Fred arranged for a meeting with the Reading division head, Louise Jones.
She was in her mid thirties, not particularly well dressed but at the same time not at all difficult to look at. She wore a bright green dress suit with a sharply contrasting royal blue blouse. She had on no jewelry; instead of dress shoes, her feet were graced by a pair of worn out tennis shoes. Fred noticed her big toe was trying hopelessly to find its way out through a large hole in her right shoe contained only by a few remaining stands of cotton. She was certainly trying to send some sort of a message, but Fred had no idea what it was. He thought, this is one really strange cookie.
“Miss Jones, I am Lieutenant Harris.”
“I know who you are.”
“I am investigating a murder case and I need to ask you a few questions.”
“Ask away!”
Ok, first of all, do you or have you ever worn the perfume Chanel Number 5?
“I never wear any perfume. I think it conflicts with the skin’s normal aroma and that can cause all sorts of physical problems. If it’s artificial I don’t believe in it, it’s as simple as that.”
Fred had never heard that one before but he continued, “What kind of car do you drive?”
“A Toyota Prius. It’s for sale, want to buy it? It only has 225,000 miles on it.”
“Not right now, thanks. Have you even met a man by the name of Harry Ford?”
“No. Should I have?”
Fred was highly intuitive and he could usually tell if a person was lying by their facial expressions and physical movements. But in this case, her caustic behavior provided a solid block that he couldn’t penetrate.
“Have you ever heard his name mentioned here at work?”
“No! Now, are you almost done?”
“No, I’m not! How close were you to the two division heads that were killed and the one that committed suicide?’
“They were men, weren’t they?”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that men see no place for women in this world. None of the division heads respect me; so why should I cry when they are murdered?”
“How do you feel about Mr. Schultz?”
“He’s a man, too, isn’t he?”
“But he hired you, didn’t he?”
The sound she emitted was not exactly a laugh. “Ha! Do you really believe that? Look, he didn’t hire me. His wife did. How do you think I was able to hire Ann Darby? It was only by getting the support of Julia.”
Fred found it interesting that Jones referred to Mrs. Schultz by her first name; and for the first time he realized that Mrs. Schultz was more involved in company operations than he had been led to believe.
“Do you think Mrs. Schultz will replace the male division heads that died with women?”
Miss Jones started to respond, and then paused. “You will have to ask Mrs. Schultz about that.”
“I will,” said Fred. “Other than yourself, do you know of anyone else who would have a grudge against the three division heads that were … that died?”
“I never said I had a grudge, it is just that they acted like they had a chip on their collective shoulders. And, no, I didn’t kill them, if that’s your next question.
“Lieutenant Harris, from what I have read, two of the division heads were killed by being in the wrong place at the wrong time; and the other one committed suicide. Is the media distorting the reality of what happened, or am I missing something completely?”
“No, Miss Jones, at this stage in the investigation what you read is correct. I am just trying to make sure that I have considered all the facts before I put the cases to bed.”
“Well, as I look at the facts they tell me that you are either trying to determine if I am a suspect, or you are trying to eliminate me as a suspect. I can easily deduce that you either considered the mass killings or the suicide an attempt by someone to create a setting of disinformation to mislead the police as to the real purpose of the killings. From your question about the perfume, it’s obvious that you suspect that a woman is associated with at least one of those killings. It’s also obvious that you are now searching for a reason for the killings, or in your police parlance, a motive. Lieutenant, please don’t attempt to treat me as if I am not an intelligent person because, make no mistake, I certainly am.
“Now,’ she continued, “I can also assume the reports I read in the media were either an attempt by the police to make the real killer feel safe, or they represent the actual police position on the matter. If they represent the official police position, then you are acting as a renegade in this investigation without the approval of your superiors. In fact, I suspect that you are out on your own in this investigation. I can go one step further. If you personally don’t believe there was a suicide, or you don’t believe those accused of the killing sprees were the brains behind the killings, then you must assume they were either hit men or were unduly influenced to commit their heinous acts.
“So, Lieutenant, please don’t play stupid games with me. I am correct in my hypothesis, am I not?”
Fred was mesmerized by the way this woman used selective facts to weave an accurate tapestry of truth. She was either a highly intelligent woman, knew more about the case than she was admitting to, or both. Fred had throughout his life taken pride in being a straight shooter. Responding within the boundaries of his value system, he chose to answer her directly and honestly. “Miss Jones, you are basically correct!”
For the first time she smiled, a modest smile to be exact, but nevertheless one that seemed to break her hard defensive barrier, at least for the moment.
Fred grabbed the opportunity. “Miss Jones, I have been straight with you, now I would like you to do me a favor.”
For the first time the hard lines in her face softened, she appeared conflicted, on one hand wanting to continue her battle against all of the world’s males, and on the other sincerely appreciating the opportunity to provide assistance.
“Ok, I guess. What is it?”
“You said you never wear perfume and I believe you. However, we both know some of your associates do. Can you please check around and advise me who does wear Chanel Number Five in the office?”
“Lieutenant, I told you I don’t wear perfume so how would I know what it smells like? One perfume smells the same as any other to me. Hell, for all I know it might be the fragrance of room deodorizer.”
“Miss Jones, I will buy you a bottle as my gift.”
Her smile widened and Fred observed a slight blush. “Lieutenant, you have a deal.”
“I have to ask you, Miss Jones. Since three of your peer division directors met an untimely death, don’t you now fear for your life as well?”
“To be honest, I haven’t thought about it very much. I guess I have a few enemies; they basically consist of all the males in the world. But beyond that, I don’t know who would be interested in killing me.”
Fred thought, either this woman has a strange sense of humor, or her view of the world is really disturbed.
“Miss Jones,” he asked, “is there anything in the work that your division does that might cause you to be a future victim?”
“I have five subordinates, all of whom are rather well adjusted and enjoy a relatively good relationship with me. I don’t consider any of them a threat. Beyond that I really don’t know of anyone who would be so pissed at me that they would want to end my life.”
“I know the basics of what your division is tasked to do,” Fred continued, “but I wonder if you can fill me in on a few more of the details?”
“It’s really simple,” she replied. “The Reading division has been assigned the task of facilitating the reading of people’s minds.”
“You use the word facilitate to make easier what you already are able to accomplish. Does that mean every one in your division has the ability to read minds now?”
“Of course, people who have studied ESP have known for decades that many people possess such
a capability, the problem is that it is not something that most people can turn on at will. One of our missions is to find a way to do that and also gain an understanding of what the brain’s hidden mechanism is to accomplish it.”
“Have you been able to do that?”
Miss Jones smiled. “Well, Lieutenant, actually, I like the combination of green and blue in my dress code. And I usually don’t wear these worn out tennis shoes; I was running late this morning, and it was all I could find this morning because I am terribly disorganized. I really don’t have a disturbed perception of the world; it is simply a component of my unusual sense of humor. And I am not a cookie, strange or otherwise!”
Smiling at Fred’s surprised look, she continued, “Well, how about it, Lieutenant? Can anyone in my division read another person’s mind?”
Fred should not have been surprised at Miss Jones’s capabilities. Everything he had witnessed during his exposure to AU had exceeded his wildest imagination. He started out believing that the entire company was a fraud, pretending it could accomplish things that it knew it could not. He now knew the company was for real, and its collective capability was frightening. He started to apologize.
“Miss Jones, if I upset you with—”
“—Forget it; first impressions do not bother me. With the capability that I have, I had to develop a very thick epidermis very early in life; otherwise I would be a nut case. Maybe that’s why I have such a sardonic wit; it’s basically a defensive mechanism. People can’t really help what they think; but normally a contrast exists between what people are thinking and what they are verbalizing. Fundamentally, I have found that most of the people that walk this earth are phonies. Once in awhile I do find that special person that speaks what he or she thinks; but believe me, it is a rare occasion.”
Just then Fred was interrupted by a call on his cell phone. He excused himself and walked out to the sidewalk to take the call.
“Yes?”
“Hi, Fred, this is Jim. I think it might be worth your while to return to the station. I may have some very interesting news concerning the investigation.”
After a quick good by to Miss Jones, Fred headed back to the station. On the way, he dropped by the drive-through at his favorite fast food restaurant. He ordered his tenth hamburger in a three day period; and as was his recent behavioral pattern, he gulped it down as he was driving to the station. His extended work hours rarely allowed him time for a nutritious meal; according to the station scales, he had gained seven pounds in the last month and he was certain it was not muscle mass. He had also missed several exercise sessions at the “Y.”
As he bounded up the steps of the station he noticed that he was feeling short of breath. I have to get these cases wrapped up, he said to himself, or I will go to a very early grave.
Fred found Jim in his office looking over some papers. Jim said, “Well, do you want the bad news first, or the questionable news?”
“Why don’t you start with the bad news and proceed on to the questionable news.”
“Okay, we found no one employed in AU who drives a gray Buick sedan.”
“I thought that was going to be too easy. Now, give me the worse news.”
“Well, this is interesting. I just got a call from the Gainesville police. They had been talking with the Ocala police and it turns out a body was found in a quarry in Ocala. It was a homicide. The body’s fingers had been cut off and all the teeth were also removed from the victim. Obviously, somebody was fearful that the person might be identified. It turns out the victim was found in a lake. The police in Ocala sent out some divers and they found a cement block with a rope dangling on the end. Somehow the body had come loose from the block and had risen to the surface.”
“What has that to do with us?”
“Fred, it might be our missing Mr. Ford.”
“Possibly, but at this point it would seem that we would have no way to identify the body.” Fred paused, and an optimistic thought lit up in his face. “Wait a minute, Jim; I’m going to get in touch with the coroner. Maybe with luck, there might be a way to determine who this individual was.”
Fred put in a call to the Ocala coroner. Fred explained the purpose of the call and asked if a DNA sample could be removed from the body.
“Of course,” the doctor said. “Do you think you might have a link to our unidentified corpse?”
“It’s possible. I’ll send out one of my men to pick up the sample.”
Fred hung up, and turning to Jim, he said, “Jim, let’s try to get a sample of Ford’s DNA from his trailer. I know there must be strands of his real hair somewhere in his place. Get someone to go to the Ocala coroner’s office to get the DNA sample they are holding. Then, get both samples to our ME’s office right away. Meanwhile, I have an important errand to do.”
“What’s that?”
“I have to pick up some perfume.”
“I bet your wife will be surprised.”
“Not really, it’s a bottle of Chanel Number 5 for the female division head I interviewed earlier, and it’s much too involved to discuss right now.”
“I bet it is!” Jim leered.
*
A little while later, Fred dropped in to see Miss Jones. “I have a present for you,” he said, as handed her a small bottle of Chanel Number 5. “If you like the scent, please put on the perfume, compliments of the Sarasota Police Department. In the meantime, please think about it and tell me who in the company may have used that same brand.”
Miss Jones blushed. “Thanks so much, Lieutenant, and I will definitely get back to you.”
*
A few strands of hair were found in Ford’s trailer. The DNA sample from the corpse had been delivered to the medical examiner’s office in Sarasota. A few days later when the comparison was completed, it was found to be a complete match! There was no doubt that the corpse in the Ocala quarry was that of the missing Mr. Ford.
*
Jim entered Fred’s office. Fred said, “I want you to hear this.” Fred contacted the Ocala coroner’s office and put the call on the speaker phone. He asked if the coroner had been able to determine how long the body had been in the quarry.
“Lieutenant, I am afraid that is a very hard question to answer. The best I can do is offer a very rough educated guess. As you well know, the speed of decay is a function of many variables including such factors as surface temperature, ground conditions, humidity; the amount of precipitation in the area, insects, degree of exposure to sunlight and the like. A body found in water is often preserved longer than one on the ground, but even there the temperature of the water is a major factor. I went out to the lake where the body was found and took a temperature reading. Strangely enough, the water in that lake is much cooler than in most other lakes in the area. Most likely that’s because of its great depth and the constant circulation it receives from the spring at its bottom. Beyond that, the person had spent some of the time anchored to the bottom of the lake where the water is the coldest. I would estimate, and mind you this is in a ballpark range, that he died over a week ago, but not more than a period of two weeks. We often use the body farm decay standard obtained from the University of Tennessee and compare it to the corpse that we have. However, since we have such a unique situation associated with this death, I have no more than a refined guess to go by. Sorry, but that is the best I can do.”
“Thanks, Doctor, that helps. As to the method of his death, you said death was caused by the insertion of a single blade into the heart?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“Would you say the person would have known something about physiology in order to execute the murder?”
“Probably, the selection of the weapon had to be precise in order to penetrate the correct area of the rib cage. Secondly, the fact it was a single blow, would lead me to the conclusion that the murder was premeditated. The murderer selected exactly the right type of narrow, long and extremely sharp knife for the chosen area of insertion.
The victim was killed immediately; the evidence points to the fact that the killer knew in advance that death would be instantaneous. If a murderer were acting in the heat of passion, he would probably have struck numerous blows, many of which would not have been fatal. This murder seemed to be very well planned. Oh, and one other thing; I believe the murderer was left handed.”
“How would you know that?”
“It’s based on the angle of insertion. The knife was inserted at a slight angle from left to right. It is possible a right handed person inserted the knife but he would have had to stab the victim from his backhand position. That would have been physically difficult and unnatural.”
Fred checked his calendar. The last murder associated with AU had taken place three weeks ago. However, Mr. Flynn’s “suicide” was less than a week ago. If the medical doctor’s determination of the time of death was correct, Ford could have been responsible for the first two murders, but not the last one.
After he hung up, Fred muttered, “Damn! I was so sure Ford was responsible for all three murders.”
Jim remarked, “Fred, you realize what this means if Ford was not responsible for the last murder, don’t you?”
“No, I’m not sure what you’re getting at, Jim.”
“Well you have to admit that the murder of the three division heads was most likely motivated by a single purpose. We don’t know what that purpose is, but we can be sure that all three died for the same unknown reason. It would make no sense that Ford was responsible for killing two of the division heads and not all three; that would be much too peculiar.”
Fred hadn’t yet put the pieces together. He was still processing the reality of Ford’s death in his mind. He had to admit that Jim was correct. Whatever Ford was, he was most likely not a murderer. Ford had contact with a lot of people that seemed to be involved in the case, but sometimes as a cigar is simply a cigar, a coincidence is just a coincidence. Fred had mocked Paul when Paul was sure that he had found questionable links with the murdered victims. Fred now realized he had done the same thing with his obsessive concentration on Ford.
Fred went to the blackboard. It was his preferred method of focusing. “Jim, I am going to put all the people down who might have been the murderer. Please give me a hand on the elimination process.”
Mind Switch Page 29
