Jace’s Jewel

by Dale Mayer

  The first three men on the list had no policies. Several policies popped up with their surnames but without the correct first names. On her notepad she wrote down the last names. She was afraid she’d have to go back and search a little deeper when Ice got this information. That’s when she realized these men were still alive. Ice was looking to possibly prevent another murder. Talk about pressure. With four men dead in a short amount of time, Emily had no way to know how many others had already been taken out. And that massive twenty-year-long list she was expecting from Jace would be in her hands soon. One couldn’t deal with so many variables at the same time.

  Staying focused, by the time she got to the last one, she had several sheets of notes. Four of the names had policies. Two of those had died with a policy in place with her company. The number of the payout made her queasy. It was one million dollars again.

  She rubbed her temples. “That was normal though.”

  A lot of policies were for one million, half a million, some only one hundred thousand dollars. It brought to mind the possibility that somebody was searching for million-dollar payouts and killing the people involved. Talk about a horror movie. For the two with policies still active, she wrote down the beneficiaries and then the other information, keeping in mind what Jace had said this morning. She added in age, religion, address, and any other information in the notes she deemed potentially informative.

  In both cases, the insurance money went to their spouses. She quickly found the last man’s policy. He was alive but his wife had passed away. Emily made a mental note that somebody needed to contact the man and change who his beneficiary was. No point in paying for a policy if nobody received the insurance proceeds. With that taken care of, she opened up her email document and transferred all her notes into her computer and saved a copy. Then she contacted Ice by email and sent her the list. An email came back a few moments later.

  Thanks. I’ll get back to you if I have any more questions.

  As she closed the email, Emily realized something about one of the policies they had paid out that bothered her. She checked into the policy for Ken Foster. His had been a half-million-dollar payout, which was a break from the others. And the beneficiary had been his wife. There had been no questions; the payment had been made. What made her stomach queasy was he had died on a rescue—he had drowned. When her phone rang a moment later, she wasn’t surprised to see the caller ID.

  “Morning, Ice,” she said in a low voice. She was at the back corner of the building, and, although she was in a cubicle and didn’t have anybody too close to her, she spoke softly.

  “Good morning, Emily. Thank you very much for the information. I do have a question.”

  “I gathered as much. What’s the problem?”

  “In your file, does it say anything about how Ken Foster died?”

  Emily winced. “Yes. He drowned.”

  A moment of silence passed before Ice spoke. “Do you have the date when that happened?” Ice’s voice was all business now.

  Emily looked up the file. “Fifteen months ago on March 26.”

  “And is that his legal name, or did he change his name?”

  “Yes, that’s his legal name. And his date of birth was April 4, 1962.”

  “Do we have any family members for him?”

  “Just a minute, I’ll take a look.” Emily flipped through the file, looking for notes and any attachments or indices. “I don’t see anything on file.”

  “Okay, I’ll hunt it down.” And she hung up.

  Emily slowly hung up her desk phone and stared at the computer in front of her. It wasn’t that the cause of death was so similar to the others that made her skin crawl. But that it wasn’t different enough to not be included in this whole mess. So fifteen months ago somebody was killing people for their insurance policies. Why? It wasn’t like they were the beneficiary. Unless it was a Robin Hood thing, where they were stealing from the rich to give to the poor, how were these people being singled out?

  Once again she had too many damn questions and not enough answers. Hating the direction of her thoughts, and the sickly feeling that she was getting from this whole nightmare, she got up and poured herself another cup of coffee and walked to the window. A river was in her view, a beautiful one with walkways on both sides. She’d always taken solace from Mother Nature’s beauty. Right now all she could think about was how someone could take something so beautiful and use it as a murder weapon.

  *

  “You think Emily will have any information ready for us?”

  “She’ll have some of it. She already sent Ice information on the names she’d asked for.”

  “She can do only so much,” Logan said. “Why are we at the morgue anyway?”

  Jace smiled. “Because the drowning in the vehicle sounded very odd to me.”

  “You think?”

  They walked in through the front door. The woman at the desk gave them a surprised look and said, “What can I do for you?”

  “Dr. Morgenstern is expecting me,” Jace said. “I’m Jace Colley. This is Logan Redding.”

  She nodded, grabbed the phone, and called through. After a moment she said, “He’ll be here in a moment.”

  The door opened, and a man in his sixties strode out with an air of narrowed no-nonsense around him. He motioned toward his office and said, “Follow me.”

  They followed him down the hallway. At an office, he opened the door. “Take a seat.”

  “Thanks for seeing us,” Jace said.

  “I’ve known Ice for a lot of years. Her father and I went to med school together.”

  Jace smiled. He had to love working for a company that had connections.

  The doctor steepled his fingers, dropping his chin on top of them. “What’s this all about?”

  “We’re looking into a series of deaths that could potentially be linked and could potentially be murder.”

  “Well, the man I have was obviously murdered. I can’t imagine anybody doing this to himself. It would be impossible for a living person to shove a long gasoline funnel down one’s own throat and pour water into one’s own lungs, due to the gag reflex, the body’s own inclination to save itself.”

  Logan asked, “So we can definitely rule out suicide?”

  The coroner nodded. “I’ve seen people do some strange things to themselves. But I don’t think that was the case this time. The abrasions inside his throat would’ve been extremely painful, even if a very small tube was used.”

  “Would he have needed medical training?”

  The coroner frowned, tapping his fingers on the desk, and thought about it. “It certainly would help to get the funnel in the right place. But an amateur could have done it, or anybody with basic first-aid. Honestly, in this day and age, the internet gives you all the information you might want. So I can’t say for sure he would have had medical knowledge. I’m just saying it would have helped. Given the presence of scrapes and abrasions, I don’t think very much care was taken. It was a fast job.”

  “Can you analyze the water that came out of his lungs for us?”

  The coroner’s eyebrows shot up. “Why?”

  “We want to rule out the source of water. Was it from the same river where two other TxSAR men drowned several weeks ago?”

  The coroner leaned forward. “Now that’s an interesting twist.”

  Jace shrugged. “There could be a connection. But we can’t be sure that the other two men were murdered.”

  “Tell me what river was involved.” The coroner brought out his notepad, and also he brought up the case file on his computer. “My instinct was that it was tap water. But should this be connected, well, that would be one way to find out.”

  “The Blanco River is where the two men drowned several weeks ago.”

  The coroner looked thoughtful. “I remember that. The TxSAR men. One was assumed to have gotten into trouble, and the other went in after him to save him, and they both drowned.” He narrowed his gaze sharply and
stared at them. “And yet you’re suspecting foul play?”

  “Both men had one-million-dollar life insurance policies on their lives.”

  “Given their type of volunteer work, that’s not uncommon,” the coroner said. “Most people who flirt with danger have a fallback for their families.”

  Logan nodded. “Exactly. But then you have the man who was run over by a vehicle.”

  The coroner nodded. “He was unconscious when he fell on the street and was then run over.” He leaned back and tapped his chin. “What possible connection could there be between all four of these men?”

  Jace said, “There are three connections. One, they all worked as TxSAR volunteers.” He glanced over at Logan.

  Logan added, “They’re all cousins, from the same family.”

  “And,” Jace added, “Three had one-million-dollar life insurance policies, the fourth man had a half a million dollar plan, but allwith the same company.”

  The coroner leaned forward, his chair hitting his desk with a bang. “Well, that does make it interesting.”

  Chapter 7

  “Emily?”

  Startled, Emily looked up from the file she was buried in. Wilson stood in front of her.

  He motioned toward his office. “I need to talk to you.”

  She stood, snatched up her notebook, and followed him.

  In his office, with the door closed, he sat down heavily and said, “I just got off the phone with the head office.”

  She nodded, not liking his tone of voice. No way this would be good for any of them. She hoped the company would do the right thing.

  “They’re insisting on a warrant before we hand out that kind of confidential information.”

  She sagged in place. “Are you sure?”

  Wilson nodded. “It is confidential information.”

  She rubbed her hand on her forehead. “Then you need to know I searched the TxSAR deaths list from the last twenty years that Ice gave me and came up with information on four of them.”

  “What were the names, and what did you find out?”

  She quickly explained.

  He frowned. “Surely that’s not enough to cause any concern.”

  “I doubt it. That’s why I gave her the information.” She shrugged. “I figured being cooperative would get us less trouble than not.”

  He sat back. “Depends. However, if the police requested it, then we have no option but to hand it over. Anyone else though …”

  “If a warrant is required,” she said, “I rather imagine they can get it. But, once a warrant is issued, it all becomes public knowledge.”

  His brows came together. “I’m not sure about that.”

  She nodded. “Once the media finds out a warrant has been issued, then it could be a huge circus.”

  “A warrant could be issued for any number of reasons,” Wilson protested.

  “Sure, but reputation is everything.” She shrugged. “I think Ice was trying to get to the bottom of this without bringing in the police or the media. I really feel that giving Ice the information avoids all that, and they could see if there are any worrisome patterns.”

  He shook his head. “I can bring it up with the head office again. But, at the moment, my hands are tied.”

  She stood. “Then I’ll pass that on.” She turned and walked to the door. “And what about the information I have already given her?”

  “Forward the email you sent to her so I can take a look. I can reassure those at the head office that nothing confidential was handed over.”

  She nodded and walked out of his office. Inside her stomach was churning. Ice needed that information. Even though Emily knew it was not the company’s fault, what if the murderer had killed others?

  On the other hand, what if there was no killer at all? Mentally confused and frustrated at the political wrangling, she headed back to her desk. As soon as she sat down, her cell phone rang. She pulled it out and saw Jace’s name shining up at her. She smiled as she answered. “Hello.”

  “It’s almost lunchtime. We’re heading to your office to pick you up. Is ten minutes okay?”

  She glanced at her monitor and realized it was indeed almost noon. “Sure, that’s fine. A meal it is.”

  She tucked her phone into her purse, logged off her computer, grabbed her notebook, stuffed it into her bag, and headed to the ladies’ room. No way she would get anything else done right now anyway. She hadn’t told Ice about the company’s decision. But she figured, once she told Jace and Logan, they’d pass on the news.

  She walked out the front door and stood at the curb. Her stomach was growling, after missing breakfast. She thought with longing about yesterday’s muffin. But she hadn’t had time this morning. With the stress, her nerves were that much rougher.

  When she looked down the street, she saw Jace and Logan driving toward her. Logan pulled up in front, and Jace opened the door.

  He got into the back seat and said, “You take the front.”

  She should protest, but he was already in the back with the door shut. She rolled her eyes and scrambled into the front of the truck Shutting the door, she grabbed the seat belt and said, “So where are we going for lunch?”

  Logan laughed. “It’s a toss-up between Italian and the Curry House.”

  Her eyebrows rose. “If I have a say in the matter, I’m going with the Curry House.”

  Jace snorted behind her. “I told you that she’d go with my choice.”

  She glanced at Logan. “If you need to win this one,” she said with a big grin, “I’ll be happy with Italian.”

  “No, that’s okay,” Logan said, pulling back out into traffic. “Indian it is.”

  The Curry House was a mile away. When they pulled into the rear parking lot, they took the last spot. “At least it’s busy,” Logan said. “That should mean it’s good food.”

  “I’ve been here several times,” she said. “It is good.”

  Inside the restaurant, they were shown to a table in the far back corner. That suited her. She needed to talk to the men. The least amount of people listening, the better.

  When seated and their orders taken, Jace turned toward her. “How did you do this morning?”

  She shrugged. “Win some and lose some.”

  “Let’s start with the wins,” Logan said.

  She chuckled. “Like a kid, always wanting the good news first.”

  “In this business I’ll take any good news first.”

  “So I ran the numbers and names for Ice. Four names popped up that raised some flags for her.” She quickly went over the files.

  The men sat back.

  “Interesting that the amount of one was different.”

  “But not enough to discount.”

  “Also the fact that he drowned.”

  “Do we know why Ice chose those names?”

  Jace shook his head. “I didn’t ask.”

  Logan leaned forward. “What about access to the database?”

  She shook her head. “The head office said no, not without a warrant.”

  Jace didn’t say anything.

  She glanced over at him. “You don’t seem surprised.”

  He shrugged. “Bureaucracy. They do everything they can to keep things buttoned down tight.”

  Silence settled over the table for the next few moments. Then she said in a low voice, “What will you do?”

  Jace glanced at Logan and said, “Call to see what Ice might want to do next.”

  “You must have a little more than wanting to check a database in order to get a warrant,” she said seriously. “Do you have any real proof that there’s been foul play? Or anything along that line? No judge will give it to you without evidence.”

  “No, maybe not,” he said. “But a judge might when they realize there was a security breach, and your company didn’t inform all its members that their private information had been hacked.”

  She stared at him in shock. “You can’t do that. I’ll lose my job.�
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  Jace turned to her. “Why would you lose your job?”

  “Because I told you that we had the security breach.”

  Then their meals arrived. She stared at the plate of lamb curry but wasn’t hungry anymore. She picked up her fork and stabbed a piece of meat. “I was thinking of changing jobs anyway.”

  Logan chuckled. “They can’t blame you.”

  She shot him a look. “You know they can, and they will. I’ll be the fall guy.”

  That shut him up. She took a bite and remembered why she chose curry. This was succulent and so full of flavor.

  “Why were you looking at changing your job?” Jace asked.

  There was just something about that voice. So very compassionate. Adding that to the powerful sexiness, he was deadly on her senses. “Because I deal with a lot of unpleasantness,” she said. “I get all the questionable cases, those that require investigation. I have investigators out in the field all the time. I go out myself. I have a very high closing rate. And because that’s what I’m good at, I get more fraud and murders than I care to work on.” She took another bite of her delicious food, feeling some joy at the spices warming through her. “This was a good choice,” she said. “Even if I don’t like the subject matter.”

  “We’re sorry to upset you,” Jace said. “It’s not our intention. But this investigation has certainly grown in scope, and that’s something we can’t ignore. If there is any chance of a connection to previous insurance claims, then we need to know. If it’s connected to the hacking of your security data, that we also need to know. If any of the people since that data was breached has been using it for their own gain, then we need to know.”

  “I get it. I get it. But you know what any corporation is like. They won’t hand over anything unless they have to.”

  Logan nodded. “But, if the information was stolen once, I’m sure a lot of it is on the internet. You might find it on your own.”

  She froze, her fork in midair. “Are you nuts?” she hissed.

  Jace looked at her in surprise. “Barring the fact somebody may have stolen it and not sold it but kept it for himself, then it’s probably sitting in a private server until the thief has a reason to use the information. Not to mention the person may have left his own security wide open or may have put something on the internet for others to follow. It’s never quite as simple as stealing and not leaving any tracks. There are almost always signs of something left behind.”