A Breck Death (Jill Quint, MD, Forensic Pathologist Series Book 3)

by Peche, Alec

  Soon they had finished dinner and were sauntering along the streets towards their hotel. Jill appreciated the thin, crisp air. It was still fairly hot and dry in California with the rainy season just starting - the hills were still brown and parched looking. Colorado was a nice break. It was pretty deserted as most of the skiers taking advantage of the early snow were day trippers from Denver. They heard a snowmobile turn the corner and head down the street behind them. Jill looked over her shoulder as she couldn’t remember the last time she had seen or heard a snowmobile in town. People either walked or drove cars. All of a sudden she knew this was no casual snowmobiler.

  The snowmobile sound was getting louder as it got closer. Jill yelled over the noise at Nick, “Be careful, this guy is trouble!”

  But Nick had quickly come to the same conclusion himself. Rapidly taking stock of the situation, he grabbed a loose picket fence board in one hand and used the other hand to shove Jill over a snow bank. When the snowmobile got closer Nick took a swing at the man’s chest with the board. It splintered in pieces from the impact, but it was enough. The snowmobile whirled off and disappeared.

  Jill climbed back over the snow bank and complained, “If Angela had been here we would have had a picture of that snowmobile. Damn, I was too slow with pulling out my cellphone to take a picture of that snowmobile driver!”

  “Should we call the police?” asked a worried Nick.

  “Given my interaction with them this morning, I think we would be wasting our time. Besides I don’t have a description of the snowmobile; I didn’t notice the color, make or model. I don’t even know if the driver was male or female, do you?”

  “I was so busy trying to take perfect aim at the snowmobiler that I didn’t catch any details of the driver either. I guess I had forgotten how you seem to bring an avalanche of bad people down upon you when you take on a case.”

  “Ha-Ha. If the going is too rough for you here, you could always join Henrik and hide behind him for a few days in Austin.”

  “Ouch! And miss the entertainment value of one of your cases? No way. Besides I like how you face harm or death with a sense of humor. Seriously, I guess we better keep a watch out for trouble on the way back to the hotel. Who knows you are on this case? Much like Mr. Morton’s death this was a very targeted attack. Someone must have been watching us at the restaurant. Thank goodness we didn’t have to run to get away from the snowmobile or I would now have snowmobile tracks going down the center of my back. I was breathless just from grabbing the board and shoving you over the snowbank.”

  “We had better warn the rest of the team and Joseph’s partner. As to who knows I am on this case? Hmmm, obviously David since he hired me and whomever he told. Next I would include the Medical Examiner’s office, local law enforcement, and the resort management. Beyond that small group, I don’t think anyone knows we are in town. I’ll call David as soon as we reach our hotel. Do you want to have a conversation with hotel security about our needs?”

  “That sounds like a plan,” Nick agreed.

  They made it back to the hotel without any further incident. Nick did a quick search of Jill’s room to see if it had any surprises or had been disturbed, but it appeared that all was in order. They planned to talk on the phone in an hour and went their separate ways.

  Jill dialed David's number. "Hey David; it’s Jill. How was the rest of your day?"

  "Mostly I spent the afternoon receiving condolences. It's been a very draining day. How about you? Did Nick arrive as planned?"

  "Is this a good time to talk or am I taking you away from something?"

  "No you’re not taking me away from anything; this is a good time. Our conversations give me something else to focus on. Did you find anything new?"

  "Yes I do have progress for you, but first I wanted to alert you. Nick and I were walking back from dinner and were attacked by someone on a snowmobile. We are both fine, but David, you might be at risk."

  "Oh my gosh! What happened?"

  "We had just left Main Street and had turned onto one of the smaller streets – I couldn't tell you the street’s name, when I heard the sound of the snowmobile as it turned onto our street. I looked over my shoulder because I've not heard a snowmobile in that part of town before and that was when we determined that the driver was aiming right for the two of us. Nick shoved me over a snow bank for protection and grabbed a wooden picket from someone's front yard to whack the driver. The board splintered when it hit the driver's chest. The snowmobiler drove off."

  "Did you call the police?"

  "No, for two reasons. I wasn't impressed with law enforcement this morning and both Nick and I could not come up with a description of the snowmobile."

  "I guess I understand your hesitation. So why do you think I need to be careful?"

  "Much like Joseph's murder, the snowmobile incident was targeted precisely at me. Someone is unhappy that I'm working on this case and they may be equally unhappy that you hired me."

  "I see your point. I have a friend in law enforcement that lives close by. I think I'll see if I can get her to spend the night at my house. I'll tell her I would appreciate her company at a time like this. I hate to lie to her but I think that's the better route than telling her the truth. In the morning, I'll talk to my security firm about increasing my home protection. What is your other new information on the case?"

  “As you know I had planned to meet with the ski patrol. The resort has not been notified that Joseph's death was a homicide. They were quite surprised that the police had not visited them. I ended up talking with an executive in their offices close to peak nine and their general counsel located at their world headquarters and gained full cooperation from the resort. Nick met with their IT department this afternoon and has data on what other skiers were around the two of you for the past week. Tomorrow he's getting camera information from the resort. Around the time of Joseph's death, the chairlift stopped for about sixteen minutes."

  "Sixteen minutes? I have never been stuck on a chairlift for that length of time."

  "That is exactly what I thought. I don't like the coincidence. The resort has not found the source of that shutdown. Nick is checking with an engineer friend that owns a company to see if he might have an engineer among his employees that could look at the lift failure and determine its source."

  "This is getting complicated very quickly. I think back to what you said about Joseph being a target and as you gather more evidence, it sure points to that theory. I'm sorry that you've been put in danger, but at the same time I'm happy I hired you."

  "Thank you David, and please make sure you take care of your own safety immediately. I'm starting to think that there are professionals at play here and the only amateurs in this case are law enforcement. Talk to you in the morning.”

  Jill ended the call and thought about the snowmobiler. How would the driver know where they were in town? Had someone been in the restaurant and called someone else? Given their new information on the lift failure, it appeared that at least two people had coordinated Joseph’s murder. Maybe that was why she had this feeling that the family contained no killers. Typically you only had one mad family member not two at the exact same time. Looking at the clock, the conversation with David had taken very little time and she still had nearly an hour before she talked with Nick. His conversations would take longer and he might be examining the hotel for security. She decided she would begin her research on Joseph’s company, and for the next hour or so she was so immersed in learning what she could about the company that she was startled when her phone rang.

  "Hey Nick what did you learn? Are we safe here in this hotel?"

  "Actually their security is state-of-the-art and I think we will be very safe here. One of the investors in this hotel and several other hotels operates a gigantic security company. He insists any property he invests in must have a high level of security. Because of that security system, this hotel pays a lower insurance premium and attracts a secretive clientel
e that stay on the top floor. I learned about security features that I had only read about up to this point. Because you are a repeat customer and this is the shoulder season before their occupancy begins running at full capacity, they offered to move all of us to the suite on the top floor for the same room rate that we are presently paying. I agreed and so we can move now or in the morning. The suite that management offered has five bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and a beautiful view of the mountain. Do you want to move now?"

  "I'm not tired at the moment and I don't have my stuff spread around this room so it will take me all of five minutes to pack. I've learned not to take my own security lightly so if the suite offers better protection, let's move now. If indeed a second party hacked into the ski lift computers, then we have a sophisticated murderer at play in this case.”

  "I'll call the front desk and notify them of our decision. Why don't you meet me in the lobby in ten minutes?”

  "See you in a few," replied Jill and she ended the call.

  Ten minutes later they were met in the lobby by an employee. She gave them five room access cards, aware that additional people would be arriving over the next two days. She offered them assistance with their luggage, but they both would've been embarrassed if they could not have carried it. Along the way, she pointed out the security features. When they arrived at the suite, she demonstrated its features. Jill had never stayed in such a nice hotel suite and was awed about everything in it. Each bedroom had its own en suite bathroom with a Jacuzzi tub. Normally when she stayed at this hotel, she had hard days of skiing and would have appreciated the tub. Nick had also never stayed in such a fine suite. He thought to himself that except for evil snowmobilers that this trip to Colorado was proving to be a great experience. A few minutes after the employee left, Jill returned to the living room with her laptop and Nick joined her a few minutes later with his own laptop.

  “I had a wonderful hotel room, but this suite is amazing. It will be much easier to work here.”

  “Yes I agree that we’ll be more productive here. I was thinking about how the snowmobiler found us tonight. Someone must have been in the restaurant watching us and made a call that we had left. I didn’t hear the snowmobile long before it appeared on our street. Perhaps it had been parked there, but I admit I didn’t pay attention to that. I am going on the assumption that there are at least two people involved in this murder; one that fired that poisonous dart and the other to stop and restart the lift. Again at the restaurant tonight, one person to watch us inside the restaurant and the other to operate the snowmobile. What are your thoughts?”

  “I have been replaying the snowmobile’s arrival in my mind and like you I don’t remember hearing it much before we saw it. What was the intent of the snowmobiler? To scare us? To harm us? I don’t recall seeing any weapons – no knives or guns. I think the purpose was to scare us as I didn’t have to jump from the path of the snowmobile to swing at the driver with the board. For a minute, I even thought maybe the snowmobiler wished us no harm but that street was wide and there was no need to get so close to us.”

  “Do you think that you hurt the driver? The board splintered easily and there was the padding of the jacket. The driver left so quickly I couldn’t tell if the person was hurting, and like you, I didn’t see any weapons. I think we have analyzed this event to death. Have you had time to look at any of your reports yet? ”

  “No I was planning to come out here and start my review. How about you? Do you have any news about Joseph’s company?”

  “In this first review, I’m trying to locate the names of the key players – board members, senior leadership, etc. Next I am going to be going through their press releases as you would be amazed at what you learn about a company through press releases. Then I’ll focus on any filings they have had with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC is really Jo’s area of expertise, but you can learn a lot by reading ‘Management Reports’.”

  "It sounds complicated. Well, don’t let me distract you. I'll be studying the data the resort gave me to see if I can find any patterns of skiers around Joseph."

  They worked in silence over the next hour. Jill decided to add the local police to the list of people requiring a deeper dive for information. Nick had seen some patterns of skiers around Joseph. He would need the resort’s help deciphering the data. Jill was ready to call it a night and headed to her bedroom to get some sleep. Nick stayed awake another hour and then all of a sudden the time zone difference caught up with him.

  They were both awake at an early hour the next morning. Jill because she was an early riser no matter what time zone she currently inhabited and Nick because he was coping with coming from a time zone that was seven hours ahead of where he was at the moment. Their plan for the day included another visit to where Joseph had been murdered, and a meeting with the IT staff to review questions that Nick had from examining the data. He would also be presented with the camera footage from the resort. He had spoken with Henrik last night and Henrik would be able to help with this case on two levels. He had an engineer that would be able to look into the chairlift failure to see if someone had hacked the resort’s computer that operated the lift. Henrik also had a fabulous beta version of facial recognition software and that would help identify faces of people that had been around Joseph over the past few days.

  Soon they were changing into their ski attire to go up on the mountain. Twenty minutes later they were riding the gondola to start the journey to peak six. Jill had checked with Nick to make sure he could ski at an advanced level. Shortly they had arrived at the same place that Jill had visited yesterday with David. With lots of breaks to acclimate to the altitude they approached the mini forest where Joseph had been found a couple of days ago. Jill took the lead to the location of Joseph's murder. Jill discussed with Nick her thinking about the killer – the fact that he needed to be an expert skier and control his respirations enough to steady the dart gun and fire at Joseph. She also mentioned finding the cell phone and again he was shaking his head over the lack of police involvement at the crime scene. Nick was unable to find any new forensic evidence or develop any theories beyond what Jill had already considered. Finishing up on the mountain, they headed to the resort office that managed over a hundred cameras across the ski resort. At the end of the meeting, they returned to their hotel expecting the impending arrival of Jo and Marie. Nick had a huge amount of data to start sorting through in the hotel room.

  Soon after they arrived back in the suite, they received a message that Jo and Marie were in the lobby requesting Jill’s assistance to get into the suite. Jill had not seen her friends since their vacation in Belgium two months ago. Even though they had full time day jobs that limited their hours for Jill, she couldn't think of anyone she would want to work with more than her best friends.

  "Hey girlfriends, welcome to Breck and thanks for coming. Wait till you see the lovely suite the hotel has placed us in. Nick is waiting upstairs and we have lots to talk about,” said Jill after she hugged her friends and steered them towards the elevator. Marie was a brunette and Jo a blondish redhead, both of them at five feet nine towered over Jill’s shorter frame.

  Jo and Marie were soon in the suite renewing their friendship with Nick. Jill immediately began doing her best to force liquids on her two friends to help them deal with the altitude. Jo was prone to migraine headaches which was sometimes a side effect of altitude sickness. Jill brought Jo and Marie up-to-date on the case including the incident of the snowmobile.

  Jo looked a little alarmed and exclaimed, “Even in this small town you have people wanting to harm you! It's strange that you went five years as a consultant with no one trying to kill you and yet in the majority of your recent cases you've become a target. Maybe I should refine that to we've become the target. I'm glad you didn't have to face the snowmobiler by yourself last night. Thanks, Nick, for being here and assisting our dear friend."

  “Jill noticed the problem before I did,” remarked
Nick. “I just gave her a shove over a snow bank thinking the snowmobile could not reach her there.”

  “Is anyone hungry for lunch right now?" asked Jill. When she got affirmative nods of their heads she suggested, "after all of this travel I'm sure you guys would rather walk somewhere to get lunch. There is a cute café in town that we can walk to. On our way back we can stop at the supermarket and purchase some supplies for the kitchen in the suite."

  Leaving the hotel, Marie and Jo got an update from Nick on his business plans for expansion into the US. They also enjoyed his description of the ride on Henrik’s plane. None of them had been on a private jet and could only imagine the enjoyment of the trip. They soon arrived at the café and ordered lunch. A short time later they were back on the street heading for the grocery store. Since Jill had left her car back at the hotel they could only buy what they could personally carry for several blocks. They also discussed what Angela might want upon her arrival and took care of her four favorite foods - tea/beer, red licorice, dark chocolate, chips and salsa. They returned to the hotel suite, groceries in hand. Despite the encounter with the snowmobiler, they planned to eat lunch and dinner at the many good restaurants in town.

  With the bigger suite and a box of freezer paper, Jill started creating a murder board in the suite’s living room. She had pictures of Joseph, David, the logo of the biotech company - Broomfield Pharmaceuticals, a veterinarian dart gun, the chairlift that was Joseph's last, the building representing local law enforcement, and a stock photo of someone on a snowmobile. Her investigation would start in this town, but at some point she might move her base of operation to Denver and she wanted the murder board to be portable if that occurred.

  Soon Jo and Marie were engrossed in their searches. They had performed some work on the plane, but that only scratched the surface for the both of them. Comfortably ensconced in the suite, they were both most productive if allowed to work in silence. Jill had turned over her initial research on Broomfield Pharmaceuticals and they would build from there. Jill and Nick left the suite to go and meet with Tom to discuss their IT needs and to offer help in locating the source of the chairlift failure. Before long they were seated in Tom's office as he listened to their data analysis and the offer of help with the chairlift failure.