by Alec Peche
A knock on the door announced Lott’s presence.
Agent Somerset headed to the door and asked, “Who is it?”
Lott answered, “This is Main Street Pizza with a delivery for Jill.”
“We didn’t order a pizza.”
“Can you sign a slip of paper for my records? My manager requires that in order for me to get paid for the delivery,” Lott asked.
The officers gave him kudos for offering a decent reason as to why they should open the door.
“Okay, just a minute. Let me unlock the door.” Agent Somerset unlocked the door.
As she started to open the door, Lott charged through it and at Detective Branson. He slammed the door into Agent Somerset and threw the pizza box at her. Although he hardly touched her, she feinted like she had taken a strong hit. Playing her role as Jill, the detective stood, dropping the laptop to the floor.
She exclaimed, “Who are you? And how dare you rush in here!”
Lott had wasted no time pulling out his knife and going right for pseudo-Jill’s throat.
Detective Branson timed it just right, and as he got close enough, she kicked the knife out of his hand, spun him around, and knocked him to the ground. She slapped the cuffs on him before he could answer her original question. Agent Somerset joined her in restraining Lott as the officers from the second bedroom entered the living room.
She read him his Miranda rights as he fought, shouting a variety of obscenities at her. He kept saying over and over that he was smarter, he was smarter than she was. She read him his rights a second time, but she couldn’t quiet his litany of vulgarities. Until she could get him to say that he understood his Miranda rights, they couldn’t question him.
Jill had reached the end of her rope with the case and Mr. Lott. She could hear his rantings from her bedroom. As the officer was reading him his rights, she knew he had to be in handcuffs. She exited the bedroom, and walked over to him and stood next to Detective Branson and asked, “Which Jill are you talking to?”
Her appearance had silenced him. He stared at the 2 of them, and something must have broken through in his brain. After a long silence, he said “I have nothing to say.”
Chapter 26
An officer from the SFPD hauled him away in handcuffs with all but Agent Brown in tow. With Lott captured, Jill was free to go. It was early evening, but she still wanted to go home. Agent Brown was assigned to drive her the 90 minutes to her home. She knew the Agent was tired from his close encounter with death earlier in the day. She checked with Nathan, and he and Trixie would meet them at the rest stop in an hour close to the half-way point of the drive home. That would reduce the driving for Agent Brown. As a physician, Jill believed that he needed more time to recover, but she was too anxious to wait until tomorrow to get back home. She hadn’t wanted to stay in the safehouse a moment longer than she had to.
She packed her bag and joined Agent Brown in the car. She was glad the case was at an end for her. With Lott in police custody, she would sleep well tonight in her own bed. She wondered what the police would find out once he was questioned. She had thought him mentally ill with his I’m smarter than you rant, but perhaps he was not, as he had clammed up right after his rights were read to him.
All that mattered was that the case was over, the check from Emma was in the bank, and she and her friends could plan their next vacation. She wished that it would start tomorrow, but she knew that they could not rearrange their schedules for at least 3 months to get away.
It was dark when they reached the rest area. She pointed Agent Brown towards Nathan’s car. As they pulled in, Nathan got out of the car and put her bag in his trunk. He then gave her a long hug and kiss. Trixie’s head hung out the window and her tail wagged in ecstasy. Jill gave Agent Brown a hug, checking his pupils as she did. She wanted him to be healthy and safe on his drive back to San Francisco. On a close-up inspection, he looked fine, so Jill felt secure in watching him leave the rest stop.
She shared another short kiss with Nathan before Trixie broke it up. Dog slobber on the face caused an end to any romantic moment. On the drive home, Jill gave Nathan all the details she hadn’t been able to provide about the last few days.
Nathan, as an artist, had not seen the violent world that she had as a medical examiner. He had never been a victim of a crime. He was sort of awed and offended by Lott’s evilness. He was mystified by Jill’s reaction to it. She was clearly done thinking and worrying about it. He thought that he might be scarred for life if he had lived through what she had during the past few weeks.
None of Nathan’s clients even had lives like Jill’s. He hoped that this was a one-off case. He wasn’t sure how he felt knowing that she was putting herself at risk in her pursuit of the truth of death as she liked to call it. He guessed that he would hang in there once she took her next case and would wait and see how he felt at that time.
Meanwhile, he was privately committed to seeing her pursue a black belt in some kind of martial art. There was a martial arts exhibition coming up in 2 weeks at the fairgrounds in Sacramento. There would be 30 different arts to choose from, and he would take her to see if he could interest her in any of them. He would enjoy teaching her his art or joining with her to learn a new martial art.
Jill heaved a mighty sigh as they turned into her driveway. Nathan had wisely ordered a take-out pizza on the drive home. The smell had been driving Trixie nuts even though the pizza was in the trunk. It was too dark to see the repairs that Nathan had orchestrated for her house to repair the damage done by the Molotov cocktail.
She got of the car and despite having sniffed pepperoni for the last 10 minutes, she could smell the sweet grapes coming from her vineyard. She couldn’t wait to survey the vines tomorrow. She found it very soothing to trim each vine to make sure that each bunch of grapes got enough sun to manufacture the sugar she needed to create a delicious Moscato. She and Trixie would also go for a run tomorrow. For now, she intended to gorge herself on pizza and red wine.
Nathan caught her up on his life and local gossip. He also had some amusing camera shots of Arthur and Trixie. After eating, he took her on a tour of the repaired bedroom.
She sat down on her sofa feeling really good about the end of this day. She had saved someone today. She had assisted law enforcement with arresting someone who appeared to be a sociopath with a violent criminal history. She checked her e-mail for an update from anyone in San Francisco, but there were no messages. She guessed that everyone had their hands full interviewing Lott for various crimes. She would wait until the end of the day tomorrow for an update, and then she would seek one out if it had not been provided for her.
One moment she was glancing at her inbox and the next Nathan nudged her awake to get her to walk upstairs to her bedroom. She didn’t budge when he slid into bed a few hours later.
She was out of bed at her usual obscenely early hour the next day, leaving Nathan asleep. She made herself a cup of coffee and cooked breakfast. While she had only been at the safehouse for a few days, she had hated not being in her own home. She and Trixie ambled through the vineyard searching for small cuts she needed to make or grape bunches that needed support while they grew.
They returned to the house 2 hours later just as Nathan got up. They cycled through his normal 30 minute wake-up period, and after a little conversation and a few kisses, he left for an appointment at his own studio. Jill couldn’t thank him enough for caring for Trixie over the past week. He mentioned the martial arts expo that he wanted to take her to in a few weeks as he left.
He had a very busy day in front of him with several new clients to meet. In addition, one of his clients that he had had a relationship with for more than 20 years was expecting him to fly to Seattle to discuss his labels later that afternoon. He would be gone for 3 days, and Arthur would be content on his own with enough food and water. His printing assistant would check on him daily as well. He hadn’t been sure he would make the trip, as he had felt both helpless and y
et unable to leave Jill by herself, although he hadn’t told her that. With Lott, the sociopath, locked up, he could safely depart the Palisades Valley.
Jill enjoyed the quiet after what seemed like days of noise. She changed clothes to take Trixie on one of those hated runs. She hadn’t run outside in nearly 3 weeks. She wondered how out of shape she would be. She would probably psych herself out on the small hills. Oh well, the only way to get back into shape was to face the devil of the 2 to 3 mile run. She thought about Nathan’s request that she learn a martial art at the expo in a few weeks. She would do her best to find one that suited her.
After the run, she did some yoga from a tape she had as a means of stretching her leg muscles. She had a feeling she would be in pain the next day if she didn’t spent 30 minutes working on her flexibility.
After showering, she went back to her e-mail. Again, nothing from anyone in San Francisco, although the Chronicle contained a story about Lott. There was, however, a message from Jo and one from Marie that she had missed last night in her tiredness.
She opened the two e-mails. Oh, no, I thought I was finished with this case. She picked up the phone to call Detective Carlson. She got her voice-mail, so she tried Agent Ortiz and got voice-mail again. Wow, out of sight, out of mind. She tried Agent Brown and planned to quit just as she got Lieutenant Chau on the phone. Finally, someone she could talk to in person.
Chapter 27
“Lieutenant Chau, there is someone else involved in the case. Two of my friends sent me e-mails late last night, but I didn’t open them until now. Lott isn’t the only person involved. I think he committed the murders, but I believe that he was just the puppet in the theft of the city funds.”
“Jill, we are on a break at the moment from questioning Lott. Detective Carlson is in my office along with Agent Ortiz. I’m going to put you on speakerphone so you can explain to all of us at once.”
“Thanks, and hi to the others present. As you all know, I think the world of the members of my team. Their curiosity keeps them going on cases even after payment stops some times. So Marie, who is my expert at finding personal details about someone, did more work on this case even after I considered it closed. She discovered a relationship between Mark Lucas and the CEO of that original private company that provided fire and police services to the city that Lott managed. I think the reason it remained hidden before was that Mark Lucas was already dead by the time the contract became controversial.
“So the name of the CEO of the company is Lark Sumac. She is Mark Lucas’ older sister. The siblings decided on anagrammed names when they Americanized their names. Both children dropped their last name legally when they reached 18. Their parents were politicians in the communist government of Albania. After a government-backed scheme bilked $1.2 billion out of investors, a rebellion started, the country fell into anarchy, and more than 2,000 people were killed. Lark’s and Mark’s parents were 2 of the 2,000. Both children were outside of the country at boarding schools when the riots occurred.
“The parents had set up education accounts for them outside the country, which allowed them to complete their educations, and then the money ran out. The Americanization of their names made it more difficult for Albanians and others in the world to associate them with their parents. Lott came into contact with Aleksandra, Mark, and Lark during his service in the Peace Corps.
“Lark was older than the other 3 by almost 10 years and was a beautiful woman. She married an older American by the name of David Schmidt who served in the military in both Vietnam and Lebanon. After he left the military, he owned a successful security company in the 1980s that specialized in training people in security and black ops. Mr. Schmidt suddenly died 2 years into the marriage, leaving Lark as owner of the company. Schmidt Industries’ success continued under her leadership.
“Lark paid for Mark’s law school tuition and provided him with an allowance. It’s rumored that she assisted him with getting the job at the law firm. All during this time, Lott socialized with Mark and his sister. It was 10 years later that the security contract came up for the city that Lott managed. There were some rumors at the time that Lott supplied the security company with the scoring detail that the city would use to evaluate the bid, but this was before the era of mass electronic business interactions, so the bid process was handled through mail and courier. At least we know why the contractor stayed quiet concerning the errors in the transmittal to the councilmen on its costs. We can speculate why Lark was so willing to pay into Lott’s account.”
“Why did she stay friends with Lott after he murdered her brother?”
“Well, it seems as though there was no honor among thieves. Additional income was more important than her brother’s life. She is one really cold woman. While I continue with my explanation, can someone on your end trace where Lark is now?” Jill asked.
“We have been tracing her since you mentioned her name in conjunction with this case. She is presently purported to be at her company’s headquarters in Virginia. We will put her face into facial recognition software. Just let me bring up her picture. Crap!”
Dead silence came across the phone lines.
“What’s wrong?” asked Jill.
“She is the women who just showed up claiming to be Lott’s attorney. Jill, we will have to reconnect with you later. We need to make sure that Lott is still alive!”
Jill heard the phone disconnect after that. She debated what to do next. She decided that there was no safe place for her at the moment. Lark operated a black ops company. If Lark wanted to go after her, she was dead meat. She decided to jump in her car with Trixie and drive to her local Sheriff’s station. She figured that in the Palisades Valley, the one safe place for her at the moment was jail.
She watched the road, sped, and tried to keep Trixie down on the seat all while looking frequently in her rear view mirror. She made it to the jail without incident. She heaved a sigh of relief as she and Trixie entered the ugly concrete Sheriff’s station. She asked for Deputy Davis and was relieved to find her there.
Jill gave Deputy Davis a condensed version of what had taken place during the last few days and the discovery today about Lark Sumac. Deputy Davis thought that Jill Quint was a smart, intuitive woman. She had seen the damage done to her home and thought Jill wise to come to the Sheriff’s office.
They went down the hall to a conference room where Deputy Davis left Jill with Trixie. She wanted to update the Sheriff and get some water for the dog. She returned a few minutes later with the Sheriff in tow and the bowl of water, and re-introductions were made. The Sheriff secretly hoped that this was a one-off case for Dr. Quint after the explosion at her house. He hated to see his resources being utilized to protect her from the next group of bad people who wanted her dead.
The Sheriff called the SFPD to get a status report on the location of Lark Sumac. There was bad news out of San Francisco.
Lieutenant Chau stated, “Lott was found unconscious and with a weak pulse in the jail holding area about 10 minutes after Lark Sumac was recorded leaving her client. Rather than the fast-acting poison that killed Aleksandra, Lark gave Lott a nutritional supplement bar that contained a lethal amount of potassium, which slowed rather than stopped his heart. As the emergency response personnel were unaware of the potassium concentration, they didn’t administer the antidote until after CPR had been performed for over 30 minutes, which, by then, his heart was unable to come back, according to the physicians who worked on him.
“Our cameras show Lark leaving the building and getting into a black SUV driven by a male. She runs a black ops organization, so by the time we caught up to the first SUV, we estimate that she may have transferred 2 or 3 times into different vehicles and in disguise. She has vanished from San Francisco. The driver who picked her up originally is in our custody, but he is giving us no information, and there are no hairs or fingerprints to prove that she was ever in the car. We only have what was on tape. Her employee will probably be a dead end, bu
t we are remanding him into custody regardless. By the way, he is also an Albanian citizen with a legitimate work visa.”
“Sheriff Arstand, this is Agent Ortiz, we met at Dr. Quint’s house a week ago. Our guess is that she is heading to Palisades Valley. There is no reason to go after Jill since the case has completely broken open. We don’t need her testimony about anything. Her company will be going down as will Lark herself, thanks to your input on this case. We are reviewing all of the cameras around the city at the moment, but so far we haven’t found her. We also have been unable to track her cell phone. Her company uses satellite phones, disposable phones, and international cell phones, which are very hard to trace.
“She also has helicopters and lots of guns at her disposal. We have called in the California Highway Patrol and FBI air resources, which are heading your way as we speak. Sheriff Arstand, what resources do you have at your building? People, equipment, and the like?” asked Agent Ortiz.
“We have a SWAT team organized for this region, but so far I am not sure what or if there is anything that needs tactical support. Beyond that, we have more weapons than people. I have a total of 6 deputies on shift at the moment and another 3 that could be here within 30 minutes.”
“Sheriff, we are mobilizing resources from our end, and I feel much better knowing that Jill is inside your station rather than alone at home. I would advise you to question your deputies if any helicopters have been spotted in the area as a start. Our own helicopters transporting 10 agents should arrive in 25 minutes.”
The Sheriff replied, “Well, that sounds like pretty solid suspicion that she is coming our way. Give me a few minutes to mobilize here, and we’ll set up communications lines with you.” He hung up the phone and issued orders.