This time Ellison ventured his opinion. ‘We need to keep an open mind about everything. If it’s only a professional connection, great, but we can’t forget that the murderer obviously connected the two of them and dealt them a similar death. The manner of those deaths was a statement. Whether the two men link to each other may not be the important issue, but they link to the murderer so the more we know about them the better.’
‘Well said, Ellison. The other curious connection, of course, is to the mayor,’ Bronski commented.
‘So what did the chief have to say about that?’ Annie asked.
Bronski laughed and he and Ellison shared a knowing look. ‘Let’s say his reaction was even more choice than the captain’s. The top brass can’t stand the guy, especially after he pored over the police budgets and recommended some hefty cuts. They were both furious that he seems to have withheld information material to our case. So, we can be as firm as we like with him later this morning.’
‘Can’t wait,’ Annie replied.
‘Let’s hope we can make it as unpleasant for him as Mearns’ autopsy will be to watch this afternoon,’ Bronski said.
Annie spent the next few minutes updating Bronski on Angela Goodman. The file was now with the prosecutor and they were awaiting the final list of charges. There wasn’t much else to do now on that case, apart from wait for instructions. Bronski wanted to be kept informed of Angela’s condition, in case anything changed with her. Back at her desk now, Annie’s cellphone bleeped. There was a text from Charlie. Angela had had a much better night, but more tests were scheduled during the day. He would be at the hospital most of the day and call her later. Annie was relieved that it wasn’t bad news.
Chapter 34
Matthew Lansdowne was pleased his wife was at her parents’ beach house at Cape Cod for the next couple of weeks. For once there was no screaming baby in the night. Still, sleep had all but eluded him. The whiskey hadn’t helped. Nausea and thirst had kept waking him. At least Monica wasn’t there to nag. He fumbled for the alarm clock and then felt his stomach churning again, as he dashed to the bathroom. The shower was as hot as he could stand it. Even so, it was doing nothing to dissipate his anger. He replayed the previous night’s conversation with the chief, particularly the demand that he be interviewed this morning about Patrick Mearns. He’d managed to keep the upper hand though, arranging for the lead detective to see him at his office. That had to be better than the press getting hold of any gossip about him being interviewed down at the station. He was sure that leaks about high profile cases emanated from that place. Discretion was uppermost in his mind, together with working out a story for why he and Mearns had met for lunch.
Dressed in his best suit, he left the house half an hour later, on an empty stomach. Parking in the underground car park, he headed for the exit and crossed the street to the diner. ‘Breakfast special, black coffee,’ he ordered, without even looking up at the waitress. It was his usual. As he waited, he retrieved his private cellphone to reread the text Mearns had sent him the afternoon he was murdered. He jotted down the name and phone number on his napkin. He used a newly purchased cellphone to dial the number, making sure his return number was blocked.
A man answered.
The mayor kept his voice low, ‘You know about Patrick Mearns?’
‘Who is this?’
‘You don’t need to know that right now. I know what business he had with you and how much he paid upfront. The information was for both of us. I’ll pay the rest of the fee.’
It was a moment before the private detective replied. ‘I stopped working on it when I heard his name on the news.’
‘Did you find out anything before that?’ Lansdowne glanced around the diner, making sure no one was paying attention to him.
‘I had one or two leads, I could follow up. Half the fee is left, so you got me one more day.’
‘I want two more days. Drop everything else. This is urgent. Give me your bank account details and I’ll deposit the money this morning. If you get me what I need tonight, you still keep the whole fee.’
The man relayed his details. ‘How do I contact you?’
‘You don’t, I’ll call you.’ Lansdowne closed the phone, putting the napkin with all the details in his pocket, as the waitress brought over the breakfast special. He thanked God his stomach was more settled.
Within a half hour, he walked into his office.
‘Morning, Mr Mayor.’
‘Morning Sheila. What’s my diary like this morning?’
‘Sir, are you aware of the interview with Detectives Bronski and Macpherson scheduled for eleven o’clock?’
‘The chief called me at home last night. Anything before that?’
‘Only the mail to go through.’
‘Good, let’s keep it that way. I’ll buzz you when I’ve done the mail.’
Matthew Lansdowne hated anyone else having the upper hand. He knew who was behind the two murders and why. There was no way he was going to tell the police. His political life would be in ruins and he could potentially be arrested himself, or at least risk having his past exposed. He was about to shove the mail to one side when he remembered the letter from the murderer. What if there was another one in the pile? Would Sheila start putting things together? He needed time to create his cover story but the mail would only take a few minutes to glance through. That had to be the priority. As he shuffled the papers, there was a knock on the door and Sheila came in with some coffee for him. It was their usual routine. He carried on with the mail when she closed the door behind her. ‘Thank God,’ he muttered to the pile when nothing new was there from him. Next he started making some notes for himself. A few minutes before eleven o’clock, he went into his private bathroom and wet his face to refresh himself.
As he came out, Sheila buzzed and then showed the two detectives in. Both had firm handshakes, particularly Detective Macpherson. He had a theory that women with firm handshakes would be good in bed; want to dominate. A bit of domination never went amiss in his view, but in his elevated status, he now had to be careful how he tested his theories out. There were eyes everywhere waiting to find flaws in men in positions of power and he didn’t want his indiscretions headline news. ‘So, Detectives, how can I help you?’
Bronski took the lead. ‘We understand that you had lunch on Tuesday with Patrick Mearns who was murdered that evening.’
‘That’s correct,’ Lansdowne replied, leaning back in his chair.
‘Was there a reason you didn’t report that fact to the chief when he called you about the death?’
Lansdowne paused as if he had all the time in the world. ‘It was a private meeting. I couldn’t see how the information would be relevant or help with your inquiries.’
‘Sir, that’s for us to judge. We need to establish his last twenty-four hours, so the information you withheld was vital to that.’
‘Your view, Detective, not mine.’
‘What was the lunch time meeting about?’
‘I’m sure it’s much less exciting than you are expecting, Detective. I‘m working on a new initiative. For the moment I’m trying to keep it low profile until it’s all worked out. It involves local business people giving something back to the city, especially to the youth of the city as unemployment has been rising in that age group. I want successful men and women to act as role models to help young people, encourage them, work with them, determine what they’re good at, channel them in the right direction for a job. You know the kind of thing, I’m sure.’ The mayor paused for effect before continuing. ‘I’d heard that Mearns did pro bono work, so I thought he might be predisposed to help out. I wanted to explore that some more, see if he would be interested in being part of a steering group to help me put a proposal together to get other business people interested.’
‘Did
Mr Atkinson know about the initiative?’
‘No reason for him to know. I only approached Patrick Mearns because of his pro bono work. I’m not aware Clive Atkinson does any. Nor does he attend any business functions, I could add.’
‘Did you know Patrick Mearns before you met him for lunch?’
‘I knew of him and I’d been introduced to him at a business function some months ago. We got talking and I thought he’d be an ideal first catch to get this initiative off the ground. I saw how he worked a room.’
Annie was making notes. It would be possible to check out his story, but she sensed that Bronski would go easy during the first interview, even though the captain and the chief were furious with the mayor. It was still up to Bronski to handle the interview as he saw fit.
‘We’ll need the date of that business encounter,’ Bronski added.
‘I’ll get my secretary to email you the details,’ Lansdowne replied without any hesitation.
‘Did you know Father Bannister?’
‘Not really. My wife and I used to belong to a parish where he was based. So we knew who he was. I am planning on attending his funeral as part of my civic duty, not as an ex-parishioner. My constituents would expect it. Of course, on a personal level, my wife and I were sad to hear the news of his murder. In fact it was my wife, Monica who reminded me that he used to be in our old parish. I had forgotten.’
Twenty minutes later, Bronski and Annie were back in the car. ‘Typical politician,’ Bronski commented as he started the engine.
‘I don’t know how you managed to stay calm. The guy really got on my nerves. I think I would have threatened him with arrest for obstructing a police inquiry.’
Bronski laughed. ‘Well, I’m glad you kept that to yourself, Detective. I’m the one who would have had to live with the political fallout.’
‘Don’t worry, sir. I do know when to keep my mouth shut. So, did his reasoning make sense to you?’
‘Which part?’
‘About wanting to keep it quiet until he worked out the initiative. Doesn’t exactly sound top secret to me or particularly original for that matter. More like something he made up as soon as he knew we were coming. Can’t see why he’d approach a lawyer first, either.’ Annie fastened her seat belt.
‘Apart from the fact that politicians never make sense to me, my take is that he was lying to us throughout the interview. My guess is he knew Bannister and Mearns very well. Too bad guesswork isn’t evidence. Maybe Ellison will find something in Mearns’ phone records.’ Bronski signalled to pull out of the parking lot. ‘Maybe something we can use to press him harder.’
‘Speaking of Ellison, should we take some sandwiches back and catch up with him over lunch?’
‘Sure.’
Chapter 35
‘I was about to get myself something,’ Ellison remarked as the two detectives walked into the squad room with bags of sandwiches and a holder with three coffees.
‘Glad we saved you the trouble then,’ Bronski replied, as he put the brown bags down on the squad room table.
Annie unpacked them and distributed the drinks. ‘We thought we could catch up before the autopsy this afternoon. How’s your morning been?’
Ellison was on his feet, examining the selection of sandwiches, all freshly made and wrapped in white paper. ‘Any one you guys want in particular?’
‘Help yourself Ellison. I don’t care what I have. Thinking of the autopsy doesn’t exactly put me in the mood for eating,’ Bronski replied as he searched his desk for message slips.
Ellison sat down with his sliced turkey and salad on a Kaiser roll. ‘Well you two met Baxter briefly before you had to get off to see the mayor. He apologised again for being late, but really it didn’t need all three of us anyway. Parker was good. Took us through everything he could access so far on Bannister’s computer. We only finished a few minutes ago. I’m surprised you didn’t pass Baxter on the stairs. I offered to take him to lunch but he said he had to get back.’
‘And?’ Annie prompted.
‘Well there were a number of matches in both his files and Bannister’s. The Merton boy is there, and we realised, so too is the Amato kid. We nearly missed it at first as the kid was half turned from the camera in the first shot but as we looked at it more closely we were pretty sure. I recognised him from his photo in the Amato’s house. You know, the one we saw when we interviewed Frances Amato about the complaint letter.’
‘There were lots of photos of the kid on the mantelpiece.’
Ellison continued after the confirmation. ‘Makes me wonder if we need to speak to the kid himself. See if he remembers photos being taken by the priest.’ Ellison took the lid off his coffee to let it cool.
‘That’s all Amato needs to hear,’ Annie commented.
‘Unless he already knows and that one time wasn’t the first,’ Ellison added.
‘Am I right in thinking that neither the Merton kid, nor the Amato kid were in pornographic shots?’ Bronski asked.
‘Yeah, that’s right, but there were loads of kids in what Baxter described as pre shots. You know the scenario: the kid feels comfortable with the photographer and starts posing. The porno shots come after the first few sessions. So it looks like the Merton kid and the Amato kid were at the early stage,’ Ellison explained.
‘Except that Bannister was tempted enough to expose himself to the Amato boy before those sessions took place, presumably,’ Annie commented.
‘Yeah, could be. There were loads of porn shots of kids, disgusting really. I don’t know how Baxter works with that all the time. I never asked him if he has kids himself,’ Ellison said.
‘He told me he couldn’t do this kind of work if he did,’ Annie revealed.
‘No, I don’t think I could either,’ Ellison remarked. ‘Anyway, there were a few shots of that grooming variety that Baxter had, which matched ones on Bannister’s computer. Bannister also had some additional shots of kids in compromising positions and Baxter wants to follow up on those. We printed out the missing set for him for their files. We need only interview the Mertons if we find anything linking to Mearns, or I guess to anything further in the Bannister investigation. Otherwise Baxter will handle it and keep us informed.’
‘What about Amato?’ Annie asked. ‘Are we still thinking he might have a motive?’
‘Possibly,’ Ellison replied.
‘And do we need to tell him about the photos on Bannister’s computer?’ Annie asked.
Bronski had been quiet for a few minutes but came in at this point. ‘I guess that’s up to you two, but if it were me I’d tuck that away for now. It might come in handy later if we have anything else on Amato. After all, they weren’t pornographic shots per se and Bannister’s dead, so the kid isn’t in any danger.’
‘That makes sense,’ Ellison commented.
‘Maybe this is stretching it some what, but is there any chance that Merton and Amato know each other? We’ve been thinking one perpetrator, but what if there are two, as in two fathers?’ Annie suggested.
‘I think Baxter mentioned two different parishes, but the fathers could still know each other from some other connection … work? Sports?’ Ellison surmised.
Bronski took his last sip of coffee. ‘How might they connect with Mearns? Why would he be the next victim?’
Annie and Ellison looked at one another, before Ellison addressed Annie. ‘Your theory Detective, so what’s the answer?’
‘My guess is that Amato and Merton have a connection through work. I’ll ring Baxter to see if he has an occupation for Merton. As for the connection to Mearns, I’m not sure, right now. Maybe Mearns facilitated the pornographic activities in some way or they found out he was defending Bannister. That might be enough to incense a father. However, I suspect it would have to be a tight
er connection than that. Somehow, I still feel that Mearns’ perversions are different. Maybe we won’t know fully until Parker examines his computer.’
Ellison acknowledged the point. ‘I was hoping he would have accessed it by now. He said he’s still having problems getting into it. Mearns was nothing, if not cautious. So revelations from his computer are for another day, I’m afraid.’
There was still an hour to go before Annie and Bronski had to leave for the autopsy. Annie phoned Baxter and got through on the second attempt. He was able to tell her that Merton worked for the tax office. Her theory was holding up so far. Baxter also wanted to be kept informed and apologised again for only meeting her fleetingly that morning. Both Ellison and Bronski were out of the office for a few minutes so Annie updated the file with the phone call information. She wondered if there was anything else they might be missing in terms of connections. Deep in thought, Ellison came back. ‘I’m earning my keep,’ Annie joked as Ellison approached her desk with a quizzical look on his face.
‘Merton works for the tax office, same work address as Amato. It’s a big office, but what’s the guessing they know one another.’
‘Good work Detective. How about I arrange for us to go there after you’ve been to the autopsy, say four thirty or so. Then I can drop you home, or to the hospital, or wherever you’re off to tonight.’
‘Sounds like a plan.’ Annie reached for her handbag and made her way to the rest room, the only place for some privacy. When Ellison mentioned this evening she realised she hadn’t heard from Charlie all morning, which was unusual. By now, he should’ve texted at least. Charlie answered on the third ring. Annie thought he sounded distracted as he answered. ‘Everything, OK, Charlie?’
Det Annie Macpherson 02 - Programmed To Kill Page 14