by J. R. Martin
Grace answered the door and Ivan could tell by looking at her she wasn’t happy they had come calling without announcing their intentions.
“Yes,” Grace grumbled.
“Could we come in?” Ivan asked.
“No, I’m not ready to have any callers. What do you want?” Grace asked.
“Ms. Simmons, do you know a doctor by the name of Williams?” Ivan asked.
“Yes, why?”
“He’s a doctor in the White Chapel district. We interviewed him a while back and he said he only casually knew your brother, Garth. Any idea why he would have lied to us?” Ivan inquired.
“I’m sure that’s the doctor’s business and none of mine.” Grace answered. “What difference does it make?”
“I’ve found that usually when someone lies about one thing they generally will lie about many things.” Ivan said. “We are just trying to follow all the leads. It came to our attention that at one time, you and Dr. Williams were and item. Just curious as to why you didn’t tell us that.”
“You didn’t ask.” Grace answered. “Who I am, or am not, involved with, is my business detective. Now please, I have things to do.”
“Very well, but, I will be back, count on it.” Ivan stated as he walked back down the walk and got in the car.
Grace stood in the doorway staring after them for a long while. Then she closed the door and went back to her chores.
“Walt, call in the license number GRN-357. Find out who that car belongs to.”
“Okay.” Walt said as he picked up the car radio hand phone.
When the dispatcher came on line Walt gave her the license number of interest. In a few seconds the spluttering sound of the answer came back.
“Detective Graham, that car is registered to “London’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane.”
“Thanks dispatch.” Walt said, as he turned with his mouth open and his eyes wide, to look at Ivan.
“I do not believe what I just heard.” Ivan said. “A car from the hospital parked in front of Grace Simmons house and yet she says that she knows few people there. Then we find out she and Dr. Williams, who acted as though he barely knew Garth Simmons, ends up as having been Grace’s suitor. Oh, Watson, there’s more here than meets the eye.”
“I fear you are correct, Sherlock.” Walt Graham answered.
****
“We must find out who it was that made the morning visit to Grace Simmons. Was it a doctor, an employee or who?” Walt said.
“As I have said before, the more I learn about this case, the more I know I don’t understand any of it.” Ivan said. “Let’s get a warrant to look at the hospital’s employee’s records. We can find out who was at work today and who wasn’t. If they checked out a car from the hospital’s car pool they should have had to sign for it. We can at least, whittle our list of suspects down.”
“I didn’t know we had any suspects.” Walt laughed.
“No suspects? Good Lord man, we have a hospital full of suspects, plus employees, plus doctors who assist there. We have more suspects than we do anything.” Ivan said.
“Then, indeed, let us get the list of suspects narrowed down.” Walt laughed.
The detectives were laughing when they entered headquarters. It was already two o’clock in the afternoon. Walt said,
“I’ll go see if I can get a warrant to look at the hospital’s employee’s records. If I can get it today, we can serve it first thing in the morning and get a head start on the days affairs.”
“While you’re at it go ahead and get one that will allow us to look at all visitors to the inmates at the hospital.” Ivan said. “The good administrator might not have told us everything he knows.”
“Will do.” Walt replied and immediately left the room.
Ivan placed his feet up on his desk and leaned back in the chair. His mind was overflowing with thoughts concerning who was involved in these murderous affairs. He had a whole list of people that were directly involved with the workings of the Insane Asylum. But, which ones, if any, were playing an active hand in the White Chapel murders? He wondered.
The phone on his desk with its incessant ringing startled him out of his dark thoughts.
“Ivan Bennett,” he answered.
“Good evening, detective, this is Marsha Hart.”
“Yes, ma’am do you have a time for me?” Ivan asked.
“The skull is that of a fifty-five-year-old. I hope that helps you narrow down the time line of the murder.” She said.
“It does indeed. That makes the murder of the person we now know was Greg Simmons, to have been approximately five years ago.” Ivan said.
“I hope that helps.” Marsha said. “Let me know if there’s anything more you need me to do.”
“Yeah, thanks, Marsha.” Ivan said and hung up the phone. “Now all we have to do is find out what happened five years ago to Gregg Simmons. This was going to be hard to do since no one knew where he was or what he was involved in five years ago, or so they say.”
****
Walt came back in the office with the warrant in his hand for the hospital records they needed to see. Ivan glanced up at him and then said,
“Coroner called and said date of skull was a person, about fifty-five. They fit right in with Greg Simmons age.”
“Well, then I guess the big question is where do we go from here?” Walt said.
“We go to the hospital and start there. Then we will work on finding out how the skull of Grace and Garth Simmons’s brother got in the pig pen of Mr. Éclair. Damn, this case is driving me nuts, it’s like we jump from one thing to another. Not able to get stable footing on any one thing.” Ivan said.
“Yeah, I feel the same way, but maybe, just maybe this warrant will help us find out more about who was driving that sedan yesterday that somehow is involved with the mental hospital.” Walt stated.
The two detectives went straight to HR when they reached the hospital. This time they didn’t announce themselves to the administrator or anyone else. They wanted to surprise all people employed by that hospital by just showing up.
The HR employee working the front desk looked up when the two detectives entered. She was accustomed to having strangers show up at her desk and until they produced the warrant, did they really get her attention.
She looked the warrant over and then said, “How may I help you detectives?”
Glancing at the name plate setting on her desk, Ivan said, “Ms. Huggens, we need to see the personnel records of all those who were absent from work yesterday.”
Looking a bit shocked the tall stately woman rose to her six foot height and walked to the inside office. There she procured yesterday’s roster for those who missed work. Glancing over it Ivan asked,
“Do I find the car pool sign in and outs here, or at the garage?”
“Here.” Huggens answered, obviously intrigued by the questions, now.
She rustled through some more files and then produced a sign in and out sheet for the hospital’s car garage.
Taking the sheet from her, Ivan quickly glanced over the rooster. Not until he got to the last name did anything look unusual. The car they had seen parked in front of Grace Simmons home, was checked out to a Homer Thrasher. Showing the name to Huggens, Ivan asked,
“Where can I find this gentleman?”
“He works on the fifth floor. He helps out where ever he’s needed. He sometimes acts as a driver for the doctors or for the administrator. Actually, I think he should have an office in the garage as he’s more of a chauffeur than anything else.” Huggens answered.
“Okay, now let me see the absentees yesterday again, please.” Ivan said.
Huggens handed him the records and remembering her manners asked, “Can I get you some coffee or tea?”
“No, thanks.” Ivan answered. Then he continued looking over the files. He took the opportunity to glen all the information he could as to who worked at the hospital and what doctors were affiliated there.
Then he asked, “Do you know if Dr. Williams was here yesterday?”
Huggens looked startled and then answered,
“No, I have no way of knowing the doctors coming and goings. They are contracted. Their whereabouts is never reported to me.”
“I see,” Ivan mused. “And the administrator, does he report when he leaves or is absent?”
“Absent, yes, I would know that. But, not the times he leaves. After all, he is the administrator.”
“How long has he been working at this hospital.” Walt asked.
“Let me see.” Huggens answered as she pulled the file on the administrator. “It appears he came here about five years ago, prior to that he worked at an institution in Paris.”
“Was it an Insane Asylum like this one?” Ivan asked.
Looking over the personnel file again, Huggins replied. “Yes, yes it was.”
Chapter Seven
The two detectives made their way up to the fifth floor. Once there they looked for the nurses station and then inquired about Mr. Homer Thrasher. Pointing to a door at the end of the hall the nurse said, “That’s Mr. Thrasher’s office. I don’t know if he’s in today or not.”
“Thank you.” Ivan said as he made his way down the hall toward the office. Knocking on the door he waited for a moment and then turned the knob to see if it was locked. It was, and no one answered his knocking.
“Come on,” Ivan said, “we will catch Thrasher at another time.”
“Don’t you want to ask him who he drove to Grace Simmons yesterday?” Walt asked.
“Oh, yes, indeed I do, but right now I want to go back down to personnel and see if Ms. Huggens has a sign in and out sheet and absentee sheet showing Thrasher absent today. If not then that will mean she actually doesn’t always know who’s at work and who isn’t. That makes her records compromised. If people come and go without her knowledge then what her records show is totally incorrect. Anyone can come and go and no records to say otherwise.” Ivan said.
As they were on their way back to HR, a man fitting the description of Homer Thrasher stepped out of the elevator. Ivan stepped in front of him and said,
“Mr. Thrasher?”
“Yes.” The man replied.
Pulling his badge from his pocket Ivan said, “Mr. Thrasher who did you take to 1223 Manchester Ave. yesterday? That’s the address of Grace Simmons.”
“I wouldn’t know, sir. Yes, I did check the car out of the car pool as instructed, but I was told to leave the car parked in front of the hospital with the keys in the glove box and that someone would leave it parked in the same place late that evening. I did as I was told, sir.”
“Who gave you those instructions, Mr. Thrasher?” Ivan asked.
“I don’t know, sir. They were handwritten instruction. I didn’t actually speak with anyone. The note was left stuck under my door. I found it when I came into work.” The man said, hesitantly.
“I’m sorry if I did anything wrong. I was just following instructions.”
“Did you keep a copy of that note?” Ivan asked.
“No, sir, I didn’t.” Thrasher answered.
“Of course you didn’t.” Walt said.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t think I needed to keep anything.” Thrasher continued.
“I’m going to let it go this time Thrasher, provided you give me your word about something.” Ivan said.
“Yes, sir, if I can sir.” He replied.
“The next time you receive written instructions from anyone, keep the note and call me. Will you do that?” Ivan asked.
“Of course, sir. I can do that.” The man answered nervously.
“Very good then, come along Walt, we need to leave now.” Ivan said looking at his puzzled partner.
“Who do you think gave those written instruction, Ivan?” Walt asked.
“I don’t know, but that will become available soon, I’m sure.” Ivan responded.
“Oh, and what makes you so sure of that?” Walt enquired.
“Because of love, Walt, because of love.” Ivan answered.
****
When the two detectives returned to headquarters once again they were greeted with, ‘have you heard?’
“Heard what?” Walt asked.
“There was another murder last night in the White Chapel district.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake. Ivan, we’ve got to catch this murderer. He’s running rampant.”
“Well, be my guest, Walt. I’d catch him if I knew how.” Ivan said. “We’ve got those same suspects we had yesterday and we know no more now, than we did then.”
Walt didn’t answer. It was obvious he was very irritated with the lack of clues in these murders. He blurted out, “There’s no way this person can kill that many people and not leave a clue.”
“Call the coroner, Walt and see what her take is on this latest murder.” Ivan instructed.
Walt dialed the coroner’s office and the assistant corner answered. “Coroner’s office.”
“Is Ms. Hart in?” Walt asked.
“Who’s calling?”
“Walt Graham, with Scotland Yard.”
“One moment please.”
“Marsha Hart.” The voice on the other end of the phone said.
“Hello Ms. Hart. Ivan and I were wondering if this murder last night was any different than the others have been? We are desperate for a clue.”
“As a matter of fact, Walt, there was a small keychain found last night. I don’t know if it is from the victim or the killer. It had a house key on it, just a plain house key.”
“Was it dusted for finger prints?” Walt asked.
“I’m sure it was. But, I don’t know the outcome.” The coroner said.
“We will be over tomorrow, Ms. Hart. Thanks.”
“You bet.” The coroner replied and hung up.
****
Walt and Ivan walked into the Coroner’s office and they were met by Marsha Hart.
“Good morning, gentleman,” the attractive woman greeted and smiled at them.
“Good morning Marsha.” Ivan said. “Walt says there was a house key found at last night murder scene. Have the London police got in touch with you to say they got any hits on the prints?”
“No, but it’s early yet.” Marsha said. “I know they have the key in evidence and they should be running through CODIS today.”
“Anything unusual about the key that you remember?” Walt asked.
“As a matter of fact, I do remember thinking I had seen a key chain similar to it somewhere. But, to save my life I can’t remember where.” Marsha Hart shared.
“Well, if it comes to mind, please give us a call even before you do the local cops, okay?” Ivan asked.
“Oh, sure, not a problem.” The coroner answered.” I know this case is driving you guys nuts. I wish I could help more. About all I can do is take care of what’s left of the bodies.”
“Yeah this has been a tough one. Thanks, Marsha.” Ivan answered and he and Walt walked back to their car.
“Where do we go from here?” Walt asked.
“To Police headquarters to see if CODIS gave them a name for the prints off the key chain. And to see the evidence they have collected.” Ivan responded.
When they walked into Police Headquarters Ivan and Walt spoke to everyone. Then Ivan walked directly to the Chief’s office. Knocking briefly he walked right in. The Chief looked up a little shocked and said, “Come in, Detectives.”
“Good morning, chief, I was wondering if you’d let us look at the evidence you’ve collected on the White Chapel murders, especially the key chain?” Ivan asked smiling.
“Of course,” the Chief said as he picked up the phone.
“Dooly, bring in that key chain and the other things we’ve collected on the White Chapel Murders.”
When the officer brought the items in, Ivan immediately picked up the key chain.
“Any hits on CODIS for this?” He asked.
“Not a one.”
The Chief answered.
“Then that means it’s someone we don’t have a file on. Someone who has never been caught by the authorities.” Walt said.
“That’s sure what it looks like.” The Chief responded.
“I’ve seen a key chain like this before.” Walt said.
“Where?”
“I think from the lounge on Sherwood, in the Soho district.” Walt mused.
“It’s called the Brasserie Zedel. They give these key chains as memorabilia, mostly to tourist.” Walt continued.
“Hummm,” mused Ivan. “I hadn’t even considered this could be a tourist thing.”
“No, it couldn’t.” Walt said, “It’s been going on way to long.”
“Sometimes the tourist stays for a while. At this point we can’t count anyone out.” Ivan said.
“Chief, could you or would you, send that print directly to Interpol in France and see if they will put it out everywhere? We might get lucky.” Ivan said.
“Of course, but CODIS does that.”
“I know, but sometimes a little personal note makes all the difference.” Ivan continued.
Then he hesitated, turning to the Chief he said, “I want you to request that Interpol do a DNA trace on this key chain and key. See what shows up.”
“That’s going to be hard to do on a key chain.” The Chief said.
“I know it’s a long shot, but let’s try it.” Ivan said.
“Not a problem.” The Chief answered giving the nod to the officer to do as Ivan had requested.
“We also might get lucky with the key. If we can get a name and run it through all the files.” Walt said.
“Yeah and then there’s the fact that CODIS has already been run.” Ivan said.
Chapter Eight
Forty-eight hours had passed since the detectives visit to Homer Thrasher. The phone rang on Ivan’s desk and when he answered he immediately recognized the voice of the Chauffeur.
“Detective, I got another note this morning asking me to bring the car around. Do you want to pick it up?” Homer Thrasher asked.