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

by Alec Peche

  “I already checked my schedule and if the Sheriff will pay my change ticket fee, I’ll be happy to stay and help. Did you hear back on the cell phone coverage?”

  “Yes the Sheriff confirmed it is very possible that the cell phone did not get any reception. We’re going to check cell phone records to see if an attempt was made. I’d appreciate if you could get me the medical questions by nine in the morning and if you would like to observe; I request that you do not enter the building at the same time as Dr. Lewis as he has already made your acquaintance. There is a back parking lot for employees only. Park there and I’ll notify the staff to let you in.”

  “One more question, would you mind if I brought Angela to the observation room? She is our resident people person and she may think of something I don’t, based on his answers.”

  Another pause while he thought about Jill’s request then he said “ok” and they ended the call.”

  Jill looked at Angela and said, “You’re joining me to observe the interview. It will be interesting to get your read of the situation.”

  “I don’t know whether to be excited or bothered by watching this process. I guess Dr. Lewis is innocent until proven guilty and we’re getting closer to the truth.”

  “It’s not like they are going to bang heads against the wall; this is strictly a conversation between two officers and Dr. Lewis. I’ll be listening to the medical side of his answers and you’ll be watching his body language for ‘gives’ as to his emotions. By the way, do you mind having a house guest for a few more days?”

  “Of course I don’t mind, we love having you in town. Besides after all of these interactions with the police, maybe we’ll all get out of speeding tickets for the foreseeable future!”

  “That would be a nice advantage to solving this case,” Marie agreed. “Jo always seems to talk her way out of tickets but the rest of us never have that luck.”

  “Hey, it’s Saturday night and we have no more investigating to do tonight,” Angela proclaimed. “Jill, you can comprise your question list in the morning. Let’s head for a bar. We could start at Libertine and then head for Nines, or we could try Republic as their bar can be quieter than Nines.”

  The friends were in agreement and were soon heading out in their separate cars so they could leave and go to their respective homes at the end of the evening. They were, before long, seated at a table in Libertine discussing the beer menu. It felt like their trip through Belgium; all the women discussing their beer choices based on taste preferences. All that was missing was the unique Belgium beer glasses. These were boring plain glass beer pint tumblers. Part of the fun in Belgium had been the unique glass for each beer. They had been able to compare beer flavors along with glass designs.

  They were engrossed in a conversation of where to travel next with their heads bent together when Angela caught a movement out of the corner of her eye.

  “Jill, keep your back to the door because Dr. Lewis just walked in. I recognize him from the picture on the murder board. He is coming this way. Marie and Jo, why don’t you stand on either side of Jill, to block the view of her.”

  Soon everyone was in place as he got closer. He briefly eyed the patrons before stepping up to the bar, leaning in and giving his order. Angela motioned to Jill to stand up and head to the exit, keeping her face averted from the position of where he was standing. Marie and Jo stayed at her back further blocking the view and as they had five inches on Jill’s height, it wasn’t hard to do.

  Angela wandered up to the bar next to Dr. Lewis to settle their tab. He looked over at her and she smiled back at him in her usual friendly manner, but he did not smile back. He soon got a beer and headed over to the table they had just vacated. Angela closed out the tab and headed for the door.

  Her friends were huddled down the street about three store fronts away and Angela walked the distance to join them.

  “He got a beer and is occupying the table we just left. I smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back. What should we do next?”

  “Let’s see if he meets anyone for a drink,” Marie suggested. “We can give it thirty minutes. Let’s go into Fox Heights and the three of us can take turns checking the bar to see if he has met up with anyone. Jill, you can stay here out of sight and not participate in our little adventure!”

  “Okay that is just plain mean-spirited, you know I like to be in the thick of things.”

  “You dodged enough danger in your life, now it is time to stay out sight, while your team mates put their capes on to save the world,” Angela said with a laugh.

  “Should we keep someone posted there and replace them every five minutes or should we just check in the windows every five minutes?” Jo asked.

  “I would vote on a surveillance method but since I obviously failed this afternoon, my view doesn’t count,” Jill murmured.

  “Let’s try checking the window every five minutes, we don’t know who, if anyone, he is meeting,” Marie suggested.“What if it is someone that we recognize? That could get sticky if we are inside observing rather than walking by the window.”

  “Good point,” Angela agreed. “I'll take the first shift, and I’ll set the timer on my phone to signal every five minutes. If you guys see anything try to take a picture with your cell. Turn your flash off before you take the picture and if you have to, do a selfie with your back to them to capture them in the background.”

  “Great advice from our resident photographer!” complimented Jo. “I’ll order a beer for you to drink upon your return. Do you want a Stillmank Wisco Disco? I believe that is your most recent favorite beer.”

  “Yes, thanks, see you in a few minutes,” and Angela left the bar.

  “We have the strangest adventures together,” Marie noted. ”When my assistant asks me how my vacation was, she’ll look at me with incredulity when I tell her about the murder, the investigation, our surveillance. I’ve told her enough about other investigations that she’ll believe me, but she’ll still be shaking her head.”

  “I know what you mean. I get the same response from friends and family,” Jo agreed. “Jill, you don’t even tell your mother about these cases unless it makes national news. Nathan takes our adventures in stride especially since he has had the opportunity to participate in them. Let me grab our beers - Marie, do you want a Stella, and Jill, a Guinness?”

  To accompanying “yeses”, Jo approached this new bar for drinks. She returned to the table just as Angela re-entered the bar.

  “He is still sitting there alone, watching the doorway, so I think he must be expecting someone. I took a picture as I walked by just to make sure it was doable. Let’s take a look.”

  They all leaned forward to look at the cell phone screen that Angela was holding. It was indeed a great shot of Dr. Lewis. Angela had got him looking down at his watch, so it was nice that the practice picture wasn’t seen by him. Her phone timer then vibrated so, Jo stood up and went for a walk. The rotation continued until Marie’s second and final surveillance trek. She was so surprised by what she saw that she quickly took a selfie, back to the bar’s exterior window and then immediately crossed the street to get well out of view of the bar inhabitants. A few minutes later, she returned to the bar with her friends.

  Marie’s dimples were in full force as she grinned at her friends, “Here take a look at this cell phone picture. Isn’t it an interesting selfie?” Her friends looked at the picture then returned her smile with equal mirth.

  The picture was indeed interesting. It had capture about a third of Marie’s face with the other two thirds devoted to the bar scene behind her. There at the table were Michelle and Dr. Lewis sharing a pint of beer.

  “What an interesting picture. Why would Michelle risk being seen out in public just days after her husband has been murdered? It is nearly ten at night, I can’t imagine this is a meeting to go over fabric choices for the patio furniture,” Jo commented.

  “I can’t pretend to know what it is like to lose a spouse, and I hat
e to be judgmental, but I have to agree with you, Jo, that I would not be away from my children at this hour of the night so soon after their father’s death,” Marie agreed. “I wouldn’t have even behaved that way about my ex-spouse.”

  “Let’s go somewhere a few blocks from here so we can chat about this some more,” Jill requested.“I am a little uneasy being so close to them especially since I had that encounter this afternoon.”

  Marie checked to see that the sidewalk was clear and the couple appeared to have no intention of exiting the Libertine in the next few moments. They walked over the bridge to Titletown Brewery to strategize some more with little conversation along the way. Once inside, Jill felt less vulnerable at being caught by Dr. Lewis.

  “Let’s talk about Michelle. We all thought that there was something a little different about her last night when we interviewed her at the winery,” Angela reminded them all. “Do you think she could have conspired with Dr. Lewis to kill her husband? We know he potentially has a problem with his work product that may be big enough to give him a motive for murder. Was there a secondary motive here with him wanting to get Dr. Easley out of the picture for Michelle? What do we think we saw with Michelle when we interviewed her?”

  “Good questions, Angela, and I’ll add a few of my own,” Jo said. “Have we heard from anyone that there were problems with their marriage? What was Dr. Lewis planning to do with his own wife? Did Michelle financially benefit from her husband's passing? There is also the puzzling question of where Lewis blows his money. Is it drugs and that is perhaps, what is impacting his work? How much do illicit drugs cost anyway? Can you spent say fifty-thousand dollars on cocaine or meth or heroine?”

  Jill asked to see the picture again. She studied the picture of the couple but in the end decided it was wishful thing - wanting to imagine something there that wasn’t.

  Jill said, “If we thought this was a planned murder between the two of them, how would we go about proving Michelle’s role in it? Merely meeting a man for a beer alone on a Saturday at ten is too thin of a piece of evidence to do anything with.”

  “Detective Van Bruggin said they were pulling Dr. Lewis's phone records to see if he tried to make a call from the site where Dr. Phillips collapsed,” reminded Marie. “Might we ask him to see if there were frequent calls to Michelle?”

  “At the moment, we are holding back two details from the police,” Jill noted. “One is the issue of his performance at the hospital and the other is this relationship with Michelle. I think we should keep his hospital performance to ourselves. Since we acquired the information illegally, we need to direct the police to a way to find it legally. However, for the situation with Michelle, I think we should discuss our findings with the detectives tomorrow when we meet them for the interview.”

  "Should we go back to Libertine to see if the two of them are still together or perhaps Michelle has left and returned home? Again, I can’t imagine leaving her two daughters alone at this time.” Marie said.

  "Why don't I make a run back over the bridge and see if the two are still together?” offered Jo. "After I get a look in the window, I'll text you with what I see. Then I'll go ahead to my car and go home. I'll keep my schedule open tomorrow for whatever you need me for but at this point we don't have any new research to do. Do you agree, Jill?"

  "Sadly, I do agree with your plan. I don't recall being so blocked from following up on clues about a case. Oh well, at least the police are blocked too and the main clues that they're following up on our ones that we've dug up. See you later!”

  Jo exited the brewery and walked over the bridge. Turning right on Washington Street, she saw Dr. Lewis and Michelle exit the bar together. They weren't holding hands or hugging or kissing but there was something in their body language that said ‘couple’. Jo took out her cell phone and took a picture. She stopped to text the picture to her friends while keeping an eye on the departing couple. She increased her pace after the text was sent to close distance with them. Dr. Lewis escorted Michelle to the driver side of the car and she got in and took off.

  Unfortunately Jo had gotten too close to the couple. Dr. Lewis shifted his gaze and focused on Jo.

  “Can you tell me which way St. Brendan’s is? I thought it was at this end of the street."

  He pointed over his left shoulder as he said, "it's that way, about a block and a half.”

  He then turned and seemingly made his way back to the bar. Jo knew she needed to keep going until she entered Saint Brendan's. She would make a bathroom stop there and swing back to where her car was parked so she could go home. Just before she entered the pub, she made a call to Jill.

  "Where are you?" asked Jill.

  "St. Brendan's. I followed our infamous couple until they reached Michelle's car. After she left, he looked over at me seemingly wondering what I was doing there. Perhaps it was my own suspicious mind. So I asked for directions to St. Brendan's acting like I was on the wrong end of Washington Street. So I figured I better come down here. Now I need to go back in order to get my car to go home. He headed back toward the bar so he may still be inside Libertine.”

  “Wow, quick thinking on your part to head to St. Brendan's! Marie's going to walk over the bridge and look in the bar window to see if he's there and then head home. If you're creeped out, she could meet you and you could walk to your cars together.”

  “That sounds like a plan. I am going to use the bathroom here and then I’ll meet her at the parking lot by the sculpture at the corner of Cherry and Washington. See you later.”

  “Take care” Jill said as she ended the call. “It seems like we’re all getting creeped out by our encounters with Dr. Lewis. He has spoken to me and Jo, he has refused to return Angela’s smile, and we'll have to assume that he hasn't noticed your face yet, Marie. Can you and Jo text me when you get home? I just want to make sure that nothing else happens on this strange night.”

  "Jill, what don't you stay here at the brewery and I'll walk across the bridge with Marie. Since we're all parked together we can all get in our cars at the same time and leave. I'll swing back around and pick you up here. That way we won't be forced to play hide and seek."

  "That sounds like a brilliant plan, Angela!"

  Fifteen minutes later, Angela notified her that she was waiting outside. Jill paid the bar tab and left the brewery to join Angela, who was driving her rental car.”

  Jo, Marie, and Angela had had no further adventures on the way to their cars. When they walked by the Libertine’s window, they could not spot Dr. Lewis at a table. The two friends chatted a while longer upon arriving at Angela's house. Jill, an early riser, would create questions for the detectives in the morning. All was quiet on a Saturday night in late spring in Green Bay, Wisconsin.

  Chapter Twenty

  It was a Sunday morning and Angela had dropped Jill off at Starbucks on her way to Mass. Jill sat in the café sipping her Americano coffee and composing a list of questions for the detectives. If she were able to conduct the interview, the first question she would ask Dr. Lewis to describe the scene as he best remembered.

  She would then move on to questions without telling Dr. Lewis that they had a satellite surveillance shot of the incident. What caused Dr. Phillips the stop the snowmobile? Was he experiencing chest pain? What did he say? What were the symptoms that Dr. Lewis could observe? Did Dr. Phillips clutch his chest? Did he rub an arm? What was his coloring? Did he lose consciousness? Did Dr. Lewis attempt CPR? Did the county coroner ask him as a licensed physician to pronounce Dr. Phillips dead?

  Depending on the answers, she might ask more questions during the actual interview process. Otherwise if she had no questions, she would wait for the detectives to show him the satellite picture and ask him again to describe what happened as it unfolded on the screen. She would then compare his statements to those that he made earlier about what happened at the scene of Dr. Phillips’s death.

  She looked up to see Angela walking toward her table. She had been s
o engrossed in thinking about the potential murder of Dr. Phillips that they saw on the tape, and making sure that the right questions were asked of Dr. Lewis, she had not noticed that an entire hour had passed. They were due at the police station in about thirty minutes. They debated staying in the café or going home. In the end, Angela got a cup of tea and looked over Jill's questions. She couldn't think of anything additional to add so they set out for downtown Green Bay with the plan to wear wide brimmed hats and dark sunglasses until they entered the back door of the police station. You never knew who would pass you on the street inside a car. The last thing the two of them needed was to have Dr. Lewis spot them on the street. As planned, they entered through the back door of the police station and took a circuitous route to an observation room. The interview room was empty as there were still about ten minutes before the interview was to take place. Jill was interested to see if Dr. Lewis showed up with an attorney to represent him. Shortly, Detective Van Bruggin, and an officer from the Cook County Sheriff's department, Deputy Payne, and Dr. Lewis entered the interview room. Detective Haro join them in the observation room. Dr. Lewis stared at the one-way glass as though trying to decipher who was observing this conversation. He had no attorney with him, which showed confidence on his part. Soon, the interview was underway.

  “Dr. Lewis, we appreciate you taking the time to meet us here this morning. As I mentioned on the phone yesterday, Deputy Payne has some follow-up questions. I am here for the interview as the legal representative of the city that both you and Dr. Phillips reside in. This interview will be recorded and as I advised you last night, you are free to bring an attorney to this conversation.”

  Dr. Lewis nodded but said nothing.

  "Dr. Lewis, would you please recount what happened on the snowmobile trip in which Dr. Phillips died approximately six months ago?” asked Deputy Payne.