Chapter 45

I was woken by a nurse saying, “Kevin’s still asleep. I think you’d better let him rest and come back later.”

I cracked open an eye. It was Angie, so there must have been another shift change while I was asleep. And she was talking to Dr Maltby, who was also in my room.

“Actually I’ve just woken up,” I said. “I want to get this over with as soon as possible, but I’d appreciate some caffeine first.”

“Coffee from the nurses’ rest room?” Angie asked.

“Yes please.”

“The FBI agents are on their way. We’ve got time for another run through of your testimony but I don’t want to keep them waiting too long,” said Dr Maltby. He got out his laptop and set everything up.

Angie returned with my coffee. I gratefully accepted it and started drinking.

“You’re spoilt,” chuckled Dr Maltby. “I’ve been drinking the swill from the vending machine.”

“Oh, I’m sorry, would you like one from the nurses’ rest room too?” asked Angie. “I didn’t think to ask because you were carrying a coffee when you arrived.”

“No, I’m good thanks,” said Dr Maltby.

Unasked, Angie donned her headphones and got her book out.

Dr Maltby played the edited recording without pause. “I listened to it this morning and it sounded fine,” he said. “Is there anything you’d like to change?”

“No,” I replied.

“In that case, I’ll invite the FBI agents inside, assuming they’ve arrived by now.”

Dr Maltby left the room and returned accompanied by a man and a woman. “These agents are from the FBI’s Special Investigations Department,” said Dr Maltby. “They investigate events that don’t fit routine FBI classifications.”

I couldn’t help but smirk.

“Okay, just go ahead and say it,” said the woman agent, without any malice in her tone.

“Mulder and Scully,” I obliged.

“We get that all the time,” said the woman, “only I’d be Mulder and my partner would be Scully. I’m Senior Special Agent Diana Breckenridge...”

“ ... and I’m Special Agent Miklos Tavlerides,” said her male partner.

“Well Keelan, have you got everything nicely sanitised and gift-wrapped for us?” asked Diane.

Dr Maltby waved his hands. “This is not the droid you’re looking for.”

The gesture was so cheesy I couldn’t help laughing, which I guessed was the point, to help me relax and show me that the interview would indeed not be adversarial.

“So, Mr Hotshot Lawyer, how do you want to do this?” asked Diana.

“I’ve have recorded Kevin’s record of events. I would like it to form the basis of his testimony. I suggest I play the recording, and you stop me any time you need clarifications.”

“That’s fine with me. We’ll make our own recording of this session, of course,” said Diana.

“And you will no doubt provide a copy for my client,” said Dr Maltby.

“That’s the boiler plate stuff covered,” said Diana. “Miklos, start recording.”

“Yes Ma’am,” replied Miklos.

Like Dr Maltby, he was recording straight to a laptop, but he was using an external microphone. “This is the testimony of Kevin Randell,” he said. “Present are Special Agent Miklos Tavlerides...”

“ ... Senior Special Agent Diana Breckenridge... “ said Diana.

“ ... Dr Keelan Maltby, Kevin Randell’s legal representative... “ added Dr Maltby, then he whispered to me, “say your name.”

“Kevin Randell,” I said. “What about Angie, my nurse?”

The two FBI hotshots hadn’t noticed her sitting in the corner, reading her book with her headphones on and blithely oblivious to the proceedings.

“It’s your decision,” said Dr Maltby to the FBI agents. “She’s one of the nurses being paid by Mr Kafkasian to provide twenty-four seven monitoring of Mr Randell. She was present yesterday when we recorded Mr Randell’s testimony and she wasn’t a problem.”

“Well, it’s very unusual...” said Miklos.

“This whole case is very unusual,” said Diana, “but since Dr Maltby has vouched for her I have no objection to her presence.”

“In that case, let’s start,” said Miklos.

Dr Maltby started the edited version of our session. It went very smoothly, with surprisingly very few interruptions for clarification until it got to the witch’s cave.

“You said the light in the cave was good?” asked Miklos.

“Yes, but I couldn’t work out how. It was easily good enough to read by,” I said.

Miklos nodded, and the recording restarted. Then another stop.

“What made you so sure there was another cave to be found?” asked Miklos.

“I could feel in my gut that I’d found where the witch was living, but I knew there had to be more. And there was the sound of running water and a gentle airflow that weren’t explained by what I’d found so far in the cave.”

The next stop came when I mentioned the watch on the skeleton. “Can you describe the watch in more detail?” asked Miklos.

“It was a ladies’ watch. It was either gold or gold plated. It had an analogue face and hands but was battery operated, and it was still running.”

“But you say the bones looked very old?” pressed Miklos.

“So old that I thought they might crumble if I touched them. But the woman’s dress the skeleton was dressed in was contemporary and in good condition,” I replied.

“But how did you know the dress was contemporary?” said Miklos.

“Special Agent Tavlerides,” interceded Dr Maltby, “my client has described the dress as being in good condition. Women’s clothing is not an area of my client’s expertise. If there’s some particular detail you’re seeking please get to the point.”

“Of course,” said Miklos. “Kevin, you described the light in the side cave as also being good.”

“Yes. Again I have no explanation. I didn’t think it was physically possible for daylight to make its way directly to the side cave through the main cave, but I couldn’t see any other light sources.”

Miklos was clearly not satisfied, but a glare from Dr Maltby dissuaded him from pressing the issue. However Miklos had one more question for me. “Were there any other side caves?”

I paused to think. “I tested the walls of over half the perimeter of the main cave until I found the side cave. I never found the running water, although the sound was louder there. But once I saw Joanna on the stone table, I didn’t explore further.”

“Of course,” said Diana.

My recording was restarted and ran to completion.

“Did you have any help carrying Miss Kafkasian?” asked Miklos.

“No,” I replied. “Jay Calhoun sort of offered when I met him at the CDC boundary, but I sent him on ahead to tell his pa to get his truck ready.”

“So you alone carried Miss Kafkasian all the way from the cave to the Calhouns’ yard?” Miklos pressed.

“Yes,” I said.

“I think Mr Randell had already made that clear,” said Dr Maltby. “Do you have any more questions?”

A chastened-looking Miklos shook his head and looked at Diana.

“Mr Randell,” started Diana, “do you think you’d be able to find the cave again?”

“Yes, the entrance is right in the middle of the cliff face. You can’t miss it.” Then a thought struck me. “But Jay Calhoun didn’t notice it when he was collecting berries,” I mused.

Diana and Miklos exchanged knowing glances. “I think that’s all for the moment, Mr Randell,” said Diana. “Thank you for your time. We’ll be in touch if there’s anything else we need to know.” She made a slicing motion with her hand and Miklos noted the time before ending the FBI’s recording.

“If you do have any further questions for Mr Randell, please go through me,” said Dr Maltby.

“Of course,” affirmed Miklos.

“Kevin, your name rang a bell with a colleague of mine from the War Crimes Department,” said Diana. “Senior Special Agent Daniel Hooper was quite insistent that you’re gay, despite never having met you in person.”

“Yeah, I got that a lot,” I replied.

“I wish I could share your testimony with him. I’d love to see the look on his face.” Diana laughed, and even Miklos smiled. It made them both seem more human.

After handshakes all round, the FBI agents thanked me and left, telling Dr Maltby they’d e-mail him a copy of their recording.”

“That went very well,” said Dr Maltby.

I remembered how Dr Maltby had told me to leave in my cross-country success without explaining why, and also they’d used Dr Maltby’s first name. The interview hadn’t just gone well, it had gone almost too well. “You talked to the FBI before our interview, didn’t you!”

“Yes,” Dr Maltby admitted. “But I did it with the best of intentions for your well-being. If you ever woke up, you were expected to be in a very vulnerable condition and a normal interview would be a terrible ordeal for you.”

“So you guided my testimony towards what the FBI wanted to know about.”

“Your testimony was well-constructed and very clear. In the end I actually gave you very little guidance.” Dr Maltby paused. “You’d do well in a career in law enforcement, if you’re got any inclinations in that direction.”

“No thanks, I’m a science nerd. I’m hoping for a career as a scientist.”

“Don’t sell yourself short,” admonished Dr Maltby. “ Doctor Miklos Tavlerides is a highly qualified scientist.”

Another parallel with Scully!

“He’s also a nerd,” continued Dr Maltby. “There’s a credible rumour going around that he was almost thrown off the case because someone overheard him say that, while Miss Kafkasian is gorgeous, Miss Proctor would turn a gay man straight. That was inappropriate in any circumstances, but particularly so in this case.”

I laughed at that, comfortable that people were no longer labelling me as gay and comfortable that Dr Tavlarides’s opinion was formulated purely on the girls’ looks, not from familiarity with the two.

“Your mother can come in now now that interview’s out of the way,” said Dr Maltby. “Actually, I’m now free to fill you in on a few things and it’s probably a good idea for your mother to be present. I think it would be sensible for your mother to hear the edited recording of your testimony too.”

“What? No way!” I insisted, thinking about all the fooling around I had done with assorted girls.

“Kevin,” said Dr Maltby earnestly, “I’ve talked at length with your mother while we were waiting for you to wake up. I can assure you that nothing on the recording will cause more than a moment’s embarrassment for you and will be of considerable help in explaining your actions.”