Prime Impact

CHAPTER 5

CHAPTER 5Special Agent in Charge Leon Brennan stood to address the investigators assembled in the conference room. “As you’re probably aware, United States Attorney Winston Prescott has pledged the complete cooperation of his office. He promised not to interfere with or steer our investigation in any direction.” Bannister glanced at Mercedes whose face had that “yeah, right” look. “FBI Headquarters has made this a priority matter and assigned the name KABMUR to the investigation.”

Taking off his gold wire-rimmed glasses and using them to point toward his ASAC at the opposite end of the table, Brennan continued. “Gary will give me daily updates on your progress. Make sure any contact with the media goes through this office. Anybody have heartburn with that?” Brennan looked around at the members of the team. All heads nodded in unison.

“Good, I know you have a lot to do and I’ll let you get on with it.” He turned and left.

Besides Bannister, others seated around the table in the Counterterrorism Task Force’s conference room were ASAC Gary Witt; Inspector Glenn Yates of the GBI; Lou Spina, the Dahlonega Chief of Police; and Special Agents Derek Barnes and Mercedes Ramirez.

“Why don’t you go first, Chief,” Witt said. “By the way, the name KABMUR comes from Briggs’s three initials and the word murder. His middle name was Anthony.”

“Thanks, but I already figured that out,” the chief said.

Spina, dressed in his uniform of light gray trousers and long-sleeved shirt, had burgundy colored epaulets with gold stripes. He’d been Dahlonega’s chief of police for sixteen years. The city was known for being the site of the first gold rush in the United States. Now it would draw attention because of a murder.

He placed both of his hands, palms down, on the glass-covered table. “I’m not here to flap my gums. This is only the second murder case we’ve had in our city of four thousand in three years. The other was a murder-suicide with a note written by a disabled farmer who shot his wife before turning the gun on himself. That case was a no-brainer.

“The GBI processed the crime scene so I’ll defer to Inspector Yates on that. We worked with his agents up there who checked the neighborhood this morning. The only thing we came up with was a teenager driving home at 2:30 a.m. He called our office after hearing the news. He had to take a road that snakes behind the outlet mall. When he went around a curve, he saw a car off to the side. All the kid remembers is the car, maybe a white Taurus or Focus, was running with the light on inside. As he approached, the light went off. He saw the silhouette of one person on the driver’s side, but couldn’t tell if it was male or female.”

Yates spoke next. “We trailered the remains of the victim’s car to our lab where it’s being processed. Don’t hold your breath for any CSI-type revelation. It’s basically a charred hulk, but the techs are sifting through the ashes. On the ground opposite the driver’s door was a thin burn trail as if from some type of fuse. On the front floorboard was a metal statue mounted on a stone base. Behind the driver’s seat was a glob of melted plastic, possibly what’s left of a small gas container.” Yates glanced over at Derek Barnes.

“Since you witnessed the autopsy, could you share any significant findings?” Yates asked.

Barnes leaned forward. “The medical examiner cut the flex cuffs on Briggs before beginning his examination. The official cause of death was exsanguination. Toxicology tests are still being completed. The ME said there was a one-inch fracture at the back of the skull and hemorrhaging in the area. Other signs of violence were scrapes on the deceased’s left knee and the right side of his face, and a cut throat. There was some slight discoloration on the victim’s wrists where the cuffs had tightened. Whatever the weapon, it had an extremely sharp blade. The carotid, windpipe and all soft tissue were severed. Death was rapid. Time of death was approximately 1:00 a.m.”

“What have you come up with, Mercedes?” Witt asked.

Mercedes flipped open her notebook and pushed her hair back to the side as she looked at her notes. “We know five of the six mounted shelves at Briggs’s condo held small bronze statues. One shelf was empty and I’m guessing it held a missing statue, which might be the one recovered from Briggs’s car. Some latent prints were found in the condo, mostly on the edges of the countertop separating the living room from the kitchen. On the underside of the toilet seat in the powder room was a thumbprint from someone’s left hand. We’re running all prints through the system now.”

“Has his gun been found?” Yates asked.

“No. A gun cleaning kit and a box for a Kahr nine-millimeter semiautomatic were found in his closet. The gun box had a serial number and address for KAI in Worcester, Massachusetts.” Mercedes turned to her left and looked at Barnes.

“KAI is the manufacturer. I’m contacting them to find out where and when the gun was sold. The gun’s been entered into NCIC. We also reviewed the security tapes covering the parking lot of the hotel where Briggs was last seen alive. They show another prosecutor walking to his own car as Briggs entered his Jaguar and drove away. That attorney was interviewed. He waved at Briggs, who was alone in his car when he pulled out. The time was 9:57 p.m. A bank down the street has a CCTV camera, which we’ve arranged to check out to see if a vehicle might have followed him.

“I sent a lead for our Charlotte division to interview the owner of the Memorial Marble Quarry property where Briggs’s body was found,” Barnes said. “We also dumped the calls from his cell phone, which was on his body. We’re going through the numbers now. Agents interviewed Briggs’s neighbors. None of them knew him by name. A young couple who live next door to Briggs arrived home at 8:30 p.m. and didn’t see or hear anything. Atlanta PD says there have been no crime reports from Artists Square since it opened last year. It’s your show, Ty.” He waved his hand at Bannister.

Before speaking, Bannister looked down the table at Gary Witt who was rocking backward in his chair with his hands interlaced behind his head.

“We’re trying to focus on a motive. Once that’s identified it might point us in the direction of his killer. There’s a ton of stuff on Briggs’s office computer, which will take time to analyze. Twelve people he prosecuted are currently serving sentences in the Atlanta Penitentiary. Two are incarcerated at Allentown, Pennsylvania, which many of us refer to as Club Fed. One inmate in Atlanta who directly threatened Briggs is doing a mandatory twenty-five years on a habitual criminal rap. That doesn’t mean he didn’t hire someone on the outside. Although this doesn’t have the appearance of a contract hit, we’re checking all of them out. Another person of interest is a federal fugitive—Terry Hines.”

As he said the name, Bannister’s mind flashed back to the threatening letter Hines had sent and his words in the courtroom that he’d get even with Bannister. He looked at Chief Spina, whose frown and narrowed eyes showed confusion.

“Chief, nine months ago Hines was being prosecuted for the extortion of five million dollars from Global Waters here in Atlanta. We recovered all of the money except for $50,000. Hines’s mother and father fronted his million-dollar bail, which was forfeited when he fled. They lost their home and his father died of a stroke a few weeks later. Hines blamed everyone except himself and threatened to get even with all those responsible for his arrest, including me. His case was being prosecuted by Briggs, who argued against bail since Hines had sent a biological poison to Global Waters.”

“Any indication Hines is in Atlanta?” the chief asked.

“No,” Witt answered. “The investigation went cold in London three months ago.”

“Briggs’s ex-wife was interviewed last night and was cooperative,” Bannister added. “No animosity toward him or apparent reason for her to be involved. She gave us some background on his family and put us on to a therapist Briggs was seeing.”

“Why was he seeing a therapist?” Yates asked.

“We don’t know,” Bannister said. “We’ve set up an interview with the doctor after this meeting. His name is Dr. David Andrews. Supposedly he has a practice with his wife who’s also a therapist. Her name just happens to be Theresa Andrews.”

“Could she be the Theresa Andrews listed as the beneficiary on Briggs’s insurance policies?” Yates asked.

“Yes,” Mercedes said, “but our analyst, Germaine White, said there are six Theresa Andrews just in Atlanta.”

Bannister added, “We don’t know if the doctor is the beneficiary. Assuming she is, we have to figure out the connection. The change in beneficiary was made two months ago. Before that it was Briggs’s sister and mother. Why did Briggs name Theresa Andrews as beneficiary? Was she having an affair with Briggs? By naming her as beneficiary, and if he confided that fact to her, did he hope that would convince her how serious his feelings were? Did David Andrews know about it? Could either of them be involved in Briggs’s death? These are questions we need to answer.”

“Can the US Attorney hold off notifying the insurance company until we rule out Andrews?” Mercedes asked.

“His office is under no obligation to make any notifications other than next of kin, which it did. I relayed our request to his office and they agreed they wouldn’t contact Metropolitan Life until they heard from us,” Bannister said.

“Could Theresa Andrews be the mystery blonde in the photo on Briggs’s desk?” Barnes asked.

“Possibly. Right now, there’s a lot of smoke,” Bannister said.

During the next hour, the team mapped out its strategy and made assignments to try and clear the air.