Death On A Green (Jill Quint, MD, Forensic Pathologist Book 4)

by Alec Peche

  One of the officers stopped them offering them a ride in a squad car. Obviously, they weren’t willing to let them leave their custody just yet.

  “Do you know how to get back to the restaurant in a car? I mean there are some creeks in the way,” noted Jill.

  “Yes I know how to get there. The course manager gave us a map when we got here with directions on how to avoid hazards.”

  “Okay, let’s go. I really need the bathroom now.”

  The officer put them in the back of the patrol car and shortly they were at the restaurant. The uniformed officer followed them inside. He took up guard while they went inside the ladies room, and stood, ready to escort them back to his car when they were done. It was really creepy. The back seat stunk, all noise had ceased when they arrived and everyone stared at them. Finally, it was driving Jill nuts so she made an announcement just as she reached the exit to the restaurant.

  “We’re the witnesses, not the shooter,” and the door closed behind them.

  Chapter Three

  “Now that was an interesting experience,” mused Jo always willing to look at the positive side of any comment. “I felt like we had a very bad odor. I would have liked to stay behind as a fly on the wall to hear the conversation after your parting comment.”

  “Me too,” agreed Jill. “I would rather walk back then ride in the police vehicle. It really smelled. Even though it was the back seat you would have thought the smell would bother the officers in the front. I suppose that he may have finished taking Marie and Angela’s statements and we don’t want to delay the investigation.”

  “For a woman who has spent a fair amount of time around stinky corpses and perhaps formaldehyde, you are really fussy about scents,” Jo remarked. “You must be making up for lost time.”

  “I think my problem is that I would love to contribute to this investigation - get in the middle and direct it, but the police seem quite competent. For all the investigations we have participated in over the years I think this is the physically closest point we have ever been to a murder that came out of the blue. Certainly, in other investigations, murders have happened during the course of the case, but generally they were strangers and we knew why they were dead. This time Angela personally knows the victim and we haven’t a clue why he is dead. There is also a ‘hit man’ feel to this shooting which is an exotic premise for this city.”

  “Oh well, we have not worked as a team together for nearly six months. I think each of us has only provided a few hours of consulting on the five or so cases you have had since our last big case in Colorado last year,” Jo related. “If Angela gains the wife’s permission for us to work on this case, it will be a first for us as this is home ground for Angela, Marie, and I. We may be evaluating or investigating people we know in this town as opposed to our usual process of investigating complete strangers.”

  They arrived back at the second green. Angela had finished being interviewed and was sitting by herself on a bench with her eyes closed while Marie was up in the other tee box telling her story.

  “Hey, are you doing okay?” asked Jill softly.

  Angela opened her eyes and looked blankly at them for a moment then heaved a big sigh and said, “I was just saying a prayer for Doug, Michelle, and the kids. He wasn’t a close friend, but he was someone I expected not to be touched by such violence. I saw him and his family in church every couple of months. I wasn’t aware of any risky behavior. Certainly, I can’t imagine anyone hating him enough to kill him like this. On a completely different subject, I was trying to think of the words to use with Michelle and even to get past her family today and get her permission for us to initiate a separate investigation. The one thing I have learned participating in all of these investigations is that, as a team, we are really good at solving crimes and peeling back the layers so that we catch all of the criminals. I would go so far as to say we solve some of our cases faster than Interpol or the FBI or the local police. How do I tell an acquaintance, someone who isn’t a close friend that she really needs to hire us, even if it is at no cost, to solve her husband’s murder?”

  “It is very gratifying to hear you say you feel like we make a difference. The sole reason I began doing these autopsies was to make a difference to a very vulnerable group of people and to make sure the right criminals are caught. For you to feel that way about this part time job is really a credit to our team. This used to be my occupation, but it was never yours and I expect you to tolerate it, but instead it sounds like at the end of these cases you feel the satisfaction that I do. Thank you,” said Jill and she leaned in to hug Angela. “I have some thoughts on how to approach Michelle but when the police are done here, we'll have a quick huddle and decide.”

  Jo returned to them with the detective. Her interview had been the shortest. Jill wondered if it was because Jo was likely the fourth person to say the same thing or if it was Jo’s naturally unobservant personality that had shortened the conversation.

  “Ladies, thank you for your time. I may have additional questions so don’t be surprised if I call you. Dr. Quint, I would offer you the professional courtesy of observing the autopsy, but as you told me while I took your statement, it really is quite obvious what killed him and that it was homicide, not suicide or an accident."

  “Has your team located the shell casing in the woods?”

  “I don’t know. Let me check,” replied VanBruggin as he left the four of them alone for the first time in an hour.

  “So, Jill, what do you think so far of the investigation?” asked Marie with the slightest tinge of hometown pride in her voice.

  “It’s pretty early in the investigation, but from what I saw today, I can’t complain. I wish they would have run into the woods to see if the shooter was still there, but I guess if you’re only one officer, than it is not your priority.”

  "So what do you think the next steps are here today?" asked Jo.

  "I think the officers are done with us," replied Jill. "It seems like our next steps are to help Angela craft a message for Michelle that will get her to agree to accept your help. The other thing is it would be really helpful to go into that woods and find where the shooter was standing. I wonder if the Green Bay Police Department is big enough to have a ballistics expert on the force. Let me ask the detective those two questions."

  Jill walked over to where the detective was standing talking with both uniformed officers and crime scene staff judging by their respective clothing. The three teammates of the victim were making their way back toward the clubhouse. By now, Michelle should've been notified by the police of her husband’s murder.

  "Detective Van Bruggin, I have a couple questions for you. Do you have a minute?"

  The detective left his group and followed Jill to neutral ground between their two teams.

  "Are we free to go? Do you have a ballistics expert in the department? Would you allow us to go into the woods to look for evidence of the shooter? I presume you have not found any shell casings."

  "Yes, Dr. Quint, you and your friends are free to go. We do not have a ballistics expert in our department. As far as searching the woods, we consider that as part of the crime scene so I don't think we want you trampling around in there. And what was your last question? Oh yeah, did we find shell casing - no we did not."

  "In the interest of full disclosure, I should tell you that it is the desire of my friends and I to gain permission from the victim's wife for us to separately investigate this murder. So it would be helpful if we could examine the woods now."

  The detective had an angry look about his face as he asked, "Are you planning on charging the widow for your services?"

  "No, we will be asking her to sign a no cost contract. We do need a contract and I have separate authorization forms so that we may speak on her behalf to investigate her husband's death."

  "Okay,” said the detective with a long pause as he was thinking. "I have never worked alongside a private detective this early in the investigation. Wh
at will you do if the widow does not want you looking into her husband's death?"

  "We will respect her wishes. It would be very hard to investigate this murder without her cooperation. I am sure she has faith in your department, but my team and I have solved a variety of complex murders where there are multiple and hidden motives. A physician being murdered could be simple or complex.”

  “Stand here a minute and let me talk to a few associates,” requested the detective as he walked off.

  Jill just stood there, a few feet from her friends, a few feet from the detectives, all alone looking at where the victim still lay on the green. She wondered how the golf course would clean up the blood and brain mess to have a playable surface. From there, she stared into the woods speculating where the killer might have been. Would he or she have been standing on the ground or sitting on a tree branch? The woods were thick so the shooter couldn’t have been very far into the woods. She looked at where the body laid on the green and angles of potential bullets. How would the shooter get away after firing the rifle? Did he or she run back through the woods to a parked car?”

  She was so deep in thought that when the detective approached her and put a hand on her arm, she jumped and uttered, “Crap, you scared the wits of out me. My fault, I was thinking about this investigation.”

  The detective had immediately lifted his hands and stepped back, “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you. It is easy to be edgy at a crime scene.”

  Jill pulled her sunglasses down and gave the detective a look that said, ‘I've seen a hundred crime scenes and I have seen worse than this.’ She stayed silent and waited for him to say something.

  “We’re going to allow you to examine the woods,” remarked the detective.

  “Great, thank you. Do you have four sets of gloves we can use? We’ll want to keep our fingerprints off of stuff and if we find any evidence, we will leave it where it is found.”

  Jill wanted to get to the store and print out her contract for Angela’s conversation with Michelle, but they were fortunate to get this opportunity to examine the woods. She handed latex gloves to her friends and they put them on as they approached the edge of the woods.

  "I am guessing that this is the angle that a bullet would've taken to hit the victim the way it did,” said Jill while she was lining up her arm with the path in which the body had fallen. "Let's make it quick as I doubt that we'll find any evidence here but it never hurts to be thorough. If you see something, don't pick it up – leave it where you found it and call out to me or the detective."

  "Jill, um, what are we looking for?" asked Jo. "I mean are we looking for clothing, are we looking for a shell casing, or are we looking for evidence that someone was in this area as evidenced by flattened plants?”

  "You're correct, Jo, we’re looking for all of the things you mentioned. As for flattened plants, some plants will be flattened from the earlier walk-through by the people at the scene. The plants that we're looking for will have had someone standing on them for at least twenty minutes. Make sure you track the angle of the body to your location. We don't want to go too wide or too deep in our examination of the woods. Angela, if you could snap a picture through the trees at the green, that would be useful.”

  The four friends began their search. They had spread out and were carrying their putters to move stuff out of the way on the ground. Then Marie had come up with a good suggestion.

  "I'm just not seeing anything. While we were standing here waiting to be interviewed, I looked this course up on Google Earth. The woods are thick here," gestured Marie. "It curves to the right and eventually there is a house. If you go straight through, it looks to be about a quarter-mile before it ends in farming land. Should we try walking through here to see if we can figure out what the shooter's path was out of the woods?"

  "Great idea!"

  They were soon trying to walk through the woods. When they would hit an obstruction in the form of thick foliage and/or trees, they walked backwards and tried another path. They eventually deduced that the shooter had to exit the woods to the right toward that lone house as it was really too thick to get through anyplace else. Throughout their search, they had come upon one piece of evidence only – a candy bar wrapper that had likely been dropped that day. Its appearance was fresh and as there had been rain overnight, the wrapper would not have had that crisp look if it had been rained on. They shared their finding and observations about it with the detective. Then they got in their golf carts and headed toward the clubhouse.

  It was about two hours after the shooting. The parking lot at the clubhouse was still two thirds full and now there were media vans parked there as well. The ladies headed straight for their cars. They unloaded the golf clubs and changed their shoes. A reporter came to the parking lot toward them and the four friends looked momentarily like deer in the headlights.

  Then Angela said, "I'll take this if you don't mind," and her three friends nodded agreement. They had no time to rehearse what any of them would say and they knew they could trust her to say the right words representing all of them.

  The reporter, with cameraman in tow, held out the microphone to Angela as he quickly asked, “Excuse me, ladies, but were you witnesses to the shooting on the golf course?”

  Angela gave the reporter a very sincere smile, looked into the camera and said, "We have no comment other than to say that our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this tragic time.”

  They each climbed into their respective vehicles and the reporter and his cameraman had to get out of the way of their cars backing up. As they were driving away, Jill had the thought that a smart reporter would copy down their license plates and go after them again for comment. When the full story came out, this would be sensational news in Green Bay, Wisconsin. It would be news because so few murders happened in the city, the victim was a physician, and the method of murder was relatively gruesome. Furthermore, at this point, it was unlikely that the police had any suspects.

  Chapter Four

  A few minutes later, they were at Office Max printing up the necessary forms. While Jill was taking care of the paperwork, Marie, Jo, and Angela were outside in one of their cars, strategizing on the script that Angela would use when speaking to Michelle. Of the four friends, Jill generally had the least tact so she just stayed out of the conversation. They decided that this was a very private time so only Angela would go to Michelle's. The other three friends would have a glass of wine at Marie's house, awaiting Angela's return.

  They didn’t have long to wait. Angela entered Marie’s house about thirty minutes after they parted at the store. Jill thought that was a bad sign; she must have been unable to talk to Michelle or get her agreement.

  “How did it go? How is Michelle doing?” asked Marie.

  Angela held out the contract for Jill and said “She hired us. She wants to meet with all of us tomorrow evening at eight, but she'll reconfirm before that time. The house is busy and she has lots of people around her. She thought her husband was upset about something and was quite relieved to see me with contract in hand. When I told her it was a no-cost contract, she broke down and cried over our generosity. She had me crying at that point. She wants to talk with all of us to hear about what happened at the golf course and she felt comforted to know that you were there, Jill.”

  “Me? Why would you be pleased to have a forensic pathologist on the scene?”

  “I’m guessing that someone told her that as a doctor you were quickly on the scene and still her husband couldn’t be saved. It feels better than thinking your loved one laid there in agonizing pain slowly dying and that medical care could have saved him but didn’t get there fast enough.”

  “Okay, I’ll run with that explanation. I was worried that I would be viewed as the grim reaper trying to collect a body early.”

  “That is a terrible visualization,” shuttered Marie. “Anyone that knows you would know you would do whatever you could to save a life.”

  “Than
ks, appreciate the vote of support,” smiled Jill. “Let’s talk about next steps today. I can’t think of anything additional that we can get from the crime scene. I thought about trying to determine the angle of impact, but law enforcement should do that as well as the caliber of the gun. What do you guys think?”

  We’re not experts in how crime scene information is collected, so we leave that totally in your hands,” Jo said. “I don’t remember the local police being criticized for poor crime scene investigation, does anyone else? We got a good look earlier and I would guess that whatever they collect at the scene will not substantially add to solving this crime. Let’s work on a motive.”

  “I agree with Jo. My untrained eyes did not see much evidence to be collected at the crime scene. The fact that none of us could determine how he or she exited the woods sort of points to a lack of evidence at the scene,” Marie speculated.

  “I think we are best at motive - how do people fit together in a victim’s life such that someone is mad or crazy enough to kill someone else,” Angela reasoned.

  “That is a good summary of our skills,” agreed Jill. “I was debating setting up a website about the company. I have not done so as I have been getting enough referrals without a website and I am afraid it will bring out the crazies - you know ‘will you exhume Aunt Eloise who died eighty years ago’. So I continued to stay off of the internet to keep some people away. The folks that really need our team have a way of finding us.”

  “I have to agree with your strategy, Jill,” affirmed Jo. “I think there could be a lot of crazy people in this business. I don’t think I could give you any more hours than I am doing now, so if you got busier, you would have to employ someone else with a finance background to help you. The current workload keeps my skills sharp and my vacation account padded, so I am working as hard as I want to.”