No Way to Die (5 page)

I think part of the problem is that people are unique. It can be really hard to reconcile conflicting sets of behavior after someone has died. Think about it. How can you tell why an irrational person did what they did? Ninety-nine percent of the time, someone who'’ll kill himself is not acting rationally. So how can a rational person look at the aftermath and try to make rational judgments?

In addition, the textbook solutions are generally based on “averages” or “typicals.” But any individual person is neither “average” nor “typical”—like I said, they’re unique. They’re individuals and, as such, they don’t necessarily fit any profiles. Problems invariably arise when you compare a single individual’s behavior with a group profile. If the individual’s behavior doesn’t fit the “pattern” perfectly—and it seldom does—then family members who already don’t want to believe their loved one could actually kill himself become suspicious. Essentially, you have an irrational person who acted in unpredictable ways being second-guessed by people who don’t have a clue about what really happened.

But just because they’re suspicious doesn’t mean their loved one was murdered. It does mean the wise investigator treads very carefully, though. Emotions are high and very close to the surface at times like these.

Breakfast arrived, and we paused as the waitress served us.

“Thank you for filling us in,” I said, after the waitress left. “Let’s continue while we eat. Did the police interview you?”

“Yes, quite extensively.”

“Do you remember who did the interview? We would need to talk with this person.”

“Katherine faxed me the detective’s card,”Dad said. He opened his briefcase and handed a photocopy of the card to me—Detective Inez Johnson, Homicide. I didn’t recognize the name.

“Thanks,” I said. “We’ll need to talk to her.” I folded the paper and put it in my pocket before turning back to Katherine. “Katherine, I apologize,” I said, “but as we proceed this morning, it’s very likely that Toni and I will be asking some of the same questions that the police asked.”

“That’s okay,” she said. “I think the police came to the wrong conclusion. I
want
to get a second opinion. That’s why I said yes when your dad suggested I talk to you.”

“Good,” I said. “Well, let me start by getting a little background. Tell me about Thomas.”

Katherine nodded.

“In a nutshell, Thomas was a brilliant mathematician,” she said. “He had a PhD from Stanford. He was nationally known for his work on cryptology algorithms. He was published, and he had a huge future. He was a mathematical child prodigy who continued to push the envelope as he grew up. At the same time, at home he was a warm, caring father to our two beautiful children. He wasn’t one of those men who spent fourteen hours a day at the office and ignored his family.” She sniffed. “He was a wonderful husband. Like I said, he was my best friend.”

“How old was he?” Toni asked.

“He was forty-one.”

“How old are your children?”

“Our daughter, Erica, is thirteen, and Steven is ten.”

“When did you get married?”

“We got married in 1998 in Palo Alto. It would have been fourteen years this summer.”

I nodded as I quickly jotted down her answers in my notebook.

“I know this is hard on you, Katherine, and I apologize,” Toni said. Katherine nodded. “But,” Toni continued, “I’m afraid I have some sensitive questions that I need you to answer for me. Is that all right?” Katherine nodded again. Toni said, “Okay. First, were there any problems at home? Problems between the two of you?”

“Absolutely none,” Katherine said.

“Any recent fights?”

“None.”

“I don’t mean to imply anything at all by this, but were the two of you faithful to each other? Is it possible that Thomas might have had an outside girlfriend?”

Katherine thought for a minute, and then she said, “Toni, are you familiar with W.H. Auden’s ‘Funeral Blues’?”

Toni nodded. “Certainly,” she said. She paused for a moment, thinking, and then added, “I understand what you're saying.”

I didn’t. “Please explain it to me,” I said.

“Auden wrote a poem that perfectly describes losing someone you love,” Toni said. “Go watch
Four Weddings and a Funeral
. They used it there.”

Katherine stared down at the table. “That’s how we felt about each other. The very idea of doing anything that would have hurt Thomas would have been the same as if I were hurting myself. I could never have been unfaithful to him. I’m sure Thomas felt the same way.”

Katherine looked up at Toni. Toni nodded that she understood.

I looked at Toni. She nodded now to me. She was satisfied with that line of questioning. I took a deep breath. “Let me change directions,” I said. “Was Thomas healthy? Had there been any recent bad news regarding his health?”

Katherine looked up, relieved to have left the previous topic. “He had a physical at Swedish Medical Center just this past January. Everything was fine—normal,” she said. “He was very healthy. He was a dedicated runner. He loved it. He ran almost every day—much of the time at Discovery Park where they found him. He didn’t smoke.”

“Any drug or alcohol use?” I asked.

“None whatsoever.”

“Anyone else in the family have any serious medical conditions?”

“No. We’re all in fine health.”

“Prior to the time of Thomas’s death, had you noticed any changes in his personal appearance? Any weight gain or loss?” Toni asked.

“No, nothing like that,” Katherine said.

“How about a change in the way he dressed—anything out of character?”

“No. He was a runner. He always wore running shoes and blue jeans, usually with some sort of polo shirt. Every day, same thing.”

I made a note of her answer in my notebook. “Okay,” I said. “Tell us about the business.” Business problems are one of the primary factors leading to suicide.

“Our business is called Applied Cryptographic Solutions. We usually just say ACS. Thomas founded the company four years ago.”

“What does ACS do?” I asked.

“They write cryptography software,” she said. “They write computer code for use on websites that allow transactions to be sent over the Internet securely. Have you ever seen ‘SSL’ mentioned when you order something online? ACS does a lot of work with that.”

“How does the business do, financially speaking?” I asked.

“So far, we’re still in the ‘investment’ phase. That means we lose a little money every quarter. We haven’t turned a profit yet. There’s a lot of competition, and it takes quite a long time to bring a successful new product to market.”

“Is that a problem—losing money every quarter?”

“No. I was left quite well off when my parents died. We’re able to provide seed money to the business indefinitely, as long as we manage our overhead like we’ve been doing. There are only six full-time employees.”

“Have there been any recent changes at the business?”

“Oh yes, definitely,” she said. “Thomas worked hard over the last two years, but he just recently finished developing new cryptographic processes that he thought could revolutionize the whole field of cryptography.”

“Was it something that could have paid off for you guys?” I asked.

“We were recently offered ten million dollars for the first phase alone,” Katherine said.

This caused me to look up. “Wow! What happened?”

“It sounds like a big number, but I don’t think Thomas wanted to sell—at least not to those people. He did have our company lawyers check out the purchaser, though. It’s my understanding that for technology like ours, the U.S. Department of Commerce has to approve the buyer. Thomas said the sale couldn’t happen because the group was foreign and not approved. The U.S. Department of Commerce wouldn’t allow the sale to go through.”

“But still, eventually, it could be sold to someone domestically?” I asked.

“Definitely. That’s why Thomas was so excited recently. He wanted to sell to a big tech company—a U.S. company.”

“And even though this foreign outfit didn’t seem to fit, at least they established a market—they let you guys know the value of the product—is that it?” I asked.

“Exactly,” she said.

I nodded. “That makes sense.”

I went through my notes, looking for holes in my questions. I was pretty satisfied for now. I glanced at Toni.

Toni caught my look and took over. “Just a few more standard-type questions to round things out,” Toni said. “Any unusual mood changes?”

“No. Thomas was very even-tempered. He rarely got upset.”

“So no depression or anxiety, nothing like that?” Toni continued.

“Nothing like that. On the contrary, he was excited about work. He was enthusiastic.”

“Did he feel guilty about anything? Did he have reason to feel like a failure?”

“Just the opposite,” Katherine said. “He’s been pretty much on top of the world. Even though we couldn’t accept the offer we got—couldn’t even negotiate it—he was looking forward to being able to sell to someone in the U.S.”

Toni paused and looked at her notes, and then she looked up at me. “That’s it for me,” she said.

“Okay.” I turned to Katherine. “Katherine, if your suspicions are right, then that means Thomas was murdered.”

She nodded.

I continued. “Since most murders are committed by someone the victim knows, who do you think should be on the initial suspect list?”

“I’ve thought about that,” she said. “And the short answer is—no one. I don’t know anyone who’d want to hurt Thomas.”

I nodded. “I phrased that wrong,” I said. “Let me put it another way. At this early point, it’s not so much about who you think might have wanted to kill Thomas. If Thomas was murdered, it’s quite possible that the crime was committed by someone he knew. That person might not stand out as someone we know he had a beef with. If I were investigating this as a murder,” I said, “I’d build a list. Right now,
everyone’s
on the list—whether they seem like they might have had a reason or not. In fact, I’ve got to say that the top spot on that list is, unfortunately, always reserved for the spouse.”

Katherine stared at me hard. “Wait a minute,” she said. “You’re not implying that I might become a suspect in my own husband’s murder?”

“No, I’m not. Actually, if Thomas has been murdered, I think you’d be the
last
one to suspect,” I said. “The police already think it’s a suicide. If you were the murderer, you’ve pretty much already gotten away with it. Why would you want to hire me to dig up evidence that would make the police reopen the case? This dismisses you, in my book. If we get the police to reopen the case, I imagine they’ll eventually come to the same conclusion. But what I’m saying is, you will be the first one they want to interview. If they thought a murder had been committed, you’d be the first one they’d want to sit down and talk with. If we get that far, they will almost certainly want to make themselves comfortable that you had nothing to do with it, as we have just done. They’ll work you over pretty hard—they’ll want to seriously test your conviction.”

“Katherine,”Dad said, “if it comes to that, we’ll bring in the best legal advice for you. You’ll be ready.” She nodded.

“It’s just a heads-up,” I said. “Anyway, after the spouse, I’d want a list of brothers and sisters, then of business associates—particularly those connected with the company or anyone who had an ownership stake in it.”

“He has no living relatives,” Katherine said. “There’s just one business partner.”

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“Holly Kenworth is—was—Thomas’s assistant and main business associate. Holly is a bright young mathematician. She’s very smart. Thomas always felt that Holly could handle much of the same work that he did. I doubt if she’s that smart, but I know Thomas always thought highly of her. She has a small ownership interest in the company as well. In the technology business, you often reward people with stock options in order for them to be willing to pour their creativity into a project.”

“Anyone else?”

Katherine considered it for a moment, and then shook her head no. “That’s it. If I think of anyone else, I’ll call you.”

Dad said, “I have some of the company paperwork—the LLC organization papers, for instance. But I’m not sure if I have the latest set.”

“Who’s the LLC manager?” I said.

“Originally, it was Thomas,” he said.

“And now that he’s gone?”

“I’m not certain if the company had a succession plan. Certainly, Katherine is far and away the majority owner—90 percent, I believe. But for real information regarding ACS, you need to talk with the company attorney directly,”Dad said. “I only represent Katherine in this matter, not the company. The company itself has a relationship with Meiers-Day.” Meiers-Day was one of the larger law firms in Seattle.

“Who’s the contact?” I asked.

“I think it’s one of the partners over there—a guy named John Ogden.”

Toni’d been writing this down in her notebook. At the mention of the name, I glanced up at her. I caught her pausing as she digested the name, maybe the slightest hint of a smile on her face until she realized I was looking at her. Then, any trace of a smile quickly vanished.