Impossible Choices
Chapter 2 - No Leads To Be Found, Or Are There?
After dropping Cheryl off at the station, Steve and Mark proceeded to Maryville Elementary School. Upon entering the building, they headed to the administrative office where a rather stern looking woman all but barked, "Can I help you?"
As Mark stood smiling his most charming smile, Steve slid his badge out of his pocket and introduced himself and explained their purpose for being there.
"Oh my, yes, we have heard about Kevin," indicated the woman." Principal Keating has been expecting someone to show up. If you'll give me a minute, I will let her know you are here. Excuse my earlier abruptness; you wouldn't believe how the news media has been. I had thought you might be reporters. I should have known someone as dignified looking as yourself would never stoop to those kind of techniques," she indicated as she looked directly at Mark with a hopeful smile. Steve smirked; his father's charm had claimed another victim. She then proceeded to call the principal and clear the way for a visit.
As Mark and Steve entered the principal's office they shared a grin. It had been many years since they had shared a visit to the principal's office and those visits had always meant that Steve had once again gotten himself involved in one kind of mischief or another. As Principal Keating turned to face them, Steve's thoughts shifted. Hmmm, perhaps being in trouble with the principal was not such a bad thing. He had never had a principal, much less a teacher, who had looked like this. As she rose from her chair, Steve realized she was tall, almost as tall as he was. She had wide set dark brown eyes and her hair was sandy blonde. Her suit had clean cuts that accentuated her tall curvy figure. A glance at his father confirmed that he had indeed been busted for his thoughts and that Jesse and Amanda would have new ammunition to tease him with. He grinned slightly and extended his hand in greeting and introduced himself. His father followed suit and then they all settled into their chairs.
"Lt. Sloan, how are the Rayburns doing?" asked Miranda Keating.
"As well as can be expected," Steve replied. He continued, "Ms Keating…"
"Please call me Miranda," she interrupted.
"Sure, ok, Ms Kea… Miranda, let me first say that anything we talk about needs to be kept confidential."
"I assure you, Lt. Sloan you don't get where I am without understanding the importance of confidentiality," Miranda informed him in a slightly affronted tone.
"Ms K… I mean Miranda, no offense was meant. We just have to make sure we say that." He responded with a hopeful smile on his face.
She relented and smiled back. Steve then proceeded with the business at hand. He asked her questions about Kevin's friends, whether there had been any unusual incidents with strangers, and a variety of other mundane questions. He had come to his final and most difficult item for discussion. "Miranda, have you ever had any indication that Kevin was being physically abused?" he asked.
A look of shock crossed the principal's face. "No, never. His mother is by all appearances a delightful woman whose life revolves around her children. She is one of our most reliable volunteers. I don't know that much about her husband. I have only met him once. He travels a great deal with work," she responded.
As Mark had watched the interview progress his agile mind had not only registered the results of the questions and answers, he had also been able to observe the not so subtle dance that was taking place between the two conversationalists. He knew his son well and knew when a woman interested him. He had viewed the same interest from the woman on the other side of the desk. It still amazed him that his son had not yet found someone to settle down with. It was obvious that women found him attractive. He still held out hope for grandchildren. His son's rising from his chair pulled him back from his thoughts. Steve extended his hand to thank Miranda for her help, and Mark couldn't help but notice that their hands seemed to remain clasped a tad longer than was necessary. As they turned to leave, Steve all but tripped over the chair and Mark had to surpress a burst of laughter. The one thing that was guaranteed to fluster his normally agile son was a woman.
As they reached the door a soft voice called, "Lt. Sloan, what if I think of something and need to reach you?"
"Oh yeah sure," Steve stuttered. He reached into his pocket and quickly scribbled his home number beside the other numbers on the card. "I added my home number on the card, please call me day or night," he said. The smile she flashed his way was full of sweet promise and Steve felt his face flush and heard a chuckle from his father at his side.
"I'll take you up on that, Lieutenant," she purred.
Steve barely avoided mashing his face into the door as in his haste to get out of the office; he neglected to open it completely. Only Mark's swift intervention in grabbing the door prevented Steve's further embarrassment. As they excited the office, Mark shook his head and was still chuckling to himself.
On the drive back to Community General to drop his father off, Steve recycled all that he had read and heard so far that day. "Dad?"
"What, Son?" Mark answered.
"Could you tell by the autopsy if any of the wounds had received medical attention?"
"It appeared that they had. It is sometimes difficult to tell with fractures," Mark responded.
Steve contemplated his next comment. "You know, Dad, with evidence of prior abuse his parents become the prime suspects in Kevin's murder."
Mark nodded his agreement and then asked, "What do we know about the parents so far?"
Steve glanced in his father's direction. "Mr. Rayburn is a Systems Analyst. He travels a great deal and is normally only home on the weekends. His boss had high praise for him and said he is one of his most dedicated and reliable employees. Of course with these new developments we will have to follow up the call to his employer with a visit. Mrs. Rayburn is a full time homemaker. She worked full time as a nurse up until Kevin was born. We didn't really consider them suspects when we were gathering information yesterday."
"You know, Steve, his mother would have had the training to treat Kevin's injuries so a visit to the hospital wouldn't have been necessary. "I can't say it would be the best way to treat fractures but it is possible."
Steve sighed. He didn't know which scenario disturbed him the most. The possibility of a stranger committing such a horrible crime or that a parent could coldly slit the throat of their own child.
Steve walked back into the precinct and nodded a greeting to Cheryl as he crossed to his desk. She completed her phone call and made some final entries in her notes before moving to join him at his desk. "What did you get at the school?"
"Nothing that really helps much. Had the family ever been reported to Child Protective Services?"
"No, they had no record on the family."
Steve leaned back in his chair. "Did you tell them what we were investigating?"
"Yes, they plan to send a case worker to the house to conduct an evaluation and talk with Kendra."
"Good, have we come up with any other relatives?"
"Mrs. Rayburn has no siblings and her parents were killed in a car wreck when she was 22. Mr. Rayburn's brother and parents live in Dallas, Texas. From what I have been able to find out, he sees them whenever his work takes him to the area. They will be here some time tomorrow for the funeral."
"We will need to talk with them when they are here," Steve said.
"I know," Cheryl replied. "I don't know how much help they are going to be. When I was talking to Mr. Rayburn's mother I got the impression that they didn't see the family, only Michael. She had very little to say about Mrs. Rayburn and what she said wasn't very flattering. She said that her daughter-in-law was clingy and jealous. I also gathered that they had their first falling out shortly after Kevin was born. The senior Rayburns didn't think she was a very good mother. They felt she was inattentive. The Rayburns had traveled from Dallas to help with the adjustment period but only stayed two days after the baby came home from the hospital. She said the last time they saw either of the kids was when they came in for Kendra's 5th birthday. Apparently they didn't approve of the way their grandchildren were being raised. Harsh words were exchanged and they vowed to never come back."
Steve rubbed his brow as if that would stop the pounding that had recently taken up residence there. "Well the 'perfect' family appears to have some tarnish around the edges. I guess we need to head over to Dynotech and talk with Michael Rayburn's boss in person. We need to eliminate the parents as suspects so that we can move on to other probabilities."
Cheryl nodded her agreement and moved towards her desk to gather her purse and notebook. "Ready?" she asked.
"Sure, then I would like to stop back by their neighborhood and follow up with a couple of their neighbors. Even if some of these people didn't actually see any abuse, they surely had to see the results of it."
The trip to Dynotech, though providing no new information, did seem to provide Mr. Rayburn with an airtight alibi. He had been in a meeting with several colleagues from 8AM until the call had come in about Kevin's death. Lunch had even been catered in. His whereabouts seemed to be without question. As Steve and Cheryl made their way across town towards the Rayburns neighborhood they were both subdued. Their main suspect was now a 7 months pregnant woman. Steve found it inconceivable that a woman who was carrying a new life could so violently take one. She, as well, seemed to have an airtight alibi. Kendra had been with her the entire time. His thoughts of Kendra brought him abruptly back to their last conversation. He hadn't kept her brother safe. What if she were being abused and Child Protective Services didn't act quickly enough?
That thought sent a shiver down his spine. "Cheryl, how quickly did Child Protective Services say they were going to be making their home visit?"
She looked slightly startled. "They didn't really say. Why?"
He briefly looked at her. "If one or both of the parents are abusive, then time is of the essence. We need to get her out of there."
"Steve, they know their jobs just like we know ours. Like us they have procedures and rules they have to follow. The parents are innocent until there is evidence that proves otherwise."
Steve snorted his disgust with that answer. "What other proof do they need? The autopsy shows that Kevin was abused. He didn't inflict those injuries on himself and there were too many to be normal childhood injuries. Even if his parents didn't inflict them, they are guilty of neglect for not treating them. They were too numerous and severe for them not to be aware of them."
"Steve, calm down. You're tired and you don't like the fact that the mother is currently our prime suspect." As she looked at her watch she realized that it was nearly 5pm. By the time they got to the Rayburn's neighborhood it would be close to 6pm. "Steve, lets call it a day. We had a long one yesterday and I doubt that we are going to be able to get much more from the neighbors. I mean you read the reports. They were pretty thorough."
"I know," he said. "But I just can't stop here. I will take you back to the precinct and handle it by myself."
Cheryl shook her head at him. "Like you think that is going to happen? Do you really think I am unaware that you just tried to manipulate me?" she asked with a smile. "You need to try that with someone who doesn't know you like I do. Now let's go talk to the neighbors and see if we can get you settled down enough to maybe sleep tonight." His smile at her was a mixture of innocence and affection.
"I knew I could count on you."
The pounding in Steve's head was increasing as the lady talked. Her name was Agnes Peabody. She lived across the street from the Rayburns. All he could think of was the nosey neighbor who was on the TV show Bewitched. He now knew when the Rayburns got their paper and mail. He also knew when their sprinklers kicked on. When their outside lights came on and went off. She went on and on and on. It was so monotonous that he almost missed her next comment. His head jerked up and he all but barked, "What did you say?"