by Alec Peche
“Yes I would like to see his situation. In some ways it mirrors my own. Some day when I open a tasting room, I won’t have much traffic that just happens to drive by and decide to come in and taste my wine. I’ll need something to make it a destination and so it would be good to understand his business growth. It seems like he is about four years ahead of me in the life of a business. Would you be able to reschedule the visit for a few days from now? I would love to spend the whole day with you, I've missed you.”
“Hey babe, I missed you too," Nathan said reaching over to give her another kiss. "Andrew said he was available all this week. I hate to visit the Napa area on Friday because it is filled with tourists. Do you think you can clear your role in your current investigation by Wednesday night? We could then travel on Thursday.”
“That should be doable,” Jill said and then glancing at the clock she added “it’s three in the morning Wisconsin time, I need to go to sleep now.”
As usual she was up the next morning shortly after dawn. She would need a nap later that afternoon, but she couldn’t sleep anymore despite only being asleep for five hours. Nathan, her polar opposite, would sleep deeply for at least another three hours and then it would take another forty-five minutes after that to get his head in gear. She would pack up Trixie and head home to begin work. She left Nathan a note suggesting they meet for lunch or dinner at her place today. She called Angela, Jo, and Marie to check on their safety and to see if Dr. Lewis had been apprehended. According to Angela, there was still no sight of him.
Shortly, she was making the turn through her gates to her vineyard. She loved seeing the sign for Quixotic Winery. Trixie was whining and wagging her tail, recognizing that she was home. Jill spent a quick hour filling up her dirty clothes basket with her vacation gear, and glancing through the pile of mail awaiting her. She didn’t see anything that needed her immediate attention. Thus she began unloading and processing her specimens. While she had many tests to process, she was most interested in looking for any trace of the paralytic agent near the injection site, or in the muscles of respiration. This was also her favorite area of pathology - toxicology.
She kept a supply of commercial kits that contained antibodies directed toward common drugs of abuse. A paralytic drug was not a drug of abuse, so she would be using her gas chromatograph to test the blood. It was rather like the testing performed for therapeutic drug monitoring. An hour later, she had her first answer. She contacted Jane by phone to deliver the news and then moved on to the detectives. She dialed their office number first; soon Haro and Van Bruggin had switched their phone to speaker mode so she could talk with both of them at once.
“I just completed the preliminary analytical test for the presence of a paralytic drug in Dr. Phillips. My tests were positive for the presence of a drug called Pancuronium, a common drug used in the operating room by anesthesia. You’ll need to wait until your lab in Wisconsin produces the results in several days for legal reasons. Have you located Dr. Lewis yet? I thought it might be useful information if you had him in interview.”
“We have quite a manhunt going, but we still haven’t found him,” asked Haro. “Did you notify Deputy Payne about your test results?”
“No, but I did notify the coroner, Jane. I am amazed that Dr. Lewis hasn’t been located yet. He must have had an escape planned in case he was ever in a tight situation. By the way, I have a call scheduled with Michelle today. Is there anything you do or don’t want discussed with her?”
“Why are you speaking with her? She is a suspect.” Van Bruggin stated.
“I normally have daily conversation with my clients on my investigation. With her, I have let the rule go by the wayside for two reasons. One, as you noted, she is a suspect of sorts and two, we are doing this investigation gratis as a favor to Angela. Before I forget to ask, is there any word on Helen? Has she regained consciousness yet?”
“We heard that her brain is beginning the awakening process and we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to talk with her within a few days,” Haro replied. “As for Michelle, let’s discuss this a moment. There are three potential explanations for Michelle’s behavior; she was a conspirator in her husband’s death, Dr. Lewis was a friend and she wanted comfort, or she was pressured by Dr. Lewis to do something. Can you think of anything to add?”
“No, you have it covered. Have you spoken with her since the manhunt began for Dr. Lewis?”
“No, why would we?” asked Van Bruggin.
“I would ask her if she knows where he might be, since the two of them were seen together two nights ago in a bar. I don’t think there is a downside to asking the question. If she is a friend, she should be shocked by his behavior. If he is forcing her to do something, then perhaps she’ll come clean, and if she is a co-conspirator, she’ll pass your questions onto Dr. Lewis, but so what if he has the information. I plan to tell her about Dr. Phillips and the search for Dr. Lewis.”
“When are you speaking with her?” Van Bruggin questioned.
"In a few hours. Why, do you want to interview her first?"
"Yes, now that you've suggested a link between Michelle and Dr. Lewis’s manhunt, we feel duty bound to seek her out and interview her,” said Haro. ”By the time you chat with her in a few hours, we will have informed her of the link to Dr. Phillips’s death as well as questioned her about where we should look for Dr. Lewis.”
"Okay I'll plan on talking to her in a few hours unless I hear from you that something has changed on your end," Jo remarked. "I originally called to notify you of the test results for Dr. Phillips and now I need to get back to my lab to work on some more specimens."
After they ended the call, Jill returned to processing specimens. She guessed that she had another six solid hours of testing in front of her. Nathan planned to drop by for lunch; or she should probably say Nathan was bringing lunch since she had been on vacation for a week and had not restocked her refrigerator. Supplies were scarce at the best of times and she feared if someone looked in that appliance now they would find mayonnaise, pickles, yogurt, and hopefully some non-moldy bread. Unless her plan was to feed her man a pickle sandwich, her man would need to stop somewhere and grab lunch for the two of them.
After a few more hours of processing specimens for analysis, she heard Nathan then knock on her laboratory door. When she looked over at him he was carrying a bag from her favorite take-out café. Jill needed another five minutes and then she could break for lunch. Nathan left the lab and walked toward her house planning to grab utensils. As he walked across the yard, a reflection off of something metallic in the vineyard caught his peripheral vision. Catching a second, stronger look, he was sure that he was looking at a reflection off of a rifle. In milliseconds, he was sorting through his options.
Should he drop to the ground?
No, he would just be a nonmoving target.
Where could he find cover?
Jill's front door was about twenty feet away.
The oak tree was on his left about five feet away.
His car was about ten feet on his right.
Perhaps he should drop to the ground and crawl toward the car.
He would soon be out of range of the gun, but he also would not be able to see shooter’s movement.
Was this Jill’s suspected murderer - Dr. Lewis? Jill said he had won marksman's awards for distances of three-hundred yards.
With all those thoughts speeding through his head, he decided he would do best to duck behind the tree. He moved quickly and made sure his head and vital organs were protected by the trunk. Then he pulled out his cell phone and made two calls.
"Jill, I think there's a shooter in your vineyard.”
“What?!”
"After I'm done speaking with you, I'll call 911. I just wanted to make sure that you stayed inside your laboratory. I've taken cover behind an oak tree in your front yard. I'll call 911 and get back to you."
“911 operator. What is your emergency?”
“This i
s Nathan Conroy and I am at the home of Dr. Jill Quint. We have a shooter in the vineyard and I am requesting assistance from the police."
The operator asked for Jill's address and asked Nathan to stay on the line. He said he would but he would put the operator on hold while he conferenced in his girlfriend who was in another building on the property. Soon all three were connected. The ETA of a sheriff was expected to be another five minutes. As both Nathan and Jill were protected and Nathan was occasionally seeing metallic flashes in the vineyard, he felt had a handle on the situation. Nathan began speaking with Jill with the emergency operator listening.
“Jill, this Dr. Lewis that you were worried about, what was his shooting award for?”
“Three-hundred yards with a rifle. But how could he have followed me here? I thought they had notices everywhere to stop him from getting through airport security.”
"Who else has tried to kill you in the last few days other than Dr. Lewis? That puts him on the top of my list of who is sitting out there in your vineyard with a gun."
"You're right! Operator, can you warn any incoming law enforcement that the person with the gun may be wanted for murder in the state of Wisconsin. Furthermore, he has won shooting tournaments for his rifle target accuracy. I would advise that any sheriff's deputies arrive in bullet-proof body armor.”
“One moment please,” said the operator and they could tell that they had been placed on hold while she hopefully talked to the officer on its way to her house.
She came back on the line and said, "This is the emergency operator. I have been asked by responding officers if the suspect is on the move?"
Nathan slowly leaned around the oak tree and looked at the rows of grape vines. At first, he had a hard time locating the shooter, than he found him and said, “He's moved forward about ten yards.”
"Is he continuing to move forward or is he stopping and adjusting his aim before moving forward?" asked Jill. "How far is he from you or the entrance to my lab?"
"He's about sixty to seventy yards away from both of us, and he is stopping and aiming.”
Again the emergency operator put them on hold to relay the information to the sheriff.
Then they heard the sirens in the distance.
“He is on the move again rapidly,” said Nathan in a quiet voice. “He’s heading for the house rather than your lab. He must think you’re inside your house.”
“Good, let him waste time searching for me there. Hopefully before he finishes, the cops will be here. Can you get a good look at the shooter?” asked Jill.
“No, the person was completely covered up including a ski mask over his face.”
He looked around the tree to see two county sheriff cars turning into Jill’s driveway. He could see the first officer and noted it to be Deputy Davis.
“Hey Jill, your favorite cop is here - it’s Deputy Davis.”
“This is the emergency operator, has the sheriff’s deputy arrived on the scene?”
“Yes, ma’am,” replied Nathan.
“Okay, I’ll end this call now.”
The shooter was in Jill’s house so Jill thought it was safe to peek through the door to lab. When she saw Deputy Davis taking cover at the back of her car, she made the quick jog to her squad car trunk and she was offered a bullet proof vest and helmet. Nathan was still stuck behind the oak tree, but at least he was safe from any flying bullets. A second car had pulled in behind Deputy Davis’ car and the deputy joined Jill and Davis.
Davis was a sharpshooter in her own right. The tall African-American woman was smart, quick, and an awesome shot. She had saved Jill on a previous case with her shooting skills.
“How did I luck out, that you were the responding officer to my house?!” Jill exclaimed.
“How did I get jinxed enough to have to answer your call of distress?” replied the deputy with a smirk. “It’s really annoying to have so many people always wanting to kill you. Would you just move to another county?”
The second deputy was watching the exchange between the two women in mild alarm. Jill noted his expression and said with a laugh. “Don’t mind Deputy Davis, without me she would never have the opportunity to use those fine shooting talents of hers. Last time we worked together, she took out a group of black ops thugs that shot up your station.”
The second deputy continued to look alarmed while Davis broke in and asked, “Who is the shooter and why does he want you dead this time?”
“The shooter is covered up so we have been unable to make a positive identification. Before I left Wisconsin, a physician tried to kill myself and my team on a golf course. He got away and they have a manhunt in progress to capture and arrest him. I figured he followed me here. He participates in a group called the U.S. Practical Shooting Association and has won several awards for marksmanship. His distance of choice seems to be three-hundred yards.”
“Ok, I’m going to give Deputy Rawlings an opportunity to get to the back side of your house, than we’re going to have a conversation over the PA to see if we can get him to give himself up with any shots being fired.”
With this, Rawlings ran from cover to cover until he was out of view. A minute later, Davis got a text that he was in position. She checked in with Nathan to see that he remained covered by the oak tree.
Turning on her car’s PA speaker, Davis announced “This is Deputy Davis of the Palisades Valley County Sheriff’s Office. Please come out of the house with your hands up in the air.”
The deputy waited, heard nothing and so she repeated her instructions. Again, no movement around the house. A third law enforcement vehicle pulled up and Davis now had two fellow officers to charge through the door with.
The three officers entered her house and soon they could hear a lot of shouting. Nathan took the opportunity to leave the protection of the tree and join Jill behind the sheriff’s car. After a brief hug, they crouched down behind the car awaiting action from inside her house. Ten minutes later, they appeared to be leading the shooter out of the house. Jill and Nathan rose to their full height and both gawked for different reasons at the person being lead down her front steps.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Nathan was surprised because it was a woman, Jill because she recognized the woman.
“Michelle, what are doing here with a gun?” Jill could have kicked herself for not having anything more intelligent to say.
“You know this woman?” asked Deputy Davis.
“Yes, I have a contract with her to investigate her husband’s murder in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Her name is Michelle Easley. Michelle, why are you on my property with a gun. Were you planning on killing me? Couldn’t you have just fired me instead?” again Jill thought what an inane thing to say. Aarrgh.
Michelle's hands were handcuffed behind her back. One of the deputies was carrying a rifle with a scope on it and a black ski mask. The deputies were escorting Michelle to the back seat of the third squad car. Deputy Rawlings had returned from the back of the house as well.
“Jill, we have a crime scene team on its way here to record her actions inside your house. I ask you to stay out of your house for now. Nathan, if you could direct the tech as to where you first sighted Michelle on the hill and her subsequent path that would be great. Deputy Rawlings and I would like to take separate statements from you two and then we’ll need to have a joint discussion.”
“Deputy Davis, once again thank you for protecting my life. This might be the third or fourth time that you have saved me. Can I offer you unlimited bottles of Moscato wine from my vineyard? I can’t think of what other favors a forensic pathologist can do for you.”
“Actually, I do have a favor in mind, but let’s talk about that at a later time. I would like to get your statements.”
“Before we start, would you mind if I notified the police in Green Bay, Wisconsin? When I spoke with them about an hour ago, they were going to be seeking Michelle out to interview her. I think it would save them time if we could tell them she is
in custody. How about if I call and hand the phone over to you?”
Davis agreed that was a good plan. She liked the idea that she might be saving her fellow law enforcement brethren time on an investigation. Besides she had a feeling they would be speaking a lot over this connected case.
Jill dialed Van Bruggin and the call went to voicemail, so then she dialed Haro and he answered.
“Detective Haro.”
“Hello Detective, it’s Jill Quint. We have had some activity in California related to the case. I’m going to put Deputy Davis on the phone to speak with you.”
She passed her phone over to the Deputy who stepped away from the group and conducted a longer than expected phone call. Jill was shifting her weight from one foot to another waiting. It was hard to keep still after the adrenaline rush of the last thirty minutes. Finally, Deputy Davis ended the call and returned the phone to Jill. Jill looked expectantly at Davis, but she only shook her head and said “Interesting that I am not the only cop trying to keep you alive.”
She and Deputy Rawlings split up Nathan and Jill to take their statements. Nathan had to describe the path that Michelle had taken. Jill had not witnessed Michelle on her property until her capture, so her interview was focused on the ongoing murder investigation occurring in Green Bay. Nathan joined Jill wrapping an arm across her front and having her lean against him while she finished describing the complexities of the Wisconsin murders.
“For a vineyard grower, you sure lead an exciting life,” commented Davis.” I bet you have had more people take shots at you, than I have, in this uniform. Have you thought of retiring?”
“Yes, but I have stopped some people from getting away with murder and that’s pretty heady stuff,” Jill asserted. “Besides two of my recent dangerous cases happened while I was on vacation. I must be walking around with an invisible target on my back that says ‘murder close to this person’, or something.”
“Again, please stay out of your house until notified by the crime scene tech that it is safe to enter,” Davis admonished.“Nothing looked broken or damaged inside, so all you have to clean up is fingerprint dust. Detective Haro and I exchanged contact information so we’ll be in contact with each other.”