A Breck Death (Jill Quint, MD, Forensic Pathologist Series Book 3)

by Peche, Alec

  “Dr. Quint, this is Special Agent Ortiz returning your call; your voicemail sounded intriguing. Can you talk right now?”

  Jill looked around her considering her options. She wanted a private conversation with the agent, but looking around her she didn’t see anywhere private to talk. She might need her computer to send a picture to the agent if she asked.

  “I’m in a public place at the moment. Can you give me about ten minutes to get back to my hotel suite? I’ll call you.”

  “That is fine; you can reach me on my cell. Talk to you soon,” and the call ended.

  Even though Jill had indicated the group should enter the pub, they chose to wait outside, not wanting to leave any of them alone for fear of what might occur. Jill, grateful for their thoughtfulness, said, "I'm going to walk back to the hotel to chat with the agent. You all enjoy lunch. I’ll take a look at the menu and you can bring me back something to eat.”

  Angela replied, “I walked into the restaurant to see if they had a private room we could use while we dine. It turns out that the local Rotary Club meets at the restaurant and they have a small back room that will comfortably seat us.”

  “Awesome, thanks for figuring that out,” smiled Jill. “Let’s go inside and I’m going to ask that the restaurant employees stay out of the room until our call is over. Then we can order lunch and toast your brilliance.”

  After they were settled, Jill put her phone on speaker and made the call to the agent. “Special Agent Ortiz, I changed our plan on my end. I found a private location to have this conversation. On my end, I have the members of my team, plus Nathan, and Nick Brouwer. Nick is a citizen of the Netherlands and he assisted us in our last big case two months ago in Europe. He is a former member of the Dutch police and operates his own hotel security company in that country.”

  “Thanks for the introductions. I don’t have anyone on my end. Tell me the entire story of how you think you came in to contact with one of our ten most wanted criminals.”

  Ten minutes later Special Agent Ortiz had the synopsis of the case including their initial difficulty with local police, the encounters with the snowmobiles and Hummer, and what role each person was taking in the investigation. In great detail she examined how they had identified Jason Derek Brown. The agent indicated she had an excellent relationship with the Denver office and would assist in connecting Jill to them. The agent would call them back after she had a few conversations within her organization.

  They settled in for lunch. Jill checked with Nathan on becoming the designated chef for the group. He agreed and started a list to hit the grocery store with after lunch. Meanwhile Nick received an email from Henrik that he had rearranged his evening and was flying into the Vail airport and would join them for dinner at seven that evening.

  “Did you warn him of the danger here and our connection to Mr. Brown? He would be safer in Austin,” suggested Jill.

  “I’m not worried about Henrik; he can protect himself,” stated Nick. "Besides he is just coming for dinner in the suite. He’ll be fine.”

  Jill was even concerned with Nathan doing the grocery shopping by himself. “Look I’ll take the rental car because it would be a lot to carry through the streets of Breck.” He followed that with a look that said ‘don’t argue’.

  Just after they settled their bill and were putting on their jackets to leave, Special Agent Ortiz called back.

  “Jill, I had a conversation with the Denver field office. They are on their way to Breck to meet with you and look at your evidence. I informed them of you and your team’s success with your cases here and in Europe. They are taking this sighting of Mr. Brown very seriously. When they reach the town, they’ll phone you. The last thing they want to do is spook Mr. Brown. “

  “Tell them to wear jeans and winter coats and I’ll greet them like I have done with the other members of my team as they arrived in waves,” suggested Jill. "If they show up in suits, we’re screwed.”

  “I’ll pass that on to them. If you need my help, don’t hesitate to call and I’ve asked the Denver field office to keep me posted.”

  “Thanks Special Agent Ortiz, you have been a great help.”

  “You’re welcome Dr. Quint. Good luck with this newest investigation. You seem to have this uncanny ability to land in a pile of crap, but with your help we have seen some really terrible people brought to justice. Good day.”

  The group began making its way toward the hotel keeping an eye out for anyone that looked like Mr. Brown, and fortunately they made it back to the hotel without incident. Nathan took Jill’s car to the supermarket planning for several meals even though he wasn’t sure how many people would be eating. He loved cooking and it was nice to help the investigation by keeping everyone’s body and brain fueled. He kept an eye out for Mr. Brown, but didn’t see anyone suspicious in the store. Just to be sure he took a bunch of pictures of people that Henrik could put through his facial recognition just in case there were any other most wanted criminals in the pasta aisle.

  Returning to the suite, he was unloading his groceries when Jill got the call that two friends were in the lobby. They had taken Jill’s advice and were entering the hotel suite like her other team mates had done. At the time she had suggested this approach, she had not realized how awkward it would be to hug two complete strangers as though they were best friends. Oh well, she would pay-it-forward on hugs.

  "Hey guys! How was your flight? Thanks for coming on such short notice. The rest of the gang is already here and upstairs. We've all been looking forward to your arrival.”

  The two agents murmured appropriate replies as they crossed the lobby on their way to the elevator. Once inside the elevator Jill just smiled at the agents, but didn't say anything.

  "Despite the warm welcome in the lobby, if you don't mind I'd like to see some ID," advised Jill just inside the suite door. She would have asked them earlier but she feared what was being taped by the cameras in the lobby, elevator, and hallway. They hadn’t yet figured out how they were being followed.

  "Hello Dr. Quint, I'm Jake Porter Special Agent in Charge of the Denver FBI office," said the agent introducing himself while holding out his identification. Jill studied the ID and nodded.

  Jill looked over at the other agent as she said, “Dr. Quint, I'm agent Morgan McKinsey,” holding out her ID for Jill to examine and she did.

  "Thank you for coming and let me make introductions," and she proceeded to introduce everyone else in the room and the skills they brought to the investigation. Nathan was quietly pleased when she introduced him as chef and hapkido warrior. She also mentioned that Henrik was joining them for dinner that evening and the skills that his firm had brought to Jill's investigation.

  The two agents were very impressed. When Jake received the call from Leticia Ortiz, he had a hard time believing the agent’s story about Dr. Quint and her team. But he and Leticia had gone through the Academy together and though it had been two decades, he knew he needed to trust what she was saying. Now this was quickly shaping up to be potentially one of the more fascinating cases of his career.

  "So why is the Special Agent in Charge of the Denver office taking the time out to travel to Breck and get involved in our murder investigation?" queried Jill.

  “Special Agent Ortiz and I go back to the Academy. She specifically said I needed to drive up here and meet with you. So here we are. Agent McKinsey has some skills that may be helpful in this case. First I would like to see the means by which you have identified Jason Derek Brown, and then we can move on from there."

  Nick gave a quick overview of why he had been looking at camera footage at the ski lifts, the ticket offices, and the hotel lobby. He explained Henrik’s beta version of his facial recognition software and how that had identified Mr. Brown. Agent Porter was impressed with the technology and the work of Dr. Quint’s team.

  "I wasn't sure what to make of Special Agent Ortiz’s call to me a few hours ago. Now I understand why she was so insistent that I pe
rsonally get involved with this case. I am very impressed with the information that Nick just showed me. Dr. Quint, would you start at the beginning and tell me about this murder case? I want to understand how your murder investigation crosses paths with one of the FBI's most wanted criminals."

  "Please call me Jill and if you don't mind let’s all use first names so that we can keep up the appearance of being friends.”

  Jill spent the next few minutes standing at her temporary murder board taking them through the call from David Gomez, her role in the autopsy, what she found at the crime scene, the reaction of the local law enforcement, their initial investigation of Broomfield Pharmaceuticals and RMCT, and finally the events with the snowmobile and the Hummer.

  "Wow. This is a complex situation and there are several roles for the FBI. I'm going to start with assigning a protection detail to David Gomez. He has not appeared to be a target so far, but as he is connected to you, Jill, and your team, I think he merits protection. I'm also going to bring in additional agents for your protection and for manpower. I have a cabin in this area that I can assign my agents to as a base for this operation. It seems that you've maxed out the bedrooms in the suite, so I’ll make arrangements with the hotel for Morgan and me to stay on this floor.”

  "Jake, in case you don't remember from the introductions, I'm Jo and I'm the financial wizard of this group. I work for Jill on a part-time basis when she asks for my help. I'm scheduled to leave tomorrow for Leadville where my sister lives. I won't be able to assist on a full-time basis after midday tomorrow. She is coming to pick me up and I can't imagine that I will need your protection up in Leadville."

  “Jake, I’m Marie, the background search guru and I intend to get some skiing in while I’m here, starting tomorrow; then I depart two days after that. Do you have an agent that skis?”

  “Okay I’ll work out both of your situations.”

  “We all need to get back to work. Jake, we will leave you alone to organize your resources. Marie, Jo and I are looking into Broomfield and RMCT. I’m going to try and find the connection between the two companies and Mr. Brown.”

  As there was no one to interview at this point, Angela was going to aid Nick in looking at all the camera images. He had the technology skills, but she had the edge on looking at images for certain features. As a photographer, it was her everyday skill.

  “I’m a forensic accountant,” remarked Morgan, “so I’ll join you, Jo, in looking at the financial data. I may end up taking over from you if we don’t have any answers by the time you leave tomorrow.”

  Soon the room was filled with quiet conversation as Nick and Angela were working on footage, Jo and Morgan talking finances, Jill and Marie trying to figure out the people involved in Broomfield and RMCT, Nathan in a corner working out another wine label design, and Jake organizing his resources.

  Sometime later, Jill asked, “Jo, do you know if there is a record of who owns which shares of RMCT?”

  “Yes, the company did an IPO about five years ago which made all of their stock ownership a matter of public record.”

  “I think I might have found the connection to Mr. Brown.”

  Jo, Morgan, Marie, Angela, Nick and even Jake, as he pulled his cell phone away from his ear, said “What!” all at the same time.

  Chapter Ten

  Jill looked at them all with excitement. “I looked at pictures of the board members of RMCT on their website as a starting place to learn about them. One of those board members looks a lot like Mr. Brown, including the scar. He has a different name, John D. White, but it looks like him. Let’s put this picture through the facial recognition software to see if there is a match.”

  Everyone was leaning over Jill’s shoulders staring at her computer screen to get a glimpse of John D. White.

  “Sure looks like him,” said Nick looking at the clock and calculating. “It’s the middle of the night in Germany, so unless the FBI has facial recognition software, we’ll either have to await Henrik’s arrival or wait a few more hours for the engineer to arrive at work.”

  “We do have that software,” replied Jake, “not as sophisticated as your friend’s, but for this purpose it should be sufficient. Jill, can you email the picture? We’ll have our answer soon.”

  Jake called the FBI’s Forensic Audio Video Image Analysis Unit Laboratory at Quantico to alert them to the incoming images. Jill was soon sending a copy of the RMCT’s board members to Jake for forwarding to the lab in Virginia.

  Twenty minutes later, Quantico verified that the picture of John White was a match for Jason Brown. Jo, with Morgan’s help, had begun examining the company documents to gain an understanding of Mr. White’s financial interest in RMCT and what this company had to do with Broomfield Pharmaceuticals. Jake was excited as he believed that sometime during this case he would have an opportunity to arrest Jason Brown. Not many Special Agents could list on their resume the arrest of someone on the agency’s Most Wanted list.

  “Jake, I know the FBI is excited to have a Most Wanted felon in their crosshairs, but I would like to point out the bigger picture of why my team and I are involved,” Jill said, correctly sensing his emotions. “Namely the murder of Joseph Morton. I have the grieving partner of Mr. Morton who is expecting that my team will solve his murder. We know that your Mr. Brown is somehow involved in it. He may be the killer. However, there is something bigger going on here that I need time to tease out. I think your agents have the capacity to locate him within the hour and arrest him, game over. What if he is part of a corporation that is cheating in some way - false financial reports, false clinical data, hiding patient deaths? Wouldn’t you rather get the whole crime picture that is in play here? In my experience, someone like Mr. Brown cannot operate alone. He is smart but there are potentially many pieces in motion here. At the very least, if he is responsible for Mr. Morton’s death, that would ensure that he would go to prison for a very long time.”

  Jake had been fantasizing about the glory of arresting Jason Brown. He had felt the thrill of his imagination upon hearing the handcuffs clicking shut on Jason’s wrists. He did not appreciate Jill slamming shut the door on that fantasy. Taking a deep breath, letting go of the handcuff fantasy, and thinking about her words, he realized she was right.

  With a heavy sigh, he said, “You’re right, but we also can’t allow him to wander free. At this moment, he could board a commercial jet to Mexico. I have a duty to the armored truck guard’s family to bring him to justice. I’ll put a surveillance detail on him while we let this other case play out.”

  “Fair enough” replied Jill. “Jo, have you found any financial information on Mr. White as he is known to RMCT?”

  “You mean in the last thirty minutes since you asked?” Jo’s voice tinged with sarcasm. “Yes, as a matter of fact Morgan and I have new information to add to your murder board. Mr. White at the time of the robbery had a bachelor’s degree in International Business, and he later went on to obtain an MBA. He is written up in business journals as a serial entrepreneur. His initial investment of $40,000 was parlayed into ten million when the company went IPO five years ago. He has since invested in five other start-ups in the Denver area, and is a guest lecturer on entrepreneurship for several business schools. He supports local charities designed to get kids out of low income neighborhoods and into running businesses.”

  “Of course none of those self-written biographies mention that he got his starter cash by shooting a guard in the head five times and stealing his cash. Now, he is a regular pillar of the community.” There was no mistaking the anger and sarcasm in Jake's voice. “It makes me so mad that he's been sitting here under my nose acting like a saint.”

  “Well you’re going to get him soon, so let’s focus on an examination of the evidence so that we may eventually confirm that he is Joseph Morton’s killer,” Jill redirected. “Jo, what else do you have for us on John White and RMCT?”

  “He joined the company in its early stages and directed their cl
inical trials and collaborations with other companies.”

  “That is odd as he has no clinical background that has been mentioned so far,” said Jill. “What exactly have they been doing clinical trials on? What drugs does RMCT list as having done the research for?”

  “They perform clinical trials on a variety of drugs. They 'assist drug developers in identifying surrogate markers to streamline FDA approval. This is in accordance with an FDA explicit authority to rely on the marker.’ I was reading from an annual report,” noted Jo. “I have no idea what I just said - this FDA language doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Hmmm, they rely on markers. What that means is the FDA will approve a drug that, for example, reduces the chance of a heart attack using a marker rather than empirical proof,” explained Jill looking around the room and seeing the puzzled looks. “So a drug that reduces cholesterol serves as a ‘marker’ for reducing heart attacks. Rather than the drug company proving that their drug reduced heart attacks by following lots of people for many years, they can get promising drugs to market faster by proving something simpler like lower cholesterol or lower blood pressure. I say simple because you can do before and after measurements and see patient improvement with those numbers. However, heart attacks come from many sources, some having nothing to do with cholesterol. Some people have electrical malfunctions of the heart, so lowering cholesterol won’t prevent their kind of heart attack. Does my explanation make sense?”

  “Yeah that makes sense,” replied Jo. “So RMCT designs and conducts clinical trials that get new drugs approved by appraising a drug for markers, then they go about proving that marker through their own trials. Why don’t the drug manufacturers know this information themselves?”

  “It may be related to the size of the company. If you’re a small pharmaceutical house with say less than five drugs developed and approved by the FDA, you may decide to outsource the clinical trials leading to FDA approval. Broomfield may lack the in-house resources to get approvals quickly and efficiently. Remember there is always someone else out there trying to invent the same thing you are and if you are delayed getting to market you can lose your opportunity to both patent the drug and get regulatory approval. I would bet that this is not the only company that does this kind of testing.” mused Jill. “Let's return to the terminology of Broomfield to review what they said about RMCT. I have this impression that the word collaboration was used by Broomfield. That suggests to me that this was more than simply outsourcing the service."