Suicide

The House Offer

LINLEY
I talked to David Ellis again.

WOODS
About what?

LINLEY
We still haven't fathomed the connection of this town and school to Mary Ann's suicide. I wondered whether there is a connection and asked David, how he got the house, he has been living in now.
David responded:
- I wasn't sure where my journey would be heading. Mary and I had married and spend a beautiful honeymoon. I felt great, my life was about to start and the most beautiful woman was on my side. I was a young up-and-coming architect, eager to prove myself. Mary Ann was like me, she wanted to see what the future holds for us. I got a job at KleinDesk. I thought it would be just mandatory and that my future would lay in the big cities on the East Coast. But so it happened that we stayed and built a life here.

WOODS
Did David buy a house or did he instruct the construction of a new home for him and his wife?

LINLEY
David and Mary bought an old house and renovated it. A working colleague tipped him off that a house in this town would be for sale.

WOODS
Who did the house belong to?

LINLEY
It belonged to Troy Gallen. I made some inquiries about Troy Gallen. Joan Collins, a former working colleague of Mary Ann told me:
- Tory is a peculiar character! He lives very secludedly. He is a loner, I've never seen him with anyone. The house Troy sold to David and Mary Ann belonged to his parents. He inherited it after their death but he never lived in it. Instead, he built himself a house opposite it. We thought that Troy had built the second home for someone else, but we never saw anyone else.
Many probably buyers wanted to buy Troy's parents' house, but he wasn't selling. He even rejected offers that surpassed the actual worth of the property. No one knew why. The house stood vacant for years, but despite Troy didn't live in it, he would clean the house every month.
But then one day the news broke in town that Troy had sold the house. We didn't believe it at first. People were curious why Troy sold the house to David and Mary Ann. I thought they were related or something, but after David and Mary Ann moved in, Troy didn't meet them or talked to them publicly. I once asked Mary Ann whether she knew Troy, but Mary Ann didn't know him. I didn't know what went up with that house, but given what is happening right now, with the corruption scandal and so on, who knows whether Troy and David are just pretending that they do not know each other.

WOODS
Who is this Troy Gallen?

LINLEY
I tried to find out something about him, but no one seems to know something about Troy. I asked John Madden about Troy. John Madden is a working colleague of David who tipped David off the house.
John Madden explained:
- I know Troy from the Gulf War. We were neighbors and went to the same school, but we weren't friends or something. In the Army we became friends. He didn't tell me much about his life and I didn't ask. Troy was injured and released early. After the Army, we lost touch. I met him two years after my service ended in the local supermarket. We made some small talk and he told me that he is working for a publishing company. I didn't ask what kind. We were friends in the military but thereafter, seeing each other in civil clothes and outside the military framework, things were different. In the military and society, we need different kinds of people to have our backs.
Then years later David started to work in my company. He was looking for a home and I had heard from people's gossip that Troy had built a home for himself and I thought he might be selling his parents' home. It was actually not my business and I didn't know David closely so that would have cared, but somehow I needed an excuse to phone Troy. I called him, told him about David and Mary Ann and he told me that he wasn't selling. We talked about some random stuff. I asked him whether he had any issues because of the war. He was fine. Somehow this whole Gulf War illness or whatever it is called went passed us. Before I hung up the conversation was steered again towards David and Mary Ann. I mentioned David's surname and Troy's voice somehow changed. He wanted to know more about Mary Ann. He didn't tell me. I had seen Mary Ann only once before, this was when she picked up her husband from work. We talked a little bit. She was a nice girl. What a tragedy! That's just a mess. However, Troy wanted me to describe Mary Ann. It was weird. I didn't think much of it. Maybe they knew each other from before. Back then I remember I don't know anything about Troy besides that we served in the Army together. We hung up and I forgot about it soon, but then a couple of weeks later David told me that he had bought Troy's home. I was surprised but didn't ask him about it.

WOODS
Do we have any criminal records of Troy Gallen?

LINLEY
No, everything is fine. But I got ahold of Troy Gallen's tax return. And guess what he paid 2 million dollars on taxes last year.

WOODS
This means he is wealthy! But I have seen his house, it doesn't look like it!

LINLEY
I think I know the reason why Troy keeps a low profile in town. He is the owner of the media company Red Valve.

WOODS
What is this company about?

LINLEY
The company is about porn!

WOODS
What?

LINLEY
Yes! Troy Gallen owns a porn service and distribution company.

WOODS
How does this add up?

LINLEY
I don't know, but what I want to know is, why Troy changed his mind after John Madden described Mary Ann to him?

WOODS
Maybe Mary Ann and Troy knew each other before, from school or something?

LINLEY
I checked it out, Troy Gallen and Mary Ann Ellis, born Harold did not grow up together.

WOODS
What's the connection?

LINLEY
We'll find out!