"Would you be willing to assist me in this matter?"
Jasper sighed over the phone and the connection crackled slightly. "Even if I had the inclination, which I don't, I no longer have the authority to access those files, nor do I desire to incur any favours from fellow lawmen in order to do so."
"This is rather important," Murdoch pressed.
"I don't doubt you think that, brother, but your inability to put the past in the past has become a problem of late. This...obsession with Sally has gone on long enough. I'm done enabling your every whim where she is concerned. It's starting to affect your mind in a most detrimental manner. You have to find some way to let her go or you'll lose everything you have...including Julia."
"I already have," he replied after a strained silence.
"I'm sorry, William. Would you like to talk about it?"
"No."
A few more awkward words were uttered and then the call was ended. Once more Murdoch was alone in his darkened condo. Rather than be completely discouraged, he went with plan B. That is, if he couldn't have original copies of the police report, autopsy and trial, he would utilize the next best thing...the eponymous and bewildering world wide web.
Murdoch put on his Google glass and did a general search for Sally Pendrick. Many websites came up, the first of which was a Wikipedia article. Without another thought he accessed it and quickly began to devour its contents.
'Sally Pendrick (née Sally Jessica Hubbard) was a humanitarian and philanthropist best known for her foundation, Sally's Way...*
She was born in Richmond, Virginia, on April 3rd, 1977 to Derrick Hubbard and Melissa Young...
When she was eighteen she moved to New York to pursue an acting career. Unable to find work, she instead did odd jobs for several years, including roadie for Sting. Eventually she found her calling at a non profit organization, the ALS Association...
Sally met her future husband James Pendrick at a fundraiser for ALS in 2007. James is quoted as saying, 'Once I saw her, I never stood a chance.' They were engaged within the year and on June 14th, 2008 they wed...
Murdered on March 8th, 2011 by her husband James Pendrick. Allegedly he discovered an affair with his friend and business partner, Will Murdoch (Mr. Gadget), though there is some debate about the veracity of this testimony. According to James Pendrick's later statement, he flew into a rage and strangled his wife when he discovered her unfaithfulness and desire to leave him for Will. Suffocation was taking too long so he whacked her over the head with the bust of Buddha instead, shattering her temple and causing an epidural haematoma. The autopsy revealed a massive rupture in the middle meningeal. It is believed this rupture triggered a pre-existing aneurysm, indicating she would have died in seconds.
Murdoch was surprised so much personal and normally confidential material would be made available for all the world to see (briefly he looked himself up and found much of what he had said during the talk show already there, not to mention a picture of him in a salmon coloured shirt that he wasn't quite sure how to feel about). However, it was useful for him to get a more in-depth look at the source of this William's fascination, especially when links at the bottom of the page took him to various newspaper and magazine articles. So far the only thing that had struck him as odd was the 'allegedly' in the Wikipedia article.
Further internet browsing brought up a host of 'blogs' and chat rooms where people had discussed other possible reasons for James killing his wife. Many couldn't understand how such a well respected gentleman could do such a thing without there being undue provocation or mental imbalance. They thought it likely that since Sally was an adulterer, she was also hiding other much more profound and dangerous secrets from her past. The discussions seemed to get wilder with every post and Murdoch highly doubted 'the devil made him do it' was a plausible scenario, nor did he think James had a split personality disorder, as was the case with Charlotte in 1897. One poster claimed James hadn't even killed her at all, that Sally was in fact still alive and living like a queen in Argentina and this was all just a massive coverup of something diabolical. Needless to say, Murdoch's brain hurt after reading all of this ridiculous speculation, and then he had to smile to himself slightly, acutely aware of George's constant peculiar ideas. He would have fit in with this crowd very well.
In any case, if there was more to this story than met the eye, the only way to truly find out would be to go directly to the source.
Murdoch needed to speak with James Pendrick himself.
The question was, how could he accomplish this task, particularly since the man hated him and would likely have no desire to divulge any secrets?
Still, no matter the difficulty, there was no use just sitting around the condo moping all night, so he located the prison Pendrick was currently being housed in, (he had been in Kingston Penitentiary, but since that was closing, he was back in Toronto awaiting further placement) and called the superintendent John O'Connell to try and set up a meeting. Understandably the man was surprised at the request, especially considering the late hour, but consented in the end.
Soon after Murdoch set off in his limo, once more driven by Harry. His father enquired after George, and Murdoch answered him briefly. Further questions got little more than a distracted yes or no so Harry gave up all attempt at discourse.
They pulled up to the ungated, unimposing detention centre in Rexdale and Murdoch got out and made his way to the front doors. Since it was a rural area and now dark out, this did not garner as much attention as it usually did.
A stocky unarmed guard met him at the entrance and led him to the superintendent who in turn led him to Pendrick. Pendrick was clothed in white scrubs and his hair was half way to his shoulders, but other than that, he looked much the same as he had ever looked.
Pendrick scrutinized him from behind the glass for some time, as if searching for a hidden message. Finally he picked up the telephone receiver and held it to his ear. Murdoch did likewise, uncomfortably aware of an unpleasant stickiness against his skin.
"I never thought I'd see you again." Pendrick smiled in that wry way of his. "Decided to visit did we, now that I was back in town?"
"I've come here to ask you some questions about Sally."
Pendrick laughed in a mean way. "Don't tell me you're still hung up on that whore? Besides, don't you have a new piece of ass? From what I could tell, it was quite juicy." He gestured with his hands rudely, "You must just love sticking-"
"Do not speak of Julia in this manner," Murdoch interrupted, doing his best to remain calm. "I will not tolerate it."
"Oh, yes," Pendrick said with a grin, "I forgot you were a sensitive little flower when it comes to women. So I guess you don't want to catch up?" Murdoch just glowered at him. "Okay then, my old chum, I'm in a generous mood right now...they gave me mac and cheese for dinner," he whispered conspiratorially. "So ask away to your heart's content."
"Did you actually kill her? Or did someone else?"
Pendrick burst out laughing. "My God, man! You are completely delusional! Of course I killed her! I confessed didn't I?"
"Confessions can be coerced."
"Yes, they can, but mine wasn't. I'm curious Murdoch. Who else do you suppose could have killed her? We both know it wasn't you." Pendrick gave him an amused look. "Sorry about that, by the way. I despised you at the time."
"You also stated that you murdered her in cold blood. Is that true? Or was this a case of self defence?"
For the briefest of moments something flashed in his eyes and Murdoch knew he was on the right track despite Pendrick's answer in the negative.
"Why did Sally attack you?"
"She didn't."
"Why not simply claim self defence?"
"Because it wasn't."
"I know you're lying Pendrick. I know there is more to this story." There has to be or this William will never be able to move on. "What did you really discover about her that night?" Pendrick wasn't impressed so Murdoch played the trump card. "Did you perhaps find out that she was not who she claimed to be? That she was in fact a criminal?"
"Leave this be, Murdoch," he said seriously, glancing around nervously.
"I can't until I know the truth." Firmly, "I won't."
Pendrick sighed. "I don't know how you learned that information...but you're correct. Sally wasn't who I thought she was." He glanced around nervously again. "I would say more but it's not safe to do so."
"It's all right, Pendrick, I've been assured that the cameras to this room have been deactivated, as a courtesy. For all intents and purposes, no one knows we are having this conversation."
"You don't know these people like I do, Murdoch. They are everywhere. They know everything."
"What people, Pendrick? Who?"
"I can't tell you," he grimaced.
"Let me help you."
"You can't. It's too dangerous. I shouldn't have even told you what I did."
Murdoch was becoming impatient and slammed his hand into the ledge in front of him. "Damn it man! After everything we've been through together, after you framed me for a heinous crime, don't you think I deserve the truth?!"
"This isn't just about you. There are other people to take into consideration."
Finally Murdoch clued in. "They've blackmailed you into silence. Threatened your family or some such."
"They'll do the same to you if you get involved."
"Yes, I'm familiar with The Black Hand's tactics."
Pendrick flinched at the name. "Rather outdated term don't you think?"
"So we are dealing with The Black Hand?" Murdoch said with a faint smile.
"I didn't say that," Pendrick replied much too quickly to be believed.
There was a contemplative silence. "If what you say is true, and The Black Hand already knows of this meeting, you would be wise to tell me everything you know now. It's the only way to ensure you and your family's continued safety. Wouldn't you agree?"
Begrudgingly Pendrick nodded.
"Very good." Murdoch would have clasped his hands on the ledge before continuing but was unable to as it was necessary to keep holding the sticky phone. "You didn't actually frame me, did you? They simply needed to make it look as though that was the intent."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Pendrick sighed. "They needed a believable, yet spectacular story that would detract from the actual truth that I discovered that night."
"Which was?"
"That Sally, or whoever the hell she was, was actually a corporate spy for their organization, specializing in the acquisition of sensitive details from prominent business men with the intent of participating in as much insider trading as they desired. Apparently I wasn't quite cutting it enough myself any longer so they decided to expand their horizons." Pendrick looked at him dryly when Murdoch looked confused. "You were their latest target. Your," Pendrick made air quotes with his fingers, "secret artificial intelligence project was of particular interest to them so they decided to get someone up close and personal. We were friends, so naturally Sally was the logical choice. Don't look so glum, Murdoch, she fooled both of us," his eye glinted, "seduced both of us with her wicked charms."
Pendrick scowled. "Unfortunately, that wasn't the half of what my dear wife had been up to. Her foundation...that I helped establish was really just a front for laundering dirty money to be used in illegal arms deals across various countries! They had even been selling to certain less scrupulous governments! Needless to say I was fairly shocked and appalled."
"How did you discover all this?" asked Murdoch after absorbing that information to the best of his ability.
"When I left the gala early to attempt to catch you and Sally in the act, I instead found her snooping around my restricted files. Naturally I demanded to know what was going on. She tried to pretend like it was all just a big misunderstanding but when she saw that I wasn't buying her poisonous words any longer, she tried to stab me with the letter opener on the desk. I managed to get it out of her hand in the ensuing struggle. She slipped and hit her head on the edge of the desk and immediately dropped dead.
"I was understandably shook up but I had the presence of mind to investigate further. First I hacked into her phone. Several old emails that she thought she had deleted permanently told me about her mission where I - where we were concerned. Then I perused my computer and traced the most recently sent data packet...back to Washington D.C. From there I piggybacked from network to network to learn the full horrifying truth."
"Here's where I admit to being puzzled, Pendrick. Why did The Black Hand need to go through this elaborate charade? Why did you agree to go along with it?"
"I believe we've already established that. Blackmail of course."
"But surely you must have given a statement to the police before they could have intervened?"
Pendrick smirked. "Funny you should mention that. I had the unfortunate luck of dealing with one of their bought officers before anyone else. No doubt they had been keeping tabs on me since the moment I left the gala early."
"Then why not simply kill you as well and make it look like a robbery gone wrong?"
"Touching, Murdoch, very touching. Anyway, I suppose it was because I told him that I had stored my knowledge on a secret server before calling the police. If anything should happen to me, it would be released, causing a massive headache for a lot of people. We were in a stalemate so they began threatening everyone I knew via suspicious incidents. Eventually I confessed that I had been bluffing with regards to the data, but by then it was too late to kill me in order to keep me quiet. So they concocted this alternate scheme, where I would be portrayed as a villainous murderer, effectively discrediting me for all time. Against my better judgement I relented to their devilish whims to prevent any fatalities." Pendrick eyed him for the first time in awhile. "You were never in any danger of being convicted. They made sure to leave a little wiggle room for later scrutiny."
"How do you mean?"
"Didn't you ever find it curious that Detective Ogden suddenly found a discrepancy in the case, that no one, not even your astute brother, had managed to suss out?"
This thought startled Murdoch. "Are you inferring that Julia is a member of this organized crime group?"
"No, I am not," he said with another wry smile. "But perhaps you should talk to her about how she came to the conclusion she did."
*I'm terrible at naming things. Thought this was kinda funny though.