Gallagher nodded, “Can’t hurt. Thanks.”
Simpson added, “We also got a call from the St. Simon’s chief of police. They checked out Oden’s houseboat. There was a young female there. It wasn’t Allison Taylor. It was a cousin of Oden’s. Thought you would want to know…”
Gallagher shook his head. Score one for the investigation over Dax Rambo. He had won a minor victory. But, he was not happy about it.
He knew there would be more skirmishes to come.
Dax Rambo was not going away.
Chapter Thirty-five--Raven’s Interview
As Gallagher waited patiently in the interrogation room, he mentally reviewed the questions he was going to ask Raven.
This could be the break in the case he so desperately wanted. Or it could be the most frustrating morning of his investigative life. He looked up and saw his boss peek in,
“Ready, Mike?”
“Ready as I will ever be, Chief. I hope we get some solid answers here.”
“I have confidence in you. Get back to me as soon as the interview is over.”
“Will do, boss. Thanks.” Gallagher knew he had his work cut out from what Elie had told him about Raven. But, he was up to the challenge.
As a former athlete, an undersized linebacker, he was used to the give and take of competition. He just had to do it these days without the helmet.
He remembered his senior year in high school when he made fourteen tackles in a game and on the game’s last play, the opposing running back dragged him across the goal line as the game ended. He was too exhausted to make that last stop.
It haunted him for years. Gallagher was a perfectionist, tending to remember what he failed to do instead of,
“Your interview is here, Mike,” the desk officer interrupted his reverie, “This is Margaret Williams.”
Standing to greet the black-haired beauty, Gallagher looked a little puzzled, “I thought your name was Raven?” he asked.
“It is Raven. But, my parents christened me Margaret. I don’t like my parents.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you, uh, Raven. Please sit down. I have a few questions for you concerning the disappearance of Allison Taylor.”
Raven was proactive to the max, “Look, let’s get something straight here. I had nothing to do with that girl’s disappearance. I didn’t even see her that day. I wasn’t even near the campus that day. I heard about it on the news, like a week later.
So, can I go now?”
Gallagher chuckled lightly, “No, you can’t go just yet. But, we will check out your whereabouts the day Miss Taylor vanished. Where were you between 11:00 a.m. and 1:00 p.m. on August 27th?”
The girl stared at him, “I don’t know what I did that day. It was just a day!”
The detective reminded her, “I thought you just said you were not even near the campus on August 27th? How do you know that if you don’t remember that particular day?”
She snarled, “Because I wasn’t on that campus for the entire month of August. I hate that, ‘Hey, now I’m in college, shit!’ It’s just a pickup time for all the horn dogs who can’t wait to get away from mommy and daddy and be pseudo-adults.”
Gallagher realized he had a street smart girl on his hands here.
He skipped several questions and asked her directly, ”So you weren’t there that day. Let’s assume that. But, your hair was there. How do you explain that?
In addition, we found part of a poem, ‘The Raven,’ on a piece of paper near the curb where Allison disappeared and a necklace in the shape of a raven on the sidewalk. Care to explain that to me?”
Raven laughed. “I can explain how my hair got there. I had a fight with the bitch the day before and so my hair could have gotten on her hands or somewhere on her body, right? It doesn’t mean I was there physically.
I don’t know anything about that piece of paper or the necklace. I already have a necklace. See?”
She leaned her upper body in towards Gallagher not only allowing him to see her raven’s necklace, but a considerable amount of her abundant cleavage as well. The detective kept his eyes high. He knew what she was trying to do to him.
“Well, it’s possible that you bought this raven necklace after you lost your other one, isn’t it?”
“Wrong, again. I have had this one for three years. I bought it in high school. Why would I wear two of them at the same time?
You don’t have anything here, Mr. Gallagher. But, I do want you to know if I hear anything about what happened to the girl, I will tell you. See ya!”
As Raven got up to leave, Gallagher stopped her, “Whoa, I’m the one who concludes the interview. I have a couple of more questions. Sit down, young lady.”
She defiantly sat down, “What?”
“Allison Taylor belonged to a secret society in high school called, The Promise, I believe, is that true?”
Raven never changed her fiery expression, “That’s none of your damn business.”
“I’m a police detective investigating a possible murder or kidnapping, Miss Williams, it is my business. Are you going to cooperate or not?”
Raven stood up, “Or not.”
“You are making this more difficult for yourself, Miss Williams.”
“No, I am making this more difficult for you, Mr. Gallagher, because you don’t have shit! I had nothing to do with her disappearance. You have no proof that I did and you are bluffing. One strand of my hair is not going to convict me, especially since we had a physical fight the day before.
I’m surprised you don’t have more strands of my hair, aren’t you?
By the way, finding the necklace and the poem is a nice touch. But, grow a brain. If I did do anything to her, do I seem dumb enough to leave that kind of crap lying around a scene where some blonde bimbo disappears? How long have you been a detective anyway?”
Gallagher was angry, at himself.
He knew she was making excellent points here. He decided on one other line of questioning with this very savvy girl.
Sympathy.
“Look, I’m just trying to find out what happened to a girl here. I have a father and a mother who miss their daughter terribly and I just,”
Raven sneered, “Don’t use that premise, man. Don’t try to manipulate me with her sleazy parents. If you want to find out how Allison disappeared, you need to re-examine mommy and daddy and start over. Your, two plus two is not going to equal four when you get to the bottom of that loopy family!”
Again, Gallagher changed tracks, “What do you know, Raven. Tell me.”
“I’m not telling you, jack! I want no part of this. The last thing in the world I would ever do is get Archer Taylor mad at me.
That guy is crazy. He would break me like a toothpick if I got in his way. You better watch your own step, Gallagher. He is one mean dude. Believe it.”
Gallagher was puzzled, “Did this girl know something personally about Arch Taylor that he had not revealed up to now?”
The detective was a pretty good judge of character. He respected Arch. Taylor had a good reputation in the community. He had never been arrested, nor had he ever been associated with any shady business associates.
He had been a major benefactor in several worthy causes and had been twice been named, “Man of the Year,” by the Athens Chamber of Commerce. But, listening to Raven, he got the impression that Archer Taylor was one biological step below a pig’s ass in a world of slop.
Why was she so negative about the man? He decided to take a shot in the dark by bluffing her.
“Raven, we know you had an affair with Arch Taylor. That doesn’t make him a dangerous man or a criminal.”
“It makes him a criminal since I was underage, legal boy. But, I’m not pressing charges nor will I help you in any way.”
The detective was doubly stunned at her affirmative answer to his guise and her willingness to admit it.
“Just because he had sex with you, it doesn’t mean he did something terrible to his d
aughter. If what you suggest is true, it does make him a sexually perverted guy.”
Raven snapped back, “Tip of the iceberg, baby. He is capable of a lot more than that. Hell, for all I know, he could be the one trying to frame me for this murder. But, don’t repeat that!”
“No one said anything about a murder, young lady.”
She exclaimed, “Well, do you believe she’s alive? I sure as hell don’t. I doubt she ran away, she loved daddy’s money too much; she sure as hell wasn’t kidnapped or there would be a ransom note, so what’s your conclusion, Judge Judy?”
Gallagher laughed aloud, “You’re very entertaining, you know that?”
“Kiss my ass. Can I go now?”
“How do you know there wasn’t a ransom note?”
She sneered, “Because if there was, you wouldn’t be dragging my booty butt down here. Have a nice day. We won’t be in touch.”
Raven stood up, bent over purposely to collect her purse, giving the detective one more look at her large breasts, smiled smugly when he noticed them and walked confidently out the door.
Gallagher watched her go and sat there shaking his head, “That is one smart girl. Maybe I will send her an application for the police academy. We could use her on our side.”
But, his reasoning didn’t stop there.
For as of that moment, there were still no viable suspects in the disappearance of Allison Lynne Taylor, just a lot of loose ends that had no connection to each other.
Or did they?
Chapter Thirty-six--verna turns Up
“Well, I had the honor of meeting the infamous Raven, yesterday. God Bless any man who gets her for a lifetime,” laughed Gallagher, “Even Mick was blushing when she left here.”
Elie smiled, “I told you to be ready. I wish I had her on my lacrosse team. We would have gone undefeated. She kicks ass and doesn’t look back.”
“Well, I would like to believe she could be a potential suspect, but I don’t think she is. She has a lot of anger, but, I don’t think she’s capable of murder…”
His partner cautioned him, “Maybe not, but she wouldn’t have to actually commit the crime. She could have had someone else do it for her.”
The detective shook his head negatively. “Nah, she’s not the type. If she wanted someone dead, she would be upfront about it.
It would give her satisfaction to finalize her conquest. She’s not the coy type. I believe she enjoyed whipping up on Allison the day before. But, she stopped way short of doing any serious damage to her.”
“And, Allison was fighting for her father’s honor.”
Gallagher laughed, “Yeah, the real match should have been between either girl and the old man!”
“So, where does this all leave us, Mike?”
Gallagher took a swig of coffee, wishing it had a snort of Irish whiskey in it. “A missing girl, who may or may not have voluntarily disappeared into thin air. I have solved most murders in my sphere of responsibility and some of them were damn near unsolvable. I’ll solve this one, too”.
“What percentage of murders are unsolved, Mike?”
“My rate is lower than the national average. I have only had two cases which eluded me out of thirty-seven. The national rate is much lower, about 30%.
This is due to bigger cities which make it easier to get away with murder. Hell, Athens and the rural community around it are pretty transparent. The murderer is usually a local or a family member making my job easier, until three weeks ago.”
They were interrupted by the desk officer, “Chief Parker just called. He’s with Verna Oden. He wants you and Elie to join him right away…”
“Where are they?”
“You know the Penfield Bridge on Highway 15 where it crosses the Oconee River?”
“Sure do!”
“Verna Oden was found under it, floating in the water face down. She had been dead for a couple of days.”
Gallagher and Elie just looked at each other in disbelief.
Chapter Thirty-seven--Speculation
As Gallagher and Larsen arrived at the bridge, there were a number of police vehicles and an ambulance.
Chief Parker met them as they exited from their car, “A fisherman found her floating near the edge of the river. A low-lying tree limb snagged her. He called us. He’s pretty shook up. I think he was hoping for perch.”
The detective asked the crucial question, “What do you think happened to her, Chief?”
His boss shrugged, “We don’t know yet. It could be suicide, a murder or an accident. We’ll give it to Lowe and the gang and let them tell us…”
“Any suicide note found? Any sign of foul play? Gallagher queried.
Elie chimed in, “Any significant marks on her body?”
Parker shook his head, “Not what we could see. But, it’s dark. The coroner will give us a full report. This is really sad. Now, we have two family members gone in such a short time. I would hate to be their parents.”
Gallagher asked the Chief, “What was she wearing when you found her?”
“She’s pretty soggy. It appears she was fully and appropriately dressed for the season. But, not for a two-day swim.”
The gallows humor fell flat.
Chief Parker was obviously upset and trying to relieve his pain with his comment. As they watched the body being put into the ambulance, the sadness enveloped all three of them.
The area was carefully marked off as a potential crime scene. There was nothing else the trio could do at that point so the meeting broke up.
“See you back at the station, Chief. To be continued, huh?”
“Michael, I am beginning to believe we have more than just a missing girl on our hands. I hope to hell I’m wrong. But, it appears that someone is pulling some serious strings here. One missing, two dead…”
Gallagher reasoned, “One missing, which may be voluntary, Chief. Two dead, sure, but, one is a suicide and the other is a very possible suicide. She did love her brother, remember?
Elie, was she suicidal in your estimation of her?”
“She was in a lot of pain, Gallagher. I guess it’s possible.”
“How’d it go with the Raven, girl, Mike?”
Gallagher cringed, “Don’t ask. One piece of bad news is all I can handle tonight.”
He turned and walked away. Elie smiled at the Chief, “I don’t think that he and Raven will be sharing a cherry coke with two straws anytime soon!”
She followed Gallagher back to the car as Chief Parker stood there looking sad as watched the coroner’s ambulance pull away slowly carrying the body of the late Verna Oden.
Chapter Thirty-eight--arch taylor muddies the Waters
The news of Verna Oden’s death hit the girls at the Colony school the following morning like a thunderclap. She was far more popular than her brother.
She was a friend to just about everyone. The comment heard over and over as the time for her funeral approached was, “She was the nicest person!”
Plus, she was hoping to represent her school in the prestigious honors program at the American University in Paris. Her promising future was cut short by the tragedy. The school prepared for another memorial service and “Bree Kelly” was asked to deliver one of the eulogies as her roommate.
Elie felt uncomfortable being in the spotlight due to her critical law enforcement work there, but she really had no choice. She had been Verna’s roommate. To refuse the request would come across crass and insensitive.
Gallagher hounded Dr. Lowe and his coroner’s office for the next two days, but got very little in return. There were no marks on Verna’s body. No signs of any struggle. No suicide note. Nothing was found on her body that would give off any clues, either.
She was found floating in a river with a lot of mud on her. End of life. The coroner ruled it an “unsolved” death because there was really no evidence of anything more definitive than that.
The only thing unusual about Verna’s death was a slight needle-shaped
mark inside her right elbow. But, since she had recently given blood, the coroner believed the puncture wound was medically explained in her case.
As the morning dawned for the funeral, Gallagher decided to attend to see if he could uncover anything unusual in the service.
In fact, he realized the last time he attended a funeral as a mourner was his own daughter’s memorial. This would be a lot easier for him, except for meeting Verna’s parents. Engaging them would bring back feelings of his own grief.
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