“That sounds like a plausible story, Matthew, but I’ll need to check out a few facts. In the meantime, I’m going to need you to come down to the station and make a formal statement.”
Detective Childs and the officers he had arranged to come arrived a few minutes later. Mihdí called Stephanie Plante, and Mihdí allowed Skefton to wait until she arrived before they took him in. He even allowed Skefton to serve a pair of customers who came in during that time. With waiting for Stephanie to arrive, then talking with her a bit, it was pushing noon by the time the detectives, officers, and Matthew finally arrived at the station. Mihdí had requested that Matthew come in of his own free will so he would not need to arrest him. He observed Kurt Childs take Matthew’s statement, then talked briefly to Skefton while the statement was being typed up for him to sign. The young man was obviously rattled, but Mihdí’s calming influence helped to keep him from freaking out too much. All told, dealing with Skefton took almost three hours. When it was all wrapped up, Mihdí had an officer drive Matthew back to the bookstore. Then he went out to get a bit of a snack to tide him over until dinnertime.
Mihdí was being perfectly honest in saying that Skefton’s story was plausible, but he recalled his conversation with Stephanie Plante, who thought he was capable of murder. Given the account given by Ahmad’s relative, Hamdi Sellimi, it did not seem that Matthew would have had time to do all of the graffiti while he was in the synagogue. But if he had come to the synagogue just after the rabbi had surprised and scared away a vandal, it looked to Mihdí that it would have been possible for him to find the candelabra and murder the rabbi, all in the name of finding a proper home for his church. He certainly was not yet ready to drop Skefton from his investigation.
Mihdí called Tammy Ornstein to verify that she was at work that day, then drove over to Midlothian to her office. She met him in the lobby and escorted him to a private conference room near the rear of the office.
When they were both seated, Mihdí said, “I had a chat with your friend, Judy, this morning.”
Tammy nodded, “Yes, she told me you were coming over.”
“I just need to clarify a few points that came up in my conversation with her.”
Tammy nodded again, but did not speak.
“She told me that Scott Craig had come to your office last Tuesday and tried to talk you out of getting engaged to Jacob. I need to ask about that because there are a number of discrepancies with what you told me when I first talked to you. Would you like to tell me what really happened this time?”
Tammy looked down and clasped and unclasped her hands nervously. Her breath was shallow and strained as if she was struggling to control it. She took a deep breath and lifted her head to face Mihdí.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about all that before. I was afraid that Scott might have done something bad, and I wanted to protect him.”
“Understandable, but it still counts as obstruction. Let’s clear it up now.”
“Jacob and I were going to announce our engagement last weekend. I knew Scott still had the idea that he and I would end up together eventually. Jacob thought that it would be considerate to give Scott a call to let him know ahead of time so he would be emotionally prepared for the public announcement. I called Scott on Tuesday morning and told him about it. He didn’t say much, but I could tell he was upset and angry. Actually, I knew before I called him that he’d be upset and angry. He has quite a temper sometimes.”
“I’ve heard that from others as well.”
“Anyway, I was glad I had done it, because I didn’t want to have to see him at services and get into it there. I had some meetings to prepare for in the afternoon, so I just concentrated on that and put Scott out of my mind. But then he showed up here a little after noon. I think I told you I had meetings from noon on, but they actually only started at 1:00 p.m. I didn’t really want to talk to Scott, but he didn’t give me much choice. I didn’t want to make it easy for him by going into a conference room or something, and honestly, I was a bit afraid of what he might say if we were alone, so we just stayed at my desk. He talked to me for quite a while, telling me that he still loved me and that he wanted me to reconsider marrying Jacob. He said he thought I wouldn’t be happy and that he could make me happier. He even brought up a few stories about when we were younger and some of the fun times we had. I do like Scott, and we have had lots of good times together. We laughed at some of the stories, and I even told a few of my own.
“But after we had talked maybe half an hour, I told him quite clearly that I was still going to marry Jacob. He sort of begged me a little bit, but I didn’t budge. After a while, he started to get angry. It wasn’t too bad at first, but when I tried to get him to calm down, that just made him angrier. Eventually, he was yelling at me and swearing and calling me and Jacob names.”
She paused for a moment. “He said he’d kill Jacob. Of course, I didn’t believe him. He’s threatened to kill just about everybody he knows at one time or another, including me. It’s just something he says, you know? One of the other people here called security because of the uproar. But after he blew his stack at me, Scott stormed out of the office. I don’t know what he did then, but he was angrier than I had ever seen him.”
“Did you talk to him again that day?”
“No, I didn’t see him, and he didn’t call after that. I certainly wasn’t going to call him. But he called me at home on Wednesday morning. He asked if I had heard about Jacob, which I had—Jacob’s mother had called me Tuesday night, after the police had contacted her about it. He told me he was the one who discovered Jacob at the synagogue. Then he said that he was worried that the police would misinterpret his outburst and think that he had done it. He asked me to say I hadn’t talked to him for a while. Scott’s not capable of killing anybody, so I believed him. I didn’t want to lie, but I knew it wouldn’t look good for him, so I agreed.”
Mihdí waited a while before speaking, to see if she had more to say. When it was clear she had finished, he said, “Thank you for giving me all of that information. Things would have been far easier if I had known these details when I first talked to you. If Scott is innocent, as you believe, the facts will clear him. If he’s guilty, you will be charged with obstruction of justice. Do you understand?”
Tammy nodded her understanding and began to cry.
“I’ll take my leave, Ms. Ornstein. Please give me a call if you think of anything else that you think has any bearing on this case. I would appreciate it if you would keep our conversation entirely to yourself, and I would particularly ask you not to talk to Scott Craig until I have a chance to interview him.”
She nodded and was still sobbing quietly as he left the conference room and made his way out of the office to his car.
It was coming up on 5:00 by the time Mihdí got back to the office. He still needed to verify Matthew Skefton’s story. Skefton’s minister, Rev Elijah Crestwood, had given Mihdí his cell number, so Mihdí gave him a call.
“Crestwood,” the voice on the other end said. “Who is this?”
“It’s Detective Montgomery, pastor. I wondered if you could answer a few quick questions.”
“I’m at work, Detective, but if it doesn’t take too long, it shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Great, thank you. I was speaking to Matthew Skefton earlier today, and he said that the church was hoping to move to a new location. Do I have that right?”
“Yes, sir,” the minister responded. “We have a storefront church in Romeoville which we’re starting to outgrow. We’re not desperate, but we would love to find the right place. If we expand much more, we will definitely need a larger building.”
“Would you consider moving the church to Pine Bluff?” Mihdí followed up.
“Oh, yes. That would be great. We have a few members from Pine Bluff itself, plus we have a number of people that come from east of there, and that would reduce their trips.”
“Did the subject of the Beth Shalom
synagogue building ever come up between you and Matthew?”
“Now that you mention it, yes. He said there was a synagogue near the store where he works. He said he hadn’t been inside but that it looked like it might be a good location for our church, if the Jews happened to leave. Matthew told me a few weeks ago that he was going to try to get over there and see it so he could tell me more.”
“Did he report back that he had done so?”
“No. I assume he hasn’t had a chance to get over there yet.”
Mihdí thanked Crestwood for the information and ended the call.
Kurt Childs was in the office, so Mihdí went to his desk to talk things over. He told Childs all of the developments related to Scott Craig and asked his thoughts about him.
“Well, that all does seem to add up to something, doesn’t it? But his ex said she didn’t think he was capable of murder, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Doesn’t mean much, of course. Nobody seems capable of murder until they actually do it.”
“That was my thought, too. You’ve spoken to him. Do you think he’s likely to be a flight risk or to do something else violent or dangerous?”
“He might, if he gets angry. You said he’s a bit prone, right? Personally, I’d worry about leaving him another day. Do you want me to have him brought in?”
Mihdí thought it over for a minute, then said, “No, I think not. I don’t know that there’s anybody else left for him to be that angry with. I told Tammy Ornstein not to talk to him. I’d like to know more about his movements and such after he talked to her last Tuesday before I confront him, but I don’t know if that’s going to be possible. He seems to be carrying on pretty normally for now. I think it can wait for tomorrow.”
“Your decision, boss. I hope you’re right.”
Mihdí went back to his office, shut down his computer, grabbed his coat, and left for the day.
After the kids had gone to bed that night, Mihdí was completely distracted by his case, but he sat in the living room attempting to read while Andrea worked at the computer.
Andrea broke the brief silence. “I just got an e-mail from Brenda. She has agreed to be the Bahá’í reader at the Interfaith Thanksgiving service tomorrow.”
“Oh, that’s good,” Mihdí said. “I did it last year, didn’t I?”
“Yes,” Andrea replied. “And the year before as well, I think. I knew you didn’t want to do it again, and I’ve done it a few times myself, so the Assembly asked Brenda to do it this time. She seems happy to have been asked.”
“That’s great,” Mihdí said. “I’m sure she’ll do a good job.”
They settled into silence again for a few minutes.
She asked him, “Are you going to be able to go with us to Mom and Dad’s for Thanksgiving on Thursday, honey?” she asked Mihdí.
“I really don’t know,” he said. “I’m not sure there’s much of anything I can do on Thanksgiving to move this case along, but if I don’t get a break pretty soon, it feels like it might slip through my fingers completely. I don’t really know where to go from here.”
“You should pray about it,” his wife said. “Just open your heart to God, and let Him give you guidance. The worst thing that could happen is that you’ll be in the same place you are now.”
“That’s a good idea, sweetheart. I’m going to go into the family room and give it a go.”
Mihdí put a cushion on the floor, sat down, leaned against the couch, and read some prayers from his Bahá’í prayer book. Then he tried to clear his mind and open himself up to God’s guidance. Mihdí didn’t think of himself as being “good at prayer.” He prayed every day and always felt that it was a good use of his time, and he usually felt that his prayers were answered in subtle ways that he was able to recognize after a few hours, days, or years had passed. Sometimes he wished God would take more of a direct approach to answering his prayers, but on this night, he was so unsettled he felt that even subtle guidance was better than none. He concentrated first on his breathing, then repeated a phrase from one of the prayers over and over in his mind: “O God, guide me.” His main concern was to get away from conscious thought about the case. He wanted to clear the slate so God could write on it if He so chose. Whenever a thought came into his head, he tried to just notice it and return to his repeated phrase.
After about twenty minutes, a new thought came into Mihdí’s head: “Why now?” It was a very simple thought, just a little question, but it seemed in his mind as if it were related to the case. Mihdí noticed the thought and acknowledged it, then returned to repeating the phrase. But this time, the thought did not go away. He decided this was a signal that his concentration had reached its limit, and he got up.
Andrea had gone to bed, so he went up and joined her there.
She was still awake, reading a book. “How did it go, sweet thing?” she asked.
“I’m not sure,” Mihdí said as he undressed and got ready for bed. “I’ll think about it more in the morning.”
She was used to him keeping things to himself, so she didn’t press it.
Mihdí got into bed and immediately felt his eyelids grow heavy as he lay down against his pillow. The room was quiet, and the sound of Andrea turning a page every so often was relaxing, so he was soon asleep.
Wednesday, Day 8
In the morning, as they got ready for the day, Andrea asked Mihdí again about his experience with asking God for assistance the night before. “Do you feel any different now?”
He told her about the thought that had come into his head: “Why now?”
“Do you have any idea what it means?” she asked him.
Mihdí finished tying his tie and putting on the jacket of his dark suit before answering. “Well, it’s usually a good question to ask in an investigation and one I haven’t yet focused on this time,” he replied. “If this was premeditated murder—or even if it wasn’t, I guess—there may be some reason why it happened when it did and not a week or month before or after. I think it might be worth having another consultation session about it.”
“Or even just thinking about it on your own,” she suggested. “In any case, it seems like there’s at least a possibility that it could be an answer to your prayer, so don’t ignore it.”
Mihdí was slightly irritated that she would think he might, but he just forced a smile and said, “I won’t, honey. I’ll work on it today.”
When Mihdí arrived at Pine Bluff Police Headquarters, he went to the briefing room, where the morning briefing was just breaking up. He located Beth Carr, Kurt Childs, and Greg Victor and beckoned them to join him.
“Do you all have a minute?”
“Yeah, of course, Mihdí. What’s up?”
“Do you still remember most of the details of the consultation we had the other day about the rabbi’s murder? That’s the case where you were looking at the brain map on my computer, Greg.”
“Mind like a steel trap, Detective,” said Beth Carr, as the others nodded.
“I don’t want to tell you why I’m asking, I just want you to consider a question.”
“OK,” said Beth. “You’re nothing if not mysterious, Detective.”
“If the most important question in this case was, ‘Why now?’, who would you think of as the prime suspect?”
Beth was intrigued. “Interesting. Let me think a second. There are the four guys: the bookstore guy, the ex, the real estate guy, and the Muslim coffee guy, right?”
Kurt Childs broke in, “Nah, Ahmad Muhammad had nothing to do with it. I’d stake my reputation on it.”
Mihdí chuckled. “I agree. You’ve always considered him as a possible suspect, but I’ve never thought so, and I still don’t. The fourth one is the skinhead guy, Brent Wiegand.”
“Oh, yeah.” After a few more moments of thought, she said, “I can only really talk about three of them. We didn’t know much about the ex—uh, Craig wasn’t it? So I can’t really say anything about him. B
ut of the three I know something about, I’d say that Charlie guy, the real estate dude, has a clear motive. He could make a lot of money from this, and there was some time pressure on that deal, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right. Kurt and Greg, what do you think?”
Greg Victor said, “From what I remember, it seemed like most of the questions in the case were about the ex-boyfriend. I’d vote for him.”
“You’re right about that,” Kurt said. “And I don’t know everything you’ve found out about him since then, Mihdí, so I’d agree with Greg on that. But since you asked specifically about the question ‘Why now?’, I’d lean more towards Richardson.”
“That was my conclusion as well, but I wanted to consult with others about it, because it’s easy to get lost in a sea of facts.”
“Have you gotten any new information that damages his alibi?” Kurt asked.
Mihdí shook his head, “Nope, nothing. It would be a stretch to see how he could have done it. I just wanted to explore that particular question a bit more.”
“So, what’s this about?” Beth asked. “Do you have some new evidence or something that makes you want to focus on that question?”
“Let’s just say your help could be an answer to prayer.” Mihdí smiled enigmatically and left the three of them with puzzled looks on their faces.
With the next day being Thanksgiving, Mihdí thought he should work through quite a few leads before the holiday made too many people unavailable. He wanted to talk again to Brent Wiegand. And, while he didn’t have any good explanation available for how Charlie Richardson could have been involved in the murder, he thought it wouldn’t hurt to talk to him again, particularly given the others’ response to the question from his prayer.
But he knew he definitely needed to talk to Scott Craig, so he called Craig’s cell phone and got a very sleepy “Hello?” in response. It turned out that Scott had taken the day off and was leaving around noon to visit his parents in Rockford for the Thanksgiving holiday. Mihdí arranged to come to Craig’s house at 11:00.
Consulting Detective Page 14
