Chapter 31 Section 30

Brendan Driscoll couldn't believe he hadn't heard back.As usual, he was up just after seven and had breakfast ready for himself and Roger.After Rogge went to work in the bank, he spent more than two hours looking at Parnassus' files.But now, for him, these materials are slowly losing their original appeal.After all, Jeff Elliott doesn't intend to use any of the material, at least not yet.To make matters worse, they found out that the woman had been murdered, a new development that turned Portola Hospital upside down, and it was more important to Jeff than any inside information on the business side.

So he turned off the computer sadly. Later, in order to drive away the annoying boredom in his heart, he decided to go to his own gym to exercise and vent his unhappiness.After he got out of the gym, he showered, made a lovely looking mascaras salad with beetroot and feta cheese for lunch, and enjoyed it alone in the sunny backyard behind his house.But that still didn't cheer him up, and disappointed, he called Roger who was at work, but he was busy with his clients and thought he might even be home late, which made him Brendan was furious.It's like standing and talking without back pain, you don't understand what it's like to not have a job now, really, and now he doesn't have a job...

Forget it, he just feels insecure now, and who can blame him?He really didn't even think about it, Tim would consider letting him go, it's unpredictable!You can only be more careful, adapt to the circumstances, and prepare for any eventuality that may occur. The afternoon was tedious and long, seemingly endless.He played some records, walked around the back of the house, threw a basket of laundry into the washing machine, and then washed out the lunch dishes.Finally he decided to go for a walk.Only now did he seem to come to his senses, he has been walking around in this house, if he continues to do this, he is going to go crazy.He dressed, went downstairs to the garage, took the cover off his Miata, and drove out into the afternoon light.

Now, he's been driving non-stop for two hours.He drove across the Golden Gate Bridge to Novato, then turned around and drove back, stopping at Cote Madeira for a little over twenty minutes, drinking a cappuccino.He spoke to no one, and no one seemed to notice him, not even in his red convertible.Alone, alone, he crossed the bridge again, and below him, the blue sea sparkled and shone with silver. He found himself driving up Coast Cliff Drive, all the way to Tim's house, where a real estate company had put up a sign for sale on the lawn.The sun shone warmly on his back.He felt that he couldn't sit still in the car, so he got out of the car and walked towards Tim's house.In the afternoon light, it looked like a shining light-tailed sailboat, docked there quietly.

On the doorstep, without thinking about anything, he reached out and rang the doorbell subconsciously, listening intently to the sound of the doorbell.After waiting for a while, seeing no one answered the door, he turned around and sat down on the top step.He didn't know how many times he looked at his watch today, but now he looked at the time again. The sun drifted down another degree or two, and he still sat there motionless.A Mercedes Benz drove down the street.After a while, another car drove past, which came to deliver newspapers to the residents here.They tossed newspapers in the driveway of the homes.A large crow landed on the aisle near the sidewalk, jumped a few steps in his direction, stretched its neck and croaked loudly.

It was the longest day of his life ever, and it felt like years, and there were still hours before sunset. He suddenly burst into tears. Griski, Bracco, and Fisk met in the Portola Hospital dining room, sitting at a table away from the crowd. "I talked to Mr. Bataan for a while," Grisky said.He had a bagel without syrup in front of him, and he was adding tea to a cup of hot water. "He was a stiff, unsociable guy, and he didn't seem to have many friends, here or elsewhere. But he struck me as more melancholic than domineering. The pain that those patients suffer , it seems that he, who has been dealing with these things all the time, has also suffered a lot mentally."

"Are you saying you think he euthanized some of them?" was Fisk's voice, and he'd only come to that conclusion a while ago. "Maybe, but it's too early to tell. But as time goes by, he might be worth our while, and maybe we'll get something useful out of him." But Fisk still stands by his reasoning. "He was the only nurse who was on duty when all the dead on the Kensen list died, are you aware of that?" "Yes. But what I don't know is how many of those patients died of murder. And the ones that aren't on the Kensen list, are there any other homicides when Bataan isn't on duty?"

The two agents exchanged glances, and Bracco admitted that he had mentioned the same thing not long ago.He was drinking a can of Diet Coke, interested in finding more murders. "Are you lucky, Captain?" Braco asked. "You said you had other suspects." Griski nodded. "I got a new witness, a nurse named Rebecca Sims, and a list of her possible victims, but she's still asking around. I should tell you, she also named Mr Bataan was mentioned." "I like him," Fisk said. "I had your impression, Harlan. I did for a while, but then I told him about Tuesday night."

"Tuesday night?" "That was the night Kara Markham died." Grisky waited for his own words to fall before continuing, "While paying attention to Rowling's case, I'm also paying attention to the next guy's autopsy Well, see if you can spot that from the other guys on the list. But I'm going to be frank with you both, I'm struggling with this surge of confidence that I think we've found these There is a connection between the killings." Bracco fingered the soda can back and forth. "You mean the eleven murders on Kenson's list all have something to do with Markham?"

"That's what it means," Griski replied, "one thread goes back through those Pavlon-caused deaths, and the other thread starts with potassium poisoning, but do the threads connect? His tea had gotten dark enough, so he took a taste of it, took a bite of the bagel, chewed it thoughtfully, and shook his head from side to side like a rattle. "I know it's possible. It might even be hidden in the clues we got here. And for some reason, I like how the clues are tied together, but I just can't seem to get past that." "They're already docked," Fisk asserted.

"Why do you say that, Harlan?" "Oh, I mean... that's how we found out the cause of Markham's death, right?" "That's what I was thinking when I first heard about Rowling, but now I'm confused about that thinking. So maybe you can tell me why they have to be connected? Do we have any evidence to tie them together? Together? Did we find a similar drug? Same medical staff? Or anything else? Tell me, I'd love to hear your thoughts." Griski knew, and his tone was a little harsher.He was angry with himself, not because of anything else, but because Rowling's case was mixed with Markham's case, which led him to make the inference that confused him.But he'll use Fisk as a scapegoat—perhaps the jerk will come up with something that Griski hasn't thought of himself. After reacting for a while, Fisk came back to his senses and said: "We have indeed grasped the similarities between these murders, Captain. The same method of medication—injected through intravenous drip, right? This can be counted. " "Yeah, that's right," Griski agreed, taking a swig of his tea, "but does that actually connect the Rowling and Markham cases? Different poisons, but Same medical staff? I don't understand what's going on here. It's Kara and the kids. I can't believe that Markham didn't have anything to do with her death, but I just can't accept that." Bracco asked a question. "Okay. How's it going in Bataan? You said you asked him about Tuesday night." "I did. Turns out it was a big moment in his bridge career, and he was playing in a tournament at a hotel in San Jose that night and was staying there. If that's true— —I'm sure it's true—would take him out of Cara's case. And so it would in Markham's case." "But Rowling or other cases cannot rule out his suspicion of committing the crime." Fisk finally understood the problem that made Grisky difficult. "That's right. There is no necessary connection between those cases. In fact, if Bataan did Rowling's case, then these cases cannot be connected together." For this fact, they all fell silent.Griskie ate some more bagels.Braco gulped down his soda.Fisk thought he needed something to eat, so he pushed back his chair, got up and walked towards the snack counter.The remaining two watched him walk away without saying a word. "So what do you want us to do now, Captain?" Griski knew exactly what Bracco was asking.In the sense of case management, the homicides on Kenson's list were no longer part of the Markham homicide investigation, but should be separate cases.This point, they have just confirmed it.The two new agents have no claim to be assigned to investigate a serial killer case that turns out to have the potential to be a high-profile case. "What do you want, Darrell?" Bracco blurted out without any hesitation. "I'm still trying to get some thread out of the Markham case." "And what do you suggest? You've been working on this case for over a week. Have you found any suspects I don't know about?" "I haven't had time to ask you, if that's what you mean. I have a lot on my mind." "Very good, let me tell you something." "Let's take the focus off of Markham. No one has found anything in this place. We still have Kara's case on our hands though, and like you said yourself, whoever killed her, the Someone must have killed her husband too, am I right?" "To prove a reverse reasoning, you will have a lot of headaches." "But, sir, we haven't even looked into that yet. You haven't asked me to." Grisky knew Bracco was right, and from the start he kept them isolated from the real Outside of the main characters, even Kenson, never let them go and investigate.This created a vacuum, where there should have been basic information, including the alibi, the timetable of whereabouts, the timing of the crime, etc., all blank.Bracco went on: "We've been foolishly spinning around the motives and the women's gossip for a week now. But if someone kills Kara, we'll be able to do it in a very limited time." investigation within the range of suspects." "what are you thinking?" This kind of interest in chasing after disagreements made Bracco's eyes brighten, and he immediately regained his energy. "First of all, let's not think about the nurses. As I think we have just demonstrated, if there is any connection between any of their cases and the Markham case, it is purely accidental. So here's There's no way the nurse is going to kill Kara and her kids, I can bet a million dollars on it." "I will too." "Well, who's the rest? Who else was here last Tuesday?" , it was one of them who did it." "What's one of them?" Fisk asked right after he came back with an ice cream sandwich. Griski nodded with satisfaction.It seemed to him that Darrell would make a good cop someday. "What were you talking about just now?" Fisk asked again. Griski signaled Bracco to be silent. "Darrell'll tell you in a minute, Harlan. In the meantime, do you boys remember Hardy?" Griski asked. "Isn't that Kenson's lawyer? That Hardy who was in Jackman's office this morning?" "The guy with the Kensen list," Braco said. "Exactly. As you may have noticed, he is making a deal with Jackman. We have been sending him copies of your investigative records and other information we have." Faced with their skepticism, Greg Risky nodded solemnly, "Don't ask why. But in theory, we are exchanging information, so before you do it, find out what he knows. Who did he talk to, talk to?" What, he used to be a cop too, and—” "Who?" Fisk asked, "Hardy?" "That was a long time ago, Harlan. Actually, he was my partner. We joined the force together." He enjoyed the look of bewilderment on their faces, and wanted them to have a good time. Take the words, "He's not stupid at all, and he's probably already talked to some people, which will save you time, and save you from running away. If you think he's hiding something, arrest him And bring him to me. Better shoot him and hide the body." But something in Grisky's words didn't quite fit with Bracco's view. "So if Hardy somehow cooperates with us, can we take Kenson off the suspect list?" Grisky smiled suggestively, agreeing, but not letting Hardy know what they were thinking.So he said, "No, but if Hardy gets that impression, it's not the worst thing in the world." Hardy uses dart throwing as an aid to his thinking. "Like Holmes playing the violin." He had told Freeman, but Bracco and Fisk didn't know it.Hardy met with Jeff and Elliott, and after returning, he has been carefully studying the package of new materials he received for nearly two hours at a stretch.When the two agents came in, he had just got up and stretched his body, planning to throw a few darts, so as to settle the new arguments in his mind and organize his thoughts.The two agents must have thought that he was doing nothing since he was going to be off duty soon, and Hardy didn't see the need for an explanation to reassure them.He threw another dart. "Tell me what you want to do first." "The captain said you'd give us everything you got," Braco replied. "Most of the situations I have mastered are mastered by you. Other than that, they may be boring things." The last hit of this set hit Double Eleven, and Hardy grinned in satisfaction He smiled, but quickly returned to normal, walked to the dart board to pull out the darts on it, "But it's okay, there is something here that you may not know. Do you remember Frank Husik?" "The guy next door to the Markhams?" "Yes. He heard gunshots at ten forty-five. He looked at the neighbors' houses and saw that their lights were on, and they were still on after an hour. Two hours later, Someone turned them all off. That gave us a clue - it wasn't Kara who fired the shot." "It was almost ten o'clock, and I was there." Braco was sitting on the front edge of the sofa, with his elbows flat on his knees, and his hands clasped tightly in front of him, "Captain Griski knew this the situation?" "I was going to call him later about it because he probably didn't know." He shot Braco a look. "When did you leave there?" Bracco blurted out without thinking. "A few minutes after your client left, it's almost ten o'clock." "Was Kenson the last visitor to leave?" "His car was the last one on the curb in front of the house in Markham, yes. Plus he told me he was the last one there other than the family and the family went to bed .” "After he left," Hardy threw a dart, "did you go to the house?" Fisk was flipping through one of Hardy's magazines boredly, when he heard this, he suddenly stopped what he was doing, and raised his head to pay attention to this issue. "No," Braco replied, "that man convinced me that their family was bored, tired and sad enough after being tossed all day. What did he do after he left?" "He drove home, slept. And, Agent," Hardy threw another dart, "he didn't go home to Markham." "Can he prove it?" "Can you confirm that he went back?" Fisk coughed lightly, closed the magazine in his hand, and put it on the coffee table. "Mr. Hardy, Mr. Darrell, let's take Kenson out of these cases until he puts himself back in. What's the idea?" Hardy had already walked back to his dartboard, drawing darts from it.Now he went to the desk, put the darts on the table, pulled up a chair and sat down. "That's a good idea, Detective. Dr. Kenson wouldn't put himself back." He looked at the two of them. "If I'm getting too sensitive about my client, I mean Apologize." Braco sat there motionless, but his shoulders, which had been upright before, sank slightly, and this subtle change was almost imperceptible.When he spoke, his tone was much more relaxed, and he seemed to be at peace with the matter. "We've narrowed down the perpetrators to five people who were around the intensive care unit that morning, excluding those two nurses. Can you accept that?" Hardy didn't know why he was vaguely uneasy about this, but he wasn't surprised that what Freeman had predicted this morning had come true so quickly.If the nurses were excluded from the Markham case, then Marjorie Rowling's death would no longer have anything to do with Kenson.But he didn't reveal what was in his heart, he just nodded. "If those nurses had an alibi for Tuesday night." "They had both," Bracco said. "Rayan Badan was playing bridge at the San Jose Hotel, although Captain Griski said some staff at the hospital thought he looked like a suspect in Rowling's case." Object. For whatever value that statement has, Harlan and I also think he doesn't look bad—" Hardy interjected, "Is he one of the nurses in Markham?" "Yes. But for Kara's case, he had this alibi. The other one, Connie Lowe, was at home with her family, her husband, and her two children. She Didn't go out." "very good." "So what happened at the Markham house, the probable scenario was that someone came to the house between ten and ten forty-five, and whoever it was, Carla opened the door. Next, While Carla was talking to this man, the kids were going upstairs to bed. At one point, this man excused himself and slipped into Markham's office, where his gun was kept." "Who's going to know that?" asked Hardy suddenly. "Not only does he have a gun, but he knows where it's kept." "That's important," Fisk said, "but if this person is an acquaintance of Kara, he might know." Hardy thinks such speculation is quite reasonable. "Well, then, let's go back to the rest of us," he said, "except my client, of course." Bracco uttered a string of names as if they were on the tip of his tongue. "Driscoll, Rose, Whattrip, Cohen." An hour earlier, Hardy had come across Cohen's name in the pile of materials he was reading, which was the investigative report on last Friday night that Bracco and Fisk had written because they forgot to record it.At that time, he excitedly turned to that page quickly, and his heart was so nervous that he raised his throat.Hearing this name again now, he pretended to be indifferent, with a calm face, and even made himself laugh softly. "You know, I haven't even spoken to those people yet. Who's Waltrip, Cohen?" Neither of the agents had spoken to the men, Hardy could tell from the transcripts and investigative reports he had seen, though they did not do so voluntarily.This question did not make Bracco feel unhappy, on the contrary he maintained a low-key stance. "Just some doctors who also went to ICU that day, Kent Watertrip and Judith Cohen." "But there's no sign that they've been to Kara's?" "Yes," Fisk replied, "we're assuming they all knew Markham, but other than that, we don't know much about their circumstances." "It's just their names," Braco added. "I don't think they have anything to do with this case. We just included them for the sake of thorough investigation." Hardy nodded. "So it's either Driscoll or Rose?" This time, it was Bracco's turn to smile knowingly. "Under the limited rules." That meant, without including Kensen. Hardy nodded in a friendly way, acknowledging this. "And what about their alibi excuses, Driscoll and Ross?" The two agents were visibly embarrassed and exchanged glances. "We didn't have the opportunity to talk to them either." "Perhaps you want to do this," he said mildly. "In the meantime, it's a thorough investigation. I'll do my best to get in touch with Waterrip and Cohen." The second and third individuals on Kenson's list have both been cremated, and the options available for further forensic analysis of their remains are severely limited technically.The fourth person's name was Shirley Watlers. She died the day after last Christmas.A week before her death, she was admitted to the hospital with severe phlebitis, and then suffered another stroke in the hospital bed, which left her completely paralyzed and fell into a coma.She was then transferred to the intensive care unit for observation and further examination. She died on the fifth day after admission and did not regain consciousness until her death.The cause of death in the hospital's autopsy report stated that he died from a cerebral hemorrhage. Grisky, Ash, and Jackman are huddled together in Marlene's small office, holding a meeting.The colleague who shared the office with her left at the end of get off work, and Jackman was sitting behind his desk at this time.Grisky dragged a chair upside down and sat down facing them both. "Of course," Griski was saying, "he couldn't remember what he was doing on November 12th," he said of Rayan Badan, "but the day after Christmas, he might have Remember." "Is he a Christian?" Marlene asked. "Maybe he doesn't celebrate Christmas." "It's the same anyway, it was a holiday." Jackman turned to Grisky, "Abu, he has nothing to do with the Karamakam thing?" "There are more than two dozen people who are willing to prove to him under oath where he was when Kara was shot. In my opinion, he has no connection with the Markham and Shirley cases." Jackman fiddled with some paper clips on the blotter in front of him.When he opened his mouth to speak, he seemed to be talking to himself. "This can only make people think that Kenson may be the initiator of Portola's troubles under the circumstances that Rayan Badan has nothing to do with the Markham matter." Marlene further explained her thoughts. "It's time for us to get him to the grand jury and show him what he knows. Have you cleared him of the Kara case, Abu?" Grisky almost laughed. "Not yet. As far as I'm concerned, he's still under my consideration. In fact, I plan to stop by his place on the way home." He smiled horribly, and then took out a piece of paper from his jacket pocket, "I'm going to bring a search warrant this time." Marlene got up from her chair and stood up. "Do you mind if I can get you a subpoena if you gave it to me five minutes ago?" "Oh, oh," interrupted Jackman aloud, "have you both forgotten something? I promised Hardy we'd give Kenson thirty days' grace." Jackman's words were like a bucket of cold water poured down his head, suppressing the exciting heat wave that had just risen in the room, but this situation only lasted for one hundred thousandth of a second.As soon as his objection was uttered, Marlene found the answer. "That's for the Markham case, Clarence, the commitment made on the condition that Kenson is our suspect, it's very specific. Hardy can't object that the grand jury needs to have a case against Kenson himself The list provided is required for a hearing." "And as soon as possible," Griski said, turning to the D.A., adding solemnly, "to get our mutual, cooperative investigation on track." Jackman thought for a long time, then finally nodded in agreement. "Okay, let's do it."