The Demise of Mayor Frye

Chapter 4: The Mayor's Driver

Detective Stone was walking at the entrance of the central park of Irongate waiting for Adam Gray, Mr. Frye's driver, to come. Mr. Frye's secretary, Brent Scott, had called him and arranged a meeting in the park.

Adam Gray had been supposed to get there at two in the afternoon; however, it wasn't until 2:30 that his car showed up at the gate. Detective Stone walked to the parking area and greeted him. He preferred to talk in the car, but as Mr. Gray wanted to walk and was sick of the interior space of his car, they went for a walk. Having a cane didn't make it much harder for the detective to walk. It was only when he attempted to change his position from sitting to standing and vice versa that his knees would start to irritate him. He'd been shot in the right knee years before.

"Tell me about this morning, Mr. Gray. Everything. From the beginning," the detective said as they were walking along Calmdepth lake, Adam Gray being closer to the water.

"I was told to be at the door of his house at seven in the morning, and I was."

"Told by who?"

"By Mr. Frye himself."

"How long have you known him?"

"A week or two. Not so much. But I know his father Robert. I was his driver before," Mr. Gray stopped and turned to face the lake.

Robert Frye was Emerson's father, a former minister of energy who'd been retired for a few months. He was a man of fame and power and was the topmost reason that Emerson was chosen as the new mayor.

"When did Mr. Frye get out of his house?"

"Half an hour later, maybe. But not as you would think," he chuckled. Adam didn't seem to be affected by Mr. Frye's death at all, as they hadn't known each other much. That was unlike his family. All his siblings, cousins, his wife, daughter, and father had come to the city hall that noon and wouldn't have left there no matter how much Detective Stone and the officers told them that it was a site of investigation. To take them back to their houses, multiple police officers had been summoned to the place.

"What do you mean? Was he drunk at the time?"

"Yeah, pretty much. When he opened the door of his house, he fell on the ground, so I took him and just put him in the car," the driver started to imitate how the mayor had walked out of the house. "Like this I mean."

"Why did he insist to get to work when he was that drunk?"

"No idea. I even told him I would wait if he wanted to get some rest at home, but he said he would get all right after minutes," he bent down and took some stones, beginning to throw them in the lake one by one.

"But he didn't, I presume," Detective Stone said.

"But he didn't," the driver threw another stone.

"So, he was drunk. He fell. You took him... Why his clothes weren't dirty at the time he was in his office?"

"When we were in front of the city hall, I helped him clean his suit before he got off the car." The driver was as relaxed as he could be. No tremble in his voice, no pausing between the words, no stuttering. Nothing.

"Right. And what about the time in the car? What did you talk about?"

"Mostly about the party."

Detective Stone wasn't aware of the party that Mr. Frye and his family had had last night. He asked Adam Gray about it. Although he, too, didn't know much, he told the detective that based on what Emerson had said, they'd been awake all night, drinking and playing games.

Detective Stone got curious about the people present at the party. All of them were now to be interviewed. Each one of them might have been the perpetrator. That was a springboard for his investigations.

Before going to the mayor's house to talk to those people, he had some other questions for the driver. "After arriving at the city hall, did you go inside with him?" he said.

"Only to the entrance door, Detective. He told me he can do the rest, so I left," Mr. Gray said, cleaning his hands with the piece of cloth that he carried in his pocket.

"And do you remember what time it was, approximately?"

"Uh, I know the exact time. We arrived at the city hall precisely at eight o'clock. I know because he'd been kinda proud that he could get there right on time."

Detective Stone thought about his first scenario and that he thought Mr. Frye was poisoned after getting to the city hall. He had in mind to check the footage of the whole building, including the elevators, to make sure he'd met Mr. Mason in the building, but now he knew that it wasn't the case. He'd probably been poisoned before even getting to the building. But as it could have been the driver who gave him the poison, he didn't want to simply ask him when he was expecting a question. He waited until the last moment, at the parking area of the central park, and right before bidding farewell, he quickly and without any pause said, "And one last question, Mr. Gray. Did you see any sign of poisoning in Mr. Frye? Perhaps nausea, headache, dizziness, or breathing difficulties. He expected him to be surprised as he shouldn't have known he had died of poison, but at the same time, he also expected him not to be flustered.

And it was precisely what happened. The drive got surprised, but not flustered. "Not that I can remember," he said, remaining relaxed. He didn't seem to be related to it, though him being too carefree made him questionable. But it could be his style.