Mind Switch (7 page)

Chapter 16

Before he left the theater, Fred directed policemen on the scene to gather information from onlookers to determine if anyone had seen the killer. Outside the theater, in the bright sunlight, without the high emotion experienced by those exposed to the shooting, he hoped that potential descriptions from witnesses might be more accurate. At the same time, he recognized that eyewitness accounts are, under the very best of conditions, often difficult to come by and frequently wrong. Experience had taught him that people are consumed day to day, minute by minute, with their own personal problems; and either consciously or subconsciously, they block out events that do not include them or their self interest.

Maureen had told him that, when people witness things, it is often through the prism of an episodic event in which details are recorded on a fleeting basis by the brain and remembered at best transitionally. If the perpetrator is of a different nationality than that of the witness, a personal bias may enter the picture and individuals would then appear much larger or smaller than they really are, depending on the nature of the filtering distortion. She felt that individual features are often blurred, consistent with our tendency to obliterate the details about other races with whom we do not identify nor share values. Fred felt that we have not advanced far from the savageness of the cave man. Over our primitive behavior is a very thin veneer of civilization and education. Scratch that veneer and out comes the primitive cave man that has been hiding for generation after generation just below our surface level.
 

Fred then shifted his thoughts to the bank robbery. He wondered for a moment if he, like political test audiences, was somehow being manipulated. Perhaps he had been intentionally exposed to a selective slice of the truth, constructed to drive him in a pre-planned direction. No, he thought; that is much too complicated a possibility. The solution has to be much simpler than that.

* * *

Arriving back at the station, Fred learned that Slivers was still maintaining his innocence. His lawyer had arrived and was monitoring all interrogations. Fred suspected that his lawyer must be having a hard time developing a defense that would reconcile the clash between witness testimonies and Sliver’s unwavering declaration of innocence.
 

Fred walked by the police artist’s room where the frustrated ticket taker was feebly trying to provide details of the facial makeup of the theater killer.
 

“How’s it going?” Fred asked the artist.

The artist didn’t look up from his sketch. “Not good, I’m afraid; we’re working on it, but I wouldn’t expect too much.”
 

Officers returning from the theater reported they found no one who had seen where the assailant went after he left the theater. All in all, the news was pretty bad.

Fred gathered the chief and Jim, and entered the conference room for the bank video viewing. The chief ordered that Paul be included in the viewing. Fred did not relish Paul’s presence, but determined that it was not worth his dwindling energy to battle with his chief. He knew that future conflicts would be unavoidable; but as the new kid on the block, Fred wanted to delay that day as long as humanly possible. Perhaps in the interim he would develop more credibility with his chief.

The video was not at all clear, but they could see Slivers as he first entered though the bank doors. Fred thought, with all the high definition systems now available, why couldn’t bank security systems get up to speed? However, even from the blurry film, it was obvious that Slivers’ suit jacket was bulging on the right side. Slowly pacing himself, Slivers walked a few feet into the marbled lobby in the direction of the tellers’ cages. Suddenly, Slivers became highly animated. He had some sort of interaction with a woman who was on her way out of the bank. The video was silent, but it was obvious that she had responded with some type of comparable social amenity. In the next few frames, there was no hint of future blood letting.

 
Suddenly Slivers pulled out a semi automatic weapon from his suit coat and immediately started firing. The video vividly displayed bright bursts of gunfire as multiple victims dropped simultaneously. Slivers started firing on the left side of the lobby, first killing the bank’s security guard and then proceeding to mow down bank customers in line at the tellers’ stations. Now he was slowly, and seemingly systematically, revolving his blasts around the room.

 
To Slivers’ extreme right, just beyond Slivers’ peripheral vision, a large man started to exit the front door of the bank. A moment later, seizing the opportunity, a much smaller man left from the same door. Fred recognized the two as those that had run into him on the sidewalk. Since neither of the men had any interaction with Slivers, it was pretty clear that they had taken no part in the slaughter.
 

Slivers appeared oblivious to the escape of the two and continued firing. When he had turned almost fully to his right, he stopped firing and froze for a second. At the next instant, he looked at the gun in his hand and threw it down hard on the marble floor. Chunks of large black marble fragments scattered from the impact. Inexplicably, Slivers immediately slumped to the floor. Several frames later, behind him, in the background, the camera picked up Fred entering the bank. The rest of the video displayed what Fred had already noted from his personal observation.
 

To Paul and the chief, the video was great news. It was perfect, iron clad evidence for a future jury. Fred knew their mantra before either of them spoke. To a jury, visual aids are infinitely more effective than verbal arguments. To these two men, Slivers was already guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and the investigation was, for all practical purposes, over.
 

“Pass the video tape and the written eyewitness accounts on to the DA, and let the legal system take over,” the chief ordered. “Meanwhile, let’s quickly arrange for a meeting with the press. They’re practically tearing down my office door.”

Paul and the chief shook hands and were giddily slapping each other on the back as they exited the conference room. It seems more like a college football game victory than a bloody murder case, Fred thought.
 

Jim and Fred remained stoically fixed in their chairs without uttering any comment. It was apparent that they both found something inconsistent in the video which had not been noticed by either Paul or the chief.
 

Jim looked at Fred. “Something does not compute!”
 

Fred nodded and said, “I agree. I’m not really sure what it is but something bothers me. Something is missing or inconsistent in Slivers’ actions. Something was not happening that should have been; but I can’t identify for the life of me what I am missing. I want to view that video again, perhaps more than once.” His secretary, Jan, had been assigned the job of controlling the video projection. Fred asked if it could be stopped at various points to freeze the frames.
 

Jan said, “That’s not easily accomplished in its present form but I can have it made into a DVD which will do the job much more efficiently. Perhaps in the process we can also enhance the frames to provide better clarity.”
 

Paul nodded approvingly and said, “Okay, but make sure we don’t lose the video tape. We have to keep the original copy; any defense lawyer would have a field day if we substituted a DVD copy for the original bank video and severed part of our evidence chain.”
 

Jan said, “I understand. I’ll take good care of the video and will get the DVD for you by tomorrow.”

Fred returned to his desk, propped his feet up, and looked into the distance at nothing in particular, unsure of his next step. He looked up, as if seeking divine intervention and guidance. Nothing! It was now evening, and dark clouds were starting to shut down the day’s residual sunshine.
 

He ruminated over what had happened over the last few hours. He recognized that in the case of numerous murders, the victim’s body often is not found for several months if at all. Frequently a suspect cannot be identified and no weapon is found at or near the crime scene. Precious investigative time is often lost. This all contributes to make crime solving lengthy and difficult. In this case however, Fred thought, I have a suspect, a weapon, and an inconvertible record of the suspect committing the crime, all of which should make me feel positive about obtaining a quick indictment.

But Fred felt no sense of victory. The very nature of the two murder sprees were, on the surface, unique. However, Fred felt that somehow there were enough parallels to indicate a common link. But, for the life of him, he could not imagine what it was. He just could not accept the motive of a bank robbery in the first instance; but at the same time he could not find an alternative reason that made sense to him. He knew if he expounded on this theme to the chief, he would get a “who cares” response followed by the banal assertion that motives were solely for the district attorney to sort out, and Fred’s time should be spent on more relevant duties. “Our job,” the chief would say, “is simply to find the killers.” Fred could easily envision Paul seated somewhere in the background nodding his all encompassing agreement with the chief.
 

Almost as an afterthought Fred decided to stop by Slivers’ insurance office, in the hope that someone would still be there, despite the lateness of the hour. If nothing else, perhaps they could shed some light on his activities prior to the shooting.

* * *

Slivers’ Insurance Agency was housed in a non-pretentious stucco building recently painted bright orange. The building fit the theme of numerous Florida establishments which portray to the public a bright, cheerful and airy image. The bold tangerine letters on the front window advertised insurance of all types.
 

As Fred looked through the plate glass window, he noted that a secretary and at least one other employee were busily working at their desks. He walked in, displayed his badge and introduced himself to the office secretary. When he explained why he was there, she acknowledged that she had already heard about the bank robbery on the radio. She said, “I don’t know who you think you captured, but it couldn’t have been Mr. Slivers; he would never do anything like that.”

Fred told her that he would like to talk to her, as well as any other employees still at work. He asked that the interviews be conducted in an available office to insure maximum privacy.

“No problem,” she said, “but there’s only one other person still here. I’ll tell her you want to talk to her. In the meantime, you can wait in Mr. Slivers’ office.”

Entering the office, Fred observed a large desk, with four chairs arranged directly in front of it. Each was spaced an exact equal distance from the other. Fred sat in the desk chair so that he could directly face the secretary as he spoke to her.

Fred found it best to interview people on an individual basis. He had found from life’s experiences that, like animals, people tend to either follow or lead. So, when two or more people are present, this can cause communication distortions since subordinates often take strong clues from their perceived superiors.
 

To the side of Slivers’ desk was a small tiger wood oak table. On it were pictures of an attractive middle-aged woman with two teenaged children by her side.
 

As the secretary came into the office, Fred asked, “Is this a picture of Mr. Slivers’ wife and kids?”
 

“Yes,” the secretary replied, “He thinks the absolute world of them.”
 

Slivers’ desk contained on one end what appeared to be neatly organized work papers. Inconsistently, in the middle of the desk, papers were scattered in every direction. Lying directly on the top of one of the papers was a gold fountain pen. Turning the top paper around to gain a better view, Fred noted that Slivers had apparently been drafting some type of agreement concerning auto insurance for a new Buick sedan. Slivers had stopped his writing in the middle of a word.
 

Fred said, “That’s strange!”
 

“What is?”

“Well for starters let me ask, is the writing on this sheet of paper that of Mr. Slivers?”

“Yes, I recognize it, and anyway it has to be!”

“I don’t understand; why does it have to be?”

“Because no one else is allowed to use or move whatever is on his desk—not even me. He’s a nice man but he’s a fanatic about maintaining a clean and organized work area that only he controls. I don’t even empty his coffee cup, and I’m never to adjust his window blinds. ”

“But”, said Fred, “As I look at his desk he doesn’t seem that well organized. I also notice that he seems to have stopped writing this contract in mid sentence.”

“I have to admit, that is strange. Mr. Slivers always puts his papers in a neat stack when he’s done working. He hates to be interrupted, he always tries to complete whatever he is doing; and once he is done with something he puts it into the stack that you see on the left. If he can’t complete the work, and that’s really rare, he puts it in a neat stack on the right.”

“But there’s no stack on the right and there seems to be unorganized papers in the middle of his desk.”

“Oh, yes, I remember now. I was talking to him, and he looked at the clock. He abruptly stopped writing and headed out the front door. He left all his work papers in the middle of his desk. He had never done that before. Another thing, he bumped into Meg in the doorway as he left. Mr. Slivers is a very courteous man, yet he didn’t even stop to apologize to her. But it was even stranger that he stopped his work in mid sentence. He is so disciplined that he always wants to finish what he started.”