The Ensigns of Detection Ch. 03

"An office with a door that closes and locks." I replied. "And if you two keep doing the good job you've been doing, you'll have offices like that and SUVs like this one. I might even give you Captain Ross's SUV; she never uses it." A blue crowbar was waved in my general direction.

"Sir," said Parker with a teasing grin, "who are we going to get to replace Diana in MCD, since she's in Vice now?"

"Whaaa?" Diana gasped, looking over at Parker as if he'd lost his mind. I laughed, and even Cindy got a chuckle out of that.

"Time will tell." I said as I pulled into the Grayson's driveway. "Time will tell. Okay guys, here we are. Parker, you'll be with me interviewing Dr. Grayson; let me take the lead in asking the questions. Torres, you're with Captain Ross, and do the same in letting her take the lead in talking with Mrs. Grayson."

We were admitted into the house by Mrs. Grayson's mother, a woman about my mother's age with a polite manner but a commanding disposition if she wanted to show it. I instantly felt the vibe in the air, a chill, a formality about the house, and Dr. Grayson's mother-in-law was a part of it. I could see that Cindy had felt it too.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Hello, Mrs. Grayson," said Cindy as she entered Mrs. Grayson's bedroom on the second floor. "This is Detective Torres. Are you able to answer some questions?"

"Sure." said Mrs. Grayson. "If I had known you were coming, I would've insisted upon getting dressed to receive you. My mother means well, but she overdoes the insistence that I rest."

"I understand." said Cindy. "Let me first show you a couple of photos. One is made to look like he's wearing a mask, and then I'll show a full face. Does this look like one of the men that attacked you?"

Mrs. Grayson looked at the photo of the 'masked' man, and shook her head. "No, not that I can really remember."

"Okay, that's fine." said Cindy. "How about this man? Do you know him at all? Have you ever seen him?" She showed the full face photo of Michael Fulton.

"No, I don't recall ever seeing him before." said Mrs. Grayson. "Do you think he was... one of the attackers?"

"We don't know." Cindy said. "He was found dead near BigPharmaCorp's property. It's just routine for us to check any possibilities, however small, that they might be related events. I'm sure you've heard about Dr. Wilkins, also?"

"Oh, yes." said Mrs. Grayson. "He killed himself? That's just so sad..."

"Tell me," said Cindy, "how well did you know Dr. Wilkins and his wife?"

"Fairly well." said Mrs. Grayson. "He and my husband are colleagues at BigPharmaCorp, of course. We saw them at all the company events, and things like that."

"Were you close?" Cindy asked. "Did you and your husband socialize with the Wilkinses, have dinner together, things like that?"

"Oh no, nothing like that." said Mrs. Grayson. "Dr. Wilkins, he was a gentleman, very nice man. But his wife... she was... it's hard to describe... I don't want this to sound snotty, but she just wasn't our type of person. She wasn't a very smart person, she couldn't really keep up with the conversations that our husbands had, or even what most of us other ladies were discussing."

"I see. Did the Wilkinses get along with each other? Did they look like a happy couple?" Cindy asked.

"Yes, I think so." said Mrs. Grayson. "They stayed together during company events, as if he felt he needed to stay with her."

"Stay with her?" Cindy asked. "Out of a medical need? Just comfortable with each other? Or jealousy?"

"Possibly the latter." said Mrs. Grayson. "Again, I don't want to sound bad here, but Mrs. Wilkins had a lot of people fooled. I'm sure her Baptist Church ladies club and Pastor Westboro would be stunned to know some of the truths about her."

"What truths would those be?" Cindy asked.

"The kind that I can't prove and could get me in trouble if I said them to a Police Officer as if they were fact." said Mrs. Grayson. "In other words, I don't think it would be appropriate to say. All I will tell you is that old adage of 'follow the money'."

Cindy decided to change the line of questioning. "Did you and your husband have other friends from the company?"

"A few." said Mrs. Grayson. "Mostly those who also live in this Country Club community, though, the ones I played tennis with. Robin tried to have us socialize with Donovan Donolan and his wife Trish when he was CEO, but they were a strange couple and that didn't really work out. Lucy Cubbard, that's Tom Cubbard's wife, was friends with Trish Donolan, and Robin set it up for me to play tennis with Lucy several times, but she works at BigPharmaCorp herself, so I don't see her a lot."

"Mrs. Grayson," said Cindy, her voice changing inflection slightly, "I'm now going to have to ask you some questions that may be tough, and are very personal in nature."

"About my husband?" Mrs. Grayson asked.

"Some are." Cindy said. "First, you've said before that you believe your husband was having an affair or affairs in the past?"

Mrs. Grayson's face darkened. "I don't just believe it, I know it."

"Do you know with whom he was having these affairs?" Cindy asked.

"No." said Mrs. Grayson. "I don't know their names, anyway. There was this woman a few months ago, she gave a cooking class for people at BigPharmaCorp; they sponsor things like that for their employees. Robin likes to cook, so he went to the class, and not long afterwards I was told that Robin and that woman were seen together in Town."

"Who told you that?" Cindy asked. Mrs. Grayson looked as if she were struggling to get the answer out. "Take it easy, take your time." Cindy said. "It's okay."

"It... it was Dr. Wilkins that told me." Mrs. Grayson said. "He said Robin was acting like a lost puppy dog, and it was affecting his work. Wilkins was also a very straight-laced guy, really honest. He wouldn't brook any malfeasance from his employees, and I would imagine he didn't appreciate Robin's public infidelity or the plagues it was bringing into their work environment."

Cindy asked "Mrs. Grayson, I have to say this: it is very unusual for a man to just tell another man's wife that the husband is having that kind of affair. Usually the snitch would have an ulterior motive for his actions. So I have to ask if you know why Dr. Wilkins would come to you like that? Did you ask him? What brought that out?"

Mrs. Grayson said "It's not the first time I've suspected something. Lucy Cubbard seemed to be very friendly with Robin, and that bothered me and Dr. Wilkins. We both were worried about Robin's career and Dr. Wilkins's career if something were going on and Tom Cubbard found out."

"But there was also another woman that Robin was talking to at the Labor Day weekend picnic." continued Mrs. Grayson. "I asked Dr. Wilkins who the woman was, and he said he didn't know her; he didn't think she was a company employee. She had brown hair, glasses, not that tall. She was wearing high heels, and... I have to admit... she had great legs."

"Have you seen her anywhere else, at any other time?" Cindy asked.

"Just once." said Mrs. Grayson. "At the Fourth of July race. She was wearing a shawl, and she was sitting with your Commander Troy and his baby daughter. And then this old man with white hair came up to them... you know, that older man looks a lot like you, Captain Ross..."

It took every bit of Cindy's considerable will power to keep her face from showing anything. She merely said "I'm going to ask Commander Troy to ask you more about that woman, if that's okay with you."

"Sure." said Mrs. Grayson. "By the way, I asked the Commander to investigate Robin's infidelities. When is he going to tell me the truth, the things that he knows to be true?"

Cindy got up, about to leave. "Mrs. Grayson, as I told you... men don't tell other men's wives about infidelities... unless they have ulterior motive. Are you sure you don't want to tell me why Dr. Wilkins told you?"

Mrs. Grayson looked into the ice-blue eyes of the Police Captain. "Like I said, he was of a pious nature."

Cindy then said "Mrs. Grayson, have you cheated on your husband at any time in the recent past?"

Mrs. Grayson's face turned cold. "As this is a formal police inquiry, I refuse to answer that question." Cindy did not press it, but motioned to Detective Torres to go.

"Captain Ross," Mrs. Grayson called out. As Cindy turned back, the woman said "I know that you are a... friend... of Jenna Stiles. Please tell her... I understand what she is going through, and if she needs someone to talk to..." She did not need to finish the sentence.

"Thank you. I'll tell her." Cindy replied. "It might be good for both of you if you talk together. And maybe Dr. Fredricson can have you meet and work with both of you."

"Dr. Fredricson..." mused Mrs. Grayson. "Oh yes... how in the world did your Police Commander manage to sweep her off her feet?"

Cindy said nothing, but simply smiled as she turned and left the room...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Hello, Dr. Grayson." I said, entering the study of the home. It was not the room where the attack had occurred. I could see that the man was haggard, needed sleep, and probably could've used a drink or two... or three or four...

"Hello Commander." he said, his voice empty.

"Why don't you come sit on this sofa, and get comfortable." I said, drawing him out from behind his desk. This way I could see him better, see his hands, and also take away the natural dominant position of being the one behind the desk.

He sat on the sofa and I sat on the other side of it as Detective Parker sat in a nearby chair. I introduced Parker, then said to Grayson "Things not going well?"

"No." said Dr. Grayson. "Not at all. I've been kicked out of the bedroom. We've told the kids that their mom got sick and needs to rest. They're young enough they don't really understand. Right now, I'm begging my wife to stay together for the sake of the kids, but I don't know if even that will work..."

"I'm sorry to hear that." I said. "I need to ask you some questions, Doctor. First, you worked with Dr. Laramie Wilkins?"

"Yes." said Grayson. "He was my boss at BigPharmaCorp, of course."

"How well did you and he get along?" I asked.

"We had a good, professional relationship." Grayson replied. "I would not say we were personal friends, though."

"Were there personal problems between you and him?" I asked.

Grayson contemplated, then said "For years, we got along just fine. And even recently there was nothing outright, we didn't argue or anything. But he... he knew that I was dating Emma Washburn. He told me I needed to break it off, and I told him that it was my personal business. He didn't mention it again, but after that things were... polite and professional, but nothing more, and things were very cool otherwise."

"Did he take any actions against you at work? Cut off any funding? Try to get you demoted or moved out of your position?"

"No." said Grayson. "I was way too valuable to him, and to the company. I have patents that they license, and I'm putting in place some of the processes for their new drugs. If they'd done anything to me then, and I'd resigned and left... well, it wouldn't be the end of the world for them, but it would set them back. Besides, Dr. Cubbard liked the research I was doing, and would not have followed any advice by Dr. Wilkins to can me."

"Let me ask about your research." I said. "Not the details or anything, but in general. I know you had done that refined heroin research in the past. Did you do any of that while at BigPharmaCorp?"

"In my first years with the company," said Grayson, "I did some work along those lines. But the actual college research was the property of the School, and the professor that I studied under had patents for some of those processes, so I didn't really do much with it. I began doing research on multi-step chiral center blocks, to convert one drug into another, which was far more absorbing to me."

"Did anyone else work on any of your original research, the refining of drugs, stuff like that?" I asked.

"If anyone did, I'm not aware of it." said Dr. Grayson. "Of course my old professor at School might've done more with other students that subsequently came to BigPharmaCorp, but I have no knowledge of that."

"Did you ever do any work for the Government?" I asked. "And I have a Top Secret clearance, so don't hold back on that account."

"No, I never did." Grayson said. "I don't think any of that went on or goes on at our plant here in Town. We're not that secure, for one thing. But we have a smaller facility and research lab in Pennsylvania, which is incredibly tight with security. I don't know what goes on there... but I would not be surprised if things are going on there."

"So they might be working with your old research in that lab, and you'd not know about it?" I asked.

"Uh... I never thought about that," replied Grayson, "but no, I wouldn't know about it if they were doing that work at that secure facility."

"So were there any other issues that, to your knowledge, were bothering Dr. Wilkins?" I asked.

"Not that I know of." said Grayson. "Of course, he and I had stopped speaking except when we needed to for business to get done, so he wouldn't have confided in me. But he did not seem bothered or disturbed about anything, and no one else came to me and said anything was bothering him."

"Okay, Dr. Grayson," I said, "this is the part that gets harder. Besides Emma, did you have sexual affairs with anyone else, especially in the last two years?"

Grayson winced, exhaled, then said "Yes. I've had several relationships. Emma was the only one that was serious. Look, let me just tell you everything, get it out." I nodded.

Grayson started: "Excuse my language here, but my wife is a cold, frigid bitch. We only had sex during her fertile periods so that she could get pregnant. I loved her when I married her, but the frustration of our marriage got so bad that I had to either turn to drink, or I had to find 'relief' with... with other women."

Grayson continued: "Most of the relationships were only physical in nature. Buy a woman dinner, take her to bed, go home to the wife and kids. Then came Emma. She was different, she made my blood boil, and I fell head-over-heels madly in love with her. But I felt the obligation to my kids, and Emma had told me that I shouldn't leave my family for her..."

"I understand." I said. "So Dr. Wilkins knew of your affair with Emma?"

"Yes."

"Did he know of any of the others?"

"Not that I know of, or at least he didn't mention that he knew of any others."

"Let me clarify that: he didn't mention anyone else, or ask you to break it off with anyone else? Only Emma..."

"That is correct."

Just then there was a knock on the door. Cindy looked in, then asked if I could come outside for a moment. I did. In the hallway, Cindy asked me to ask Dr. Grayson something. I would imagine my eyes were very wide with surprise at her words.

I went back in the room, with Cindy following, took out my iPhone and brought up a picture. "Dr. Grayson, is this one of the women you 'dated'?"

Dr. Grayson looked at the photo and gasped. He looked up at me in total shock, the shock that I knew. "I... I'm not sure I should answer that at this time." he said.

"Good enough." I said. "Captain Ross, if you have any questions, now is the time to ask them. I'll go upstairs and talk to Mrs. Grayson. I'm sorry, Dr. Grayson, but it looks like my efforts to help you regarding Ms. Washburn have been to no avail. Your wife knows, and the genie cannot be put back in the bottle. If you'll excuse me..." With that, I left the room.

Going upstairs, I knocked on the door to Mrs. Grayson's room and was admitted, followed by Detective Torres. I showed Diana the picture, then came up to Mrs. Grayson. "Hello Mrs. Grayson." I said. "I have one question that I must ask." I showed her the picture. "Is this the woman you told Captain Ross you saw?"

"Oh my God, yes it is!" gasped Mrs. Grayson, looking at me as if I'd performed a magic trick. "How did you know to have that picture?"

"Well, that's a different story." I said. "Allow me to put on these reading glasses..." I put the glasses on. Mrs. Grayson looked up into my face, and understood.

"Oh my God, is this for real?" she asked, stunned.

"Yes ma'am." I said. "And this goes a long, long way to explaining some aspects of these crimes involving the attack upon you, the death of Dr. Wilkins... and the theft of a drug and the arson of an apartment building. Thank you for your cooperation, ma'am. I hope you and your husband can work things out... for the sake of your children. Have a good day." With that, I left a very stunned woman and exited the room.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"I'm Detective Martin Nash, and this is Patrolman Phil Goodwright." said Martin Nash. "We understand you made a missing person report?"

"Oh, yes, yes I did." said the manager of the Publix. "One of our employees didn't come to work yesterday. We called you Police then."

"Yes sir," said Nash. "We went by his home address but he wasn't there, and we put out an APB on his car. Unfortunately, we can't do much more for 24 hours, but since you called again, we'll find out what we can and then work with the FBI to see what we can do to locate him."

"Oh, I see." said the manager, who was leading them into the employees areas and the offices. "Well, his name is Mike Campbell. Been with us four years, never missed a day unless he called in, and that was pretty rare. He worked in the meat department; he was our best butcher, really good with the knives, too."

"Can you describe him?"

"Yeah, big man, powerfully built, had black hair, trimmed mustache and thin beard, not quite a goatee, though."

"Did he look like this?" Nash said, bringing out his Police iPhone and showing a picture.

"Yeah, that's him!" the manager said. "So y'all found out more about him than you were letting on."

"Actually sir," said Nash, "we came across his name in connection with another case. Let me ask you a couple of questions, if I may."

"Sure." said the manager.

"Did Mike here have any issues with other employees?"

"Naw, he was pretty quiet, kept to himself, and of course nobody wants to mess with a man who uses knives to carve up meat for a living." the manager said, chuckling at his own joke. Nash and Goodwright remained serious, and the man's chuckling dropped off. "No, he had no problems with anyone, that I was aware of, anyway."

"Did he have any money problems you're aware of? Did he ask for loans or advances against his paycheck?"

"Naw, never, nothing like that." said the manager.

"Did he drink? Come to work drunk?"

"Oh hell no." said the manager. "And if he had, I'd have had to say something, because the way he used knives... he could hurt himself if he wasn't in full control of himself, if you know what I mean."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Hello Mrs. Wilkins, my name is Detective Cummings." said the lovely Joanne Cummings.

"Come on inside, dear." said Mrs. Wilkins. "There is so much food and drink here from my friends of the church, would you care for something?"

"Thank you, ma'am, but I'm fine." said Joanne. "Would this be a good time for us to talk. Would you be up to it?"

"Yes, I guess so." said Mrs. Wilkins. "I was told there would be some kind of 'inquest' about my husband's death. What does that mean?"

"First, let me introduce Officer Morton, who is helping me today." Joanne said, introducing Sr. Patrolman Chet Morton. He nodded to Mrs. Wilkins.

"What the Coroner's Inquest is about," said Joanne, "is that evidence has been found that the Coroner needs to be examined further, and that your husband's passing may not be a suicide... but murder."