January 31st
Tom sat outside the office of Sean Galloway waiting to go in. Galloway had replaced Ballard on his case. Sometimes he thought maybe that was the worst thing that could happen. She had her own agenda but he could at least see what it was. Galloway, he couldn't wrap his head around.
His stomach was tied in knots and his head was pounding. He didn't think they would be arresting him that morning despite Galloway's intentions. Craig Alexander would have given him the chance to turn himself in first. At least Tom thought he would under the circumstances. It wasn't like he was denying anything or running away from it. Still, this could be the moment when his career was taken away from him and that scared him almost as much as the thought of going on trial.
The door opened and Cassie stepped out into the corridor. "Thank you, Sgt. St. John." Galloway said from within the office.
"Cassie…" Tom said but she kept walking without so much as a backward glance. Now there was a rock sitting among the knots in his stomach.
"Come in Sgt Ryan," Galloway said and moved aside so that Tom could enter. "Have a seat." He went to sit behind the desk.
"It's good to see you again Tom." Jessica Montoya said.
He smiled a little and nodded to her.
"Now, let's take this from the top," Galloway said.
"Is there something you feel I left out of my taped statement?" Tom asked.
"From the beginning Sgt Ryan." He repeated.
"I was shopping with my then-fiance. I saw a man leave one of the shops with a gun in his hand."
"A gun no one saw but you," Galloway said.
Tom ignored the statement. " I pursued. I saw him turn and he began to fire at me and I returned fire,"
"There were no other casings or bullets retrieved from the scene."
Another statement, not a question so Tom simply continued. " I could not find the gun afterward. No, I did not know that he was married to my fiance. I did not know his name, I had never seen him before in my life." Tom said tightly.
"Your taped confession indicated that you believed your fiance to be guilty of setting you up to kill her husband. What was his name? Miles Archer, that was it."
"That's what she told me when I caught up with her," Tom said. "Just like I said on the tape, just like I've said in every other interview I've given."
"And one of these days your story is going to change because we both know it's a figment of your imagination."
"What is it you want?" Tom asked. "I've given you every detail a dozen times. I've written it, I've put it on tape. If you don't believe it fine, do what you think you have to do. But if you're waiting on me to change my story that's not going to happen. The truth doesn't change no matter how much you want it to." Tom desperately wanted the truth to change.
"Or how often you bend it," Galloway said.
Tom couldn't help it. It was that stubborn Irish temperament. The same stubborn inability to yield when he knew he was right. For the rest of the meeting, every question Galloway asked Tom answered with "I've already answered this question." He never looked away from Galloway. He didn't fidget, he didn't twitch and he did not even for a single moment show fear. Galloway was trying to rattle him and he knew it. It didn't matter how much he was rattled he refused to show it. On some level, Tom knew this man wasn't just a fellow officer running an investigation. He was the enemy. He just didn't know why. With Ballard and Burmeister he at least knew the reasons why.
He walked out the door an hour later and headed toward the medical plaza and his MRI appointment.
Craig Alexander waited for Tom to leave before approaching Galloway's door. He paused before knocking as he could hear the phone ring. He knew he hated to be interrupted mid-phone call, so he could wait a moment.
"You need to stop worrying." He could hear Galloway say. "I told you I have this under control… No one is going to take him seriously even if he does figure it out. So stop panicking and go do whatever it is a city councilman does. I have work to do."
Craig frowned and stepped back from the door, turning to walk away. He didn't like the sound of what he'd just heard. He didn't like it at all. Until those words, vague as they were, had come from Galloway's mouth he'd been ready to charge Tom Ryan with manslaughter. He hadn't exactly changed his mind, but he knew there was more to the story than he was being told. He was going to find out what that was before he proceeded. He felt that Galloway, like Ballard before him, was yanking his chain a little too hard on this.
"How did the meeting with internal affairs go?" Will asked when Cassie returned to their desks.
She shrugged "They asked questions, I answered questions." She had done her best to not make things worse for Tom. She was angry with him but she didn't want to be the one to put him in more trouble than he was already in. She believed him when he said that he'd seen a gun and that Archer had shot at him first. Tom was a good cop and despite a few flaws, he was a good man. There was no way he'd do what Galloway insisted he'd done. He would never kill a man to have a woman. Not in a million years.
"Well, let's go talk to the Chauffeur and see if he answers the questions we ask."
"Sounds like a plan." She said. "Let's take your car this time."
They found him at the Elias residence, a sprawling estate overlooking the ocean. Gavin Clark looked more like a bodyguard than a chauffeur. Tall, broad-shouldered, and built like a brick wall. He was rinsing off the limousine as they approached.
"Mr. Clark?" Will asked.
"Who wants to know?" He turned off the water hose.
"I'm Sgt Will Adams and this is my partner Sgt Cassandra St. John we're with the Palm Beach police department."
He nodded then "Mr. Elias said I should expect you. I don't know how much I can help but I'll do my best. Mrs. Elias was a sweet lady. It's a damned shame what was done."
"What can you tell us about Mrs. Elias's activities leading up to her disappearance?" Cassie asked.
"She went shopping with Miss Graves on Monday, they went to that new French restaurant for lunch and came back here until Miss Graves left around three that afternoon. She had an appointment with Dr. Graydon on Tuesday morning but she wasn't home. I didn't drive her anywhere so someone else had to have picked her up. If I had to put money down I'd say it was Miss Graves."
"Dr. Graydon. What sort of doctor is he or she?" Will asked.
"He's a psychiatrist."
"Can you tell us where his offices are?" He asked.
"Sure, it's over on 82nd and Grand." He said. "In that big medical plaza by the hospital."
"Thank you for your time," Cassie said and handed over her card. "If you think of anything else please don't hesitate to call."
"I don't know what that could possibly be but yeah I'll call."
The detectives walked back to their car. "I guess we head over to the medical plaza," Will said.
"I guess we do. Hopefully, he will talk to us. Doctors occasionally think that patient confidentiality extends to the afterlife." Technically it did, but there were always extenuating circumstances.
"Let's ask Harry to try for a warrant just in case the good doctor believes in posthumous confidentiality."
"Good plan," Cassie said and took out her cell phone to call the Captain. Harry promised to call her as soon as he got word on the warrant. She relayed this to Will. "In the meantime, we may as well head over and see how far we can get without one."
"Okay." He said.
Half an hour later they entered the medical plaza and stood in front of the directory.
"There it is. Dr. Peter Graydon, the third floor next to the radiology clinic." Will said.
They went to the elevator and took it up to the third floor. Cassie glanced into the radiology waiting room and saw Tom and his father sitting there, waiting. She watched until Tom looked her way, then she looked away and walked a little faster toward Dr. Graydon's office.
Liam took notice. "You should call her later."
Tom shook his head. "I tried speaking to her earlier today when she was coming out of Galloway's office. She ignored me completely. She wants nothing to do with me." He said.
"Surely she doesn't believe you're guilty."
"I don't know." He answered, "But I'm pretty sure right now she's more than happy to believe the worst about me." He shrugged "It's all just a bridge too far, I guess."
"I'm sorry, Son."
"Yeah… me too." He said quietly. "I guess my vision is pretty myopic when it comes to women.".
"Tom Ryan?" a technician called out from the door leading to the back of the office before Liam could comment.
Tom got to his feet. "See you soon, Dad." He said and followed her back for his latest MRI.
"Thank you for seeing us, Dr. Graydon," Cassie said as she and Will took seats across the desk from the psychiatrist.
Peter Graydon smiled, although it didn't reach his hazel eyes. "Of course, what can I do for you?"
"We're here to discuss Selena Elias," Cassie said, feeling uncomfortable under the man's gaze.
"I'm sure you understand that I am not at liberty to discuss my patients with anyone without their express permission."
"Mrs. Elias was murdered," Will said.
"Are you sure it was murder?" He asked, the smile turning to a worried frown, although Cassie was certain it was an affectation, everything about this man was an affectation.
"We're certain," Will said. "Why is it that you aren't?"
"As I said I'm not at liberty to share anything about my patients unless they are a danger to others or in danger from others. As she has passed on regardless of the manner she's neither. I would be more than happy to discuss her case in depth if you can get a warrant."
"That's in the works as we speak," Cassie said. She wished that it was an all-inclusive warrant rather than just for their victim's records. Something about this man …
"Well, then I suppose we'll be speaking again soon. However I have a patient due to be seen in about five minutes, so if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work helping the living. The dead can wait until 6 pm when my last patient leaves."
"We'll be back," Will said and as he stood up.
"I'm sure you will," Graydon said.
Will and Cassie left the psychiatrist's office and waited out in the corridor for the warrant to be delivered.
"Is it just me or is there something off about that guy?" Cassie asked.
Will shrugged. "I think he's just accustomed to hiding his true emotions from his patients."
"Maybe but if this were a movie, he'd be the villain. The guy who pretends to be nice right up to the point that he pulls a kitchen knife or something."
Will laughed "He really hit a bad nerve with you."
"The last time that happened I needed three showers and a spa day to make my skin stop crawling."
Will frowned. "You're spooked." He said. "What's going on?"
"I don't know… I don't. He didn't say or do anything odd. I just find him disturbing. How do people open up to a guy like that?"
"They don't think they have a choice," Will said. "This poor woman was surrounded by some disturbing people. The one thing I did notice about this guy, he was trying to imply she was suicidal without saying she was suicidal."
"Maybe she was." Cassie said " If half the things we have been told are true it would be like living in a pressure cooker. There's only so much anyone can take before they break. But there is no way anyone can shoot themselves and then dump their own body sans gun and brain splatter."
" True. Although someone can do it for them to cover up a scandal." He suggested.
"That's a complication we don't need but if anyone did it's the driver."
" I wonder if the Doc is being paid by Elias or if he's on Elias's payroll," Will said. There was a distinction between the two and it wasn't as subtle as it sounded.
"There is an entire book of thou shalt nots that guy could be up to and I may sound like a crazy lady but he makes my skin crawl."
"I'm gonna say something you're not going to like." Will began. "I think you've just had your trust broken, and Graydon has that same general description. Tall, brown hair, the same color of eyes."
"That is where the similarity ends, trust me." She said, "That subject is still off limits, don't bring him up again." Her issues with Tom were personal and private and had absolutely nothing to do with the hatchet job internal affairs was trying to do on him. Besides, if she wasn't willing to talk about him to Harry she sure as hell wasn't going to discuss it with a relative stranger.
Will threw his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, have it your way."
"Eventually you'll figure out I always do."
Tom rejoined his father in the waiting room across the hall, "We're good to go." He said quietly. They walked into the corridor and he stopped short seeing Cassie again. He looked down when she glanced in his direction and continued walking toward the elevator.
Liam nodded to his former daughter-in-law. This time Cassie looked down. He debated going over to speak with her but he figured she was on the job and it was neither the time nor place to have a conversation with her. Instead, he went to join his son. The elevator opened and they got in just as a patrolman exited with a piece of paper in hand.
The elevator door closed and Tom leaned back against the wall. "Someone is having a warrant served." He said. "Never good when it's a shrink." He'd seen the name of the office on the door when they'd arrived.
Liam watched his son for a moment. " You'll get your name cleared then you can come home to Boston and get a job on the force there."
"I don't want to live in Boston, Dad. If I did I'd have gone home after my divorce. I like the weather here. I like the people here."
"Really? What people? So far the only one I've seen give a damn about you right now is Harry."
"We've had this discussion," Tom said sharply. "I don't want to have it again."
"We don't always get what we want in life, Thomas," Liam said. "Sometimes we have to do the things we don't want to do. Go places we don't want to go."
Tom shook his head. "I'm not there yet."
"How much further do you have to fall ?" Liam said, then sighed. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that."
The elevator doors opened and Tom walked out without saying a word. He continued to the parking garage and got into his car and waited for his father.
"I get it." He said eventually. "I'm the family screw-up. Divorced, lapsed faith, neither a fireman nor a priest. Then I go and do … this… You want to fix all of that but you can't so stop trying." He started the car and pulled out of the parking space.
"I can't do that. No father who loved his son could do that."
"What are you going to do to fix it when I wind up in jail, Dad? Galloway isn't going to stop until that happens. What are you going to do?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. We haven't come to it yet." Liam said, "Why does this man have it in for you?"
"I don't know. It's probably nothing more than there is no evidence to clear me and he's convinced I'm lying. But he won't stop." Or he was just continuing Ballard's agenda? But that sounded paranoid. He couldn't have every Internal Affairs officer thrown off the case for a conflict of interest.
"If there was enough evidence to convict you, wouldn't they have filed charges by now?"
"I'm not sure why they haven't. I freely admitted to the shooting. I did it. It wasn't murder. But I did kill the man. They couldn't find the gun or any rounds that didn't come from my gun. It's my word alone that there was one."
"Your word obviously means something to the district attorney."
Tom laughed bitterly, "I wouldn't bet on that. I don't know what's going on with him. He was willing to put his son on trial with less evidence. Don't ask me to make sense of Craig Alexander. Look. Dad. I love you, and it means a lot that you're here to stand by me, but I want you to go home."
"Because I shoved my foot in my mouth back there?"
"No… because it's time." He couldn't take the look of disappointment and worry in his father's eyes anymore. He couldn't take the endless stream of it will be alright, when he knew his father was trying to reassure himself as much as him. He was pretty sure his father was wearing thin too, but in true Ryan fashion was too stubborn to admit it. It was for the best if his father went home. It was.
Sean Galloway sat across from Craig Alexander and nursed the glass of whiskey he'd been offered. "So tell me again why you haven't pressed charges against Tom Ryan. He confessed to the shooting, what more do you want?"
"He confessed to shooting Miles Archer. He didn't confess to murdering him. Right now it's possibly a bad situation where he honestly believed he saw a gun. He wouldn't be unique in that situation as you well know. Conclude your investigation and I'll make my decision."
"You might not realize he's guilty as sin, but I do. I'm not going to stop until he tells the truth."
"And if he has been telling the truth all along?" Craig asked. He'd done a background check on the woman, Virginia Archer. She had a long rap sheet spanning several years and several states. She was a con artist. No doubt about it. He also did not doubt that she had conned Tom Ryan. What he didn't know was whether Tom had been framed, or if he'd simply bought into the con and gotten rid of someone he thought was a threat to the woman he loved. He couldn't proceed until he was certain.
"He isn't. He's lying and eventually, he will screw up. He'll change a detail or crack under the pressure. It happens all the time. I've got time. I'm not going anywhere. Even if he grows a brain and quits the force I'll keep pushing until I get to the truth. Did you know he used to have mob connections in Boston?"
"What are you talking about? He hasn't lived in Boston since he graduated high school. He came down here for college. That's in his record. "
"And while he went to high school, on scholarship to a very posh catholic school, he was dating Antony Palmeri's little girl. A real-life mafia princess." Palmeri was infamous. Cut from the same cloth as the Teflon Don. The feds had been after him for decades. Unlike Gotti however, Tony Palmeri had never so much as spent a night in a jail cell.
Craig laughed at that and shook his head. "Last time I checked, dating the daughter of a criminal isn't a crime. This is starting to look more like a vendetta than an investigation, given how your predecessor handled things I think you need to dial it back a notch. Your job isn't to investigate his high school batting average. It's to investigate the shooting he was involved in. Nothing more."
"My job is to determine if Tom Ryan is a crooked cop where ever that investigation takes me."
"Dial it back or I will take you off the case," Craig said. "The Palm Beach Police Department doesn't conduct witch hunts. Am I understood? Limit your investigation to actual crimes."
"You keep forgetting you're the District Attorney, not the Police Chief."
"Chief Doyle will go with my recommendations. You can count on it." Joseph Doyle had always allowed Craig more leeway than previous district attorneys. He didn't see that changing any time soon. "I don't know what it is about Tom Ryan that has a burr under your saddle but get over it."
Peter Graydon no longer smiled blandly at the detectives. "You already have her records, I don't know that I can tell you anything more than my notes can."
"Any insights you can give would be helpful." Will said "You inferred earlier that it may not have been murder. What did you mean by that?"
Graydon sighed. "Selena was a troubled woman. She's been to several psychologists before coming to see me. She was diagnosed by them to have a borderline personality disorder. Part of that disorder can be, and in her case was suicidal ideation."
"By them? Does that mean you disagree?" Cassie asked.
"Not exactly. I had been seeing her for only a few months and she hadn't begun trusting me enough to open up. There are traits of Borderline Personality disorder that intersect with other disorders and I was reserving my judgment until I had gotten to know her a little better. Some clinicians make snap diagnoses after a brief interview or a questionnaire. That's not how I choose to work."
"Tell us what you did observe then," Cassie said.
"That her relationship with her husband was volatile and unstable. One session he'd be her savior, her knight in shining armor, the next he would be abusive and controlling and out to get her."
"Is it possible that he was abusive and controlling?" Will asked.
"Absolutely. Having met the man it is very likely. I am certain the relationship was unstable in reality as well as in her perception. Please understand when I say she was unstable I don't mean it in that movie of the week sensationalized way. It's not like she was having a psychotic break. What I mean is that… okay… the average person has fairly consistent reactions to things. They feel angry when they are cut off in traffic but usually by the time they get home the white-hot anger has faded to frustration if it's even still there at all. Selena could be angry about the traffic incident or she could be terrified that someone was trying to run her off the road or she could lash out at everyone for the remainder of the day because her anger doesn't dissipate like the average person. It could be all of the above. Or none. There was no stable healthy pattern to her emotions."
"Was she being treated with medications?" Cassie asked.
"There were medications prescribed. I don't believe she was taking them. She said that her husband quote end quote did not like who she was while she was on them." He said "I'm afraid I have to call this interview to an end Detectives. It's time for me to go home. If you have any further questions of course I would be happy to answer them if you would make an appointment. Otherwise, I am a very busy man, I'm sure you understand."
"I see," Will said. "Well, thank you for your time, Dr. Graydon."
The argument between Tom and his father had continued all the way home, all the way through dinner preparations, and ultimately dinner itself.
"I do not think you are the family failure, Son. I have always been proud of you and your accomplishments. I still am. I would have to believe that you had actually committed murder to feel any differently. Do I wish things had turned out differently between you and Cassie, of course, I do? Not because I don't believe in divorce, but because I would never wish that kind of pain on either of you. I don't care that you chose to be a policeman over being a fireman. Yes, I am proud that Daniel and Timothy followed in my footsteps, but that doesn't mean that I am ashamed that you didn't and I would have to be blind, deaf, and mentally deficient to think that you, of all people, could ever be happy as a priest. Your uncle Paul certainly isn't. I don't think your sister is going to be happy as a nun either. But I can't make her choices for her any more than I can make yours for you. I want you to come home because your mother and I are worried about you not because I want control of your life, Tom."
"I can't go home. I'm too old to move back in with my parents and have anything resembling self-respect. I don't have a lot of that left as it is."
"Because of this Galloway person?"
"No. Because of how I handled things from the moment I started dating Virginia. I am in this mess because of the mistakes I've made. It has cost me my friendship with Cassie, it cost me my career, and possibly the full use of my arm. I screwed up so monumentally, I became someone so unlike myself that I don't even recognize that guy. But it was me. I did those things."
"Tom… we all screw up from time to time. That doesn't make you a terrible person. It doesn't mean you deserve what is happening to you now. It doesn't mean you deserve to be alone while you're dealing with the fallout."
"I didn't just make a mistake Dad. I didn't get conned out of my savings I got conned out of my life. I got conned out of everything that makes me… me. Is it a bad thing that maybe I want to deal with this on my own? To get some of that back?"
"If I believed that was what you wanted I would be even more worried than I am now."
"It is what I want." Tom insisted.
"I don't believe that. I think it's what you think you deserve. There's a difference."
"Maybe I don't think you deserve to put your life on hold because I screwed up."
"One day." Liam said "When you have children of your own you'll understand why that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. What? Did you think that I stopped being your father when you turned 18? Or was it when you went to the police academy? When you got married? When was I suddenly required to stop being a parent and become someone you have to put in a home one day?"
"That's not what I meant," Tom said. "I meant that you have the restaurant, and Mom, you have already dipped into your life savings to help out Dan and his wife, so you can't afford to spend time away from that Restaurant. Being here could cost you a lot more than just Time, Dad."
"So what? Do you think I care more about that damned restaurant than you?"
"No, I don't think that," Tom said in frustration. "I know better than that. I know you better than that. But this is… this situation isn't something that you can help me with. I have to ride this storm out and it could be years before it's over if it ever is."
"Surely they won't continue this for much longer."
"There is no statute of limitations on murder and that is what Galloway is convinced I've done. It's why Alexander isn't rushing to press charges. He has all the time in the world to make sure that when he does take this to trial he has enough evidence to win. They'll take everyone down with me if they have to. Please Dad… just do as I ask. Go home to mom."
"After your surgery." He said "Not one day before."
"Dad-" he said, frustrated.
Sean Galloway entered his brother's home and flopped down on the sofa. "I've been ordered to back off."
"What?" Patrick asked "Why? It was the simplest possible thing. Get Tom Ryan off the force, preferably in jail and it all goes away. Archer is dead, the woman is dead, and there is no one to corroborate his story or implicate you. Even I know that should be a slam dunk. How the blue perfect hell did you cock this up, Sean?"
"The DA is dragging his feet. There's no love lost between them but Craig Alexander is a stickler for everything by the book and all perfect and neat. The only thing he hates more than surprises is scandal so he's tightening the reins. The frame-up isn't going to stick if I keep pushing. You're going to have to be patient."
"Patient?"
"I didn't stutter." He said. "Have you kissed and made up with Donnie di Barto yet?"
"You don't just kiss and make up with Donnie Dogs, not when you get his kid thrown in jail. He only looks soft and doughy, the man is a shark in a silk suit, and unlike your pal Craig Alexander, if he wants someone taken down he's not going to bide his time doing it."
"I've got feelers out with the Organized Crime Task Force. No one comes into town without them knowing about it. We'll know if he sends for … talent… In the meantime, I have another plan in mind to dispose of Sgt Tom Ryan. Donnie Dogs isn't the only overprotective parent around. Definitely not the only one with teeth."
