Chapter 5
You're Under Arrest...
The best way that you could describe the scene on the floor that housed the executive offices of the park, was controlled chaos. Police officers were going in and out of the various offices searching for any clues as to why Scott Taylor was murdered. No office was off limit and no piece of paper was insignificant in the investigation. In the middle of it all, was a frazzled, middle aged black haired woman named Alice Hastings. Detective Grey could quickly see that she was distraught with the situation, so he quickly summoned her into a side conference room to get some peace and quiet.
"Sorry for that Mrs. Hastings, you are Mrs. Hastings I presume?" asked Grey.
"Yes I am!" Hastings responded. "I'll have you know that your officers have been very rude to me this entire afternoon. They barged in here, no word of warning, and without telling what was going on, began tearing up the office. I didn't know whether to call the police or security. Finally, someone told me that Mr. Taylor had been murdered, and while that didn't condone their actions, it certainly helped put them into context."
"I am very sorry ma'am for all the commotion out there, but they are just doing their job. Sometimes, in the heat of the moment, officers get so focused on what they are doing, that they forget their manners. I'll certainly have a talk with them after this is all over," assured Grey. "Anyway ma'am, there are a few questions that I'd like to ask you. First of all, how long have you been working for Mr. Taylor?"
"For 10 years, ever since he became the CEO of the park."
"Oh he's been CEO that long has he, I had no idea. So as his secretary, you would know him best, other than his wife of course," Grey stated.
"Absolutely for it was my job to know him. I set his schedules everyday, organized future meetings, typed and filed all of his paperwork. In fact he almost spent more time with me than he did with his own wife," she said with a smirk.
"So what was his schedule like yesterday? I mean who did he meet and what was the purpose of those meetings."
After grabbing the appointment book from her desk, Alice quickly remembered the previous day's events. "Yesterday was actually a very light day. He met with Mr. Morris and Mr. Craig, the park's inspector and system's manager, in the morning. That meeting was to insure that all things were ready for today's event. Then at 3:30 PM he had a meeting with a Geraldine Stavros, an outside accountant with the Auckland Firm. The contents of that meeting were confidential, and as such I wouldn't have had knowledge about what was discussed for at least a week, maybe more."
"Is it usual for Mr. Taylor to have confidential meetings?" asked Grey.
"Not in particular. From time to time, when finances or future ventures are involved he might withhold information from me, but not because I was untrustworthy, but because Mr. Taylor liked to hold sensitive information 'close to the vest' for as long as he could. But usually I'm kept in the loop.
His last meeting of the day was with an Andrew Minaldi, a private investigator. That meeting took place around 5:30 PM. Like the first meeting I was not privy to the topic," explained Hastings.
"Is there anyone who might have known what the meetings were about?"
"If anyone knew about those meetings it would have to have been E.T." said Hastings.
"E.T., like the alien?" asked Grey.
"No," Hastings said with a laugh, "E.T. is Elliot Ravenwood, the CFO of the park. We call him E.T., well..., I don't know why, but all his friends do, so I guess the name just stuck."
"One last question, when did Mr. Taylor leave for the night?" Grey asked.
"He left at around 7:00 PM, right after his rather heated discussion with Mr. Ravenwood."
"He and Mr. Ravenwood had an argument? What about?"
"I'm not sure because it was in this room, but after Mr. Taylor stormed out, he went into his office for no more than 10 minutes, then left for the evening. I stayed and cleaned up and left at around 8:00 PM."
"Where did Mr. Ravenwood go after the argument?"
"He left the office for about 45 minutes, then came back to do some work. He told me on the way by my desk that he'd be staying late that night and for me not to wait up for him."
"Finally, before you left, you saw no one else, enter or leave this office?"
"Not a soul, everyone else had left early to enjoy the long weekend."
Just as Detective Grey was thanking Mrs. Hastings for her cooperation, Constable Addison came into the room to share his findings. After he and a few other officers had interviewed Parker, Craig, and Morris, no new information surfaced about the ride except that a new version of the program was installed the day before by Kevin Craig. After the installation was complete, the ride was inspected and tested, with no faults arising. Grey then told Addison that he had almost pinned down all the initials in Scott's notepad. The "GS" was Geraldine Stavros, an accountant. The "AM" was Andrew Minaldi, a private investigator. Grey also shared that he believed that ETR was Elliot Ravenwood.
"Elliot Ravenwood?" exclaimed Addison. "Do you think that he's our man?"
"I think that it's too soon to tell, but it's certainly a likelihood," Grey responded.
As they were speaking, they saw Ravenwood jump off of the elevator and run towards his office.
"Oh Mr. Ravenwood!" yelled Grey. "Could we have a word with you please?"
Elliot Ravenwood, looking concerned, and a little annoyed by the police presence, slowly walked to the conference room.
"What in the world is going on here?" yelled Ravenwood. "Your officers have no right tearing apart the offices up here, not at least without a warrant."
"My officers have every right to be here. But just to satisfy you, I have a warrant!" Grey chirped back, as he slammed the warrant down on the table.
"What if the perpetrator doesn't work for the park huh? Your men have destroyed these offices, manhandled or lost dozens of vital documents, invaded the privacy of everyone who works here, and for what? Justice?" barked Ravenwood.
"That's exactly right, sir. Now the quicker you realize that I'm not after information about who's sleeping with whom, or what you did last weekend, the quicker we can get through this. My men are after one thing and one thing only: the truth! Now sit down and answer my questions!" shouted Grey.
"What do you want?" Elliot said as he threw back a chair violently and sat down.
"First of all I want you to cool it. It would seem to me as if you've got quite a temper," remarked Grey.
"So I've been told," replied Ravenwood.
"To begin with, why do people call you E.T.?" asked Grey.
"My full name is Elliot-Travis Ravenwood. As a child, my friends called me E.T., you know like the alien, because not only did my first name have the initials ET, but also because I had a long neck. I guess I never outgrew the name, so I'm known as E.T."
"OK," Grey said. He paused for a moment to turn the page in his notebook, and then continued. "So Mr. Ravenwood, what is it that you do here at the park?"
"I am the CFO, meaning that I oversee all of the accounts and transactions for the park. I am accountable for every dollar that comes in and every dollar that goes out. I am the second ranking official of the park, right below the CEO."
"Yesterday, Mr. Taylor had a meeting with Geraldine Stavros, an accountant. Were you in on that meeting?"
"No, I didn't know it even existed. Usually I'm the one who orders the books audited; it would be very strange for Scott to order one without my knowledge. Unless of course he was trying to hide something from me."
"Did you know that Mr. Taylor also had a meeting with Andrew Minaldi, a private investigator?"
"No, I didn't."
"Well Mr. Ravenwood, it seems to me that you don't know a lot about the things that go on around here. Did you know then that Mr. Taylor was investigating the books because he thought someone was embezzling funds from the park?"
"No," Elliot said nervously as he adjusted in his
chair.
"OK, so you didn't know about the Stavros or Minaldi meetings, both of which seemed to be about financial matters, you didn't know about the embezzlement, also a financial matter, so what then was your argument about with Mr. Taylor last night?"
"Who said we had an argument last night?"
"Mrs. Hastings heard the argument in this room at about 6:30 last night, after which both of you stormed out. You then left the office for about three quarters of an hour. Care to fill us in?"
"OK, OK," Elliot said sighing, "We argued last night about the embezzlement of funds from the park's accounts. Scott had it on good authority that funds were being diverted to a dummy corporation that was supposed to have been selling us emergency inventory that had been under-ordered by the inventory manager. He first accused me of not doing my job, and then he had the audacity to tell me that it was because I was responsible for the embezzlement. He said that he had proof, which, unless I repaid the money, he was going to send to the police for further action. I then got mad, we both yelled at each other, and then he stormed out. After he left, I decided to go out to dinner to clear my head. I then returned about 45 minutes later and began pouring through the financial reports to see if I could find out who had done this. I finished up at around midnight and got home around 1 AM."
"So, seeing as you didn't find anyone else to accuse, I have to ask the obvious question: did you embezzle the money?" asked Grey.
"Absolutely not! I don't know what kind of evidence he had, but whatever it was, it was false. I am an honest man and have not stolen so much as a paperclip, let alone money," Ravenwood explained.
Just then, another officer signaled for Detective Grey to come to the door. He had in his hand paperwork that was found in Mr. Taylor's safe. It showed that over a 5 month period last year, more than $1 million had been funneled through a dummy corporation known as 'Just in Time Supplies'. This dummy corporation, though looking legitimate on the surface, never provided any services for the money that it received. Other papers showed that Andrew Minaldi had discovered that Elliot Ravenwood was the owner/operator of this corporation.
"Mr. Ravenwood, I am sorry to tell you that I have been given the notes that Mr. Taylor had received from Ms. Stavros and Mr. Minaldi. Upon first glance, it provides a compelling case that you in fact embezzled more that $1 million from the park last year. I have no choice but to arrest you for embezzlement and further hold you on suspicion of murder. Constable Addison, cuff him and make sure Mr. Ravenwood is aware of his charter rights.
With that, Ravenwood was arrested and the investigation was almost over. The clear motive for this murder appeared to be covering up the embezzlement. Upon a search of Ravenwood's car, they found the means: the acetylene torch used to cut the metal wheels partially off the ride, as well as the missing bolts. After further investigation they also found the opportunity: A security guard saw Elliot near the ride at around midnight. This was important because an examiner had determined that the ride had to have been tampered with between 11 AM and 1AM so that the metal would have cooled in time for the ride to pass its test run. The case for the crown was looking completely solid. It was going to take a first class defense attorney, one with brains, skill and a determination to find the truth to successfully rebut the crown's arguments, and win an acquittal for Elliot Ravenwood. Lawyers that fit this description are sometimes hard to find, except that is if you live in Toronto and can afford the services of one Elijah Deville.
**********