Chapter 93
Avery turned on the tape recorder.
Background noises, chairs being moved.
Avery: Mr. Gill, what where you doing on between 7 pm of Wednesday July the 25th and 3 am of July the 26th?
Mark Gill: From 7 to about 7.30 I was at home, and then I met Janna McMurrich
Avery: where did you meet her?
Mark Gill: at her place
Avery: were you and Janna McMurrich the only two people at McMurrich’s place?
Mark Gill: no
Avery: Who else was there?
Mark Gill: Michael Gill
Avery: Are you related to Michael Gill?
Mark Gill: Yes. He is my brother
Avery: Did you and your brother arrive and leave Janna McMurrich’s place at the same time?
Mark Gill: Yes, approximately
Avery: can you be more precise about the timing? Who got there first and who left first?
Mark Gill: I got there first and left before Michael did
Avery: at which time did you leave?
Mark Gill: Around 1 am, I would say
Avery: Could it have been later than that?
Mark Gill: No, I don’t think so
Avery: why don’t you think so?
Mark Gill: because when I got in the car I remember checking the time and it was approximately 1
Avery: do you have witnesses?
Mark Gill: no
Avery: did you go home immediately after leaving from the house when Janna McMurrich lived?
Mark Gill: I drove around for a while, to get some fresh air
Avery: Is this something you usually do? Drive around to get some fresh air?
Lawyer: This question is not relevant to the case
Avery: In a previous conversation with you we assessed that your car was speeding on the highway at 2.15. Why were you around at 2.15?
Mark Gill: as I said, I wanted to get some fresh air
Avery: Other than driving on the highway, where did you go get some fresh air?
Gill: I don’t remember exactly, I drove around Janna’s neighbourhood, it’s a nice neighbourhood…
Avery: for how long did you drive around Janna’s neighbourhood?
Gill: I don’t know…half an hour, maybe more…
Avery: and where did you go after that?
Gill: I don’t remember exactly. I was around here place for a while…and then I began heading home
Avery: and you used the highway to get home
Gill: yes
Avery: the highway is the fastest route from where Janna McMurrich lived to your place, and the exit closest to your area is exit 8. At the speed at which you were driving it must have taken you approximately 15 minutes to reach exit 8 from the moment you entered the highway. A camera shot a picture of your car speeding at 2.15 am, which means that you had started driving on the highway shortly before that.
Gill: I don’t know, maybe the watch on my car was wrong then…or maybe I drove around Janna’s neighborhood for more than 30 minutes
Avery: what was the purpose of your visit to Janna McMurrich?
Mark Gill: it was just an evening among friends
Avery: Last time you said you and Janna McMurrich were in an intimate relationship
Mark Gill: Not so intimate, occasional I would say
Avery: Michael Gill had a professional relationship with Janna McMurrich, is this correct?
Mark Gill: Yes, but Janna and Michael were also friends
Avery: Were they friends before they started working together?
Mark Gill: no
Avery: it seems like a strange coincidence that you and Michael Gill are brothers, that Janna McMurrich is your lover and your brother’s friend
Lawyer: this question is not relevant. Mark, you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to
Avery: I will get my answers one way or the other, but if you make things easier for me I will make things easier for you
Mark Gill: I knew Janna from grad school, our research groups had some collaboration going on and we published a paper together. We kept in touch after we graduated, and we worked for a while in the same company, Diet Clinical. After a while I moved on, and got the current position. Janna was not making the greatest career at Diet Clinical and when I knew from Michael there were opportunities at FoodTech I gave her a hand.
Avery: You asked Michael to give McMurrich a hand?
Mark Gill: Yes, and so she got her current position
Avery: Thank you. So what was the position your brother Michael had with regard to what was happening with the polymer synthesized at FoodTech labs?
Mark Gill: what do you mean? What polymer?
Avery: Recently Iris Celati synthesized a polymer at FoodTech labs. I know you ran analyses on this polymer.
Mark Gill: It is possible, I don’t exactly remember though
Noise of papers being moved on the table
Avery: Look at these analyses. You ran these tests and gave these results to Iris Celati. Do you remember now?
Mark Gill: Yes, I am starting to remember now…
Avery: Good. The polymer could bring huge economic benefits to food companies, but its effects on human health have not been tested. Did Michael Gill believe the polymer should be released or did he have concerns?
Lawyer: How is this relevant to the investigation?
Avery: Mr. Gill?
Mark Gill: Why don’t you ask him? How would I know about this?
Avery: did you and your brother go to Janna’s McMurrich house to discuss the polymer? Were you there to act as a mediator?
Mark Gill: no, it was supposed to be an evening among friends
Avery: Michael Gill lives in the States. He is the head of the FoodTech lab office in New York. Why was he in town?
Mark Gill: He is my brother. He came to visit.
Avery: Your brother was staying at your place?
Mark Gill: yes, why?
Avery: Is it a case that your brother flew to the States right after the murder and came back shortly after to take over McMurrich’s position?
Lawyer: if you are implying that my client murdered McMurrich to put his brother in her place, you are making is pure speculation. Mark is not expected to answer questions that concern his brother
Avery: unless he is involved in his brother’s doings
Avery: Mr. Gill, when you tested the polymer you saw that was it did on the bacteria was strange, very strange, and understood that a product like that could not be released. At least not before its safety was tested further. You didn’t tell Iris Celati or her colleague, but you phoned your lover, Janna McMurrich, and told her to be careful. She didn’t listen. So you called your brother in the head office and told him what was happening. He begun the testing in NY and understood you were right. He called McMurrich and tried to reason with her, but she wouldn’t listen to your brother either. She felt this was her chance to become a big shot, she wanted to claim that her own research group had come up with the discovery of the century. She felt that information was starting to leak, and that the creator of the polymer herself had doubts about the safety of the product. Janna McMurrich wanted to release the polymer immediately. So Michael came over to meet Janna McMurrich in person, and the two of you went to her place to discuss business. You tried to talk her into producing a second generation polymer, which was equally effective but safe. Janna McMurrich is a determined woman though. Around 12 pm Michael Gill gave up and left. You two both have the habit of speeding, and he was driving along the highway 20 km above the limit at 12.15. But you couldn’t give up. You stayed with Janna for longer, perhaps cursing her greediness, perhaps trying once again to reason with her, but you didn’t have more success than your brother. Perhaps she even accused you of wanting to spoil her career as second time, after you had done the same at Diet Clinical. When you worked there with her you had alerted her about the risks of her formulation, am I right?
Silence
Avery: So around 2 am you got up, angry and shouting, and told McMurrich to go ahead if she wanted to. Maybe you menaced to break your relationship with her, maybe you shouted to report her to the police, and started the engine of your car blind with rage. You just wanted to leave, efface this night and this relationship. Janna was outraged too, and she ran after your car as you were driving off. It was dark and after drinking one glass after the other your anger was fully fueled and your senses numbed. Janna wasn’t in a much better state, and after chasing your car she managed to catch up, and jumped in front of it trying to stop you. You pressed the break a moment too late. You got out of the car and saw her lying on the ground, a pool of blood spreading around her. She was still alive, but you didn’t realize that. You panicked. You stared at Janna’s wasted body for a moment and thought you’d killed her. If you had called for an ambulance she would probably be still alive, but you drove away instead. Janna McMurrich died hemorrhaging after about one hour after your car hit her.
Silence
Avery: Mr. Gill, is this how things went?
Silence
Avery: Mr. Gill?
Lawyer: do you have anything that proves your version?
Avery: I do
Lawyer: what proofs do you have?
Avery: Mr. Gill, you lied about the fact that you left from McMurrich’s place before your brother did. I could have just used the pictures of your car speeding up to know, but I also spoke to your brother and he confirmed. So you were the last one to see Janna McMurrich alive. Somebody ran her over, and that person was driving a car with the same tires your car had before McMurrich’s death, before you changed them to try and cover up what had happened
Lawyer: it is not illegal to change tires, and tire imprints are not a final proof. Mark was there, who says nobody else was there after him?
Avery: Mr. Gill, I think you are an intelligent man. Why don’t you just tell me what happened?
Sound of chair moving, deep breaths, sobs
Mark Gill: I didn’t mean to kill her
Avery: I know
Mark Gill: I’ve loved Janna since I met her. I suppose she didn’t as much…she never wanted to marry me. But I love her…I love her…
Sobs
Mark Gill: But Janna began commercializing the polymer…all she cared for was her career, her success, and she wanted to get there whatever it took
Avery: Janna McMurrich circulated the polymer? Is any food company using it now?
Mark Gill: Yes. I found out by chance, she left a file open on her PC and I saw…I saw she sold it to HealthyFood Inc. Do you understand the implications? This company is huge…no matter what we did after Janna gave them the polymer would be disastrous. HealthyFood is a major client of ours. If we took the polymer back after they had begun using it FoodTech labs would have lost its reputation and, most of all, my brother would have lost his reputation. And if we didn’t take back the polymer back…the consequences would be dire.
Avery: FoofTech labs would risk legal prosecution
Mark Gill: no, not really…when Janna gave HealthyFood the polymer she had the company sign an acknowledgment form stating that only certain tests had been conducted by Fooftech labs. Those tests showed no adverse effects on human health, but this didn’t imply that other tests could not – and should not – be conducted. See the trick?
Avery: But you suspected the product was not safe
Mark Gill: I did, but the legislation prescribes only certain tests for this type of products. Legal and good are distinct concepts
Avery: so releasing the polymer was not an illegal act?
Mark Gill: It wasn’t, but if the polymer ended up by poisoning people then – legal or not legal – it would damage the reputation of FoodTech labs and my brother’s, and that is what my brother cared about. FoodTech labs and HealthyFoods are powerful and have the freedom to make some mistakes, but there was no reason to release the product immediately, the risk was too high…
Avery: why was it too high?
Mark Gill: because I have never seen a chemical additive do to bacteria what this one did.
Avery: do you know if HealthyFood is already using the polymer?
Mark Gill: I don’t, but likely they are using it
Avery: Why does your brother want to keep Iris Celati while he fired all her collaborators?
Mark Gill: he wants her to produce a new polymer, safe and equally good, to try and make up for a possible flop with the one Janna released…to make sure FoodTech Labs doesn’t have a major collapse
Avery: but why not keep the whole team?
Mark Gill: My brother says he wants to keep everything top secret. He wants to control Iris Celati closely, rather than have her surrounded by a team of buddies with too much personal initiative. He wants Iris Celati to be a tool for FoodTech labs, he wants her to make a new polymer and disappear
Avery: disappear?
Mark Gill: yes
Avery: He wants to kill her?
Mark Gill: I don’t know, ask him
Avery: you said your brother cared about the reputation of FoodTech labs and his, and what did you care about?
Mark Gill: I wanted a family empire, with Janna as a wife and collaborator, and my brother as business partner. If only Janna hadn’t released this polymer we could come up with a better one and open a new company that could fly…but not after spoiling everything with a flawed product
Avery: so that is why your brother wants to keep everything as secret as possible now? Because he wants to come up with a product that might allow you to open the dream company you had planned to start?
Mark Gill: Maybe…yes, he was still trying to save the plan. But nothing makes sense now, nothing…
Avery turned off the tape recorder. I looked at her and began laughing, and then my laugher turned into sobs, light at first, then dense, uncontrollable, shattering my exhausted body with painful throbs.