Chapter 28
"How long have they been in there?" Mika asked. She'd come back from the hospital, excited and wanting to speak to Charlie, only to find him in the interrogation room with Inspector Siku and a man she did not recognize. They were filming him making a statement.
"About twenty minutes. I imagine this will take longer. Stephen, the man they're talking to, was abused by Moffat. Worse still, his father, a cop, knew about it," Jesse told her.
"Shit," Mika shook her head before asking, "are they picking the asshole up?"
"He's the RCMP's problem. Inspector Siku phoned it into the local IAB and they are picking him up. They promised to bring him here. Seeing as former Inspector Fischel is retired, he's not exactly on a schedule, but Stephen gave us some ideas of places to check," Jesse explained.
"So, Charlie's theory about Mrs. Moffat could have some merit to it?" The Special Victims detective wondered.
"Mrs. Debra Moffat has completely disappeared. There has been no activity on her Social Insurance Number. Her driver's license was not renewed. There are no credit cards in her name. I hate to say it, but I'm guessing that she's not been with us for a long time. An RCMP Sergeant was convinced that Moffat killed his wife and was following him around. It's why we know that Fischel knew Moffat," Jesse explained.
"Can we talk to him?" Mika wanted to know.
"He was killed a few years back, trying to stop a robbery," Jesse shook his head.
"How could Moffat get that lucky?" The detective gave him a look.
"Well, I doubt he knew he was being followed. The Sergeant was doing it on his own personal time. He knew that there was a dirty cop and it would seem we found him in Fischel," Jesse figured.
"Maybe this creep will talk but, in my experience, he'll know better. Or worse, he'll just blame the dead guy and we won't get anywhere," Mika shook her head.
"What did Danny Bauman have to say?" Jesse changed the topic.
"He admitted that he did not shoot his therapist. In fact, he was devastated to find out we think he did it. He made a good argument too," she told him.
"How so?" Jesse was confused.
"Constable Gadhavi was right. Danny admitted that he could have killed everyone in that room when he barged into the crime scene, yet he didn't. He certainly would not have shot Watkins as he was the only one who he'd told about what happened to him. He did admit that once he got that e-mail from Watkins, he kind of lost it. The rational part of his brain said something was wrong but the other part of his brain…" Mika trailed off.
"Thought his deep dark secret was out and that the one person he trusted did it," Jesse figured.
"Exactly. So, when he got to the therapist's house, and he was dead…" Mika gave him a look.
"He didn't call it in – he went looking for those photos," Jesse nodded.
"Yup. Now his doctor says Danny is struggling to reconcile what he's done and what he'd found. He seemed fine during our talk but by the end of it, you could tell that he was fighting back something. It's not like he hadn't seen dead bodies. Regrettably, that is something that happens during war, but finding Watkins brought up a lot of stuff he'd been burying," Mika admitted.
"You think he'll ever be, ok?" Jesse was concerned.
"Hard to say, which is why I want to nail these people. Especially if it turns out they were using an intellectually challenged woman to help," the Special Victims detective frowned.
"Ok so why Tim Watkins? Why did he have to die?" Jesse asked.
"How long had Lynn been going to him?" Mika wanted to know.
"Well, that's the thing, not long after Danny started," he told her.
"Ok, try this on for size. Danny starts going to Tim Watkins because of his PTSD. Of course, he isn't just going to talk about the war. Part of his condition is more than likely tied to the abuse he suffered as a child. Richard hears that Danny is seeing a therapist and he grows concerned that he'll squeal about Aiden Moffat. So, Richard sends Lynn to Watkins, knowing that he won't have to fake a condition for her to be treated for. He wants the skinny on what Danny is saying, and he must have a plan for Lynn to somehow get it. Maybe even a way for her to drop a virus onto a computer or something. We know that Lynn seems pretty compliant with her brother and could be influenced to do things," she figured.
"Problem is when Danny started therapy, Aiden Moffat was dying. In fact, Aiden died after Danny had only had a couple of sessions, based on the appointment book," Jesse explained.
"This was never about Aiden…" Mika paused.
"It was about Debra. Danny must know something that he doesn't even realize he knows," Jesse said.
"Richard probably figured that if Danny started talking about the abuse, whatever happened to Debra would come up. Still if his father is dying, then what difference does that make? There has to be someone else he's trying to protect," Mika figured.
"Who? He doesn't seem to care about Lynn. He didn't come to find out where she was. SJPD didn't get a call saying she was missing," Jesse pointed out.
"What about that dirty cop? He's still kicking," Mika said.
"We have to tell Charlie," Jess said.
To Be Continued…