An Unladylike Murder, page 22
part #1 of Jessica Sloan Mystery Series
Logan smiled back. “I understand the pressure you’re under. I tell you what, call me anytime, even if it’s just to have a coffee and perhaps vent a little.”
I like how he’s not pushy.
The elevator opened and Logan entered.
Jessica gave him her best alluring smile. “Thanks again.”
Chapter 61
Thursday
Cutter telephoned David Coyne to ask him to drive up to San Francisco to clear up a few questions.
“I’m very busy, is this really necessary?”
“Yes, it is.”
The line went dead for several seconds. Coyne finally spoke. “Do I need to bring my lawyer?”
“That’s up to you. All I can tell ya is that at this time you’re not a target of our investigation.”
But once we talk, you could be.
The rouse worked as Coyne showed up, alone and on time.
“This way.”
Coyne was lead into a friendly room that had an open wall of glass. It was to make suspects feel less nervous and to open them up.
Like the regular interview rooms, it was also equipped with hidden cameras and a microphone.
“Have a seat. We have some simple timeline questions.”
Coyne appeared to relax. “Go ahead and ask.”
“When did you decide that Jill needed to go to the theatre?”
“I don’t recall. It was probably a week or two before, why?”
“As I said, we’re just trying to confirm the timeline of events. Why did you decide she needed to go?”
“Jill was a workaholic. Once the financial magazine article appeared claiming her product was a sham, she became depressed. I became worried about her and I was simply trying to have her get out of her house so she could be with other people.”
“When and why did you decide that Jill Gillberry needed to attend that particular play on that particular night?”
“That play as you call it, is the hottest ticket in San Francisco. Tickets are north of four hundred dollars each and are sold out for the next year. I found four on a ticket-bidding site, so I bought them all. So as to why that night, it was because that was the first night available with four decent seats.”
“Why didn’t you take her?”
“I didn’t want Jill to think I was making a move on her. This was to make her enjoy herself and to relax a little.”
“Why did you decide that she needed a date and two guards to accompany her?”
“As I said, there were four tickets in the first row together. I knew she wasn’t dating anyone so when I decided it was best for me not to go with her, I wanted her to have a good time. What better date than a handsome actor who was playing the part of a charming individual.”
“I suppose you figured she would feel more comfortable if she knew she also had a security detail in tow?”
“You finally understand.”
“Why hire two bodyguards instead of just one?”
“As I said, I had four tickets.”
“Why did you select those two guards?”
Coyne narrowed his eyes as if he’d been stung. “Now that’s a good question? I don’t recall.” He rubbed his cheek. “Perhaps I’d used them before. I’ll have to ask my assistant, perhaps she recommended them.”
“When did you hire them?”
“Look John, if I may call you John.”
“It’s Detective Cutter.”
“Sure, Detective Cutter, I make million-dollar investments all day every day. The details of those deals I can recall line by line. The trivial shit you’re asking me, is something I pay absolutely no attention to.”
“Why did you select those two guards?”
“I don’t like your attitude, tone or questions, Detective Cutter. If you want to talk further, you call my lawyer.” Coyne got up, kicked the leg on his chair and walked out.
Cutter looked over at his partner. “That man is hiding something. I’m just not sure what it is yet.”
“Perhaps we should talk to other investor’s in Jill’s company to see what they can tell us.”
Chapter 62
It was Thursday afternoon.
Todd Patrick, the Managing Partner at a smaller investment firm who was also on the board of Jill Gillberry’s company had agreed to meet with Sloan and Cutter.
Cutter surprised Sloan. “I’ll drive so you can tell me about Patrick and his firm.”
With her iPad on her lap, Jessica went over what she’d discovered. “He maintains two offices, one in San Francisco and the one we’re heading to on Sand Hill Road. It’s a relatively new firm that invests in early stage and growth companies that are in technology and life sciences.”
“I guess Jill’s company would fall into life sciences then.”
“You’re right.”
Todd Patrick was dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and pressed trousers. Jessica was impressed how those simple items presented Todd as a bespoke individual who made her partner appear as a poor slob next to him.
As they introduced themselves, both noticed Patrick seemed to keep his eyes on Jessica.
Cutter nodded at Jessica so she knew to conduct the interview.
“Please sit, so we can talk.” Patrick waved his hand that they should sit in the two leather and chrome chairs facing his desk.
Jessica leaned forward. “We appreciate you taking the time to talk to us.”
And I like the way your barber styles your hair.
Patrick sank in his leather chair. “I can only spare thirty minutes. Now what is it that you wish to know, Detective Sloan?”
“We’re conducting the investigation into Jill Gillberry’s murder. We understand that David Coyne was the lead investor in Jill’s company, became Chairman of her Board of Directors, and talked you into joining him as an investor and board member in later rounds of funding. Am I correct?”
“You’re correct. Coyne and I are both on, excuse me, were on her board of directors.”
“You left.”
“I resigned from the board over a month ago.”
Interesting.
“We would like to know why.”
Todd steepled his fingers. “That strikes me as being privileged information.”
No wedding ring and he’s got a great manicurist.
He’s either married to his job or gay.
“We wouldn’t ask except this is a murder investigation. I’m sure you can understand.”
Todd Patrick pushed his lips together. “I don’t know.”
“Let me rephrase. We’re interested in learning how David Coyne handled the problems at Jill’s company.
Placing both of his bare elbows on his desk, Patrick said, “Coyne expressed frustration over Jill’s handling of the lawsuits and bad press.”
“Can you elaborate?”
“As the press started to write more negative stories about how her device was killing people, Jill started to ignore Coyne’s telephone calls and text messages. He told me that he’d asked her secretary what was going on. She told him that Jill thought that if she ignored his calls, Coyne would call less often. As you can well imagine; that infuriated Coyne.”
“Why was that?”
“You need to realize that we invest in dreams. If Jill had worked with Coyne, I’m sure he could have helped save the company and prevented the cataclysmic flameout that it’s going through now.”
Patrick’s nose crinkled. “Maybe the valuation would have still dropped by half, but it certainly wouldn’t have gone down to zero as it has now.”
“I see.” Jessica blinked at him hoping he would continue.
Patrick’s artificially enhanced white teeth grinned at her. “Finally, about two months ago, Coyne drafted a resolution that would have empowered the board to terminate Jill. Then for some reason Coyne relented. He said that he felt he had a better way of dealing with her. It was then that I resigned. Next thing I knew, she was dead.”
“Why do you think Coyne suddenly had a reluctance to terminate Jill?”
“You’ll have to ask him.” Patrick looked up at the ceiling then lowered his eyes. “All I can say is that ever since Apple fired Steve Jobs and Jobs ended up coming back to lead it to greatness, dismissing a successful founder has been verboten.”
“Do you think there’s any chance he didn’t fire her because Coyne knew she was going to die?”
Todd Patrick seemed stunned by the question. He paused to consider things.
Fifteen seconds later he said, “Let me make myself clear, I’m not suggesting in any way that Coyne was involved in her death, but… now that she’s dead, I’m sure glad that I resigned when I did.”
Patrick stood up and came around his desk. “I’m sorry, but I really must get to my next meeting.”
Sloan thanked him for the meeting and let him get on his way.
Chapter 63
After meeting with Todd Patrick, they stood next to their car in the sunny open-air parking lot. It was summer and the mid-70’s temperature was perfect.
Cutter was unsure of their next move. “Do you think it’s possible that Coyne orchestrated Jill’s death?”
Jessica was glad she was being treated as an equal. “Let’s look at what we know for sure. Coyne set up Jill with the tickets for that evening. He admits he forced her into going. He hired the limo and driver, the Rent-An-Actor date and both the guards. He was in total control of the evening and ensured himself that he had an alibi.”
“What would have been his motive to have her killed?”
Sloan took a deep breath. “Money and ego. He had the most money invested and therefore the most to lose. Contrary to what Coyne told us, the write off of the investment in Jill’s company is going to hurt him.”
“How’s that?”
“Instead of a financial home run with a huge payoff, he has a public embarrassment on his hands. His chances of raising further rounds of venture funding are greatly diminished. As well, it hurts his chances of attracting other venture firms like Todd Patrick’s from investing with him in the future.”
Cutter asked, “How do you know so much about Venture Capital?”
“If you are my age and are thinking about ever joining a startup, all you have to do is search online. There are several blogs started by Venture Capitalists that pull back the curtain for you.”
“Hmm. Let’s head back.”
They got into the Taurus and headed back to San Francisco.
“So you think Coyne really had the motive, opportunity and means of having her killed.”
Sloan nodded while she kept her eyes on the road. “I think that if Coyne had decided to get rid of her, he would have hired someone to do it for him. And, Todd Patrick did say that Coyne told him that he felt he had a better way of dealing with her.”
“What we don’t know is who the killer was and how they got away from the theatre.”
“As we learn more, I’m sure we’re closing in.”
“I hope you’re right. Would you go for Chinese food?”
“Sure.”
Cutter telephoned Garcia in the murder room. “You guys still there?”
“Yes.”
“We’re going to grab some Chinese takeout, do you want some?”
Garcia said, “Sure, but get me a diet coke this time.”
“Diet? Seriously?”
“Just trying to cut back where I can.”
“Seriously?”
“It’s my wife’s suggestion.”
“Got it.”
Chapter 64
With three large brown paper bags of takeout sitting on the floor of the back seat, Jessica pulled off the 280 Highway and headed into the Hall Of Justice on Bryant Street.
Garcia and Lee were hungry and had paper napkins laid out.
“Hi, guys.” Garcia was rotating his iPhone every few seconds. “I can’t get the video on my iPhone to rotate. Does anyone know what I need to change?”
Lee said, “Sloan’s the office tech, ask her.”
“Let me have it.” Jessica opened the Settings icon.
Sloan asked Garcia, “Is it true you live here in the city?”
“It is. I love living in the city.”
“Okay, I’ve changed the setting. You’re now good to watch videos of your children.”
“Thanks.”
“How can you sleep at night with all the traffic noise?”
“We live on a side street so we don’t hear much traffic.”
Sloan said, “I can’t wait to leave all the traffic behind every night.”
“The time you spend sitting in your commute, I get to use to take my kids for a walk or we go sit in a park. We can walk to the grocery store or a restaurant in minutes. You can’t do that in the suburbs.”
True.
After eating, they worked the phones following up on loose ends.
Brown entered the murder room. “I just got off the phone with the Mayor. David Coyne called him claiming that you are both being disrespectful. Coyne’s threatening a lawsuit if you call him again. I suggest you ignore him unless you can find strong evidence that he was involved.”
Cutter replied, “Message understood.”
After their boss left Sloan asked Cutter, “Are we backing off looking into Coyne?”
“No, but we won’t talk to him again until we have something concrete that we run by Brown.”
Just after 7 p.m. Garcia said, “You’d better come see this Cutter.”
Garcia was pointing at his computer screen.
He clicked a link and a video of Cutter and Sloan at the funeral appeared.
Sloan watched as she and Cutter started walking towards their Taurus when they disappeared in a ball of flame.
“What the hell is this?”
Cutter sounded solemn. “Someone obviously doesn’t like us. It may mean we’re getting closer to finding our killer than we thought.”
Jessica tried processing what she’d seen. “I’ve got an idea.”
She bent over Garcia’s keyboard and sent the link he’d clicked to Logan. “Perhaps we can find out who posted it.”
“While we wait, you’d better think about your safety. Just because you’re a detective, you can’t make the mistake of letting down your guard.”
Lee chirped in. “Just last year a pair of detectives were shot and killed as they followed up on a murder investigation.”
Cutter said, “Make sure you carry your handgun and a taser with you at all times.”
“I do.”
“Personally, I carry a Walther in an ankle holster as well. Now, until we catch this person, whatever you would do normally, switch it up. Drive to work every day using a different route if you can.”
Garcia and Lee left just after 9 p.m.
Sloan and Cutter took turns theorizing who else the killer could be if it wasn’t Coyne.
At 11 p.m., they hadn’t made much more progress so decided to stop for the day. “Jessica, you go home and get some rest. I’m going to use the quiet to see if I get any ideas.”
Jessica stood up and left. “Goodnight.”
Chapter 65
It was after eleven when Jessica exited the elevator and entered the dimly lit parking garage.
Brook would think that this garage is romantic.
As she started walking to her car, she felt it might be too quiet.
It’s late at night, what do you expect?
She thought she heard footsteps and stopped.
All she could see were a few lonely vehicles.
No vehicles appear to be running.
No brake lights are on.
Get a hold of yourself, this is a secure garage.
She started walking slowly, listening for any sounds.
Come on Jessica, you’re an armed cop.
Realizing she was being overly cautious, she started walking faster.
Footsteps…
She decided to turn as a shadow knocked her onto the hard cement.
She felt the jolt of pain as she fell onto her right side where her gun was forced into her hipbone and flesh.
Jessica tried to grab him so she could roll onto her other side to protect her face from the punches she’d been trained to expect.
The man pushed back.
He’s strong as a bull.
She relaxed and focused on ramming her knee into his groin.
Bingo!
The assailant grunted as the pain jolted him.
He grabbed his crotch. “Bitch!”
Jessica rolled and tried to stand while trying to look at her attacker.
He’s wearing a hoodie.
The assailant lunged at her and knocked her back onto the ground.
He tried to mount her.
Jessica used her left hand to reach blindly inside the hoodie where she found the man’s ear.
She grabbed it then dug her fingernails into the back of it where the ear met the skull.
Feeling the blood start to ooze she tried to slide her right hand inside the hoodie hoping to find his other ear.
She did and dug in.
Jessica knew she wasn’t creating enough pain.
Eyes.
Jessica rotated her thumbs into both of his eyes.
The man screamed and instinctually tried to pull away.
While his ears felt like they were going to be ripped off, his eyes started to burn.
The assailant tried to rotate his head to get her to stop.
She lost her grasp on one ear.
He rammed both hands onto her throat. “You’re going to die, bitch.”
Jessica struggled to hang onto his ear while she flexed her thumb trying to rake her thumbnail across his cornea.
The man screamed.
He focused on trying to stop the pain by letting go of her throat, then grabbing her wrists.
His strength was overpowering. She felt her wrists were going to snap.
I’m going to die if I let go.
She summoned all her strength into her fingers and dug into his eye socket as deeply as she could.
He jerked his head as Jessica held onto his ear.
As the shock and pain from his scratched cornea took hold, the attacker punched her face.
