Despite the serious nature of the situation, Oliver smirked. “Perhaps you’re gifted.”
“I’m ... something.”
“AND YOU DON’T KNOW how it happened?” Detective Steve Meeks arrived within ten minutes. By then we’d collected the children and grouped them together in the gift shop. They were sniffling and upset. They were also largely silent, even Granger Downey, who had been screaming “They’re here” seconds before the death. I only knew his name now because one of the other students jotted it down on a sheet of paper for us.
“It happened very quickly,” I replied, holding myself together as several uniformed officers and a team from the medical examiner’s office spread out across the aquarium. “One minute everyone was looking at the fish and the next ... well, the next the power went out.”
“And you don’t have any idea why the power went out?” Meeks asked.
“No.”
“How did you get the power back on?”
“I did it,” Oliver replied, drawing the detective’s attention. “I was in the storage room when things went dark. I’ve worked here a long time, so I knew where the breaker is. We have emergency lights in the back hallway, so I followed those to the breaker and threw it. The lights immediately came back on.”
“So ... you think the breaker was somehow tripped. Do you know how that could’ve happened?”
“I don’t,” Oliver replied. “We have a generator, but it only comes on after the power has been down for a full five minutes. It never got to that point today.”
“Well ... what about her?” Meeks tilted his head in the dead woman’s direction. “How did that happen?”
“I have no idea,” I replied. “I was in this room with her when the power went out. We couldn’t see anything, and the kids started screaming.”
Meeks turned his attention to the gift shop, where two officers stood with the students. No one was speaking. “They’re from a deaf school, right?”
I nodded. “I don’t remember the name.”
“The Duskin School for the Deaf,” Tara interjected. She’d been quiet since events unfolded. I knew she was aware of the gate, our real purpose at the aquarium. She didn’t often bring it up. “They contacted us about a month ago and wanted a tour. I thought it would be fine, especially given the time of year.
“Because our facility isn’t big, we could lock the front door and the kids could wander without us having to worry about them,” she continued. “We thought it was fine because it’s not warm enough for many visitors to come to the island. We don’t get busy until May.”
“Uh-huh.” Meeks flicked his eyes to the door as it opened to allow a tall, distinguished man entrance. “Who is that?”
I frowned and stared at the man in question. “Cormack Grimlock. He’s technically the boss here.”
Instead of reacting with dread, like me, Meeks brightened considerably. “Oh, right. He’s Griffin Taylor’s father-in-law.”
I happened to know Griffin, too. I’d met him through the Grimlocks several weeks ago. He was a new father and prominent face on the Detroit police force. I wished he was the one on this particular job. It would make things easier.
“Where is Griffin?” I asked. “I would think he’d jump at the chance to take this case.”
“He’s on paternity leave,” Meeks replied. “He’s with his wife and daughter.”
Of course he was. That made perfect sense. “Oh, well ... .” I forced a smile as Cormack approached. “It’s good to see you, although I wish it was under different circumstances.”
Cormack faked a smile and nodded. “Yes, I think we can both say that,” he drawled, his eyes busy as they bounced around the room. “What do we know?”
“The deceased is Lauren Tate,” Meeks replied. “Her neck is broken. The medical examiner will obviously need to do an in-depth exam, but for now, that’s all we know.”
“I see.” Cormack pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead. “And no one knows how this happened?”
I shook my head and ran through the story again. I was quickly growing tired of relating it, but there was no other choice. When I was finished, Cormack was befuddled.
“I don’t understand.” He glanced between Oliver and me. “Are you sure you didn’t hear anyone in the room?”
I thought about the feeling of dread that overwhelmed me right before it happened, and shook my head. “It was hard to hear anything over the screaming kids.”
“It also happened in a matter of seconds,” Tara added. “Like ... thirty seconds. The kids were screaming, Izzy tried to yell at them to be quiet, which was a wasted effort because they couldn’t hear her. I pointed out they couldn’t hear her. Then the lights came back on.”
“That fast?” Meeks asked.
Tara nodded. “It was definitely less than a minute.”
“Then I don’t see how we can explain this,” Meeks noted. “I mean ... it was a room full of children and two women.” His gaze was heavy when it landed on me. “I’m assuming everyone here denies killing her.”
“Why would we kill her?” Tara was appalled. “We didn’t even know her. I mean ... I met her exactly twenty minutes before it happened.”
“We don’t have motives,” I pointed out.
“Sometimes that doesn’t matter.”
Cormack cleared his throat to get Meeks’ attention. He had a commanding presence, one that struck fear in those around him. Sure, his children – all five of them – didn’t fear him because they recognized he was a big marshmallow beneath the tough exterior. That didn’t mean he wasn’t dedicated to his job and willing to play hardball if necessary.
“Should I hire a lawyer for my employees?” Cormack challenged.
Meeks shook his head. “I have no interest in arresting either one of them right now. No, seriously. They’re right about a lack of motive. Still, this doesn’t look good.”
“Then we’ll have to find the truth,” Cormack said simply.
“Can you think of anything that might lead us to answers, Ms. Sage?” Meeks pressed.
Briefly my eyes flicked to Granger, who stood in the center of things and stared at nothing. He’d turned sullen and mute the moment the lights came back on. I’d wanted to question him myself, get a look in his mind, but Meeks showed up quicker than I’d expected.
“No,” I answered, avoiding Tara’s probing gaze. I worried she would bring up Granger’s outburst, but apparently she decided to defer to me because she remained quiet. “I don’t know what happened. Honestly ... I can’t fathom what possibly could’ve gone down in the darkness that resulted in this. I have no idea how to explain it.”
“Well, maybe we’ll get more from the medical examiner,” Meeks suggested after a few seconds. “It’s always possible she somehow fell and hit her head. I mean ... that’s been known to happen.”
He said the words but none of us believed them.
“I guess.” I forced a tight-lipped smile. “What about the kids?”