by Peche, Alec
Jill finished with the scene and looked over at David and asked, “Would you like a moment alone here? Some more time here at the scene?”
“Thanks for asking, but no I am done here. I thought this would become sort of a shrine for me. You know - Joseph’s last moments alive were here. Now that I have visited this site, it has none of the emotions I thought I would associate with the site. I don’t ‘feel’ Joseph here at all. He is not in my mind in this location. I would follow him here on occasion to this trail but it is not one of my top memories of our years together.”
“Okay, let’s put our skis on and continue down this trail and stop where the trail exits the trees. I want to ski to the bottom and come hit this spot a few more times. Did you want to break at the chalet to review Joseph’s phone?”
“I can’t, it is dead. It will have to wait until I get home to recharge it as long as there is no moisture inside the phone. I may have to take it to a retailer if water got inside the phone or if anything cracked with the cold temperatures. I’ll join you on a few more runs.”
“Okay sounds like a plan. Remember that I am struggling with the altitude. So I’ll be taking frequent breaks, but I will catch up to you at the forest if you want to take a speedy run down the hill.”
“I might do that. The mountain has a very soothing effect on me,” David said and indeed it seemed as if some of the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.
They continued to ski to the base of the lift and rode up again. David skied ahead of her to the forest and they again stopped where Jill thought the shooter might have stopped. She concluded that the killer had to be an excellent skier to be able to stop on a dime in amongst the trees. She repeated the experience one more time having asked David to ski at his normal speed. She then stopped on the spot in the forest where she thought the killer had taken aim and held up her cell phone looking through the camera lens. Her breathing was heavy, her heart racing, and even when she held her breath she couldn’t steady the phone. This exercise told her that the killer was either in great physical shape and acclimated to the altitude or he or she had been very lucky.
She and David would break for lunch and then she planned to head over to the ski patrol offices to hear from them what they had found up on the mountain. She was going to then walk over to the administration offices to see if she could get a contact person for the cameras and ski pass system.
Chapter Six
They sat down to lunch on the mountain. Jill was going over in her head the details of the crime scene and then she couldn’t help herself, the statement just burst out of her, “I can’t believe the police have not been up on the mountain inspecting the crime scene. We know they haven’t been up there becauseJoseph’s cell phone was up there. It really goes against every forensic principle that I have ever operated under. You never let a murder go by and for two days fail to visit the crime scene. No detectives, no crime scene investigators! It’s gross negligence.”
“Yeah, I am pretty surprised too and thankful I hired you. Even if the officers didn’t ski, surely someone in the department doesor at least a crime scene investigator should have gone to where they found Joseph.”
“I guess I won’t look for any help from them, and for the first time in my career, I will ignore law enforcement.
“My associate Nick Brouwer arrives this afternoon. Let me tell you a little about him as he was not in the biographies that I included in the original personnel information in my contract. My team and I met Nick while we were on vacation in Belgium and the Netherlands. He is from Amsterdam and helped us solve a crime there. He runs a hotel security company that provides security people and processes to hotels in Amsterdam and Brussels. I think he will be helpful in reviewing the security system of the resort as well as the ski pass system. You don’t need to worry that you’re paying for his last minute travel from Europe. He is arriving for free thanks to the client we helped while in Belgium. He was on his way to Austin and so he is detouring to Denver to drop him off.”
“I’m not worried about the cost. It’s good to know you have an expert coming to assist. Does he ski?”
“Yes he skis, and since he spent some time employed by the Dutch police, he’ll have crime scene eyes to view the forest. I assume he is an advanced skier and can handle the slope. Since Amsterdam is below sea level, he’ll probably have some altitude sickness in addition to jet lag, poor guy. I was hoping to have him meet the ski patrol folks and security staff this afternoon. I’ll take him up the mountain in the morning after he has had a little time to acclimate.”
“I should head home to Denver and take care of issues related to settling Joseph’s estate and the funeral plans, but I am feeling more purposeful assisting you with this investigation. I’ll plan to return tomorrow to meet your team in the afternoon.”
“David, please take all the time you need to make arrangements. Anything I need from you can be handled by phone. Mostly I am picking your brain about Joseph - you knew him best. If there is a convenient time, we can make arrangements now to chat by phone every day, or we can set up a time on a day by day basis based on what is going on.”
“Many of the arrangements I need to work on are with nine to five businesses. Would an eight in the morning call work for you with your schedule?”
“Yes, we’ll talk tomorrow and after you recharge Joseph’s phone, I would love to have Nick take a look at it. If there is personal or private information on the phone, you should know that it is secure with me and my team. Let me know after you have taken a look at the phone. Also if you would forward all emails to your account, as we may want to look at them later.”
“Will do and we’ll talk tomorrow.”
They cleared their table of lunch debris and parted ways, David to return to his cabin to pack and return to Denver and Jill to talk to the Ski Patrol. She paused a moment to check on the progress of Nick’s travels. He should have arrived in Denver by now. Scrolling through her email she saw a message from Nick. She opened it and read, ‘made it through customs, and the shuttle just left the airport. I should be there between two and three this afternoon.’ That was an hour at the earliest from now. She would go over to the Ski Patrol, and then return to her lodge to meet Nick.
She did an internet search of where the Ski Patrol was headquartered on the mountain. She figured it was near first aid and headed that way since she hadn’t found anything on her internet search. She saw an ambulance parked near the first aid sign. She hoped that was its parking space rather than they were loading an injured skier to take off the hill. There was a little reception area that she approached.
“Hi, how may I help you?” inquired the young woman staffing the reception desk.
“I would like to speak to the supervisor of the Ski Patrol,” responded Jill hoping to provide as little information as possible.
“Sure, can I tell her what this is about?”
“Yes, it is about someone that the Ski Patrol cared for about two to three days ago.”
The woman looked puzzled and concerned likely thinking this was a complaint. She might be even more concerned if Jill told her it was a murder investigation. She returned a few minutes later and announced, “she is up on the mountain; if you’ll have a seat she’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.”
“Thank you,” replied Jill as she took a seat. She pulled out her phone and was soon engrossed in checking her emails. She looked up as a ruddy faced woman walked in with snow still clinging to her boots.
She approached Jill and said “Hi, I’m Kate Crenshaw, how may I help you?”
Jill stood up and introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Jill Quint. Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”
“I have a small office and I may be subject to interruptions, but otherwise, it is a quiet place to talk. Follow me,” and Jill followed her down the hallway, both of them walking heavy in their ski boots.
They were soon seated in a small office and Jill passed her business card to
Kate.
Kate read the card and looked quizzically at Jill, “You’re a physician?”
“Yes, I am a Forensic Pathologist. I have been retained by Mr. David Gomez to investigate the death of his partner Joseph Morton. The Ski Patrol found Mr. Morton on a trail off of peak six.”
“Yes, I remember that now. We don’t have that many deaths on the mountain so I remember and I was personally on the scene for most of the time either here or up on the mountain. What are you investigating?”
“Were you aware his death was ruled a homicide?”
“What! We have never had a murder in the history of this mountain. I was on the scene on peak six, it didn’t look like I envision a murder looking; there was no blood anywhere around where we found Mr. Morton. Look I am a little over my head here, let me notify mountain management and see if they want to join this meeting. Are you a part of the police?”
The woman picked up the phone before Jill could answer any of her questions. She had obviously reached someone in management who asked Kate several questions most of which she couldn’t answer, Jill gleaned from the one-sided conversation.
Shortly she ended the call, and remarked to Jill, “Tom asked that we head to his office. It is in a building close to the base of peak nine. We’ll need to take the lift over there and ski down. Can you ski an intermediate run?”
“I was just over at the top of peak six examining where Joseph was found. Does that tell you something about my ski ability?” asked an indignant Jill.
“Not really. I see people over their heads all day long up on the slopes. Did you ski down the mountain or tumble down the mountain?”
“I skied down it in a few minutes with breaks so I could suck in oxygen. I just arrived from sea level. Not a single fall on that run or indeed at all today,” replied an affronted Jill.
“Just checking. I don’t want to take you anywhere on the mountain that you’re not comfortable skiing on. You could take the long way to the office by riding the town shuttle.”
“No thanks, I think I’ll mostly be able to keep up with you. As I mentioned, my biggest problem is this altitude. Before we leave if you have a file on your rescue of Mr. Morton, I would love to look through it. I have his spouse’s permission to view those records on his behalf. If you take the record with you, we may be able to go over it together once we reach your supervisor’s office. I just hate to waste time and doubling back here seems like a waste of time.”
Kate paused a moment to think about Jill’s request, then went and retrieved the file and placed it in her pack. They exited the building walking to the lift. Two lifts later they were heading for the base of peak nine. Jill left her skis on the rack outside the building. Her skis were ten years old so they weren’t likely the target of any thieves. Clumping up the stairs they reached a suite of offices and it was clear that Kate was expected. They were gestured towards an office. Jill was still panting from the walk.
A gentleman stood up and introduced himself with a title that Jill soon forgot. He seemed mostly curious about Jill and why she wanted to speak with the ski patrol.
“I am a forensic pathologist that families hire to review the cause of death of a loved one. I have been doing private death investigations for five years and prior to that I spent nearly fifteen years in the State of California Crime Lab. As you now know, you had a skier die on the mountain two days ago. I was hired by that skier’s spouse to provide an opinion on the cause of death.
“He had been told that a heart attack killed his partner and he couldn’t believe that conclusion. When I arrived at the Golden medical examiner’s office, the autopsy had been completed but the tests had not returned. The next day both the medical examiner and I, through separate investigations, came to the conclusion that the skier was killed by a poisoned veterinary dart. The spouse asked me to continue with an investigation into this murder as that is a separate service I provide. As a part of my investigation I would like to review the paperwork and speak to the ski patrol staff that located the skier on a trail off of peak six.”
“Why haven’t the police been by to speak with the resort? I find this most odd to be approached by a private citizen.”
“Good question, but I can’t speak for them,” commented Jill. “I do have a document that allows me to speak on David’s behalf and make inquiries about Mr. Morton’s death. As this is a case of homicide, the Breck resort would likely be held harmless unless the killer is a resort employee. You can check with your legal counsel on that. I want two things from the resort. One I would like to speak with the ski patrol staff that found Mr. Morton. I have already been to the scene of his death; I just have a few questions about how they found him, what the position of his body was, etc. The second thing I would like is access to your ski pass records. I would like to see who rode up the lifts that Joseph had taken the day of his death.
“I have an expert in radio frequency ID tags arriving in town within the hour and I would like a contact person that he can do some research with to determine the behavior of Mr. Morton and anyone around him on the chairlifts.”
“I am going to need to run this by our general counsel located in a Denver suburb. Give me a minute to see if he is available.” With that comment he looked up a number and was soon dialing. At first it seemed that he was speaking to someone other than who he called. Then there was a pause and a reintroduction of the problem. Obviously questions were being asked and answered. Then the call was placed on speakerphone and Jill was invited into the call.
“Hello,” said a male voice with what sounded like a Texas accent, “I am Michael Stout, General Counsel for the resort. If you would send a copy of your authorization form from the next-of-kin, I’d like to review that language. After I do that I see no reason not to allow you access to the ski patrol report and staff. I am genuinely puzzled by the lack of law enforcement interaction so far, but I understand that you cannot comment on that. Tom will be checking with our local police to verify that it was a homicide.
“Regarding access to the ski pass information, that is a much more difficult request. We have personal information, credit card information, photos, etc., contained within the system. We cannot give you full access rights to the system. We would be willing to review with you and describe the capabilities of the system and run reports for you. We will redact personal information.”
“Thank you. I appreciate your help in finding Mr. Morton’s killer. Depending on what we find in the ski pass reports, we may want to look at your camera footage on the hill. Some of your cameras are posted on your website and are thus already in the public view, but I suspect that many are not. I would like to request that any footage collected over the past week be saved and give you some time to think of how you would allow me and my team access to that footage.”
Jill heard a sigh as Michael queried, “Your team? I thought we were just talking about you.”
“The authorization provided by David Gomez gives the same rights to my team which will be arriving over the next few days. In total, I have four additional people arriving to assist in this investigation. Most of it will have nothing to do with the resort and will be focused on the personal background of Mr. Morton. I do however have a security expert arriving within the hour that will understand your camera and pass system.”
“Dr. Quint, this is getting more complicated. It would be easier to comply with your request if you were the police.”
“Mr. Stout, understand that the resort’s role in Mr. Morton’s murder is happenstance. He was a planned target. The resort’s bad luck is this is where the murder occurred, but if it had not happened here, it would have occurred elsewhere. Your small piece in this puzzle is helping me see if there were any clues left at the crime scene that your ski patrol staff might have noticed and helping me sort through your pass and camera data to determine if the killer stalked Mr. Morton over the past week. After I look at those two factors, my investigation will be done with the resort. I’ll also provide you w
ith my resume and references from the San Francisco FBI office. I also have a copy of the police report of the homicide investigation. All of that should establish the legitimacy of my requests.”
“You have a copy of the police report?” and there was a long silence while the attorney mused about that. “That will help, and as soon as I see those documents we can move forward. Do you have them with you at the moment? Tom could fax them right away.”
“I do have them with me,” responded Jill as she opened her backpack and brought out a portfolio containing her credentials. She almost always carried them with her while she was on a case. The investigation went much faster. Tom had left the room faxing them to Mr. Stout.
“One more question, have you said anything in town about the murder? I may have our PR people release something as soon as I have the death verified as a homicide.”
“I have not said anything to anyone other than Kate here. Certainly my client’s friends and family know of the murder.”
“Ok. I am looking over your documents now. Thanks for faxing them so quickly. Everything looks in order. With this copy of the police report, I think we can move forward with your requests, Dr. Quint. Kate, go ahead and provide Dr. Quint with full access to the ski patrol. Tom, I would like to be kept posted on this investigation, keep me updated. Any other questions or requests?” and after a brief pause he continued, “Then, I’ll thank you for perhaps the strangest call I have had this year.”
Kate pulled the file out of her backpack and placed it on the desk in front of Jill.
“As I mentioned, I was a part of the search and rescue operation. Let me give you an overview of that operation and what we found on the mountain and what is contained in this form. Tom, we could go to the conference room or continue the discussion in your office. What is your preference?”
