2019-09-27 - Routine Questions

It took a lot of set-up for this meeting to happen, and even then it only barely just managed to come together. It wasn't that Elise was being purposefully uncooperative; in fact, the detectives arranging this little meet-and-greet didn't speak to her once, as all questions were being fielded through her lawyer. Bobby DeWitt, attorney for Elise and Graham, was insistent that the meeting occur on Elise's time; she was in mourning, the police needed to be sensitive to her situation, etc etc. Initially it didn't even seem like he'd be willing for this to go down at the precinct to begin with - but early this morning, Bobby DeWitt let the Chief know that his clients would be at the precinct at promptly at such-and-such a time, and this would be the only time that his clients would be available. It wasn't explicitly stated, but the undertone was clear: If the police messed this up, they wouldn't get another opportunity to speak with Elise and Graham. At least not without a warrant.

The appointed time was now here, and Elise and Graham were seated in an interview room, little paper cups of coffee available. Bobby DeWitt was here too, though for the moment, he was being quiet. As for Elise, she was .. subdued. She didn't exactly look in great shape - it's rather evident that she hasn't slept much. But she's put together; her hair is done up in a bun, and she wears a black knee-length skirt and white blouse.

When the boss says jump....well, Charlie doesn't exactly ask how high, but she does at least move her ass when it's important things. This is important, and thus she moves her ass. When she lets herself into the room she's got a file tucked under her arm, a mug of coffee that declares her #1 Mom, and the quietly tired look of someone that's been pulling long hours. "Miss Kruger...thank you for agreeing to come in and speak with us. I'm Detective Morgan."

The mug gets set down on the table across from the pair before Charlie sets the file down, and sits, "First I wanted to say how very sorry we are for your loss, and ..." She glances at the paper cups in front of them, "Do you need any more coffee, or anything else, before we start? I'll try to make this as quick as possible."

The argument about what they have to wear ended with Graham agreeing to wear black pants and a shirt and a tie and GOD DAMMIT FINE.

The argument about what they have to wear ended with Graham wearing a suit. The jacket is now thrown over the back of the chair, and he's already rolled the sleeves up to his elbow, because he's a total rebel (and because Elise probably won't kick his ass in the actual precinct). That accomplished, he's busy looking bored and trying to see if any of the parts of the table can be disassembled before the cops show up. Thankfully, they can't be. So his eyes flick up when the door opens, and he does what every professional criminal does when the cops show up: he shuts the fuck up.

Bobby's the one that stands up and offers a handshake to Charlie. "Detective, I'm Bobby DeWitt. Did we speak on the phone?" He has that kinda confident-but-greasy demeanor common to mob lawyers.

Elise is not a professional criminal, so when she looks up from the table to the opening door? She remembers her manners and gets out of her chair to do the handshaking thing as soon as Bobby's done. "Detective," she sounds pleasant enough, if only to be respectful, and she shakes her head at the talk of coffee. "I'm fine, we're fine. I don't need anymore coffee," she smooths out her skirt as she sits back down. "I would just like to get this done and over with, I .." there's a pause, a brief catch in her throat. "I still have a lot to do."

"Mr. DeWitt. Afraid, it wasn't me." Charlie replies with a shake of her head and an apologetic smile as she returns the handshakes, "Of course, Miss Kruger." She offers a faint smile, one that is a mixture of sympathetic and apologetic for even having to make this have to be a thing. "I'll make this as fast as possible." She leans forward, resting her forearms on the table, her fingers lacing together, "First I wished to ask if you have any idea who might be angry enough with your parents to have done this. If they had any enemies...owed any money."

It should be noted, Charlie is damn good about not looking at Graham when she asks about them owing money. It's a masterful performance.

"Well, then. Pleasure to meet you, Detective." DeWitt settles back down into his chair from there, folding his hands neatly next to the briefcase that he has sitting tidily on the table next to him. Good for Charlie, jumping right into things. It gives DeWitt plenty to do. "Let's don't impugn the integrity of the dead, though. The Krugers were decent people who ran a decent business. If you need a look at their financials..." The words 'get a warrant' would slide tidily under his smile.

Since now there's conversation, Graham listens, plays with an unlit cigarette, and drops his hand over one of Elise's. "Could we get some root beer or something? Not feeling the coffee." But really just continuing ignoring him; he's just being a prick.

The question doesn't seem to make Elise very uncomfortable, though she'll let DeWitt speak for her first. Graham being a prick doesn't seem to surprise or bother her, though she does reach across to slip her hand into his own and give his fingers a squeeze. "My parents are.." she winces. "Were.. very good people. They were both really active in the Church. They've been in Gray Harbor for forever," she sighs, shaking her head. "If they owed money to someone, they didn't tell me." It would be fairly evident that she was being honest.

"Anyone that might have had a problem with them? Real or imagined." Charlie gets to her feet to move towards the door, knocking on it so that it's opened by a uniform, who gets told to go find root beer. Or something. She can play this game easily enough, and not get diverted from her task. There is a mild look towards DeWitt before she glances back to Elise, "These are sometimes going to be hard questions, Miss Kruger. But I'm sure that we're all very interested in finding answers for them...and finding who did this to your family. I can't help that we're going to ask some sensitive questions, because most of the time...these things are personal."

Except for all those times that it is random.

Once she's retaken her seat, Charlie leans forward again, "We've been able to look over the footage of the shooting, and I'll spare you the screen shots if you prefer. But it'd be very helpful if you'd look at them and tell me if anything jumps out to you."

"And some gum!" Graham shouts toward the door while it's open. Then tells the room, "Man, I hope he heard me. I could go for some Juicy Fruit." He clacks his teeth together to show everyone how loud they are, by comparison to how much quieter they will be if he has some gum. "The taste is gonna move you."

Even DeWitt finds it expedient to put the blonde-haired 50% of his present clients on ignore for the moment. The brunette... his eyes pinch at the corners for all Elise's volunteering, but his waxy smile never falters. "They ran a motel for a number of years. The number of people who might have imagined slights against the Krugers has to be astronomical." He doesn't seem fazed so much by the idea of letting Elise look at crime scene photos; emotional support isn't why he gets paid.

Elise gives Graham side-eyes, but she tries to focus on Charlie rather than the annoying clacking teeth from her boyfriend and the waxy smile from her lawyer. "My mom didn't need me to help with the motel. She had it under control, I never even so much as helped them file for taxes. It wasn't exactly my thing anyway. All I know is that the motel was running fine, and they had enough money so they weren't struggling, and that's what mattered to me. If they had .. imaginary enemies," she tries not to roll her eyes, but the words just don't sit right with her. ".. They didn't mention it. They never seemed to have any problems." As for the photos? That makes her grimmace. "I don't exactly know what you suspect will jump out at me from looking at pictures of my dead parents, Detective," she bites her tongue. "But fine. If you need me to look at the photos, I will."

"I'd not make you look at pictures of your dead parents, Miss Kruger." Charlie assures her, and what she does pull out of the files are the moments before they became dead parents. Which is better, right? She slides over several stills from the cameras with the gunman still in them, and the car itself. "Have you seen this car before?" She then reaches over to tap a finger on the picture of the gunman, "We've estimated that he is..." She pauses, then glances over at DeWitt, then Graham, mentally measuring them before finishing the thought, "Probably Mr. Stewart's size."

Graham leans way forward in his chair so he can make sure he looks at this guy that's supposedly about his size. "Oh, I doubt that," he mutters, entertaining himself. He meets Elise's side-eye with the quick flash of perfectly darling smile: LOOK HOW GOOD HE'S BEING.

DeWitt gives Charlie a droll look for the comparison but stays quiet for now, having swept the photos with a quick glance. Apparently, Elise is welcome to answer that question.

Elise keeps her hand in Graham's, ignoring him for a moment in favor of tracking the photographs as they slide out of the file and are put down on the table. She's doing her best to keep her breathing normalized, but there's already some tears in her eyes when she sees this gunman and the car. "No," she replies to the question, before her frown slips deep at the comment on the gunman being Graham's size. That did not sit right with her, and she sits a little more stiffly in her chair. "All right," she says simply, not volunteering anything else.

Are there good ways of doing this? No, there really are not.

Playing nice....ish, has gotten no where. So when Elise says no, and Graham says he doubts that, she leans back in her seat, leaving the photographs on the table before she states, very simply, "We know your parents owed money to Felix Monaghan." Which by her tone she seems to be implying that either Elise should know, or maybe Graham should have told her.

"Sorry, I'm not hearing a question, Detective. Does that mean we're done here?" This is why Bobby DeWitt gets paid the big bucks, folks.

And why Graham puts the cigarette in his mouth, lights it, and does not even remotely look like he's not sitting here hoping Charlie suddenly dies in a horrible, horrible way. Even the way he blows smoke and looks up at the ceiling afterward, even the little bitty squeeze he gives Elise's hand - it's all part and parcel of his newly sprung hate-on for this cop in particular.

The sudden stink of cigarette makes her wrinkle her nose, and Elise coughs a touch dramatically, but she doesn't yell at Graham or anything. For once. Instead, she casts a look down to her hand when Graham squeezes it and sighs. She has nothing to say, because she wasn't asked a question! That's why Bobby DeWitt makes the big bucks.

Lawyers. So very annoying. Charlie spares Big-Bucks-DeWitt a single look that says 'no' without actually saying anything. Then she looks back at Graham, "There's no smoking in here Mr. Stewart, I'd advise you to put your cigarette out." She then turns her attention back to Elise, "Were you aware of your parents connections to Mr. Monaghan and the fact they owed him money?"

There! There's a question in there.

Sometimes, the lack of answer says a lot. When DeWitt laughs and reaches for the photographs with a 'may I?' glance at Charlie, it says a lot. When he tacks on, "Sorry, Detective, but my clients just aren't dressed for a fishing expedition," it says a lot.

It also says a lot that Graham makes sure to take at least one more drag, blows it out toward the ceiling, then looks around with confusedly wide eyes, holding the cigarette up and waving it a little: where should he put it out? He shrugs and resolves this by smooshing it into the edge of the table on his side, scooting back so the ashes hit the floor, not his nice pants.

Elise bites the corner of her bottom lip as she gives Graham's hand another squeeze, before she looks back to Charlie. "I don't know what you're after? But I think you're barking up the wrong tree, and the more time you spend asking me questions, the less time you have to go out there and find the person who shot my parents," she says bluntly. "But as I already explained to you, Detective, my parents did not tell me anything about their financial situation and the only connections my mother and father made me 'aware' of was their connections to the Church. Would you like the name of their priest?"

"Where you aware of it, Mr. Stewart?" Charlie doesn't seem to care about where he puts the cigarette out, but she also ignores DeWitt and his comment about a fishing expedition. However, she doesn't ignore Elise, and points out, "The faster we clear all avenues, the faster we can find them. I appreciate we might be going after the wrong leads, but we have to look at all the possibilities to make sure."

"Sorry, I was having cigarette issues. Was I aware of what-now?" Graham looks at Charlie with a confused blink. It's not a convincingly confused blink, but he tries, having managed to put out the cigarette. He only got, like, two drags on it, so he tucks it back into the pack for later (those fuckers are expensive).

Leaving DeWitt to hold a hand up to Elise, gently but silently suggesting she let him talk for a minute. They're paying him a lot to do so. "I appreciate the position you're in, Detective, I really do." He seems authentically sympathetic; not enough to stop him from putting the photos into his briefcase, but enough to make eye-contact with Charlie. "But Miss Kruger has already been clear that she doesn't know anything about her parents' finances, and I think we can safely assume that Mister Stewart," that idiot, "knows even less."

"I asked if you were aware of the fact your girlfriends parents owed money to your boss." Charlie repeats herself, helpfully, for Graham and his cigarette issue. When the lawyer steps in there is a very thin smile for him, "I appreciate that, and the fact we could assume that. But if I don't ask the questions..." She shakes her head, looking apologetically to them all, "If I don't ask the questions then it's my ass, you understand."

"Of course, of course. And no one wants you to be remiss in doing your job, Detective." DeWitt continues suggesting, with his smile and his slightly raised palm, that Elise doesn't say anything. He scratches his eyebrow thoughtfully for a second, contemplating his other client, and then relents with a minute shake of his head.

Which frees Graham up to look right in Charlie's eyes and lie his face off. "No, I wasn't aware that people thought that was a fact." He could credibly be that blind to the bigger picture. "Hey, whatever happened with the root beers?"

It might not be that the lie is obvious, but Charlie is going to keep prodding at this until she's sure that she's got any blood left squeezed out of this stone. "So you were aware that people might have had a suspicion that her parents owed your boss money?" It's not the same question, right? She's just asking if he new people suspected....not a fact. "I imagine they are hunting down root beer, we don't have any in the machines here. But we've got the time to wait."

Graham whistles and flies his hand in the air, about four inches above the top of his hair: that question sailed right over his head. "I know people in this town like to talk a lotta shit, if that's what you're asking? But I try to mind my own business." He smiles prettily, all teeth and dimples. "But if there's no root beer coming...?" He passes a look beyond the quiet Elise to DeWitt.

"That's about all the time we can spare today, Detective. Can I get your card, though? In case anything comes up." Bobby puts his own card on the table in front of Charlie. It's not fancy. Just a business card.

"Sure, if you think of anything else, just give me a call." There is a business card that gets pull out and handed towards DeWitt, but then she brings out a second card to slide it in Elise's direction. "Just in case you do as well, Miss Kruger. Again, we are sorry for your loss."

Elise takes the card and says appropriate things, because she's not RUDE.

Graham is RUDE and springs to his feet promptly, laying his jacket over his forearm, champing the bit to get outta this cop shop.

DeWitt takes the card and offers a handshake, because he's also not RUDE. "Thank you, Detective. If anything comes up - " He waves the card briefly before putting it away, following his clients out with a greasy glance around the lobby. For more potential clients.

Not rude gets smiles, and a handshake. Rude gets ignored for the rudeness. Charlie then gathers up her things, and exits to document all things.