As I stood there thinking, Adam Nelson walked out into the hall. He played with his phone, and I heard the click of the locks in the office door. I had a sudden realization.
“Adam, I hope you remember me. Griffin Fitzpatrick? How are you?”
“Are you back for more questions?” he asked as he put his phone back in his pocket. He wore a frown, and he turned his back to me almost immediately.
“No, I have just one very specific question. What’s the name of the app you just used to lock the door?”
He turned back, sporting a huge grin. “Isn’t this great? It’s a key replacement system. You can use this on a variety of standard locking mechanisms. You just need one additional rod in the door handle itself and you can use it.”
“Would you have to change the locks to do this?” I asked, thinking about what Dana had said upstairs about the new locks. Perhaps this had been another of Vires’ apps that Miller had later appropriated.
“That depends. If the lock was not compatible with the software and couldn’t be modified as needed, then yeah, you’d need to update your doors to ensure they have the proper locks to operate this app. Otherwise, you just need to take off the handle and add a rod. You can’t even see if a door has the mechanism unless you know what to look for.”
I nodded. “Can I download a copy of this? I’d love to have it for my home. I could do all the locks and not have to worry about keys again.”
Adam grimaced. “Not quite. There are a couple of issues with the app. The first is that it only works on one lock. I think that’s probably because the app is too far away from the other doors in the house, so it can’t manipulate multiple doors at the same time.”
I made a note to myself that I’d come up with an explanation of the first issue that Dana had addressed. Specifically, Vires had only updated the front door, and not the back door, because of the app’s need to be close to the lock it was manipulating. I felt certain that I was on the right track here, and that I might have solved Vires’ murder.
“What’s the other issue?” I asked, hoping to gather enough information to resolve the murders.
“James refused to ever put it up for sale. The one lock thing could have been corrected, but he adamantly refused. Even when the Great Recession rolled around and the company was losing money, he denied requests to introduce this app to market. It’s crazy, but it was his app, so what are you going to do?”
I thanked him for his time and got in my car. I nearly ran two stoplights during my drive home. I was that distracted by what I’d learned.
If this man’s story was accurate, and I had no reason to doubt that, then Miller had been responsible for Dr. Vires’ death. He’d had access to the app. He knew that the front door of the office could work by remote control via the app. Most damning was the fact that the app was never mentioned in the police investigation. There was no way that it could have been because Miller was not arrested and tried for the murder. If anyone can lock the front door, then the previously locked room suddenly becomes as open as a meadow.
Added to that was the rationale for why he’d never wanted to sell that app in the marketplace. If he did interviews or advertisements on the lock replacement app, eventually someone, whether it was Dana Cavanaugh or the police, would see the hoopla and quickly put together that Miller had used the app to kill his boss and father-in-law. That was a very good reason to keep the app to himself.
I sighed deeply. Even though I’d explained the death of Dr. Vires, I had done nothing about the case of Miller’s death. All I’d done so far was to convict my former client of murder. And while that helped me plenty in providing a motive for whoever had killed Miller, it did nothing to explain his death, since Miller was obviously not responsible for the second death – his own.
The problem as I saw it was that Vires had been killed by a gunshot to the head. The police had no idea what had killed Miller. Had he been so scared when he realized that the same app was being used on him that he’d used on Vires that he’d had a heart attack? I didn’t even know if Miller had any health problems. He’d sniffled a few times when I’d talked to him, but no one died from the sniffles. I wasn’t sure what to make of Miller’s death, but until I knew more about the cause of death, I still hadn’t solved this case at all.
The other thing that bothered me was that I was right back to where I was regarding the Miller murder. Detective Green had instructed me to stay away from the case. So I had by looking into Vires and how he was killed. Now it turned out that it was impossible for both murders to have been committed by the same person, so I was back to square one in trying to find out what killed Miller.
Less than square one actually, since I was forbidden from investigating anything related to the murder. All I had done was create a motive for Miller’s motive.
I sighed and decided to share all that I had found with Detective Green. She couldn’t yell at me for investigating the Miller case and the information might come in handy for her in her current case.
She wasn’t at her desk, but I left a message. I killed time by taking Bruno for a long walk in the neighborhood. He hadn’t been out, just the two of us, in a few days, and we took our time sniffing and marking everything in the neighborhood. Even marking gave me clues about how a dog feels, so I watched Bruno, though I felt a bit insensitive watching his bathroom habits.
We returned to the house, just in time to see Green get out of a car in my driveway. “What do you mean that you solved a murder? Didn’t I tell you to stay out of this?”
I gave her a big smile. Bruno was tired and only made a half-hearted attempt to jump on her before he rested at my feet. “You told me not to investigate the Miller case. I solved the Vires case. Totally different.”
“Still a murder and still off-limits to you.” She crossed her arms over her chest and stood feet spread apart like a giant statue of disapproval.
I shrugged. “Technically, that’s not true. The Vires case was labeled a suicide, and so no one is investigating anything. I’m not breaking any laws by asking some questions about a closed case of suicide.”
Her arms dropped to her sides, but her eyes still flashed anger. I’d gotten around her direct orders through loopholes. While I was in the clear as far as the law went, she was not happy with me and was willing to make that known.
“So what’s your theory on that case?” she said finally. Her curiosity had beaten out her anger at my manipulation of the rules.
I explained about the changed locks on the front door of Vires office and the discovery of the app that would lock or unlock a door automatically. I went through all of the things I’d learned about locked rooms from Dana and tied up the case neatly.
She sighed. “It doesn’t change anything. Yeah, the police might have looked at the case more if they’d known about the app, but how does that tie to this case?”
I explained to her what Brett had told me about Vires’ work and the apps that had been developed from that. “Miller took those apps and made a fortune from them. So it stands to reason that he’s the one who killed Vires. So anyone who had a desire for revenge would have a motive for this murder.”
“Only if they knew what you figured out. Obviously the police didn’t figure that out, so it wasn’t obvious to everyone. You would have to know about the app, and you’d have to know that Miller profited from the crimes. It’s definitely not open and shut.” I could read her like one of my pets. She was interested now. Her guard had come down; she was less defensive and her voice held a thrill of discovery and satisfaction. “Old-time cops always tell me that if the original officers did their job that the name of the perp will be in the cold case file. I guess they were right again. And it would explain why Miller was unwilling to release that app when times were tough.”
I cleared my throat. “Since I’m being a good citizen and not investigating this, there are two things that you could look into.”
She smirked. “You’re being a good little citizen?
Since when? Did I blink and miss it?”
I chose to ignore her comments. We were getting along – somewhat and I wanted to keep that détente going. “The first is to talk to Adam Nelson at Advent. Who else had that app? You could check everyone’s phones and see if it’s downloaded. Theoretically, anyone who knew Miller could have downloaded the app and used it. They’d just have to connect to the host computer.”
“Do you really think that a killer would be stupid enough to keep that app on his or her phone? It’s not available to the public, so it would nearly be an admission of guilt if they got caught with it, especially now that we are on to its abilities.”
“You really have to ask if criminals are stupid? I’ve heard some of your stories.”
She nodded. “Yeah, what was I thinking? Of course they are. So we can follow up and ask to see the phones of some of the people associated with the case. I’d need a warrant to demand it, but since the actual case has nothing to do with phone, I likely couldn’t get one. I can just go off who denies my request. That’s not enough to prove anything, but it certainly could allow us to focus on one suspect, which is always helpful. You don’t even know if the doors at the Miller house would work with the app. If I were Miller, I’d make damned sure that they didn’t work. I would think that I’d be a little too nervous about someone trying that on me. After all, it worked well the first time.”
“But someone did do that to him. It can’t be coincidence. The crimes have to be related because of the way they were carried out. How many locked rooms do you get in a year?”
She gave me a blank face. “Try zero in my career. They don’t exist outside of the occasional murder mystery story.”
“So these two cases have to be related. That’s the first thing you can look at.”
“Geez,” she said, “there was enough there that I thought that was more than your two suggestions.”
I shook my head. “The locking app was the first one. The second is Miller’s ex-wife.”
“You think she’s good for this.”
“You tell me. You know that your then husband killed your father using an app that your father had created, claimed all the royalties and rights for himself, and then dumped you for someone else.”
Sheila pulled out a notebook and started writing things down. “She waited long enough though to get revenge. This has been like eight years. Why not just do it then?”
I shrugged. “No telling, but she’s definitely got the motive. You’ll need to look at the financials for Miller and his ex-wife. How much did she get from the divorce? I’m betting she didn’t get anything from the business or her father’s apps. Some of the apps were released until after Vires’ death, so they would appear that they belonged to Miller.”
“We haven’t talked to Miller’s ex. The divorce was eight year ago. We thought that was all water under the bridge.”
“Not that I have any personal data to add, but yeah, from the people I know, eight years is usually more than enough time to move on. However, we didn’t know about the other death being a murder, which changes everything.”
I left her an opening to talk about past relationships, if she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. To be honest, I wasn’t very good at this whole small talk thing – or flirting. I’d spent most of my life trying not to be noticed. Flirting was all about making someone else notice you and your attractiveness. It would have been less painful for me to write out a big sign that said “Like Me” on it, and probably less painful for her as well.
Still she didn’t seem to mind, which counted for a lot in my book.
“I’ve seen cases where women – or men – have waited decades to get revenge. It’s not an emotion that dies easily. It certainly makes me not want to get married, that’s for sure.”
So I had my answer, even if it was worded in the context of a discussion about crime. I had been so mired in my own feelings of inadequacy here that I neglected to remember that perhaps others suffered from similar fears as well. Granted, they would be different than mine, but at the same time, they were real.
“I’m surprised you didn’t talk to the ex-wife since you weren’t investigating this murder.” Green used air-quotes around “this.” Her poor air-grammar was perplexing to me, but I had had let it go on multiple occasions. When she wasn’t being sarcastic or yelling at me, I actually found it endearing.
“I tried to Google her, but the last name of Miller with no first name, even when I added Vires into the search, came up with too many hits. I wasn’t going to get anywhere with it, so that’s why I handed it off to you. You have access to records that I don’t.”
“And now you know why we have access and you don’t,” she said with a smile. “There are actually parts of this investigation that you haven’t mucked up yet. Maybe we’ll actually get some untainted answers from a witness now.”
“Well then, you have a lot to do,” I said, wondering if I would get a green light to go ahead with more investigating. I felt lost at the moment, not wanting to give up my part in solving this crime.
“That I do. I’ll give you a buzz if we find out anything about that app or the ex-wife.”
“Is there anything I can do?” I asked.
“I’ll give you two things, just like you gave me. However, my requests are simpler and with fewer parts. First, mow the grass. Second, open the file I gave you.”
I nodded. I wasn’t sure that I’d do either, but since we were being so agreeable, I didn’t want to throw dissension on the table. She walked out the door and drove away without another word.
Instead I opted to call the cat rescue organization again. I hadn’t heard from them since I’d gone off to meet Dana Cavanaugh. I also hadn’t heard from the third person who had spoken to Adam Nelson about Dr. Vires’ death.
The call went to voicemail again. I sat staring at the wall for some time, then I decided to mow the grass. That didn’t sound like a major ordeal, but it was to me. I had been hiding behind the things that kept attention from me. No one would look at Griff if they were obsessed about his tall grass instead. No one would look at my face if my thrift store clothes were the focus of attention. I liked it that way, but as I dealt with more people, I found myself being called out on these behaviors by those who bought into the norms of society. Sheila was apparently one of those, because she continued to challenge me to drop the facades I’d put over me to keep myself invisible. I wasn’t sure of what the endgame would be with her requests. Did she want me normal, so that we could date? Or perhaps she was just making me dateable for someone else. I wasn’t sure, but so far I had not made any changes to my appearance or to that of the house that could not be set right with the passage of a few weeks. So I wasn’t out much in trying something new.
As I pushed the mower across the lawn, I reflected on all that I’d done recently which was new. Part of me was changing. I was still Griff, the guy who made a living speaking to animals and who lived in fear of being stolen away by unknown persons. However, some of the rough edges that I’d allowed to grow up over the years, mainly to my introverted personality, were beginning to smooth down. I wasn’t ready to go to a salon for my hair or shop at Dolce and Gabbana, but I was more willing to go into groups of people without wanting to shut down and hide in the bathroom. I was able to talk to strangers in the name of business or in the name of investigating a crime.
I still wasn’t sure how I felt about this as I finished the lawn and put the mower back in the garage. One of the neighbors waved at me, which was a first. Perhaps they were engaging in behavior modification, rewarding me with smiles if I gave them a freshly cut lawn. It might work better one someone who hadn’t trained dogs and cats.
I still didn’t have a message from the rescue center when I entered the house. I opted to take a shower and remove the grime from me. There was still no message when I returned to the living room. I decided to check their website to see if anything was going on that I should know about. They were having an ad
option event the following day. I decided I would go to that event if I hadn’t heard from them by that point.
I felt totally at loose ends. Miller had been my only client of the week. He’d paid in advance, which meant that I had the money I needed to meet my budget this week. I hadn’t scheduled anyone else, since Miller was expecting me to follow him all day, every day. Given the circumstances and his wealth, he’d paid very well for my time, so I had no need to scrounge up another client this week.
I was forbidden from working on the current investigation. I had no desire to go to jail for obstruction of justice, especially when I had no formal position that would allow me access to any information. I’d done pretty much all that I could on this particular case – except for finding out the source of the double cat entry in the microchip database. However, I was still waiting for the rescue organization to call me back.
I looked at the police file on my sister again. I had resisted the urge to read the file up to this point, mainly because I’d been angry and busy. Now I was neither. Green had apologized for her indiscretion, and I was unsure what to do. Boredom and I were not good roommates.
I debated a little more, but made a cup of tea as I argued the pros and cons of opening this chapter of my life again. Even as I did this, I knew that I’d be sitting down with a cup of tea to read this file.
Unlike her other requests, I couldn’t undo this one after I opened the file. I would presumably know things and realize things that would change my perspective on my sister, my family or the case. I knew in my heart that Detective Green had already read the file. Something in those pages had struck her, enough so that she wanted me to read it and understand something about my sister’s disappearance. This was the one request that could not be undone in a few weeks, which was why I was dragging my feet so hard on reading the file.
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