Show of Evil

'Miss Miranda Stewart?' Johnson said, putting his feet back on the floor and sitting up at the desk.

 'Yes,' she said.

'Please have a seat. I'm Captain Johnson of the Chicago PD and this is Simon Irving, a member of the homicide division.'

She smiled at sat down, a composed, friendly woman in her mid-thirties who seemed self-assured and perfectly at ease. She crossed her legs demurely and pulled her skirt down. It almost covered her knees.

'I want to point out that this is an informal interview,' Johnson said. 'By that I mean you will not be sworn and this session will not be transcribed, although we will be taking notes. However, if at some point in this interview we feel the necessity of reading you your rights, we will give you the opportunity to contact an attorney. This is standard operating procedure in a situation like this and we tell everyone the same thing before we start, so I don't want you to feel that bringing that up, about reading you your rights, is in any way a threat. Okay?'

'Okay,' she said in a sultry voice. She seemed to be looking forward to the experience or perhaps the attention.

'What is your full name?'

'Miranda Duff Stewart.'

'Where do you live?'

'At 3212 Wabash. Apartment 3A.'

'Are you married, Ms Stewart?'

'No. Divorced, 1990.'

'How long have you lived at that address?'

'Since 1990. Three years.'

'And how long have you worked at Delaney Enterprises?'

'Eighteen months.'

'What did you do before you came here?'

'I was the secretary to Don Weber, the vice president of Trumbell and Sloan.'

'The advertising agency?'

'Yes, in Riverfront.'

'And what is your job here at Delaney Enterprises?'

'I was recently appointed Mr Delaney's new executive secretary. Edith Stoddard - she has the job now - is getting ready to retire.'

'So you haven't started in that job yet?'

'Well, I've had some meetings with Mr Delaney. You know, about what he expects of me, my responsibilities. Things like that. I know what I'll be doing.'

'Have you been working with Mrs… Is it Mrs Stoddard?'

'Yes, she's married and has a daughter going to UC.'

'What's her husband do?'

'He's crippled, I understand.'

'And have you been working with Mrs Stoddard during this period?'

'No. Mr Delaney said he wanted me to start off fresh.' She smiled. 'Said he didn't want me carrying over any of her bad habits, but I think he was kidding about Edith. I mean, everybody knows how efficient she is. I think he was just, you know, looking for a change?'

'Do you know how long she's had the job?' Johnson asked.

'Not really. She's been here forever. Maybe fifteen years?'

'What we're lookin' for here, Ms Stewart, is if any bad blood might've existed between Delaney and people on his staff or maybe his business associates. Know what I mean?' Irving's voice was a raspy growl. 'Arguments, disagreements, threats… bad blood.'

'Well, I don't know about his business associates, you'll have to ask Edith about that. He seemed to get along fine with the people in the office… of course…' She stopped and let the sentence hang in the air.

'Of course, what?' Irving asked.

'Well, I don't think Edith was real happy about the change.'

'Was she bein' demoted, that what you mean?' said Irving.

'She was, uh, she was leaving the company.'

'Did she quit?'

'He said, Mr Delaney said, that she was taking early retirement, but I got the impression that it was an either-or kind of thing.'

'Either-or?' Johnson asked.

'Either retire or, you know, you're out on your…' She jerked a thumb over her shoulder.

'So Mrs Stoddard wasn't happy about it?'

'I got that impression.'

Johnson said, 'Did Delaney discuss this with you?'

'No, it was just… just office gossip, you know how people talk. See, it wasn't really announced yet, about me taking that job.'

'So you're the only one that knew officially?'

'That I know of.'

'Did his wife know?'

'I never met his wife. She never came up here. I've seen her picture in the society pages, at charity things and stuff, but I never saw her face-to-face.'

'That wasn't the question,' Irving said bluntly. His tone was brusque and formal compared with that of Johnson, who was warmer and tended to put people at ease.

'Oh. Uh, I'm sorry, what was the question again?'

'Did his wife know you were taking Mrs Stoddard's place? That was the specific question,' Johnson said.

'Oh. I don't know.' She shrugged.

'When did he first approach you about takin' over Stoddard's position?' Irving asked.

'This was about two months ago.'

'Was it mentioned when you first came to work here? I mean, was it kinda, you know, in the works?' Irving asked.

'It was mentioned that if I lived up to my resume, I could move up rapidly.'

'Specifically to be Delaney's exec?'

'That was mentioned. He didn't dwell on it.'

'So it was kinda like a carrot on a string for you, right? You do good, you could nail the top job? That's what it is, ain't it, the top woman's job here?'

'There are some women in sales, but you know how it is, working that closely to the boss and all, it's a very personal thing. A very good job. For a person with my qualifications, it was one of the best jobs in town.'

'So then, two months ago, Delaney offered you the position, that it?' said Irving.

'Yes.'

'Let me ask you something, Ms Stewart,' said Johnson. 'Are you under the impression that Mrs Stoddard was upset by all this?'

'I never talked to her about it. I worked on the first floor, she's up here on six.'

'But you said earlier, when you were talking about Mrs Stoddard leaving… uh, you implied it was "an either-or kind of thing" ' Johnson said, checking his notes.

'That was what Mr Delaney said,' she said.

'Well, lemme put it this way,' Irving said. 'Did you ever see anything in Mrs Stoddard's attitude towards you that would indicate she was upset with you about the change?'

'I told you, I was at pains to keep out of her way,' she said. Annoyance was creeping into her tone.

 'Whose idea was that?'

 'What?'

'Whose idea to keep outta her way, yours or Delaney's?'

'His. Joh - Mr Delaney's.'

'Call him by his first name, didja?' Irving said.

'So does… did… Edith. That was his idea, to call him John.' She sighed. 'Look… can I smoke? Thanks. When this first came up, about Edith retiring? He took me to lunch because he didn't want people around the office to know what he had in mind. So I never really saw much of him around the office. Sometimes just walking through the first floor, that was about it.'

'So he picks you. I mean, there was obviously a lot of other women who'd been working here longer…' Irving let the sentence die before it became a question.

'Am I under suspicion or something?' she asked, her forehead wrinkling with apprehension.

'Not at all, Ms Stewart,' Johnson interjected. 'There's been a homicide and we're just trying to get a fix on this man, you know, the people who work around him.'