Exponential

by JM Addison

  *

  Not even a suburban town like Bedford granted it’s detectives private offices. Dell Taylor was seated at his desk in the bullpen office area filling out reports and spending some time making calls trying to track down some burglary cases. He had a couple of officers out collecting some additional information from the victims while he worked with the collection of facts here at the office. Bedford was not big enough a police department to warrant separate divisions for vice, burglary and homicide. So the two detectives managed most of the cases while other officers were out gathering data and evidence as needed. When something more serious came along like a violent attack or even a murder, Dell got more closely involved. Without suffering through the red tape and bureaucracy which impeded some of the larger crime combating organizations, Bedford was surprisingly effective at solving it’s cases and Dell played a major role in that success.

  There was the occasional case where outside help was needed. Many times the state police were involved in a murder simply because of jurisdiction issues. However, there was a pretty positive spirit of cooperation among the Bedford police unit to view any outside involvement as ‘help’ and full mutual aid was often rendered. One area in particular that insured the success of the investigations was Dell’s willingness to use outside expertise whenever he needed. He knew his limitations and did not allow his pride to impede any of his research or exploration of a particular crime. Besides, the state had much better forensic analysis capabilities, so it was beneficial to maintain cooperation.

  Missing persons he found particularly interesting to solve. They were often baffling because you didn’t really know for sure if the person was actually ‘missing’ or instead, simply ‘hiding’ and did not especially want to be found. He reviewed the report filed by Randy over the weekend of the Chandler case. His initial feeling was that this ‘Chris’ character was indeed one of those cases where he wanted to be missing and nothing dangerous really happened to him. The sister that made the report was probably nervous or even scared and her anxiety was making her see things that just weren’t there.

  Jeni, the office clerk, leaned over his desk as she walked by and said softly, “There’s a Miss Chandler here to see you.” Dell checked his watch and thought that she was much later that he had expected. He glanced over at the counter from his seat at his desk and caught sight of her.

  He had to look again and then caught himself looking a little longer than he should, for she noticed him watching and she turned away slightly. She was rather petite and more attractive that he had expected. Sort of ‘cute’ in a way. Suddenly his attitude toward interviewing her improved.

  He caught Jeni’s attention and asked if the interrogation room was available. After finding out that it was, he invited Mara through the opening in the counter and introduced himself. “Welcome Ms. Chandler. Thank you so much for coming down here. You know you really didn’t need to, I would have been happy to drop by later.”

  Mara replied, “That’s quite alright. I really needed to talk to someone soon because more has happened since I came to file the original report over the weekend.”

  “I’m sorry Ms. Chandler, I didn’t even introduce myself – I’m Dell Taylor. Let me put you in here so we can talk.” He indicated a door, in fact, the same room she went to make her statement the last time she was here. “Can I get you anything to drink? Some coffee perhaps?”

  She was again anxious coming to the police to explain the events of last night. She didn’t think her stomach could take another round of police coffee. “No, thanks.” She replied.

  “I’ll be right back, just let me get your file and some of my notes. Have a seat here.” He indicated a chair at the lone table. She noted the unadorned nature of the room hadn’t changed.

  As he left, she sat and took a few breaths to settle down. She wanted to get the facts straight in her mind so she could accurately relate them. Determined as she was to get to the bottom of this, the police were in the best position now to help her. She was also a bit distracted by the detective. He had rugged good looks, about six one with dark wavy hair. A bit older than she, but young for what she would have stereotyped a detective – probably early thirties. But the most “distracting” thing was the deep green eyes. They seemed comforting yet attentively alert at the same time. They seemed to convey a feeling of strength about him. They began to make her feel quite at ease.

  He came back and sat down. He spread his notes and files out in front of himself and began by asking her why she wanted to come right away. She related the events of the previous night. The attack, the escape, the night in hiding, the fear that whoever made her brother disappear was attempting to make her disappear too. While she described her ordeal, she noticed that he was not really taking notes, but rather, sort of watching her with those pools of green. She wondered to herself what he saw. A madcap? Was he noticing her scratches and bruises? Why was he simply watching?

  When she finished, he thought for a moment and then wrote a few words in his notes. Then he asked, “Could there be any reason at all why your brother might not want anyone to know exactly where he is?”

  She didn’t like where this was going at all. “What do you mean ‘not want anyone to know’?” she sort of snapped back.

  He explained himself, “What I mean is, one of the most difficult things to determine whenever we investigate a missing persons case is whether the person is really missing or rather hiding and has only caused people to think he is missing. In more cases than not, people disappear because they want to and that makes this whole missing persons thing that much more difficult. In your case, I have to admit that that was my initial feeling. However, your story of last night’s events cast a different light on the whole thing.

  “I simply want to exclude any chance that he may have disappeared on his own and that last night’s attempt to harm you was only a coincidence. So I have to ask the question. Aside from all that you know and any theories you may have formed yourself, is there any reason at all you can think of that might make him want to go into hiding?”

  She felt tears well up in her eyes and she had to blink them back. She really hoped that the police would lead her to a positive solution to this whole thing. It was beginning to dawn on her that Chris was, in fact, quite likely dead. There was no other explanation for everything. Now, whoever it was put together enough of the pieces to determine she too was a threat that needed to be silenced as well. She simply felt completely helpless not knowing who or why.

  Now, here are the police still talking about him running away. No foul play, no murder. What the hell did they think she was doing here? “I’ve thought about it…” she began with an unsteady voice, “I actually came to the same conclusion myself at first, but then I realized that something bad must have happened. He would have contacted me by now if he could have. And since I appear to have become some sort of target, there has to be a connection.”

  She had to mentally restrain some of her emotion. She didn’t want to blow this interview by falling apart. She drew upon some of that grim determination to get to the bottom of this with or without the help of the police. “I have racked my brain. I simply cannot think of any reason for him to do this on purpose, nor can I even think of anyone who may want to hurt him.”

  Dell asked “Let me ask you another question. You said that one of the attackers had a cell phone with him. That he received a call. In fact, it was that call that gave you the opportunity to make your escape. Could you overhear any of the conversation? Even if only a word or two?”

  She thought for a moment trying to sort the moments clearly in her mind. “He said something about somebody not being too happy if they let me get away. Yes, now that I think about it, I pretty sure he said something like, ‘Red won’t be happy if she gets away’. I’m not sure if he was saying it into the phone or talking to one of the others. I guess I’m not sure if I heard it right, but I suppose ‘Red’ could be a nickname.” It was a detail that she h
adn’t thought of until now. Were there more that were buried in her own mind someplace?

  “After such a close call, I’m a little worried about your safety. Would there be someone you could stay with for a few days until we get this sorted out?” He was hoping she could find her own place to stay because, as concerned as he was, he didn’t want to spend the budget on providing police protection for her. He wasn’t sure if it was really essential at this point anyway.

  She thought for a moment and said, “I suppose I could stay with my mother for a few days, she lives just over in New Hampshire. But it would be a long drive to work.”

  “Perhaps you could take a few days off. Just get all this behind you. Let us try to find out what happened to your brother.” He said. Then going back to the questioning he went on: “Are there other details, perhaps the car they had you in, did you see anything inside? Did you notice anything peculiar about the car? The license tag would obviously be helpful.”

  Again, she sorted the moments in her mind. She remembered before the attack noticing the car but not paying close enough attention to it to read the license. All she could recall was that it was a large, late model sedan, in a dark color. She wasn’t one who paid much attention to car makes, but she would have guessed a Ford product. Perhaps a Marquis or Crown Victoria.

  He went over some more details, the descriptions of the two attackers, any details she could provide about the third man, the driver and such. Then his questions turned back to the incidents prior to the attack.

  “Let me ask you about Viiradium,” he said. “What exactly do you do there?”

  “I work as a supervisor in the human resources department. Our section deals with all of the details of hiring people as well as giving support to those who chose to leave the company or handling issues when someone is let go.”

  “Can you think of anyone who was terminated recently that might hold a grudge against the company and might be taking it out on you?”

  “Overall, there is not too much of that, occasionally though. We do a lot more hiring, especially now with the company’s success sort of going gangbusters. I can’t think of any recent terminations.”

  “What about the work your brother does? What does he do? Would someone at work have any reason to mistreat him? Was he liked by his co-workers? Tension among the department?”

  “I would have to say that Chris is really pretty likeable. He’s easy going, and generally cooperative with most people. He can be stubborn when he strongly disagrees with any issue, but I think that’s what contributes to his success.

  She went on, “As far as his work goes, he works with the product development staff to generate new products or improve on the old ones.”

  “What exactly are the ‘products’ Viiradium produces?”

  “The main focus is on computer security. Especially the secure transmission of information between computers. With most data now traversing the Internet, secure data transfer has become a very important concern. With computer and internet hacking only getting worse, Viiradium has been able to step in and improve the security of the communication we all rely upon. The company has had phenomenal growth, especially in the last six months or so. In fact, the success even surprised me a little. It was better than anyone expected as broadcast during the quarterly corporate status announcement that we just had.”

  “And what was Chris’ role in all this?”

  “Well, his main focus is in computer science. While at school, his minor was mathematics, so working with computer security and encryption was a perfect fit for him. He was relatively new but quite good with programming, especially when it came to math functions.”

  “So he worked with your programmers to create software to sell to customers?”

  “Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.”

  “Any reason you can think of that might be a cause of concern? Like sensitive customers or agreements to provide highly secure communication with contractors? Perhaps corporate espionage is a concern?”

  “I don’t think he really had anything to do directly with customers. He just worked with the development staff. You know, the department gets marching orders by some of the designers or the marketing group to produce or enhance security products. The work is broken into projects and assigned to teams. Chris serves on one of the development teams. That sort of thing.”

  “Well, perhaps Chris’ disappearance isn’t work related at all. Can you think of any other possible scenario that might raise any hint of suspicion?”

  “That’s just it! I’m baffled! After this much time, he would have contacted me if he could.”

  Dell made a few more notes to himself and made sure Mara had his number in case she did think of anything that might be significant. He saw her out and made sure she was going to stay with someone for a few days just as a precaution and returned to his desk to consider what to do next. He was a little worried. Was the attack on her and attempted abduction related to her brother’s disappearance? It had to be. He learned a long time ago that true coincidence was a rare animal indeed. Most things were, in fact, related in some way. He called the dispatcher and asked that the patrol duty officers make a couple of extra passes through her neighborhood during their shifts and be watchful of any suspicious activity. He wanted to portray calm and a sense of ease, so for her sake he didn’t show any of his concern during his meeting with her.

  He thought about the other mathematician that disappeared from Viiradium a while back. The state police got involved in that, but he didn’t think the case was ever solved. Could that be related as well? It was at least a possibility. He made a note to check into the progress of that case. He wondered if he would be able to scrape enough leads together to launch an investigation of Viiradium. He seriously doubted it. Investigating corporations was almost impossible from his standpoint. They really put up a smoke screen and a lot of red tape to impede any investigation or anything that might make them look bad, guilt or not. Investigation of corporate scandal was for crime fighting organizations with much more reach and resources that a small time force like Dell’s team.

  At a personal level, he found his meeting with her to be surprisingly distracting. It was a challenge not to simply sit an look at her. With her maiden name apparently intact, she at least wasn’t married. She was however, a bit on the young side so he assumed that she would be generally disinterested in him. One of the fundmental rules of investigations is that personal relationships with crime witnesses was a never a good idea. It would be difficult to remain completely objective during a serious investigation if he began having any sort of romantic feelings. So he shoved those thoughts aside and focused on the case.

  Although any sort of in-depth investigation of an organization like Viiradium was out of his league, he did have a few tricks he could play - If Mara would be willing to cooperate.