Jace’s Jewel

by Dale Mayer

  “Or they played that long game that Jace and I were talking about, and they have an end result,” Logan said.

  Jace nodded. “This is a very interesting element.” He picked up his phone and said, “I’ll send Levi and Detective Dickerson a note about this.”

  She reached across and covered his hand with hers. “Please try to keep this confidential. If any of this gets out to the public, the insurance company will face a horrific backlash.”

  He studied her face for a long moment, then nodded. “I will do what I can. But this is not information we can hide, not when four people have potentially been murdered for their policies. Someone had to know they had the policies.”

  Logan leaned forward and tapped her notepad. “And that means we need to know every policy handed out that the hackers accessed.”

  She stared at him in horror. “Do you understand how many thousands of names that is?” She shook her head. “I can get through all this stuff, but you’re asking for weeks’ worth of work. And that’s only if the company approves this. Which I highly doubt. We need more justification for that amount of work.”

  Logan sat back and drummed the tabletop. “Let’s start with everyone within Austin and the surrounding areas.”

  She glanced at him.

  “Any way to narrow those fields down by profession or as TxSAR members?” Jace asked, turning to Emily.

  She shook her head. “Not really. Sometimes forty years go by since the first policy was taken out, and people don’t update the information when they marry or divorce. Sometimes people even forget about their policies.”

  “Let’s think about this specifically so we can shorten the list.”

  “What we need is the names of beneficiaries, their addresses …” Logan said, staring off into space. “But then we also need the sex and potentially the rest of that person’s family tree. What if we create a program to do that?”

  “If we had the list of names, then, yes.”

  Jace glanced at Emily. “You can get the list of names and any of the database information that comes with it, such as the address, sex, age, and the beneficiary. Then maybe we’ll take all that information and sort it into something a little more usable.”

  She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I have to get permission. This is confidential information.”

  “It’s all confidential information. But the fact is, somebody’s already had access to it. So we’re years behind them. They’ve had that long to make plans.”

  She tossed down her pen and raised both hands in surrender. “But this is all conjecture,” she exclaimed. “We don’t even know that Ronnie and Howard’s deaths were anything but an accident.”

  “That’s true. But we do know about Lyle Cowichan and Richard Manton.”

  She pointed a finger at him and shook it. “Those two are for the police to sort out. And we have no way of knowing who might have killed them. Even assuming Sicily knows about the life insurance—and one million dollars is hard to walk away from—thinking about something is a very different thing than doing something concrete about it. Now if she had someone to help …”

  “Particularly when she already has the weapon, her ex-boyfriend.”

  “But we don’t know that,” she reminded him, yet vividly remembered the guy standing by the white SUV kissing Sicily in her driveway. Should she tell them now about that? She was an investigator and knew all possibilities should be considered. Would telling them about Sicily bring too much attention on her? God knew Emily had no reason to protect Sicily. But Emily’s job was to do right by the people who bought these policies to take care of their loved ones afterward. “I understand we have to follow all these trails, but it’ll take time.”

  “And we’re here,” Logan said, “to make sure that the time happens a whole lot faster than if you were left to your own devices. So get permission from your boss or from his bosses or whoever to get the list of names from all payouts before the breach and the security was boosted. You can do that without showing us the results. Then do a search of those names related to the four cousins’ families. Also check Ice’s list of TxSAR members killed. Depending on what you find—if you find anything—then we can see what the next step is. Obviously we need this kept aboveboard so the evidence doesn’t get thrown out in court.”

  She sank back in her chair, holding her cup of coffee close to her chest as she studied the men. She didn’t have any reason to argue, but it was a ton of work, and, maybe more than anything, she was scared. Scared of what they might find. “This could get really ugly,” she said weakly.

  “Depending on who’s doing it, if somebody’s doing it,” Jace said, “it will get ugly.” He shrugged. “It’s not your fault. You didn’t have a hand in it. And, yes, it’s your workplace and your job, but no way this can be covered up. Still, we’ll do what we can to keep it private. But, if we find out somebody’s using the insurance company’s database to access potential victims, there’s no way to keep it out of the media. This can be a circus if it ever goes to trial.”

  She leaned back and closed her eyes. So many names swirled through her head. “I can’t even imagine how many cases we’ve closed that I’ll have to sift through if you want me to go back twenty years.”

  “It doesn’t matter how many,” Jace said gently. “We still must look at them. And with as much demographic information as you have, so we can look for patterns.”

  She rolled her head to the side and studied him. “You guys have computer geeks at the compound?”

  “Several of them. And, even if we didn’t, we have good friends who can follow through. Several programmers are within our circle of friends.”

  She shook her head. “We can’t let anybody else into this.”

  “Oh, the one I’m thinking about has national defense contracts, so I’m pretty darn sure Tesla would get clearance for this.”

  “Not just her though. Sienna does forensic accounting. She understands the need for basic trust. Merk and Rhodes are both damned good.” Logan smiled. “I’m no slouch in that department either. And, if need be, my father has an IT specialist who works for him. Everybody has top security levels.”

  She groaned and then finally capitulated. “I’ll talk to Wilson. But I can’t guarantee anything.”

  “No, but you’ll have to convince him that we need this material.” Logan pushed his chair back and stood. “This has gotten way too big to hide anymore.”

  Jace got up, walked to the door, and opened it for Logan to leave first. He faced Emily. “It’s nine now. We’ll take you out for lunch at twelve. Make sure you have that talk beforehand.” He turned and walked out, flashing her a bright smile. “Might not be all that hard to do.” He closed the door behind him, leaving her alone in the room.

  “Not that hard,” she muttered as she got up and headed to her office. “Is he nuts? Wilson’ll never go for this.”

  Emily made it four steps when she heard Wilson’s voice.

  “Emily, come in. Catch me up on what’s going on.”

  She took a deep breath, walked into his office, and plastered a smile on her face. “What’s going on is, we have a much bigger problem than we first thought.”

  *

  As the men drove out of the parking lot, Logan glanced at Jace and said, “You think she’ll get us the information?”

  “I hope so. I’m more worried the head office will give her grief.”

  “Ice says that, if Emily can’t make it happen, Ice might jump in there and force the company’s hand.”

  “Well, if she can’t, the police certainly can.” Jace drove toward the Austin police station. “I figured we’d personally stop in and meet Detective Dickerson if he’s there. See if we can get the autopsy reports on the last two victims.”

  “I’d like to see those too. I can’t believe the fourth man drowned. He was in his goddamn car.”

  The police station was busy. They found parking in the back lot, then walked inside, asking to see the detective.
The woman gave them a harried look and told them to take a seat. The two men exchanged glances and sat down.

  Jace pulled out his phone and sent a message to the detective. We’re in the waiting room. If you have a moment, we could use a ten-minute conversation. He hit Send, then pocketed his phone. When he looked up, a man strode toward him.

  He approached with his hand out. “I’m Detective Dickerson. I presume you’re both here to see me.”

  Jace and Logan stood, shook the man’s hand, and Jace said, “Were you expecting us?”

  He nodded. “Ice said you’d be here this morning.”

  Jace smiled. “You’ve got to appreciate it when somebody paves the way for you.”

  “You know Ice?” Logan asked the detective.

  “Absolutely. We’ve worked on several local cases that have come up. She’s a good person. Any help she can give us right now is huge. Although I have to admit that I’m not exactly sure what we’re looking at in this case.”

  With Logan sending him a warning look, Jace realized that the PD waiting area wasn’t the best location to go over these details. “Sounds like we need a place to talk quietly. You can fill us in on what you found.”

  Detective Dickerson was clearly hoping this would go the other way. He exchanged a look with Logan.

  Logan shrugged. “Not exactly sure what we’ve found yet. Ice might be the better person to tell you that.”

  The detective snorted. “No hedging.” He motioned to a small room with a table in the center and several chairs around it. “Let’s talk in here.” He shut the door behind them.

  When they were seated, the detective said, “I have the autopsy results on Richard Manton. And on Lyle Cowichan.” He held up two folders in his hand.

  “We heard from our boss. She got a few details from the coroner. None of this makes sense,” Jace said. “Nobody drowns in their car after an altercation in which the other party was run over by a vehicle.”

  The detective laughed. “I wondered that myself. The autopsy put the two men’s deaths within the same hour. But the medical examiner can’t come any closer than that.”

  “How was Richard found?” Jace asked.

  Detective Dickerson looked at the papers in his file and said, “His vehicle was parked down the block. Nobody checked it out because it had smoky windows. It was only when the vehicle sat there for a long time that a neighbor came out, took a closer look, and realized somebody was inside. She called 9-1-1. She did not open the vehicle and didn’t touch the car, she says.”

  “So we have two men fighting at a barbecue. Then one man is run over, but he’s dead already, and I suppose it was made to look like a hit-and-run accident. But he’s already bearing the marks from the fight. The second man, also bearing the marks of the fight, drowns in his vehicle. So are we to assume that somebody poured water into his lungs?”

  “Correct. Abrasions were found on the inside of his throat, as if a funnel had been shoved down it, and water poured in it.”

  “Not exactly an easy thing to do if the person was conscious. So we assume he was unconscious. Still not something that’s easy to do if people are watching.”

  “Yes. Now the barbecue was later on a Saturday. There wasn’t any traffic on that small side street. If somebody had been standing and talking to the driver for a certain amount of time, people might’ve noticed but looked away. It still would have taken luck on the killer’s part to have done this without any witnesses.”

  “Or potentially Lyle, instead of going to his room, went to the garage or some secluded place, where he attacked his attacker, poured the water into the man’s lungs, helped him somehow to his vehicle, and then, when he left the vehicle, he fell into the road and died from previous injuries and was struck by another vehicle.”

  “As in karma?”

  The detective shrugged. “I’ve certainly seen a lot of weird things in my line of work, so that wouldn’t surprise me. But again how does he get the man into the vehicle, and, if he drove the car down the block, he still would have to move the now dead man into the driver seat. Also not easy. Although …” He tapped the autopsy report. “Lyle Cowichan was six feet and an easy 240 pounds. Richard Manton was only five eight and 150 pounds.” The detective settled back with a smile. “I like it.”

  “Now all you have to do is get the rest of the evidence to back that up,” Logan said drily.

  The detective nodded with a laugh. “That’s a trick. As always.” He leaned forward. “I can give you guys a copy of these autopsy reports. I want to know anything you find as it comes available.”

  “That we can do.”

  “Ice said this might be connected to another case,” Detective Dickerson said. “She didn’t want to go into any details yet because she wasn’t sure.” He glanced at the folder in his hand. “Honestly I have a million other cases I’m dealing with. But, if it is connected, I need to know fast.”

  Jace stood. “Hopefully we will have information for you in the next few days.”

  The detective’s eyebrows rose. “Now that would be good. I won’t get this case closed for weeks yet. Still waiting to hear back from forensics on fingerprints and fibers from the vehicle. Both men had DNA from the other man under their own fingernails, but we’re still looking to see if a third party figures in. It’s quite possible someone ran over the one and then turned his attention to the other one.”

  “Unfortunately, yes.” Logan shook his hand. “We’ll see ourselves out.”

  Jace nodded to the detective. “Thanks for seeing us so quickly.”

  The detective watched as the two men left. Jace could feel Dickerson’s gaze burning on his back. “I like that theory,” he said to Logan as soon as they stepped outside. “The thing is, it’s just a theory. Until there is evidence to support it.”

  “And why drowning? Is that the faster, easier method to kill a man? If he’s unconscious already, why not smother him, break his neck, beat his head in? All are much easier than trying to drown an unconscious man.”

  “He was in the vehicle. He could have broken his neck if he had to carry him anyway. The water must have significance.”

  “Now that segues us back to the first two men who drowned,” Logan said.

  Chapter 6

  Emily sat down and said to her boss, “You okay?”

  He nodded. “I’m running behind,” he fussed. “I have a conference call in fifteen minutes.” He stared at the coffee in her hand. “I didn’t get coffee at the house this morning.”

  “Too many kids to hug and kiss.”

  The smile beamed across his face. “Something like that. I got peanut butter on my shirt collar as their arms were around my neck and had to rush and change my shirt.”

  She chuckled. “And yet that would’ve been adorable.”

  “If the timing hadn’t been so tight, it would’ve been. As it is …”

  “You’re not late.”

  “I don’t like being pressed for time.” He placed his arm on his desk and looked at her. “Now, what can I do for you?”

  She launched into an explanation of her meeting with Jace and Logan. The look of horror that crossed Wilson’s face would’ve made her laugh if it wasn’t such a serious subject.

  “You told him about that security breach?”

  She leaned forward. “I had to tell him. They are digging deep into things. They’d find out and how would that look? It’s bad enough that we didn’t tell the police way back when.” She settled back as he sputtered. “We also must prepare for the fact that, if Legendary Security finds anything further, this could definitely become a police issue.”

  Wilson shook his head rapidly. “No. You don’t understand. We can’t have that.” He looked at her expectantly as if she could make it all magically go away.

  “When somebody hacked our accounts, if they used that information to kill people for insurance money, we have no choice.” She enunciated the last part clearly, trying to get through the fantasy look on her boss’s face t
hat said she could fix anything. “I can’t fix that.”

  Wilson wasn’t listening. “I have faith in you.” He turned on his computer as if to say the conversation was over.

  She groaned. “I need your permission to pull that information and give it to them.”

  He gave her a harried look. “Why?”

  “I explained why,” she said patiently. “I’m not authorized to hand out that information. You are.”

  He got a hunted look around the edges of his eyes. “And, if this goes south, then I go south with it,” he complained. “What if I lose my job?”

  “Neither of us can afford to lose our jobs,” she said gently. “But the fact is, the head office won’t be impressed if the police come in here with warrants and gain access to all this anyway. The fallout with the media would be horrific.”

  He sagged in place. “I’ll talk to my boss about it.”

  She could see he was more stressed out than when he first arrived. She stood to leave. “And do it this morning. The men are coming back at noon for my answer.”

  He waved at her. “Go away.”

  She turned and walked out of the office. “If you don’t get the clearance, then Ice will get it for us.”

  He gave her a look. “Who’s Ice?”

  Emily smiled. “You probably don’t want to know if you’re the one stopping her from getting what she needs to get.”

  His shoulders hunched a bit more. “Shut the door behind you.”

  She closed it with a sharp click and walked back to her desk. Some things she could do without the required permission. But no way would she get very far before the men showed up at lunchtime. She settled down with a large mug of coffee, a clean sheet of paper open on her notepad, and went through the names on Ice’s list. Maybe she could compile them into a shorter list. She had a ton of open cases too. But the system here wasn’t exactly set up in a way she could move them to somebody else’s desk. When folders got added to her load, others never got removed.

  Hoping for an easier place to start, she worked on the men’s names first, as men were less likely to change their surnames than women.