Unsmiling, Gallagher ordered, “Have Lowe’s people call me as soon as they finish the ballistics and anything else they find in the car. I’m going back to bed, what a night.”
He wandered back to his car hoping the pounding in his head would stop. He also had the sense that his work on the Allison Taylor case was about to intensify both in hours and in scope.
It was no longer a case about a single missing girl, now there could be multiple underage sexual victims and a lot of people’s lives and families ruined.
As he got behind the wheel of his car, he sat there praying it was a bad dream he would wake up from the next day.
Chapter Fifty-eight---raven and gallagher: round Four
At precisely, 12:01 p.m. Detective Michael Gallagher was reading the report his partner, Elie Larsen had written up on her exposure of the Promise and Dr. Theotis Morgan.
The detective sat alone in the conference room poring over the details of her investigation, both legally and illegally, into the Colony’s high school prostitution ring.
The detective knew that his boss would be unhappy with Elie’s techniques, but impressed with her overall work on this new development in the case.
She would get a reprimand, but, that was nothing compared to the affirmation she would receive when the case was completed.
There was no news yet from Dr. Lowe’s autopsy results concerning the dead man in the Mercedes.
He had been identified as Theodore Scott Fox, age 37. No known address. His driver’s license listed phony information concerning his residence. There was not much else to go on concerning his real persona. But, it was a start.
Assuming his name was correct. That was iffy, too.
The Mercedes had, of course, been registered to Malcolm Eric Oden, Athens, Georgia. Gallagher knew that name was real.
He was anxious to find out whether or not there were fibers and hair, or any other body evidence, from Allison Taylor found in the car.
He also awaited for his favorite interviewee, Margaret Williams, aka Raven, to show up for her fourth appointment with him.
He had more questions to ask her beginning with her fingerprints on the note left on Justin Shaw’s car and ending with her involvement in The Promise.
He wasn’t going to let her off so easily this time. In fact, he realized there was a better than even chance he might have to arrest her if her answers were flippant without substance.
It was time for Raven to put up or shut up.
Her sarcasm and charming, verbal bashing were not going to allow her to escape this time. The evidence piling up against her would override her bluster.
Gallagher was ready. Raven better be.
Chief Parker paid a brief visit first, “Any word from the lab on the deceased man in the Mercedes, Mike?”
“Not yet, boss. I should get a preliminary report soon. The major stuff will take time as you know.”
“So, it’s you and the feisty raven-haired girl today, eh?”
Gallagher rolled his eyes, “Yep, me and Raven. This is an ongoing challenge. She is getting deeper and deeper into this with each piece of evidence we find…”
As he said this, the girl appeared at the door. The Chief turned around and saw her standing there. “Well, hello, Miss Williams. We were just talking about you.”
Unfortunately, she already knew that. “Do I need an attorney, Gallagher? Tell me right now.”
The detective hesitated, “Uh, I will let you know, in about ten minutes. Come in, Raven.”
The Chief excused himself hurriedly and went back to his office.
Raven looked at Gallagher. There was a serious concern in her eyes. She was scared and defiant at the same time. She was ready to do battle.
This was going to be a difficult interview, he thought to himself.
“I’m sorry you overheard that, Margar, er, Raven. It was just police talk…”
“Why do you keep calling me down here, Gallagher? If you have something on me, then just fucking arrest me!”
“Raven, can you do very nice things for me? Keep your voice down and watch your language. Thank you.”
The girl stared at him.
“Now, have a seat and let’s try to be civil here.
I need some answers from you, Raven. I don’t want a tirade, a lecture or a dramatic monologue. This is serious business. I am close to solving the Allison Taylor case but, I need your assistance and it is going to be difficult in getting it after I ask you the first question here, but I must.
So, here it is…”
She opened her purse and took out a cigarette.
“No smoking here, Raven. Sorry.”
“I am going to need a fuc, a cigarette! You’re scaring me to death.”
“I’ll try to be gentle. But, it’s county policy and I have no say in the matter. Please, Margaret.”
For once, the black-haired beauty didn’t react to her real name being used. She put the cigarette back in her purse.
The detective realized, “She is scared.”
“Now, listen up, the lab found more DNA evidence on the note attached to Justin Shaw’s windshield wiper. You remember that note; it had your handwriting on it.”
She was all ears. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, that note had something else on it that belonged to you, Raven.”
“What was that?”
“Your fingerprints.”
As soon as he said those two words, Raven stood up and threw her purse across the room smacking into the large water cooler and scattering the Dixie cups poised on top of it to the four winds.
“I am sick and tired of this, Gallagher. I never saw a copy of that note until the day I was in here with you. I was nowhere near Justin Shaw, his car or his well-manicured kiss-ass driveway that night.”
“But, you have been to his house, we know that.”
She suddenly became defensive with her defiance, “How do you know that, Gallagher?”
“Because you have been to parties at the Shaw house, lots of times, Raven. Don’t deny it. I need you to tell me the truth today more than ever.”
“Parties at the Shaw, maybe a few, so?”
“More than a few. I know about The Promise and the services it offers older men in this town, Raven.”
Her eyes got really wide. “Services, like bake sales? Car washes?”
Gallagher coyly smiled, “Don’t play games, Raven. We both know what kind of services, sex for hire services.”
Raven began laughing hysterically. “You’ve got to be kidding!
I have never gotten paid to use my body. I have never needed to. And, I wouldn’t let an old wrinkled prune like Redding Shaw touch me.”
“Okay, let’s assume you are telling me the truth, I will grant you that. But, you have friends in The Promise that aren’t so ethical. We know all about it.”
“You know about what? Sex involving my friends in The Promise?”
More Raven laughter.
“Gallagher, The Promise is a secret society that pledges honor and loyalty among friends. It is just for girls and we stick together and do silly things like, burn incense and make vows. That’s it.
I don’t know where you’re getting your information, but it sucks. ‘Sucks’ is not a cuss word, technically, either, so don’t yell at me.”
Gallagher was unmoved by her denials. “Raven, before we go any further, I need to ask you one more time how your fingerprints got on that note.
If you don’t come up with a satisfactory answer, I am going to have to consider you a leading suspect in the disappearance of Allison Taylor and act appropriately according to the law.”
Raven was insistent, “I told you the truth. That’s all I can tell you. It’s your move, Gallagher.”
The detective had seen the look on Raven’s face dozens of times before. It was the same expression his daughter, Megan, had used when she was defying him.
But, that was a girl who was testing her independence towards a father, t
his was a possible murderess.
Gallagher made his move.
”Margaret Williams, you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. Anything you say may and can be used in a court of law,”
As Gallagher finished his legal litany, Margaret Williams burst into tears. She stood up and had to hold on to the edge of the table for support.
The detective called in one of his cohorts, a female officer and watched as she handcuffed Raven and led her away.
But, the girl, formerly known as Margaret, had the last word, “I’ll be back, Gallagher. You’ll regret this. That’s a promise.”
She looked at everyone staring at her in the office, “Why don’t you all get some fucking doughnuts and choke yourselves to death!” She yelled at Gallagher, “Did you hear that Gallagher? I said the F word, I shouted it. That was for you!”
She continued screaming down the hallway and out the door on the way to the Clarke County jail.
Gallagher looked away. This was more painful than he could have imagined it to be, albeit unavoidable. He had asked Raven to explain herself and prove she wasn’t the one who had written that note. Now, it was up to a judge and a jury to listen to her explanations.
Justice had been served whether he liked her personally or not and, he was actually quite fond of her.
He cleared his throat. He wished she had answered him differently. He also wished she was not so much like Megan.
He felt, at that moment, like he had just lost a second daughter.
Chapter Fifty-nine---press Conference
Gallagher strode into the police press room. “I have a statement and then I will take a few questions, and, I mean very few.”
He read from a sheet of paper, “Yesterday afternoon, we arrested Margaret Marie Williams, age 19, as a suspect in the disappearance of Allison Lynne Taylor. Miss Williams was taken to the Clarke County Jail and booked there.
I will take questions now…”
“Cherise Cannon, WSB-TV, what evidence do you have that made Ms. Williams a suspect?”
“No comment.” Gallagher pointed to the back of the room, “Yes?”
“John Rohrer, AP, did she say if she knew what happened to Allison Taylor?”
“She said she did not know. Over here,” He pointed to a woman in the front row.
“Sue Schanze, INN, “Does Ms. Williams have legal representation?”
“She will now.”
“Dax Rambo, INN, doesn’t Ms. Williams go by the name, ‘Raven’ and is the leader of a cult group at the Colony school called, ‘The Promise?’ And, isn’t that cult your leading suspect in the disappearance of Allison Taylor?”
Gallagher wanted to kill him. “We are not aware of any cult groups at the Colony school.”
Rambo fired back, “Oh, really? So, your intensive investigation has no idea there is a group of girls at the school called The Promise which formerly included the missing Allison Taylor?”
“Mr. Rambo, I am sure you are very good at your job. I respect that,” Gallagher lied. “But, I am very good at what I do, too. We are pursuing a criminal investigation and I appreciate your time here today.”
With that, he stormed out of the room amid shouts of further questions. He was so angry he was shaking by the time he got to his office. He slammed the door and sat there fuming at Dax Rambo and the media in general.
But, he was even more upset with the person in the department who was feeding Rambo the inside information. Chief Parker gently rapped on his door, “Yeah, boss; come in,”
“That wasn’t much of a press conference, Mike.”
“It reflected my respect for them, Chief…”
Parker smiled wanly, “Mike, I know you hate the press. They are just doing their job.”
“Yeah, well so is the asshole in our own department who is leaking information about our investigation. If I ever find that little prick, I am going to,”
The Chief interrupted, “I will do an internal investigation. We will put a stop to this. In the meantime, try to keep your cool, Mike.
This is no longer a local story. The whole country is watching us. We need the press to give this story exposure.”
Gallagher responded to his national acclaim by picking up his metal trash bin and throwing it across the room.
Parker shook his head and left him alone. He realized his detective had enough for now.
Chapter Sixty-The elusive dr. Morgan
As Gallagher continued to wait on the lab results concerning the victim in the Mercedes, he paid a visit to the Colony school armed with a search warrant to legally discover what Elie had illegally found in the first place.
Upon entering the office of the Headmaster, he introduced himself to the receptionist, Kathy Saca. “Hello, my name is Michael Gallagher, I am a detective with the Athens Police Department.
These are my fellow officers from the department and we have a search warrant to impound all the records of Dr. Theotis Morgan.
Is he in this morning?”
The receptionist was shocked, to put it mildly. She stammered out, “Uh, no, Dr. Morgan is not here. I, uh, don’t know. What is this about?”
She pressed a buzzer on her desk and within seconds the executive secretary to the headmaster materialized from an inner office. As the woman looked at the police officers and then at the receptionist, she calmly and coolly responded,
“I am Catherine Bretz, secretary to Dr. Morgan, may I be of assistance to you?”
Gallagher could tell that the tone of her voice did not exactly match her polite question.
Her attitude was screaming, Get the hell out of here you illiterate vandals!
But, he remained civil, too, at least on the exterior, “I’m Detective Gallagher of the Athens Police Department, I have a search warrant to examine Dr. Morgan’s files, both professional and personal and to impound any data we believe is pertinent to our investigation, Ms. Bretz.”
The secretary was stoic. “That would be fine, Detective Gallagher. It would have been nice for you to have called me first so I could prepare him for this in person. However, Dr. Morgan is not here at the moment.”
There was an icy chill in the air.
“Please, follow me into his office.”
Dutifully, the detective and the officers did just that. When they entered, Gallagher looked around the spacious area with its beautiful redwood veneer and hand-crafted antiques spread throughout the room.
He whistled when he saw the huge bookcase covering an entire wall and containing hundreds of tomes. Impressive, he thought.
Gallagher also noticed a sleeper sofa next to a portable dressing space. It sickened him.
“Where are Dr. Morgan’s files, Ms Bretz?”
The grand dame looked at him and answered truthfully, “There are no files at the moment, Detective. As I told you, Dr. Morgan is gone.”
Confused by her answer, he asked her in simpler terms, “Yeah, I realize he’s gone, But, he doesn’t take all his files with him whenever he leaves the room does he?”
She remained verbally firm with him, “Of course not. But, he does take them when he leaves for an extended period of time. So, he, and they, are absent at the moment.”
Translation: I am not voluntarily giving you a paper clip!
Now Gallagher was getting frustrated with her, “Well, when will he and they return, Ms. Bretz?”
She was icily smiling at him, which in southern dialect means she hated his guts at that moment, “When, he and they decide to return, Mr. Gallagher. Now, will you please excuse me, I have a lot of work to do. I will call you and inform you when you can come back and search to your heart’s content.”
Gallagher was fuming. But, he decided to hold his temper a few moments longer, “Uh, may I have a word with, a Ms. Anita Rigan?”
The frost was now forming on Ms. Bretz’s lips, “Ms. Rigan is no longer with us. She was part-time and we had to let her go yesterday. Is there anything else Mr.what was it, Gallanter?
”
“No, Gallagher, I guess as you get older the hearing gets harder, huh? Thank you for your time. You don’t show your age all that badly, for the most part.”
As he turned to leave he could feel her daggers in his back. He turned and looked at her one more time, “By the way, you wouldn’t happen to have Ms. Rigan’s home telephone number would you?”
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