Chapter 10 #2
Once they were out of the shower, dried up and clothed, they went into the kitchen where George drank his disgusting kale smoothie while preparing breakfast. In the morning, Andi was a picky eater, preferring a plain bagel or some yogurt over anything too complicated for his taste buds.
Food adventures were reserved for the evening when his body was more willing to be daring.
The oatmeal currently cooking on the stove in a mix of cow milk and oat milk—George was trying to reduce their use of animal products by weaning them off slowly—was deliciously bland, and his portion would remain thus, while George’s would be embellished with cinnamon, hazelnuts, fresh raspberries, and blueberries.
Andi eyed the fruit. Perhaps some raspberries. They look good.
George was filling their food into two bowls when Andi’s phone rang. It was Shireen, so he put her on speaker while George was busy decorating his portion.
“Good morning, Shireen, how are you?”
“Good morning, Andi. Not bad. Is George there as well?”
“You’re on speaker.”
“Good morning, Shireen.”
“Hello, George. Okay, I’m super busy, so let me tell you what I’ve found so far.”
“We’re listening.” George put his bowl down next to Andi’s and leaned over the cell Andi had placed on the counter between them.
“Let’s start with the most recent—dare I say victims?” The sarcasm was practically dripping through the connection.
Andi shrugged even though she couldn’t see it. “Whatever you wish to call them. Nothing’s determined yet.”
“Then I’ll go with unpleasant idiots for the moment.
” Shireen’s tone said louder than her words exactly what she thought of the judge and his fishing buddy as well as Jagger.
“Jagger Thomasin has an impressive list of minor and not-so-minor offenses, ranging from DUIs over small-time dealing of weed and ecstasy to theft, though never with a weapon. He also had several reports about sexual harassment, and I’m sure he was a model boyfriend.
” Shireen’s voice was still laced with sarcasm.
“Both Judge Dunhill and Trevor Asten have a long and unpleasant history of being racist, sexist, homophobic pigs, but so far, I haven’t been able to link them to any of the other names you’ve given me, except for the fact that they all died of arthropods in Spartanburg.
They both have sealed court files, though, and I’m in the process of getting my hands on them. ”
“You couldn’t hack them?” George looked incredulous.
“It’s hard to hack paper, detective.” There was a hint of steel in Shireen’s voice, which caused George to back paddle hastily.
“I’m sorry, Shireen. Of course, I never doubted your hacking abilities.”
A low chuckle rolled from the speaker. “And you better never do. Anyway, for some mysterious reason, these files were never digitized, but I have already arranged for them to be sent to me. Agent Gelman was very helpful, just as you said. Perhaps I can find a connection in there, but I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you. ”
Andi and George shared a look. This wasn’t what they had hoped for. Of course, detectives rarely get what they hope for during an investigation, but Andi would have gladly embraced a break from the regular.
“As for the other victims, so far only two have an—admittedly thin—connection. And I mean thin in the sense of so hard to see it could as well not be there.”
“Gee, Shireen, you’re a ray of sunshine this morning.” George snorted.
“Hey, I’m doing my best here! Anyway, Suzie Monahan, who apparently died by fire ants, was a nurse at Paradise Home for the Elderly, a retirement home in Spartanburg, and Isabelle Hopper was a bus driver whose line had a stop directly in front of the retirement home.
In fact, the bus stop is called Paradise Home.
This is the only tangible connection between the two, as I couldn’t find anything on their phones or social media to suggest they knew each other.
But if Suzie used the bus line to get to work, they could have crossed paths.
She had a one-year ticket for all public transport in Spartanburg, so it’s a possibility.
I’m sorry I don’t have more for you guys.
” Shireen sounded truly miffed, and George hurried to soothe her.
“It’s fine, Shireen. This was a long shot from the beginning. I’m surprised you found anything at all. Please keep digging into Judge Dunhill and his buddy.”
“Will do. I’ll call you once I know more. Bye.”
“Bye, Shireen,” they said in unison, but it was already too late. She had disconnected.
George nudged Andi’s bowl closer to him. “Let’s eat and then look at the whiteboard.”
“To add the nothing we now have to the one already there?”
“Exactly. And we have a little more than before. We can now include Suzie and Isabelle to the darkness we’re currently traipsing in.”
It doesn’t make any sense.” Andi stared at the whiteboard as if doing so would force the material to yield results despite having failed to do so in the last hour.
“No, it doesn’t.” George’s frustration was clear in his tone.
“We have the judge and Trevor as well as Jagger, who died under circumstances that were only clear-cut on first inspection, but so far don’t seem to be related except for being suspicious.
Then we have Suzie and Isabelle, which we had ruled out because their deaths fit with what one would expect, only to find out they, at least, share a connection, flimsy as it may be.
” He stepped forward with an orange marker in hand.
“What if we assume their deaths are like the other three? Then we would have something that ties them all together.”
Andi hesitated for a moment. Then he nodded. “As a working theory, it might help us. Otherwise, we’d have to treat them separately, which I think would be unwise at the moment. But make the lines dotted.”
George dutifully made dotted orange lines connecting the two women with the three males. “Is there any chance of the fire ants or termites still being there?”
Andi shook his head. “I doubt it. The termites were in the structure of the house. They needed to be fumigated to protect it. And fire ants in a garden? You can bet they were nothing but tiny corpses after Suzie’s body was found.” Andi couldn’t suppress the hint of anger in his voice.
“You’re upset.” Even though he didn’t have tiny spies to help him decipher Andi’s moods, George was scarily good at reading him.
“A bit. Not really. It’s just not fair. The termites and ants can’t help their instincts.
It’s the blob’s fault for being so inconsiderate and careless.
If Suzie had worn trousers instead of something short and socks and shoes, her chances of survival would have been almost a hundred percent.
And if Isabelle had kept a close eye on her house, maintaining it the way she was supposed to, the termites wouldn’t have destroyed her porch. ”
“But they would have been fumigated anyway.”
Andi closed his eyes because George was right.
As a blob, he really shouldn’t care so much about what happened to arthropods that were dangerous to humans.
Not everybody was attuned to them like he was, able to sense them before they became a problem and take countermeasures.
Well, nobody was like him, so his view was probably only his.
Before he could elaborate on his complicated feelings regarding the matter, George’s cell rang. He looked at the screen and put it on speaker. It was Evangeline.
“Manuia le taeao, George.”
“Good morning, Evangeline. Andi is here as well.”
“Manuia le taeao, Andi.”
“Good morning, Evangeline. Do you have news for us?”
“No, I’m just calling to hear your grumpy voice.” She laughed. “Of course I have news. Well, I’m not sure if it’s news for you, but I have finished the autopsy of Jagger Thomasin.”
“What have you found?” Andi hoped against hope that she might have stumbled upon something that would help them with this case.
“As you asked, I didn’t look at the report that came with the body, and I assume you want to hear that it is wrong, but I have to disappoint you.
Mr. Thomasin died of asphyxiation, caused by muscle paralysis, which in turn was caused by alpha-latrotoxin, a venom black widows produce.
I found the place on his hand where he’d been bitten, and I was able to verify traces of the venom in the blood samples I took. ”
Andi and George shared a look. “There was nothing else? Nothing strange with his blood?”
“Leai. Nothing aside from traces of pain medication and alcohol. Though he wasn’t completely drunk when the spider bit him.”
Andi started tapping his chin. This was indeed strange.
The spider’s memories had been unusual to begin with, and he had hoped it was caused by something on Jagger.
Normal intoxication usually didn’t provoke harsh reactions like this from the arthropods unless they saw what the blob was doing as a direct attack.
And he hadn’t felt anything either, certainly not from the black widow, and if it had driven her to attack, he would have sensed something.
“Thank you, Evangeline. It’s not what we wanted to hear, but you did great work as always. ”
“Le afaina. You’ll find the culprits. You always do.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, Evangeline. Have a good day.” George was reaching for the red icon to end the call but waited till Evangeline and Andi had said their goodbyes. When it was only the two of them again, he sighed. “I’d say we’re back to square one, only we never left it. What now?”
Andi glanced at the whiteboard and then back at his partner. “Staring at the damn thing won’t help us one bit. Let’s take a break, meditate a bit, and then we have to call Luke. Perhaps he decides to call the whole thing off.” Andi doubted it but hope always died last.
“Hmph. As if. He wants to see us interacting with a major agency, and he’s gotten his wish. He’ll drag this out as long as possible.”
“Then we can’t be blamed for the collateral.” And there would be collateral, Andi could practically taste it in the air.