The Tipsy Gull, page 9
part #1 of Danny Barbosa Series
“I don’t know but I think it’s going to be something big based on his comment.” Danny pumped his fist in the air. “Like you said, every little thing adds up.”
Ben smiled back. “That’s the enthusiasm I want to see.”
A slight knock at the door was followed by Kelly sticking her head in to inform then Lewis would meet with them now. Her perfume floated into Danny’s nostrils. An earthy, woodsy scent. He liked it.
“You look nice,” Danny said.
Kelly smiled, put her hand onto his arm, and escorted them down the hall. She turned left toward her office. Lewis’ was the opposite direction.
Danny raised his eyebrows. “Taking me on a private tour of your quarters, Kel?”
“Not so private with Ben here, now is it?” She shot him a smile. “Maybe next time.”
Ben shook his head and slapped Danny on the back, mouthing ‘behave’.
“Lewis asked me to take you to my office to talk about the Batrachotoxin, because his is too cluttered.” She let them in and put her hand on Danny’s shoulder. “You guys have a seat, he’ll be here shortly. I have another appointment I have to keep.”
“How do I get on that calendar?” Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s always open for you.” She winked as she left.
Danny inhaled the scent as he sat down. It enveloped the room. He looked about. Two house plants occupied a shelf along with a collection of dolphins. A Chargers poster hung on the wall.
“Check it out.” Ben nodded at it. “You could take her to a game.”
“Now you’re encouraging me?” Danny asked.
Before Ben could respond, Lewis crashed through the door. He sat down, pushed his glasses up, and went straight to the point. “Here’s the deal on the Batrachotoxin. This is big. Like really big…The iso and pseudo atoms of the BTX are still present along with the BTX-A. But it’s the synthetically produced TTX that changes the molecular structure by affecting the specific activators of the sodium channels, which increased the permeability capacity of the membrane potential…”
Lewis had a habit of talking too fast when excited and the rest of what he said was incomprehensible. Danny looked at Ben, who shrugged.
“Can you slow down?” Danny asked. “Perhaps explain in English.”
Lewis scratched his balding head and glanced at his watch. “Come on, you guys are detectives.”
“Lewis, you’re a little smarter than us,” Danny said.
“What do you mean ‘a little’?” Lewis pushed his glasses back up.
Ben gave it a try. “Your son is fourteen, right?
“Eleven.”
Ben grinned. “Great, that’s even better. Imagine that you have to explain this to him so he’d understand.”
Danny winked at Ben before looking expectantly at Lewis.
“Okay.” Lewis took a deep breath and spoke slower. “So Junior, we found that Wilson’s body had toxic levels of Batrachotoxin in his blood, which would keep the sodium channels open, resulting in paralysis and death. But that didn’t kill him, son. I mean it did, but it didn’t keep him dead, you know what I mean. Anyway, someone altered the DNA strand, introducing high levels of TTX which is the opposite of BTX because it’s a sodium blocker...” in his excitement, Lewis rambled on.
Danny put his cheek down on one hand and blew out. What the hell was Lewis talking about? He only understood the last two words, ‘It’s brilliant’.
Lewis pushed his glasses up and looked from one detective to the other. “Well, better?”
“You talk to your eleven-year-old like that?” Ben asked.
“Of course not.” Lewis checked his watch again. “I dummied it up for you guys. Look, I gotta go.”
“Wait one quick question. All that gene stuff you were talking about, who could do that, like a Biology student?” Danny asked, knowing Naomi was barely twenty-one.
“No, no it’s way more advanced. This is cutting edge technology. A micro-biology or chemistry professor could do it with years and years of research, so long as he had the financial backing with the proper lab—stocked with the right equipment and reagents. Of course, if he did the legwork, perhaps one of his students could complete the formula. It’s actually quite brilliant.”
Danny was about to ask another question when Kelly returned. He inhaled her perfume and lost his train of thought. She winked at him. “Great, you’re still here. Lewis told you about the poisonous dart frogs?”
“No.” Danny said as Ben echoed the word.
An exasperated Lewis stood and threw his arms over his head. “Unbelievable, Kel. Can you try and explain it to them? I’ve got things to do.” His lab coat swooshed as he hurried out the door.
“What did he tell you so far?” Kelly asked as she took a seat at her desk.
“Uh, go ahead Ben. You’re better at explaining things than me.” Danny said while glancing down her low-cut white blouse.
Ben sneered at him. “Something about BMX and a mad scientist altering it to TNT…”
“No, it was BTX and TXT. TNT is dynamite and BMX is biking,” Danny said with raised eyebrows, hoping to impress Kelly with his intelligence.
Ben nodded. “That’s right, okay so now the TXT and BTX are like fighting each other and then the man’s dead, but not. They tried to block the salt level but then…” Ben sighed. “To be honest, we have no idea what he said.”
“Not a clue.” Danny shook his head. “He talks too fast.”
“You guys are really cute.” Kelly let out a sexy, throaty laugh. “Like the frogs.”
“Seriously, why the hell are you talking frogs now?” Danny asked.
“Because that’s why there was no Ketamine in the body and Wilson wasn’t tied up. The suspect utilized the poisonous toxin from a dart frog. Using a sharp object, coated with the substance, the suspect scratched the victim’s arm. Once it entered the blood stream, it was a matter of seconds before it hit the nerves, paralyzing Wilson.”
“Why didn’t he say that?” Danny asked.
She shrugged. “Here’s the thing. The concentration of poison would kill a man. It paralyzes every muscle. Since the heart’s a muscle, the victim would have gone into cardiac arrest. Actually, he did, and that’s how he died.”
“Wait, I thought I read the cause of death was from a stab wound to the liver?” Ben said.
Kelly nodded. “Yes, the second death.”
This is like the Twilight Zone. Danny rubbed his temple.
“What do you mean second death?” Ben asked.
“Wilson was killed twice. The BTX stopped his heart and he went into cardiac arrest. Then the killer resuscitated him with a portable AED. The heart began to beat again and the synthetically introduced TTX countered the BTX, so the heart would continue to work while the victim remained paralyzed.”
“That’s brilliant,” Danny said.
“You’re too cute.” She played with a strand of hair while smiling at him. After Ben cleared his throat she added. “Lewis made some calls for you guys. He’ll try and find out who was working on something like that.”
Kelley escorted them out, her hand on Danny’s arm. She handed him her cell phone number and told him to call if he had any questions.
Danny put the note in his pocket, and they walked through the parking lot to their vehicle. On the way back to their office, Danny said, “This supports the theory about the victim being molested and wanting her victims to feel helpless.”
Ben nodded.
“Aww Jeez, can you imagine lying there motionless while a crazy woman stabs you to death?
Ben stopped at the next red light. “Look at me, partner.” He brought his fist down into an open palm. “We need to catch her.”
Danny nodded.
“I need you at one-hundred percent from here on out.” Ben shook his finger in Danny’s face. “You know what I mean.”
Danny thought about his temper. Attacking Jeb not only would get him sued, but it hurt their case because he was refusing to offer any more information about the woman he saw. Coming to work hung over didn’t help. Drinking at work didn’t help matters either. “Yeah, I hear you.”
Later in the week, Danny spent the day staring intently at his monitor. His cheek rested on his knuckles and his lips moved as he read silently. The coke he grabbed out of the fridge sat on his desk unopened, condensation ran down the can, forming a little pool of water on his desk.
“Hey, you might want to grab a paper towel for that,” Ben said.
Danny didn’t answer. He scratched his cheek and continued reading.
“Whatcha reading?” Ben rapped on his desk. “I haven’t seen you this interested since I caught you watching that Padres game last month.”
“Phyllobates terrabilis,” Danny said without looking up.
“Terra-what? Is that a dinosaur?”
“No, it’s a dart frog. One adult male of this species carries enough poison to kill twenty men. This is interesting. It says the frogs themselves aren’t poisonous. They get the toxin from the bugs they eat, these...” He squinted at the word. “Choresine beetles. Then they convert that toxin into the poisonous BTX that Lewis was talking about.”
“You follow up on that. See what you can find out,” Ben said. “I’ll make an appointment to interview Professor DeVries.”
Danny nodded. Lewis had asked around and found out Milan DeVries taught bioengineering at the UC. Word was he’d been working on a way to use toxins as anesthetics. After five years on the project, he told a colleague that he’d made a significant breakthrough. Then a couple of weeks after this, he’d announced his experiments had been unsuccessful and he’d be working on a different project. That was a year ago, one week after Tolliver had been murdered.
CHAPTER 12
Saturday morning, Tala prepared breakfast. She had eggs frying in one pan and bacon sizzling in another, filling the kitchen with its strong aroma. Jessa helped by making toast, while Danny started the coffee pot. It was Jessa’s last free weekend before school started, and he wanted to take her to the zoo. Tala banged a pan down and Jessa nodded her way. Danny bit his lip and asked Tala if she was okay. She nodded wordlessly.
“Mom, why don’t you come to the zoo with us?”
“I have to work. You guys go.”
Danny sat at the kitchen table. He detected disappointment in her tone. “You love the zoo and we haven’t gone in ages. Maybe you could call in sick?”
“Yeah, Mom, come with us.” Jessa put her arm around her mother’s shoulder.
Before she could reply, Tala’s cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID, smiled, and told Danny it was the realtor. He perched forward in his seat. Jessa clapped silently. Tala’s smile didn’t last long. Her chin dropped to her chest and she avoided eye contact with Danny. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment while talking, then hung up.
Danny’s stomach dropped. This couldn’t be good news. “What happened?”
“That was Devon. He said the Coopers took their house off the market.” Her voice broke. “They didn’t tell him why, only that they were going to keep it for now.”
Danny’s fist came down on the kitchen table and Zoe whelped from underneath. “Son of a bitch. That house was perfect for us.”
They talked about it and concluded the Cooper’s son had been against lowering the price, what with all the upgrades he had made on it. Maybe Stanley was too embarrassed to tell them the truth, so had lied to the realtor. The lender had worked hard and they barely qualified for the higher amount that would need. There’d be no way to go any higher.
The mood spoiled, Danny suggested they scratch the zoo, but Tala said it would do them some good to get out of the apartment and enjoy the day to get their minds off it. She called her supervisor at the Palms Senior Living Home. Once excused from work, she finished cooking. After breakfast, she was the first one in the shower.
Danny sat on the recliner, drinking a beer and thinking about the house. It would have been perfect—two bathrooms. Not to mention, he’d have a garage to park his car in and his own space. They also had planned to buy a Great Dane. Disappointed, he shook his head and swore to himself. That dream was gone. He finished his beer and grabbed another one, Tala would be an hour before she was ready.
Jessa had been disappointed too with the news, but now was excited about the zoo. She lay on the sofa, texting on her cell, giggling here and there. Danny teased her that it was with a boy. Her eyebrows shot up and she shook her head no. The guilt was evident in her eyes. Hmm, he would have to mention this to Tala.
Jessa took a shower next, followed by Danny. By his turn, the hot water was gone and he cut his shower short. He was about to shave when a roach scurried along the wall. Slamming the cabinet door shut, he sighed, and shook his head. They needed to find another place soon.
The sun shone bright, but the temperature was a comfortable seventy-two degrees. Jessa’s cheeriness was contagious. Danny and Tala walked hand in hand while Jessa ran ahead to take selfies with the exhibits in the background. A cacophony of wild animals’ sounds—hoots and howls, roars and growls, and screeches and squawks—mingled with screams of delight from the children at the zoo.
Danny had always been amazed by the different shapes and sizes of the animals; an aardvark’s long snout, elephant’s big ears and trunk, giraffe’s long neck, and a snake’s legless body. The smell of hot, fresh popcorn enticed him to buy a large bag.
Tala grabbed a handful. “This is nice. I’m glad we came.”
Jessa walked a few steps in front of them, texting someone.
“Yeah, me too. Before long she’s going to notice boys and we’ll be forgotten.” Danny stuffed his mouth with a handful of kernels and then told her about his suspicion that she was chatting with a boy earlier.
“His name’s Cameron,” Tala said. “Don’t worry, we’ve had a talk already.”
“Why am I always the last to know?” Danny sighed.
After a lunch of burgers, fries, and shakes, Tala motioned toward the wooden plank signs pointing to the giraffe exhibit. He knew they were her favorite. Danny draped his arm around her shoulder, and she held his dangling fingers.
As they neared the exhibit, Tala pulled away. “Look how beautiful, come on!” She walked faster, catching up with her daughter.
Danny looked up, the animal’s neck and head were visible over the throng of people pressed in front. “I’m coming.”
When he caught up, Tala and Jessa were standing on tiptoes, trying to see past the crowd. He heard the buzz—one of the newer born giraffes made her debut today—and passed it on to Tala who tried to stretch further on her toes.
She crossed her arms. “I can’t see.”
Danny stood half a head taller than most of the people and didn’t hear her. “Aww, that’s cute.”
“Danny!”
“Huh?”
“We can’t see.”
He stifled a laugh. “They’ll move soon, then we’ll work our way to the front.”
Sure enough, the crowd moved on and Tala and Jessa elbowed their way to the front rail, nudging past the children, like a defensive pass rush.
The giraffe was a week old but stood six feet tall. The protective mom towered over her calf following it closely. There were four giraffes in the exhibit, and they moved with grace, taking long strides on slender but strong legs. The ears twitched as flies landed on them. Huge eyes, like small pools of black liquid glass, stared at them. One giraffe stuck her prehensile tongue out, grabbing leaves off the highest trees. A second giraffe reeled out its long tongue to lick a post, and the crowd erupted in oohs and awes. Cameras clicked as people snapped pictures.
It had been over twenty minutes and the girls could stay there all day. However, they had lots of exhibits to see and Danny suggested they move on to the elephants next.
“Good idea, Mahal. But first, let’s have someone take a picture of us in front of the baby.”
“I can take it,” Jessa replied.
“No, not a selfie. I want a nice picture with the background showing.”
Tala scanned the crowd and Danny shook his head. “I don’t know, everybody looks busy with their own families.”
“That girl there, she’s not with anyone.” Tala pointed at a young woman standing alone taking pictures of the exhibit behind them, then approached her. They exchanged words and the woman nodded, took Tala’s camera and followed her back to where Danny and Jessa waited. The photographer snapped several pictures, moving them around to different poses.
“Okay, one more. You guys turn your backs to me like you’re watching the giraffes. Sir, have your wife point to the baby giraffe. And Jess…just have the girl stand on the bottom rail between you.” When they were in place, she snapped their picture.
Tala retrieved her camera and thanked her. Holding Danny’s hand, they headed to the elephant exhibit.
***
Claire had always been in awe of the animals at the San Diego zoo. She’d been here enough times to know the facts by heart. Six-hundred and fifty species, three-thousand animals, and half a million exotic plants.
At the Discovery Outpost, she went into the reptile house, and stopped in front of one of her favorites. This chameleon sat on the branch of a small Fiscus tree. She thought about the notes she’d left at the crime scenes. It bothered her at first that the media never mentioned them, but doing an internet search on the subject, she’d figured out easy enough that it was the detective’s way of having that to fall back on, should another killer attempt a copy-cat murder. Claire snapped its picture. She worked her way to the poison dart frogs, overhearing a little boy explain to his friend not to touch the glass because they were poisonous. She laughed to herself. The frogs couldn’t maintain the toxin unless they enjoyed the same diet as those out of captivity. She was doubtful the zoo would have a supply of Choresine beetles to feed these colorful, exotic, frogs.
Claire liked animals because they were easier to understand than people. Humans were the ones who behaved like beasts. Exiting Discovery Outpost, she came upon the petting zoo. Small children giggled while parents laughed and took pictures. Claire felt a pang of jealousy and thought back to her time in Foster homes. The only good thing she could recall was she had learned to fight. Nobody ever expected shy little Claire to attack with such speed and ferocity. She’d been kicked out of more than one place for assaulting bigger foster kids and hurting them badly. It had always been self-defense, but nobody ever believed her. She recalled one of the Foster parents had planned to take them to the local zoo. Little old Mrs. White, a retired school teacher. If their assignments were completed, they could go. Claire hadn’t been worried, for she was always one of the top students in her class. She handed Mrs. White her five-hundred-word essay and stepped toward the van. She could still hear the paper ripping, and the other kids laughing at her. She’d found at that day sweet Mrs. White had a hang-up about penmanship. If your homework wasn’t neat, she’d make you re-write it over and over until it was.
