Red Rock Island (Damian Green Book 1) (5 page)

Chapter Nine

He’d sent about forty five fingerprint identifications to Natalie, but could he do more for her? Maybe write a program that would search a bunch of databases to say where these people were now, so she'd have an immediate summary of each person without having to research each one. Likely the FBI database was out of date and didn't include every death, or prison stay. As he pulled up the second and final fish for the day, he was anxious to get inside and filet the fish, then get downstairs to his computer lab.

A short time later he was sitting in front of his terminal looking at the results from the first algorithm that he wrote. Sometimes it took several modifications before he hit it right and other times he nailed it the first time and this was one of them. He picked up the phone to call Natalie.

“Hey Damian, thanks for the run,” Natalie said upon answering her cell phone.

“Well, I’ve got something even better, I’ve got two people you need to immediately focus on.”

“What? What did that brilliant brain of yours do?” and Damian could hear the excitement in her voice.

“I thought you needed some help narrowing down the huge list of prints and while I was fishing, I thought of an algorithm to create pulling in a bunch of different databases to create a bio on each person, otherwise you could waste a lot of time researching people with just a random connection to the case.”

“Yes,” and “what did you find?” asked Natalie, impatience in her voice.

“One of the cold cases is for a woman named ‘Debbie Altman’. She disappeared one night in south San Jose in the summer of 1988. Her car was found on the side of the road, but she has never reappeared, so she’s classified as a missing person, not a homicide.”

“Yes, I remember that case,” replied Natalie with growing impatience. Damian could feel her voice urging him to move faster.

“So a fingerprint from that case is connected to other cases that are not on your cold case list. I believe the police lifted prints from her car and her apartment since they never did find Debbie, dead or alive.”

“Who is the person with prints in these two cases?”

“It’s a man named John Avery. He was placed on trial for the murder of another person in 1990 but was acquitted on a technicality.”

“Yes I vaguely remember that case. I was working patrol at the time, but I kept an eye on the detective division as that was where I wanted to end up. He wasn’t tried because of something with paperwork,” Natalie said trying to reach back in her memory to the case.

“He was released because the district attorney filed the case on the 91
st
day and the law requires it be done in 90 days. His prints were taken at the time of his arrest, so they were in the system. Besides the run I just did, there was another incident of his prints in an apartment of a woman that went missing from Santa Cruz County. Granted all of the cases are at least twenty years old. What’s the likelihood of his prints being connected to two different missing women and one murder victim?”

“It's small Damian, very small. Did the bio you created say where he is now?”

“Yeah, it did. He works at a small convenience store and he is reputed to be connected to the Aryan Brotherhood gang. So I guess that means he’s probably trafficking drugs through that store.”

“Wow! That is quite a break and since there is no statute of limitation on murder, we can haul his ass in for questioning, or rather I should say the detective I’m working with can haul in this suspect. I forget I no longer have police powers. Even though you already know it, Damian, you’re a genius! Tell me about the second name.”

“The second name was also a missing person who was eventually found, but the case wasn’t solved. Her name is Barbara Watson and she was reported missing by her husband in 1982. The husband was suspected, but other than being the first person police usually look at, there wasn’t a shred of evidence and no weapon was located. Her remains were found on a hillside with brush covering the ground that utility workers came across when they constructed an area called Communication Hill.”

“I was a detective at the time for that case, but I remember hearing about it. I think the body had been there five to seven years when they found her, so they used dental records and DNA to identify the bones. The husband had gone on to make a life with another woman, and while he seemed happy that her remains had been found, his affect hadn’t seemed right at the time. He seemed more uneasy than relieved. So what connection did you find?”

“It’s an odd finding, there was a knife used in a stabbing case around 1983 and prints were lifted to match the suspect in that case. The knife had two sets, one was the person in custody and he was convicted and sent to prison. He served his time and was released. The second set of prints matched Mr. Greg Watson whose prints were taken five years ago when he provided consultant services to the Federal Government. His prints weren’t matched to the knife as that case was considered solved. I accidentally landed on the prints by the way I did the algorithm.”

“Do you know where he is now?”

“He relocated to Phoenix, so he’s not in your jurisdiction.”

“I wonder if the knife is still available for a forensic pathologist to compare to the wound evidence in Barbara’s remains.”

“Are her remains still available?” Damian asked, thoughts roiling through his mind. “Even though the case isn’t solved, the remains would still get a burial right? The police don’t hold on to the remains indefinitely waiting for new clues right?”

“No we count on our medical examiner and crime scene techs to collect all the available evidence. Think about it, we have some two hundred plus cold cases. Where would we possibly store the bodies related to those unsolved cases? Granted not all of them have a body, but you get my point.”

“Okay.” Damian said, relief in his voice. “Keep me posted with what happens, Natalie. I’m going to see if I can find any other leads like these. Good luck with these suspects.”

Natalie said curiously, “So, you already think the first guy murdered three women?”

“Yes, I ran a statistical analysis of my finding and it came back at 99.994 for the first case and 85.7 for the second case. Statistics rarely lie.”

“Good to know. Great work, Damian, and I’m going to try to nail these guys.”

“Talk to you later.”

Chapter Ten

Damian was kicking himself for being nervous about Trevor visiting his home. What was he so worked up about?

‘Okay’ he’d admitted to himself that Trevor’s opinion was important to him; he felt like an uncle to him as he’d known him for a long time and they had a special bond. His house and island were spartan and he had no visitors to the island after the workmen left other than Natalie. She barged onto his island with her wreaths on the first anniversary of his family’s death. She’d had a friend bring her by boat and she forced her way into his life and yes he would admit it, easily, that beginning opened a relationship both personal and professional that enriched his life. He also appreciated her idea for the wreaths ceremony as it both helped him mourn and to say goodbye. He might be able to tell her next year, if his life opened up a bit, to stop the ceremony. He hoped he might be able to say that as he somehow thought his life would be richer with more to focus on.

He did one final check of his house and land to make sure that nothing was out of place and he had food available for the game. He kept no alcohol in his house, in the beginning because he was worried about resorting to it to deal with the pain of losing his family, now sometimes he had beer and wine, sometimes he didn’t. He'd have wine or beer when he left the island but he didn’t miss it if he had no inventory.

He checked his watch and looked toward the Richmond Marina; he should see Trevor’s boat approaching soon. He would stand on top of the hill and direct him to the path that was the easiest way up. When it was time to leave he could take the zip line down. Damian would use his drone to bring the beer up, he didn’t want Trevor slipping and breaking glass on the side of his hill. It might hurt Trevor and it would be a mess to clean up.

He saw Mike’s pontoon boat approaching with Trevor. He was expecting a box of supplies in addition to Trevor and the drone was resting at his side. For once, Mike could motor back to the marina rather than staying to help Damian with putting packages inside the net that the drone picked up. The pontoon boat was great as it could come up on the sand and no one had to get their feet wet. Trevor hopped off then reached back to lift a cooler down as well as about five boxes. Mike was also Damian’s garbage man, taking recyclables and cardboard back with him, Damian composted his regular garbage, but he would have drowned in cardboard by now if Mike hadn’t helped him remove the stuff. Soon Mike was pushing off the sand and giving a wave goodbye as he headed back to the marina.

Trevor yelled up to Damian, “This entire morning’s been an adventure! How do I get this stuff up to you?”

“Welcome to Red Rock Island, just stay where you are and you can help me with my drone.” Trevor did as instructed and soon the boxes and cooler were close to his front door. He asked Trevor if he wanted to ride the zip line or hike the cliff. Trevor had somewhat non-gripping soles on his feet and so indicated the zip line. Damian disappeared from Trevor’s view, but then he saw an empty harness go over a rock and head for him.

Trevor moved over to the harness and stepped into it and gave the ready sign. He was soon moving over a rocky cliff in a circle around and up to the top of the island where Damian was waiting for him.

“I built the zip line for your mom. On her first visit, she skinned her hands and knees trying to scramble up the cliff. The ride makes her nervous but she prefers that to bleeding hands and knees.”

“It’s a rather daunting view when you’re moving over the rocky cliff knowing that if the thing drops you, it’s going to hurt a lot.”

“I built it; it won’t drop you. I over engineered it and I occasionally ride it myself.”

“I imagine the trip down is even scarier than up, but I guess the same is true about scrambling down that cliff. Do you need help with those boxes?”

“I’ll unpack them later, there’s nothing in them I need at the moment. The weather's good, so we can just leave them outside for now. You didn’t need to bring an entire cooler, I have a kitchen here you know.”

“Yes, but when I got here the beer wouldn’t have been cold,” Trevor replied. “This way we can open it immediately rather than waiting for it to cool in your refrigerator.”

Damian looked at his watch and said, “We better get inside, the game starts in seven minutes.”

Trevor picked up the cooler and followed Damian inside the house and over to a kitchen counter. It was a normal looking interior including a comfortable looking couch and big screen television.

Trevor looked around and said, “Where does your electricity come from?”

“A combination of solar and wind power. I’m working on a wave technology as well, but I haven’t figured it out completely yet.”

“Damian, this is a beautiful house you’ve created and I like that you figured out how to live off the grid but yet have all the modern conveniences. What’s next on your list to invent?”

Damian thought a moment  and replied, “A greenhouse and a home brewery, after the wave power technology.”

Trevor just nodded then grabbed a beer and a sandwich from the cooler which he handed to Damian.

“I didn’t know what to expect here, so I brought sandwiches from your favorite fast food place. It’s pastrami and probably with a few seconds in the microwave it’ll be perfectly heated.”

“I had snacks and hot dogs to throw on my barbecue, but I’d much rather have that pastrami.”

They watched the first half of the game eating the huge pastrami sandwiches and washing it down with a couple beers. They discussed the performance of the Warriors team and then groaned as they saw their MVP go down with a knee sprain. At halftime Damian took Trevor down to the lower level to see his workshop and computer set up. Then they went outside so Trevor could try picking something up with the drone.

Soon they were back on the couch, worried about the outcome of the game without their star player, but they needn’t have worried, as their team blew out the opponent in the end. Mike was scheduled to come back and pick Trevor up in about thirty minutes, and so they sat there chatting about other things.

“Damian, you’ve served as a mentor for me for the past seven years and I’d love to bring my fiancée to meet you soon. I’ve talked to her about you and she’ll likely expect you to be twenty feet tall and able to foretell the future.”

Damian thought about the request and replied, “My brain might be twenty feet tall, but the rest of me is just a regular guy. You could come back next weekend as I’m sure the Warriors will have another playoff game if she’s interested in basketball.”

“Of course she’s interested in basketball, I couldn’t date a girl who didn’t have interest in sports. She played B-ball in high school and went to college on a softball scholarship so she’s a force to be reckoned with.”

“Good to know, I won’t challenge her in either of those two sports. Once we know the schedule, I’ll make arrangements with Mike and email you. I see his boat coming now; he’s always perfectly on time. Do you want to hike down or ride the zip line?”

“I’d hate to ruin a perfectly good day by falling down one of your cliffs, so I’ll ride the zip line down. Maybe when I come back next week, I’ll try the hike up and wear the appropriate shoes.”

“Sounds like a plan, safe travels home.”

Damian watched the boat depart before going back into his house. He sat down on his couch to think about how he felt about the day. When he thought about it, he guessed there was something right about Trevor being his first guest to the island. The visit had gone well and he’d be back next weekend with his fiancée. She’d be the first true stranger to visit his home. Even Mike had never come up the cliff, to see the house he made so many deliveries to. He’d had a good time this afternoon and looked forward to repeating it next weekend.

He wondered how Natalie was doing, running down the two suspects.