Det Annie Macpherson 02 - Programmed To Kill

by Speake, Barbara Fagan

  ‘Dear God, I hope she’s sensible.’ The older man wiped his eyes again.

  ‘Have you spoken to her since the news?’

  ‘No, I spoke to Jordan, her father. She wasn’t in a fit state to come to the phone. He was grateful that I was doing the identification. It’s bad enough for a parent, but a spouse …’

  ‘Mr Lansdowne, here’s my card. If you, or your wife, think of anything else that may be relevant, please call us. We’re doing everything we can to find your son’s murderer. And sir, just to remind you, we are keeping the mutilations out of the public domain,’ Bronski added.

  Jeff Lansdowne shook his head. ‘Sick, what he did to Matthew was sick.’

  Bronski walked the older man out of the station, while Annie went back to the squad room.

  Ellison looked up. ‘Bronski’s walking Jeff Lansdowne out. He should be back in a minute. I need some coffee, how about you?’ Annie asked.

  ‘Sure, I’ll make them.’ Ellison got up while Annie went back to her desk to start writing up her notes from the interview.

  As Ellison came in with three coffees, Bronski returned. Ellison placed the cups on the squad room table and the other two joined him and filled him in on the interview.

  ‘So, nothing much. I’ll follow up on the possible connection with Mearns at the University of Westford,’ Bronski summarised and then looked across at Ellison for anything further.

  Ellison took the cue. ‘The other news is that I’ve spoken to Jordan Prentice. They called a doctor out to his daughter in Hyannis Port and Monica Lansdowne has been given an injection to sedate her. The doctor doesn’t want her travelling back here until tomorrow at the earliest. He’s going to see her first. So, no interviews with them today.’ Then Ellison briefed Bronski on the autopsy results and the DNA link between the first two bodies. ‘So those two have the same perpetrator at least. Fogarty said he’d do the autopsy on Lansdowne tomorrow morning. Keep our fingers crossed they all link up.’

  Bronski looked relieved at the news from Ellison.

  Annie then briefed her two colleagues on her conversation with Baxter earlier that morning and why she had put the names: Brother Jonathan, Father Benedict and Martin Brantingham on the board. ‘I think the two clergymen need to be contacted and given a warning. We don’t want either one ending up in the mortuary.’

  Bronski’s desk phone rang as Annie was finishing and he jumped up to answer it. ‘Thanks for that.’ Bronski hung up the phone. ‘Lucy Sanders is downstairs with the files from Mearns’ former law firm.’

  Ellison laughed. ‘You must have made quite an impression Detective to get a personal delivery service.’

  ‘Who knows,’ Bronski retorted, ‘you might learn a thing or two from me.’

  Bronski was back a few minutes later with a handful of files.

  ‘Didn’t you even take her for some coffee for her trouble?’ Ellison asked.

  ‘No,’ Bronski answered. ‘I thought I’d leave the charming to you, Ellison, when you return the files in a few days.’ He distributed the files to his colleagues. ‘So let’s see if there’s anything worth pursuing, especially the priest Baxter mentioned and Brother Jonathan. You could be right Macpherson, they need to be warned at least.’

  Annie was handed the one on Brother Jonathan. She skim read it and was very surprised that the guy wasn’t in jail. His was the thickest of all the files. Mearns was something else, getting charges dropped in three cases at least. ‘This file would make the bishop’s hair curl,’ she commented out loud.

  Ellison looked up from his reading. ‘The bishop is bald, Macpherson. Call yourself a detective with those powers of observation?’

  ‘He might have had hair when the first allegations were made against Brother Jonathan nearly twenty years ago,’ Annie retorted. ‘We need to compile a list of all these names. These kids will be adults now.’ Annie started to jot down some notes.

  ‘I’ve got to have a sandwich,’ Ellison commented, shutting the file he’d been reviewing. ‘I’ll bring something back and then continue reading. By the way, who’s interviewing Sheila Holmes, the mayor’s secretary this afternoon? I’ve had a message she’s expecting someone shortly after lunch.’

  ‘Tell you what, why don’t you two go and get something to eat and then interview Sheila Holmes. While you’re out, see if you can also track down Brother Jonathan. I’ll grab a bite in the canteen. I need to stay around for Franconi. He wants a daily briefing. I’ll also contact Father Paul Benedict at Our Lady of the Saints and impress upon him that he needs to be careful,’ Bronski offered.

  Ellison got up and put his jacket on. ‘Come on Macpherson, before he changes his mind.’

  As Annie picked up her jacket, Bronski thought of something else. ‘Macpherson, did you say that Martin Brantingham was about eight years old at the time?’ Annie consulted her notes and confirmed the information.

  Bronski was reflective for a minute. ‘I’ll also look him up in the databases while you two are out. See if he’s got any previous, like Merton. It might be two aggrieved fathers and an aggrieved child grown up. So when you see Brother Jonathan, check if Brantingham has made any contact with him. If I get anything on him, I’ll call you.’

  As they passed the front desk, Ellison noticed a couple of camera crews out at the front and one of the reporters talking to camera. ‘Who are they waiting for, Sarge?’ he asked Owens.

  ‘Probably Detective Bronski or the captain. I called the captain to warn him. In fact, I put him through to Bronski a second ago. Of course I could tell them that you’d love to be interviewed, Ellison, if you want some of the limelight. I bet you’d look great on TV. Of course, not as good as Detective Macpherson.’

  ‘Thanks Sarge, I’ll pass on that one and they wouldn’t understand Detective Macpherson.’ Annie smacked Ellison’s arm and Owens laughed. ‘Come on, I think we’ll go out the back way,’ Ellison suggested.

  ‘Ellison,’ the sergeant called back, ‘solve the three cases, will you, so I don’t have to keep looking out at them.’

  ‘Sure Sarge. This afternoon do?’ As they reached his car, Ellison commented. ‘No wonder Bronski sent us out. He must’ve seen the crews there when he went down to meet Lucy Sanders. That explains why he didn’t venture out for some coffee with her.’

  ‘Maybe,’ Annie replied, ‘that and his shyness around women.’

  Chapter 56

  Annie and Ellison arrived at the mayoral offices at the arranged time. Sheila Holmes was waiting for them. They’d agreed in the car that Annie would take the lead, having already met the woman. Sheila Holmes showed them into a smaller interview room to the right of her office.

  ‘Miss Holmes,’ Annie began when they were seated, ‘we know this is a difficult time for you. Unfortunately, we need to ask you some questions as part of our inquiries.’

  ‘Of course,’ the woman replied. ‘Please call me Sheila.’ She hesitated for a moment and dabbed her eyes. ‘I still can’t believe this is happening. Matthew, Mr Lansdowne, was here two days ago. I keep thinking he’s going to walk through that door. The phones have been ringing non-stop. All the newspapers want a comment. They start firing questions at me as soon as I answer the phone, even though I keep telling them our press office is handing all inquiries. It’s so hard.’ The woman wiped her eyes for a second time.

  ‘Sheila, it’s important we establish the mayor’s last twenty-four hours. Can we start with Monday?’ Annie asked, leaning forward.

  Sheila Holmes opened the desk diary. ‘I have his diary on the computer, of course, but I also like to keep this leather one, in case I’m away from my desk. Let’s see, Monday morning he was at Father Bannister’s funeral. He only came in here for about an hour first thing to check the mail. The driver waited for him and they left about 9:30.’ She looked at the two detectives. ‘You pr
obably know that already as he was with your chief.’

  ‘Yes, we do,’ Annie answered, and then asked. ‘And after the funeral and burial?’

  ‘From there, he went to Mrs Bannister’s home to pay his respects. She was holding a small reception there. I’ve made a note that he called me at 1:45 to say he was going home and would work from there for the rest of the afternoon. I gave him his messages, none of which were urgent and he said he would respond to them in the morning. He also said if anything important came up to call him, rather than give out his home number. Nothing did, so we never spoke again.’ She closed the diary solemnly and clutched it to her chest for a moment.

  ‘Was it unusual for him to work at home?’ Annie asked.

  ‘I suppose so. It’s not usually convenient when his wife and Lydia are there, as he used to say that the baby disturbed his concentration. However, as they were away at the Cape with her parents, it didn’t surprise me. The poor woman, how will she cope with bringing up a child on her own?’

  Annie didn’t want to get into that conversation. ‘Sheila, my colleague Detective Bronski and I interviewed Matthew Lansdowne following the death of Patrick Mearns.’

  ‘I remember when you came,’ she interjected.

  ‘He told us then that the two of them were acquainted professionally and that he was trying to interest Patrick Mearns in a proposal to stimulate youngsters getting jobs. Can you fill us in some more about this venture?’

  Sheila Holmes sat back, her face flushed. ‘I don’t know anything about any scheme. Mr Lansdowne never mentioned it to me. Mr Mearns never came to the office. I’ve never met the man, although I read about his murder in the paper. Are you saying the two cases are linked?’

  Annie didn’t respond to the question immediately. ‘The mayor also told us that he had met Patrick Mearns at a business function and that he would get you to send us the details.’

  ‘He never asked me to send you any details. If he had, you would have them. I’m very efficient, Detective, I can assure you.’ The woman put the diary down on the table.

  Annie decided to go back to the woman’s question. ‘We are exploring the possibility that the three recent murders are all linked, as was explained at the news conference last night.’

  Sheila Holmes used her handkerchief again. ‘I didn’t watch the news. I can’t bear to hear the mayor’s name mentioned. It feels disloyal when I’ve guarded his privacy all this time.’

  ‘We appreciate your loyalty, Sheila, but we need to find his killer. You’re confirming that as far as you know, there was no official proposal to involve local businessmen in mentoring young people to get jobs.’

  Sheila’s face started to flush again. ‘That’s correct, as far as I’m aware. Although it’s possible that the mayor was at a preliminary stage with a proposal and was only sounding people out. He may have wanted to keep it quiet until he knew it was viable.’

  Annie leaned forward again, her gaze fixed on Sheila Holmes. ‘Yet, if he were doing that, wouldn’t it be unusual for him not to let you know; not to be involving you?’’

  ‘Yes,’ Sheila Holmes replied.

  Annie continued. ‘We’re also looking at the possibility that someone may have entered the mayor’s home in the past couple of weeks in order to find a way of gaining access to the house. Do you know if the mayor had any appointments at home in the last few weeks?’

  Sheila Holmes straightened her skirt. ‘Not to my knowledge. As I said, his wife and daughter would’ve been home then so I think it unlikely. I haven’t scheduled any appointments at his house. I can certainly confirm that much.’ The woman shifted her position in the chair.

  ‘What about letters, anything threatening come through to the office?’

  Sheila sat back. ‘One of the mayor’s election pledges was that he would read every letter that came into his office. I would open them, date stamp them and give him the folder. There used to be hundreds and he was true to his word; read every one. He would either jot a note for me to construct a typical reply or dictate a letter for me. They’ve tailed off in the last few months. Now, there’s not nearly as many as in the early years. I always took that to mean that the mayor was doing a good job. Of course, there were always one or two nasty ones: about city services, trash collections, something or nothing. I’m sure you know the kind of things that citizens object to and want the mayor to change.’

  ‘I’m sure we can guess, Miss Holmes. But have any letters come through that you found concerning?’

  Sheila Holmes ran her fingers down the leather of the diary. ‘Detective Macpherson, you’re starting to worry me. I’m feeling like I should’ve realised that the mayor was in danger.’ Tears were forming in the woman’s eyes.

  Ellison came in. ‘Sheila, we found a letter in Matthew Lansdowne’s suit coat pocket. It was stamped as having come through this office. It was commenting on Father Bannister’s death. Do you remember it?’

  Sheila shifted in her seat again. ‘Now that you mention it, I recall it vaguely. I don’t remember being unduly concerned about it, although it would be unusual for the mayor to take correspondence from the office. I’ve never known him do that. Like I explained, he usually jots notes for me or dictates a reply and then I file the correspondence away. What you’ve said surprises me. I can’t think of another time when he’d taken a letter and not given it back to me.’

  ‘Given that it was found at the crime scene, it is being examined for fingerprints. Obviously, yours will also be on it, so we’ll need you to come down to the station, today if possible, to have your prints taken to eliminate them,’ Ellison continued.

  Her hand flew to her mouth. ‘I’ve never been to a police station before, or had my fingerprints taken.’

  Annie reassured the woman, who agreed to come in later that afternoon. They finished the interview by recording Matthew Lansdowne’s cellphone number.

  Ellison unlocked the car. ‘Something was definitely up with Lansdowne,’ he commented as Annie got in the passenger’s side.

  ‘I agree. The three of them must have been involved in something big. Obviously Sheila knows nothing about him, outside the office. Unless I’m a poor judge of character, I’d say everything she told us was the truth. She was obviously kept in the dark about a lot of things.’

  ‘Yeah, I think so too,’ Ellison said, starting the engine. ‘How about we drop into the tax office since we’re so close and have a word with Amato and Merton. Then we’ll go to the seminary and see Brother Jonathan.’

  ‘Why not? We need to be able to tell Franconi that we’ve spoken to them in case the chief asks. Also I think John Merton will be surprised that we know about his past history with Brother Jonathan.’

  At the tax office, both men were bullish about their actions and couldn’t see that they’d done anything wrong. Merton simply smiled when his past history was brought up. Ellison and Annie questioned them about alibis for the night the mayor was murdered. Neither claimed to have known Lansdowne on a personal basis, only his position. Ellison and Annie checked out their alibis before they headed over to the seminary. As with the last time, Amato used his wife for an alibi. Mrs Merton also vouched for her husband, seemingly unsurprised by the phone call. Annie wondered if Mrs Merton was also a battered wife.

  Chapter 57

  Brother Jonathan looked like he’d aged in the week since they’d first interviewed him, Annie thought, as she and Ellison followed him into the kitchen. While he was busy making the coffee, she glanced around the room recalling the interview with the young seminarian. ‘How’s Damien?’ she asked as the clergyman brought the cups over to the table.

  ‘He’s gone back to New Hampshire for a few weeks. Since the murder, he’s been having nightmares and wanted to get away from here and be with his family. Bishop O’Brien gave permission to release him from his studies
for a few weeks.’

  ‘We’ll need the details of where he is, including phone numbers in case we need to ask him anything else,’ Ellison said as he picked up his cup.

  ‘I’ll get them now, so I don’t forget. They’re in the office.’

  ‘Never mind the bishop, we should’ve been told he was leaving Connecticut,’ Annie whispered to Ellison when the man left the room.

  ‘Calm down, Macpherson, just because the bishop was mentioned,’ Ellison whispered back. ‘You’d have the great man in custody if you could.’

  Annie stifled a laugh, hearing Brother Jonathan’s footsteps.

  ‘There you are. His parents’ address and home phone number. I’ve also written down Damien’s cellphone number, although I’m not sure he’s answering it.’ Annie took the piece of paper and jotted the details in her notebook, while Brother Jonathan sat down again.

  Ellison didn’t bother with any preliminaries. ‘Tell us about Patrick Mearns.’

  The clergyman’s face registered surprise. He looked from one detective to the other. ‘The man who was murdered the day after Father Bannister? I read about it in the papers and heard it on the news. What are you asking exactly?’

  ‘Did you know Patrick Mearns, apart from what you read in the papers,’ Ellison rephrased his question.

  Brother Jonathan picked up his drink and took a long sip before putting it back down. ‘Do you mean in a personal or a professional capacity?’

  Ellison pushed his cup to one side and leaned forward. ‘Brother Jonathan, I’m not in the mood for games. We know your association with the late Patrick Mearns goes back at least twenty years and that he’s acted for you in at least three cases of suspected child abuse. You knew Patrick Mearns, even if only in a professional capacity.’