Animal Instinct by Rosenfelt, David (novels for students TXT) 📕

He nods and whispers back, “It’s a gift.”

“We need to talk after court. I found out something last night that is interesting and strange.” Andy got to court a bit late this morning, and I didn’t have time to tell him about the death certificate date conflicting with the obituary date.

“Okay. Let’s meet at the house after court ends for the day.”

Dylan’s first witness is Sergeant Bill Glover, who was among the first cops on the scene at Kline’s house the night he was killed. Dylan gets Glover to confirm that, as well as that a 911 call brought him there.

“Do you know who made that call, Sergeant?”

“Yes, it was Mr. Douglas.”

“When you arrived, was Mr. Douglas the only person on the scene?”

“Well, Mr. Kline was there, but he was deceased. And Mr. Douglas’s dog was there.”

“That’s a former police dog?”

“I believe so,” Glover says.

“Did you question Mr. Douglas when you arrived?”

“I did not. Lieutenant Lillard from Robbery-Homicide was going to be there very shortly, so I was leaving that to him. My partners and I just made sure that there was no one else in the house, and that the area was secure.”

Dylan continues questioning Glover, and even though he has nothing particularly interesting to say, Dylan uses up almost an hour to get him to say it.

Andy does not do much to challenge him, probably because he didn’t do us any damage. He was just setting the scene, and everything he said was true. If Andy has any bullets in the defense gun, I assume he is saving them for more important witnesses.

Judge Wallace adjourns court until tomorrow, and Andy says, “I’ll see you at the house.”

I turn and see Dani sitting in the gallery as it starts to empty out. I hadn’t realized she was here. “Okay. Dani and I will pick up Simon and meet you there. With me in court he’s not getting out much.”

“I’ll tell Tara her boyfriend is coming over.”

“And I’ll call Sam; we’re going to need him.”

Andy smiles. “You’re relying on Sam quite a bit these days.” He’s gently mocking me about my turnaround from my previous resistance to Sam doing his “extralegal” computer work.

“I know; I can’t help it. It’s like having an investigative genie.”

“IT’S probably just a mistake,” Laurie says. “Some bureaucrat put the wrong date on the death certificate.”

“I’m not disagreeing,” I say. “But there’s been something about Doris Landry’s death that’s unusual. First, her son, Steven, lied to us at breakfast that day. Then he turns around and refuses to help when we asked him to connect us to his mother’s friends. And now this. I’m not saying these are earthshaking events, but they’re worth pursuing.”

“What’s your theory?” Andy asks. “That she was murdered?”

“No. I don’t think so. Sam, can you find out if anyone other than Steven Landry was the beneficiary of a policy on Doris Landry’s life?”

“Nope.”

It’s so unusual for Sam to say he can’t do something that I do a double take. “Why not?”

“So much for your genie,” Andy says.

Sam explains, “There’s no place for me to look. I can’t access the financial records of whoever that beneficiary might be because we don’t know who it is. And there are way too many insurance companies; I’d have to know which company we’re talking about.”

“If you don’t believe Doris Landry was murdered, then what is your theory?” Laurie asks.

“I’m not sure I’d call it a theory; that might be giving it too much credit. Let’s say it’s the germ of an idea.”

“Fine. So what’s your germ?”

“Insurance companies work on actuarial tables; they are essentially making bets based on percentages. So let’s say that Ardmore supplies them with tampered patient information that indicates relatively good health, when the reverse is actually true.

“So the company writes the policy, and then when the patient dies much earlier than would have been expected, they have to pay off. In the meantime, whoever faked the data in the first place had taken out a policy and collects. They would not have to do this in too many cases to make many millions of dollars.”

“How does this fit in with the different dates on the obit and the death certificate?” Laurie asks.

“It doesn’t; I’m on to a new germ.” I turn to Andy. “What do you think?”

“I think you’re probably nuts, but it’s worth pursuing. We have to get a look at Doris Landry’s health records.”

“Sam?” I ask.

He nods. “I’ll give it a shot.”

“Do that, but it’s not enough,” Andy says. “Even if we get them and it shows what we want, the information would have been obtained illegally and we couldn’t use it in court. We’d have to then try and get it through legal means. By the time we did that, you’d be making license plates in Rahway.”

“So what do we do?”

“I’ll ask Jason Musgrove for it.”

I shake my head. “He won’t give it to you. If I’m right about this, and I admit it’s a big if, he’s got to be in on it. And Richard Mahler is as well. That’s why they dumped Don Crystal; they didn’t want him around when they made their move.”

Andy nods. “I’m sure Musgrove won’t go along with it; he’ll cite privacy concerns whether he’s dirty or not. In the meantime, I’ll be trying to get Judge Wallace to issue a subpoena.”

“Do you think he will?”

“Fifty-fifty.”

Andy calls Eddie Dowd, explains the situation, and asks him to prepare a motion to subpoena the records. Andy wants to file it first thing in the morning.

When he gets off the phone, he says, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not going to ask Musgrove for it.”

“Why not?”

“He won’t give it to me, especially if you’re right and he’s dirty. And if he learns that we want it, he could have it changed before we get the subpoena. If they can doctor the records once, they could do it again. This way at least Sam will have time to access the real data.”

“I’m on