Vials

by Alec Peche

  “I went back to work this week. I had clients’ interior spaces under contract to renovate. All of my clients graciously granted me these few weeks to deal with Graeme's death and his estate. Now I need the creativity of design to move on. If the agents find evidence, then Graeme's murder will linger on for several years in the legal process. While that's a painful future, I can only hope that justice will be served in the end," said Emma.

  Jill moved the conversation on to interior design. She thought in 3 to 5 years she might want a tasting room for her winery and shared that thought with Emma. So she picked Emma’s brain about tasting room interiors. Fortunately, Emma had been to several wineries in the Napa Valley and thought that she could improve upon the interior of 90 percent of them. Jill wrote ideas down and Emma volunteered to give her a gratis plan when she was ready to build. Jill had to bottle, sell, and have success with her wine before she set up the tasting room, however. It was something to look forward to in the future. She was glad that she had the creative discussion with Emma. It would give her time to consider what she wanted in a tasting room.

  Jill thought the search through the house would take several hours, and she didn't want to monopolize Emma's time, especially since she was trying to play catch up with her design business. Jill had her laptop with her, and the entire house was wired for Wi-Fi. She offered to occupy herself with her own work, if Emma wanted to return to her design studio. Thanks to Nathan’s occupation, she was used to an artist needing studio time. Just as Emma got up to leave, they heard an explosion in another part of the house.

  "Emma, take cover!” Jill yelled as she flattened herself to the pool area deck.

  Another explosion rocked the house. They determined that the pool area was not under attack. Jill wanted to check on the agents, and Emma was frozen in place.

  Jill went to Emma and stated, "I'm going to make my way to Graeme's office. I need to check on the agents. They saved my life several times in the last week. It’s the least I can do in return. You stay here. Stay flat on the ground unless you see an explosion in this room, then run for your life. Call 911. Here's my cell phone".

  Jill waited for her to nod that she understood, and Emma dialed 911 as she left the room.

  The pool area was at the far opposite end of the house from Graeme’s office. Jill eased open the door that connected the pool area with the main house. She slowly stuck her head into the corridor, ready to close the door if someone was there. She could see smoke and flames from the other end of the hallway, a long corridor stretching the whole length of the house. She heard no shouts or other human conversation coming from that end of the house.

  Jill inched down the hallway, ducking into each doorway and running across to the next. She had worn a decorative scarf that morning, and she pulled it up over her nose and mouth to filter her from the smoke. As she got close to Graeme's study, she crouched low, first on her hands and knees and then dropped to the floor, letting the smoke roll over her head. The air still felt pretty good 6 inches above the ground. She rounded the corner and glanced into the study. The house had a fire alarm and a sprinkler system that were both noisy and effective as the fire did not seem to be spreading. She thought she might have heard sirens in the distance, but the sound could have just been ringing in her ears from the explosion and the alarm.

  Agents Brown and O'Sullivan were face down on the study floor. She could see no intruders in the study. Neither agent moved. At best they were dead weight. At worst they were dead. She eyed a small Persian rug that she could use to drag each agent out of the room. She pulled Agent Brown first, as he was closest to the door. She dumped him off the rug and into the main corridor and went back in for Agent O'Sullivan. She rolled the agent onto the rug and pulled her out close to Agent Brown. She checked for a pulse and found one in Agent Brown. When she couldn't detect one in Agent O'Sullivan, she rolled her over and started CPR. She glanced up to see Emma coming down the corridor.

  "Emma, see if you can help Agent Brown. He hasn't moved since I pulled him out of the study, but he has a pulse.” Directed Jill while performing CPR on Agent O'Sullivan.

  She thought she felt Agent O'Sullivan attempting to cough. She stopped CPR and checked again for a pulse. It was faint, so Jill continued CPR. She looked at Emma and agent Brown and he seemed to be rousing. She sent Emma outside to bring paramedics in when sirens heralded their arrival. Just as they ran in to assist Agent O'Sullivan, she choked. Jill had spent 15 years doing autopsies on the dead. This might be the first human she had saved since medical school.

  Paramedics had oxygen on Agent O'Sullivan and were starting an IV. Agent Brown also had oxygen on, and his eyes were open, but he was too dazed from the explosion to say anything just yet. She advised paramedics that they both might have sustained neck injuries as a result of being thrown by an explosion.

  Agent O'Sullivan was stabilized and loaded into the ambulance within 10 minutes. Agent Brown was coming around. The fire department confirmed that sprinkler had extinguished the fire in the office. The sprinkler head had been damaged by the explosion but still managed to throw enough water out to stop the fire from spreading. Emma spoke with the fire Chief. He had a piece of a bottle in his hand.

  "Chief, you’ll want to talk with the fire department in Palisades Valley. Last week, two Molotov cocktails were thrown into my house. A hired assassin was the source of that crime and she committed suicide in FBI custody yesterday, but I recognize the glass.” She pointed to the man on the floor and offered introductions. “Chief this is Agent Brown from the FBI. Agent Ortiz is the person in charge of the San Francisco FBI and is aware of this case. You will want to contact her. I’m Dr. Jill Quint, a forensic pathologist.”

  Emma was just barely holding it together. Jill had never seen someone who so appeared to be in need of a hug as Emma did. Jill was not the touchy-feely type, but she put her arm around Emma’s shoulders. She thought with some direction that she could get Emma over her shock and move her on to deal with the situation. When she was done talking to the fire Chief, Jill suggested that Emma phone her insurance company and her alarm company to see if someone could help her with the cleanup. She also queried Emma about who she could contact to help her. An assistant? A sister? Emma took Jill’s advice and made the calls.

  Jill turned her attention back to Agent Brown. The paramedics were getting ready to transport him to the hospital. He seemed to be back with the living, but they would check him over for smoke inhalation and a concussion. She had a few minutes to get details from him on what had happened before they loaded him up. Again she hated to be insensitive, but she wanted to know if the agents had found any useful information in the study. Agent Brown was hoarse from the smoke, but nodded that they had found something.

  In a thin, wispy voice he stated “We found an e-mail from 9 years ago from Mark Lucas to Lott that contained the draft of the EPA letter. In the e-mail it is clear from the tone that Mark wrote it according to Lott's specifications. I had just copied that e-mail onto a flash drive and printed out a copy when the Molotov cocktail was thrown into the room. If the printer didn't burn up, the copy should be in the paper tray. The flash drive should still be in the USB port of the office computer. We will want to save everything in that office. Do not let any cleanup crew throw anything out." He lapsed into coughing as paramedics took him away.

  Jill watched the paramedics roll Agent Brown to the ambulance. Both agents were lucky to be alive. She would go to the hospital to check on them just as soon as she retrieved the flash drive, the paper, and everything else in the office. She felt like she needed to guard the evidence with her body until the police arrived. The fire Chief allowed her into the office, and a search turned up a wet piece of paper and the flash drive. She put the flash drive in her pocket and moved the paper to the pool area to dry. Then she moved the computer to the dry hallway. If by some chance it still worked, she did not want any more water getting into the device.

  Just then Agent Ortiz arrived w
ith Detective Carlson and Lieutenant Chang a few steps behind. She was very grateful to see law enforcement arrive. The SFPD had a crime scene to rope off once the fire department cleared the area. The fire marshal had preliminarily determined the Molotov cocktail as the source of the fire.

  Jill looked at Emma and was glad to see that she had found her composure. Jill had always been good in an emergency, and after the past weeks’ shootings and other attempts on her life, nothing was shaking her resolve. She handed the evidence over to the Agent Ortiz.

  The security company had arrived and would coordinate protection of the property until the repairs could be made. Emma resolved to stay at the house, as the master bedroom was untouched. She would have a security guard outside, and her sister would stay with her overnight. She understood that the agents had found evidence before the explosion that would implicate Graeme's killer. Although this was the first step in a long legal process, Emma felt better knowing that the case was becoming solved.

  Agent Ortiz had checked with the hospital, and both agents were doing well. The doctor was keeping Agent O'Sullivan overnight since she had required CPR at the scene. Agent Ortiz and Jill were headed over to the hospital now to interview the two agents and to take Agent Brown with them back to the safe apartment. The FBI deferred the crime scene to the SFPD, and would need to interview agents Brown and O’Sullivan later. Being close to Silicon Valley, it had experts that would squeeze all useful information out of the computer.

  Chapter 24

  Jill and Agent Ortiz arrived at the hospital. She was thrilled to see Agent Brown sitting in a chair at Agent O'Sullivan's bedside. Both agents were talking as they entered the room. She had secretly been worried that Agent O'Sullivan would suffer brain damage since she had had to do CPR on her. It was very gratifying to see that, at least on the surface, Agent O'Sullivan had not sustained any long-term injuries as a result of Jill's CPR. The 2 agents looked up as Jill and Agent Ortiz entered the room.

  "Jill, thanks for saving my life today. It's so strange that I would say that to a medical examiner.”

  “You're welcome. You're the first person I've saved since medical school. It was my privilege to use my CPR training for the first time in nearly 20 years to save someone.” said Jill, humbled.

  Agent Ortiz expressed. “Jill, the FBI is so grateful for your service. We were supposed to be guarding you and in the end you saved one of our agents.”

  “Okay, enough thanks. Let’s move on before I am massively embarrassed.” Jill blushed.

  “Guys, I retrieved the flash drive and a printed copy of the e-mail and placed it in the hands of the SFPD for evidence.” Jill commented as she took a chair in the room.

  Agent Ortiz added “The SFPD has taken the computer with them to their computer lab to see what else they can find that might be incriminating evidence against Lott.”

  Agent Brown reflected. "I'm rather amazed that the computer with evidence on it has had been untouched for all of this time. If Graeme indicated to Lott in Puerto Rico that he was uncomfortable with what had been done in the past, you would have thought at that point that Lott would have destroyed the computer in Graeme's house.”

  "I think this points to Lott’s arrogance in thinking that he can't be touched. He must have been very sure that Graeme’s death was well hidden in the necrotizing fasciitis diagnosis,” added Jill.

  “I’m interested in everything that is on that computer. I would like to put a warrant out for Lott’s arrest as soon as possible. I think that as soon as we publicly discuss the recent evidence we collected at Graeme's house, it will become safe for you to go home, Jill." Agent Ortiz stated.

  "Obviously going home and being safe while at home is at the top of my mind,” replied, Jill.

  “I wanted to check on my agents in the hospital and transport Agent Brown and you over to the safehouse. Our legal team is meeting with the San Francisco District Attorney and the SFPD as we speak. As you can imagine, the Attorney General is keenly interested in this case. While they don't want to spook Lott before they have adequate evidence, we also have a strong reason to suspect that he has been on quite a killing spree. Whoever just tried to kill my agents at Graeme's house is still on the loose. The SFPD will have a guard posted outside of Agent O'Sullivan's hospital room until she goes home tomorrow. Its forensic team is looking for evidence.

  "Agents, someone will want to question you, as do I. Tell me about your search of the house." Said Agent Ortiz.

  Agent Brown described the events.”It's a big house and we had a lot to search. In fact, someone needs to complete that search. I would estimate that we were 20 percent complete. We had not searched papers in his desk, or his file cabinet, nor the remainder the office. We had not searched his briefcase, his car, or his suitcase. The file I printed was one of about 30 in a directory labeled ML archive. I had not had time to review all the files in that directory nor to view other directories on the computer.

  “I was sitting at the desk directly in front of the monitor. The desk faced the opposite wall and if I looked to my left I could look out the window. I wasn't admiring the gardens out the window because I was looking at the computer screen. Agent O'Sullivan stood to my left going through the drawers on the left side of the desk. I think that's why she took a harder hit from the explosion. She concentrated on her work, and I viewed the screen. All of a sudden, the window shattered, and seconds later we heard an explosion. That's the last thing I remember until I saw Jill in the hallway.”

  Agent Brown looked at Agent O’Sullivan and queried, “Can you think of anything to add?”

  "I remember browsing through the desk. There were 4 drawers on the left side, and I had gotten through the bottom two. I was just closing drawer number 2 from the bottom and was about to open drawer number 3 and the window shattered. The next thing I remember was waking up in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. I don't recall anything of importance in those 2 drawers. The bottom one was filled with manuals that came with electronic gadgets, and the one above had pictures in it that were labeled and had been taken at different scuba diving spots around the world."

  Agent Ortiz thanked the agents for their description of the explosion as well as what they had seen on the search. Agent O'Sullivan appeared ready to go asleep. Agent Ortiz motioned to Agent Brown that she was ready to leave. The 3 of them left the hospital room passing the SFPD guard as they exited. As they reached the parking lot, Jill looked at Agent Ortiz’s car and had an attack of paranoia.

  She said to the Agent as they approached her car, "You know your car has sat unattended in this lot for the hour we were inside the hospital. Is it possible to have it checked for a bomb before we get into the car? Perhaps I’m paranoid, but it wouldn't have been difficult to follow the car here."

  Agent Ortiz sighed. "I hadn’t thought of that possibility until you questioned the car’s safety. Given all that has happened in the past week, it's reasonable to worry about if the car is safe. Why don’t I quietly get the bomb-sniffing dog from the airport to go over the car? Meanwhile, I'll request that someone in my office transport the 2 of you back to the safehouse and join you there after the car is cleared.”

  The 3 of them returned to the hospital lobby to await the arrival of transportation for Jill and Agent Brown. Until Lott and his latest hired gun were in police custody, Jill felt unsafe out in open public spaces. She hoped the District Attorney would agree that there was enough evidence later today to take Lott into custody.

  Their car arrived at the hospital. Jill got into the backseat and lay flat on the seat with her coat over her head. The ride to the safehouse was undisturbed. Jill’s adrenaline rush was really starting to dissipate. She felt a headache and extreme tiredness overwhelming her. She excused herself and returned to the bedroom for what she hoped would be a 30 minute nap.

  Agent Somerset had replaced Agent O'Sullivan which gave Agent Brown some much needed down time to collect his thoughts and check in with his family, something he had fel
t he needed after this near-death experience.

  An hour later Jill returned to the living room feeling a more human. She checked in with Emma and was glad to hear that she was doing okay. Agent Brown likewise had more color in his face and appeared to have fully returned to the land of the living. Agent Ortiz was en route to the apartment, the car having been cleared by the dog. Jill was pleased to hear that the unknown offender had not thought to go after Agent Ortiz's car. She subtracted a few IQ points from her offender for missing that opportunity.

  A conference call was scheduled within the hour between the FBI, the SFPD, and the District Attorney. Jill hoped it would bring good news.

  Sitting on her sofa with her laptop, she dropped an e-mail to her friends informing them of the deposit to their vacation accounts and Emma's pleasure with their work. She also updated them on the morning's events and her hopes that the DA would find enough evidence to arrest Lott. She had talked to Nathan earlier and shared with him that she hoped to return to Palisades Valley the next day.

  Agent Ortiz joined Jill and the agents and they set up a speakerphone for the teleconference. After everyone identified themselves, the discussion began with the SFPD findings from Graeme’s computer. In addition to the letter that Agent Brown had saved onto the flash drive, an officer had found several other pieces of incriminating evidence, including multiple drafts of the EPA letter with Lott’s revisions to it and threatening letters to Mark Lucas and a variety of other people if information concerning Lott’s activities ever came to light. There was no murder threat, just a reminder that they would go down as accessories if they leaked any information on the fake EPA-required cleanup. Better still, a paper trail existed describing the bank accounts in Albania, Iceland, and the Caymans.