A Taxing Death (Jill Quint, MD, Forensic Pathologist Series Book 5)

by Peche, Alec

  Chapter Four

  She looked at her watch and noted that it was close to ten. She would hopefully be home by eleven, but at least she didn't feel like she might fall asleep while driving. The family had been one of the best that she had ever interacted with and she always felt a little drained when the deceased seemed to be such a good guy. Oh well, life was a crap shoot and one never knew what the day would bring.

  After starting up her car, she made a series of turns to reach the interstate highway. Once there and with nothing but relatively uncrowded traffic miles in front of her, she used her headset to dial Nathan so they could chat.

  "Hey babe, this is a little later than I would have expected you to call, did you run into problems with the autopsy?" asked Nathan upon answering his phone and seeing who the caller was.

  "Yes and no. It wasn't a complicated autopsy, but I could relatively quickly identify the mode of death as homicide. That meant a different kind of conversation with the coroner and discussion with a detective before driving to the family to discuss the findings with them."

  "Sounds like you have had a tough evening. How did the family conversation go?"

  "It was a very nice family, devastated widow and adult children. I told them I would send them my final report tomorrow and that my services were basically at an end as the police were active and involved. I offered them an explanation of what to expect tomorrow and going forward. It was really quite sad. Sort of reminded me of the same feeling around Henrik when we discussed Laura's death."

  "I remember that feeling in Germany; it was sad seeing the impact on the survivor. What did you think of the detective?"

  "He seemed quick enough and was cooperative, but time will tell how good he is at investigating. Did you finish your design for the English garden concept?"

  Nathan glad of the conversation shift replied, "Yes, I finished. It took me a while to warm up to this design request as the owners explained their ideas up front when they hired me. However having worked with them on the design, toured their vineyard, and understood their varietal focus, I've come around on the design. I like what I have created and it suits this vineyard from a brand prospective."

  "You'll have to show me tomorrow. I'm planning on working in the vineyard throughout the day and then Trixie and I will drop by your house for dinner."

  "You won't be tied up with this new case?"

  "It will take me an hour to complete a final report and prepare a final invoice. I advised the family to end my services as the police are involved in the case."

  "You have stayed involved in lots of cases where the police are involved, what is different about this one?"

  "I'm not sure the family needs my services at this point and until they do, it's best if I just sit on the sidelines waiting for them to call."

  "Sounds like you think they will re-engage you."

  "Actually I do. They are an intelligent family, with drive and ambition. I think they likely have the funds and probably a boat-load full of impatience. I think in under a week, they will engage me for investigative services. In fact I'll bet you a pepperoni pizza on it."

  "That's no bet; you win either way since you love pizza so much."

  "Am I that transparent?"

  "You forget how many pizzas I have seen you devour in the two years we have been together," Nathan said. Jill felt comforted on her drive, imagining Nathan leaning back in his design studio chair, smiling over their conversation. She really had found a wonderful man to partner with.

  "Well yes, but you love me anyway despite my pepperoni breath."

  "Pepperoni breath? Hmmm, that's true that I have smelled pepperoni on your breath, but fortunately I stuck with you anyway."

  "Hey, there are nighttime construction cones up ahead. I'm going to end this call and concentrate on being a good driver. Talk to you later."

  "Have a good night and be careful!"

  They ended their conversation just as Jill was required to slow down to merge into a single lane. California highways were so congested all the time, that repairs and construction had to be done at night. It was a common sight to see bright lamps focused on a particular highway section in the dark. The Highway Patrol often participated in the projects keeping the workers safe by either using their emergency lights to alert approaching traffic or by chasing down speeders who didn't take care and drop their speed in a construction zone. Regardless, she never wanted to have a role in injuring a highway worker because she was a careless driver. She had seen a few bodies on her autopsy table that had been crushed or hit by a vehicle and it was never pretty.

  Shortly she exited the zone and drove another half an hour to home. Trixie greeted her with an air of no doggy worries, which was good. Jill had learned that the Dalmatian was very sensitive to strangers on her property. She had saved Jill's life a number of times by alerting her to danger on her property. Soon the car was put away in the garage, and she and Trixie were both having a late snack to make-up for their respective disrupted dinners. Jill was eating yogurt, fresh berries and pita chips, washing it down with a glass of her own premium Moscato. Trixie had dog food followed by stinky duck treats and a rawhide bone.

  Jill took a minute to go through her email. John Garcia had sent her a copy of the official Coroner's report. Christina Valencia had dropped her a note of thanks. Angela had sent her an article on the Green Bay Packers' training camp. All of the emails could wait until the morning. She watched an episode of a home buying show and went up to bed, Trixie in tow. It had been a long day and she was looking forward to her bed.

  The next day, as planned, she finished off her report of the Valencia case and was soon out the door to her vineyard. She was perhaps a month away from harvest, so checking that all of the branches containing her grape clusters were appropriately supported was her priority. She continued her schedule of vineyard maintenance during the day, spending most evenings and nights at Nathan's. Her forensic consulting business was such that she could go an entire month without a call to discuss anew case and she wasn't disturbed by the lack of calls for any other suspicious deaths during that week.

  However it was now the morning of the seventh day and she would be losing her pizza bet with Nathan if the Valencia family did not call today. Morning passed into afternoon and still there was no call. It was the end of the day and she was cleaning up after spending the day with her hands touching sticky grapevines, when the telephone rang. She saw the Sacramento area code and knew this phone call would mean she had won the bet.

  Picking up the handset she said, "Jill Quint speaking.”

  "Hello, Dr. Quint. This is Anna Valencia. Is this a convenient time to talk?"

  "Yes, give me a few seconds to grab pen and paper. Okay, go ahead."

  "It has been a week since my husband was murdered and there are few leads that the police are investigating. I reviewed the original contract you provided me at the start of your engagement and I would like to hire you for additional investigative services. I feel that the police are not moving fast enough and that evidence may disappear with time. May we set up an appointment for tomorrow morning at my house? This time it will be just me and my children meeting with you."

  "I would be happy to meet you at eight or nine in the morning to discuss where you are with the case. I think after I hear what the police have given you as an update I will be able to formulate a plan to accelerate this investigation.”

  "Dr. Quint, you don't seem surprised that I have called. In fact you sound prepared to jump right into this case. Why is that?"

  "Please call me Jill. When I met you and your family last week I found you to be loving, intelligent, and ambitious, or perhaps a better word is an aggressive family. I was fairly sure you would lose patience with the speed of a police investigation. Whether you would reach out to me or another investigative company remained to be seen. From the little exposure I had to Detective Chang, I thought him competent and I was also pretty sure this was not his only case and so progres
s might be slower than was acceptable to your family."

  "I did discuss another private investigative company as you don't have a license and your team seems casually committed. However when we did further research into the previous cases that you have worked on, you have an impressive track record in solving some unusual murders and frankly I liked the fact that you advised us not to retain your services shortly after my husband's death was declared a homicide. I'm not worried that you'll take any direction motivated by money rather than a desire to see justice. I'll expect you at eight at my house in the morning and since that is such an early hour, anticipate that breakfast will be served. I like to cook and we can have the conversation as easily in my kitchen as in my living room."

  "Thank you, Mrs. Valencia. I don't enjoy cooking so I appreciate whenever someone cooks for me. See you in the morning."

  "Yes, and please call me Anna."

  They ended their call and Jill went upstairs to shower away the dirt and grime of her vineyard. She dropped a note to her team giving them notification that she might be enlisting their skills and a synopsis of the case. She decided that she would spend the night at Nathan's as she could leave Trixie with him in the morning. She would have a long day in Sacramento and Trixie would actually prefer being snubbed by Arthur rather than the dead silence of Jill's home if she was gone twelve to fourteen hours. Nathan usually shared some treats with Trixie during the day and human food while he was cooking which always sat well with the dog.

  Jill was up at six and on the road before seven, coffee mug in its beverage holder in her car. She would hit commuter traffic approaching Sacramento and gave herself extra time to reach Anna Valencia's house. Jill was dressed in a business casual pantsuit, an elegant ivory, with low heeled sandal shoes in anticipation of a warm day wherein she expected to do a lot of walking. Jill's pale skin and blonde hair made her highly selective when it came to shades of ivory. Some tones could suck the color out of her complexion and give her a look of someone battling the flu. She was short of stature at five feet three inches tall, given to wearing higher heels to appear taller, a lifelong ambition of hers, but alas those high heels were incompatible with any distance over a football field on hard concrete. Given she wasn't sure where she would be driving to during the day, she left her vintage Thunderbird at home, driving her sedan instead. Her briefcase containing her iPad and a yellow legal pad to take notes was the final accessory.

  Right at eight she was parking at the curb in front of Anna's house. There were several cars in the driveway, and that made Jill wonder who else might be in on the interview other than Anna. She soon had her answer as Michael Valencia opened the front door after Jill rang the doorbell.

  "Hello, Dr. Quint, please come in to the kitchen; Mom is in there cooking up a massive breakfast. I hope you're hungry."

  "Good morning Michael, please call me Jill. I love when other people cook and I am sure your mother is a wonderful cook."

  They moved to the back of the house where the beautiful kitchen was located. It featured white cabinetry, a light colored granite countertop, double ovens and a six burner stove. Whenever Jill saw a six burner stove, she knew she was in the house of a master chef. Personally she very rarely used more than two burners, let alone six. The light colors and morning sun streaming in served to make the kitchen look very large. Anna was moving between the stove and the countertop, and there were four place settings in a cheery breakfast nook. Christina was also in the kitchen and paused to ask Jill what she wanted to drink offering her a wide array of choices.

  "Even though I had a large coffee on the way here, I'd love some more with fake sugar and a little milk if you have it."

  "I can do that. Looks like Mom is almost ready to serve, why don't you have a seat while I help her bring everything to the table?"

  Jill took a seat, pulling out pen and paper. She wanted to be ready to take notes as soon as the conversation drifted into areas that were relevant to the case. Anna cooked a phenomenal scramble that included eggs, cheese, sausage, and vegetables, as well as hash browns, fresh fruit, and toast. Jill wondered how the woman stayed so thin. Over the breakfast she got to know a little more about Michael and Christina. Both had taken leaves from work to support their mother and were ready to assist Jill with sleuthing if she needed their help. Jill, over the course of the entire conversation, learned the strengths of each child. Michael, a tax attorney, would be able to help her with reviewing any financial documents with his combined legal and financial education, while Christina's skill set seemed to duplicate Jill's. She filed the information away for the time being and began the conversation about Manuel Valencia in earnest. The children were smart and had the looks of both parents. They were both much taller than their mother, had green eyes, light olive complexions, and were long legged and short in the torso. Michael had thick black hair while Christina had auburn highlights in hair long enough to make into a ponytail.

  Jill started with, "What exactly did your husband do as Chief of the Audit division for the Department of Revenue? Did he audit a branch of government, or perhaps taxpayers, or corporations?"

  Anne replied, "His focus was taxpayers - both individuals and corporations. Manuel's staff reviewed all tax returns for accuracy, but also reviewed large corporations in the state. He was really bugged by some of the larger Silicon Valley companies, hiding their cash overseas to avoid corporate taxes. He also, on occasion, recommended legislation to tighten loopholes in the tax code. From my attorney's point of view, it seemed like pretty boring stuff, but he loved numbers, and said 'they told a story'."

  "I agree with Dad, numbers do tell a story and he had some fascinating stories of financial irregularities that he or his unit discovered," Michael countered. "He also had some real boring examples of taxpayers simply trying to cheat. I inherited Dad's love of numbers, but not of working for the government."

  "Did he ever mention that anyone threatened him for being the subject of an audit?" Jill asked.

  Mother and children looked at each other appearing to examine years of shared dinners wherein work was discussed. They all seemed to arrive at a moment of remembrance of such discussions. Anna went first.

  "I would say he got threats maybe once or twice a year. In the case of corporations, they would hide behind tax attorneys and were very polite. Individual taxpayers might behave irrationally at times. Any threatening letters or calls were turned over to the Highway Patrol as they handled security for him. I can't recall Manuel making any comments about what happened after the threats were turned over to law enforcement. We never had anyone stalk us at home in any way."

  Anna then looked over at her children seeking their recollections about their father's comments.

  Michael added, "Dad often tried to make light of how crazed people got about the notices from his office. He was very sympathetic to people who described the dire financial situations they might be in, but he could get some bizarre letters from anti-tax people."

  "What is the difference between anti-tax people versus someone that doesn't want to pay their taxes?" Jill asked, thinking of how much she hated paying taxes.

  "Anti-tax people are sort of a revolutionary group." Michael explained."They feel their state and federal tax burdens are taxation without representation and they follow some of our Revolutionary War heroes and speeches. There is also a side group of anti-government people, sort of anarchists that believe we should have no government and let the people rule themselves. They are against taxes as it is used by the government to fund itself, so they figure if they refused to pay taxes, the government will eventually close. What they don't take into their calculation is that they are far less than one percent of taxpayers. For the anarchy strategy to ever work they would need to gain far more followers."

  "I'm going to note these threats and move on to an update of what the police have told you so far with this case. Anna, after you called me last night, I wrote a series of questions related to what I learned from the autopsy an
d the entire ambulance saga. My first question was I assume by now the police pulled the video of the exterior and interior of the building. Were they able to do anything with that video? Were they able to identify the two attendants? Were they able to watch the two attendants from arrival to departure, in the elevators and corridors of the Capitol building?"

  "You know Jill, I wish I had you with me for all the calls we have had with the police in this last week. I asked none of those questions and just passively accepted what information they fed me not asking any questions - that's embarrassing considering that I am a highly trained argumentative attorney. All I can say is that I'm glad we hired you because I didn't think to ask the simplest of questions of the police."

  "Anna, don't beat yourself up. I bet you were having conversations with the police in-between planning a funeral and being a strong female leader to this large, loving, clan of yours," Jill asserted, placing her hand on Anna's. "You likely have respect for the police with your legal career and somehow figured that they were giving you one-hundred percent of what they know. Detective Chang was also probably trying to spare you the emotions of the investigation. I don't think he willingly withheld something from you."

  "I do have to agree with you that Detective Chang seems competent and so maybe you're right that he sensed I was already overwhelmed by Manuel's death and decided not to bother me with details. So where do we go next?"

  "After you called last night, I called the detective and set up an appointment today to go over the evidence so far. I also made an appointment with your husband's supervisor, John Steward. I would like to better understand Manuel's department and get his recap of what happened to Manuel, as well as his perception about threats made to employees in that division. Basically, I plan to explore the work angle first, then the family angle, and finally sort of a history angle - look far back in Manuel's background."

  "You will not find Manuel's killer within our family," Anna said forcefully. "He was loved by every member of my family; no one even disliked him, let alone hated him enough to kill him."