Chief Inspector Simmons pounded his pencil on the desk in front of him. “I sure hope, Detective McGill, that the first thing that’s going to come out of your mouth is that you’ve been making a hell of a lot of progress on Hauptmann’s murder and you also have a pretty good idea of why and how Loreen Stenke was killed.”
McGill nodded. “I’ve been giving this my full attention and have been making some progress.”
Simmons sighed. “That’s a remarkably non-committal statement, Sean. Can you do any better than that?”
“I do have some leads, or at least I’ve succeeded in crossing out some dead-end possibilities.”
“Are you assuming that both murders were committed by the same assailant?”
“One was shot in the back of the head at close range. The other was bludgeoned to death. I’d say no, other than the fact that it would be such an unbelievable coincidence—two conductors of the same orchestra being killed within so short a period of time by two different assailants?”
“I assume you found the murder weapon?”
“No, we have not. Either the murderer took it with him…”
“Or her.”
“Or her…although the fatal blow was delivered with a fair amount of force.”
“Doesn’t mean much in my experience. A woman might be a little less likely to bring the weapon with her, especially if the weapon in question is a heavy, blunt object.”
“At any rate, we have nothing for the present. I’ve had the secretary, Linda Eggert, looking around to see if anything is missing from Stenke’s office that might have been used for the crime. So far she’s been too unnerved to do much looking, but she’s going to get back to me about it.”
“Do you have any meaningful leads at all?”
“I’m pursuing a number of ideas that could lead to something.”
“Lead to what? To some witness who actually saw something worth reporting? We’ve now had two murders that have taken place in the same building and no one has seen anything. I find that very hard to believe. Frankly, I find it difficult to believe that Loreen Stenke ever set foot in the building. You’d think she’d be so spooked after Hauptmann’s murder.”
McGill nodded. “It’s surprising. According to her husband, she didn’t particularly want to be there. She was there meeting with Carter.”
“The chair of the orchestra’s Board of Directors?”
“Yes. He was hounding her to meet with him, right after she informed the Board—through an email—that she had no intention of participating in the concert honoring Hauptmann.”
“Remind me why.”
“She and her husband had just suffered through a miscarriage and she was in no mental condition to appear in public. She probably wasn’t up for it physically either.”
“That’s right. But apparently Mr. Carter is not one to take no for an answer?”
“Her husband said that he absolutely insisted. Carter was willing to meet her at her apartment but she told her husband that she couldn’t stand the idea of him coming to their home. So they agreed to meet in her office in the orchestra’s building. Hauptmann’s office is still cordoned off but Loreen Stenke’s is on a different floor and was still available.”
“The other thing that I find surprising is that there’s never anyone around when these things happen. You’d think everyone on the staff would really be on their guard after the first murder.”
“The problem is that there just aren’t that many people on staff. Most of them leave promptly at five, probably even quicker now after Hauptmann’s murder. The building janitor had left about an hour earlier. There is a watchman who comes in to do rounds later in the evening but he just got there in time to find the body.”
“And I take it that the security system isn’t much help?”
“The security camera by the front door doesn’t really show that much. And once again it appears as if the murderer came in through the back door. But just as before, there’s no sign of a break-in.”
“So that means that as far as we know, the last person to see her alive was…”
“Wilfrid Carter, who had arranged the meeting with her.”
“Well, it’s highly unlikely that you openly arrange a meeting with someone and then kill them.”
“It would be pretty obvious.”
“And say what you like about Carter, he’s nobody’s fool. No, I think we can all but eliminate him as a possibility.”
“I spoke to him immediately after the body was discovered of course. He was shocked, naturally. He admitted that their conversation had been neither friendly nor productive, but he didn’t describe her as being in any way worried or fearful for her life.”
“Does the security camera show Carter?”
“It show’s Carter leaving at 8:30, no more than a half hour before Stenke was killed according to the medical examiner’s best guess.”
“Half an hour…that’s cutting it pretty close.”
“Right, and it may have been less than that. But as you said, Carter would have to be pretty brazen to have killed her after he had arranged the meeting. And, really, what would he have gained? I’m sure he was annoyed with her after she backed out of the concert, but you don’t commit murder because you’re annoyed with someone.”
“Unless there’s more to it than that.”
“I will be talking with him again soon to try to go a little deeper about his relationship with Stenke.”
“So no sign of anyone else?”
“Only one other possibility that we know about and it’s a long shot. One of those protestors was seen in the vicinity around 7:30.”
“And you’re going to talk to him?”
“Right after I leave you.”
“And that’s it? There’s really nothing else to go on? You said there was no sign of a break-in at the back door. So tell me again, how many people have keys?”
“There are only supposed to be three keys to the back door and—as before—they’ve all been accounted for, although one of them is displayed openly in Winston’s’ office, not a particularly secure location.”
“So someone might have grabbed it while no one was looking?”
“Exactly.”
“Well it’s pretty obvious that someone keeps waltzing in and committing mayhem without anyone being the wiser. I don’t suppose Wilfrid Carter has any ideas as to who could have done this?”
“No, but as you might expect, he’s convinced that there’s a conspiracy to destroy the orchestra and this is just the latest blow. As he has all along the way, he takes all of this very personally.”
“And I’m sure he’ll be on the phone to his friends in city hall if he hasn’t been already. Great! Look, McGill, results…we need results quickly…or at least something I can point to when I’m pressed for information. I want you to check in with me at least twice a day from here on out.”
As McGill got up to leave, Simmons motioned him back into his chair. “You’ve got a good record for a young detective, Sean, but unless I see real progress very soon, I’m going to have to replace you as lead investigator.”
“I understand. I’m expecting to start getting significant results very soon and I’ll let you know as soon as I do.”