The Cross

Chapter Five

Chapter Five

We were fifteen minutes away from her folks’ place. Janet pulled the car over and gave me her complete attention. I started off by asking Janet what her main apprehensions were.

“I just don’t understand, Jack. The police saw this as a straight open-and-shut case. Within three days of the investigation, I think it was on the Thursday the seventh, the detectives formally notified us that Brodie and Carol’s deaths were the result of a murder-suicide, committed by Brodie. I told them we couldn’t believe Brodie would’ve done such a thing as they had always been very happy together. The police said they had no probable cause as to why Brodie would do it, but the mitigating evidence pointed to no one else involved in the scene except the couple.”

Janet shook her head. “I felt the investigators hardly did a thorough examination. From what I understand they talked to us, looked into Brodie’s background where he was employed, and the hospital where Carol worked. I got the distinct impression they thought it wasn’t worth wasting time on a case where the evidence pointed to just another murder-suicide case. So the next day, on the Friday, I sent you the cablegram.”

I looked at Janet, trying to see past her emotions. I wanted to get a fix on where she was coming from. Was she in denial or was there some merit in what she was saying? Janet shook her head slightly. “You probably think I’m seeing a conspiracy that isn’t there as a way of dealing with this, but aside from the unthinkable act of Brodie killing Carol, it just appeared too easy for the investigators to close the case as they did.”

I pondered on Janet’s words. “What are you telling me, there are a lot of murder-suicides going on around this town? Have the police seen this a hundred times before?”

“No, Jack, no. Look, I know I don’t understand police protocols but even if there were reported cases every second week, I would like to think a person would want to be reassured that they, the police, did a thorough investigation.”

“And you feel this wasn’t the case here?”

Janet shook her head.

“Who were these investigating authorities you spoke to?”

“It was the CIB detectives.”

“CIB?” I asked.

“The Criminal Investigation Branch,” she replied.

I started writing in my notebook.

“There were two detectives who dealt with the case, detectives Williams and Pennaman. They were the ones who initially informed us of the incident.”

After a moment, I stopped writing.

“Okay, let’s start from the beginning. Who found the bodies?”

“The local police. They arrived at the house and found it locked up, but the lights were on and a radio could be heard playing at full volume inside the house.”

“Who called them out?”

“I was told a neighbour called the police after he noticed something wasn’t right with the house.”

“What, he saw the lights on during the day at the house?”

“Yes. Apparently he became suspicious.”

“So this neighbour called the local police? Do you know this neighbour?”

“No, the detectives told us he lived across the street from the Brodies. The neighbour rang the local station and the police dispatched a vehicle to investigate. When the officers got there they gained entry to the house through a back window. Then they came out and called in CIB detectives.” Janet put her hand to her forehead. “When the detectives got to the house they set up the investigation together with a crime scene photographer and a coroner’s constable.”

“How did you find out about the deaths?”

Janet gazed into the distance as a sad, broken look appeared on her face. “The detectives called over to our home on the Monday night around ten o’clock with the news. They found our address from a letter Carol had in her bedside table. The detectives came back the following day to formally interview us.”

Janet looked at her hands. “During the interview they questioned us on what we knew about Brodie and Carol’s activities in the last few days and if there were any past incidents of fighting, money problems, infidelity or gambling. I told them they were very happy and there were no concerns of any episodes of inappropriate behaviour, as far as we knew.”

“Did they tell you when the deaths actually occurred?”

“They told us it had been the Sunday night – the third of October sometime in the evening, from their preliminary investigation.”

“Did they tell you how the deaths happened?”

Janet took a deep breath. “The detectives told me Brodie shot Carol twice and then shot himself. They didn’t go into details of the shooting, and I didn’t want to know…” She trailed off and then became silent.

I looked over at Janet. Her eyes began to fill with tears and trickle down her cheek.

“It’s okay, Janet. You’ve given me a good scoop here. We can talk more at your folks’ place.”

She nodded vacantly. I patted her on her arm.

“I guess we better be on our way.” Janet started the car and drove to her parents’ home. I went back to my notes and began to picture the scenes of what she’d told me in my mind.

*

Fifteen minutes later we pulled up to a house. I looked out of the window and remembered the last time I was here as Janet cut the engine and turned to me. I could see she was apprehensive.

“I’m so sorry, Jack, there’s one thing I haven’t told you yet.”

“Oh, what’s that?” I replied.

Her bottom lip trembled slightly.

“You recall my parents Bob and Mary, don’t you? Both you and Brodie came over for lunch one time during the war?”

I nodded.

“We may have a problem…”

I pushed my hat up with a perplexed look on my face. Problems were definitely something I didn’t need so early in my investigation

I braced myself for what Janet was about to say.

“My parents don’t want you to investigate.”