Chapter 9
Mrs. Audrey Taylor
Audrey Taylor lived in an upscale neighborhood of Mississauga, Ontario that was conveniently located just minutes from Highway 407.
The house itself proved to all who visited that the Taylor's appeared to do very well for themselves. It was a tan colored two story house with 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, a finished basement and a two car garage. When you walk in the front door, you stand in awe of the open ceiling revealing the hallway to the floor above, and the large open concept living and dining room to the right. In the back corner of the main floor, was a completely re-modeled kitchen complete with granite counter-tops, oodles of cabinet space and brand new stainless steel appliances. Upstairs were found 3 bedrooms (Audrey's and Katie's Rooms plus a guest bedroom) and 2 baths, while the 4th bedroom and 3rd bath was located in the basement. Also in the basement was an entertainment room that anyone would die for, including raised seating and a 96" flat screen LED television with 5.1 surround sound. Finally, even though the backyard was relatively small and the neighboring house very close, that didn't pose a problem to the Taylor's, who loved the space nonetheless.
Arriving just as Audrey drove in, Becca parked in the spacious driveway in front of the house and met Audrey as she walked towards the front door.
"Good evening Mrs. Taylor. I'm Rebecca Deville, an attorney representing the man accused of killing your husband, namely Elliot Ravenwood."
"I have nothing to say to you, I've already told everything I know to the police," remarked Audrey as she unlocked her door.
"Where's your daughter?" asked Becca.
"She's next door, like she always is after school, she'll be over in a few minutes."
"Must be hard living in this big house alone," said Becca looking up at the outside of the home.
"I make do. Are you finished, I have dinner to make," said Audrey, looking kind of antsy.
"Well no I'm not. Look, Mrs. Taylor, I do have a few more questions, and you can either invite me inside and answer them here, or I'll have to subpoena you and you'll answer them in court. So what will it be?" asked Becca.
"As long as you don't mind me cooking while we talk, come in," Audrey said, opening the door.
Becca couldn't help but admire the inside of the house. She was especially drawn to a table filled with homemade masks of people's faces. When asked who made them, Audrey said that a close friend of hers, who used to be a costume designer, had designed them in preparation for a Halloween party that they'd be hosting in a few weeks. As Becca walked into the kitchen where Audrey was beginning to gather baking utensils, she remarked that it took her almost an hour in rush hour traffic to get there from downtown Toronto. Audrey asked her which route she took, and when Becca replied, Audrey told her that her mistake was not using the 407.
"Yeah but I don't like driving on the 407 because it's rather an expensive toll road isn't it?" replied Becca.
"Maybe, but it certainly beats the 401 at rush hour, especially when it comes to accidents. The only one I remember seeing was a while back when a hit and run accident killed a young girl's parents," Audrey explained as Becca nodded. "The 407 in my opinion is the one of the safest highways in Toronto, and if it were me, I'd drive it anywhere I could, even if it cost me an arm and a leg," said Audrey as she pulled a bag of chicken from the refrigerator.
"What are you making?" asked Becca.
"Chicken Parmesan and Rice Casserole, Katie's favorite meal."
"That's my favorite as well," Becca said, feeling a little hungry. "Anyway, so do you drive the 407 often?"
"Almost exclusively. The 407 gets me almost everywhere I want to go: the theme park, work, the airport or downtown if I go and drive the 10 minutes down to the Gardner Expressway."
"Then you must rack up quite a bill," Becca said sounding rather astonished.
"That's what Scott used to say as well. You see, he was dead set against using the 407 in any circumstance because of the $500 a month bills we kept receiving. I kept telling him though that the time saved keeping off of Toronto's busiest highways was well worth the expense of using the 407."
"$500!" Becca gasped. "That's quite a chunk of change." Audrey looked at her with a little disdain in her eyes, feeling that Becca was in no position to judge her spending habits. Becca, sensing the awkwardness, said "So you say that you take the 407 to work. Where is that exactly?" as she pulled out her notepad to record the details.
"I work as a teller for the Sovereign Bank of Toronto located on Albion Rd. about 10 minutes east of Exit 59 on the 407."
"How long have you worked as a teller for the bank?"
"I have worked for the bank since 2007. Before that, I was a stay at home mom," responded Audrey as she breaded the chicken.
"You told the police that you were in Montreal at an awards banquet the night before your husband was killed, could you elaborate on that?"
"Sure. Every year, the bank as a whole, hosts a banquet to honor its best personnel who excel at selling products or services to our customers. In every region, tellers are nominated by the branch managers and then 2 people are selected to represent the region at the banquet. Normally, regular tellers don't stand out for doing the types of things that these awards acknowledge, but having been in a higher position earlier in my career, I'm not a normal teller," Audrey explained. "Anyway, winners of the awards could receive an awards plaque, a cash prize or a trip, based on which award they won. This year's banquet was held in Montreal from June 29-30.
"Is that cost effective? I mean to fly and accommodate tellers from all across the country just for the purpose of a banquet. Couldn't they have accomplished the same thing by hosting regional awards dinners," asked Becca.
"Normally you would think so, but the bank is a national bank and therefore awards its employees on a national basis. Besides, the banquet also allows us to meet and network with other people in our position, and come up with the best ways to improve our performance," Audrey said, as she put the chicken in the oven. "Don't get confused, for even though this trip is mostly business, the bank does set aside some time for the attendees to engage in recreation. While some of the people went shopping, I saw some of the sites and then decided to do some indoor rock climbing, a sport which I absolutely love. I had a great time rock climbing and an even better time at the banquet."
"I see," Becca replied. "You also said the banquet ended on June 30th. At about what time was that?"
"It ended at 8:00 PM, which gave us just enough time to get to the airport for our flights home. We took off on our chartered flight at around 12:30 AM and touched down at Pearson International Airport at around 2 AM. After landing, I got in my car, which I had left at the airport, and arrived home around 3:00 AM. Scott was already asleep so I decided not to wake him and went to bed," Audrey said, grabbing a bag of rice from the cupboard and onion from the fridge.
"Just a couple more questions then and I'll be out of your hair," Becca said. "Now I don't mean to be insulting, but how was your marriage with Scott?"
"I don't know why I would be insulted Ms. Deville. After all you are just asking me whether I or my husband had ever cheated on each other," Audrey said sarcastically, cutting harder as she diced the onion.
"I'm sorry, but I have to ask."
"Scott and I never cheated on each other!" Audrey exclaimed. "Sure our marriage wasn't perfect, and Scott was out of the house late most nights, but we loved each other and we would never do anything to hurt each other."
"OK. Did Scott have any enemies?"
"Before the murder, I couldn't have believed that he had any. But then, I wasn't as involved with Scott's professional life, so really I couldn't say if he had any enemies from work or not."
"But you wouldn't count Elliot as one of those people who you didn't know that much about, would you?"
"No, I knew Elliot, or at least I thought I did. He and his wife were frequently over for dinner. That is before Scott b
egan working late and didn't have time to have much of anyone over."
"Did Scott ever tell you that he suspected Elliot of embezzling from the park's accounts?"
"Obviously you don't know Scott. Scott was a very secretive man and would have kept that sort of thing close to his chest. Although, come to think of it, I did hear them arguing one night about someone stealing from the company, though I only heard a portion of it and Scott didn't say who had done it."
"Do you remember when that was," asked Becca.
"Not a clue, although my memory may be good with facts, it's not good with times or dates. Sorry."
Just then, the door opened and a tall muscular looking man with blond hair walked into the house.
"Honey!" the man said looking around to see where Audrey was.
"In the kitchen Daniel," Audrey yelled back.
As Daniel walked down the hall he hadn't noticed that there was company in the house when he said, "Audrey have you heard that that scumbag Elliot has a new lawyer, I think his name is Deville. Boy that lawyer must be pretty stupid to take on a case like that." He paused as he entered the room, seeing Becca sitting in front of the island.
"Oh I'm sorry; I didn't know that we had company. I'm Daniel Morris," he said putting out his hand to shake Becca's.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Rebecca Deville, Elliot Ravenwood's lawyer," she said as she saw the eyes of Daniel widen and his face redden with embarrassment."
"Good to meet you Ms. Deville. So, Elliot found himself a woman lawyer then," he said, making an already awkward situation the more so, with his subtly sexist remark.
"Yes he has. Well actually my brother Elijah Deville is lead counsel on this case, but I pull as much weight as he does. And to put your chauvinist mind at ease, yes I am a woman lawyer and a great one at that," Becca said as she lightly punched Morris on the shoulder.
Morris winced in obvious pain. "What's the matter darling?" Audrey asked.
"She hit my arm in the exact place of my new tattoo," Morris explained.
"You mean you got another one?" Audrey asked, referring to the small dragon tattoo on the back of Morris's hand.
"You know me, Audrey," Morris replied.
"Unfortunately I do," Audrey said. "Anyway Ms. Deville, I'm sorry for Daniel's behavior. There are times when Daniel unintentionally puts his foot in his mouth without thinking. He can be quite charming...sometimes that is," she said biting her index fingernail and lowering her head.
Suddenly a light bulb went off in Becca's head and she turned to Morris and said, "Hey wait a minute, are you the Daniel Morris who works at the theme park?"
"Yeah I'm the ride inspector for the park. I've already given my statement to the police, so if you want to find out about that day, ask them," he said as he got an apple from the fridge.
"Oh that's OK, I'm sure we'll talk again in the near future." She turned again to Audrey and asked "So how long have you two been an item?"
"We've been seeing each other for about five weeks now. Daniel doesn't live here; he just comes over for dinner and usually stays around until 10. We watch movies together, that sort of thing."
"I see," Becca said writing this interesting new piece of news into her notebook.
"I hate to cut our conversation short Ms. Deville, but I really need to finish dinner, can we do this some other time?" Audrey asked.
"Oh sure, I can see you're busy."
Audrey quickly washed her hands and took Becca to the front door to see her out. As both stepped out onto the front porch, Becca couldn't help but notice the twin set of Mercedes Benz cars sitting in the driveway.
"Are both of these cars yours?" Becca asked.
"Yeah, one was Scott's and the other one is mine."
"Must be terrible trying to tell them apart, ever get in the wrong car by mistake?"
"Never!" Audrey exclaimed. "But even if I did, it wouldn't matter because both cars have identical ignition keys. It's a feature that this Mercedes dealer offered to people who buy two cars at the same time, allowing both to drive either car without having to have two different sets of keys. It's a real time saver."
Becca waved good bye to Audrey and got into her car for the hour long drive home. As she was driving she couldn't figure out what to make of the fact that Audrey and Daniel were now dating. Was that just a coincidence or was there more to it? It's a puzzle that she just had to find the answer to, so despite being on the road for 10 minutes, she decided to turn around to see if the neighbors could shed some light on this mysterious relationship.
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