by Alec Peche
“We're on our way. Where are you now?”
“I closed the door and returned to the lobby. Wasn't sure if I should call hotel security or if you should call your detective friends.”
“I'm going to have Nathan connect with you on his cell so I can free up mine to call the detectives. Hang up on me when you see his incoming call.”
Seconds later she heard Nathan connecting and they were almost at Jo's hotel. She fished through her purse for the detective's card and dialed Heyer's number. It was after hours and she wasn't sure either detective would take her call.
“Yes, Jill?”
“Hello detective. I'm on my way to the hotel my friend was staying at who was in the cemetery with me today. Her room has been ransacked and I think it has something to do with our case. Would you like me to call hotel security or will the New Orleans police handle this?”
“We will. Is she hurt? Did she see the suspects?”
“Thanks, no and no. She found some interesting information today for the case and she was in the business center compiling it and found the mess when she got to her room. She immediately closed the door and returned to the lobby and called me. I suppose for all we know, the suspect is still in her hotel room.”
“When you get to the hotel stay in the lobby with your friend. Do not enter the room. I'll be there in ten minutes and I'll see if Briggs is available. Understand?”
“Yes,” and she heard the click of the phone call ending just as they were walking into the lobby of Jo's hotel. She was seated in a lobby chair, eyes closed fingers together and raised upward like she was meditating, or perhaps she was just asleep. Then Jill saw that she had her cell phone cradled under her jaw, so no peaceful meditation going on there. Jill hurried over to give her friend a hug. Nathan went to work arranging for a different hotel room that would accommodate the three of them while Jill notified Jo of the police's pending arrival.
“Thank goodness you backed out of the room. What if the intruder was still in your hotel room?”
“I didn't even think of that! I just know from working with you on these cases to try and not contaminate the scene and fortunately I was alert enough to think of that. I don't know if anything was missing. By good luck, I had my purse, iPad, and cellphone with me. The only thing an intruder could have stolen was my clothes or some inexpensive hair products.”
“I'm just glad you're safe. It was one of the first things the detective asked and then she told me to stay in the lobby with you until she arrives. We could go over to the hotel bar and have a drink while we wait for her, it'll be another five to ten minutes.”
“I'm fine, Nathan had me breathing deep on his way over here and that went a long way to calming me down. If I haven't said this before, you're lucky to have him.”
“Okay then let's sit here and wait for the detective. Nathan's making arrangements to move us to a two queen room or a suite so that we'll be in the same space.”
“Sounds like a plan. I'm thinking we're not going to get much sleep tonight by the time we're done with our explanations for the detectives and moving across town. Maybe we can sleep in in the morning. What time is your flight?”
“We're leaving at two, and you?”
“I'm leaving at four. I'll just travel with you guys to the airport and hang out there. I have to think the bad guys can't get to me beyond security,” Jo said with a small smile.
“Maybe the detective can hook you up with some additional airport security or maybe they'll want to hear your explanation about the senator during that time.”
“I hope not. I'd rather the police issue a bulletin saying I'm a worthless witness,” Jo said with a tired grin. “It's the first time in my life I'm asking to be called stupid. I don't want trouble following me home to Green Bay. Jack would not appreciate criminals following me home from one of your cases.”
Jack was Jo's partner and he was always concerned about Jo's well-being, but never more so when she got involved in one of Jill's cases.
“Let's see what we can convince them to do. I have your email and so I think I've got a good grasp on your research. It's a lot farther to follow me home to California for those involved in this case.”
Chapter 22
Jill was sitting with Jo and the two of them watched Detective Heyer stride across the hotel lobby toward them. She was wearing jeans with her detective shield affixed to the waist holding a cell phone in one hand.
In short order, the detective had Jo's name and contact information and they went upstairs to her room. Lobby staff had noted the detective's arrival and they soon had a hotel security guard trailing along after them.
The detective had Jo open her door, then she stated in a loud voice, “This is the New Orleans Police entering the room.” The detective entered with her gun in front of her and a patrol officer covering her back. They quickly determined there was no human in the room. They were told not to touch anything. A crime scene tech arrived to collect evidence from the room.
Jo looked intently at her belongings trying to determine what was missing and said, “I don't believe anything's missing. I mean I haven't counted my undies or my makeup products, but it looks like everything is here.”
"No technology? Laptop?" Heyer asked.
"No I travel with my iPad and I had it with me in the business center and at dinner. That's the value of carrying a big purse,” Jo said with a strained smile.
The crime scene tech had taken Jo's fingerprints so she could be eliminated from anything they found. As it was a hotel room it was likely containing lots of DNA and fingerprints. The tech concentrated on the interior zipper tabs of Jo's luggage as that was the one area outside of TSA agents, that would likely contain only her fingerprints. In short order, Jo had her bags packed and was ready to move over to Nathan and Jill's hotel. Nathan had lucked out by finding a hotel room with a connecting door. Jo would feel secure if she knew they were close by.
“Ms. Pringle, I would like to hear about the research you did related to the marijuana field that Dr. Quint identified,” Heyer requested. She was on her own with this part of the investigation as Briggs was out of the area.
Earlier Jill and thought that Jo was overreacting with her paranoia about the conversation on the marijuana field ownership. Now that she's seen the damage to Jo's room she likewise was worried about who could hear their conversation. She said to Heyer, “Can we have this conversation in your car? Jo here was paranoid earlier about who would overhear her describe her research and she was right to feel that way. I'm afraid our own room at our hotel may not be secure. When Jo called us, Nathan and I hurried over to her and we brought our own technology with us in case we would be targeted next. So we have everything we need for this conversation.”
Heyer thought about the situation and the fact that her own car had sat under the hotel's porte-cochère. She'd never seen anything like this in prior cases, so maybe it would pay off for her to take the group somewhere private and not predictable. She had a cousin that ran a jazz club and Heyer had been in her office and knew it was large enough to accommodate the four of them. With the music outside of the office, they wouldn't have to worry about eavesdroppers.
“Let's go in my car. I know a quiet place where we can talk.”
They piled into her sedan car and watched her navigate the New Orleans streets.
Jill engaged Nathan in a conversation about the bottle labels they had seen at the rum distillery. If the detective's car was bugged and someone was listening, they would be irked by the nonessential conversation. The detective parked the car and they walked three blocks and to Nathan's pleasant surprise, walked into a jazz club. The detective made her way to the bar and asked the bartender something. He gestured that she proceed to the right side back and they did so.
Heyer had them wait in the space outside of a closed-door and she entered the room.
Jill, Jo, and Nathan looked at each other puzzled by the detective's choice. Nathan shrugged and said, “The music is good here, I wouldn
't mind staying and listening to it. Maybe I'll take a seat at the bar, enjoy the music, and protect your backs in case anyone should head for this doorway.”
Jill and Jo nodded thinking that was a reasonable idea. Nathan hadn't been involved in the search for the marijuana field's owner and could contribute nothing to the conversation other than supporting the two of them. He deserved some musical enjoyment and he would indeed protect their backs.
Heyer came back out with another woman. The detective introduced her as a cousin and said that she'd given them the use of her office for their conversation. Nathan described his own plans and followed the cousin to the bar. Soon the three women were seated in the office. It was plain with a desk and three chairs. The desk was littered with a computer screen, schedules, and bills from what they could see as the Detective took a seat behind the desk while Jill and Jo were seated in the guest chairs.
“I think you'll agree that our conversation should be secure in this office. My car might have been bugged, your hotel room might've been bugged, but there's no way that anyone could've gotten ahead of us tonight and bugged this office.”
“It's a brilliant location Detective and as an added bonus, Nathan will get to enjoy the music he loves while watching to make sure no one gets close to this office. He's a master black belt in hapkido and could put a thug on their back in no time.”
“I'll admit, I felt kind of stupid with all this cloak and dagger stuff for a threat that I am in no way sure is real, but I also understand that our department never thought despite the shooting at the cemetery, that you were under any risk from an unknown entity. We were wrong, so perhaps a little paranoia on my part will keep us all alive.”
Jo and Jill relaxed with that explanation. It was one thing to be under threat, and it was another thing not to be believed.
“So Ms. Pringle tell me a little about yourself. How do you know Dr. Quint and what do you usually do on the cases that she takes on. Then I'd like an explanation of what you looked for in her current case.”
“It's late at night and I'm a little tired from my normal day and the added stress of these two attacks on me. We'll just use first names here? I'm Jo. She's Jill, and you are?”
“Julie.”
“Thank you. Now onto your question about my background Julie. I'm a CPA and by day, I do financial work. When Jill pulls me into a case, I become a forensic accountant. No, I'm not certified in that, but I'm damn good. In fact, my work is probably responsible for finding at least half of Jill's criminals. Would you agree, Jill?”
“Yes I would!”
“Okay. When Jill takes on a case, she usually drops an email to me and two other friends as we all help her on these cases. Often times there isn't a defined role for any of us at the start of the case. It's simply an FYI notification and as facts begin to accumulate in a case she brings in one or more of us to help. In this case you got my services for free because I happen to be here in New Orleans for a financial seminar and I had spare time and an easy location to devote to this case. Jill gave me the coordinates of the various farms around her victim's field sampling that was suspicious. As a routine matter, I search for financial information of the people connected to a case. I looked at the ownership of those farms. While in most cases farms are privately held, you'd be amazed at the information you can gather about them.”
“Do you have a diagram or something that describes how you arrived at your sources of information?” Heyer asked.
“It's all in the email that I sent to Jill.”
“I appreciate that you laid it out in an email, but I would be remiss as a detective if I didn't ask you for a firsthand account of it.”
Jo went on to describe the trail she'd followed while the detective furiously took notes asking questions now and again. At times, Jill thought the detective wanted to jump ahead and ask who was the owner, but she would restrain herself knowing that she was getting a lesson in financial detecting. When Jo delivered the shocking conclusion of ownership, Heyer looked extremely uneasy. She followed and agreed with Jo's every step in her research, but she didn't like the conclusion as it would make her life as a police officer oh so complicated and risky. There was a long history of state and local officials charged and convicted of various illegal acts almost all of them for money she recalled. She could even remember a few cases in which the political figure hired hit men to target a witness or jury member.
“I've followed your explanation and I'm taking notes and I'll have your email, and despite all of the crooked criminals we have in the history of Louisiana, I'm still shocked at this one. I'll do the research on the senator but I believe one of her platforms year-end and year out is to block marijuana from being legalized in Louisiana.”
“From a financial analysis perspective, I have to say her behavior makes a lot of sense. If marijuana is legalized, then every farmer can grow it and I know that some states like California have worried that crops like lettuce and strawberries would be given up to plant marijuana. If marijuana is illegal, then it's harder to get, and its price goes up because you can't buy it at just any supermarket on the street. If I wanted to maximize my profit as a marijuana dealer I would want it to be illegal in this state and for me to have a way to grow it in secret which is what I think you have here. I wonder how many other corn stocks are hiding other crops of marijuana. Perhaps she owns a company that grows pot legally in one of the legalized states, and she exports it to Louisiana because she has a seller network set up here.”
“I see,” said the detective mulling over things in her head about the situation and her next steps. She took a look at her watch and realized it was getting very late. The jazz club probably had already issued the last call. While it was legal to serve alcohol twenty-four hours a day in New Orleans, a jazz club typically made the last call shortly before they closed for the night.
“I'm going to work on this case and I may need to consult with you at times. You're both an expert on how to maximize financial gain, and you're also the sharpest forensic accountant who is not certified that I've ever met. I would appreciate once you returned home that you remain available by phone or email to answer my questions,” Heyer said looking directly at Jo.
“Of course I'll be available. Maybe not at the moment you call if I'm in a business meeting, but I'll return your call as soon as possible.”
“Is email a better way to contact you?”
Jo laughed and said, “No, I'm drowning in email and have at any given time, a thousand unread emails. Just leave me a message on my cell phone and I'll get back to you. I'll likely have little time to do more work for you, but if you have a few days before you need answers, I might be able to help.”
They wrapped up the meeting and left the office to find Nathan nearly alone at the bar talking to Heyer's cousin.
“We're ready to head back to our hotel. I'm not sure where we are in relation to our hotel, Detective. Are we within walking distance?”
“It's a little far to walk – about eight blocks given that an unknown source may want to take aim at you, and you folks are tired I know. Why don't I drop you off?”
They agreed and piled into her car. Thirty minutes later, Jo had settled into her new hotel room, and Jill and Nathan had retired as well.
“How was the jazz in the club,” Jill asked.
“It was very enjoyable and the club owner was great to talk to as well. We had a lot of favorite jazz musicians in common that we discussed and a few had played at her place. Pretty cool.”
“I noticed she had a drawing in front of her. Did you do that for her?”
“Yeah. She asked me what I did and I told her. She then said that as long as I was standing around, could I create a logo for her brand? It was a challenge I couldn't resist as she was sure I couldn't do it and she doubted that being a wine label designer was my real job.”
“Really?” Jill let out a laugh. “I wish I had been there to watch that interaction. Was she pleased with what you designed for he
r?”
“Yeah, she was. Of course, it's on a cocktail napkin so she'll need some help to transfer the image into usable materials, but that's okay. I won at the end of the night.”
“Sorry honey, but I think she won. She conned one of the most famous label artists in the world for a free design.”
“Oh well, it was an amusing way to pass the evening,” Nathan said curling into her at the end of a very long day.
Chapter 23
The next morning the three friends checked out of their hotel and went out for a late breakfast prior to heading to the airport. Jill was in a quandary as to whether to recommend a French café or the famous Café Du Monde. She settled for the café as it was smaller and quieter and they had so many great things on their menu. At least they would be able to watch who entered and tried to get too close. The Café Du Monde was so large that it would be difficult to scout everyone in the area. It would be a risky locale. Nathan and Jo really enjoyed the items they ordered off the menu. Alicia had been able to join them for their final New Orleans meal and enjoyed hearing about their adventures of the last few days. From there they had a short walk back to the hotel and a car service would take them to the airport. Once they were through security, they thought they would be able to relax.
“I wonder how they identified me and my location?” Jo mused. “You, they caught surveying their soybean field with your drone, but I could have been a random person exploring the same area of the cemetery as you.”
“Maybe they used facial recognition software to identify you. Who knows if the guy or gal that shot at us, took our picture first,” Jill suggested.
“Does the average person have access to that kind of software?”
“Yes. I debated buying a program for my business, but decided it wouldn't get used enough to justify the expense.”
“Okay maybe the answer as to how they found me doesn't add to this case.”
“It'll be interesting to see what the cops do with this case. There are some unknowns here that they should research before they acknowledge publicly that they're working on the case.”
