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

by Peche, Alec

  Jerome looked a little alarmed, "Is this safe? Do you remember enough about explosives to build a bomb for our mission?"

  "Yeah I'm fine. You build a bomb once and you never forget it. What I was talking about was the actual individual materials to construct the bomb. In the military, we had different materials to work with than I'll probably be able to order over the internet," Allen said as he launched into a shopping spree for the components of a bomb.

  "While you were shopping for your bomb components, I did a little research into what meeting will be held in that auditorium before the meeting we are planning on attending. It's the California Environmental Protection Agency hosting a meeting on the drought. That boring topic is a well-attended meeting according to last month's minutes where there were approximately one-hundred people in attendance, which is great for us as we can hide in a crowd like that. The two meetings are back-to-back in that auditorium which will make it very easy for us to leave behind a back pack with the timer to blow the room sky high ten minutes after it starts."

  "That's good news as that makes it easier to plant the bomb. I think we have everything under control. I'm going to head home and catch a nap before we venture out tonight. How about if we meet back here at midnight? That will put us at Dr. Quint's house about one in the morning for surveillance tonight and traveling tomorrow night. Sound like a plan?" Allen received a nod from Jerome for his question and he left the apartment.

  As Allen headed out to his car, he paused to think of the satisfaction he got every time they lined up a target to be killed. He was amazed that it had taken him nearly to his fortieth birthday before he figured out how much joy there was in killing employees of the state who perpetuated the illegal taxation system in place. He had followed the movement with passion for nearly twenty-five years, always feeling impotent in his struggle with government officials. He hadn't felt this happy in years. He was also grateful to have met Jerome who was proving to be a perfect partner for their schemes. He had some good suggestions, he wasn't squeamish, and they each had private space so they didn't get on each other's nerves. These were Allen's traits of a perfect friend. Yes, indeed, he felt relaxed and content for the first time in decades.

  When he arrived home, he quickly fell into sleep awaking as his alarm let him know it was close to midnight. He dressed in all black clothing and had a black knit cap that he cut holes in so that his face would be covered. It was a quarter-moon that night so they would be able to stay well-hidden while they surveilled the good doctor's house and grounds.

  Jerome was blessed with ebony skin and didn't need to cover his face. He was also dressed in black. They took Jerome's car as it was a dark burgundy, while Allen's car was silver. They grabbed binoculars, set their cellphone cameras to no-flash and were ready to go.

  Parking a mile away and walking towards the doctor's property, they were amazed that no cars passed them on the road. They needed no sprints for cover should a vehicle come along. Before setting off, they had decided they would approach the house through the vineyard. The vines would give them cover and their steps on the dirt would be silent. The house was a two-story and the lights appeared to be out in every room and so it appeared that she was asleep. There was exterior lighting that illuminated the area around each building on her property. They walked around the entire house in stealth mode looking at each door knob to decide which one to pick. The skill of picking a lock belonged to Jerome and he carried a kit and took the opportunity to practice opening the door. When he was successful, they crept back to the vineyard and left the property at a faster speed than the methodical slow pace they had taken to approach the house. Soon they were back to the car and an hour and a half later each man was asleep in his own bed with dreams of a successful kill the next day.

  Chapter Twenty

  Jill was nicely snuggled into Nathan and sound asleep, when he woke her up.

  "What's wrong?" Jill asked, waking up fast and clear headed.

  "There is someone on your property; your phone was vibrating the alarm," Nathan whispered.

  Using her cell phone she watched intruders approach the house on video. She gave a quick glance around her bedroom looking for weapons. Nathan had plenty of self-defense skills and she could likely get off a credible side kick to the intruder's crotch, but she wanted more. She tiptoed out of bed and grabbed a lamp taking off the shade and lightbulb. It would make a very nice weapon. Then she thought of Marie down the hall.

  "Let me go wake Marie up and get her in this room with us," Passing the phone over to Nathan, she added, “watch where they're going."

  Grabbing a robe, she hurried down the hall and woke Marie up with a whispered, "My alarm system is showing intruders on the property. Come back to my bedroom with Nathan and I so we can protect you."

  Marie leapt out of bed and quickly entered the bedroom sitting on the large bed with Jill and Nathan. All three were glued to the screen. Trixie, who Nathan had called a worthless watchdog, slept through the entire conversation and all the movement.

  Marie urged in a whisper, "I think those are our two killers that we have been searching for the past several days. They have the same walk as the other video. One guy is covered by a ski mask and that is probably Thomas Hull, and the other is our unknown suspect as he is an African American in complexion. Do you have any weapons in this room? Did you call the police?"

  "First, I went and got you. Remember that Nathan is a black belt in hapkido, and each of us can wield a lamp - they're heavy so it will be like swinging a sledgehammer at them. I haven't called the police yet as I wanted to see what they were going to do - where they might leave prints. Beside they haven't killed anyone with a knife or gun, so we just need to stay away from the defibrillator paddles or a Taser gun. I think they're cowards and if we make noise they'll turn tail and run. I want them to leave behind some forensic evidence."

  Marie whispered back, "You're a scary friend! I would have been on the phone to the cops as soon as they crossed the property line. But I get why you're waiting since we think they are going to kill all those people next week."

  They continued to watch the men canvas Jill's property and then they approached the back door, directly under Jill's bedroom window. The unnamed accomplice took out a pick and was able to get in through the door. Marie headed to the corner to grab the lamp, the pair to the one that Jill hand in one hand. Nathan was focused on the screen as he seemed to be stretching his muscles preparing for the coming battle.

  Then they watched the unknown suspect shut her door and the two men exited her property through the vineyard and then left the range of her cameras. Nathan then exhaled a long breath.

  "Were they practicing? Are they planning to try and kill me tomorrow or at a later date?"

  "I don't know, but I need a huge glass of wine and some hair color for the grey hairs that have sprouted in the last seven minutes," Marie whined.

  Nathan reached over and hugged her and then laughed and said in a fake British accent, "Keep calm and carry on now and if that doesn't work then by all means swallow a large glass of wine. Come on, you should be used to these out-of-body scary experiences with Jill as a friend. Didn't you lead the group on a hike through the woods as a deranged doctor was chasing you on the golf course? How about the paralysis on the ski resort last fall? Do I need to go on and enumerate all of the weird experiences that you have had with Jill?"

  "Hey this is the first time that I have been in bed sound asleep with the boogie men approaching my bedroom. I'm entitled to a little hysteria."

  "Let me go get you that glass of wine, then I am going to call Lieutenant Moss and tell him what just occurred," Jill said. "I'm thinking we'll want to move out of this house and stay with Nathan until these two men are captured, but I really think this was a practice run for them and they'll be back a different night to kill me."

  She exited the room leaving Nathan and Marie sitting on her bed. Marie looked at Nathan, "How does she stay calm through these situations?
"

  "I think she is very goal driven and there is a part of her head that is panicking but it's overwhelmed by the part of her brain that is analyzing how to solve the case. She watched the two men intently looking for where they were leaving fingerprints. She wants the two men captured more than she is worried about her safety, mine or yours. Sorry but we'll always take a back seat to that mind that wants justice for the victim and I am okay with that although I think I want a glass of wine too."

  "I guess that is one of the things that I love about her as a friend, too," Marie commented just before Jill returned to the bedroom carrying three glasses and a bottle of wine. Marie stood up and gave her friend a hug before sitting down again and accepting the glass of wine that Nathan just poured.

  Jill sensed that a private conversation had taken place between Nathan and Marie just before she returned to the bedroom, but as they both seemed at peace with each other she let it go and said, "I'm going to call the lieutenant now and if I miss anything in telling him about our visitors please speak up."

  A groggy voice said, "Lieutenant Moss."

  Jill winced and said, "Lieutenant, this is Jill Quint. Sorry to call you in the middle of the night but our two suspects just visited my property."

  With that one sentence the lieutenant became wide-awake and his mind shifted into cop mode, "Tell me what happened? Are they still there? Is anyone hurt? Did you call your local police?"

  "They're gone and no one is hurt and I didn't call my local police as I thought you might want to send a forensic team here to collect fingerprints," Jill said as she went on to describe the visit by the two suspects ending with, "I really think this was a practice session since that seems to be their pattern. I think they'll be back to kill me tomorrow or the next day. Their entire visit is on video thanks to my security system. I've had suspects try to kill me in the past so I have a fairly sophisticated security system that alerts me whenever someone enters my property."

  "I think I remember you telling me you live in the Palisades Valley, but I'll need your exact address. I'll contact your local Sheriff to see if they have a fingerprinting officer on duty. If they don't have the resources, I'll send someone from the Highway Patrol and I'd like to come visit your property now as I think we'll need to set up a sting operation to catch our suspects. I trust your instinct that this was a practice session. They seem to strike within a week of their practice sessions if we look at their past pattern with the other murders."

  "Needless to say, I'm moving elsewhere in town -I'm not staying in my own bed to be a sitting duck. Our unidentified suspect number two had a lock pick kit with him and he unlocked my door but then they reclosed it. It was practice. With the adrenaline rush of the last fifteen minutes, I'm done sleeping for the night. I'll call my local Sheriff and talk to them about fingerprints. As there have been murder attempts on me in the past, I do know they offer that service. Unfortunately I think this will result in a renewed call for me to sell my property and leave the county."

  "Didn't your local Sheriff's station get hammered with bullets from some black ops group that was after you last year?" asked Moss recalling an incident vaguely related to the county he was about to visit.

  "Yeah that was me and it was an FBI helicopter and a California Highway Patrol helicopter that came to the Sheriff's rescue so you'll find them very cooperative here. It takes under an hour to get here from Sacramento so I will expect to see you around two thirty," and they ended the call.

  Next Jill put a call into her local Sheriff and explained the situation. Her favorite deputy, Deputy Davis, was on duty tonight and would be there in fifteen minutes. Additionally a crime scene technician would be roused out of bed and sent to her property within the hour. All three of them decided to exchange their night clothes for jeans and sweatshirts as they likely would not be going back to bed. Fortunately she had some spotlights that would greatly improve the lighting once everyone arrived. Given the dew that normally formed overnight, it was advisable to dust for fingerprints now rather than waiting for the morning.

  Jill also gave some thought to the performance of her security system. She had the option of triggering bright lights and loud alarms whenever someone crossed into her property. She had chosen silent alarms sent to her computer and cell phone more because deer occasionally triggered the alarms, but tonight it had worked in her favor to lull the suspects into showing their game plan. The only thing she would fix would be to add an audible alarm in her bedroom to make sure she always heard it when she was asleep.

  Just about the time that Jill finished getting dressed and putting a pot of coffee on, Deputy Davis arrived. As always, Jill was comforted by the deputy's demeanor and presence. She was a tall African-American woman gifted with a sarcastic sense of humor and sharpshooter skills that had saved Jill's life on more than one occasion.

  "You know my shift is not complete without a call from you, Dr. Quint. Who's been trying to kill you now?"

  Jill thought, 'damn I love this cop', but said, "I heard you hadn't had the opportunity to shoot at anyone recently so I wanted to provide you with an opportunity."

  After the exchange of a few more quips between the two women, they got down to business with Jill showing Deputy Davis the video feed of her midnight visitors. She then went on to explain the bigger case that she was involved in and then Lieutenant Moss arrived followed by the crime scene tech. With Jill tied up, Nathan took to her kitchen to see what ingredients he could find to feed everyone. He was hoping to bake cinnamon rolls as they didn't take a large variety of ingredients to make. Jill must have picked up a few ingredients in anticipation of Marie's arrival as her refrigerator looked a little fuller than usual.

  Jill introduced Deputy Davis to Lieutenant Moss, "I'd like you to meet Deputy Davis, she has managed to be on shift every time I've had trouble on my property. She is also the best sharpshooter in this part of the state."

  "From what I've read about Dr. Quint, the Sheriff's Department here must need a full-time deputy to deal with the activity on her property. Pleased to meet you, Deputy. Did Jill brief you on our current case?"

  With a handshake at the introduction and a nod in answer to his question, the three of them moved on to discuss next steps. With Jill slowing down the video, they looked at each surface touched by the suspect's hands on her property. On the way in the two suspects wore black gloves, but they took them off when it came time to pick the lock on her door. With this in mind, the crime scene tech lifted multiple fingerprints off the door knob, door frame, and the wall around the door. Being that it was a door, it was a reservoir for fingerprints but with the aid of the security footage they could narrow the space that they were looking at. When they took their gloves off they had stuffed them in a pocket and forgot to put them back on during their return trip out of the vineyard. They left a fingerprint on one of the stakes used to hold a branch of grapes, when one of them tripped. It wasn't much, and untreated wood was notoriously bad at collecting prints, but it was better than nothing. An hour later the crime scene tech left; which left the five of them sitting around Jill's kitchen table with Nathan's cinnamon rolls and coffee to plan for the repeat visit by the suspects.

  "Where were you planning to move Jill?" asked the lieutenant. "Are you staying in this town and under Deputy Davis's jurisdiction?"

  "Yes I'll just stay with Nathan and his house is also in the Palisades Valley, but the opposite end of town from this house."

  Looking at Nathan, Deputy Davis asked "What kind of security system do you have in your house? I've been so busy chasing criminals away from Jill's house that I've not had the opportunity to check anyone else's security in this town."

  "That's a nice quip, Deputy Davis, and possibly true as you've never been to my home," replied Nathan with a smile. "To answer your question, I have extensive security on my house and studio. I have to for business purposes as I store many wineries' proprietary designs. Everything you saw tonight from Jill's system I also have, but unlike her
, my system has audio alarms and lights."

  "We'll put a guard on your house and probably station three people at Jill's house," Moss described. "We have some undercover officers that we can make up to look like you, Jill. We'll try not to burden your department, Deputy Davis, as this is a Sacramento problem that has followed Jill to the Palisades Valley."

  Deputy Davis nodded but left it at that and so Jill couldn't resist saying, "Go ahead, Deputy Davis, and tell the lieutenant that in the previous times that you've protected me, the problem never originated in the Palisades Valley but always followed me home."

  "If the shoe fits, you must be Cinderella," chuckled the Deputy. "I assume you'll notify the Sheriff of Palisades Valley on the totality of your operation. He'll likely want to support you in some way."

  "I will and am open to suggestions on that support. I'd love for you to protect Jill and her friends since from the sound of it you been successful several times in the past," said the lieutenant with a genuine smile.

  "On a different topic, Lieutenant, was your IT person able to identify our second suspect?" Jill asked. "I don't think I'll be able to get anymore sleep this morning and we could start working on searching for the suspect if we have a name or social security number."

  "We got it down to two names," Moss replied. "I'll e-mail the names and numbers to you now and maybe you'll have some good news for us by our 8 AM task force meeting."

  "Sounds like a plan, Marie will only be on site another day and a half before she returns home to Wisconsin. She'll continue to do work for us from that location, however her day job will be her priority and we might have to wait till the evening for her to have time to do any research."

  Soon everyone had departed and that left Jill, Marie, and Nathan alone in the early morning quiet. Nathan asked, "Are you sure they're not going to come back tonight? Isn't it rather risky leaving us here unprotected?"