by Alec Peche
As he left the building, he noted the silver sedan parked down the block. As he had some time before his meeting with his client, he decided to probe the sedan. He drove around the block and parked 4 spaces behind the sedan. He got out of his car and walked toward the sedan. It abruptly pulled away from the curb. Nathan wrote down the license plate number in case that information was useful in the future. He waited another 10 minutes, but the sedan did not return. He pulled out and drove to his client’s office.
Chapter 9
Jill sat in medical examiner Meyers’s office and went over her case findings. They both knew from their training that bacteria morphed inside the body. However, DNA testing was critical now in linking bacteria to its source. In tracking hospital-acquired infections, a lab could conduct sophisticated testing connecting the bacteria of one patient to that of another who had occupied the same room 3 weeks before. That same type of testing showed that the bacteria was exactly the same in 2 different sites in Graeme’s body. It had not morphed at all. As the first exposure had occurred in Puerto Rico, there was no other explanation for the bacterial genetic pattern other than an intentional exposure.
Dr. Meyers had not had the amputated leg at the time of his examination of the body. It was pretty clear-cut that Jill's test results and photographs provided the evidence to change the cause of death. He had had 2 other cases hit at the same time, a drug overdose of a celebrity athlete and the fifth homeless-person murder of what seemed like a serial killer.
“There is no excuse on my part for missing this. We had a celebrity drug overdose and a potential serial murder victim here at the same time. The press and the SFPD were distractions. This seemed like a routine case of hospital death by septic shock started by necrotizing fasciitis.
“I worked the opposite hypothesis as you did. This was a death by natural causes unless proven differently. I saw the toxic release of bacteria and confirmed the septic shock as the cause of death. This has been a learning lesson for me.”
“Before you completely beat yourself up, remember that you had many cases to process at the same time. You also didn’t have the story from the fiancé. Frankly, when I took the case on, I absolutely expected to confirm your autopsy findings. I was as surprised as you are at what these test results pointed to. I even did a literature search to see if it had been done before, and the answer was no.”
“You’re too kind, Jill. I bet there have been other similar cases and other MEs who missed the evidence.”
He completed a revised certificate of death and contacted the homicide division of the San Francisco Police Department.
In his 20 years as an ME, he had not seen or read of a case of homicide by necrotizing fasciitis. He asked Jill if she would be okay with him submitting the case for publication. She readily granted permission, as she was pleased that it would get discussed in professional circles, but she had no desire to publish it herself.
While they awaited the arrival of the police, Dr. Meyers and Jill discussed what could be the murder weapon. After Jill recounted Emma’s story, they speculated about the murder weapon. They settled on the initial infection being caused by the ointment and perhaps a middle of the night visit by someone in the hospital.
Detective Carlson arrived at the medical examiner's office half an hour later. With both the medical examiner’s and Jill's explanations, the detective agreed that she would open a homicide investigation into Graeme St. Louis’s death. Jill did not know Detective Carlson, but she was impressed with her competence. Within the hour, she had the investigation underway.
“I have a contract with Graeme’s fiancée, Emma Spencer, to offer a second opinion as to the cause of Graeme’s death. The contract includes optional work to be done by 3 other experts, Angela, Marie, and Jo, as part of that opinion process. Over the past 4 years they have worked several cases with me to identify who wanted the loved one dead. They each have different skills to cover different parts of research for a case.”
“Dr. Quint, I believe that you should leave the homicide investigation in the hands of the SFPD. It is better prepared to solve a case quickly and has access to more computer systems than you as a civilian do.”
She spent a solid 15 minutes trying to convince Jill to leave matters in the hands of the SFPD. In prior cases, Jill might have left the case in the hands of the authorities, but she was mad after the incidents on her home and her lab. The detective cited sections of the penal code that would impact Jill and her friends if they interfered with a police investigation. Jill promised to keep her informed of any and all findings. The detective knew, that she couldn't legally stop Jill and her friends from proceeding with their own investigation.
Jill phoned Nathan indicating that she was ready to head to the airport to pick up Angela. She waited inside the medical examiner's building until she saw Nathan's car pull up to the curb. She got in and they drove to SFO. She updated him on her meeting with Dr. Meyers and Detective Carlson. He told her about approaching the sedan, and he agreed to call the detective with the license plate number.
She met Angela in the baggage claim area. After a hug, she introduced Nathan to Angela. They liked each other on sight. Angela was amazed at all that had happened in the past 24 hours, and she was glad that her friend had Nathan to provide the protection she needed.
They headed home to the Palisades Valley, stopping by Nathan's house to pick up Arthur and Trixie. Angela had been to Jill's house previously and loved the relaxed feel of her vineyard.
After Nathan prepared dinner, they sat down for a conference call with Jo and Marie. They were shocked to hear about the visits from the intruder. They had been helping her with cases for at least 4 years and Jill had never before been a target. They were glad to know of her newly installed security system, and Angela still had goose bumps upon hearing her describe the events of the previous night. She also relayed to them her conversation with Detective Carlson, and the fact that the SFPD did not welcome their assistance with this case.
They had heard a reporter state on the news that night “that the medical examiner had changed the cause of death to homicide for prominent San Francisco resident Graeme St. Louis.”
Jo had performed an initial search on Graeme. While he had done very well in his practice of law, most of his wealth had come from 2 other sources. He had inherited 3 million dollars from a great aunt nearly a decade ago, which he had used to be the funding of an angel investment in a wildly successful Silicon Valley company. His net worth was estimated to be $100 million. He practiced law because he loved his job, not because he needed the income. Her research also showed that he was a generous man, having made several large private donations to charities in the San Francisco Bay Area. As he was an estate attorney, he had set up a trust that contained all of his assets.
Jill saw 2 possible reasons for Graeme's death: he could have been killed for his net worth, or he could have been killed because of what he knew about the estate plans of one of his clients. The question was, who would benefit from his death? Either the killer wanted his money or wanted him to take information to the grave. According to Emma Spencer, he had changed his Will while he was in the hospital. However, there had been several attempts on his life prior to the scuba diving trip. So they would need to look at the original beneficiary of the trust. Ms. Spencer likely did not know the answer to that, so Jill would have to request someone at his law firm to release the information to her.
Since people at his law firm knew that he had changed his Will in the hospital, Jill thought that ruled out his partners. She also thought that she could rule out Emma Spencer, as she did not benefit from the Will until after the change was made. If he had been killed in those earlier attempts, she would not have been the beneficiary. Her line of reasoning sharply pointed at the need to send Graeme to his grave with some particular piece of information.
Angela asked Jill if she had checked with someone at the law firm to see whether Graeme had ever mentioned the previous attempts on h
is life. Given that 2 of them had been in and around his office, he might have commented to his associates. That would corroborate Emma’s statements about the previous attempts on his life. Jill’s gut said that it wasn’t Emma, but Angela was right in that she should verify her feeling with evidence.
They chatted for a few more minutes about the case and then decided to all turn in after another long day for all 3 of them. Angela would join Jill in a face-to-face conversation with Emma Spencer and Detective Carlson tomorrow. She had high hopes that Angela would elicit new information from Emma. She also thought a trip to Puerto Rico might be in their near future so they could trace the arrangements for the scuba diving trip. She would have to check in with Emma on the budget for this case.
Jill wasn't sure how far she would go if Emma did not want to fund further investigation. She didn't think she could leave the case alone since her home and her lab had been invaded over the past 2 nights.
The 3 of them headed up to bed, having ensured that the security system was set. Jill hoped that she would finally get a good night’s sleep. Today had been a very busy day, and she dropped off instantly into a dreamless sleep.
She awoke the next morning and walked to the kitchen. Angela joined her a few minutes later. She had been awake for an hour due to the time difference, and she had spent that time formulating questions for Emma Spencer. The two discussed the questions over coffee and tea in the breakfast room, which was where Nathan found them an hour later.
As there had been no further visitors to Jill’s property, Nathan planned to return home with Arthur and complete some of his own work that had taken a backseat to Jill's safety. He felt comfortable knowing that Angela would be with Jill all day. They agreed to meet at Nathan's house at 7:00 that evening for dinner and the latest update. Trixie would be on her own for most of the day, but at least Jill wasn't worried about the dog’s safety.
Nathan left for his house about 30 minutes later, and Angela and Jill made the journey to Emma Spencer's house in the ‘56 Thunderbird. They thought they had a good plan to work for resolving the case. Jill hoped that Angela would glean new information from Emma. Furthermore, she hoped to get approval of a reasonable budget to solve the case. They also had a list of financial documents to give Emma that Jo wanted to review. Emma would either have to provide the documents or provide written permission for Jo to access the documents.
Angela was amazed by Emma Spencer's house. She had never before been in such a grand private home in her life. Emma answered the door and escorted them through the house to the library where she and Jill had originally met several days ago. Angela immediately had Emma at her ease, asking her about several of the objects d’art she had seen in the house. Some of the contents reminded her of displays she had seen in museums she had visited throughout the world.
Jill brought Emma up to date on the events of the past 24 hours. She was happy to hear that Jill had no further late night visitors on her property. Detective Carlson had reached Emma late in the afternoon yesterday. She had interviewed Emma early last evening and shared with her a press release announcing the opening of the homicide case.
“I called Graeme’s parents and members of our families to give them advance notice of the change in the death certificate before they heard it on the news. That change to homicide is like a punch in the gut. As I had to do 2 days ago when you first gave me the news, my family had to grieve all over again knowing that he didn't die of septic shock.”
Emma looked pretty wiped, as it had been the worst week of her life.
Angela gently launched into a series of questions for Emma. “Emma, do you have any pictures of the boat or the crew on the boat? Was anyone else on the boat with you?
“I should have some pictures on my memory card. We used a special underwater camera, and I haven’t looked at the images since we returned to San Francisco. I’ll look at them after you leave and e-mail you all of the pictures on the camera. There were 2 other couples on the boat with us, but they were snorkelers, and I don’t have their names.”
“The pictures would be great. When Graeme told you about the 2 previous attempts on his life, do you remember any other details? Between which floors in the building was he? On which street in San Francisco was the knifed pulled on him?”
“I don’t remember any additional details about the stairs, but the street was within a block of his office near a coffee house.”
Next Jill shared with Emma the list of financial documents Jo wanted to examine. Emma was not sure who would provide that information, but she had a couple of starting points, and she would keep them informed. Finally, Jill brought up the delicate conversation about the budget. She was immediately relieved when Emma indicated that they had an unlimited budget to solve the case. Emma also volunteered to accompany them to Puerto Rico, but Jill was able to convince her that she would be of more help here gathering the financial documents.
Jill and Angela left Emma standing at the door of her house as they drove away. Once out of sight of the house, they pulled over to the curb.
“So what do you think of Emma? Is she the murderer?”
“I’m afraid I have to agree with your gut that she did not kill Graeme.”
They worked on a game-plan based on the new information they had gleaned from Emma. They agreed that they would stop in at Graeme’s office, and then visit the location where someone had pulled a knife on him. The perpetrators were long gone, and they expected to find no evidence, but they wanted the visual of what Graeme had described. They also booked a two-night trip to San Juan, Puerto Rico, leaving the next day. The scuba accident trail might be faint at this time, but they felt they had to pursue it first.
Jill put the car in motion, and they visited the 2 alleged crime scenes. Graeme’s building was a conservative-looking three-story office building. They looked at the stairways, but all they could conclude was that someone had to be purposeful if they pushed someone else on the stairs since the stairs were wide. A quick conversation with the office manager revealed there were no cameras on the stairs or the doors leading to them. The security needs were relatively minor and more related to documents and computers than people.
Next they found the street where the coffee shop was where a knife had been pulled on Graeme, and again there were no cameras or any other sign of evidence that anyone had been threatened in that location.
Then they left San Francisco and headed back to the Palisades Valley. After making this drive 3 times in the last week, Jill was glad that she didn't do it daily.
They were leaving around 8:00 a.m. the next day and would get into San Juan close to midnight tomorrow night. It would be a long, boring day of flying through too many time zones. They would update Jo by e-mail, as they had no real new financial information for her.
Jill swung by her home on the way to Nathan's to pick up Trixie so Nathan could dog-sit her while Jill was in Puerto Rico. They had a nice dinner at Nathan's and used the time to strategize their probe into the scuba diving trip.
So much for romance. Nathan was being a good sport about Jill being focused on the case rather than on him. They were both comfortable that her fancy alarm system would protect her tonight. Jill and Angela needed to leave at around 4:00 in the morning to reach the airport by departure time.
Jill and Angela went back to her house to pack and make sure that they were ready to leave at that hideously early hour tomorrow. At least, because it was a last-minute purchase and because Emma had suggested it, they were flying in first class all the way to San Juan. They would have a chance to catch up on their sleep on the plane. Angela spoke Spanish which would come in handy when they began questioning people about the scuba trip.
For the second night in a row, the house remained quiet. They left for the airport before dawn and flopped in their airplane seats for another 3 hours of sleep. They awoke with about 2 hours to go on the first leg of their travels. Sharing a delicious bottle of wine and the better food of first-class, they tal
ked about the case.
“This sure is the way to travel. I would book our next girlfriend vacation in first class, but I am really just too cheap at heart. First class gave you more space and you were at the front of the plane, but we all arrive at the destination at the same time give or take an extra 10 minutes to get off the plane,” said Jill.
“I have never been able to sleep on a plane, but with these seats I could stretch out. It’s nice to arrive a little more refreshed,” replied Angela.
“There is the sleep opportunity that first class affords us passengers! Let’s plan our schedule on the island. We don’t want to waste a minute, especially since you’re best at collecting information when you can talk to someone face-to-face.” Jill was known affectionately among her girlfriends as the task-master and she was in true form.
“Given the lateness of the hour when we arrive, I would guess that today is going to be strictly travel with a few girlie drinks squeezed in at the end of the day.”
Jill continued with her planning as if Angela hadn’t spoken. “In the morning, I’ll book snorkeling trips for both tomorrow afternoon and the next day. I think the more time we spend with the scuba company the better. I wouldn’t think the tainted ointment would still be in the first aid kit on the boat but if it is, and I can retrieve the ointment tube from the first aid kit and replace it with a new tube, I would be doing future divers a favor.”
“I’d like to rule out both the resort and the concierge in the morning. Last night I also requested an appointment with Graeme’s client, Mr. Lott. I might do that in the morning, depending upon his availability.” Angela was confident that she would be able to learn about the nature of Graeme’s appointment with Mr. Lott, although she hadn’t quite decided on her approach.
“I plan to play the nervous snorkeler, and I’ll see what I can get out of the various diving companies. How do they hire dive masters? Do people usually get injured banging into coral? What does it take to get certified to scuba dive? How do I know that my tank is filled with enough gas? Then let’s meet for lunch back at the hotel, compare notes, and prepare for the afternoon excursion.”