Rigsby and Cho had had limited success at Scarlet Spas, a company based in Los Angeles, but with offices in San Francisco and San Diego. They also had a small base in Miranda, the next town along from Santa Cruz. It was there that Rigsby and Cho had attempted to get information about the Santa Cruz Hospital and had met with a very polite and very uninformative receptionist, who had agreed it was a tragedy that Mr Wood was dead and that she would get in contact with Ms Julia Davidson, who had been negotiating to purchase the hospital, but that Ms Davidson was out of town currently.
"Basically boss, it was a waste of time," Rigsby concluded.
"Yeah? Well, our guy believes the hospital is the only way of contacting his long dead wife, so don't talk to me about wasted time." Lisbon grimaced. "Doesn't mean Granger isn't our guy though."
"Doesn't mean he is either. A man that deluded would struggle to plan such a near perfect crime scene," Jane pointed out. "The scene was forensically clean. That takes a level of planning that I'm not sure Mr Granger has."
"Maybe he watches a lot of CSI," Rigsby suggested with a grin.
"He's also a millionaire businessman who runs his own vineyard," Cho reminded them. "Not exactly scatter-brained."
Van Pelt walked back into the office they had commandeered from the local police, carrying a sheaf of papers. Having spent all day on the computer running background checks, she was pale and tired, but smiled brightly at Rigsby when he handed her a cup of coffee. Jane nudged Lisbon under the table at the by-play, but she studiously ignored him. "What do you have Van Pelt?"
"Lots. I'm not sure how much of this is helpful or even relevant though. The International Council of Watchers was set up five years ago by Rupert Giles and Buffy Summers as a research company on ancient artefacts. They also run several schools around the world for 'gifted girls'. There's one in Cleveland, one in Wiltshire, England and one in Hong Kong. They're invitation only schools, and no one seems to know the criteria for getting an invitation."
"Odd combination," Cho frowned.
"You have no idea. The ICW, as it's known, is a replacement company of the Watchers' Council, a British organisation that has historical roots going back to the dawn of time, but no information on what they actually do. The only thing on record is that the Watchers' Council was blown up not long before Sunnydale disappeared into the ground, and that shortly after the collapse, the ICW was set up, using funds from the original Watchers' Council."
"How does Rupert Giles fit into this? The others are all the same age, or at least related. What's he to the other kids?"
"He was their High School Librarian." At the laughs, Van Pelt shook her head. "I know, I didn't believe it either. You should see his academic credentials: a PhD in Ancient History from Oxford, another one in Ancient Languages from Cambridge. He worked as a curator for the British Museum before suddenly moving to Sunnydale and becoming the librarian."
"He worked for the British Museum and gave it up to become a school librarian?" Lisbon rolled her eyes. "It would be nice, just once, to get a case that makes sense. Is there anything to suggest he abused his position? That's a pretty big drop in salary and position he took there. Did he do it for any known reason?"
"He's not abusing Buffy Summers and her friends and he never has." Jane spoke with his usual authority and, as usual, the others all turned to listen. "They look at him as a father figure and they all trust him totally. He's close to all of them, but especially so with Buffy Summers. The way he looked at her was the way a father looks at his daughter. He loves her."
Lisbon thought about saying something about Jane's own daughter, about how he obviously recognised that look, caught the expression on his face and instead gestured for Van Pelt to go on. "What about Buffy and Dawn Summers?"
"There's not much to go on, I'm afraid. Most of their records were lost in the Sunnydale crater, same for the other two. The Summers moved to Sunnydale when Buffy got expelled from her old school in LA for burning down the school gym, but her Sunnydale transcripts were lost in the disaster."
"She burnt down the school gym?" Rigsby tried and failed to hide a grin. "Seriously?"
"Seriously. The old High School also got blown up on Summers, Harris and Rosenberg's graduation day. That made state newspapers. Apparently, it was a gas leak. Luckily, the ceremony was being held outside, so fatalities were limited, but the Mayor Richard Wilkins was killed in the blast."
"Stuff sure blows up a lot around Buffy Summers," Cho commented dryly.
"It may do, but she's not a suspect for Wood's murder. I checked with the airlines, and it shows all five of them flying into LAX after time of death. The Summers sisters and Rupert Giles flew in from London, Harris and Rosenberg from Cleveland." Van Pelt leaned back in her chair, exhausted after doing all the talking.
Lisbon tapped a pen against the table as she thought. "Right, Jane, you and Cho go speak with Rupert Giles. Try and get him on his own, or at least not all of them present. You'll probably get more if he feels he isn't protecting one of his kids. Rigsby, go check back with forensics, see if they came up with anything else. Van Pelt, you and I will go see Cora Hatcher. This all comes back to this Hospital, so let's go see what the owner has to say."
Van Pelt followed her boss out to the car. "Thanks for letting me out of the office."
Lisbon gave her a sympathetic glance. "You're the newbie on the team, so you will get stuck in the office more than the others. That's just how it works. But you did good with that research into the ICW, so you deserve a little fresh air."
"Appreciate it, boss."
"Just keep up the good work."