A Brother's Obsession

Chapter 2

Detective Dan Felty and his partner Mackenzie (Mac) Bell descended the rear outside stairs of the Tucson Police Department’s midtown office. The two headed toward their unmarked, department-issued SUV. It was early morning, and each carried a freshly filled, reusable coffee cup as they walked.

In his early forties, Dan was clean-shaven, six feet tall and athletic. He’d been on the force for 12 years, six of them as a detective. Mackenzie was newer to the team but still had several years of experience. She was short but extremely fast. Even with her smaller legs, Mac could outrun most of her peers. She had shoulder-length brunette hair, which she tended to wear pulled back while at work.

The pair had been partners for three years and were good friends. Today, both wore light-blue department-issued polo shirts embroidered with the Tucson Police logo on the front.

“Just once, it would be nice to sit down and make some progress on yesterday’s backlog before getting called out again,” Mac grumbled.

“The more you keep wishing for that, the more you’ll be disappointed,” her partner responded with a smile.

The detectives got into the SUV and, with Dan at the wheel, headed away from the station house.

“Two people down on a trail at this time of day. I’m glad it’s early and not too hot yet,” Mac added.

Teasing, Dan said, “See, that’s a much better attitude. Look at the positive side of things.”

Giving her partner a sarcastic glance, Mac added, “You want positive? I bet the victims were outside all night and are half-eaten by critters.”

Laughing, Dan nodded. “Usually, I’ll try to have a more positive attitude, but in this case, I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re right.”

They drove the rest of the way in silence, drinking their coffee.

Approaching, they saw the small lot was packed with vehicles. Several civilian cars were present. There was also a fire engine and a large red rescue vehicle from the Tucson Fire Department. Two ambulances and four marked police SUVs, as well as a crime-scene unit and a van with the medical examiner’s logo also occupied the limited space.

“Looks like everyone came out to play today,” Mac commented.

“I see the district supervisor’s vehicle, so try to behave.”

Smiling, she replied, “Who, me? I’m always a good girl.”

“Whatever!” Dan responded, laughing.

Leaving their vehicle, Dan and Mac headed to the trailhead. Yellow crime-scene tape blocked off the mouth of the trail, and a group of their colleagues approached from down the path. Five people were helping guide a yellow ambulance stretcher. Walking up, they could see the situation was more significant than the original message about two people down on the trail suggested.

The person on the stretcher wore the familiar uniform of the Tucson Police Department.

The detectives could see an endotracheal tube coming out of the man’s mouth and attached to a blue Ambu bag. The medic by the head of the stretcher squeezed the bag every few seconds to assist their patient’s breathing. Another of the medics was carrying a bag of IV fluid. The tubing from the bag connected to a catheter in the officer’s hand.

Seeing a fellow officer critically injured immediately changed the detectives’ attitudes.

The final member of the approaching group saw them and waved them over.

Lieutenant Miller was a good leader and the detectives appreciated his attitude and the support he gave his team. He was a tall African-American with almost 25 years in the department.

Dan spoke first, “What’s going on, Lieutenant?”

“You guys sure picked up an interesting one. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. There are two bodies up the trail. Their mouths and noses are full of some kind of hard stuff. It looks like dense Styrofoam to me. When the first units arrived, Officer Hernandez went to look for ID in the woman’s fanny pack. There was a big dart buried into the side of it. He removed it and reached inside. The inside of the pack was soaked in some liquid substance. It probably came out of the dart and got all over his hand.

“About three minutes later, he started having problems, and someone called for another ambulance. By the time it got here, Hernandez had collapsed. Other responders gave him Narcan, and he came around for a minute but soon went out again. EMS arrived by then, and the medics Narcaned him through the IV, and he came around, but he still went out again. They ended up intubating him because his breathing kept stopping.”

“Is he going to be okay?” Mac asked, the concern in her voice evident.

“Not sure yet. We need to know what he was dosed with and what happened to those two up the trail. The crime scene unit is almost done, but I told the ME not to take the bodies until you get a look at them.”

With raised eyebrows, Dan answered, “Interesting. We’ll go check it out.”

As the detectives headed up the trail, the lieutenant called out, “Wear gloves. We don’t need any more incidents from that liquid.”

“Got it,” Mac called back.

“You always want the unusual ones,” Dan told his partner.

“This sure sounds like it’ll be interesting,” she agreed.

The detectives walked a couple of hundred yards before they saw activity. Police and fire personnel stood around a body on the ground. She was a petite dark-skinned female dressed in a tank top and running shorts.

The crime-scene tech and a patrol officer walked up to meet them as they approached. Both looked familiar, but neither detective could place a name to the men.

“Morning, detectives,” the officer said.

Nodding, Mac replied, “The LT says you have an interesting one for us.”

“You can say that again,” the crime scene tech said, handing a clear evidence bag to the detective. Inside was a four-inch-long dart that looked like a 10cc syringe with tail fins on one end and an inch-and-a-half-long needle on the other.

He explained, “The victim had this sticking out of a fanny pack. The fanny pack is already on the way to the lab in a hazmat bag.”

“Any other darts?” Dan asked.

“No, but the victims have puncture wounds which possibly came from them. The shooter must have taken any other darts when he left but missed this one,” the tech explained.

“How long does the ME think she’s been down?” Dan asked.

“Not long. Rigor mortis hasn’t started to set in, and she is still fairly warm. Probably less than an hour.”

Walking up to the woman on the ground, Mac gasped, “What am I looking at?”

What she saw was much worse than expected, based on Lieutenant Miller’s description.

The woman lay on her back and her neck was grossly bulging. A tennis-ball-size mass of yellow dried foam protruded from her mouth, which was open unnaturally wide. More of the foam had collected under her nostrils where it had come out of her severely stretched-out nose.

“I think I know the answer,” the uniformed officer said. “What you’re looking at is insulating spray foam. It comes in a spray can and is used to insulate and fill cracks and gaps. When sprayed out, it rapidly begins expanding when in contact with oxygen. It’ll grow 50 times its original size in seconds. I think someone sprayed it down their throats.”

“You mean that’s one solid piece?” Dan asked.

“Almost certainly. The medics couldn’t remove it. As it dried, it expanded. That’s why her nose and throat are so swelled,” the crime-scene tech added.

Dan appraised the officer. “You seem quite familiar with this stuff,” he said.

“I am. I’ve used it before. There are several brands available that do the same thing. I’ve only been on the department for about a year. Before then, I worked and lived in upstate New York. I’ve used it several times. It does a great job of keeping cold and drafts out.”

“Who would need that kind of insulation here in Arizona?” Mac asked.

“It can be used for more than insulating against cold air. It can seal holes where insects or rodents get into a building, fill cracks in cement or do a bunch of other things. It’s available in hardware stores here. I’ve seen it,” the officer explained.

Both detectives crouched down, examining the now-solid foam.

“Well, this would be a horrible way to die,” the female detective said.

“Not so fast, detective,” the crime-scene tech cautioned.

“What?” Mac asked.

“The guy with the ME’s office noticed something. Look at her eyes.”

Dan, still kneeling, shifted his focus higher on the face. “There’s no petechial hemorrhaging. The eyes look fine,” he noted.

“Exactly. It’s the same with the other victim. Both were dead before he sprayed the foam in. If they’d suffocated on the foam, we’d see the ruptured blood vessels in the eyes,” the tech said.

Looking at the evidence technician, Mac asked, “Did you find anything else of interest?”

“Just this.”

He handed over another evidence collection bag. It contained a scrap of thin white cardboard that had been ripped off a small box. Most of the wording was incomplete, but the pink letters spelling out the word Narcan were legible.

“Where’d you find this?” Dan asked.

“Here next to the woman.”

“Are we sure it wasn’t from any of the responders?” Mac asked.

The officer spoke up, “I double-checked, and they package ours differently. The only time we used any was on Hernandez, and he was down by the male victim. Also, there’s another small puncture on her thigh. Possibly caused by an auto-injector.”

Confused by the situation, Mac asked, “Are there surveillance cameras in the parking lot or on the trail?”

The officer replied, “While waiting for you to get here, I called the city to check, and no. They plan to install some this year but haven’t gotten to it yet.”

Dan paused, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together in his head. Finally, he said to the others, “Anyone have any ideas? None of this makes much sense.”

The man from the crime lab said, “No, none of this makes sense, but our guys found a smashed stopwatch back the way we came. It’s a couple of yards off the trail. We’ll get it to the lab for analysis. Not sure if it is related to the victims or not.”

“Okay, let us know if you find anything else. Does anyone else have any ideas?” Dan asked.

When no one suggested anything, the detectives headed down the trail toward the other body.