Chapter 4
Consoling a Widow
In order to secure the crime scene, and to easily question the staff, the Toronto Police had moved everyone of interest into the cafeteria of the park's main office. The main office was a four story building located at the front of the park next to the main gate. It housed all of park's executive offices on the top two floors. The staff's change room, lockers and personal space was on the second floor, while the cafeteria was on the first floor. It was through this building that staff could use their personalized electronic I.D. badge to bypass the long lines and enter the park. No one could enter this building without either using their badge or by having the main gate security guard personally open the doors for them.
When Detective Grey returned from lunch, he located Constable Addison who was already interviewing some of the bystanders. A little perturbed, he sidled up beside Addison to listen to the conversation. After it was completed, Grey pulled Addison aside to have a little talk.
"Now look kid, I know you're new to the force, so I'm going to overlook this rookie mistake, but since this is a murder investigation, I'm the one who's the lead investigator. That means that I need to be present during all of the interrogations unless I have instructed otherwise. Do you understand that?" asked Grey.
"Yes sir, I thought though, that since you were on lunch and I had nothing to do that I might speed the process along," said Addison, with his head bowed.
"I understand that, and I like the ambition, but this is an important investigation, one that can not be botched. Scott Taylor was one of the leading CEOs of the city, so the Chief is going to be on us to find the scumbag who did this. That is something that I cannot do unless I have all of the information.
Look," Grey said to reassure Addison, "I have no problems with you helping in the investigation. I have no problems with you asking questions of the witnesses; just do it when I'm in the room, O.K.?"
"Yes, sir," replied Addison.
"Good. Now Constable, where is the victim's wife, what's her name? Audrey Taylor?" asked Grey
"Yes, it's Audrey sir," Addison responded. "Audrey is in the cafeteria manager's office at the back, although in a terrible state. I don't know if it's a great idea to question her now."
"Now I believe is the best time to question her; while the events are fresh in her mind. Don't worry though, despite my outward appearance, I do know how to be tactful," replied Grey as he began walking towards the back of the building.
Grey and Addison entered the office to find Audrey crying on Elliot Ravenwood's shoulder. He was trying to assure her that the police would get to the bottom of the matter, and that he would help her in any way that he could. It was no use though, as she continued crying not noticing that Grey and Addison had entered the room.
"Excuse me Mrs. Taylor, I am Detective Charles Grey and this is Constable Leroy Addison of the Toronto Police Department. May I have a word with you, alone?" asked Grey slowly motioning to Elliot to leave the room.
"It's going to be O.K. Audrey, I'll be just outside the door," said Elliot as he got up from his chair and started towards the door. As he was about to leave, he whispered to Addison, "Please be kind to her Constable, she's suffered a tragic loss."
Audrey sat up and dried her tears. With tissue in hand, she curtly said to Detective Grey, "So what is it that you'd like to know?"
"Well ma'am, first of all we'd like to know how your daughter is doing, seeing that she's not with you."
"I called for our neighbor to come and get her and look after her. I knew that I was going to be here for awhile and didn't want her to have to endure anymore suffering than she had to. To answer your question however, she's an absolute mess. How would you feel if you witnessed the death of your father?" she said wiping away more tears.
"Well, as it turns out, I did witness the death of my father. My father was Toronto Police Chief Phillip Grey. You probably don't remember him, but he was the Chief of Police for Toronto from 1996-99. During my third year on the force, my dad came to give a press conference after my unit had just taken down one of the biggest drug rings in the city. During the question and answer session, he was gunned down by Eddie Gerverra, the only one of the drug runners who had escaped arrest. I was standing right beside him when he was hit. The shot pierced his heart and he was dead immediately. The loss hurt me so much, that I considered quitting the force, but friends eventually talked me out of it. Coming back after those two months off, was painful, but one of the reasons that I did return, was to find the killer who took my father's life. It took us 3 years to get him, but in 2002, we finally found and caught Gerverra hiding out in the east side of Toronto. Being found guilty of assassinating a police officer, he is currently serving a life sentence for killing my dad. So, you see Mrs. Taylor, I do know what it is like to see a loved one killed, and I can only imagine what you and your daughter must be going through. But as happened with me, you will get through this, but it will take time."
"I'm sorry for my bluntness Detective, I had no idea," said Audrey as she was finally beginning to compose herself.
"Anyway Mrs. Taylor, we do have to ask you a few questions. First of all, can you describe what you heard or saw this afternoon," asked Grey.
Audrey, thinking back hard, began to tell Grey what had happened. "Well we arrived at the park at about ten and were led to the Colossus immediately by Mike Swaize, the park's public relations director. As CEO of the park my husband felt that it was his duty to be the inaugural rider of every new attraction at the park. Although he had done this several times in the past, nothing compared to the Colossus. This ride was a behemoth of a rollercoaster with 4 inversions, a cobra roll, 3 corkscrews and a top speed of almost 100 km/hr. I once heard Scott describe the ride as his crowning achievement, the one that would finally increase visitors to the park after two to three declining years. Anyway, I'm getting off topic," she said, shaking her hands in the air to compose herself. "Once the ride operator for the day, Kevin Craig had described the ride to Scott, he led him up to the platform to be strapped in. From there, I don't know exactly what happened until the ride started, because I was having a conversation with Elliot Ravenwood, the gentleman that was with me when you arrived. Once the ride took off, everyone stood in amazement as it completed its first two inversions. But then, as it came out of the first corkscrew, we heard a loud crash, followed by 3 others only a split second later. After that, the car left the track and careened into the gully below." Audrey began to cry again.
"There, there, Mrs. Taylor, it's alright," assured Grey. "Now since we have reason to believe that someone had tampered with the car sometime before the ride, we have to ask if you know of anyone who might have wanted to kill your husband."
"No, none at all. Although Scott had a gruff outer appearance, underneath he was a kind and gentle man. I mean, he wouldn't even hurt a fly. I can't imagine anyone wanting him dead," responded Audrey, sounding shocked at that revelation that her husband may have been murdered.
"Was there anything unusual at the office then, perhaps something that was occupying Mr. Taylor's time?" inquired Grey.
"Well...there was one thing," Audrey said. "My husband thought that someone was embezzling funds from the park. Finding out who had taken the money was monopolizing much of his time for the past ten months or so. I got the sense from his recent babblings about it, that he was nearing the end of his investigation and was about to confront the perpetrator and demand a confession and full restitution."
"Do you know if he confronted this person yet?"
"No I don't Detective, but he might have. You see I've been out of town for two days. I am a teller for Sovereign Bank of Toronto, and was at an awards banquet in Montreal. I got back this morning on a chartered flight at around 2 AM, and arrived home at around 3 AM. Scott was in bed already, so I felt no burning urge to wake him. He might very well have confronted the person while I was gone, though he made n
o mention of it at breakfast."
"Lastly, Mrs. Taylor, we found this notepad in your husband's pocket, do you think you can identify any of the people listed," Grey said, as he passed her the pad.
"Why Detective, they are only initials, how can I possibly know who those people are," responded Audrey. "Walking around with a notepad like that was not unusual for Scott for he was a secretive man. It is impossible for me to know who these people are. If you really want to find out that kind of information, you should ask his secretary, Alice Hastings. She is always kept in the loop on all of my husband's affairs," Audrey explained as she handed back the notepad.
"Thank you Mrs. Taylor, you've been most helpful. And again, I'm so sorry for your tragic loss," Grey said.
Both Grey and Addison then got up and went back to the cafeteria. As they were walking past the lunch line, Grey stopped suddenly, and told him that he thought that it would be a good idea if Addison would interview Tim Parker, Kevin Craig and Daniel Morris, the ride's inspector by himself. His reasoning was that they might open up to a more junior officer than a seasoned detective. Addison, glad to be given a chance by Grey to prove himself, ran off to find one of the three men.
As for Grey, he was off to talk to Scott's secretary Alice. While he headed for the elevator, he couldn't help wonder if the disclosure by Audrey of embezzlement in the company had something to do with who "GS", "AM", "ETR" or "A" were. How were they involved? Were they involved? All of these questions are ones that he hoped that Alice Hastings could answer quickly...that is if the elevator would ever get to the main floor!
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