<°)))><
The detective strolled back into the room.
“As mentioned before, we have the professor’s neighbour. He was the one who picked up Lucas. His name is James.”
“Yes, James the neighbour. The Professor mentioned him in our discussions with him. We think James may have volunteered his services to help out his neighbour. But things may have got a tad complicated,” Aaron said.
“Apparently he saw the lady, Ava, in the vicinity when we nabbed him.”
“Interesting he knows her name.” Aaron said.
“Probably the weak link in all of this, particularly if Perdu puts her charm on. And she did, as they had the recording device and Perdu used her appeal and other means to take ownership of the device and the copy they made.”
Isabella must have had previously misplaced it at James’s place. But not the transporting device, as Isabella was certain it was in her backpack before she started the hike. Still a search is warranted at James’s place.
“But it looks like Isabella and Fell are on the run again.” the detective added.
“Why doesn’t Fell give himself up?” Aaron asked.
“He might be afraid he’ll be blamed for the car accident. And I’m starting to think he’s protecting the girl. And that may have been her grandfather’s plan all along. But it still leaves the question, what does she need protection from? Why is she being pursued?”
“Well we know for certain it’s not the device anymore. It could be just to eliminate them both as they are witnesses.”
The analyst stood to leave. As he headed towards the door, he turned. “Oh. There was one other thing. The Perdus had a daughter. She died by suicide at seventeen.”
Aaron knew this but had not given it much thought. He understood the power of words. Suicide was one word that bewildered most people. They used to say one ‘committed’ suicide but many felt that aligned it with committing a crime. But it was just a sad event stemming from deep emotional turmoil and normally helped along with the power of words—sinister, cunning words from a dark place. His wife called it demon whispers.
“That’s sad news,” Detective Taylor said and paused. “Thanks for the hard work you’ve done.”
Aaron still pondered the girl’s suicide as he gave Nield a wave goodbye. He looked at Detective Taylor.
“Isabella knew Perdu’s daughter. But she didn’t mention that she was deceased. Isabella found it strange that a mother would want to kill her daughter’s friend. But then maybe they weren’t close friends. But then maybe . . . maybe there is a connection.”
<°)))><
Aaron watched Detective Taylor as his fingers moved over the touch screen on the desk. The detective read Aaron’s Intelligence Report brief.
“You’ve done some good detective work, Aaron.”
“I was trying to find out if the Professor had slipped any information regarding the transporting device to his daughter. I confess, I got side tracked.”
“Not a problem, it helps me,” the detective said. He pointed to the wall where his computer data was projected. “A bit of a mind map here. Let’s look at the topics and see the connections.”
Aaron had a vision of a disembodied human hand, writing on the wall. The vision triggered by a biblical reference buried deep, the Finger of God, hopefully spelling out judgement. But he wasn’t sure who for. He refocused and looked at the images on the wall. It reminded him of the structure of the brain.
“First your device, Aaron. We have absolutely no idea of the location of the man we believe has the device.”
“Should I leave then?” Aaron said in jest.
Aaron noticed that the detective didn’t quite know how to take that. “No, of course not.”
“The symbol for the device looks lonely out there with no connections.”
“Well, wait and see.”
“Actually, there is a connection. Isabella saw the man on the bus and again near the shack.”
The detective connected the symbol of Isabella with the device.
This went on for a good hour, lines and symbols going everywhere. Were they any better off? They now also believed the pursuit of a rare plant could be another motive. But this motive seemed a low priority with Perdu’s desire to kill Isabella. Something else was in play. The death of her daughter?
They both had a copy of the coroner’s report on Madeleine’s death and agreed that it needed to be read.
The detective went to his desk and directed Aaron to a quiet room. They agreed to meet two hours later.
65 – The Coroner’s report
DETECTIVE TAYLOR TAPPED HIS TABLET DEVICE. “A reasonably detailed report, don’t you think?”
“I agree.”
“Did you get teased at school, Aaron?”
Memories needed jolting. But there were some strong memories of being bullied floating around. “Yep, and I didn’t like it. Maybe because I was self-conscious about my looks. I suppose most of us were in our teenage years.”
“Yep, the same for me. The thing that I remember well was when I let the teasing get to me; it seemed to egg the teasers on even further.”
Aaron chuckled. He had similar feelings. But he also used to do the teasing and once got an apple square in the face, just above the top lip, because he pushed someone past their limit. Words spoken could never be unspoken. Sorry meant nothing to the apple thrower.
