Frances Amato came back into the room with a glass of ice water with a slice of lemon in it. ‘Tony would be very angry with me if he knew that I never put the letter in the mail.’ Her hand started to shake and the ice cubes clinked in the glass. ‘Will you have to tell him?’
‘Maybe not,’ Ellison replied. ‘I’d like to see the letter, though, if you still have it. It will help us to verify your husband’s story.’
A look of uncertainty passed across her face, but then she put her glass on the coffee table and left the room again. A few moments later, she passed an envelope to Ellison.
Back in the car, Annie read the letter aloud as they pulled away from the house. ‘I think she’s afraid of him,’ Annie remarked when she’d finished. ‘There’s a lot of anger in that letter. If he can write with such vehemence, what must he be like in person when he’s angry? You remember the size of him.’
‘Yeah, but we can’t get sidetracked. At least we’ve cleared up the discrepancy with his interview and Bishop O’Brien’s file.’ Glancing at Annie, he added, ‘You owe the bishop an apology.’
Annie laughed. ‘Maybe. Of course, the other worrying thing is if Frances Amato accidently set something in motion.’
‘What’re you thinking?’
‘Well, what if Tony Amato got so angry with the bishop for not taking his complaint seriously, that he decided to take matters into his own hands?’
‘Murder Bannister? I can’t see him being that angry and then how would you explain Mearns?’
‘Maybe he found out that Mearns was advising Bannister. You heard her. She can’t even tell him that she never mailed the letter. I expect he wouldn’t be too pleased if he found that out.’
‘You’ve got a point. But the mutilation, that was really vicious. You really think he’s capable of that?’
‘Don’t know. Detective Baxter said something interesting on the phone. It made me think.’
‘What was that?’ Ellison asked.
‘Something to the effect of fathers being very protective. I guess he’s seen fathers of abused kids taking the law into their own hands. He said it in a very knowing way and it stuck me again now, after that conversation.’
‘OK, we’ll discuss it further with Bronski. I agree that Amato is still of interest to us and we may need to talk to him again. We’ll see if anything else ties back to him first though.’
Chapter 30
Annie looked at the pink slips on her desk. There was a message from Detective Baxter and one from Charlie. Baxter would have to take priority. She dialled the number.
‘Detective Macpherson, thanks for getting back to me. Those photos you sent, we’ve scored one match so far: a seven-year-old boy, Donny Merton. His father, John Merton made a complaint about Father Bannister in his previous parish.’
‘Hold on a minute sir, I need to check something.’ Annie located the file note from Mearns on her desk. ‘I’ve found it. We have a file note of the interview Patrick Mearns, our other victim, had with Father Bannister over a week ago. It mentions John Merton. I’ll read you the whole thing. It’s only a paragraph.’
As he came back in the room, Ellison heard Annie reading out the file note. He made a what gives gesture. Annie j
otted Det. Baxter out on her pad and held it up for Ellison.
‘So that’s an interesting match, we’ve found then,’ Baxter responded.
‘It helps, sir, and our search isn’t complete yet. There are significantly more images on the laptop, which our forensic technician is still trawling through.’ Annie looked at Ellison as she was replying.
‘I wonder if it’s time we got together and compared images,’ the detective continued.
‘Sir, I’ll have to pass you over to Detective Ellison who’s leading on the case to discuss that. If you could hold, I’ll transfer you now.’ As Annie pressed the transfer button, she explained quickly to Ellison that Baxter was asking if he could come up to the station and look at the images on the computer. The phone rang on Ellison’s desk.
While Ellison was speaking to Baxter, Annie retreated to the rest room to return Charlie’s call. Luckily the room was empty. Charlie answered on the second ring.
‘Hi, how are you doing?’
‘Good. Been out most of the day, first with Bronski, then with Ellison. Got some paperwork to finish up now before I can get away. How about you?’
‘There’s been a setback with Angie today.’
‘Oh no, what’s happened?’ Annie started to bite at her thumbnail as she listened.
‘After her morning session with the physical therapist, I met her back in her room. The doctor was in with her doing various tests. She was complaining of a violent headache. She didn’t say a lot to me but I could see she was really in pain. It got so bad they had to sedate her. Now, it’s back to half hourly observations … I …’
Annie could hear his voice cracking. ‘Charlie, she’s strong. She’s come through a lot worse.’ That much was definitely true. After the severe assault, Angela Goodman had undergone two brain operations and had been in a coma for some three weeks before starting to make progress.
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