A Taxing Death (Jill Quint, MD, Forensic Pathologist Series Book 5)

by Peche, Alec

  "Yes I'll be observing," was the curt response from Trudy.

  "Let's get started then," replied Jill and pointing to the case she added, "this is my autopsy case which has all the supplies I'll need to do an autopsy as I sometimes end up performing one at a mortuary which doesn't have the requisite equipment. I'd rather use your equipment, but I'll use my own face shield and gloves. If you point me to the dressing room, I'll change into scrubs and then put the other protective gear on."

  A few minutes later they were ready to go. In silence, the two women stripped the victim of the clothes she had been buried in. Jill could see the signs of the previous autopsy. It was always creepy to her at the point while doing an exhumation where she had the body naked, but the face retained the makeup from the mortician. It felt like she was examining a big doll as the face did not seem real to her, but rather exaggerated under all that make-up and frozen in mid-expression. Sometimes it felt like the faces were grimacing, like the deceased was having pain over a second examination. If Jill had been by herself she would have slapped her own face - an attempt to knock out her crazy feelings about the deceased, but with witnesses in the room, she could only try to move on.

  "After the autopsy on victim number two, John Garcia and I agreed that it would be good to put together an educational PowerPoint for coroners on the latest technology in both field-based and hospital-based resuscitation.

  “I’m sure John will notify you as soon as it gets certified for CEUs. In addition to the red marks on the chest, the first victim had signs of burns in the lungs. Again the technology in place in the last decade no longer causes that kind of damage. So what would have been the side effects of resuscitation a decade ago are now signs of homicide. That and other non-autopsy evidence connects this victim to two other victims all with the Audit Division of the Department of Revenue. The same paramedics were involved; there was no 9-1-1 call and no communication with a local hospital. What are the chances of an ambulance traveling across two counties to handle emergencies? We think the killer purchased an old defibrillator and modified the joules on it to cause electrocution. It fooled nearly everyone.

  “The first two victims were killed and buried with little fanfare," Jill continued."But then the killers got bolder with their third victim, and they performed their fake resuscitation in the Capitol Building. The daughter of the third victim is a physician and she interviewed her father’s assistant and was unhappy with what she heard and that is when I became involved. He was a healthy, fit man who had a pacemaker for thirty years. He told them he didn’t need their services and yet the killers talked him into it and soon he lost his life.

  “Your victim had successfully eaten in the same restaurant for three years while her husband was getting dialysis across the street. She had a severe strawberry allergy and I believe that was the diagnosis you arrived at as the cause of death. She had an allergic reaction that sent her into cardiac arrest for which she needed the paramedic services. But the treatment they provided was not according to policy. First you contact a hospital, then likely you inject the victim with epinephrine. You use the paddles for patients in ventricular tachycardia and someone suffering an allergic reaction may have a rapid heartbeat, but it's not likely V-tach and using paddles on someone is on the paramedic protocol for this city for treating allergic reactions in the field.”

  Jill was hoping the explanations she was providing would help the coroner understand why the victim had been exhumed. There were all kinds of red flags about the circumstances of her death. However the room was still silent and she guessed she hadn’t convinced the woman at all. Oh well, she had dealt with many a coroner or medical examiner that resented her presence and Trudy appeared to be another one of those.

  They continued on with the autopsy and Jill ended up dictating nearly the same findings as those for Manuel Valencia. This body had the remnants of an allergic reaction to also account for, but in the end she ruled it a homicide based on the findings related to an electrocution. The Placer County Sheriff was now in an awkward position as he had findings from two different autopsies. He needed his coroner to agree and be willing to change the death certificate.

  Deputy Williamson waited for Trudy to say something and when she didn’t, he asked, “Trudy, do you agree with this finding and do you have enough information to change your death certificate?”

  There was a pause, and then Trudy uttered a single word, “Yes.” Then she went to a phone in the room and called the mortuary that would handle the reburial to come get the victim. After she hung up she brought up something in the computer and made a few keystrokes.

  Then she turned around and indicated to the Deputy, “I’ve changed the death certificate. If you have no further questions, I’ll go change and move on to other work. Dr. Quint, it was a learning experience,” and then she exited the room.

  Jill hoped she would never have a case again in this woman’s jurisdiction. In the end they had gotten what they needed, but the atmosphere was chillier than the morgue’s cooler.

  Jill looked over at the deputy and asked, “I guess you need to go speak with the husband. Do you have everything you need here?”

  Deputy Williamson let out a sigh and then said, "Yes I do. I really appreciate how easy it was to work with you. Thanks and the department will process your payment for services. If I can provide a reference for you for another law enforcement agency, don’t hesitate to ask."

  "See you in the morning at the task force," Jill said as she headed off to change her clothes. She hoped that Trudy had already cleared out of the room and when she opened the door she was in luck as the room was empty. She quickly changed and headed out of the room and then out of the building.

  Checking her watch, she noted she had a good hour to get to the airport. Since it was so hot outside, she decided she would just park at the airport and wait inside for Marie's plane to land. It was coming from her connection in Minneapolis and looked to be a few minutes ahead of schedule. The airport had free Wi-Fi and so she just planted herself inside the terminal and checked her emails, then she went back to the Facebook page that contained the two killers. She made a thirty dollar bet with herself that Marie would have more information on the guys within two hours once she had concentrated time on the computer. If she lost the bet, the money went to charity and Marie would stay home in the morning, but hopefully she would find something and Jill would get to show off Marie's talents.

  Marie was nearly upon her before she looked up, noticed her, and stood up to exchange a hug.

  "Hey girlfriend! Welcome to California. It's close to one-hundred degrees of dry heat outside. Do you have checked baggage?"

  "No checked baggage. I'm free to go immediately enjoy the oven outside!"

  Jill repacked her tote and together they exited the airport walking to Jill's car.

  "I had forgotten what this kind of heat feels like. Wow! Are we in an Easy Bake Oven?"

  Jill laughed at the comparison. "Look at the bright side my grapes love this kind of weather and they're making lots of sugar at the moment."

  "You sound like a farmer," Marie noted.

  "Yeah well I guess I am one," agreed Jill with pride in her voice. "I worry about pests, study the growing season to decide when to harvest, celebrate sun and heat for their effect on the grapes, and hire help to pick the crop. That about sums up my life as a farmer."

  "So what happened with your case while I was in the air?"

  "Henrik helped and I completed an autopsy and if you can find any new information on our suspects, you're invited to a meeting tomorrow."

  Marie laughed at the crib notes Jill had laid out and asked, "What meeting?"

  "So in this case we have two suspects on video that committed the Capitol Building murder and they're seen on video entering two different restaurants which were the sites of the other two murders. Henrik came through again as his software worked to identify the two suspects. However, he, like law enforcement, could find no identificatio
n of the two other than their picture on Facebook. So as my social media queen, I have high hopes you will find more information on the two guys. If you do, a lieutenant in the Highway Patrol has issued you an invite to his task force on these two killers."

  "Wow! You've issued quite the challenge," said Marie as though she was relishing the competition. "I don't think I've ever examined anyone with only a Facebook presence. Maybe they hacked into the state systems and replaced their pictures."

  "Great minds think alike as that is what I told the lieutenant when we came across this information this morning. I get that as an adult you could try to avoid having your identity out there anywhere but to avoid it from the teenage years onward seems unlikely unless you had your picture changed in various systems."

  "We're heading back to your house right now, right?"

  "Yes, we will be there in about forty-five minutes," said Jill after looking at the clock and judging the remainder of the drive.

  "I think I'd like to take Trixie for a run or at least a walk in this heat. Is that okay for the dog or will the asphalt burn her paws?"

  "I'm fortunate with Trixie as some Dalmatians are sensitive to the sun, but she has spots in all the right areas so her nose, eyes and ears are protected. Typically when she and I go for a run, I have her off leash, I run on the pavement and she runs in the dirt of the fields as she can occasionally catch the scent of some animal by doing that. So as long as she stays on the dirt, I'm not worried about the pads of her paws."

  "Great. Is Nathan cooking dinner for us tonight?" asked Marie, knowing about Nathan's cooking skill and Jill's lack thereof.

  "Yes he's cooking for us. So we'll get home, go for a run, shower, and get a couple hours of computer work in before we drive over to his house. Is that time enough for you to perform a miracle?"

  "I'm looking forward to the challenge. I've never had a candidate without a background before. I'm interested to see if I can find some information amongst some of my usual sources. I think you mentioned he belongs to some weird group. I'll probably take a deep dive into that group and see what I come up with."

  "Sounds like a plan."

  They continued their drive towards Jill's vineyard, enclosed in the cool air conditioning of the smooth riding car, catching up on each other's lives and mutual friends, and then spending some time deciding whether to visit the Lake Tahoe region and all of its beautiful places to hike in the summertime, or visit Yosemite for its world renowned views. In the end, they knew they'd need to play each day by ear; and so decided to stock the car with casual hiking gear, and bottled water so that they could, with no advance planning, drive to one of these scenic mountains. It was a shock after the drive to feel the heat at Jill's house as they unloaded Jill's briefcase and Marie's suitcase.

  Marie said, "I feel an attack of sloth bear coming on. Would you be ready to go for that run in ten minutes before my attack of laziness completely overwhelms me?"

  Jill laughed, "I need sixty seconds to change, and Trixie is always ready to go, so I'll spend the additional nine minutes checking my e-mail."

  As planned, they were both ready to go in ten minutes. Jill asked Marie if she had ever exercised in such heat before and she couldn't remember that she had. After stretching a little, they set off on a jog with Jill telling Marie to go ahead of her as she ran at a pace that was two minutes faster per mile than Jill's. Jill had found over the years that it didn't work to have Marie slow down as she usually ended up running faster than she was comfortable, and then had to walk portions of a run. The dog was confused, unsure of who to keep pace with and decided in the end to keep pace with Marie, but run back every few minutes or so to make sure that Jill was coming. Even the dog seemed to be saying to her, 'run faster'.

  An hour later they had completed the run, showered, and were re-hydrating with a sports drink. Jill tended to stick to water, but in the high heat it paid to drink something with some sodium and potassium to replace what was lost through sweat. Sitting in Jill's living room, each with a laptop on their lap, Jill was showing Marie the picture that Henrik had found as their only lead to the identity of the two men and then Marie was off and running, bouncing around websites in search of clues about the two killers. With Marie doing her own thing, Jill stared at her murder board for a while thinking about the order of the murders.

  Did the killers have a list they were following? Were the first two murders practice, before they boldly took on the Capitol and its police force? She hadn't seen a report yet on the complaints that were handled by the Audit Division. Nor had she figured out how they got medical information about each victim. Had they targeted people in the division with medical conditions? If the killer had wanted to kill Jill, she had no medical conditions, she had no allergies, and she had no vulnerabilities that these killers could entice her cooperation with a fictional story. Then she thought about the fourth victim and she could not recall him having any medical conditions. His autopsy had not shown any underlying disease and their Taser and nitrogen gas approach had worked on an otherwise healthy male. She also needed the division to explain how these four people were connected on the job. She decided to e-mail Mr. Steward to see if he had any thoughts about how the four people fit together on the job other than working in the same division.

  She also sent an email off to Lieutenant Moss. They had discussed citizen complaints before in his meeting, yet she hadn't seen any data presented and maybe he could light a fire on whoever had the data. Next she worked on like-crimes. There were enough people with a hatred of government that there had to be some prior attempts on lives of people who worked for a state or federal tax agency.

  Jill was drawn into reading about some of the previous attempts to kill or injure employees of the IRS. In 2010 an irate citizen committed suicide by flying his small plane into an IRS building killing the Revenue office group manager and injuring many more in Austin, Texas. The IRS had a category called Potentially Dangerous Taxpayer (PDT) assigned to taxpayers that had demonstrated a capacity for violence against employees of the IRS, a list which had one-hundred-seventeen citizens on it in 2012. Jill wondered if she could deduce how many folks on the IRS list also hated the State of California. IRS offices in Los Angeles and Fresno were attacked in the 1990s. Another man was indicted in North Carolina for threatening an IRS employee in 2009, and the stories continued. She found far fewer state taxing authority threats which made sense as citizens paid far higher taxes to the federal government rather than the state.

  She paused to look up at Marie who appeared to be lost in the chase for clues. Putting her head back down she decided she would go back and look at some of the anti-government groups. The groups seemed more focused again on the Federal Government rather than state government.

  There were a few groups that also wanted state governments dissolved. Most of the groups seemed to be located outside of California in areas of the U.S. that were rural. They owned large plots of land in regions where the land was cheap and law enforcement minimally present. If you wanted to be isolated from government, then you needed to be self-sustaining and have land to stockpile food, arms, and people.

  She tried to focus on the few groups that were known to be in California. Due to the proposition nature of California’s election ballot system, the state seemed to have laws that sovereign citizen ideology would run afoul of - another reason for these citizens not to reside in California. The vast majority of groups that were known to cause problems seemed to fall into two categories - passive and active. The passive citizens simply didn’t pay taxes and tried to avoid being caught. The active groups refused to pay taxes and actively went to court to sue Federal employees in an attempt to get a lien on their real or personal property in payment for failure to carry out their duties. The lawsuits filed were so absurd, that judges and other officials were flummoxed about what to do when faced with such a suit. Some officials had even had their credit damaged as a result of the false claims of the lien; you couldn't just ignore the fi
led paperwork. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration was established under the IRS in 1998 and its Office of Investigation monitored sovereign citizen movement actions which are considered domestic terrorism. Guns are secondary in such organizations as their main focus is an anti-tax ideology.

  These two killers were members of the sovereign citizen movement. Their behavior was aligned with the mentality of these groups, and true to their behavior, no guns were used in the deaths so far. Such organizations had sponsored a few attempts on public officials. Who was the group and where had the group’s funding come from? No matter how big or small the political movement, they generally needed some source of funding to keep the communication and passion going.

  She looked up as Marie sat up, stretched, and cracked her knuckles, a smile of satisfaction on her face. Jill looked over at her in silent inquiry.

  Chapter Eleven

  “I guess I am going to your meeting in the morning, I found additional information on our unknown persons.”

  “Yeah! Who are they?”

  “I don’t think this new information will help with naming these individuals, rather it provides more information on their behavior - what they think and where they hang out on-line. They use different names with different websites, but the picture is the same and the tone of the writing appears to be the same. I’ll show you where I have been and what I am following. I haven’t run down all the leads yet so perhaps I’ll have even more by morning, but I am making progress.”