Final Act by Dianne Yetman (best free ebook reader .TXT) 📕

just finished her report when she knocked on the door.  Kate positioned Eleanor in the hard plastic chair a few feet from the corner of her desk.  She didn’t want her face blocked by the computer on the desk that butted against hers.  Eleanor looked very uncomfortable.

“Thanks for coming to the precinct, Eleanor, I appreciate it.  Did you have any trouble parking?”

“No, I grabbed a cab.”

“I’ve asked you down here because our investigation has turned up a few new developments and I need to clear up a few things.  You and Donald were divorced two years ago.  Is that correct?

“Yes, but what has that to do with anything?”

“During the time of your marriage and divorce, did you ever tour the premises of your husband’s plant?”

“Yes, of course, quite a few times when we were married.  I’ve been in the plant only once since our divorce.”

“On any of those occasions, did you enter the room where Prussic acid was manufactured?”

“I believe so.  Donald liked to show off his security.  It was state of the art, very impressive.”

“Did you ever enter the room unattended?”

“Of course not.”

“Have you ever been in the room when only you and Donald were present?”

“No, not that I remember”, Eleanor said.  She paused for a moment and then resumed speaking.  “There is a log book outside the room for people to sign before entering the room.  It should be easy enough to check.”

“How long has it been Eleanor since your daughter was killed in the car accident?”

An angry looking red welt appeared on her neck.  “I don’t understand why you’re asking me this, Kate.  I find the whole thing very painful to talk about.”  She sighed.  “It’s a little over a year now.  Last winter, the roads were bad.  She hit a guardrail and went over the embankment.”

“Did your daughter have an active social life before her accident?  Did she date a lot?”

“I wouldn’t say she dated a lot, but she dated.”

“Who did she date?”

“Boys, high school boys.  Do we have to talk about Sybil?”

“Yes.  I’m afraid we do.  Was Sybil close to Jeffrey?”

“Jeffrey?  She knew both Jeffrey and Catherine on a social basis.  We would have them over to dinner and they would reciprocate.  She enjoyed their company but I wouldn’t say she was close to them.”

“Was she closer to Jeffrey than Catherine?”

“No.  I told you, she wasn’t close to either of them.”

“Were you aware of the rumours about Jeffrey, how he dated young girls, underage girls.”

“Oh no, Kate, is that what you’re saying?”  Panic increased the intensity and pitch of Eleanor’s voice.  “Jeffrey and Sybil?  No.  Never.  What kind of filth are you implying?  Sybil was a good girl; an excellent student, polite, upstanding.  I won’t listen to the likes of this.”

“I’m sorry to have to do this Eleanor but I’m going to show you a picture.”

Eleanor turned her head.  “No you’re not.  I refuse to look at the picture. I know which one it is, her sixteenth birthday; Jeffrey has his arm around her.  So what?  It doesn’t mean anything.  I still find it extremely painful to see her picture.  If you insist on showing it to me, then I’m leaving.”

“I’m not going to force you to look, Eleanor, we can talk.”

Eleanor stood, her body vibrating.

“No we won’t.” Eleanor slammed the door shut on her way out.

***

Minutes later a tiny knock.  Kate lifted her head off the desk.

“Eleanor just went charging by me.  That bad was it”, Shirley asked.

“Yes.”

“What happened?”

She recited word for word what had happened.

“You know I’ve heard about denial but this is the first time I’ve seen it face to face.  I think Eleanor has blinded herself to the truth.  She had means, motive and opportunity.  She could easily have gotten her hands on the poison with no one at the plant suspecting a thing.  And she certainly had a motive for killing Jeffrey but Catherine’s the stumbling block.  Eleanor was close to her and had no reason to want her dead.  Anyway, how did it go with you?”

“To my surprise, both husband and wife showed up, they were cooperative and in the beginning, friendly, like I was one of their close relatives or something. Brenda is a very folksy, down-to-earth person who is afraid of giving offence to anyone so goes out of her way to be nice.  Her husband however is different, cooler, more detached.  He answered my questions about how Prussic acid was manufactured, stored and secured but he wasn’t comfortable doing it.”

Kate rose at the sound of the knock on the door and took the ticket stubs for the lotto draw from Kelly.  Once the door closed, Shirley resumed speaking.

“Then I asked Brenda if she had ever had the opportunity to visit the room.  She was delighted to talk about it and sang the praises of the security system her husband was responsible for implementing.  They both said they had been in the room in the last six months.  Something was off but I couldn’t figure what.  No more open gazes and smiles, in fact, they didn’t even look at one another.  I switched the focus and asked Brenda about how she got her start in the theatre.”

Kate laughed.  “You could have been let in for a long listen at that question, Shirley.”

Shirley smiled.  “I lucked in.  She went straight to her sister, said Barbara was responsible for her becoming involved in the theatre troupe because she had asked Brenda for help in finishing a screenplay the students were going to put on in the park.  I didn’t want her getting caught up in the story of how it led to her becoming one of Jeffrey’s protégé so I steered the conversation back to her sister.”

“Does Barb still live with her”, Kate asked.

“No.