Vials

by Alec Peche

  “Sounds like a plan. I think we need a lot of practice consuming girlie drinks, so we might have to repeat that experience several times” Angela giggled.

  They would be staying at the same resort where Emma and Graeme had stayed. They wanted to take the same scuba diving trip as they had, but neither Jill nor Angela were scuba certified (nor did they want to be). Instead, they decided to approach it as a snorkeling trip over the Sandslide reef. The reef started at 15 feet below the surface of the ocean, and they thought it likely that they could at least see the coral reef that Graeme had been slammed into during his dive.

  They planned to follow the exact same route that Emma and Graeme had followed. It would be interesting to see if the concierge set them up with the same dive company that Emma and Graeme had used. They also planned to investigate the concierge, the dive company, and the dive master to find out who they were, how they chose to use that dive company and how much advance notice they had been given as to which coral reef Emma and Graeme wanted to go to. It seemed as though the dive master who had pushed Graeme into the coral had to have known about that particular piece of coral in order for the coral to cut him.

  It was likely that the concierge requested at the time of the reservation the particular reef that Emma and Graeme wanted to visit. That meant that the killer had almost 3 weeks to explore the reef and determine which sharp edge to shove Graeme into. Graeme and Emma had made the reservation at the hotel 21 days in advance of their arrival. It was unlikely that whoever wanted Graeme dead had replaced the concierge at a major five-star resort with that little notice. However, for the right price, the concierge could have been bought off to either direct Emma and Graeme to a particular scuba diving company, or to notify him as to which company was hired to take them to the reef.

  They planned to check with several concierges to see how they directed hotel guests to scuba diving companies. After they determined which concierge had made the reservation, Angela would question him about what he did regarding the reservation for Emma and Graeme. The investigation would be tricky, as they were acting in no official capacity, nor were they licensed private detectives.

  When this case was over, Jill planned to explore what it would take to get private investigator licenses for herself as well as her friends. It might give them legitimacy for future cases.

  Jill had brought along the pictures that Emma and Graeme had taken aboard the boat they used for the scuba diving trip. The name of the boat was in one picture. In another picture one of the crew men leaned against the wheel. Emma indicated that none of her pictures included one of the dive master. Jill was hoping she could find that boat and crew on this trip. She also optimistically hoped that she would find a tube of anti-bacterial ointment in a first aid kit on that boat. She doubted it would be so easy to find the murder weapon.

  She had arranged 2 nights in Puerto Rico as she wasn't sure how many boats and boat trips she would need to check to talk to the right people. Thankfully, she was somewhat tanned from running outdoors, and Angela already had olive skin tone because they sure were going to get a lot of sun in the next 2 days.

  Jill, Jo, and Angela had been to Puerto Rico before but had not actually spent any time in the city of San Juan. On their vacation 3 years before, they had flown in and immediately headed to Fajardo on the other side of the island. They had enjoyed the rain forest of El Yunque. Their favorite evening activity was a kayak ride to Vieques Island with its bioluminescent lagoon. Now Jill and Angela were there strictly to work, but they would still enjoy the warm nights, island breezes, and girlie drinks made with rum.

  As scheduled, by the time their plane landed and they had retrieved their luggage, it was close to midnight when they stepped on the hotel’s shuttle bus. Fortunately, they were on Pacific Time and therefore headed to the hotel-bar to relax after check-in. They had planned to talk to a concierge if there had been one on duty, but they were told at check-in that concierge services ended at 10:00 p.m.

  Jill checked her e-mail on her iPad as she sat at the hotel’s bar. She was happy to see a huge e-mail from Emma to Jo with many financial documents attached. Nathan sent her an e-mail that included a funny picture of Trixie and Arthur. There was also an e-mail from her wine supplier with pricing related to bottles, corks, grape-pressing equipment, oak barrels, and bulk grape juice. The juice is what she would use to titrate her Moscato wine to the perfect taste.

  They finished the rum drinks, sent off a few e-mails, and headed up to their hotel room. They had a busy day planned for tomorrow, and a quick check of the weather report showed that they would be able to visit the coral reef without threat of rain or high winds. Angela would be questioning concierges, and tomorrow with Emma's assistance in an arranging an appointment, she would be interviewing the client Mr. Lott, whom Graeme had met with prior to the ill-fated scuba diving trip.

  They awoke to a beautiful day in Puerto Rico. The sky and the ocean were spectacular in the morning light. Jill and Angela had a light breakfast before going their separate ways. Angela had a list of people to question, and Jill was in search of scuba diving companies. They might end up interviewing some of the same people, but interviewing someone twice could result in them obtaining different information.

  When Jill had determined that Graeme’s death had more than likely been caused by 2 separate exposures to the same bacteria causing necrotizing fasciitis, she had called one of her pathology associates, Dr. Anne Johnson, whose focus was microbiology. She'd spent half an hour on the phone speculating about where the killer had obtained the bacteria, how he might have mixed it in the antibiotic ointment, and finally, into a vial used to inject Graeme in the hospital. Anne had suggested that the killer had to have major knowledge of microbiology. He needed to know how to not kill the bacteria and yet not contract it himself.

  Before her meeting with the ME, she had done research on where an average Joe could purchase an agar containing the bacteria. Schools and universities were a major source of purchasing such agars for their science classes. So it was likely that the killer had been able to procure some kind of documentation that made it look like he represented the school, or he had some connection to the academic world.

  She would have to leave it up to the police to track down the supplier of the bacteria. She would contact Detective Carlson later to discuss this angle. Jill's knowledge of pathology gave her a head start in reaching a conclusion about the murder weapon in this case - bacteria. The SFPD likely had no prior experience with bacteria as a murder weapon, but in many ways they could treat like a poisoning. Instead of a chemical destroying a human, it was the bacteria used for Graeme’s murder.

  Dr Johnson offered to experiment in her own lab to evaluate how one would create the infected ointment and the infected vial. Jill highly doubted that she would ever find the actual tube of ointment or the vial. She thought that by figuring out how the ointment and the vial had been created, this would lead her to the killer. Specialized knowledge was required to create those items, and that special knowledge limited the suspect pool.

  Chapter 10

  Angela approached the concierge desk.

  “Hi, I need some assistance arranging a snorkeling trip for this afternoon and potentially tomorrow morning as well.”

  “Certainly I can help you with that. Is there a particular area of Puerto Rico where you would like to snorkel?”

  “My friends Emma and Graeme stayed at your resort a couple of weeks ago, and the concierge, perhaps it was you, arranged a great trip to the Sandslide reef, so that is where I would like to go.”

  “What is your friends’ last name? I’ll check our records to see who booked the trip and what company they used. I’ll do my best to send you out with the same company.”

  “Their last names are Spencer and St. Louis. It was probably booked under St. Louis.”

  “Yes, I see their records. Peter booked the trip for them. He is on the concierge desk tonight. I see he booked the trip with our customary d
ive shop. Let me check its availability.”

  He made the call to the dive shop and was able to confirm departure times for 2 trips to the reef. The boat was taking other passengers, but they had not specified a location, so everyone would go to Sandslide with them.

  “Thanks for your help with the trip. Have you and Peter worked here long?”

  “I love my job and have had the pleasure of arranging activities for guests for nearly 5 years. Peter has been here even longer.”

  “Again, thanks for your help, and have a nice day.”

  It was Angela’s conclusion that the hotel concierge likely had not had a role in orchestrating the accident with the coral. He had worked there far too long, and the scuba company had been used by the hotel for the past decade, as it had had rave reviews by hotel guests. So this pointed to the dive master. After Angela had obtained as much information as she could from the concierge, she set her sights on Mr. Lott, the client with whom Graeme had met before the fateful diving trip.

  Meanwhile, Jill was at the harbor assessing the many diving companies. She stopped in a medium-sized storefront and briefly observed the people inside. They were a chatty bunch, which was exactly what she needed. She went inside and pretended to be a scared scuba diving novice. The idea of scuba diving scared her enough that she never planned to try it, so her acting was pretty close to her real self. The owner spoke at length about how he checked the qualifications of his dive masters. She went to the second dive shop and posed the same questions. She also asked the store owner about length of the hiring process. It seemed a long-shot that someone could have gotten hired fast enough to be the killer. The resort had given Emma and Graeme's dive company less than 21 days’ notice. All of the dive companies that she interviewed would have been pressed to hire, verify certification, and check someone out as a new employee in the dive master role in less than 21 days.

  Jill's final stop was the dive company that had served Emma and Graeme. Again she pretended to be an agitated snorkeler and asked about the experience level of all of the company’s dive masters. In particular, she verified that they used the normal process to verify a dive master’s certification. She also learned that new employees were supervised by the owner for the first 4 dives. The owner had several lucrative accounts with the luxury hotels of San Juan, and he wanted to verify that new dive masters had good people skills for his clients. His business reputation was only as good as how well a dive master performed. The dive master with the shortest employment time was Luis Gonzales, and he had been employed for 2 weeks.

  Jill and Angela met back at the hotel for lunch. They shared what they had learned through their visits at the dive shops and with the concierge. They agreed that the hotel concierge was not involved in the homicide. Graeme's client, Mr. Lott, was genuinely saddened over Graeme’s death. Graeme had been handling a routine trust update based on new tax laws for Mr. Lott. So they crossed him off their list of suspects.

  This pointed to the dive master, who just happened to be the dive master for their afternoon excursion. When they checked in with Jo this evening they would have her do some research on Mr. Gonzales's bank account and criminal history.

  They returned to their hotel room and changed into swim suits, grabbed their towels and sun block, and headed for the harbor for their 2:00 p.m. snorkeling trip. They got on board the boat and noticed that the crew was different than in Emma’s pictures.

  They greeted Mr. Gonzales and reiterated that they wanted to visit the Sandslide reef. He showed no nervousness with that request. Angela went to work on him, questioning his background, experience, and even his family.

  Mr. Gonzales was happy to be working for the dive company and had been a certified dive master for 5 years. He had a wife and 2 children at home. Jill knew that the statement about his family was a lie, as she had asked the owner about him that morning. As time went on, he gave off a sleazy vibe. He let it be known that his services were available that evening at their hotel if they so desired. They were grateful that there were 2 other groups on the boat, as they would not have felt safe being in the open water with this guide.

  They arrived at the Sandslide reef and disembarked into the water with the other passengers. Mr. Gonzales had a waterproof cheat sheet with pictures of the fish that they would see underwater. He told them that they would have to swim about a 100 yards to the start of the reef and they were all to follow him. They set off at a slow swim pace and arrived at the reef shortly. Emma happened to have a picture of the coral arch that had injured Graeme. Jill and Angela had just wanted to see the coral, the area, and get an overall sense of the water so as to determine what the dive master had to do in order to slam Graeme into the coral.

  They spotted the coral arch from the surface of the water. It appeared to be about 15 feet underwater. Angela pretended to take pictures of the fish, but in reality she photographed the coral. There was another dive company in the area and that boat had about 5 people currently scuba diving at the same reef. She took a picture of the boat with the intention of possibly reaching out to those divers later. They both attempted to swim down to the reef, but they lacked the lung power to do anything more than touch it and return to the surface. It was sharp to the touch, and Jill could understand how the gash in Graeme’s leg occurred.

  They both continued on to other places above the reef. They didn’t want to look too suspicious to Mr. Gonzales. On the other hand, he didn’t seem to be the sharpest tool in the shed, so they were probably worried for nothing. They also managed to take a picture of him to confirm that he was the dive master who had gone with Emma. If he was, they’d provide the SFPD with a copy of the photo. They would have Jo run him through a criminal database that she used to check out prospective boyfriends. It was not the quality of search that law enforcement used, but it would be a good starting place. After 25 minutes of snorkeling, they returned to the boat.

  They re-applied sunscreen and chatted with the other couples aboard the boat as they traveled to shore. Jill used a safety pin to prick her finger and cause it to bleed. She then requested Mr. Gonzales provide a first aid kit if there was one on board as she needed a Band-Aid. Angela surreptitiously took a picture of the kit. Jill asked to look through the kit searching for the perfect size Band-Aid. In reality, she hoped to steal the antibiotic ointment from the kit. She even had 5 different brands of ointment that she had purchased from Puerto Rican stores to throw in the kit if she was successful in taking the tube that she found there. She trusted that one of the 5 tubes would be a brand match. Unfortunately, Mr. Gonzales hovered the entire time, and she wasn't enough of a magician to make the trade. She would have a second opportunity tomorrow, as they had booked another snorkeling trip aboard this boat in the morning before they would leave to return to San Francisco in the afternoon. If the tube of infected ointment was still in the kit, they would be doing future boat passengers a huge favor by eliminating the possibility of a bacterial infection. It was unlikely that the infected ointment was still in the first-aid kit a week later, but again Mr. Gonzales was not the smartest person and Jill had seen plenty of dumb criminals.

  After returning to the harbor, they left the boat to return to their hotel room. It late afternoon, and they had the evening in front of them to enjoy the tropical breezes, a nice meal, and girlie drinks, with plenty of time to catch up with Jo, Marie, and Emma.

  Angela thought that she had exhausted interviewing the people with whom Graeme had come into contact during his trip. Jill and Angela believed that likely Mr. Gonzales had been paid to shove Graeme into the coral and apply the infected antibiotic ointment. That ointment was the backup plan to attempting to get him to scuba dive with the nearly empty tank. The tank plan was really lame, so likely it had been Mr. Gonzales’s idea. The infected ointment plan was much more sophisticated and clearly beyond his intellectual resources.

  They both had several calls to make. Jill called Emma to update her on their day. In addition, Emma confirmed that Mr. Gonzales wa
s their dive master by the picture sent to her from Angela’s camera. Emma relayed that Detective Carlson wanted to speak with her, and so Jill planned to contact her after her conversation with Nathan.

  Angela needed to check in with several clients for her photography business. She handled her own bookings for photo shoots, and there was often a fair amount of discussion about date, time, and location prior to the client locking in Angela’s services.

  Jill called Nathan. “Hey, how are you doing?”

  “Missing you, but amused with Trixie’s and Arthur’s behavior. How is Puerto Rico? I was there about 5 years ago. There are a few wineries on the island. Mostly red varietals.”

  “We have mostly been interviewing so far. Of course, we have been practicing with the girlie drinks.”

  “Practicing?”

  “It takes talent to drink a girlie drink without getting the little paper umbrella wet or dropping the cut fruit in your lap. So we are practicing our technique!”

  “Okay, that is a new excuse for drinking that I have not heard before. Hey, got to run, my client is here. By the way, your security system has been quiet. No intruders so far.”

  Jill called Detective Carlson next, who again told her that she should leave the investigation to the SFPD. Jill remained deaf to the detective's advice. She told the detective about their investigation of the hotel concierge, the dive companies, and the dive master in particular. Detective Carlson said she would run a criminal search on Mr. Gonzales, after which she would reach out to the local police in San Juan to bring him in for questioning. The detective scheduled a meeting with Jill. She wanted to visit Jill's lab to gain a better understanding of how the bacteria had been used as a weapon.