The Promise (34 page)

              The detective had seen the look on Raven’s face dozens of times before. It was the same expression his daughter, Megan, had used when she was defying him.

But, that was a girl who was testing her independence towards a father, this was a possible murderess.

Gallagher made his move.

”Margaret Williams, you have the right to remain silent. You have the right to an attorney. Anything you say may and can be used in a court of law,”

As Gallagher finished his legal litany, Margaret Williams burst into tears. She stood up and had to hold on to the edge of the table for support.

The detective called in one of his cohorts, a female officer and watched as she handcuffed Raven and led her away.

              But, the girl, formerly known as Margaret, had the last word, “I’ll be back, Gallagher. You’ll regret this. That’s a promise.”

She looked at everyone staring at her in the office, “Why don’t you all get some fucking doughnuts and choke yourselves to death!” She yelled at Gallagher, “Did you hear that Gallagher? I said the F word, I shouted it. That was for you!”

She continued screaming down the hallway and out the door on the way to the Clarke County jail.

              Gallagher looked away. This was more painful than he could have imagined it to be, albeit unavoidable. He had asked Raven to explain herself and prove she wasn’t the one who had written that note. Now, it was up to a judge and a jury to listen to her explanations.

Justice had been served whether he liked her personally or not and, he was actually quite fond of her.

He cleared his throat. He wished she had answered him differently. He also wished she was not so much like Megan.

He felt, at that moment, like he had just lost a second daughter.

Chapter Fifty-
nine---press Conference

              Gallagher strode into the police press room. “I have a statement and then I will take a few questions, and, I mean very few.”

He read from a sheet of paper, “Yesterday afternoon, we arrested Margaret Marie Williams, age 19, as a suspect in the disappearance of Allison Lynne Taylor. Miss Williams was taken to the Clarke County Jail and booked there.

I will take questions now…”

“Cherise Cannon, WSB-TV, what evidence do you have that made Ms. Williams a suspect?”

“No comment.” Gallagher pointed to the back of the room, “Yes?”

“John Rohrer, AP, did she say if she knew what happened to Allison Taylor?”

“She said she did not know. Over here,” He pointed to a woman in the front row.

“Sue Schanze, INN, “Does Ms. Williams have legal representation?”

“She will now.”

“Dax Rambo, INN, doesn’t Ms. Williams go by the name, ‘Raven’ and is the leader of a cult group at the Colony school called, ‘The Promise?’ And, isn’t that cult your leading suspect in the disappearance of Allison Taylor?”

Gallagher wanted to kill him. “We are not aware of any cult groups at the Colony school.”

Rambo fired back, “Oh, really? So, your intensive investigation has no idea there is a group of girls at the school called The Promise which formerly included the missing Allison Taylor?”

“Mr. Rambo, I am sure you are very good at your job. I respect that,” Gallagher lied. “But, I am very good at what I do, too. We are pursuing a criminal investigation and I appreciate your time here today.”

With that, he stormed out of the room amid shouts of further questions. He was so angry he was shaking by the time he got to his office. He slammed the door and sat there fuming at Dax Rambo and the media in general.

But, he was even more upset with the person in the department who was feeding Rambo the inside information. Chief Parker gently rapped on his door, “Yeah, boss; come in,”

“That wasn’t much of a press conference, Mike.”

“It reflected my respect for them, Chief…”

Parker smiled wanly, “Mike, I know you hate the press. They are just doing their job.”

“Yeah, well so is the asshole in our own department who is leaking information about our investigation. If I ever find that little prick, I am going to,”

The Chief interrupted, “I will do an internal investigation. We will put a stop to this. In the meantime, try to keep your cool, Mike.

This is no longer a local story. The whole country is watching us. We need the press to give this story exposure.”

Gallagher responded to his national acclaim by picking up his metal trash bin and throwing it across the room.

Parker shook his head and left him alone. He realized his detective had enough for now.

Chapter
Sixty-The elusive dr. Morgan

             
As Gallagher continued to wait on the lab results concerning the victim in the Mercedes, he paid a visit to the Colony school armed with a search warrant to legally discover what Elie had illegally found in the first place.

Upon entering the office of the Headmaster, he introduced himself to the receptionist, Kathy Saca. “Hello, my name is Michael Gallagher, I am a detective with the Athens Police Department.

These are my fellow officers from the department and we have a search warrant to impound all the records of Dr. Theotis Morgan.

Is he in this morning?”

              The receptionist was shocked, to put it mildly. She stammered out, “Uh, no, Dr. Morgan is not here. I, uh, don’t know. What is this about?”

She pressed a buzzer on her desk and within seconds the executive secretary to the headmaster materialized from an inner office. As the woman looked at the police officers and then at the receptionist, she calmly and coolly responded,

“I am Catherine Bretz, secretary to Dr. Morgan, may I be of assistance to you?”

              Gallagher could tell that the tone of her voice did not exactly match her polite question.

Her attitude was screaming,
Get the hell out of here you illiterate vandals!

But, he remained civil, too, at least on the exterior, “I’m Detective Gallagher of the Athens Police Department, I have a search warrant to examine Dr. Morgan’s files, both professional and personal and to impound any data we believe is pertinent to our investigation, Ms. Bretz.”

              The secretary was stoic. “That would be fine, Detective Gallagher. It would have been nice for you to have called me first so I could prepare him for this in person. However, Dr. Morgan is not here at the moment.”

              There was an icy chill in the air.

“Please, follow me into his office.”

Dutifully, the detective and the officers did just that. When they entered, Gallagher looked around the spacious area with its beautiful redwood veneer and hand-crafted antiques spread throughout the room.

He whistled when he saw the huge bookcase covering an entire wall and containing hundreds of tomes.
Impressive,
he thought.

Gallagher also noticed a sleeper sofa next to a portable dressing space. It sickened him.

              “Where are Dr. Morgan’s files, Ms Bretz?”

The grand dame looked at him and answered truthfully, “There are no files at the moment, Detective. As I told you, Dr. Morgan is gone.”

              Confused by her answer, he asked her in simpler terms, “Yeah, I realize he’s gone, But, he doesn’t take all his files with him whenever he leaves the room does he?”

              She remained verbally firm with him, “Of course not. But, he does take them when he leaves for an extended period of time. So, he, and they, are absent at the moment.”

Translation:
I am not voluntarily giving you a paper clip!

              Now Gallagher was getting frustrated with her, “Well, when will he and they return, Ms. Bretz?”

              She was icily smiling at him, which in southern dialect means she hated his guts at that moment, “When, he and they decide to return, Mr. Gallagher. Now, will you please excuse me, I have a lot of work to do. I will call you and inform you when you can come back and search to your heart’s content.”

              Gallagher was fuming. But, he decided to hold his temper a few moments longer, “Uh, may I have a word with, a Ms. Anita Rigan?”

              The frost was now forming on Ms. Bretz’s lips, “Ms. Rigan is no longer with us. She was part-time and we had to let her go yesterday. Is there anything else Mr.what was it, Gallanter?”

              “No, Gallagher, I guess as you get older the hearing gets harder, huh? Thank you for your time. You don’t show your age all that badly, for the most part.”

As he turned to leave he could feel her daggers in his back. He turned and looked at her one more time, “By the way, you wouldn’t happen to have Ms. Rigan’s home telephone number would you?”

              With a penetrating glare she barely moved her lips, “Unfortunately, we do not. But, I believe there is such a thing called directory assistance. They can help you. That is if your hearing still works, Mr. Gallamer.”

              He laughed aloud, “Touche!”

She smiled, barely.

He could have used his search warrant, but he decided it was in the best interest of the investigation to not override Ms. Bretz and instead, try to work with her.

Her assistance to him would pay off more in the long run. Besides, he did believe her explanation about Morgan’s files being gone.

As he led his team out the door, he instructed them, “Go back to the office there will be no search today. Thanks for your time, here.”

              One of the officers quipped, “That’s okay, Gallagher. We enjoyed the show with Mrs. Coldheart in there. Thank God, I’m not married to her.”

The detective laughed with him.

              As the detective walked alone to the parking lot, he looked up at the sky and said his own special prayer he had memorized over the past three weeks, “I still believe in you, but you could make it a little easier you know.”

Chapter Sixty
-one--lab Results

             
Dr. Lowe was his usual witty self as Gallagher and Elie showed up at the lab. “Greetings, Commissioner! How goes Gotham City these days? I haven’t been out of the bat cave in ages.”