as an army aviator how other people call themselves human…he loved flying…”
The investigators eyed everything about her with keen interest. Sharkey examined Diana’s facial expressions, and his eyes searched her demeanor. Then he walked out and hurried back into the interview room to see his partner handing Diana King his handkerchief to dry her teary eyes. Sharkey wore a sardonic smile.
“Planes and cars were his first loves,” Diana said, continuing her statement.
“It seems your husband loved everything fast,” Sharkey said with a smirk. “So I guess if I could tell that he’s got a nice car, I may wanna see what’s inside his pockets. I mean he could have some real cash.”
“Yes, and he’s sitting in a nice car. If I’m on the prowl to commit a robbery, I’d say he would be a likely victim,” McAlister said.
“But King’s body was found not far from outside the door to your office, Dr. King. You think he was trying to get away?” Sharkey asked.
“Knowing Vaughn. I think he probably was trying to get away.”
“Could it be that it was an attempted arm robbery…?” McAlister said. Then he waited for King’s mind to return to the scene before continuing. “Maybe our assailant heard the noise, panicked, and ran off before taking anything. Or let’s say, your husband saw the burglar and the gun while the burglar was trying to sneak up from the passenger side. The captain was distracted by the music—the scenery – something or someone had his attention. And he was smoking a cigar. Suggesting that King was relaxed—not expecting any intrusion. The passenger door opens, he thinks it’s his wife returning–”
“That sounds like an obvious thing to immediately jump at Jim Bob, but we still haven’t sifted through all the facts,” Sharkey countered.
He walked into the interview, staring at Dr. King. Sharkey took a seat across from Diana. He eyeballed her for a second.
“We’re gonna need every ounce of your corporation, Dr. King,” Sharkey said.
“I’m all in, detective. I’ll tell you all I know,” Diana said.
“Now we’re going to do this all again, make sure you haven’t left out a single detail. It might be important. Maybe there was someone already lurking in the lot across the street…?” Sharkey said.
“I didn’t see anyone detective. As I said, it was raining. I was just trying to get upstairs as fast as I could.”
Under the army investigators’ watchful gaze, observing vigilantly through a two-way mirror, detective Sharkey continued querying the grieving spouse. The investigators were closely watching Diana’s deportment as much as her responses to the questions. The police interrogated her. Diana King with her legs crossed, and in total control. Breaking down to cry at times, she appeared composed. The therapist appeared in control with a pen and pad in the interview room under both detectives’ intense gaze.
Captain Blackbird of the army criminal investigative unit and her assistant Staff Sergeant Eubanks was also watching with interest while Detectives Sharkey and McAlister of the Enterprise police questioning the spouse. It was with this knowledge that Sharkey interviewed Dr. Diana King. Maybe he was too careful with his questions. Diana was now smoking a cigarette. Although her emotions showed, she seemed very open in her answers.
“I was in my office for about five minutes, detective,” Diana exhaled.
“So five minutes after you left him and went inside the office, you heard the commotion outside and looked out the window. Did you hear any gunshots?” Sharkey asked.
“No, I didn’t hear a thing,” Diana answered.
Her tears streamed while she recounted the whole day and events that led to her husband’s untimely death. Diana King was the quintessential grieving widow, but Sharkey wanted to solve a murder, and the questioners pressed on.
“Are you sure that no one followed you to your office?” Sharkey asked.
“It was raining, and I really couldn’t see anything behind us when we on our way. But I’m sure that when we stopped outside the office, there was no one there.”
“When you arrived, did you look around to check for anyone?” Sharkey asked.
“Or maybe you accidentally left the door opened?” McAlister asked.
“No, it was still drizzling when I got out of the car. And I’m sure I closed the door,” Diana answered.
“Did you see anyone coming or going from your office door?” Sharkey asked. “Maybe behind the vehicle…?”
“No, no. No one else was there but me and Vaughn,” Diana answered.
“You said it was raining or drizzling?”
“Light rain, sort of drizzling. You know how the weather changes. It was going back and forth,” Dr. King said.
“Did you use an umbrella?”
“No, I hurried inside and unlocked the door. Then I quickly ran up the stairs and—”
“You said you ran upstairs after entering. Did you turn around and lock the door after entering or just went upstairs?”
“The door has a slam-lock. An alarm would sound if it weren’t locked,” Diana said.
“So, it was locked after you entered and went upstairs?”
“Yes—”
“While upstairs, did you hear anything or absolutely nothing else?”
“I heard nothing else until about five minutes or so later the noise—”
“What kind of noise?”
“Like people shouting. I went to the window and saw the doors opened. I think the alarm was going off and lights were going on and off,” Diana King said.
“You heard a commotion, then what?” Sharkey asked.
“I saw the crowd outside. After I noticed the passenger door and the driver’s side door left open. I ran downstairs.”
“What were you doing when you heard the commotion?”
“I was going through the files on my desk, searching to find the file that I wanted.”
“What file was that?” Sharkey asked.
There was no immediate response from Diana. Taking a break, she clasped her hands over her tearful face as both detectives stared at the distraught woman. Diana paused then finally releasing her face, she released a loud sigh then spoke.
“It was a case filename, Gonzalez,” she finally said.
“Why did you need this case file, Dr. King?”
“I was preparing to give my evaluation in a custody hearing. I wanted to refresh my knowledge of recent developments in the case that I had not yet entered, personal notes.”
“Didn’t you have this information ahead of time?”
“Yes, but I thought I had brought the file home. When I checked my office at home, I realized I had left it at work.”
“So, you asked your husband to stop there so that you could get the file?”
“Yes, that’s correct. But I mean Vaughn had promised to do it because I was at the hairdresser on Saturday. He forgot, and so we were planning to get the file Sunday. First, it was before then it was after and…” Diana’s voice became emotional and trailed.
“So, you decided to get the files, but there was no real-time?”
“It started thundering and rain. That was it for golf. So we were on our way to dinner, and Vaughn said he could make a pit stop. It wasn’t out of the way, and—”
“Where were you planning to dine?”