Mind Switch (40 page)

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.”

First on the list was Mr. Schultz himself. “Okay,” Fred said, “Could Schultz have a motive?”

Jim said, “You know a lot more than I do about him, but what would be his purpose? If he didn’t like a division head he could simply fire him. He is the 800 pound gorilla in the company.”

“Yes, I agree,” said Fred. “Next, how about Mrs. Schultz? She has been much more involved in the business than I ever realized. She seems to be quite intent on promoting females to replace the male division heads that have been killed.”

“Fred, why couldn’t she simply tell her husband to fire male division heads?”

“Maybe it’s because Mr. Schultz wouldn’t comply with her wishes. Mr. Schultz hired all but one of the division heads and he certainly had something at stake in keeping them. Besides that, whoever killed Flynn was most likely wearing Chanel Number Five; and Mrs. Schultz also wears that same brand of perfume. I have to include her as a possible suspect, although I would be the first to agree that the probability is highly remote.”

Fred started to move to the next suspect and was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the AU receptionist, Donna Lang. “Lieutenant, I have something to tell you. I’m afraid my life is in great danger!”

Chapter 65

Fred ushered Donna into the conference room. He knew she had seen the names on his office blackboard, and it would not take an Einstein to deduce what their presence meant.

“Okay, Donna, what is this all about?”

“I’m not sure if I can explain it, but in the past month I’ve been feeling as if someone or something is invading my mind. I know that sounds crazy, but that’s exactly how I feel. Worse yet, I seem to have no control over what happens to me.”

Recalling Schultz’s description of a mental invader, Fred thought that Donna’s story sounded very familiar.

“Please go on, Donna!”

“Well, can you do something? Can you lock this person up?”

“Donna, do you know who it is?”

“I think so, but I’m not entirely sure.

“About a week ago I went into Mr. Schultz’s office to put away some files as he told me to do. He keeps that office locked at all times, the only people authorized to have a key are the division heads and me. Well, anyway, when I unlocked the door to his office I heard a sound. As you know, there are no windows in the office; and since I hadn’t yet turned the lights on, I couldn’t see anything. As I reached to turn the light on, someone pushed me, and I fell down on the floor. Then I heard the door slam shut. I got up immediately and looked down the hall. All I saw was a woman wearing black slacks and a brown blouse. Now, Lieutenant, I don’t know if you know anything about fashion; but those colors just aren’t fashionable at all. In fact, if you look at the color wheel, they really don’t fit together.”

Fred could hardly hold back his laughter. Here was a woman desperately afraid for her life and she was taking precious time out to give him a fashion lesson.

“Donna, please,” he urged, “go on with your story.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. At any rate I was very mad. Whoever was in that room was not allowed to be there, I am sure, as Mr. Schultz’s exact rules were that only certain people are allowed in the room. He is very definite about that rule.”

“Yes, please go on.”

“Well I ran after her and she went into the Reading Division. And by the way, I think they should change their name to something else; I never even saw a book in that division.”

“I’ll immediately pass your recommendation on to Mr. Schultz. Now please try to stick to your story.”

“I certainly do appreciate it; no one ever listens to my recommendations. But when a police person makes the recommendation, well, then things might change around there. Anyway, when I entered the division, there was no sign of her at all. But unless Miss Jones, the division head, had guests in her division, and I never signed in any guests that morning, well, the only other person it could be was Debra Black. You know, she works for Miss Jones.”

“Why do you think it was Miss Black?”

“It’s simple; Miss Black wears only two types of outfits. Now I don’t want to speak ill of others but her choice of outfits is as bad as I have ever seen. I tried to help her with her clothes selection, and guess what she said?”

“Donna, I have no idea, and I don’t care! Now, please get back to the person that was in Mr. Schultz’s office!”

“Oh, yes. Well, that day Miss Black was wearing the same poorly matched slacks and blouse that she had worn just a few days earlier. Can you imagine?”

“No, I can’t. So you concluded Miss Black had been in Mr. Schultz’s office?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Interesting! Now, why do you believe your life is in danger?”

“Well, shortly after closing time that same day, I was walking to my car, and I heard what seemed to be a gunshot sound. At least I think it was. I heard an immediate sound beyond me as if the bullet missed me and hit something solid. I ran, I really ran fast to my car and left for home and immediately locked all my doors.

“The next day, on my way into the building, I decided to look in the area where I was at the time of the shooting and where the bullet might have gone. I found a segment on the cement wall that was shattered. I didn’t see a bullet, but I’m sure that is where it had landed.”

“Did you call the police?”

“No, I was too scared. I thought if I didn’t think about it, it would go away.”

“So, why did you come to me now?”

“Because last night after I got home from work, I made a meal and then went directly to bed. I haven’t been getting much sleep lately—in fact, night before last, I went bar hopping and I stayed up much too late on a workday night. All day long I had almost been falling asleep at my desk and I said that’s it, once I get home I’m hitting the sack. But when I got home I realized I was hungry and I—”

“—Ok, but I don’t understand what this has to do with your life being threatened.”

“Well, if you would just let me explain, I will try to tell you.

Donna continued with her story. “Well anyway, after I ate I went to bed. I woke up about three in the morning to the smell of gas. I knew it was three a.m. because I have a digital clock on my night table right next to my bed. I rushed in to turn off the range and I opened all the windows. Do you know how long it takes to clear all the gas out of a house?”

“No, I don’t. Just tell me what happened.”

“Well that is my story, except that I still didn’t get a good night’s sleep and I came directly to your office.”

“I don’t understand—you left the gas on, and that means that someone tried to murder you?”

“No, silly, I didn’t leave the gas on. I didn’t use the range; I cooked my dinner in the microwave. Why would I have used the gas range if I do all my cooking in the microwave?”

“So you believe someone else had turned on the gas?”

“Lieutenant, I live alone, are you trying to imply something?”

“No, no, I’m just trying to understand. Does anyone else have a key to your home?”

“Only my parents and they live in St. Louis. Do you think they would fly from St. Louis to Sarasota, enter my house, turn on the gas and then leave?”

“No, not at all. Look, I’ll get my fingerprint expert and we’ll both go to your house. Maybe with luck we can find some unfamiliar prints on the stove.”

Fred was not sure whether he was talking to a total nut case or a witness that could possibly shed some light on his investigation. She certainly wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer; but that didn’t mean her story had no merit.

He decided he would first check the area where Donna had indicated a bullet had struck the cement behind the AU Building. Meanwhile, he directed Patrolman Maloney to take Donna’s fingerprints for comparison purposes and to take Donna directly to her house and take fingerprints from the doorknobs and the stove. He indicated he would join them shortly.

At the AU parking lot Fred found an area of shattered cement chips just where Donna had told him it would be. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find any spent shells. He took a few pieces of the cement to the station to determine if a microscopic examination would show anything.

When he was through, he drove directly to Donna’s house. Patrolman Maloney was busy taking fingerprints when Fred arrived.

Donna was sitting on the sofa drinking a cop of coffee while watching an
I
Love Lucy
rerun.

A batch of recent comic books rested on the coffee table. The daily paper was opened to the comic page. It figures, Fred thought to himself.

He carefully inspected the kitchen, the foyer and the living room. They were the obvious places in which the killer would have entered the premises. The condo was spotless. The kitchen was pristine with nothing but a single toaster resting on the counter top. He looked at the kitchen floor for possible footprints. The spacious floor looked as if it had been mopped on a daily basis. He opened the cabinet doors, but he saw only food items and cleaning supplies, nothing unusual, and everything in perfect order. Apparently, no one had touched anything there.

Fred opened the front door. To the left of the knob, he noticed some fresh paint scratches extending about an inch from the lock mechanism. The lock was obviously inexpensive and easily compromised. This had to be the source of entry for the intruder, Fred thought. Patrolman Maloney was just finishing up as Fred left for the station.

* * *

Fred was signing some papers when Patrolman Maloney returned. The officer indicated that none of the prints on any of the door knobs were legible. However, he had obtained some good prints from two of the knobs on the gas range.

Fred dropped off the cement pieces he had obtained from the AU parking lot with the evidence department. Meanwhile, he called Schultz to see if any fingerprints had been taken of the company’s employees during their security check.

Schultz said, “Fred, you are in luck. Based on the amount of highly classified work we perform, we require an FBI check for most of our employees. Along with that check is a mandatory fingerprint record. I don’t have the fingerprint records but I’m sure the FBI can help you out.”

“Thanks. By the way, how are you feeling?”

“The same, I’m afraid,” Schultz said wearily.

In the background Fred could hear Mrs. Schultz asking who was on the phone. My God, she keeps a tight rein on him, Fred thought. And somehow I don’t think it’s just because of his medical condition.

Not wanting to test the limits of Mrs. Schultz’ wrath, Fred ended the call.

His next action was to call Brian Miller, a friend of his from the FBI.

“Hey, Brian, this is Fred Harris; can you do me a favor?”

“Sure thing, Fred, within reasonable and legal boundaries, that is. What do you need?”

“I want you to compare some prints for me. I’m investigating a murder case and I need you to check a fingerprint I have against a set of prints from employees from the Analysis Unlimited Company located in Sarasota, Florida. I can give you their names and Social Security numbers if you like.”

“Do any of them have a clearance?”

“I believe they all do.”

“Okay, fax me the data you have and I’ll get a comparison done. It most likely will take a couple of days.”

“Thanks, Brian, whatever you can do, and as fast as you can do it, I will sure appreciate it.”

* * *

The forensic department contacted Fred regarding the microscopic scan of the cement fragments. Evidence of lead was found in the fragments.

No question, Fred thought, that lead represents a trace of the impact of a gunshot. Lead would not be a natural ingredient of cement. So Donna was telling the truth, and someone really was after her.

Fred sent a team of officers to look over the entire area of the shooting in the AU parking lot. The results of the search found something that Fred had never even hoped for. A shell casing had fallen into a deep crack between the edge of the building and the parking lot. Fred thought he had done a good job canvassing the area; but he had completely overlooked that segment.