And here we are again, for your reading pleasure (Hopefully). As we all know, I own nothing except the mistakes of course. Also, I'm not Canadian so please excuse any strange sayings etc you may find and secondly, I know nothing about police procedure so everything in here I've picked up from books or series. So please read, review and PM, I love to hear what you guys think, don't be shy. Oh and I have no beta so if you spot any glaring mistakes please let me know so I can fix them.
Chapter 2
I
Gail sauntered into 15 and made her way into their case room. Chris and Andy had done a good job of setting everything up. Stuck up on the centre of the white board was the drivers licence photo of Martin Brandenburg with all of his vital statistics charted underneath in bullet point form.
Andy was adding scene photos to the board while Chris stuck up a picture of a blue Ford F150. Gail perched on the edge of one of the desks surrounding the board and surveyed the officers for a minute. Price walked in carrying a stack of papers, "Oh hey Gail, I was just about to call you, we think we have made a little head way here."
"Okay guys, walk me through what we have so far. Price, how about we start with you?" Gail said.
"So Firstly, Dr Stewart found our vic's wallet in his pants pocket, he has been identified as Mr Martin Brandenburg, 67, residing at 521 Coronation Road. He was married, his wife was Sophia Brandenburg, who is 60. She worked as a registered nurse in the Emergency department at St Jude's until her retirement 2 years ago. They had been married for 40 years this past June. He had a step daughter, Maria and a son, Andrew, who was killed in action in Afghanistan. So far we haven't been able to get hold of his wife or step daughter and there was no answer at his home. He worked as a plumber until he retired 7 years ago, selling off his business soon after. He had no criminal record of note, one or two outstanding parking fines is all I could find" Chloe said to the group as Andy updated the information on the board.
"Chris, tell us about the truck," Gail said, pointing out the picture he'd tacked to the board.
"Mr Brandenburg owned a blue 2008 Ford F150, it was not found at his residence. We have released a BOLO for the vehicle, but no sitings as yet. As we know, the tire prints from the scene match those of a tire commonly used on Ford F150 trucks. When we find the truck we will be able to compare the tread to the print we have on file." Said Chris.
Andy continued where Chris left off. "We had no luck with the surrounding cabins, only two were inhabited, both pretty far from the body dump on the opposite side of the lake. One of the residents was so old I doubt he could even see past the front porch while I'm pretty sure the other was still drunk. We had better luck at the gas station, one of the surveillance cameras is pointed at the road in front of it. Dov is currently watching the footage, with a little luck we'll catch the truck coming by."
Dov appeared in the doorway just then as if he had been sent for. "I got a visual on a blue F150 Ford cruising past the gas station at around 23H30 on friday evening. Unfortunately the picture is very grainy and with the reflection of the florescent lights from the gas station its pretty impossible to see the driver. I cleaned up the image a bit and it's definitely Mr Brandenburg's vehicle, the licence plates match what we have on file. I've taken the file down to the tech guys, we'll see if they can give us something more."
Gail nodded as she pondered all the information she just received. "Dr Stewart puts time of death between 11h00 and 14h00 on friday. She couldn't find any signs of trauma being the cause of death so my money is on poisoning of some kind, I'll be keeping in touch with the doc until we have confirmation. As we know, poisoning is more commonly used by female killers or males wishing to incapacitate their prey so we really need to track down the wife and step daughter. Right now we are considering them our main suspects until they can be ruled out."
Gail stood from her perch on the edge of the desk. "Good job guys, lets keep up the momentum on this one. Dov, see what you can get out of the tech guys. Diaz and Price, lets see if we can track down that truck, also, get a little more background on the wife and daughter, just in case they have something shady lurking in their past. Call me if you find anything interesting. McNally, you're with me, lets pay Mrs Brandenburg a little visit, see what she has to say for herself." Gail said as she dismissed her little team.
II
Andy drove slowly passed 521 Coronation while Gail surveyed the house and neighbourhood from the passenger seat. Her sharp eyes darted over the number plate of a silver Chevy Cruize parked in the driveway, which she read off to Andy as they passed by. They circled the block and ran the plate, which came back to Maria Brandenburg, 36, no employment history on file. Cited for a DUI 3 years ago, nothing further of interest. Andy pulled into the drive, blocking the chevy in as she parked.
Gail slipped out of the passenger seat, subconsciously placing her hand on her gun and straightening the holster as she and McNally walked up the porch steps to the front door.
She knocked three times and stepped to the side as they waited for a response from within the house. Gail watched as she saw the curtains in the left hand window twitch, she held up her badge toward the window and announced clearly, "Ma'am, I'm Detective Gail Peck with the Toronto Police Department, would you mind opening the door? We are Looking for Mrs Sophia Brandenburg, is this her residence?"
There was the sound of a dead bolt sliding and a lock being turned before the face of an elderly woman appeared from behind the door. "I am Sophia Brandenburg. How can I help you officers?" The woman said as she opened the door wider.
"Ma'am, I'm officer McNally, Detective Peck and I were wondering if we might come in and chat to you for a moment?" Andy said as she looked into the hall behind the woman.
"Oh sure officers, come on in. You'll have to excuse the mess, been doing a little spring cleaning so everything is a little all over the place." She said as she moved to the sitting room. Gail noted that the woman was pretty agile for a 60 year old as she walked ahead of them. "Please, take a seat. Can I get you two ladies anything, tea, maybe some home made lemonade? Made a fresh batch just this morning." She said with a smile.
"No Thank you Mrs Brandenburg, I think we are just fine." Gail said, returning the smile. Andy flipped open her notepad as she waited for Gail to start the interview. "Ma'am I would like to ask you a few questions about your husband, Mr Martin Brandenburg, if that's okay?" Gail said as she analysed the woman sat across from them.
"Is Martin in some kind of trouble?" She asked, her facial expression giving nothing away.
Gail cleared her throat, death notifications were one of her least favourite parts of the job. "I'm Sorry to have to tell you this Mrs Brandenburg but a body was found out by a small fishing hole a few kilometres from here, the body has been identified as Mr Martin Brandenburg. His wallet was found in his pants pocket and his photo ID matches that of the man we found. Our Forensic Pathologist also had the deceased's dental records compared to those of your husband and they came back a match."
Gail watched the woman reach up and place her hand over her mouth, she was quite for a long while before she began to shake her head no. "There must be some kind of mistake," she said in a barely audible whisper. "I saw him on friday, he was fine. I mean sure we had an argument that morning and he stormed out and took off in his truck. I thought he'd just gone off somewhere to blow off some steam like he usually does." She shook her head again, "you must have the wrong person, it can't be Martin, it just can't be."
Gail's phone chose that moment to start ringing, frowning she looked down to the screen. Diaz blinked on the screen as it rang. "Excuse me Mrs Brandenburg, but I unfortunately have to take this," she said as she looked over to Andy so she could take over.
Gail answered and stepped into the room next door which looked like a small TV room. "What's up Diaz," she said as she looked around.
"I think you might find this useful," came the reply from down the line. "Turns out Mrs Brandenburg has a fondness for playing the ponies. She has lost a substantial amount of money over the years. I spoke to Mr Brandenburg's business partner who also happens to be a close family friend. He confided that it got so bad at one stage about ten years ago that Martin was considering divorce. Apparently the Mrs put them into quite a bit of debt, they almost lost their house. He says things got better for a while but that Martin was becoming suspicious that she had gone back to the gambling just recently when he found a large sum of money missing from their joint account."
Gail walked around the room while Chris spoke, picking photo's up off of the mantle to study them. She toed the edge of a loose brick at the base of an old fireplace, her eyes fell onto a strange pattern on the carpet coming out from under the coffee table. She turned to look at it more closely. Frowning she walked around the table to get a better look. Chris heard the sharp intake of breath from Gail's end.
"Gail? You okay?" He asked, his voice laced with concern.
"Sure, Sure." She said, sounding far away. "Listen Chris, I need to go. See if you can dig into the Brandenburg's finances and get back to me. Thanks for the info." And before he could say another word he was listening to a dial tone.
Gail knelt next to the coffee table to get a closer look at the carpet. It was as if there had been a rug or something under the coffee table that had been removed, leaving a clean spot where it had been and marks on the carpet surrounding it from many years of dirt and wear. Gail looked around quickly, checking that she was still alone before pushing the table aside and walking the edges to estimate the size of the clean square on the floor below. Quickly, she took a twenty out of her wallet and placed it in the middle of the square and snapped a few photos with her phone. Turning to the couch she took a few snaps of it too, just in case, before returning the coffee table to its rightful position. Making sure that everything was back in its place she turned and left the room, returning to McNally who gave her a questioning look when she saw Gail's face.
Gail jerked her head toward the door signalling to Andy that it was time to get out of here before addressing Mrs Brandenburg, "Once again I'm so sorry for your loss ma'am," She said. "We just have a few more questions we need to ask you but I don't think now is the best time. We'd like to set up a time for you to come in tomorrow if that would be better?" Gail said as Andy stood and Mrs Brandenburg followed suit. "We could arrange for you to view your husband's body if you wish, I've found that it affords closure to some."
Mrs Brandenburg nodded. "That would be fine dear." She looked a bit lost as she ushered them toward the door.
Gail fished a card out of her wallet, writing tomorrow's date and a time on the back of the card she handed it over to Mrs Brandenburg. "Is there someone we could call to be with you in this difficult time?" Andy asked as they stepped over the threshold onto the porch.
"No, thank you dear. My daughter will be back shortly, she's just out for a walk with our dog." She said, offering them a weak smile.
"It would be great if she could accompany you to the station tomorrow, for moral support and we may have a few questions she may be able to help us with as well." Gail said as she watched the elderly lady.
"Yes, anything we can do to help detective." She said, snapping the card between her fingers.
"Feel free to call if you think of anything that may be helpful, anything at all." Gail said, watching the woman nod and turn back into the house.
Gail practically sprinted back to the squad car with a confused looking Andy trailing not far behind. "Keep up McNally, we have work to do." She said as she yanked open the door and jumping into the front seat.
III
Gail whipped out her phone, dialled a number and held it pressed to her ear with her shoulder as she opened the window. "Oliver, I think I've got something. How quickly can you get an unmarked out to 521 Coronation?" She said as she motioned for Andy to pull over a little way down the street, just out of the line of sight of the house they had just been in. "Right, thanks. I owe you." She said and hung up.
"Gail, what the hell is going on?" Andy asked, the confused look still plain as day on her face.
"That woman in there killed her husband in that house or was at least in on it." Gail said, her eyes fixed on McNally.
The intensity behind those blue eyes was so sharp that sometimes it scared Andy who looked back at Gail skeptically.
"I'm telling you McNally, I'm so sure that I'd bet a years supply of cheese puffs on it." She said, turning back to keep an eye on the street as they waited for the plain clothes officers in their unmarked car to show up before they returned to the station.
Collins and Price pulled up across the street from Andy's squad ten minutes later. Gail hopped out and lent into the window of the unmarked as she briefed her team. "Don't let these two out of your sight. We are going to watch them like a hawk until they come walking into the doors of 15 tomorrow morning. Any suspicious behaviour and you pick them up, you got me?" She said. Both officers nodded and settled into their surveillance for the evening. Gail trotted back to the car, yanking the door open and jumping in. Andy could almost feel the excitement radiating off of her.
"Drive McNally, Drop me off at the morgue on your way to the station." She said as she tapped her finger on the dash impatiently.
IV
Gail pushed through the doors, looking over at Tony who was just getting ready to hand over to the night shift. "Stewart?" Was all she said as she passed him by.
"Third floor, in her office. It's the second door to the right as you get up the stairs." He said as Gail disappeared into the stairwell.
Holly was sat behind her desk peering at slides from a different case under her microscope when she felt a presence nearby. She looked up and gave one of her lop sided grins Gail was coming to appreciate as a uniquely Holly thing.
"Well detective, three times in one day, I'm feeling rather popular." She said as she pushed her chair back from her desk.
Gail rolled her eyes but couldn't help but grin at the forensic pathologist. She liked the fact that the woman wasn't put off by her snark and sarcasm. In fact she gave just as good as she got and secretly Gail loved it.
"Don't flatter yourself Doc. You still got that carpet Martin Brandenburg was wrapped in lying around here?" She asked as she lent against the door frame with her arms crossed over her chest.
"Sure do, It's downstairs locked away in our evidence locker. Why?" She asked.
"I'll show you," said Gail striding into the office eying the printer on the shelf behind Holly's left shoulder. "This thing AirPrint?" she asked, flicking the switch to on. Holly nodded as the printer came to life with a few grumbles and a humming noise.
Gail had her phone out and hit print on the few pictures she had from the Brandenburg house that she had taken earlier. She flipped through them quickly, the quality was actually pretty good. She handed them over to Holly who scrutinised them closely. "What do you see there nerd?" She asked as she watched Holly.
"These appear to be photos of a couch and a large clean spot on a carpet." Holly said, holding the photo's up to her desk lamp to get a better look.
"Give the lady a Bells,"* Gail said, wrapping her knuckles on the desk, "And what pray, could leave such a square clean spot on a carpet?"
Holly's mouth formed into an O as realisation struck.
"Now have a look at the couch," Gail said moving around the back of Holly's chair and leaning over her shoulder. "Right there," she said, pointing out two buttons.
Holly's heart rate had picked up with Gail's close proximity, the scent of oranges and a slight spiciness drifting into her nostrils. She focused on the picture, trying hard to pay attention to what she was looking at. The grey couch was rather nondescript, the buttons placed equidistant from one another, in both the seat and the back rest, presumably to either anchor the cushioning into place or for a purely decorative effect, who knew.
Gail had started talking again, pulling Holly from her thoughts. "Remember when you turned the body this morning, you were explaining about lividity…" Gail trailed off.
"Yeah, yeah. The round blanched areas on his thighs could totally be explained by pressure from the buttons." Holly said as she turned to look at Gail. They were mere centimetres apart. Gail's eyes locked onto Holly's. The intensity of Gail's gaze practically seared Holly's corneas, her icy blue eyes sparkled with excitement. Holly pulled the photos she'd taken earlier from their folder and flipped through them until she found the specific one she was looking for. Holding the two prints up next to each other the similarity between the buttons and the marks left on the victims legs were undeniable.
"Bingo!" Gail said as she stepped back and clapped her hands together, bringing Holly out of her Gail fuelled fog. She seemed to be able to concentrate better now that the blonde had moved out of her personal space.
She looked over at Gail, "Bravo detective, its seems you may have found the primary scene."
Gail grinned, causing Holly to grin right back at her. Before she realised she'd even said it the words had slipped from her mouth, "You know you are kinda cute when you aren't scowling, you should smile more often."
Gail's face dropped into a frown, "Watch it Stewart, the last of my ex-boyfriends to call me cute got a kick in the nuts and a threat to surgically remove a certain appendage may also have been made."
Gail raised an eyebrow as Holly actually laughed out loud and held up both her hands in surrender. "Well, not only do I have neither of the above mentioned appendages, I also have absolutely no use for them." Holly stood from behind her desk and took in Gail's confused face. "Gay," Holly said, pointing both her thumbs at her own chest.
Gail shrugged and turned to head out the door. "You coming nerd? I want to have a look at that rug and I need a witness to my unrivalled brilliance. Oh and bring a tape measure." She said over her shoulder.
They headed down to the evidence room and removed the carpet, taking it into the same autopsy suit they had been in earlier. They unrolled it and took the measurements they needed.
"Neat trick with the twenty dollar bill Peck, I'm impressed. Now we have a scale to use to work out the actual size of the carpet." Holly said as she did a few quick calculations. "And they too are spot on. In my opinion the space left on that carpet could have been made by this rug."
Gail helped Holly to get the rug back into the evidence room before announcing that she needed to get back to the world of the living to solve the mysteries of the dead. "I Have a good feeling about this one doc, we are going to wrap this up sooner than you think." She said as Holly walked her to the door.
"Oh I have no doubt detective," she said with a small smile. "Give me a call in the morning, I should have some preliminary results from the toxicology by then."
"Will do, and Doc, when we wrap this up you'll have to come over to the Penny for a drink with us. You know, seeing as you are and integral part of the team and all." Gail said with a grin.
"I'd like that," Holly said with a chuckle, "although I have a feeling that this invitation has more to do with my ability to attest to your amazing detective skills than my contribution to the case."
Gail winked at the brunette, "Would have made a pretty good detective yourself Doc."
Holly watched as Gail walked back toward the station. "You are so totally in trouble here Stewart." She mumbled to herself as she made her way back into her building.
V
Gail found herself in their small case room once again, waiting for her 'task force' to arrive. The five officers weren't far behind. Andy was first through the door, placing a steaming mug of coffee down in front of Gail with a smile. Nick yawned widely as he plopped down into a chair. Gail smirked as she watched him, although she had pretty much forgiven him for running off with one of the people she had considered to be one of her good friends it was still fun to make him pay every now and then. Just to remind him he was a jack ass once in a while. In hindsight it was probably a blessing, she and Nick's rocky past was probably quite an accurate testament to what their future may have looked like if they had stayed together.
Gail turned her attention to her officers as Dov began to speak. "Unfortunately the image we have from the gas station surveillance is about as cleaned up as it's going to get. No luck with the driver, all we can say is that whoever it is might be caucasian." He said.
Gail scowled. That was not what she wanted to hear. "On a brighter note though, we found the truck. It was parked in a Motel parking lot about 20 km from the lake. It's down with the crime scene guys being processed as we speak. They have found three sets of prints so far, they are running them against the vic and family first." Dov looked down at his notes as he continued. "I checked with the clerk at the motel, who said he first noticed the truck on saturday morning when he came in to work. He said it wasn't there the evening before when her came off shift. The night manager didn't see anything while he was on duty, of course, and none of the tenants were any help either."
Chloe seemed to have designated herself as scribe this morning while the others spoke. Updating the board as the went along.
"We sat on the Brandenburg house all night, no suspicious behaviour from the pair. The daughter came out at around ten PM with the dog but that was about as exciting as it got. Mullins and Quentin are on the house right now. They will stick with them until they come in to the station later." Nick said, stifling another yawn.
"We got hold of the Brandenburg's financials. Seems the family friend was right about the near bankruptcy a few years ago. Things had been pretty steady money wise since then, until a couple of months ago. Cash withdrawals from their joint account of about $1000 were being made monthly for the last four months, then this past month it bumped up to $3500. There is no record where the money was going to." Chris said as he passed the papers over to Gail to peruse.
Gail looked up from the papers Chris had handed her. "As I said yesterday to McNally, I'm pretty damn sure Mr Brandenburg met his end in that house." She said as she tossed the folder with the photos she'd taken yesterday to Chloe to pin up. Everyone turned to have a look as Gail spoke. "That clean spot there on the carpet under the coffee table matches the size of the rug Martin Brandenburg was found wrapped in. Doctor Stewart and I confirmed it with measurements yesterday." Changing her focus to the couch she pointed out the buttons, "Those buttons seem to be what made those marks on the back of his thighs," she moved her finger over to the autopsy photo in question. "The Doc says in her opinion, he was probably sat on that chair when he died and was left there for about 6 hours before he was moved. Now obviously at this point its all speculation so we need to get into that house and confirm it. Which is what we are going to do today."
Gail stood and everyone in the room followed suit. "Collins and Price will be off home for a well deserved nap. I'm off to the morgue to have a chat with Dr Stewart about the toxicology results. McNally, you and Diaz need to pick up the search warrant I organised from judge Baker's clerk. Dov, you will be sticking around here with Ollie to finalise our search team, I'll give you a call once I'm done with the Doc and we'll all meet up back here before heading out." Gail nodded to signify that that was all she had to say and everyone began to disperse to their given tasks.
VI
Gail did nothing more that raise her eyebrows toward Tony as she walked into reception. '"Office," he grunted without lifting his eyes from the monitor in front of him.
Taking the stairs two at a time her momentum carried her through the door to Holly's floor at pace. Bringing her smack bang into the woman she had come to find, knocking her off balance and reeling towards the floor. Gail's catlike reflexes jumped into action as she reached forward and grabbed the doctor by the wrist with one hand while the other found its way around her waist, pulling her forward towards herself. Time seemed to slow as their bodies came together, Holly's free hand finding its way to Gail's shoulder. Gail's eyes locked onto the deep brown pools lurking behind the now skewed glasses on the brunette's face. Her breath hitched and it felt as if there was an electric current passing between them where Gail's hand had wrapped around Holly's bare wrist. They stood like that for what felt like aeons but it was probably nothing more than mere seconds.
The movement Holly caught in the corner of her eye is what broke the spell. She stepped back and cleared her throat, fixing her glasses as she bent to pick up the papers that had fallen during the collision. It took Gail a moment longer to come back to reality.
"What the hell was that?" Gail's mind screamed at her as she knelt to help collect up the paper work.
"Sorry," She mumbled, not quite trusting her voice yet. "bit of a hurry." Gail said, finally looking up at the Doctor, affording her a tentative grin. Gail noticed the flush still present on Holly's cheeks and neck and she felt something stir inside her. Get a grip Peck, what the hell is wrong with you? She thought to herself.
Holly cleared her throat, "No problem." She smiled. "I was expecting a call but yet here you are in the flesh."
"Well I find it easier to intimidate people in person, you know, just in case they try and give me the run around over the phone," Gail said with a shrug.
"Come on, lets go over to my office and I'll run you through the preliminary tox report," Holly said, touching Gail's elbow as she passed.
Gail took a seat in one of the chairs across from Holly's desk, looking around the small office, taking in her surroundings. Her eyes skirted over the degrees hanging on the wall to a framed Toronto Maple Leafs Jersey. She frowned, "I thought you were from Victoria, whats with the Maple Leafs jersey?"
"Checking up on me detective," Holly said, watching Gail over the rim of her glasses, a slight smile spreading across her lips.
Gail looked her dead in the eye, "I'm a detective Holly, that's what I do."
"Holly chuckled, "fair enough. My Father is from Toronto, he is a huge fan and it kind of just rubbed off on me. We used to watch games together, was sort of our thing."
Gail just nodded, her curiosity seemingly satisfied for the moment.
Holly glanced down at the papers on her desk, "So far almost all our screening tests have come back negative, there were no known illicit drugs in Mr Brandenburg's body. Drugs wise all we've got is a slightly high level of a prescription sleep aid, not enough to kill anyone though." Gail's face dropped as Holly spoke. "But I did find something interesting, He had massively high insulin levels in his blood and vitreous for someone who had been dead for quite a while, which is rather strange as insulin is broken down extremely quickly. Normally, in someone who has been dead as long as Martin Brandenburg, insulin levels are close to zero. I compared the insulin to C-peptide ratio and everything points to a massive dose of insulin in Mr Brandenburg's system. Now we know that he was an insulin dependant diabetic but these kinds of levels are far too high."
Gail looked at her pensively, "Like kill someone kind of massive?" She asked.
"Definitely." Holly replied with a nod.
"Could he have given it to himself, like by accident?" Gail asked.
Holly thought for a while, "It's possible I suppose, but highly unlikely. Unless he was purposefully trying to kill himself for some reason. Most diabetics are very knowledgeable about the dangers of insulin and take extreme care with it. And he also didn't wrap himself in a rug and hop out to the lake so there's that."
Gail thought for a moment, "A nurse would know that an overdose of insulin would be deadly right?"
"Oh sure," Holly nodded. She could see the gears turning behind Gail's eyes as she watched her think from across the desk.
Gail felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, it was a message from Dov, they were ready to head over to the Brandenburg house. "Gotta love and leave you Doc. Thanks for the info. Be ready for that drink later, I have a feeling this is about to wrap itself up rather nicely with a bow on top and everything." Gail said as she sauntered from the lab.
* Give that man a Bells is a saying we use quite a lot here, I have no idea if its used elsewhere, possibly in the U.K. If you'd like to know about it, just ask :)