“I’ll put you on the speaker phone,” Detective Sanchez said after she received Kate’s phone call. “I’ve got Sergeant O’Malley here along with coroner’s investigator Bruno Oliver. What happened to your voice?”
“I’m having troubles with seasonal allergies,” Kate said.
“Trying gargling with salt water,” O’Malley said. “What have you got for us?”
“Another killing occurred last night in the baths’ area. The victim, Bryn Moore, a thirty-seven-year-old white non-Hispanic male was employed here as a bookkeeper. Last night he was lured into a massage room by an unknown individual, where they likely engaged in sexual activity. Subsequently, he was drugged, gagged, and probably tied to the massage table. The victim was probably questioned and then killed by means of a second drug overdose. After his death, he was likely placed on a cart and moved to an individual tub in the hot-tub area. Finally, his body seems to have been arranged in a manner to suggest that he had experienced an accidental drug overdose.”
“A comprehensive report, Marshal Swift. Anything else?”
“The assailant could have been a woman. In the massage room we found semen stains on the sheets, suggesting there was sexual activity before the killing.”
“The victim could have been with another man,” O’Malley said.
“True. But that’s not the impression I got from the crime scene.”
“Tell me about your examination of the body.” Oliver said.
Kate shared about the three hidden injections.
“So, you believe the assailant tried to hide the injections?”
“That was my impression.”
“You think the victim was tied to the massage table?” Sanchez asked.
“Yes. The evidence indicates that Moore was restrained, probably by leather cuffs. There were bruises on his wrists and ankles consistent with the use of restraints.”
“Did you find any physical evidence to support this?” Oliver asked.
“There wasn’t any obvious evidence,” Kate replied. “However, the massage table had metal brackets of the sort that could have been used with leather restraints. And I found shavings that might have come from such restraints; they were on the floor by the table. Along with a partial footprint.”
“And you closed off the massage room?” O’Malley asked.
“Yes. I was very careful in my examination. That room is locked down, as is the tub where the victim was found.”
“Good work,” Sanchez said. “Did you take photos?”
“Yes. We didn’t have access to a high-quality conventional camera, so we used my partner’s big iPhone. We’ll send those to you when the Internet is up.”
“Good.” Sanchez said. “Your partner is Tom Scott.”
“That’s right. He helped me with the photographs but otherwise stayed well back from the crime scenes,” Kate said. “Investigator Oliver, did you find evidence that restraints were used during the interrogation of Malcolm Eastwick?”
“No. But I’m going to reexamine his clothing,” Bruno said. “Eastwick was wearing clothes when we fished him out of the water. There weren’t any obvious bruises on his wrists and ankles, but we might have missed something.”
“So, Marshal Swift, are you suggesting that Eastwick was killed by a woman using the same M.O.?” Sanchez asked.
“Yes. My working hypothesis is that the perpetrator lured both victims into an assignation for the purpose of getting them into a vulnerable position. Then she drugged them in order to learn of the whereabout of a substantial amount of money.” Kate paused and sipped tepid coffee. “This technique worked with Eastwick; he gave his assailant the combination for his safe. The technique didn’t work with Moore because he didn’t know anything.”
“Why do you think that the perpetrator went after Moore?” O’Malley asked.
“I believe that the perpetrator realized that she had not obtained all the missing money when she opened Eastwick’s safe, but she was not aware there was another safe in San Francisco. She assumed that the remaining money was hidden on the Satori campus and that Moore, as the bookkeeper, knew where it was.”
“But he didn’t,” Sanchez said. “Because Eastwick had taken the money to San Francisco.” The detective looked at her associates. “Good work, Marshal. You’re suggesting that the murderer is probably still on the Satori campus.”
“Yes. Probably a board member or someone on the staff.”
“I don’t have to tell you to be careful.”
“No, I understand the gravity of the situation. We’ve locked down the campus so no one can get in or out. When are you going to be able to get here?’
“Certainly not today,” Sanchez said. “Maybe tomorrow if Cal Fire gets on top of the Garrapata blaze.”
“Okay,” Kate said. “In that case I want your help locking down communications. At the moment, the only working line is this landline in the main office. We can restrict that. As luck would have it, the internet connection has also been down; I’m not sure why. I want you to call the Satori Internet provider, Charter, and request that they disable the Satori router.”
“I think that we can do that. Why?”
“Because I suspect that someone took a picture of Bryn Moore’s body before we arrived, and I want to keep that from being broadcast on social media.”
“Okay,” O’Malley said. “But you understand that means the entire campus is cut off. Some of your board members may not like that.”
“Tough,” Kate said. “I have an investigation to do.”
Sanchez chuckled. “Before you hang up, we should let you know what we found out about Greg Tanaka’s automobile, a Mercedes Sedan with California plates 6TR244. This car was leased from Golden Gate Mercedes by Stephen Sato. Sato, real name Greg Yamamoto, is on the FBI watch list. He’s a known bad guy wanted for a series of violent crimes.”
“So, he was employed to come here, get the money from Eastwick, and take care of any problems,” Kate said.
“Yes,” Laura replied. “Except he ran into someone badder.”
“Who’s probably still here.”