Volume 2, Chapter 12

I arrive at the Auckland Central Police Station around noon and ask if Smithers is available. As I am waiting, I wonder if I am going to be able to get down to Papatoetoe to see Inka this evening to update her about whatever I am going to learn this afternoon. I hope there will be something substantial to pass on.

Smithers emerges, having come straight from a meeting. I ask him if he has time now to update me, wanting to keep him onside.

He says, “Look, I have another meeting in half an hour but I need to get something to eat in the cafeteria so, if you’d like to join me, I can quickly let you know where we’ve got to.”

I like him. He is direct. He doesn’t waste time apologising and is clearly going to be helpful without making a fuss about it. The cafeteria looks very government department style but I find a box of rolled sushi and some mineral water while he has a sandwich, some rhubarb crumble, and a cup of tea. I ask if Wellington has confirmed my role in the case and he says they said I was to be the liaison person for now. I just say, “Good,” while thinking they could have been less tentative.

Smithers lays out the information systematically. “It took us a little while to find Merrick as he was having a hip replacement operation yesterday. It had been scheduled for two months time but, following a fall, it needed to be done urgently and he didn’t get to inform the university. We found this out from his wife, who lives in Minneapolis. He understandably made it a priority to contact her.”

“Is he in a fit state to see us today?” I ask.

“Yes, we spoke to him on the phone this morning and he is perfectly happy to talk to us for half an hour this afternoon, around 3 pm ideally. I want to speak to him in person and I am impressed that he is willing and made no objection.”

“What about the deceased?”

“His name is Federico Bruno and he has an American drivers license and credit cards as well as a faculty card from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. We presume he is an academic colleague of Merrick but that is the kind of thing we would like to talk to him about.”

“Cause of death?”

“Ah. On the face of it, it was heart failure but we are keeping an open mind.”

As we continue with our lunch, Smithers Invites me to join him interviewing  Merrick and lays out how he wants to play it. 

“He might be puzzled why the police are involved but can be told that the matter was referred to us initially because the deceased was not known at the University, which indeed is true. This will lead on to questioning about who he is and why he was in the office.” 

“I would like to take the lead in the questioning,” Smithers says. “I will introduce you as someone seconded to assist me. I would like you to take handwritten notes, in large part for appearance’s sake so you can observe his reactions discreetly. You may wish to ask a question from time to time, to which I will acquiesce with an indulgent smile. You may look as if you are checking details for your notes. Are you comfortable with this way of proceeding?”

“Yes indeed. That is perfect. You are being most helpful.”

Smithers certainly thinks things through, perhaps over-thinks, but I realise he is well able to play a part. As I have finished my lunch and I suspect Smithers will need a moment to think about his next meeting, I tell him I will return at two-thirty. As I pick up my tray, he opens a folder he is carrying and I can see amongst the printed documents some hand-written notes in the most ugly and illegible scrawl. It’s just as well I’ll be the notetaker!

As I leave, I ask abruptly, and a little rudely, “Have you ever acted on the stage?”

He deploys his deadpan expression and simply replies, “No. I am not Prince Hamlet nor was meant to be.”

Maybe not an actor but certainly a person with literary knowledge. I know the phrase but, for the moment, can’t place it. I think he and I could make a good team.

I return, as promised, about two-thirty. Smithers is a little late and we are running late for our appointment. In the car, I ask him if he strongly suspects foul play.

He pauses and then says, “Your interest in Merrick prompts my interest in the death.”

He is not merely being cooperative; he is on board with this investigation. We make good time to the hospital and find the ward easily enough. Merrick is in a room with two beds but the other is not occupied. There is a chair either side of the bed, which helps me be a discreet observer.

Merrick seems comfortable enough, though is connected to monitors and has a drip going in through a cannula on the back of his left hand. The back of the bed is raised. He turns off the TV as we come into the room. Smithers turns on the charm and makes it seem as if Merrick is doing us a great favour by helping us out.

Merrick confirms what we suspected about Federico Bruno, that he is a professional colleague and in fact a co-author of a number of papers. He had been attending a conference in Melbourne and was paying a short private visit. He wasn’t an official visitor at the University of Auckland, which explains why the administrator, Mary Tyler, had no knowledge of him. When Merrick had the fall he was put on an urgent list for the operation and a place became available at very short notice through a cancellation. He suggested that Bruno might like to use his university office while he was in hospital as being more pleasant than the messy area he had at home. He totally forgot to inform Mary Tyler or anyone at the University.

Smithers tells him that Professor Makkonen found the body. “Two ‘k’s,” he says as an aside to me. Oh, does he play a part well?

“Yes, the gender studies lady,” Merrick responded. “I totally forgot about her.”

Smithers speaks of contacting next of kin and Merrick says he phoned Bruno’s wife as soon as he heard. Smithers gets her contact details and asks if there is anyone else who could formally identify the body. Apparently there is another physicist at the University who could do that. Merrick says what a shock it is and how upset Bruno’s wife was when he phoned her. Smithers asks if he was aware of Bruno having a heart condition. He replies that he wasn’t aware of one.

Smithers keeps the interview fairly short and wraps up by thanking him profusely and saying we would be in touch if we needed anything more. Returning in the car to the police station he asks me what I think.

“He seems pretty plausible to me, but these people can be pretty good actors,” I add cheekily.

“Oh indeed they can,” he replies with emphasis but a blank expression.

“I thought he wasn’t as upset as I expected, at least to begin with.” I add.

“That’s what I thought too,” Smithers replies. “Maybe he is relieved it wasn’t him.”

“Mistaken identity?”

“Possibly.”