Chocolate Diamonds (Jill Quint, MD, Forensic Pathologist Series Book 2)

by Peche, Alec

  They agreed that they did not want to change their vacation plans or itinerary. They could, however, help Dr. DeGroot with his investigation. Marie had her iPad with her and if they could find pubs with Wi-Fi, she would be very happy to drink beer and work on the case.

  Angela, Jo, and Marie had never before met the victim of one of their investigations. They thought that Jill's job in the state crime lab had been a fairly disturbing occupation. They would stay out of Dr. DeGroot's autopsy room, but gladly supply him with the threads of an investigation from a distance.

  They stopped in at a little café for coffee and pastries for breakfast. While they dined they developed a list of questions to give to Dr. DeGroot.

  “We can either start with the beginning or the end of Laura Peeters’ life,” said Jill.

  “Let's start with the end and work backwards,” suggested Angela. “I know where the end was, I just don't know where the start is. So better to keep working backwards until we feel like we've reached the start.”

  “It's much easier to think this through when you know your country’s resources,” commented Jo, who was concerned about how she would find financial information. “I assume they have an IRS-like agency that provides law enforcement with financial data on people. You know me - I am the queen of financial information.”

  “Since I already do candidate background checks internationally, I can do an easy checklist of sources for Dr. DeGroot to investigate. In fact, I think I might have a checklist on my iPad that I could just mail him,” remarked Marie.

  “Okay, we should create that list for him,” said Jill, pulling out pen and paper. “We need to have him check with the hospital to see what locator badges served Laura.”

  Marie added, “He should check for cameras around the hospital and in the emergency room.”

  “I will ask him to let me view the medical record so I can comment on any care that was different than the standard for anaphylactic shock,” said Jill.

  Angela put aside her tea and added, “He should interview the staff that cared for her in the emergency room to get a full vision of what she said. Likely not everything she said was written down in the medical record.”

  Jill was tapping away at her phone “I have a list of routine autopsy tests on my iPhone. I’ll mail those to him and attach the WHO guidelines on testing for anaphylactic shock.”

  Marie got up to fetch another cup of coffee and said, “If he will give me her name, a picture, and the DOB, I can probably research her while we are in the lecture hall today.”

  “I’ll develop a list of things to look for financially. Since I'm completely unfamiliar with the European regulatory bodies and reporting requirements, I'll leave you guys to do the sleuthing for now,” Jo said with a smile.

  She was amused at how engaged her friends were trying to solve the mystery, if there was one, of Laura Peeters.

  They paid their bill and had an enjoyable walk to the diamond district. Once there, they admired many beautiful pieces of expensive jewelry. None of them had a collection of real jewels, preferring cheaper imitations. Angela had fun photographing her friends wearing different baubles and the amazing store display windows.

  Jill called the number that Dr. Janssens had given her about thirty minutes before they were due at the lecture hall. A car arrived at their location and they piled in and headed for Saint Elizabeth's hospital. They were to be met at the emergency room entrance and guided to the lecture hall.

  With a full ten minutes to spare, they arrived in a large and noisy conference hall. The four of them were amazed at the crowd given the short notification of the lecture topic. The room consisted of long narrow tables with chairs behind each table. Apparently, unlike American lecture hall, Belgians were not afraid to sit in the front rows and the room was rapidly filling in. There was a podium for Jill to speak from and behind her on a large screen was her name in print along with some other words in Dutch. Jill liked the fact she could get cozy with the audience if she left the podium and walked the aisles. Between school, training, and later, work; she had pretty much been in every possible lecture set-up.

  Chapter 4

  Jill introduced Angela and Jo to Dr. Janssens. The room continued to fill and in the end there were two to three hundred people in attendance by Jill’s estimate. Dr. Janssens opened the meeting.

  “For those of you who don't know me, I'm Dr. Janssens, chief of emergency medicine. Some of you in the room may remember that we had a Grand Rounds discussion about two months ago about a case of necrotizing fasciitis that resulted from a killing in the United States.

  “Two days ago a woman needed emergency medical care in an Antwerp restaurant for a nut allergy. She was fortunate that seated at the next table were a group of tourists newly arrived from the United States - Dr. Jill Quint and her team. As you may recall, she is the pathologist who made the discovery of a killing by bacterial infection that we discussed at Grand Rounds.

  “Dr. Quint started CPR at the restaurant alternating chest compressions with Marie Simon,” said Dr. Janssens introducing the two of them with Jill off to his side and Marie at the back of the room. “I had the great pleasure of meeting them in our emergency room as they continued CPR in the ambulance on the way to St. Elizabeth's. Dr. Quint has graciously agreed to give a short lecture to this group. She also has her team with her in case any of the audience has questions relevant to their areas.”

  Dr. Janssens continued with the introductions, "As she had not planned to lecture while on vacation in Belgium, Dr. Quint does not have a business suit, scientific data, or a PowerPoint deck, to present her findings. Instead, she will provide us a ten to fifteen minute outline of the case and leave the rest of this lecture open to questions and answers.”

  The hall erupted in appreciative applause of her team's sacrifice of their vacation time. Jill approached the microphone.

  “Hello, and thank you for the warm welcome. I had no idea that the case of necrotizing fasciitis reached much outside of San Francisco, let alone to Belgium. I will have to congratulate Dr. Meyer on his excellent presentation of the case.

  “Let me give you a brief biography of my team and me. I was trained as a forensic pathologist in California, and I spent more than fifteen years in their Bureau of Forensic Services assisting law enforcement throughout the state with investigations and evidence.

  “Unfortunately, the more I had to testify in court, the less I enjoyed my job. After a lot of soul-searching, I decided to buy land to run a vineyard. I operate Quixotic Winery in the Palisades Valley of California. A month ago, I began selling my first vintage of Moscato wine. Several years ago, as I began creating the winery, I converted one of the barns to contain a variety of laboratory analyzers. I used some of the analyzers to perfect my organic nutrients and pest-control substances for the grape-vines.

  “I had been away from the forensic bureau for about three months when I got a call from a law enforcement friend in Southern California. He was unhappy with the quality of the autopsy performed. My friend was convinced that the case was a homicide, but the medical examiner had ruled death by natural causes. He was able to convince the family to request that I perform a private autopsy, and I did. It was a homicide, and my findings allowed law enforcement to proceed with solving the case. Now I do a cause-of-death consult on eight to twelve cases a year.

  “My teammates,” said Jill while pointing out each of her friends. “Jo Pringle, Marie Simon, and Angela Weber joined me in my investigations by the time I was engaged with my third client. Jo is an expert at examining the financial records of the victim and any suspects. Marie finds and compiles a background check on anyone. The digital foot-print we all leave on the Internet and elsewhere in the world is very informative. And Angela has this special force about her that makes anyone spill their guts during an interview.”

  This last comment drew a laugh from the conference hall audience.

  “So let me move on to the case in San Francisco. Usually a loved
one of the deceased contacts me within twenty-four hours of a death. It is best if I can begin before a mortician embalms the deceased. In this case, I fortunately was able to examine the victim before the mortician began his work to prepare the body for the funeral.

  “The victim was a thirty-something otherwise healthy male who died from necrotizing fasciitis after being cut by coral underwater while scuba diving. At the time I took the case, I thought it was highly likely that the victim had died due to septic shock, and he did, but it was from unnatural causes.

  “Given that the known cause of death in this case was an overwhelming infection, I took care to look at the infection from as many angles as I could. I swabbed and cultured the bacteria around his leg wound and an IV site in his upper arm, and ran several DNA studies on the bacteria.”

  As Jill continued to provide an overview of the case to those attending, Marie entered the notes that Jill had created earlier for Dr. DeGroot into her iPad. Once she completed typing the list, she began her Internet search on Laura Peeters.

  “As Dr. Janssen mentioned, we are on vacation in Belgium, so I lack my slides to show you a DNA match in bacterial growth. What other questions can I answer for you related to the case of necrotizing fasciitis, other unusual causes of death, or questions you may have related to the field of forensic pathology?”

  Jill paused and took a swig of water. She wasn't sure what would come next as far as questions. She thought that the attendance at the event was an indication of the interest in her work. But she was in a different culture and she couldn't begin to guess the behavior of physicians, residents, and medical students.

  What followed proved to be one of the most engaging conversations she’d had within her profession. Like the United States, the European Union television networks carried their fair share of cops and robbers dramas. It was evident that those dramas had colored the audience’s view of forensic pathology. They probably had another two hours of questions for Jill, but she ended the lecture on time. Her friends had been very supportive in coming with her to the lecture Hall, but they were all eager to get on with the search for the best chocolate.

  At the end of the lecture, several people approached Jill wanting her contact information. She provided it to Dr. Janssens and the room quickly emptied. Finally, Dr. DeGroot approached the group as they were packing up to leave.

  “Hello, Dr. Quint. It is nice to meet you in person. I'm Dr. DeGroot and we spoke this morning.”

  “Nice to meet you, Dr. DeGroot. We put together some checklists of what we usually look at for any case. If you give me your e-mail address, Marie will send those to you right now.”

  Marie had the iPad ready to send him the attachments, and she handed it over to him to enter his e-mail address. Pretty soon they heard the swish sound of a sent e-mail.

  “Marie, what were you able to find on the victim Laura Peeters?”

  Jill looked over at Dr. DeGroot and said “She was using your Wi-Fi to do a standard background check on your victim.”

  “Dr. DeGroot, I sent you a Word document that included my research on Laura. She has an unusual background. Based on my five years of working with Jill, her background is suspicious enough that it mirrors what we would find in working on a case of Jill's that was determined to be a homicide.”

  The women were all getting restless to return to their vacation state of mind, bored with talking about forensic pathology and homicide. They gave their contact information to Dr. DeGroot and exited the lecture hall.

  They headed over to Ruben’s House, one of the top attractions in Antwerp. Their new favorite chocolate shop was close by and they stopped in for a few pieces. Next, using a guidebook, they found a bar off the beaten path where the servers were extremely knowledgeable about beer. The four hundred page tome on beer gave them great conversation while they each drank two of their favorites from the book.

  “Cheers! To a great vacation with fabulous friends!” toasted Angela.

  “Cheers!” they all said in unison, with laughter and smiles, glasses raised.

  “So Jill, have you been thinking about the mystery of Laura Peeters all afternoon?” asked Marie with a smirk. “I am amazed that you had the willpower not to ask me what I found on that search while we were in the lecture hall.”

  “Since you asked, I've been dying to know what you found. It's only my respect for your vacation time that has kept me quiet.”

  “The three of us actually had a bet on you,” said Marie. “While you were enjoying yourself in the lecture hall, Angela thought you would only last until we got out of that building. I thought you would hold back until sometime on our walk to Ruben’s House. It appears that Jo knows you best she thought you'd hold out to the first beer.”

  “Really, you were all wrong. I made it through the first beer, and was working on my second. I still had not asked a question about Laura until you brought it up. I think that shows willpower!”

  They all laughed at Jill's comment, as they were served their second choice of beer.

  “Okay, I've been patient enough. Tell me your findings!”

  “Laura Peeters, would have been age 37, except she died, according to Belgian records, at age 23.Native to Antwerp. Single, no children, no known partner. Family – adopted at age three by Marie and Josef Peeters, now deceased. No siblings, aunts, uncles, really no family. I have never, in over two-hundred searches, had a candidate with no family. Occupation – wanted by both the Belgian police and Interpol for over ten years for questioning in numerous diamond thefts and smuggling. Education – attended the International Gemological Institute in Antwerp. She was a certified gemstone scientist.”

  “I guess that background helps if you are going to steal diamonds,” agreed Jo. “So, according to Belgian tax authorities, she is dead, but Interpol believed her to be alive and stealing. Maybe Dr. DeGroot can get her fingerprints and see if it is a match. I believe he mentioned that the ID that was with her at the hospital said her name was Julie DuPont. I remember that you located her wallet in her purse at the restaurant, but none of us looked at the identification. We may find more aliases as we dig deeper into this case. Just to reduce confusion, no matter the alias she is operating under, let’s always call her Laura,” Marie said.

  After a moment, she added. “I suppose as a diamond thief you should try to steal the best stones, and it would be helpful to have the education to evaluate the stones. Laura left a calling card at some of the sites of her diamond heists, but they couldn’t catch her.”

  “What kind of calling card?” asked Angela.

  “She left a small piece of wrapped chocolate in lieu of the diamonds.”

  “Was it the same type of chocolate at each heist?” queried Jill.

  “Funny you should ask I wondered the same myself. In my quick search, I couldn't find the answer to that question.”

  “How long had she been stealing diamonds, and exactly how many heists are attributable to Laura?” asked Jo.

  “It looks like she was suspected to be involved in two major heists per year for nearly fifteen years. Is it any wonder that Interpol wanted her captured?”

  “Were all of the heists in Antwerp?” asked Jill. “Were they all retail jewelry stores?”

  “She stole diamonds from retail stores, manufacturers, and private homes throughout Europe, the UK, and South America.”

  “I think Laura should be our beer mystery while we are in Belgium and the Netherlands,” stated Angela in all seriousness. “We can each do a little research on her every day, and discuss our findings each time we sit down for beer.”

  “Beer mystery?” questioned a laughing Jo.

  “I agree. My gut is telling me that even though she died from anaphylactic shock, I think underneath it all, she's really a homicide case. I would love to help the Belgian authorities solve this case. I don't like to see anybody killed, even if Laura was a master diamond thief. Maybe if we solve the case, the police might find the diamonds or learn what she did with
them. I assume the location of her diamond cache remains a mystery?” said Jill.

  “You're correct. Most diamonds were traceable because of the setting, but none of Laura’s stolen jewelry has ever been found,” noted Marie, continuing with the story. “Loose diamonds could easily be sold anywhere in the world. Several of the private collections she raided, have substantial rewards posted for the return of the pieces. Maybe we can collect some of that reward money by finding Laura’s stash!”

  “Dream on,” said Jo. “As if we could solve the case of the diamonds heists quicker than Interpol and the Belgian police! We’re good, but we don’t have half the resources they do.”

  “Yeah, but if we did, you could all quit your day jobs and do detective work when you wanted to work,” reasoned Jill.

  “But we like our day jobs most of the time,” observed a smiling Angela.

  “I can’t argue with that sentiment. I love growing the Muscat grape. So we’ll make Laura Peeters our beer mystery, and we’ll attempt to solve her suspected homicide whenever we break for beer. Let's put together a game plan for our research,” Jill directed. “We have four detectives and only two iPads.”

  She thought for a moment. “I bet that Dr. DeGroot will share the autopsy report with me. I want to find out more about her nut allergy and her circle of acquaintances. What did she eat unsuspectingly that had nuts in it? Who was close by to observe us doing CPR on her and then follow her to the hospital?” asked Jill starting the conversation.

  “I took pictures inside the restaurant, so I’ll take a look at those pictures and see if anyone looks suspicious,” added Angela. “We could return to the same restaurant since you never got your Flemish stew, and while we dine, I will question the restaurant staff.”

  “I will follow the money,” Jo declared. “I will look into her bank accounts and tax statements if I can find them on the Internet. I will also do some research on diamond sales and look into the value of the private collections she stole.”