by M. Carlson

Created on: April 10, 2011   Last Updated: September 03, 2011

Maisy & Jake:  Chapter Four

Jake and I savored hot coffee as we reviewed our notes from the previous day.  He looked relaxed and I wondered if Marie had visited him last night.  I knew that she gave him a difficult time; that he didn’t know if he was coming or going with her.  He was attractive and had a relaxed personality with a quick smile.  I hoped that he would end their relationship.  Jake’s daughter-in-law, Mandy, and I had become confidants. In exasperation one day, she blurted out that often Jake appeared strained when he was with Marie.

We agreed to divide the interviews.  Jake would assume responsibility for family and friends.  I would interview Joanne’s work colleagues at the distribution centre of a large company.

The manager, Nick Smith, told me that Joanne’s gruesome death had created some turmoil in the office.  I asked him if he had known her personally.  His reply was that she was a loner and seldom talked about herself.

Ivy was my first victim, otherwise known as interviewee.   She was at least six feet tall, feminine in deportment, with an immaculate French manicure.  I asked her how well she knew Joanne, whether they had a personal friendship.

“Not really.  Well, yes, until we had a disagreement here.”  She tilted her head, looked down.

“Disagreement?  What happened?”

“Just a misunderstanding so we haven’t been close for awhile.”

I asked her if she knew anything about Joanne’s male friends.

“She didn’t share much but there were two men she was seeing.  Kent Cassel and … I can’t think of the other man’s name.”

“You know Kent?”

“Yes, she brought him to our last office party.  He didn’t even try control to his eyes.  Blatantly checked out everyone’s cleavage.”

The next person I interviewed was Aila, fit and abrupt.  It took all the patience I could muster to pry information from her.  She did say that Joanne did not pull her weight, that she was ‘riding on Aila’s coattails’.  The last time she had seen Joanne, apart from work, was a week ago.  They had all gone out for drinks on a Friday night.  Except that Aila didn’t drink.  She smiled and I caught a certain smugness.

Freda, in her fifties, was quite talkative.  She told me that Ivy and Joanne had quite a heated discussion one day. Apparently, Joanne told Freda that Ivy avoided manual work and manipulated the workload in her favor. According to Freda, Aila jogged three miles to work every day and was a fitness fanatic.  She said Aila and Joanne barely tolerated each other.  Freda also said that she felt that Joanne was somewhat fickle and shallow.

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