Chapter 48

 

Fred decided to continue his discussions with personnel from AU. Mr. Schultz had effectively greased the skids for his return. When Fred arrived, he was pleasantly greeted by the receptionist, and on this bright sunny day even the grumpy security guard smiled. The receptionist told him Mr. Schultz authorized him to speak to whomever he pleased and a conference room would be available as long as he wanted for his interviews.

“How is Mr. Schultz doing?” he asked.

“Not too well, we’re not sure when he will be back. We all are praying for his rapid recovery.”

Fred had Flynn from the Matter Division join him in the conference room. Fred determined that he would not be diverted from the purpose of his visit, no matter how intriguing the nature of the work was that was being conducted by the company.

His first question was a repeat, “Mr. Flynn, let me ask you once again, can you think of any reason, any reason at all that your supervisor was killed?”

“I still don’t entirely understand your question, I thought he was killed as part of some random killing—was there something else?”

“Well, let’s just say that my investigation requires that I look at every possibility.”

“I understand, but, no, I can’t think of any reason. As I told you previously, he was certainly well liked by all of us and I really don’t see how anyone would gain by his death.”

Fred believed if you go down the same trail more than once, you will always wind up at the same destination. Yet, his lack of insight into the killings seemed to force him to ask the same questions. He was going nowhere in this investigation and he knew it.

“How about his marriage, were there any problems there?”

“No, Sally was dedicated to John. They just recently celebrated their tenth anniversary, and he couldn’t stop talking about her in the most positive way. I am sure it was a strong marriage from the perspective of both of them.”

Fred asked a pivotal question, “You are now in charge of your division. Are you next in line for promotion?”

“I see where you’re going with this but I really don’t know who is in line for promotion. Mr. Schultz applies his own criteria to select the best candidate. The only thing I know is that he looks for a person that can best execute the broad talents we seek as a company. In fact, he had indicated he will make future promotions based on our demonstration of multi-talents in the whole array of the paranormal. To me, that doesn’t mean that the person with the greatest seniority will necessarily be promoted. The truth is anyone, even those from other divisions, could be advanced to the division’s head position. The single exception might be the Science Division.”

“Why would that be an exception?” Fred asked.

“The Science Division is somewhat unique to our company’s operations. Historically, Mr. Schultz has promoted from within in that division, because in that special case he wants people with the exact formal educational background and experience who fit the needs of our customers. The Science Division is the glue that holds all the components of our company together. Our customers require that scientific methods be employed across all parts of our organization to provide proof of concept. Correspondingly, no person in the Science Division will ever be promoted to another division. That is Mr. Schultz’s strict rule. Our paranormal talents, of course, have not been formed from the basis of a formal education. In fact, few of us have a college education. Most of us were born with our special talents. This company helps us strengthen, modulate, mold and expand them.”

Fred made a mental note that he would check out the accuracy of Flynn’s statements the next time he talked to Schultz.

Fred had a final question, “Do you by chance know this man?” He showed Flynn the various artist’s renderings of Ford.

Flynn looked long and hard at the pictures. “No, sorry, I can’t say that I’ve ever seen him.”

One by one, Fred interviewed the remaining four people in the division. 

Everyone had the same positive words for their deceased boss, and no, they could not imagine why anyone would want to kill him.