Previously, an accident involving Janine Melnitz, the secretary for the Ghostbusters, and Walter Peck, a former EPA agent known to the GBs, proved to be fatal, but only for Peck. It was then uncovered by Detectives Greevey and Logan, that a cut to the brake line was what the accident. Further investigation revealed a pair of pliers and a GBI business card which were left behind in Peck's car. The pliers, from the name inscribed into them,belonged to Ray Stantz, and he was soon arrested for the murder of Walter Peck. But, is he the culprit?
Part Two: Murderer, or Wrongfully Accused?
NYPD 27th Precinct Interrogation Room...
"So Ray, you uh, like murdering people in their cars by just cutting their brakes?" Greevey asked sarcastically.
"I keep telling you guys, I didn't kill Walter Peck."
"Why not? I mean, he was trying to shut down your business, he was practically responsible for bringing on whatever it was that attacked the city. Perfectly good reasons to want him dead." Logan said.
"But that was five years ago. It wouldn't make sense to wait until now." Ray protested.
"Sure it does. You wait until all the hysteria dies down. Perfect time to exact your revenge." Greevey responded.
""Why would I want revenge on him still? I mean, the EPA fired him after the Gozer incident. I'd say that's revenge enough."
"Come on, quit jerking us around. It was your pliers and your business card we found in the back of Peck's car." Logan scoffed.
"I didn't do it!" Ray snapped, his frustration building. "Even if, I repeat, IF I did, would I be stupid enough to leave the pliers and business card for you to find?"
"Then how did they get there Ray?" Logan asked.
"It's not like they just, grew legs and walked off now did they?" Greevey added.
"Somebody obviously stole them! They were gone before I went to fix Janine's car! Look at our neighborhood. Our headquarters is not exactly in a very pleasant area you know!"
"Come on, do you really think we're that stupid and guillible to believe that?" Greevey asked.
"I'm not lying!" Ray snapped angrily. "Check for fingerprints on the handles! Then you'll know that I'm not the one you should be looking at!"
"We're already doing that. But we're pretty sure that yours are the only fingerprints we'll find on them." Logan said. Ray sighed dejectedly.
"Well, I don't know what els to tell you then." All I know is that someone else killed Peck, and they're framing me for it." He replied. Where is that damn lawyer? Ray thought. Just then, the door to the interrogation room opened, and in walked Jason Peterson, the lawyer that Winston told Ray about earlier when he was arrested.
"Good afternoon detectives, I'm Mr. Stantz's attourney." Mr. Peterson announced. "And as I am here, your questioning of my client is now terminated." He found an extra seat and sat down. "Now what evidence, if any, do you have to charge my client with the crime?"
"We have his pliers and a Ghostbusters business card." Logan replied.
"That's it? You call that evidence? Come on gentlemen, if anything, that "evidence" is purely circumstantial." Mr. Peterson scoffed.
"That's what I've been trying to tell them." Ray muttered bitterly.
"Well if that's the only evidence you have, it's not going to hold up well in court. So unless you have any concrete evidence against Mr. Stantz, I'm going to have to take him home." Mr. Peterson and Ray got up, but were stopped as Captain Cragen came into the room with some papers.
"Okay everyone, we have fingerprints." He told them. Ray and Mr. Peterson sat back down. "The technicians who were working on Peck's car found what turned out to be partial thumb and index finger prints on the brake line close to where it was cut. I'm sorry detectives, but you have the wrong person."
"So, does this mean I'm cleared?" Ray asked
"Yes." Cragen replied. Ray breathed a sigh of relief. "It turns out those prints were also found on your pliers and the business card. There was also another set of prints on the card. While those ones aren't yours, they match one of your friends."
"Oh no. Who?" Ray asked.
"Peter Venkman."
Peter Venkman is questioned...
"So, refresh my memory. Why am I here?" Peter asked when he arrived at the precinct.
"Can the sarcasm Venkman. It was your fingerprints that got you here. We found them on the business card that no doubt you know already, was found in Peck's car." Logan replied.
"Aw come on, what is this? Pick-On-The-Ghostbusters Day? First Ray, now me. Who's next, Egon? It better not be Janine!"
"Come on Venkman, we know that you're the one who hated Peck the most." Greevey said.
"Detectives please, "Jason Peterson interjected. "Peter and his colleagues give out hundreds of those cards everyday, and every time they're called to a job. Anyone could've planted one of those cards. Besides, what about those other prints you found? Whose prints are those?"
"Yeah. If you've matched them to somebody, I might be able to help you out there. For a price." Peter added with a smirk.
"I wouldn't recommend saying stuff like that here Peter." Mr. Peterson told him.
"Hey, if I'm gonna be cooperating, something has got to be in it for me." Peter replied.
"Alright," Greevey sighed. "If you can help us find whoever killed Walter Peck, we won't charge you, or Ray, with anything."
"See? I told you a little charm and bartering can go a long way." Peter said to Mr. Peterson, smiling. Logan pulled out a file and opened it.
"This is the man we've matched the other set of prints to." He said, handing Peter the file. "His name is Aaron Campbell Do you know him, or have seen him?" Peter looked carefully at his photo.
"Huh, can't say that I know him, or have called out to his place for a job." Peter said. He looked closer. "But he does bear a striking resemblance to this girl I've been seeing. In fact, her name is Andrea Campbell. Maybe he's her brother, or twin brother."
"Has she ever mentioned anything to you about her family on the times that you've seen her?" Logan asked.
"No. She's pretty reserved about stuff like that. She's never shown me any pictures, and get this, she's never taken me back to her apartment."
"Maybe she's just not that type of woman." Greevey said sarcastically.
"Yeah, but then, why would she give me her address?" Peter asked.
"What about you? Has she ever visited the headquarters?" Greevey asked.
"Oh yeah. I had her over just a couple of days ago, before the accident..." Peter trailed off. "Of course, that may be a coincidence."
"But a very interesting coincidence. Maybe we should pay her a visit." Logan said to Greevey.
"Do you know if she'd be home at this time?" Greevey asked Peter.
"Well, she works at a government job. How ironic huh? Someone like me going out with a government worker?" Greevey and Logan just stared at him. "Anyway yeah, she'd be home right about now." Peter said, sensing their wanting him to get to the point.
"Alright then, let's go." Logan said. He and Greevey packed up their things and left. Peter went with them.
Residence of Andrea Campbell, Apt. 7, 27 Harrison St...
Within a few minutes, they arrived at Andrea Campbell's apartment. With the detectives behind him, Peter knocked on the door. "Who is it?" a deep, but female-sounding voice replied inside.
"Hey Andy? It's Pete. Can I come in?"
"Peter? Uh, okay. Just a minute." They could hear the sound of things being moved around. Finally she came to the door, unlocked it, and opened up. "Hey, I didn't expect to see you here, now, today." She noticed detectives Logan and Greevey behind him. "These are your friends?"
"Actually we're detectives. I'm Max Greevey and this is Mike Logan. We'd like to come in and ask you some questions."
"Oh, okay. Sure. Come in." Andrea let them in to see the place. It looked like your normal apartment, lived in. The only weird was that there weren't any photos. Neither of family nor friends. "So, what's this all about?" Andrea asked as they sat down.
"We're investigating the murder of a former EPA worker, Walter Peck. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it, do you?" Logan asked.
"Nothing other than what I've heard on the news. Though I thought you already had somebody in custody." Andrea faced Peter. "It was your friend Ray wasn't it?"
"Ray has been ruled out." Peter said.
"Yeah, because we've found some evidence that links someone else to his murder, and we think that person may be related to you. Do you know an Aaron Campbell?" Greevey asked.
"No, I uh, can't say that I do." Andrea replied, sounding like she knew otherwise.
"Andy, I saw his picture at the pecinct. You do bear a striknig resemblance to him." Peter told her. "If you do know him, please tell them. I'm also under suspicion because they've found one of my business cards with his prints on it. And even though Ray has been released, he's still under suspicion, because those same fingerprints were found on his pliers, both of which these things were found in Peck's car." Andrea sighed.
"Alright. He's my brother. My twin brother. I didn't want to tell you because, he's had some problems in his life lately."
"Such as?" Logan asked.
"He was a high school dropout, he had a lousy auto mechanic job, then once he finally gets a great job at PGA, he loses it due to the company being shut down. After that, he sank into alcoholism, and just could not find any decent work after 1981."
"PGA? As in, PGA Industries?" Greevey asked.
"Yeah. You've heard of them?"
"It was on the news. Walter Peck was investigating them, and was instrumental in getting them shut down." Logan said.
"And you think my brother killed him because of that?"
"Well, it was his fingerprints we found." Logan told her.
"Gentlemen, my brother may have had problems, but he is not a murderer." Andrea replied indignantly.
"Do you at least, know where he is so we can tlak to him?" Greevey asked.
"We had a falling-out after he lost his job at PGA, and I haven't heard anything from him since. So, I wouldn't be able to help you there." Just then, Logan's beeper went off. When he checked it, it read "911" and the precinct number. Captain Cragen needed to speak to them immediatly. He showed it to Greevey.
"Why don't we leave you two to chat while we answer this page." Greevey said.
"Oh, uh sure. There's a pay phone at the end of this block by the subway station." Andrea told them. While she and Peter stayed at the apartment, Greevey and Logan walked out of the building to where the pay phone was.
"I wonder what Cragen wants." Greevey remarked.
"I don't know, but it looks important. I hope it's about the case. Somebody has to get pinned for this crime." Logan replied, picking up the phone, inserting the quarter and dialing the precinct number. "Yeah, Cragen? It's Logan. Your page sounded important?"
"Very important. We've been doing some digging on Aaron Campbell's background, as well as a background check on this Andrea Campbell Venkman mentioned." Cragen replied.
"What have you found?"
"This Aaron Campbell was a former PGA Industries employee, but before that, he used to work as an auto mechanic."
"Yeah, that's what Andrea told us. It explains how he knew where the brake line was on Peck's car."
"But get this, the only family Aaron has are his parents. No siblings." Cragen said.
"Wait a minute, Aaron was an only-child? Andrea said he was her twin brother."
"She lied to us then." Greevey said, listening to the conversation.
"That's why we ran a background check on Andrea. There was nothing on her past 1987. Only from that year onward. She works as a mail carrier for the US Postal Service, who took her fingerprints for her employee file. Her fringerprints are exactly the same as Aaron's." That was a huge bombshell. Logan almost dropped the phone. Greevey heard it too.
"Hold the phone Captain, are you saying that Andrea IS Aaron!" Greevey asked in shock.
"That's exactly what I said. Venkman's girlfriend is a transexual." Cragen replied bluntly.
"You think we should bring her in?" Logan asked.
"The DA just approved the warrant. Bring her in."
"Will do Captain. Thanks." Logan said and hung up. They started back towards Andrea's building. "Son of a bitch. When Aaron lost his job at PGA, he changes his gender to become Andrea, applies at the Post Office where you have EVERYONE'S address in order to keep track of Peck's whereabouts. He gains the trust of someone who also has had a grievance with Peck, the Ghostbusters being the perfect target to frame, then waits for the right time to strike." Logan told Greevey as they were walking back to the apartments. "Ray was right. His pliers were stolen, and Andrea did it while she was with Venkman at their headquarters."
"I wonder how Venkman is gonna react to his girlfriend really being a man, and a murderer who used him to shift the blame off of her, and onto him and Ray." Greevey remarked sarcastically. The door to Andrea's apartment was still open, so they just walked in, interrupting Peter and Andrea sharing a kiss. "I wouldn't kiss her if I were you" Greevey told Peter.
"Huh?" Peter replied, confused.
"What's going on? Did you find out anything?" Andrea asked.
"Everything we need to know. Stand up please, Miss Campbell, or should we say, Aaron Campbell." Greevey ordered.
"WHAT?" Peter gasped.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Andrea asked indignantly. "I'm not Aaron!" Logan and Greevey ignored her, forced her arms behind her back, and placed the handcuffs around her wrists.
"Andrea Campbell, you are under arrest for the murder of Walter Peck. You have the right to remain silent..." Logan went on, reading her rights as they led her out of the apartment, with Peter watching, totally stunned.
To Be Continued...