Dead Cold Mysteries Box Set #4: Books 13-16 (A Dead Cold Box Set) by Blake Banner (best ereader for academics .txt) 📕

on my shoulder, watching the onions brown. “Wanting to own or control his research is a motive for blackmail, even torture, but it’s not a motive for murder.”

I dumped the meat into the hot oil and started breaking it up. “Yup. But whoever shot him, really wanted him dead.”

“That much is clear.” She went and started filling a pan with water. “But I’ll tell you what else is clear: we need to start looking at his research. Because it either has everything to do with his murder, or it has nothing to do with it.”

SEVEN

Next day, we were knocking at the deputy inspector’s door at eight thirty A.M. He made a muffled noise from within which we took to mean ‘enter’ and opened the door. He had his face in a large paper cup of coffee, which explained the muffled noise, and one arm out of his coat.

“Good morning, detectives. How can I help you?”

Dehan relieved him of his coffee and helped him off with his coat while I sat and said, “We need a court order to see Jose Robles’ research, sir.”

He frowned, then smiled as he thanked Dehan, and returned to frowning as he sat behind his desk. “Clearly you think there is a connection between his murder and his research, and that’s why you want the court order, but if I recall correctly it looked as though his colleague… um…”

“Agnes Shine.”

“Exactly, had shot him out of jealousy, or something like that.”

Dehan was wearing the expressionless expression she wore when people got on her nerves. Now she used it to say, “But the case was given to us, sir, because the ADA didn’t like that explanation.”

He grunted. “So what makes you think it has something to do with his research?”

I’d been rehearsing it in my mind all the way there that morning, and I still couldn’t nail it. I looked at Dehan and she shook her head. “There is no single thing, sir,” she said. “It’s a number of small things that, when you take them together, suggest very strongly that ADA Varu… That the Assistant District Attorney may be right, and the murder has more to do with Robles’ research than his love life.”

The inspector smiled at her. “That’s your introduction, Detective, now what are your reasons?”

She looked at me and I took a deep breath.

“Let’s start with the gun, sir. It was a Sig Sauer Tacops p226. That is a professional’s choice of gun. It is expensive and not the sort of thing you buy just for home defense. It is something you would use for a hit, or for an execution, or if you were being shipped out to Afghanistan, but not if you just wanted a gun around to make you feel safe.”

He flopped back in his chair. “There could be any number of explanations…”

“Bear with me, sir. As Dehan said, it’s an accumulation of things. Then there is the fact that all those who knew Robles and Agnes are adamant that neither of them would own a gun, far less spend the kind of money you’re going to spend on a Sig. So already we are seeing the as yet unexplained presence of an unregistered, professional’s choice of handgun at the scene of the murder.

“Next, and still on the subject of the gun, there is no sign in her financial records that she made an outlay of a thousand bucks in the weeks leading up to the murder, plus, it is hard to imagine Agnes Shine would have any idea in the first place of where to find an unregistered weapon. So the deeper we go, the more we have to wonder how that particular gun comes to be at the scene of the murder.”

He sighed. “I am far from convinced, John. What else have you got?”

“Well, sir, on top of the unexplained presence of the gun, there is no indication that Jose and Agnes were in any way involved with each other except as friends. They spent a lot of time together, he was cruel and unkind to her at times, but so far we have no reason at all to believe that they were lovers. I, personally, am still struggling to see what her motive was.

“Finally, we have reason to believe, from testimony given by one of his students, that he was engaged in some radical research into lithium ion batteries that could be worth a fortune. That could provide a serious motive for murder, and we have forensic evidence that he was in secret communication with somebody called Mohamed. So there is an at least even chance that the motive for the murder stemmed from his research, rather than his sex life.”

He grunted and sipped his coffee. “You know I like to give you guys every assistance I can, John. But no judge in New York is going to sign off on a request like that, where highly sensitive research is concerned. I agree you have grounds for suspicion, but you have no grounds whatsoever to believe that his research is behind the motive. That is a very different proposition.”

Dehan sighed. “We need to see that research, sir.”

“He was at University College New York, wasn’t he?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Then, at this stage, the best thing you can do is go and talk to his head of department, explain your concerns and ask to see his research. Point out it will not become public property, we are prepared to sign a nondisclosure agreement, and that the safety of other researchers may be at risk. That is the best you can do at this stage.”

We thanked him and on the way down the stairs, I pulled out my cell and called Patricia Meigh. When she answered, I could hear children in the background.

“Detective Stone, how can I help you?”

“In a big way, I