Jamie Brodie 01 - Cited to Death

Kevin. We made our way to the detectives' area and were ushered into a small conference room. We were the last ones there. Roger Blake was horrified to see my face; I explained quickly what had happened. Tim introduced us to Steve Ringland and John Kaliszuk, the Wilshire detectives; they were there because Cedars was in their territory, and Dan had died there. The HALT liaison was a woman named Sherlene Passey. Kevin was squeezed into a corner, looking glum. I made a "what?" face at him, and he shrugged. Nothing major, then.
    We got settled at the table. Tim stood up at a whiteboard and laid out the timeline of the case for everyone: Dan's death, his letter to me, my request of the articles and the ensuing sabotage of my computer, my visit to Dan's office and the slashing of my tires in the Cedars parking lot, my being followed, the attempted break in at my apartment, Dan's autopsy results, the break in and fire at my apartment, the hacking of my medical records, my discovery of the plagiarism, my beating, and the break in at the townhouse. The Wilshire guys were taking notes.
    "So, we've got two of the perpetrators." Tim started a new list on the other side of the board. "Mauro Politano is the guy who broke in to both Jamie's apartment and Pete's townhouse. He's got a longish sheet, mostly burglary and petty theft. The apartment was his first arson. He did both the apartment and the townhouse burglaries alone. He's also one of the two guys that beat Jamie up."
    Everyone turned to look at my face again; I rolled my eyes.
    "He's the one that held Jamie's arms, not the one who did the punching. Politano has told us that he was hired by the guy who did the punching, whose first name is supposedly Ed. He gave us a description, which is too generic to be of use. We've had him looking at mug shots, but so far nothing. We do believe he's telling us everything he knows."
    Tim turned back to the board and wrote Andy Mitchell beneath Politano's name. "Andy Mitchell is the UCLA employee who sabotaged Jamie's computer. He told us he was paid to do the job, but won't tell us anything else. He did say that he didn't know anything about any of the other crimes, but I'm not to the point where I believe what he says yet. We're working with his attorney to try to make a deal, but right now it doesn't look good. I get the feeling he's protecting someone, but he won't say."
    Tim paused for a couple of mouthfuls of coffee. I raised my hand.
    "Yeah, Jamie?"
    "We had a visit yesterday." I pointed to Pete, who recounted the entire conversation we'd had with Ben.
    "Holy shit." Tim turned back to the board. "Okay. So Goldstein thinks that Tristan Oliver stole the original article and that Dan stumbled across the plagiarism and might have been threatening to expose Oliver. But why would Oliver kill him? Why wouldn't he just pay him off?"
    Kevin chimed in. "He may have offered to do that, and Christensen wouldn't go along with it."
    I nodded. "That would be consistent with what I know about Dan. He wouldn't take a payoff."
    Tim looked at Pete. "Do you think Goldstein was legit?"
    "Yeah, I do. He was absolutely shocked and appalled to see Jamie's face. I really don't think he had any prior knowledge of the trouble Jamie's been having. And Dan apparently didn’t suspect him of being involved. But he could be a stellar actor, I guess."
    "Hmm." Tim gave Pete a half-grin. "You were always one of the best at picking out the liars. But, yeah, theoretically he could still be on the suspect list." He wrote (Ben Goldstein-unlikely) under Andy's name.
    The woman from HALT, Officer Passey, spoke up. "This doesn't sound like a situation that would fall under HALT's jurisdiction. We investigate fraudulent medical practice, and it doesn't sound like these guys are practicing medicine. They're just doing research, right?"
    Tim said, "Right."
    "Okay. However, it does sound like something the state medical board would be interested in. I'd definitely report it to them."
    I raised my hand again. "Gotta find out for sure who to report. I don't want to get Ben in trouble if he's not involved."
    "Right." Passey smiled at me, stood up. and shouldered her bag. "Good luck, you guys. If you get in there and find out they've been doing experiments on people stashed in their back room, call me."
    Everyone laughed uneasily.
    "Okay." Tim set down his marker and rubbed his hands together. "Now we need to bring in all three of the doctors, separately, and have a talk with