Environmental Hazards Ch. 01

I got out my Police iPhone and made a text. "I'm asking for some more information on the Pine Valley project." I said. "We'll compare notes with what your guys come up with."

Soltis nodded. "I do want to say this, Don... or ask it." He paused, then said "I doubt we'll ever find the killer if it's a pro hit. But I can see that there is something going on... too much money in this project, the deceased's employer working for the project's developers, and all. This will be a really good case to teach my young people how to go through a case... gathering data, putting together pieces of the puzzle. I really hope they can learn from your expertise, and I've told them already that this could be the biggest boost to their careers if they listen to the two of you."

"That's the part I like best." I said. "Teaching others and getting them to their full potential. We'll do it." Cindy nodded vigorously in agreement.

Part 3 - Forbes Environmental National Laboratories

Teaching mode came fast. Chief Soltis got a call from Detective Ruger: "We're not getting any cooperation from the FENL people here, sir." he said. "They're demanding warrants, and when we said they're on the way, they said they wanted to see the pen-and-ink documents. They've also forbidden us to talk to their employees."

"Circling the wagons mighty quick." Cindy said.

"And where are the warrants?" I asked on the speakerphone.

"We're checking on that now, sir." said Ruger. I said I'd call him back and disconnected the call.

"Chief," I asked, "who did you send to get the warrants?"

"We ask our Assistant District Attorneys to get them for us." said Soltis. "The judges don't really like it when the Police go directly to get warrants, which is what you do in your jurisdiction."

"Why don't you call the ADA responsible for these warrants." I said. "See what the issue is. Meanwhile, I'll make a quick phone call outside."

Cindy and I went outside the building to the parking lot, where I made my call. "Hello, Jenna." I said to State Attorney Jenna Stiles. "Do you have State-wide jurisdiction, or just in your Region?"

"All over the State, if need be." Jenna said.

"I might need your help getting some warrants down here in the Midtown area, in my capacity as SBI Inspector." I said.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Our ADA had not gone to get the warrants, yet." said Soltis. "He said he was in a meeting. When I told him there was urgency, and we had a dead body and a murder case, he didn't seem to be very impressed. I don't think he's going to hurry on this at all."

Just then, a Court courier came up. "I have some warrants for SBI Inspector Troy?" he said.

"Right here." I said. "Thanks." I tipped the kid for his effort to be prompt. Needless to say, Chief Soltis was stunned.

"I called a State Attorney to ring up the judge." I said. "You might want to make a point to embarrass your ADA with his boss, and if the DA doesn't care, embarrass him with the judges. Okay, let's go to the FENL lab and rock their world."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Forbes Environmental National Laboratories branch was in a mixed use office/production facility just north of the Precinct Headquarters. Once we got there, I was not surprised to find that there were three lawyers there already.

Also there was the FENL Director, one Jeremy Forbes... yes, the partner in 'Forbes & Sehgal Engineering'. He was fairly tall, medium-to-slender build, darker red hair than mine, and with a fairly full beard and mustache.

"It's a terrible thing about Jimmy Shell." he said as he was introduced to Chief Soltis, me, and Cindy. "But we have to take certain legal protections, due to the nature of the Pine Valley project. I'm sure you understand."

"Yes, I do." I said, taking charge almost unconsciously.

"This is our lab manager, Paul Brandon." said Forbes, introducing us to a stocky man going on overweight, with a roundish face, black hair combed over to one side, glasses, and a perma-smile on his face.

"I appreciate you coming here." he said, and I took an instant dislike to the man as soon as I heard his voice and his words, which was high pitched and sounded like he was trying to con us out of something. "Terrible thing to happen to our employee. Our people will be at your disposal to talk with, once you get a warrant, but we'll have to have lawyers sit in on any conversations."

"Yes, that reminds me," I said, "here's the warrant to obtain all papers related to Jimmy Shell, and that includes tests and data on every sample he ran on the Pine Vally project. It also extends to your main lab between Westphalia and the City, and we have SBI Agents going there now to execute the warrants. And here is the warrant to talk to all of your people."

Jeremy Forbes had a somber look on his face that could be natural, but Brandon affixed his perma-grin as he handed the warrant to his attorney. "It's valid in every way." said the attorney. "This is very thorough, too; no loopholes at all. I didn't expect this of the Midtown Police Force." Chief Soltis did not let the insult bother him.

"All right, Chief." I said. "Bring your guys in, and let's question the other employees so they can get back to their duties..."

"Mr. Smith here will stay with you and take action to help you with anything you need." said Brandon. In other words, he would attend us everywhere we went within the labs.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

This lab was not large. It had a metals prep hood and a room to run metals analysis. It had an area to prep samples to be run on the gas chromatograph (GC) and mass spectrometer (MS, or GCMS if coupled with a GC). There was one room for wet lab analysis, as well.

I went into the Mass Spec lab, where an Asian woman was loading samples. I showed her my SBI badge. "May I see your daily calibration test results for the last three months?" I asked. The lawyer nodded for her to comply, and she brought out a folder with a stack of papers. All of the standards were within parameters, meaning the GCMS was good for running samples each day.

"So what are you testing for, BTEX?" I asked. That meant Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene, and Xylene isomers... breakdown products of gasoline that might be contaminating the ground.

"Yes sir." said the girl. "And for any other heavy organic compounds and the breakdown products."

"Ever find anything?" I asked.

"No sir." said the girl.

"By the way, do you prep your samples yourself?"

"Ah, no sir. Dave and Oscar do that."

"Cool." I said. "Thanks. Oh... did you work with Jimmy Shell?"

"He was my backup on the Mass Spec here if I was not here." the girl said. "He worked in Metals most of the time. I did not talk to him very much."

"So you wouldn't have known if he was agitated, bothered by anything?" I asked.

"Oh, no sir... I mean that I did notice anything like that."

"Okay. Thanks." I said, then left the room.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I headed to the Metals area, where Jimmy Shell had worked.

"Sir," said Detective Kimberly Wesson, "we've taken all the papers in the Metals Lab into custody. We're also downloading the contents of their computers and have taken the backup tapes. We'll copy everything and return them within a few days."

"Good." I said, looking at the instruments and the printed files showing the calibration standards meeting the criteria to run. As I did, I felt more than saw Paul Brandon come in.

"Finding what you need, Commander?" he asked. I did not fail to notice which of my 'first names', i.e. titles, he'd used, but I did not react to it.

"So far." I said. "Let me ask you, Mr. Brandon... you're the Lab Manager for all the FENL labs?"

"Yes, for the one in the City." said Brandon. "This lab is just a satellite, set up to support Pine Valley exclusively. We have a Florida lab, also, but I'm not the manager of it."

"But Mr. Forbes is the Director of the Florida lab?" I asked.

"Well, sir," said Brandon jovially, as if sharing a joke, "Mr. Forbes and Mr. Sehgal are the main partners of the Engineering firm, so he's the Director of everything."

"I see." I said, looking at the ceiling. "So the ventilation here is adequate? Meets State EPA specs?"

"Yes sir." said Brandon. "The air turns over three times per hour, as required."

"O-kay." I said. "I think I've seen what I need to, here... oh, by the way... do you have a relative named Eileen Brandon? University student?" Eileen had been the troublemaker in the 'Power' case...

"Uhhh, no sir, the name must be a coincidence." said Brandon.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"You're Dave?" I asked a short man in a labcoat, who was watching some samples cooking on a hot plate in a fume hood.

"Yes sir." he said. "Dave Dubois." Dave was short, stocky but not nearly as much as Paul Brandon. Dave had black hair and a black mustache, both in reasonably stylish shape.

"You worked with Jimmy?" I asked."

"Yes sir." said Dave. "I do the Metals Prep, and do some of the Organic Prep for the GC and GCMS work."

"You don't run any samples?"

"I might run some wet lab samples if Oscar is busy doing something else." said Dave. "But the prep is a full-time job in its own right."

"So you must've known Jimmy fairly well?" I asked.

"Not really." said Dave. "We didn't talk a lot. He was always busy in the Metals Lab or running pre-screening for the Organics Prep."

"What kind of guy would you say he is?" I asked. "Laid back? Wired up?"

"Sometimes a bit wired, especially if things weren't going well or we were being pressured to turn in some results." said Dave. "He was a real stickler for the rules, maybe too much so."

"How can one be 'too much' a stickler for the rules, if they're the rules?" I asked. Dave barked a little laugh but then saw on my face that I was not smiling; I was serious.

"Uh, sometimes getting a result reported is more important than the regression coefficient being good out to four 9s." said Dave. "Also, he's not... er, wasn't... the quality control guy, but would stick his nose into everyone elses labwork."

"Did you socialize with him?" I asked. "And for that matter, do all of you guys here socialize after hours?"

"There almost no 'after hours' around here, sir." said Dave. "We get in here early in the morning and get out late, sometimes late at night. But to answer your question: sometimes Oscar and I will go out for a beer, and sometimes Chris and Mai Ling will join us. But Jimmy never did."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Last but not least, I went to see Oscar Williams. He was a young black man, fairly athletic build, with glasses, and with protective goggles over them. He was prepping samples for running on GCs.

"So you do this and the Inorganics?" I asked as I watched him work.

"Yes sir." said Oscar. "We really don't have a lot of inorganic tests to run here. Unless it's a 24-hour turnaround, those samples get sent to the City lab."

"Do you do any screening of these organic samples?" I asked. "To see if you need to dilute the samples so they don't wreck the GC columns?"

"Ah, you know more about chemistry than you're letting on, Inspector." Oscar astutely observed. "Jimmy Shell is the one that would do that, especially if a sample came in smelling bad---"

Just then Paul Brandon came in. "How are those preps going, Oscar? We need to run them within the hour."

"Yes sir." said Oscar woodenly. He turned back to his work.

"Is there anything else you need, Commander Troy?" Brandon asked, relatively loudly. The lawyer was staring daggers at me, also.

"I'm sure I'll find something I need to ask about." I said as I turned and left the room. "Thanks for your time, Oscar... and take care." Yeah, that might've been a hint.

Part 4 - Chemists and Chemistry

I invited Steve Ruger, Kimberly Wesson, and Chief Soltis to a late lunch at Wendy's Old Fashioned Hamburgers with me and Cindy. As we ate, the Detectives gave us the rundown of the interviews.

"Commander," Cindy said as she read a text on her phone. "SBI Agent Chow led a group of City Police in questioning the employees at FENL in the City. They taped them, and the company insisted on their lawyers being present. Chow is sending the videos to MPD and TCPD."

"Good." I said. "So, what did you guys learn today?"

"There's almost no one here at this lab." said Kimberly. "Mai Ling, the GC and Mass Spec girl; Dave Dubois, the Metals Lab prep guy; and Oscar Williams, the Inorganics or wet lab guy. The supervisor's name is Chris Maple, and he was an Army Reserve Officer before coming into the labs. He wasn't here today. Mr. Brandon said he was driving up to the City lab."

Wesson continued: "Mai Ling told me what she told you; she didn't really have much contact with Shell. Dave said Shell would help prep the metals samples, then Shell would run them. He said Shell was very conscientious about the work, but never talked about himself, his personal life, his likes, his hobbies, etc. Oscar Williams also remarked that Shell didn't go out with the others after work; he apparently just went home."

"So no one expressed dislike of Jimmy Shell?" I asked.

"Uh, they didn't say anything," said Kimberly," but except for Dave Dubois, who worked with him the most, none of them seemed to have anything good to say about Jimmy. And Dave just said Jimmy helped with the prep and cleaning up, but said nothing about Jimmy's personality."

"Okay." I said. "Detective Ruger, what did you find?"

"I was supervising acquiring all the papers." said Ruger. "The lawyers were agitated as all hell, but they didn't try to stop us. Captain Ross would stare back at them if they started whining about something. I think they know you're the Iron Crowbar, sir, and were all but looking over their shoulders half the time." I grinned at that.

"Paul Brandon definitely knows who I am." I said. "Calling me 'Commander' was my first clue to that. So... and this goes especially to you, Kimberly... what were your impressions of everything, of the people especially?"

"They're busy, they're worked to the bone, long hours with no overtime pay." said Kimberly. "I got the impression that these were the ones sent down because none of them have particularly engaging personalities, and that's putting it nicely. I got an impression that they didn't think too much of Jimmy Shell, but aren't going to say anything with him just having been murdered."

I nodded and smiled. "Yes, I would think not. Steve?"

"Same thing." Ruger said. "They're all single, all displaced from their homes in the City, long hours, high pressure for quick turnarounds on the tests. By the way, I was told that they only do quick and dirty tests down here; most of the comprehensive sample testing is done at the City location."

"Oh really?" I said, halfway to myself. "That is interesting. It means we really have to look into their City facility a lot more."

"That also explains why Brandon was acting like he's swallowed the canary." Cindy said. "That guy... he's the 'calibration standard' of the 'smarmy vibe'."

"He's definitely a liar." I said. "Probably a pathological liar, can't help himself."

"What do you mean?" asked Chief Soltis.

"I asked about the air conditioning," I said, "and he said the air turns over three times an hour, per State EPA requirements. But you can look it up: the actual standard is 20 times per hour. So he either didn't know and just threw out some shit, or the ventilation is inadequate and he bullshitted me on it. Either way, I'm not trusting what that guy says."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Later that afternoon, we (meaning the five of us that went to lunch together) watched the interviews of the employees at the FENL labs in the City. When we were done, I asked for the Detectives' opinions.

"I don't think they liked Jimmy Shell very much." said Kimberly Wesson. "They were being extremely careful in what they said about him. Mostly that he stuck to himself, was a stickler about protocols. A few people said he was like a Boy Scout on the protocols... they didn't say he was a jerk, but I just got the sense of that, if that makes sense."

"Gut instincts, or intuition," I said, "can be a very valuable tool. Captain Ross here is uncanny in how good her instincts and intuition are. At the same time, don't let that override compelling evidence or data. Theories are founded on data, not the other way around. Steve?"

"I got the impression," Steve Ruger said, "that they were very guarded in their speech because the company lawyers were always present. I think they were afraid to speak openly and freely because they were being monitored. I got the impression they don't like working for FENL, but can't say that out loud because it would be a 'career move', so to speak."

I nodded. "I've been getting that impression all day, everywhere I go in those labs. I also noticed that no one, especially no one down here, could say that Jimmy Shell was bothered by something or felt worried. That means either he's just the same way all the time, or they didn't care enough about him to notice any changes in his behavior."

"Or both." Cindy said. I nodded vigorously.

"So what's next?" asked the Chief.

"Now the tedious part starts." I said. "Your people have a long day and night ahead of them, combing through the data that was seized today."

"It's all being copied now into the digital servers." said Soltis. "Chief Moynahan gave us that idea after seeing what the TCPD does. So what in all of that are we looking for?"

"Anomalies." I said. "This is going to be slow and mind-numbing, but you've got to check the bound logbooks then the test results to make sure all the tests were run. Then look at blanks, standards, and sample results to see if something doesn't look right. It could be anything. Once the data is in the servers, queries can be run based upon unique test run numbers."

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Are you guys staying down here overnight?" asked Soltis. "You can stay at my place... which is your house, Don... if you like."

"What say you, Captain Ross?" I asked.

"Sure." said Cindy. "As long as we can expense some good pizzas."

"All right, I'll call Krueger in." said Soltis. "He and his team have amassed some good stuff.

A moment later, Lieutenant David Krueger came in. Cindy's bug killer was on for this one as David set up his computer to the projector so that we could all see the image on the projector screen.

"First, Jimmy Shell." David said, bringing up Shell's DMV photo. "Twenty-nine years old. Single, never married. Graduated six years ago from State Tech with Chemistry and Chemical Engineering degrees as part of their special program for doing that. He worked in a small environmental lab for two years, then left to come to Forbes & Sehgal four years ago."

"The Lab, or the Engineering firm?" I asked.

"The Engineering firm." said Krueger. "SBI Agent Chow got his employee record files and photocopied it down to us. What apparently happened is that about six months after coming to the firm, he was asked to transfer to Forbes Environmental National Laboratories, and he accepted that and began working in their Metals Lab."

"Before we go further," I said, "what was the name of the lab he worked at, right out of School?"

"That was..." Lt. Krueger said as he looked at his notes, "... Dreschel Magdalene Environmental Labs. It was a very small outfit. The guy who ran it, Dave Magdalene, got into some hot water with the State EPA for bad recordkeeping, running and reporting samples despite failing standards, and such. He really cut corners, and finally the State EPA declared that they would immediately and fully audit any lab that hired him. We don't have a present address for him; he probably moved out of State."