by Alec Peche
Depending on the case load of the SFPD homicide unit, it would take the detectives some time to get up to speed on the case. As Graeme’s death had been an elaborate scheme, she was sure the police would work the case. As it involved both California and Puerto Rico, the homicide investigation would be complicated and the case cold as it had been nearly a week since Graeme’s death.
Jill studied Nathan working at his temporary drafting table. She would love to run her thoughts by him, but maybe she would contact her friends and bounce ideas off of them. They had partnered with her on other cases and would be worried when she gave them all the details about this case.
They lived in Wisconsin but had on occasion taken time off from their day jobs to work on one of her cases. As the hourly consulting fee was more than their normal jobs paid, it was not a financial hardship to consult on her cases. They could do significant Internet search work to assist Jill in closing a case. In this case, Angela would have to come to California and potentially go to Puerto Rico to help her solve the case.
She was confident that Emma would agree to her consulting plan, as her friends’ fees were very reasonable, and it would help her get resolution sooner.
She texted them to check their availability for a conference call. It was early evening in their time zone, and she might luck out and catch them at a good time. She was texted back almost immediately and was fortunate to get them on the phone. First she dialed Jo, than Marie, and finally Angela. They quickly caught up on each of their personal lives. Jill then moved into the reason for the call.
“Let me update you on my current client, Emma Spencer, and her recently departed fiancé, Graeme St. Louis.”
Jill proceeded to explain her case findings so far, including the vandalism of her laboratory. Her friends were glad to hear of Nathan’s presence. They had worked on other cases of Jill’s over the years and were amazed to hear that her lab had been broken into. Jo and Marie couldn’t get away, but the vast majority of their work was Internet research, so they could still actively contribute. Angela’s work was more hands on, as she needed to strike up conversations with people involved in the case in person. She could leave for California tomorrow.
Angela was a professional photographer, and her photo shoot for the next four days had been canceled because of the weather. She was supposed to do an outdoor shoot, but the weatherman had projected record rainfall and thus the shoot had been re-scheduled at the last minute. While it rained buckets in Wisconsin, Angela would come to California to assist Jill.
Jill arranged a meeting with Emma for tomorrow with Angela after she picked her up in San Francisco. She would have the use of Angela’s skills for almost a week between photo shoots. In addition to the four-day photo shoot, she had allocated 3 days for processing the pictures. After Angela and Jill met with Emma, they would get Jo on the phone to strategize their areas of research.
She had another 8 hours to wait for the third batch of test results that would definitively prove homicide. The security company was finished with its first day of installation, so she had more protection tonight and a sign on her property advertising the new security. She looked at Nathan to see if he was deep in thought on a design.
“Nathan, I am finished for the day. I’m going to return to the house to see what I can find for dinner tonight. I would like to stay on my property until the final agars complete their growth tomorrow morning.”
Nathan looked at Jill, somewhat scared to have her in the kitchen. Not because he feared for her safety, but rather because he feared for his stomach. In the year they had been dating, she had never cooked anything for him other than breakfast, and she had been quite clear that she didn’t like to cook. He had a tall frame to feed, and the afternoon’s activities had worked up his appetite. He was at a point where he could break away from his work.
“Jill, why don’t let you let me see what I can find to cook in your kitchen?”
Jill viewed Nathan with amusement. She knew what had him worried. He was trying to politely decline her cooking.
“Nathan, as your host, I feel that I should cook for you, but you appear rather queasy at that thought. I guess I should clear the air. I can cook. I have actually never poisoned a friend with my cooking. It just tends to be rather bland. As good as I am in chemistry, I am clueless when it comes to spices. I can’t tell if a dish would benefit from some mustard or some rosemary. Mostly I don’t enjoy cooking, but I can make a reasonable effort in the kitchen.”
Nathan had never heard such a weak evaluation of someone’s cooking ability. Jill had not had him over to her house for a meal that she cooked from scratch. It was good to know that she wouldn’t kill him with her cooking, but he rather thought that a trip through the drive-through at In and Out Burger would be a better culinary experience than her cooking.
“Let me explore your kitchen, and I’ll see what I can create for dinner. You have had dinner at my house, and you know I like to cook. I just need to assess your supply of spices and other ingredients.”
They slowly walked hand in hand to her house, playing fetch with Trixie as they went. Arthur waited on the front stoop twitching his tail. He looked angry to have been relocated to Jill’s house. Nathan paused to scratch his ears, and Arthur hissed at both a bounding Trixie and Nathan. Nathan picked Arthur up on the way in, knowing that if he put him on a stool in the kitchen, he would settle down. As this was his first overnight stay at Jill’s, the cat was justified in his anger.
Chapter 8
Nathan started with reviewing the contents of Jill’s refrigerator and freezer and then her pantry. Actually, he was pleasantly surprised at the fairly wide collection of ingredients. Jill had a great kitchen. Beautiful granite countertops, a large center workspace, a six-burner stove, and a double oven, and it was all wasted on her. Jill had had the kitchen re-modeled with a thought toward re-sale value of the house not for its daily usefulness. He actually thought he was really going to enjoy cooking here.
He gathered the ingredients for a chicken penne pasta, salad, and sautéed winter vegetables. He searched her wine cellar for a bottle to accompany the meal. Arthur watched all of this activity from his perch on Jill’s bar stool. Nathan offered him a piece of chicken, which the cat ate with relish. He proceeded to clean himself and finally settled on the back of a couch for a nap.
Jill had watched the whole entertaining show between man and cat. She opened the bottle of wine that Nathan had selected and poured two glasses. She was still smiling as Trixie settled against her leg and managed to look down her nose at the cat and the man. Nathan appeared to be very comfortable in her kitchen while Jill relaxed and thought about the case, her friend’s arrival, and the defense moves Nathan had taught her that afternoon.
After a delicious and relaxing dinner, she loaded the dishwasher and took a second glass of wine to the couch to settle down close to Nathan. They watched some TV, and then headed up to bed. Last night had been exhausting, and she couldn’t wait to fall asleep.
Sometime later that night she woke up with Nathan's hand over her mouth.
When Nathan noted that she was awake and alert, he whispered very quietly to her “someone’s in the house. I heard boards creaking".
They both held their breath and listened. After half a minute they distinctly heard footsteps in the house. Jill looked around the room and noted that Arthur was still asleep, but Trixie had her head up, her ears alert.
Jill stared at Nathan and murmured “What should we do?”
Nathan thought for a moment and said into her ear, "I want you to stay here with Trixie. You know from this afternoon that I know martial arts, and I can defend myself. I'm going to walk around, see who's here, and how many of them there are, and then I'll make up my mind what to do next." Jill looked at Nathan with alarm. She didn't like him risking himself over her business, but at this point she had no other solution.
Nathan got up from the bed and put his pants on. Jill looked around the bedroom for weapons and
encouraged Trixie up onto the bed and grabbed her collar. Dalmatians weren’t known for defending people. She was worried that rather than being helpful, Trixie would hinder Nathan with the intruder in house. Nathan had thrown her robe at her on his way out of the room. She wrapped it around herself and gathered several objects that could be used to hit someone in case the intruder entered the bedroom. She strained to hear for noise coming from the house. She again heard those creaky floorboards on the first floor. She didn't know whether it was Nathan or the intruder making those sounds.
Jill picked up the house phone to call 911 and found the line dead. Her cell phone was downstairs plugged into the kitchen outlet. She was restless and anxious, so she decided to get out of bed to see if she could help Nathan or reach the cell phone to call the Sheriff. After securing the dog in her bedroom, she crept downstairs.
Just as she began descending the stairs, she heard a crash and grunts coming from the first floor. Then the front door opened, and somebody ran out. Jill reached for the hallway lights, but like the phone line, nothing happened when she flipped the light switch. Nathan returned silhouetted in the front door.
She yelled to him, "Nathan, what happened? Are you hurt?”
Nathan looked up the stairs at her. "No, I'm fine. I chased him off but got in a few excellent kicks before he left."
She couldn’t see his face in the dark, but his voice sounded like he was smiling. She shook her head. Trust a Hapkido Black Belt to enjoy confronting someone in the dark.
Jill exclaimed in a panic, "The phone lines have been cut, and the electricity is out, so I can't call 911 until I get to my cell phone in the kitchen.”
She ran down the stairs and gave him a quick hug and then proceeded into the kitchen. She found her cell phone and called 911. She told the dispatch person that she had had an intruder in her house, that her friend had chased him off, and that her landline and electricity had been disabled. The woman at dispatch stated that she was sending an officer to her location.
Jill reached into a kitchen cabinet and grabbed her flashlight. She used it to light her way across the house, as she lit candles in various rooms. She and Nathan made their way upstairs to finish dressing. It was going to be a long night.
Within 5 minutes, Deputy Davis from the previous night drove up to the house. Jill and Nathan met her outside and gave her an overview of what had happened. Deputy Davis returned to her squad car and retrieved a powerful flashlight. She used the flashlight to examine the entries to the house. There were markings that indicated that the back door had been forced open. Jill relayed that she'd had the security company protect her lab first and that someone was to return today to set up the alarm system for the house. She made a mental note to make sure that the new security system functioned without electricity. This was the first time in her 5 years as a consultant that her personal property had been vandalized. She was a bit afraid, but mostly the break-in just made her mad.
Deputy Davis questioned Nathan at length. When she thought she had all the details of the break-in described for her report, she did a final walk-through of the house. She speculated for what purpose the unknown assailant might have. In her opinion, the intruder was not looking for something in the house, rather he or she wanted Jill. None of the house’s contents were disturbed, and Nathan had caught the intruder on the stairs. The intruder had not been carrying a gun or a knife. Oddly enough, Nathan thought the intruder appeared to be carrying a syringe. They thanked Deputy Davis for her time and escorted her out to her car before returning to the house to discuss the night’s activity.
Jill and Nathan debated whether to stay at her house with no electricity. Their alternative plan was to pack Arthur, Trixie, and some clothes and return to Nathan’s house. In the end, they agreed with Deputy Davis. Prior to leaving she had theorized that the intruder would not return tonight.
Jill was dead on her feet, so they decided to stay at her house for the rest of the night. They returned to the kitchen where she retrieved her flashlight and cell phone, then continued through the house extinguishing the candles.
Nathan teased Jill. “I've never had such an exciting girlfriend before. This is the first time I've used my martial arts skills to chase an intruder out of the house. Despite the danger, I’m having a good time.”
Jill squinted at him, rolling her eyes. "I'm glad my life provides you with amusement".
He just chuckled and strong armed her into bed. She was asleep within minutes. They had no more interruptions that night.
For the second day in a row, Jill and Nathan awoke sleep-deprived. Jill left Nathan in bed. She needed to make calls to the security company and to an electrician. She would have to get electricity connected soon, or she would lose the contents in her refrigerator.
Jill stared at her kitchen assessing what she could cook for breakfast. Her stove was gas, and she checked to see if it would ignite. She was in luck. She looked at her coffee pot and decided that she would boil water and slowly drip it through the coffee grounds and the filter. She tried that experiment, and the coffee tasted reasonably good.
With caffeine surging through her system, she set out to make her calls. An electrician would be there within the hour. For all of the homes he had serviced in his electrician’s career, he had never repaired a house with electricity that had been purposely cut by an intruder. He seemed delighted with the new experience.
She had a long conversation with the men at the security company. Like the electrician, he had never served a customer who was having security challenges like those on Jill’s property. He thought he could set up a redundant battery-operated alarm. If, in the future, someone cut her power, the loss of electricity would activate the system alarm siren.
Just as she finished the call, Nathan entered the kitchen. She greeted him with coffee and proceeded to make their breakfast. After 2 nights of disrupted sleep, they were both dragging this morning.
By the time she finished breakfast and cleaned up, the electrician had arrived to fix the power. He quickly located where the lines had been cut, made the repairs, packed up, and was on his way 30 minutes later.
After she showered and dressed, Jill went out to the lab. She was pleasantly surprised to find the power working and nothing destroyed. Even though she had backed up her test results and specimens, it was still a relief not to have to clean up another mess.
She left the lab to greet the man from the security company as he arrived on her property. She showed him the back door to the house and where the power had been cut. He would address both issues and add it to her bill.
Jill took a few moments to compose her thoughts about the case and the intruder prior to her scheduled call with Emma
She phoned Emma primarily to discuss the case-findings with her. Jill’s late night uninvited visitor eliminated the last of any doubt that Emma might have had concerning Graeme's death being a homicide. She was in a haze of grief, and she hadn’t completely understood Jill’s scientific explanation for the intentional spread of bacteria in Graeme's body.
"Jill, I never expected your investigation into Graeme's death to result in a determination of homicide, and now you have a madman after you. I am tempted to advise you to leave the case to the SFPD, but I don’t know that will make a difference."
Between her own lab and the reference lab, she had evidence that someone had introduced staphylococcus bacteria at the site of the wound caused by the coral. Additionally, someone had crept into Graeme’s hospital room and injected it into an IV. There was just no other explanation for the growth pattern. Bacteria always evolved inside the human body, so that exact DNA and that exact growth pattern had to have occurred from intentional human intervention.
She finished her call with Emma and called the medical examiner to schedule an appointment for later that day to discuss her findings with him. Her first step would be to convince him that her conclusions were correct.
Jill went outside to check in with the security man to see when he
would finish with her full installation. She wanted the system up and running before she left for her appointment in San Francisco. Next she went to talk to Nathan. She hated to be a wimp, but the events of the last 2 nights had unnerved her.
“Nathan, I am spooked, so will you go with me to San Francisco?”
“Actually, I was going to suggest that I accompany you. I have drafts of a new label for a client in the city. It would save my client traveling here.
“I don’t blame you for being spooked. Let’s just be careful and cautious. Come here, and let me give you a hug.”
After a much-needed hug and a very pleasant kiss, Jill went to her lab to put her thoughts together for her conversation with the medical examiner that afternoon. While she had had meetings like this in the past, this was one of the most unusual methods of murder she'd ever seen. She gathered her photos, her test results, and those of the outside reference lab and put a solid case together. She figured that once the medical examiner had changed the cause of death, the assaults on her lab and on herself would stop. At least, she hoped they would.
As they would be picking Angela up at the airport while they were in the city, they decided to take Nathan's car, which had more room. They discussed what to do with Arthur and Trixie, as both were worthless at their own self-protection. In the end, they decided to leave the animals at Nathan's house.
After the stop at Nathan's, they set forth for the drive into the city. They had 20 minutes of driving on country roads, and then they would hit the Interstate. Jill was very uneasy and kept an alert eye for any car following them. She spied a four-door silver sedan about 5 minutes after pulling out of Nathan's driveway. Both she and Nathan watched it in their mirrors all the way to San Francisco. Nathan pulled up to the medical examiner's building and saw her safely inside with her paperwork.