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

by Peche, Alec

  Things were wrapping up and as Deputy Davis was getting ready to leave, she hesitated for a moment and then asked Jill, "As payback for all these rescues I have to make to save your sorry ass, I wonder if you would do me a favor?"

  Jill, without pause said "Yes."

  "Wait a moment, I haven't told you what I want yet."

  "Doesn't matter; if it is within my power to grant it I'll do it."

  "Okay I volunteer with some teens that have found their way into the juvenile justice system. I would like to bring them out to your vineyard for a little career development," Deputy Davis explained. "You're one of the few people I know who could give the kids an explanation of two careers - farming and criminal investigation. If you could find a bloody dummy - maybe if there is anything left of the dummies that got burned, and scare them as to what they will look like with gunshots or knife wounds, that would be great too."

  "I'll borrow a dummy from someone and if it goes well, I think we could field trip your kids to the Sacramento Coroner for an even grosser moment to scare them. Give me a date and time and I'll be ready. Seriously, I enjoy stuff like that, bring them as often as you want."

  "Good. Thank you. This is important to me," said the deputy and then she left.

  It was an hour away from dawn, but they were all exhausted from two nights of interrupted sleep. Marie headed back to her bed she planned to skip the morning meeting in Sacramento if there was one and Jill and Nathan made do in a third bedroom as the master would be out of commission for a while.

  "I'm sorry about the destruction to your house tonight," Jill commented in a worried voice. "I'll reimburse you for whatever it takes to restore your bedroom."

  "Now that's a dumb comment, I can more than afford to pay for it myself. Whatever the cost of getting rid of the smell of smoke and a new bed, you're worth it to me. I am very happy that the dummies caught on fire rather than the two of us. Besides I had been thinking about getting a California King bed and now I have a reason to do so."

  "I think your bed frame is ok it's just the mattress that is destroyed. You just need a new mattress."

  "No, I'm going to claim this on my insurance and get a better bed. Don't try to talk me out of it."

  "Okay, if you need an excuse for a new bed, you now have it," Jill agreed. "Thanks for being a good sport and can I just say that I love you but I am really tired and I need to go to sleep."

  Just like that, Jill was out cold while Nathan was left with his own thoughts. It had been a wild night and he was very grateful that the officers had put dummies in the bed rather than him and Jill. The little fire in the bed made him want to run out and purchase a few blow-up dummies, for the next time that Jill's life was at risk. With that last thought he settled down in bed curling around Jill, relieved that they had made it unharmed against another one of Jill's murder suspects. Life was certainly never boring with her around he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Jill was up early in light of her middle of the night excitement several hours ago. She gave herself twenty minutes to shower and dress. Then she grabbed a coffee in her to-go mug and make the drive to the meeting in Sacramento. She was curious to find out what new information they had on the two suspects. That curiosity was keeping her alert on the drive to Highway Patrol headquarters despite getting less than four hours sleep.

  Lieutenant Moss gave her a broad smile when she entered the conference room and said, "Jill, with your help we've arrested the two deadliest killers of State employees," and he begin clapping which was picked up by everyone else in the conference room.

  Jill was embarrassed by this show and said, "Actually it was your officers that were so superb and saved my and my friends' lives last night, so let's have a round of applause for the California Highway Patrol."

  After the room quieted down, Moss began the meeting by asking Jill to describe what happened the previous night. Her view was more entertaining than the report he had gotten from his officers. His officers had said simply that there had been a small fire that was extinguished. Jill's description of running in with buckets of water to throw on the two flamed-engulfed dummies and the bed was pretty funny. The committee needed a laugh after the stress and worry about additional murders.

  "Lieutenant, have you learned anything during the interview process with these two suspects?" Jill asked as this was what she was really curious about. She also thought the case wasn't really over until the ghost was found.

  "We haven't gotten anywhere with these two as they are citing laws from the 18th century related to the constitution that make no sense to our officers or the district attorney. The FBI is interviewing them at the moment to find out more information about the ghost. We have matched their fingerprints to prints on the defibrillator and a few other pieces of evidence we have collected so without them ever making a statement and with the activity at your friend's residence last night, we have enough information to send them to prison for nearly two decades."

  "Good, when I sat in another room and watched them fire their Tasers at the dummies that were made up to look like my friend and me, I wanted them to go to jail for their actions. It was funny to watch only because it wasn't really me in the bed."

  "It was a good thing we used those dummies; the crime lab examined their Tasers and they both had been modified. They might have killed you or your partner if the stream had struck you, but in case it didn't, they had a nitrogen gas cylinder and mask in a backpack."

  There was dead silence in the room at the stark pronouncement of just how desperately the two suspects wanted to kill her until Jill broke it with, "Like I said, many thanks to the CHP!" And then changing the subject, she asked "Have the employees been able to come home now and resume their lives?"

  "Yes, we sent a couple of buses to pick them and their families up. It will be business as usual tomorrow, which is good, because the Department of Revenue has nearly shut down over the past week."

  The Lieutenant wrapped up this last meeting. With the suspects in custody, there was no need for any further meetings; the case was closed from the Highway Patrol's perspective of solving the murder of its employees. The meeting soon broke up and Jill looked at the time, planning the remainder of her day. She needed to be home by noon to have lunch with Nathan and Marie before taking her to the airport for her return trip to Wisconsin. That gave her another hour to close out her documentation and billing for both the Highway Patrol and for Anna Valencia and then she would contact Special Agent Ortiz to see what was going on with the capture of the ghost.

  The agent picked up the phone when Jill called five minutes later, "Hey Special Agent Ortiz, we finished with the task force meetings with the arrest of the two suspects. I was curious as to how you were doing with tracking down the ghost? Madeline sounded like she was close to finding her electronically."

  "The Dallas Field Office picked her up about an hour ago. Madeline and I are on our way to the airport to catch a flight to Dallas to interview her and likely return with her to Sacramento as she is an accessory to the attempted murder of yourself and Nathan Conroy. Those are her only charges at the moment, but we're hopeful that we can link her to any number of sovereign citizen malicious activities."

  "Can you call me when you interview her in this city, day or night? I would like to observe the interview."

  There was a pause and then the agent said, "Well okay. I think I can create a legitimate reason for you to observe. Why would you want to? It might be the middle of tonight or early tomorrow when we interview her, do you still want to observe if it is the middle of the night?"

  "I would like to observe her in person as there is something that bothers me about her. You can call me in the middle of the night if that is the way your schedule is going. Here's my cell phone number. Call me."

  After Jill ended the call with the agent, she got in her car to head home for lunch with Nathan and Marie. She was sorry to see Marie go, but at least they had found time to
hike in Yosemite and kayak the river. Marie was likely glad to go home for a good night's rest after their last two interrupted nights. She would see her friends and teammates in the fall when they went on vacation to the UK. During the drive, she called Anna Valencia to update her on the case. She knew that the police had notified Anna that her husband's suspected killers had been arrested, but Jill wanted to close out the engagement with her client.

  After an awesome lunch with wine for Marie and Nathan, they headed out to the airport. Marie was having a hard time staying awake after Nathan served the Chilean Sea Bass for lunch with an excellent wine he paired with the meal. Jill laughed and had her friend put her seat into a reclining position so she could get a quick nap in on the way to the airport. Soon enough they were hugging each other goodbye, knowing they would stay in touch, and see the whole gang in London in a couple of months.

  Jill was exhausted driving away from the airport; three hours on the highway already today and that was after, at the most, four hours of sleep last night. Tonight she would be in her own bed at an early hour to try and regain what she had lost. The only missing piece was the identity of the internet ghost. It wasn't part of the investigation for which she had been hired, but it had been easy for the ghost to tap into some very secure websites and wreak havoc. Jill wondered if any of her own websites had been altered. She had a simple website for her consulting business, and a more complex website for her Quixotic Winery describing her winemaking process, Moscato wine and a couple of awards she had picked up. She would check on that when she got home. Hopefully, the cyber-ghost had stayed away from Nathan's website as it was critical to his business.

  She checked the websites once she got home to find that her forensic pathologist consulting website was completely sabotaged. A quick look and her winery and Nathan's graphics website appeared to be spared the cyber-ghost's handiwork. She called Nathan to explain what happened with a question on how she could take down the website until it could be repaired. Jill gave Nathan her passcodes but even he couldn't alter it. She debated who to call next. She felt like she had already called on Henrik too much and besides his staff might still be involved with the FBI. She decided she would try David Gomez in Colorado and she dialed his number.

  "Hey David, it's Jill Quint. How are you doing?"

  "Hello Jill, I am doing okay. I just finished teaching another group of juvenile delinquents that are getting into trouble hacking. I'm afraid I might create a bigger pipeline of reformed delinquents than the FBI can afford to hire."

  "I think that is so cool how you are helping to steer them in the right direction. Speaking of hackers let me tell you about my current case, "Jill said as she began to describe the sovereign citizens and their internet ghost.

  "What a fascinating case! I would have loved to help with it, but it seems like you solved it without my help."

  "Actually, I do need your help. Before the ghost was arrested she got into my forensic pathology consulting website and she posted some gross pictures there. It's everything from porn to gross murder scenes with knives stuck in bodies and maggots eating the skull. Can you just take down the website so no-one can see this material? Fortunately, she left my winery website alone."

  "Oh no. I was walking out to my car when you called. Let me go back to my laptop and see what I can do. I'll call you back in ten minutes."

  "Thanks David, I really appreciate your help."

  As promised, he returned her call less than ten minutes later and stated he had success taking down her website.

  "I tried removing the terrible content, but your cyber-ghost had that nicely rigged so that it set off a little miniature virus. It was just faster to close down the website. I could save it if you want but you won't be able to use that domain name again without getting the same material. I could use your damaged website as a teaching activity and see what my young hackers will do with it."

  "I would like it sanitized eventually and then be able to use it again. I don't think you want to show them the pictures though."

  "I agree. I'll go through and replace the images with pictures of something pleasant, and then have them work to eliminate the pictures and put some safeguards in place so this can't happen again. Give me a month or so and you can have your website back."

  "I don't want any new business in that time period so it suits me to have it unavailable."

  "Jill, I don't mean to be rude but can we continue this conversation later? I'm late for a meeting that I'm speaking at."

  "Yes please go David; I'll catch up with you later."

  With her website resolved and the case complete on her end, although not by the FBI, it was time to return to her regular day job as a vintner after she took a nap. She really was exhausted. She fell asleep while creating a mental list in her head of what needed to be done around the vineyard. She awoke an hour later when she heard her phone ringing.

  "Hello."

  "Is this Jill Quint?"

  "Yes"

  "Oh hi Jill, I didn't recognize your voice. This is Special Agent Ortiz."

  "Oh. Sorry, you woke me out of a deep sleep nap that I needed after my last two disturbed nights. My brain isn't quite in gear yet."

  "Okay, sorry about that. Look we are about to board a plane in Dallas with our suspected sovereign citizen internet ghost. We will return to Sacramento by ten so if you want to meet me at the FBI building in Sacramento around 10:30, you can observed the interview."

  "Special Agent, thank you for the invite and I'll see you at 10:30."

  "Can I ask why you wanted to observe this interview?"

  "I have a way out in left field hunch that I want to see validated."

  "What's the hunch?"

  "Can't tell you, it is so far out there that I'll lose all credibility with the FBI if it doesn't bear out."

  "Ok then see you later," and a puzzled Special Agent ended the call. They had arrived in Dallas and given the complexity of the case under way, the Dallas office just wanted the suspect out of their holding and into someone else's. They were thrilled to release her immediately to the Sacramento office - one less nut case to occupy the legal system in Texas. Leticia found herself in the company of two Dallas agents providing additional security with the suspect. Within hours they were in Sacramento and on the way to the FBI office.

  It was late and they had a long day, but they wanted to disconcert their suspect. Special Agent Ortiz began with Madeline sitting at her side for any geek translations.

  "What is your name?"

  There was dead silence to the question much like it had been hours earlier when she was questioned. She had as yet not uttered a single word in their company. Her fingerprints had come back unmatched. Madeline tried a computer question and got no response. They hadn't offered her a lawyer yet but they were getting close to the time when it would have to be offered and the request honored.

  Jill was watching through the window and beginning to feel a little more confident in her suspicion. Using Henrik's software she tried a beta feature that wasn't on the market yet. She entered the picture of this woman and matched it to the man Jill thought was her brother - the Caucasian suspect she met in Nathan’s house last night. When the computer blinked up an answer, she asked an agent standing near the door to the interview room to send in a note to Ortiz.

  She watched her read the note and then look up at the one-way glass, a puzzle on her face. Then deciding that since she had not gotten any other questions answered, she may as well ask Jill's.

  "Are you the sister of the man known as Thomas Hull that the Highway Patrol arrested last night for the murder of four Department of Revenue employees? Have you spoken with your brother in the last twenty-four hours? Would you like to?"

  The woman raised her eyes to the agent and asked, "What did you say?"

  "I think you heard me. We have a preliminary computer match between yourself and your brother which is truly amazing because according to all records, you were killed in a car accident ten yea
rs ago, but you weren't in that car were you? You have silently assisted your brother at erasing his identity for years.

  "We're doing DNA testing on you and your brother as we speak and the results will be back to us in twenty-four hours. You can continue to sit there mute or if you would like to ever speak to your brother again then you can begin answering questions. Since we already have DNA evidence of your brother's storage area and we have been able to partially connect you to his activities, we'll be charging you as an accessory to four murders."

  With these last few sentences, the suspect crumpled and said, "I'll tell you what you want to know after I have spoken with my brother."

  "I'll allow you to speak to your brother after you give me your name. Then you'll have one hour to speak with him and that will be it."

  "My name doesn't matter as I am confirmed dead. You can't do anything with it. Nor can you find any evidence of what I chose to call myself now. I am the ghost you have been chasing for several years and it was good while it lasted."

  "Do you belong to the sovereign citizen movement?"

  "No it's a stupid organization full of whacky ideas."

  "But your brother deeply believes in it and you've been helping him for a while."

  "So, I helped him because he is my brother, not because I believed in what he is doing. I have felt for years that he was wronged by our parents when they forced him into the military."

  All of a sudden, Special Agent Ortiz felt like an elephant was sitting on her body. This woman in front of her had so many layers of complexity and wrong-doing that it might take the FBI years to understand the scope of her damage. She needed some time to think and so she said to her suspect, "I'm going to leave now and arrange for you to visit your brother and then you'll be locked up in the Sacramento County Jail. You have been read your rights multiple times; do you wish to have the assistance of an attorney?"