by Alec Peche
Their final call that night was to Jo and Marie. They updated them about Angela's interviews, Jill's exploration of the dive companies, and their snorkeling trip. Jo and Marie were sad to be missing out on the action, but things were busy at work.
As it was, Jo had barely had time to do the research they needed from her on Graeme's financials. In another day, it would be the weekend, and Jo could devote more time to reviewing the financials and doing independent research on his practice, his investments, and his estate plan. Her eyes were bug-eyed from staring at numbers all day, and she was looking forward to the break of researching Mr. Gonzales's financial background. She had never investigated someone from Puerto Rico, and she was hopeful that she would find the same computer records as were found in the United States. She would send them an e-mail later if she found anything.
Marie’s first task was uncovering everything she could about Mr. Gonzales. She wondered if his diving certificate was real. They discussed researching the other diving boat company men, but they all had longer worker histories, and thus they were ruled out.
With their conversations complete, they left the hotel and walked to the city center to a restaurant recommended by the concierge. It was a small family-owned grill. They started with tapas and margaritas. Their main course was chicken paella, with flan for dessert. They were glad to stroll though Old Town and the harbor after dinner. Jill wished that Nathan was with her, as for some reason she was uneasy. While eating dinner, she thought that she had caught a glimpse of Mr. Gonzales. She was afraid that paranoia was starting to occupy her mind.
They had reached the end of the sidewalk at the tip of the harbor and turned to make the slow walk back to the hotel. It was then that 2 men stepped out of the shadows and into their path. On one side of their path was a breakwater retaining wall composed of large boulders. On the other side were mostly full boat slips. They looked at each other, assessing their options. They had no weapons and were wearing flip-flops. Furthermore, there was no one nearby to yell to for help. They could jump into the water, but Angela was a slow swimmer. Jill had a large handbag, and Angela had a tiny one. The 2 men did not appear to have any weapons in their hands.
Jill remembered the recent training experience with Nathan. Angela had a good 6 inches in height on both men. Angela distracted them with a cheery good evening, while Jill came in from the side. She gave both men a solid thump with her purse, and while they grabbed their heads, she used momentum to shove them into the water.
They quickly headed back as fast as their flip-flops would carry them to their hotel. Once there, they requested that someone at the hotel call the local police so they could file a report. Angela had had the foresight to take the men’s pictures while they treaded water.
After giving their report to the police, and changing their hotel room, Jill left a voice-mail for Detective Carlson relaying details of their event-filled evening. Next she called Nathan to tell him about the incident. She was grateful that his training had given her the confidence to go on the offensive against the 2 men.
Angela loved to travel to new locations and have new experiences, but tonight’s activity was beyond her desired level of excitement. She had never come into contact with someone who had borne such ill will toward her before. This was way more than she expected as a consultant on this case.
They called Jo and Marie, as an update on the experience needed to be described verbally, rather than through e-mail. Unloading on Jo and Marie helped calm them down considerably, and they were laughing by the end of the conversation.
They had an uneventful night and in the morning packed their bags for the trip home that afternoon. They debated canceling the morning’s snorkeling trip, but Jill really wanted a second opportunity to get the ointment from the first aid kit. They again headed to the harbor, boarding the same boat as yesterday but with a different dive master. Angela had found out through her usual skillful interviewing that Mr. Gonzales had called in sick to work that day. Again, there were additional passengers on the snorkeling boat, and they went to a different reef from the previous day.
Jill again tried the ruse of needing a Band-Aid to get her hands on the first aid kit. Fortunately, no one hovered this time, and she was able to switch the tubes of antibiotic ointment. She secluded the potentially infected tube into an evidence bag. She had debated what to do with the ointment tube if she was successful in getting it out of the first aid kit.
As Puerto Rico was a territory of the United States, and as the successful murder of Graeme occurred in San Francisco, it was likely that any legal proceedings would follow in San Francisco rather than San Juan. Unless Graeme’s and Mr. Gonzales’ fingerprints were on the ointment tube, it was unlikely that the tube would play any legal role in the evidence of the case. In the end, she decided to overnight it to her home in Palisades Valley. She sealed and protected the evidence bag. While the ointment tube was not fragile, she wanted to make sure that no delivery workers would be harmed if the package was infected and if it was dropped or exploded. It really was just a tube of antibiotic ointment.
A few hours later Jill and Angela sat in the first-class cabin on the way home to San Francisco. They spoke softly of their next steps with this case and anxiously awaited the results of Jo and Marie’s research.
Chapter 11
At close to 11:00 p.m., Jill and Angela reached Nathan’s driveway. He had made a great dessert and had a perfect white wine chilled for their arrival. Trixie was happy to see Jill, and the 3 of them chatted at length about the case.
“Would you like me to stay with you tonight?”
“Actually between your self-defense lessons and the encounter with the men in Puerto Rico, my confidence in dealing with this unknown assailant is high. I hate to keep disrupting your business. Besides, I have the new security system, Trixie, and Angela, so I don't feel uneasy being in the house alone.”
“Trixie is a lousy guard dog. It’s more likely that you have to protect her then the other way around. In fact, I might insult her by saying that Arthur is a better guard cat.” Nathan said with a smirk.
“Yeah, but she is just about the prettiest spotted dog you’ll ever see, so that counts for something” Jill declared laughingly as she hugged Nathan goodbye.
Jill turned into her own driveway and was relieved to see the expected exterior lights on at her home and lab. Jill and Angela were tired and half an hour later sunk into sleep. Jumping the time zones, snorkeling, the encounter with the 2 men at the harbor, and the time spent in the air traveling to and from San Juan had made for 3 very long days.
Angela was leaving in 2 days to return to the Midwest. They both hoped that Jo and Marie would come up with a list of suspects as to who had killed Graeme. They had 24 hours left in which Angela could interview subjects in person. Tomorrow Detective Carlson would be visiting Jill's laboratory. The ointment package that she had mailed from Puerto Rico would arrive, and with any luck on timing she could send fingerprints back with the detective for the SFPD to match.
Jill and Angela both awoke shortly after dawn after a quiet night. Jill owed Emma a call to update her on the case. She discussed the attack in Puerto Rico, the antibiotic ointment that she had mailed, and her meeting with Detective Carlson. Emma was such a gentle soul that she had trouble absorbing the aggression towards Jill, let alone the murder of her fiancé.
Jill also wanted to check in with Dr. Johnson to see if she had drawn any conclusions concerning where the bacteria had been purchased and how it had been injected into the ointment and the vial of solution that ultimately killed Graeme.
Detective Carlson arrived an hour later. She had been in the SFPD’s crime lab, but she knew it to be limited when compared to the county’s crime lab. She was fascinated by Jill’s lab, especially the wide variety of tests that she could conduct in that space. Jill walked her through the bacterial testing that she had done on Graeme and how she had reached her conclusions. Detective Carlson knew that the medical examiner ha
d agreed with Jill and therefore her findings were accurate, but it greatly helped her better understand the crime after Jill's explanation. Angela joined them for a cup of tea while they discussed the case.
Detective Carlson again advised them to leave the case in the hands of the SFPD. Jill simply ignored her request. She had done investigations for some of the other cases that she had handled. This case was much more difficult certainly because of the method of homicide. The multiple attempts on his life, an investigation in San Francisco and San Juan, and finally Graeme’s complicated financial situation only added to the intrigue. Beyond everything else, the case was fascinating. She felt compelled to continue their research because she wouldn't feel completely safe until Graeme’s killer was behind bars.
While they discussed the case, the overnight package arrived from Puerto Rico. Jill dusted the tube of ointment for fingerprints for Detective Carlson. As a consultant, Jill no longer had access to the computer system containing fingerprints.
“I know this hasn’t been in a chain of custody, but can you run the prints anyway? Maybe we’ll get lucky, and it will point us to someone that might be our killer.”
The detective left with the prints and the tube of ointment. Jill had retained a sample of ointment and had swabbed the tube before handing it over to the detective.
This entire case suggested a sophisticated scheme. As yet they had not identified the reason for the homicide, or the killer. Jill sampled some of the ointment to set up agars and various laboratory tests. She also sent a sample to the reference lab for a DNA match to the bacteria found in Graeme’s body.
While the tests were processing Jill, Angela, and Trixie walked her vineyard. She showed Angela the wine label that Nathan had designed. Then she went to her tasting area so that Angela could sample her experiments with the Moscato blend. She thought she had a winner on her hands, but it would be good to have Angela’s opinion as she had a very refined sense of taste for beer brews but also was talented with wine flavors. They spent a very enjoyable hour getting pleasantly buzzed with a variety of Moscato samples. Angela agreed with her choice of the best blend, and so Jill would be ready to go to market in the fall with her vintage.
When they returned to the house, it was time to phone Jo and listen to her evaluation of the financial records. It was amazing what information Jo uncovered. She had been able to review Graeme's law practice, his trust value, the start-up company he had invested in a decade ago, and the value of that spectacular house. Jo could not detect any questionable financial circumstances in any of Graeme's holdings.
Jill was surprised as she had never seen Jo come up empty before. If the murder wasn't related to money, what was the motive? The 3 of them discussed the case further. Money could still be the motive. It might be simply the size of Graeme's holdings. There was nothing illicit or illegal in his holdings. Perhaps just someone wanting to own those holdings?
The most obvious suspect was Emma Spencer. The problem with that idea was that Emma had not been a beneficiary until a few hours before Graeme's death. None of the earlier attempts on his life would have resulted in making Emma a very wealthy woman.
Jill would have to subtly discover who the original beneficiary of his estate had been. Angela would question Emma, and Jo would do a search on the Internet to see if there was any way to locate that beneficiary. They chatted for another 15 minutes exploring various angles to the case. Eventually, they ran out of fresh ideas to pursue.
Jill could have walked away from the case at this time and collected her fee for the work that the 4 of them had performed thus far, but she was still angry at the incidences on her property, her friends, and herself. Angela agreed that she should continue to pursue answers in Graeme’s death.
Jill's recent group of agars related to the tube of ointment would be available for analysis in another hour. While she finished the work in her lab, Angela was going to take time to write out her own notes and thoughts on the case. Nathan was expected for dinner in 2 hours, and he was taking care of cooking it. He was anxious to hear about the conversations with Jo, Detective Carlson, and the results from Jill's testing of the ointment tube.
With Trixie at her side, Jill walked down her front porch to head over to the lab. Trixie acted strangely tripping her up and slowing her down. Just as Jill squatted down, she felt and heard a bullet wiz by her head. She grabbed Trixie and made a dive for the outside corner of the lab building. She saw the wood splinter seconds after she lunged around the corner from a second shot. Huh! And Nathan opined that Trixie wasn’t a good guard dog. The dog had just saved her life!
Thankfully, she wore her cell phone at her waist. She dialed the 911 operator.
“This is the 911 Operator, what is your emergency?”
“This is Dr. Jill Quint. I was just shot at, and I need the Sheriff immediately. I dived into my barn, and that is where the Sheriff can find me.”
The nearest deputy was 7 minutes away, but the 911 operator stayed on the line with Jill until she heard sirens in the distance. The operator had also managed to place a call to Angela's cell phone and advise her to take cover in the house.
The deputy placed his car between where Jill thought the sniper might be sitting and Jill. The sniper was probably long gone since there had been no additional shots once she dove into the barn.
“Hi, Ms. Quint. I understand that you think you have a shooter out in your vineyard?”
“I don’t think. I know. Take a look at the splintered wood and the bullet in the far wall,” stated Jill, as she pointed to the wall behind her.
“A second unit is on its way. I’m going to use my rifle scope to see if I can spot anyone with a gun,” said the deputy as they crouched beside his car.
Jill thought she caught a metal reflection in the late afternoon sun, but the deputy pushed her head down as she was the target. Jill also called Angela's cell phone to check on her. She was doing fine staying in the middle of the house, but she was glad to have the deputy there and to know that more help was on the way.
The deputy remarked that a pretty talented marksman attempted to harm Jill. He estimated the shooter to be 200 to 300 yards away, and yet he had nearly hit Jill twice. Trixie must have sensed him in the surrounding hills, and thankfully she had bent over to pat the dog. Otherwise she'd be dead.
Just then 2 additional patrol cars arrived. The officers were able to shield Jill and get her into the house. She and Angela hugged each other and then the dog that had saved Jill's life.
The officers began the search for the gunman. They found the spent casings from the rifle used to shoot at Jill. They called for a K-9 unit to do a scent search. The search dog was able to pick up the gunman's scent from the casings, and the dog followed that scent for half a mile to a side street. The scent disappeared from there, and the officers speculated that the gunman had gotten into a car and driven off at that location. There were no distinguishable shoe prints anywhere on the path to the car.
There was a wide easement on the side of the road used by biking enthusiasts to park and unload their bicycles. They were simply too many tire treads to figure out which belonged to the getaway car.
She relayed the story multiple times to the various deputies, the case regarding Graeme St. Louis, the previous events on her lab and herself. Jill was simply puzzled as to why she was still a target. First the altercation in San Juan harbor and now on her own property. Clearly having the cause of death announced by the San Francisco medical examiner had not taken the heat off of Jill. They discussed whether Angela might be followed by the killer to her home in Wisconsin. They all agreed that it was unlikely. Jill seemed to be the only target.
Next, the officers moved on to discuss Jill's safety in the immediate future. She needed to take Angela to the San Francisco airport in the morning. Jill had called Nathan as soon as she was safe in her house. Just then, he arrived and joined the conversation after a tight hug.
“I’ll take Angela to the airport, but how many
officers will be here guarding Jill in my absence?
“We’ll have to check with dispatch.”
After a brief conversation, the deputy returned with bad news.
“Sorry, Dr Quint, but we don’t have the resources to staff deputies at your house. The best we can do is frequent drive-bys.”
“That’s okay. I would have been surprised if you did have spare officers to guard me.”
Nathan looked very unhappy at that news, but he too knew the small law enforcement resources they had as a town.
“I can stay in the house later if I can be guarded for the next hour in my lab. I can wrap up my lab testing this evening if I can safely make it outside to the lab now.”
The 3 deputies, Nathan, Jill, and Angela moved their discussion to her lab so she could finish her testing in less than 60 minutes. She could talk to the deputies while running the tests.
Jill, Nathan, and Angela returned to the house after closing up the lab. Palisades Valley had a small Sheriff's department that could not afford to place a deputy at Jill's house around the clock. Jill debated whether to move to Nathan's house or have Nathan move to her house, but in both those scenarios she would put Nathan at risk. She called the security company that had installed her system to find out if it offered personal security services. It would be expensive, but it could provide such service. Jill compromised and scheduled the security company to provide a security guard at night, and during the day the deputies would do frequent drive-bys. She could stay inside her house during the day, and her property perimeter alarm should alert her if the gunman attempted to get close to the house.
Nathan would stay the night, take Angela to the airport in the morning, and be available to help Jill run errands over the next several days. Nathan could pull into Jill's garage, and she could get in his car and get down with a blanket over her. This would be how she would get off of her property to do anything she personally needed to do in the next few days. Trixie would stay in the house with Jill, and Nathan would take her off the property for exercise.