An Unladylike Murder, page 16
part #1 of Jessica Sloan Mystery Series
Cutter said, “Thank the Lord. I was beginning to think I should have packed an overnight bag.”
As they pulled up to the Kerry home, John checked his watch. “It took us over an hour and a half. I sure hope we learn something.”
If you were being generous you might say the home was a modest one-story rancher on a street of identical lower cost, cookie cutter places to live.
“I can’t understand how anyone could do this commute every day.”
The door opened before they could knock.
“Mister Kerry?”
“Yes, you must be the detectives, right.”
“Yes, sir.”
After introducing themselves, they were invited inside. “Then come on in and find a seat.”
Ralph Kerry leaned heavily on a metal rubber tipped cane until he was able to plop into a phony leather easy chair. The threads were showing where the plastic on the seat and arms had worn away. “Can I get you some water or something?”
Cutter nodded, “If it’s not too much to ask, I think we’d both appreciate one. And if it’s okay with you, you stay seated and I’ll get them.”
Kerry waved his hand. “Go ahead. The glasses are on the right, above the sink.”
When Cutter returned Kerry said, “What do you need to talk to me about?”
“You are James Kerry and David Kerry was your son?”
“Yes.” James Kerry’s eyes drooped and his body sagged.
“Can you please tell us how your son died?”
James’ voice was empty as he replied. “The doctor said that the official cause of death was tuberculosis in his lungs.”
Sloan was surprised. “How is that possible? I thought TB had been eliminated here in the United States.”
“David also had HIV.” The father looked at Jessica with hollow eyes. “It’s the virus that causes AIDS.”
Ralph took a deep breath to compose himself. “People with active tuberculosis must take several types of medications for many months if they hope to defeat it. At the end, David was coughing up blood, had chest pains and had lost his appetite.”
It was obvious that Ralph Kerry was having trouble telling his son’s story. “That damned Jill Gillberry device said David was fine. His doctor had contracted to rely on the device, so the doctor said he couldn’t see my son, or Jill Gillberry could sue him.”
David’s father started to choke back tears. “Because the disease wasn’t caught, he also infected his wife and two children.”
Jessica felt an emptiness in the pit of her stomach.
I should stop.
She looked at her partner who silently mouthed, “Keep going.”
Sloan swallowed her sympathy. “I’m so sorry to hear that, Mister Kerry. How are your daughter-in-law and grandchildren doing now?”
“Thank you for asking, but they’re not doing well. I’m probably going to outlive them.”
I need to get what we came for.
“We need to ask where were you were this past Monday evening.”
Ralph’s eyes grew cold as he looked at Sloan. “I was at my son’s home helping his widow with my sick grandchildren.”
“Were you with them all evening?”
“Yes, I was. Where else am I going to go.”
Cutter felt he needed to help his partner. “You threatened to get revenge on Jill Gillberry…”
Ralph Kerry rubbed the left side of his face. “I wrote that in anger. But I admit that if I’d gotten the chance to shoot her, I wouldn’t have hesitated. It’s hard for me to get around. Thank God, some blessed soul beat me to it. Besides, I don’t own a gun.”
Sloan asked, “Do you have a smartphone?”
“Just the one you called me on.”
Cutter looked at Sloan, then at Ralph Kerry. “If you could just jot down your daughter-in-law’s address and phone number, we can be on our way.”
As they drove back on Highway 580, Sloan said, “If I had to spend all day interviewing parents who’d lost their children to a botched medical trial, I couldn’t do it. I’d quit.”
“I don’t blame you. I couldn’t do it either. I do think we can scratch Ralph Kerry off the suspect list.”
“I agree with you.”
“You got the Daughter-in-law’s phone number. We can call her on the drive back.”
Sloan said, “No need. I just wanted the number so I can do a GPS search of the daughter-in-law’s phone. It’ll tell me where she was on Monday.”
“Hmm. Of course.”
“I’m starving. There are some fast food restaurants you’ll like just off this highway in the Dublin area. Why don’t we stop?”
“Perfect.”
Chapter 42
Sunday
It didn’t matter that it was a Sunday. Sloan and Cutter had an active murder investigation to solve.
Driving her Camry through the Caldecott Tunnel and inching closer to the Bay Bridge, Sloan could see the fog rushing into the Bay.
The one good thing about my commute is the scenery. If I had to drive back and forth to Tracy every day, I’d shoot myself.
Taking her normal exit into the heart of San Francisco, she glanced at the people already filling the sidewalks.
Some have to work today, like I do. The rest are most likely tourists who came from all around the globe to experience Sam Francisco.
I wonder how many of them will walk onto the Golden Gate Bridge and take a selfie?
Or, will they walk through the Haight trying to relive the Summer of Love?
Sloan was in the murder room when her phone rang. It was her sister. “What is it Brook, I’m working.”
“I just wanted to let you know that Brad found out that one of his friends is currently without a girlfriend.”
Jessica found herself squeezing her jaws together before she replied. “I don’t need your dating help.”
“Wait. He’s like you. He even works in your Forensics Lab.”
The line went dead. “Jessica?”
“I’m still here.”
“His name is Logan Reid, and Brad gave him your cell number. He’s going to text you to see if you’re up for a coffee.”
I’ll kill Brad when I see him.
“I’ll talk to you tonight. I’m busy right now. Bye”
Cutter looked at his partner. “It’s okay if you get personal calls at work. We all do.”
“It was my sister, Brooklyn. Her fiancé is trying to set me up with a friend of his.”
Cutter grimaced. “Ya, I hate it when someone sticks their nose into my personal business as well.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
“But I’ve got to say, since you’r good looking and techno savvy, I don’t understand why you aren’t married to one of those rich techno nerds. It seems that the ratio of girls to men is so bad in San Francisco that even the ugly girls get hit on so much that they think they’re hot.”
Jessica squinted. “Are you implying that I’m ugly?”
Cutter realized he’d put his foot in his mouth. “I’m talking about all the girls with tattoos, weird piercings and neon hair. What I meant to say was that you’re too good looking to still be single.”
“It seems that the men I meet get turned off when they find out I’m a cop, carry a weapon and can kick their ass.”
“Being a cop and being happily in a relationship don’t go together. Don’t rush it. One day you’ll find a man that deserves you.”
“John, you do know that this is San Francisco in the 21st century, don’t you? That was a weirdly borderline sexual harassment conversation right out of that online training we all had to take. But I appreciate the sentiment anyway.”
Seconds later, Jessica received a text.
LOGAN: I know you’re busy. How about fifteen minutes for a cup of coffee?
“Cutter, I’m going to take fifteen minutes and grab a coffee with this guy, so he’ll leave me alone. Deal?”
“Go for it.”
JESSICA: Meet me in the corner coffee shop.
Jessica took the elevator down and was hit by the welcoming aroma of fresh coffee.
As she was about to get in line to order, she heard someone behind her. “Jessica?”
Sloan turned and looked up at a decent looking guy with blue eyes and brown hair. He was about three inches taller.
She cracked a grin and nodded. “You must be Logan.”
While Jessica grabbed a table, Logan ordered.
With a coffee cup in each hand, he joined her. “Your sister Brooklyn said you liked to drink your coffee black. I got you a small; I know you only have a minute and need to get back to work. Me, too.”
“Small and black are both good and yes, I can only stay for a minute.”
“I understand you’re working on the Jill Gillberry case.”
“I am. What exactly do you do?”
“I work in Forensics. My title is Digital Forensic Investigator.”
Hmm.
“What do you do exactly?”
“That’s a great question. Officially, as new technology appears and gains in popularity it’s my job to find ways to get at the data they contain without losing it.”
“You mean like if we find a cell phone at a crime scene, you crack it to get at the data.”
“That’s a good example.”
“And beside cell phones…”
He’s got a nice smile.
“Take drones. They’re being used by criminals for everything from smuggling drugs to being used by stalkers and sex offenders to monitor their prey.”
“Gotcha. So you have to crack its password to get at the data?”
“That's a non-starter. Most of the servers are in China or controlled by Chinese companies. But there are at least two depositories of cyber evidence on the typical hobby drone: the camera memory and the internal memory. I was at a conference last week where three different companies now offer training to teach digital forensic specialists how to properly access and analyze the data.”
“That’s interesting. Do you know how to get data off a digital smart speaker?”
“It can be done. The most important thing to know is what not to do. Don't ever say the “wake” word. If you do and the device hears it, you will destroy evidence. So far, those devices have very limited onboard memory. These devices are not computers; they are portals to computers in the cloud that tell Alexa, or whatever, to execute your commands. That's why they’re basically paperweights when they lose their WiFi connection. The good news from an investigative standpoint is that everything ever asked of these devices is stored on the cloud until the user erases it. The bad news is that the cloud servers are controlled by huge companies that tend to ignore warrants or fight them.”
“Gee, that’s very interesting.” Jessica pulled out her iPhone and checked on the time.
Logan understood. “I figure you need to get back. Would you like to have coffee again sometime?”
You’re a little nerdy, but nice.
Jessica smiled at him. “I would like that. Right now I need to go find some homeless guy.”
“If you can get me a photograph I might be able to help you find him.”
Jessica was surprised. “How could you possibly do that?”
“My team was asked to put San Francisco’s seventy-five hundred chronic homeless into the same iPoirot system that I believe you’re trying to use. Get me a photograph and I’ll get you a name.”
Sloan stood up. “That would be great. I will, thank you. I’ll send it as soon as I get back to my desk.”
Chapter 43
Brown liked to tell her detectives that time was everything in a murder case. “Criminals don’t sleep. If you’re late to work on a Sunday, don’t bother showing up on Monday.”
So on Sunday she smiled when she walked in to find all four of the Gillberry investigators in the murder room.
Brown walked up to the Murder Board and stood with her arms folded. “Why not walk me through what you have and bring me up to date?”
Everyone turned to look at the board with its pictures, comments and arrows.
Cutter went over it. “We know Jill Gillberry was murdered in the Women’s Restroom at the Orpheum Theatre. She was hit on the side of the skull to disable her. Fitz, figures it was a handgun. She was then injected with air in a 200cc syringe. Given that Fitz says the medical knowledge to do so is available on YouTube and the injection is easy to do, it does not mean the suspect had to be a medical professional. It does occur to me that a female with a large purse could have brought the handgun and syringe into the theatre and restroom without being noticed.”
“So you think the suspect is a female?”
“It’s the easiest assumption for now.” John wrote ‘female?’ on the board. “The interesting find from Forensics was a fuchsia blossom on the floor. But we don’t know if it’s connected to the case. Jill Gillberry came directly from her home and never stopped in a garden.”
“So you’re saying that it could have been dropped by any of hundreds of women who used the restroom that evening.”
“Correct.”
“Very well. Have you discovered a jilted lover or ex-husband?”
“Jill was single and did not have a boyfriend or lover that we have uncovered.”
Brown asked, “Have you discounted her rent-a-date and security guards?”
“Yes. The Rent-An-Actor has the perfect alibi as he sat in his seat and didn’t move during the murder. The guards, on the other hand, went with her to the Ladies Room, but they alibi each other out.”
“And there are not any surveillance cameras of the restroom or its hallway?”
“Correct.”
“What did you discover at her home?”
Cutter looked at Sloan.
Sloan answered. “Besides living in it as if it was a hotel room, not much. Her housekeeper was in the home and alone, but we don’t suspect her at this time.”
Lee tried to be helpful to the rookie. “You’ll need to look into her background then.”
“The iPoirot system will automatically do that for us.”
Sloan saw Brown shoot her a brief smile.
Brown asked, “How did the death notification go?”
Cutter answered. “The parents are well off and do inherit, but I think we can eliminate them.”
Brown asked. “Okay. What did you learn from her company?”
“We talked to the Chief of Operations and their in-house lawyer. They made no bones about it. The company is in trouble with lawsuits from the families of dead test subjects. They’re also being slashed alive in the press. I gather that no one is now willing to try the device.”
“Can you blame them?”
“Since it’s dead in the water, the company is also being targeted by headhunters trying to poach all their staff.”
Jessica interjected. “We have a list of all their ex-employees and I’ve entered them all into the system. If there’s a connection, the system will find them. We did however interview one of them. After talking to one personally, I understand why they all hated working for Jill, but I can’t see any of them actually killing her.”
“What else?”
Sloan continued. “We also got a list of three people who had threatened Jill because they had a relative die while wearing one of Jill’s devices. Cutter and I have interviewed all three. So far, all we’ve heard are tragic stories. One moved away from the Bay Area weeks ago. One is in bad health himself and lives out in Tracy. One of them, a Sonia Rodrìguez, seems to have arthritis and I doubt she could have managed the syringe, but she also seemed nervous so we’ll keep her listed to pursue further.”
Cutter looked to make sure Jessica was done. “Sloan and I visited David Coyne, Jill’s main investor. He set up Jill on the date and hired the actor as well as the guards. We checked out Coyne’s alibi and it’s solid. With that said, Sloan wants to keep Coyne as a person of interest since he lost so much money on Jill’s company.”
Brown asked, “Are you saying that he was so upset over the loss of a few million that he hired a hit person?”
Sloan thought Brown sounded incredulous. “I think it’s a possibility.”
“David Coyne is well-respected in Silicon Valley and is a personal friend of the Governor. If you want to implicate him you’d better have an airtight case.”
“I hear you, Lieutenant.”
Cutter nodded, then moved on by pointing at the Protest bubble which had two pictures in it. “We’ve talked to the protest leader who is a lawyer and homeless advocate. His name is Simon Ratner and he’s a person of interest since he hates tech CEOs.”
Brown said, “I know of Ratner. He’s a shady lawyer who hates everyone in a position of power that doesn’t agree with his point of view.”
Pointing to the picture of a disheveled homeless person standing beside Ratner, Cutter said, “Apparently this man is very vocal about killing tech CEOs if they don’t leave San Francisco.”
“Have you found him?”
“Not yet.”
Garcia spoke for himself and Lee. “We’re still going over the people that left the theatre and following up on others.”
The Murder Room went silent.
Cutter took a deep breath. “The other comment I’ll make is that we have not found any indication of any associated crime yet.”
Brown said, “Have you started working up a profile of your suspect yet?”
“My gut tells me it was either someone who is seeking revenge for a loved one that died while using her product, a whacko upset with the tech companies, or someone from her company who hates her.”
“That’s a start.” Brown said, “You still have a lot of people with possible motives. You need to find out which of them had the opportunity and the means. Make sure everyone’s alibi is double-checked. One last thing, don’t worry about overtime. Just solve this case quickly.”
Once Lieutenant Brown left, Garcia said, “Welcome to Homicide, Sloan. It’s not as easy or glamorous as they show on television, is it?”
Lee added, “It’s tedious asking the same questions over and over until you find a loose thread that leads you to the killer. Then it’s even more phone and legwork until we can find enough proof that the District Attorney feels he can take the case to trial and win. No computer system’s going to eliminate the grunt work.”
