An Unladylike Murder, page 10
part #1 of Jessica Sloan Mystery Series
Coyne turned his attention to Cutter. “Do you remember how Bones always had a medical device that he’d wave over someone’s body when they were hurt?”
“Vaguely.”
“Jill’s company used noninvasive sensors to collect information on vital signs, body chemistry, and biological function.”
Sloan touched her iPad to pull up her notes. “Is that the laser speckle interferometric part?”
Coyne nodded. “It was the first consumer-friendly mobile health device to combine vital sign monitoring with an extensive diagnostic testing menu. It was to be a giant leap forward in patient care.”
Cutter spoke up. “In plain English now, what was it supposed to do?”
“According to Jill and her team, the diagnostic tools built into her device measure vital core signs including pulse, EKG, body temperature, respiratory rate, and blood pressure. It also has a proprietary blood sensor that measured glucose levels, white blood cell count, and hemoglobin without taking a drop of blood. Consumers could use their phones to see their data and then send it onto their personal physician.”
“What kind of medical problems was it supposed to diagnose?”
“It’s algorithms were to diagnose multiple health conditions, including diabetes, atrial fibrillation, urinary tract infection, sleep apnea, leukocytosis, stroke, tuberculosis, and pneumonia.”
Feeling Coyne might be snowing him, Cutter turned sarcastic. “Was its database just human or did it include information on aliens as well?”
The investor stared at him as if he’d lost his mind.
Then Coyne laughed. “Bone’s tricorder. Alien. Good one. I’ll try to remember that.”
Sloan tried to gather more information. “How did the device work?”
“Jill claimed it used artificial intelligence, based in part on knowledge from clinical emergency medicine, to analyze data gathered via sensors. We had already placed the device into the hands of just under a thousand patients. The next step would have been to get to the point where the medical community and patients completely trusted the device. Then the public could transmit their personal data to their own doctors. Voila, next generation personalized patient-centric healthcare.”
“What happened that brought the negative press?”
Cutter watched as the investor’s eyebrows bounced and his eyes clouded over. “There was a story in the Wall Street Post that the company and its technology was essentially a sham. Then people came out of the shadows claiming their loved ones had died because the technology didn’t work.”
“Was there any truth to the story?”
“I don’t see what Jill’s death has to do with the story or the product.”
“Really. You don’t think a loved one could hate Jill so much that they’d try to get revenge by killing her.”
Coyne looked distraught. “Jesus, it never occurred to me that… I never thought…”
“Who stands to benefit from her death?”
Coyne looked stunned. “Uhm, I haven’t given that any thought either… No one benefits, unless… perhaps one of her competitors. But I don’t think that’s likely.”
“Why won’t it benefit her competitors?”
“That was the beauty of her solution. She really had no direct competitors.”
“If you can give us a list of anyone even close to being one, we’ll check them out.”
“Certainly, I’ll ask one of my associates to try.”
Sloan said, “I’m curious. We were at Jill’s home. If Jill’s company had not yet gone public, how was it she was able to cash out some of her stock?”
“Her company was what we call a late stage unicorn. It’s not uncommon for venture investors to let founders of billion-dollar unicorns cash out ten, twenty, up to fifty million. It allows us to get more of their stock, which will give us an even bigger return on our investment when we take it public. Given how much money she had already raised and how hot her company was, it should have benefited my firm.”
“But given the bad press and lawsuits you made the wrong call, right?”
Coyne’s right eye twitched. “When you put it that way, yes, I guess I did.”
“So you had a motive to want her dead.”
Coyne took a deep breath before he answered. “I’m afraid not. You need to realize that I run a fund and I’m investing other people’s money. And by people, I mean wealthy people, pension funds, other venture investors and the like who spread their investments over many vehicles like mine. And if you’re implying that there’s any reason I could be a suspect, that’s preposterous.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I don’t risk my own funds, so there is no reason to suspect me.” Coyne stood up. “Now, if that’s all, I have another meeting they need me to attend.”
“We have many more questions for you but we’ll let you go for now.”
Cutter and Jessica stood to leave.
As they hit the bottom of the stairway, Sloan and Cutter looked back at Coyne’s office. Coyne was standing in the doorway rubbing his forehead with his right hand.
As they sat in the Taurus, Sloan said, “That was an interesting meeting. Coyne feels way too slick to me.”
“I don’t like him either, but having an arrogant personality doesn’t make him a suspect.”
“Why didn’t you ask him about the people he hired for Jill?”
“We’ll dig deeper once we check out his alibi.”
“So where are we now then?”
“We have no suspects yet, but it appears that a lot of people were harmed by Jill’s device.”
Chapter 25
Cutter looked at his watch. “It’s almost lunchtime. Why don’t we go through a McDonald’s drive-through so we can sit in the car and talk while we eat?”
Sloan sneered. “You’re joking, right?”
“Why, where would you prefer to eat?”
Sloan had her opening. “I prefer eating healthy. How does avocado toast and apple-kale juice sound to you?”
“Jeez, where do they even make stuff like that?”
“There’s a healthy restaurant in the Stanford Shopping Center. It’s not far.”
Within twenty minutes, they were seated in a modest restaurant that displayed photographs of fruit and vegetables.
Cutter glanced at both sides of the freshly printed menu as he talked. “I don’t trust menus that aren’t plasticized.”
“Do you see anything with enough caffeine and sugar for your tastes, John?”
Cutter turned the menu over. “I’m not kidding when I say that this is the first time in years that I’ve eaten in a place that didn’t have a laminated menu or a menu over the cashier’s head.”
When the waitress stopped by, Jessica ordered first.
Cutter said, “I’ll have a large diet coke and a cheeseburger with fries.”
“Would you like that to be a veggie burger?”
“No, I want a real meat patty done medium rare.”
The waitress shot Cutter a fake grin and walked away.
Jessica wanted to understand her partner. “How come you’re still a detective, Cutter? Why aren’t you a Lieutenant, or a Captain, or retired?”
“Hmm… I don’t enjoy the politics that come with those jobs. I much prefer working cases. What we do makes me feel that I’m making a difference. Once you’ve been working homicide for a couple of years, you’ll be ready to take the exams to a higher rank. That’s when you’ll have to decide for yourself. I’ve known two detectives that took the exams, who then got promoted, only to decide they wanted to go back to working cases.”
Their lunches were delivered to their table.
When they were almost finished eating, Cutter’s phone rang. “Cutter here.”
Cutter held his phone away from his ear so Sloan could also hear. “Cutter, we have something interesting for you on the cause of death in the Jill Gillberry case.”
“Have you identified the poison?”
“We have several surprises for you. You’d best come here as soon as you can.”
“We’ll be there in about forty minutes, Jayson.” Cutter hung up the phone. “Finish your juice Sloan, Forensics has a surprise for us.”
They battled their way up Highway 101 where the traffic was always heavy and the road was in need of a complete repaving job. The trip took just over an hour.
Cutter telephoned Jayson to let him know they were parking.
Jayson Hale was waiting for them at the elevator door. “This way.”
A minute later, they were in one of the labs.
Jayson started talking as soon as he closed the door. “The syringe from the toilet stall floor is interesting.”
Cutter said, “Tell us.”
“I expected it to contain traces of a quick acting poison. However, there was nothing in it. Not even trace evidence.”
“That isn’t possible; is it?”
“It is, if she was killed with air.”
“What do you mean by air?”
“If a large amount of air enters a vein or artery, such as when you’re injected with an empty syringe, it can cause a fatal air embolism.”
Sloan said, “A large amount like 200cc’s worth?”
“Exactly. Once I realized what we had, I immediately alerted the Medical Examiner and he’s running the appropriate tests.”
“Great. We’ll visit him next. Were there any fingerprints on the syringe or on the toilet stall?”
“Nothing on the syringe. It was either wiped clean or the perp wore gloves. As you can imagine, we found hundreds of prints on the restroom stalls, counter tops and walls. Most of them are partials. We used to run them ourselves but we were told to upload all of them into the new database.”
“And what were the results?”
“I would have expected faster results, so I called. I was told they were having a few startup problems but they should have the kinks worked out soon. Hopefully you and Detective Sloan should receive the results on your iPhones and iPads within a few hours.”
Cutter shook his head. “Great new technology we’re using. What about hair and fibers?”
“Ah, there was one unusual find. We found a partial, dried up flower on the floor behind the toilet.” Jayson paused for effect. “It turned out to be a fuchsia blossom.”
“Did Jill Gillberry have anything on her clothes indicating that it may have come from her?”
“No.”
Jessica asked, “Then how would that have gotten in there?”
“It’s not our job to speculate. Going back to other hairs and fibers, as we process them, we are also entering them into the computer. They tell me that once iPoirot is fully functioning and matches are made, you’ll know as quickly as we do. They claim it’ll get the information to you detectives much faster. Don’t you love the new technology?”
Sloan had liked Jayson Hale until he’d become sarcastic.
Cutter looked at Jayson. “How are you doing with creating a crime scene computer simulation?”
“That’ll take us at least a week. Oh, and by the way, the electronic dust print lifting didn’t give us any interesting footprints.”
Sloan asked, “So what do you conclude happened?”
Jayson smiled. “We don’t come to conclusions. Our job is to process the information and enter it into the database. The database will in turn provide it to you detectives.”
Chapter 26
Their next stop was in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood on Newhall Street. It was almost three in the afternoon by the time Jessica and John pulled into the parking lot for the Chief Medical Examiner.
The building was newer and featured a stainless steel look, which included a gleaming modern sculpture out front.
Sloan guessed they had chosen stainless steel because it suggested cleanliness. She knew the most important property of stainless steel was its resistance to corrosion.
It doesn’t rust. Rust screams death and decay.
“Is this your first visit to the Medical Examiner’s, Sloan?”
“Yes. Anything I should know before we go in?”
Cutter fought to keep a smile from his face as they walked towards the entrance. “I’m sure you’ve been in a butcher’s shop or seen meat at the grocery store, right.”
Jessica nodded.
“Then I won’t sugar coat it. Don’t be ashamed if you barf or faint.” He glanced to see how she reacted. “Since it’s been almost forty-eight hours, you’ll see that Jill Gillberry has very much left the building. And that’s the point. Dead bodies should look dead. It helps us focus on the medical reasons of why she died while it also helps her relatives with the grieving process.”
Jessica shot John a curious look.
“If you think of the corpse as a person with loved ones, you won’t last more than a minute. When my partner brought me here for the first time, he told to think of the corpse as meat… Meat, but with a story to tell. If you feel faint, don’t worry about it. I’ve seen the most hardened cops barf when they see their first dead body. You’ll find that the chemicals in the room make it hard to breath, but it’s just part of the experience. Turn away or leave the room if you have to.”
Sloan realized her partner might be setting her up. She stopped walking. “In my time as a beat cop I dealt with ex-cons, gangbangers, junkies, whores, pimps and pushers. I’ve seen my share of blood and dead bodies.”
“Not like this you haven’t.”
“Isn’t what you’re telling me the direct opposite of what you told me at Jill’s house? How we need to get to know the victim.”
“Sure we need to know who they were, but we can’t think of them as people when it comes to their remains. When you saw Jill at the crime scene, she was fresh. Today, the Medical Examiner will have finished his autopsy so we’ll be shown her dissected and decomposing leftover shell. If we’re lucky, it’ll be closed up with huge stitches that make the skin look like cheap leather. Sometimes Fitz will even let us hold the organs, in order to show us the actual cause of death. By the end of this visit, you’ll have smelled and seen more than you’ve ever wanted to. In fact, the meat shell and organs will be permanently imprinted in your brain and you’ll never get them out. I’ve seen hundreds and I remember all of them. By the end of the visit you’ll have become Jill’s advocate.”
Cutter glanced at his partner’s face for a reaction.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“If you’re going to succeed as a homicide detective you’re going to have to get used to death and dead bodies. We are the first ones to look at what’s left of the body. Many times, it’s in the place where the kill took place so we get the full effect of the blood spray, position of the body and its surroundings. The only way to deal with the cruelty of the sights and the odors of death is to become numb. To a detective, the dead cannot be humans. They’re empty shells of who they once were. We silently tell the carcass that we’ll try to find out who did them in.”
Sloan started walking.
At the front door, Cutter held the door open.
“Thanks, partner.”
He held out his hand. “Here’s a candy to suck on. It’s got an intense cinnamon flavor so it might help to distract you.”
Sloan pocketed the candy. “Thanks.”
She was surprised to find the facility had a generous amount of natural light and was decorated with works made by local artists.
Not what I was expecting.
Outside the morgue was a metal box with locked drawers for handgun storage. Cutter took his handgun and put it inside.
Sloan followed his example.
Cutter pointed at a table laden with smocks, gloves and masks.
As soon as they were properly attired, Cutter swung open the door to the lab and let Sloan enter first.
Doctor Peter Fitzpatrick was wearing scrubs, an apron, gloves and a mask. He was standing next to a badly disfigured and discolored nude body.
Jessica’s eyes flew from the body to the ceiling.
It’s not a person, it’s just meat.
Cutter tried to suppress the grin beneath his mask. “Jessica, I’m sure you and Fitz remember each other.”
Fitz lowered his mask. “Detective Sloan, welcome to my office.”
Sloan looked directly at Fitz then back to the ceiling.
The stench must be formaldehyde and antiseptics.
“Fitz has told me that most days he feels like that kid in that Sixth Sense movie, all he sees are dead people.” Cutter could have been talking about the weather outside.
John and Fitz shared a grin as Jessica was now looking at the walls.
Peter Fitzpatrick replied, “It’s my duty to listen to the stories that the dead tell me through the damage and decay to their body and organs.”
Cutter asked, “Is that Jill’s body?”
“No. This one was thought to be a fire victim. What I discovered was that he died from being stabbed. The fire was set to try and destroy the evidence.”
“How did you discover that, Fitz.”
Fitz picked up a lung and held it towards Jessica. “As you can see this lung did not have smoke or soot deposits in the airways or lungs.”
Jessica watched as Fitz picked up another red organ.
“Deep tissue organs that are not burned will have cuts or punctures marks in them.”
Fitz held it out to Jessica. “If you come a little closer you can see the cuts more clearly.”
Jessica didn’t move. “It’s okay. I believe
you.”
Cutter was enjoying himself. “What did Jill Gillberry’s body tell you?”
“Her body’s on the next slab. I should tell you that the politicians are spooked by her death. Even the Mayor called my office telling me to make this case a top priority.”
Jessica glanced at the slab to where Jill Gillberry’s white corpse lay naked.
Fitz said, “You missed the main show. I’ve already sliced her open, removed her organs, examined them and closed her up again.”
Large raw stitches were puckering what was Jill’s skin as if she were a baseball.
