Gifts From The Kasbah, Robert F. Clifton [suggested reading TXT] 📗

“And?'

“Crime Scene Investigator found a lot of flower petals in the Esposito automobile”.

“Where in the automobile?”

“Under the front seat and in the trunk, just like the Kerr girl”.

“Alright, tell the lab I want to know the identity of the petals.

Then send McKenna to the morgue. Have him give the identification information of Gloria Esposito to Doctor Edwards. When he's done at the hospital send him to every beach front hotel that has a gift shop. I want to know if any one of them is selling Moroccan leather goods”.

“Anything else Cap?”, asked Stiles.

57. “Yeah, I'll be at the library. I want to read up on Morocco in particular and belly dancing in general. Don't ask me why. But that's all we have at the moment, Moroccan leather and a dead belly dancer.”

Later, that evening Robert Wallace sat at his kitchen table eating a frozen, meatloaf dinner that he had heated in the microwave oven, As he ate he read from the book he had taken from the Public Library, titled, “Belly Dance”.

“ Belly dance takes different forms depending on the country and region both in costume and dance steps. New styles have evolved in the West as its popularity had spread globally.

American Cabaret or American Restaurant belly dancing has developed its own distinctive style, using props and urging audience interaction. Many modern dancers use the music of Egyptian singers and the percussion of traditional feeling of music and dance in the Raks Sha' abi (dance of the people style)”.

Wallace closed the book, then moved it across the table and after taking a sip of coffee reached for another small volume, “The Drug Problem In Morocco”. He opened it and began to read again:

“Due to economic and social, political and geographical factors, organized criminal groups in Morocco have developed a complex network for the cultivation, production and trafficking of cannabis resin, which is referred to as hashish.

The Rif region of Morocco has the largest acreage used for the cultivation of cannabis in the world. Located in the North of Morocco near Spain it is the traditional home of the Berbers. Forty Two per cent of the world supply of hashish comes from this region of Morocco and is the main economy of the Rif region.

In the production of hashish the resin glands of the cannabis plant is accumulated in containers or sifted from loose dry cannabis flowers with a mesh screen or sieve. This is called Kif or Kief and contains a much higher concentration of psychoactive cannabinoids, such as THC than that of the cannabis flowers from which it is derived. Traditionally, the Kif is pressed into cakes of hashish for easy storage, but can be vaporized or smoked in any form.

Chronic cannabis intoxication of a significant fraction of the male population still prevails in Morocco. Kif is mixed with tobacco and smoked.

Cultivation of Kif is tolerated in sixty square miles in the high Rif Mountains of Northern Mexico where it is the main cash crop for local farmers fifty, per cent of the male population consume Kif regularly.”

Roberts reading was interrupted by the ringing telephone on the kitchen wall. He got up from the table, lifted the receiver and said, “Hello”

58. “What are you doing?”, asked Doctor Edwards.

“Trying to eat supper and read up on Moroccan grass”.

“The kind you walk on or the kind you smoke?”

“The kind you smoke”.

“Listen, I have some information for you. I had to stop by my office to pick up my other pair of eyeglasses. When I got here I found a letter from the State Laboratory. Naturally, I opened it. When I did I found the result of the test done for ascertaining the type of poison that killed the Kerr girl”.

“And, what is it?”

“Neriin”

“Never heard of it”

“It's contained in the oleander bush. All parts of the plant are toxic, the flowers, roots, bark, sap. Even honey made from bees taking nectar from the flowers will kill'.

“And, that's what they say kill Elizabeth Kerr”.

“Yep”.

“It doesn't figure Manny. Have you ever seen or heard of an oleander bush in New Jersey?”.

“No, but, there are such things as hot houses”.

“True, I'll give you that”, said Wallace.

“Thank you. Anyway, to be sure I 'm going to examine the stomach contents of Elizabeth tomorrow, just to establish that the State of New Jersey is right in their analysis”, said Edwards.

“You mean you still have them?”

“Certainly, they've been in the freezer. It's just a matter of defrosting and using the microscope”.

“While you're at it, check Gloria Esposito's stomach contents, since you think she died in the same way Elizabeth did.

“Now why didn't I think of that. You shit head! Don't you think I know what I'm doing?”, said Doctor Edwards sarcastically.

“Sorry. Alright let me know what turns up”.

“Naturally, good by”.

“Good by Doc”.

Wallace picked up the book “The Drug Problem In Morocco” with one hand and the cup of coffee resting on the table with the other. He carried both into the combination living room, den and office and took a seat in the recliner.

As he sat looking at the cover of the volume his thoughts went back to the time when he commanded the Vice Squad. “Then the preferred drug on the street was marijuana and some heroin. However, the pot on the street in those days was crude,

59.

coarse and came from places like Indiana or Kentucky where during World War Two hemp was grown for the war effort. Later, a better and finer variety appeared smuggled in from Mexico. The Squad made several arrests, but most of those incarcerated were small time users. He could remember only two “pushersor suppliers being apprehended. Nonetheless, at no time did hashish appear, nor did Kif, but that was then, this is now.

Right now, I have a homicide victim that was using heroin. Vince Perone told me before he retired that heroin was out there and being used by the rich kids. Where is it coming from? Where did Elizabeth get it? According to Doc Edwards she had been using it for some time and he based that on the analysis of her liver.

What about marijuana? She ingested heroin. Did she ingest marijuana? Did Doc Edwards conduct test to determine if cannabis was in her system”.

Wallace got up out of the chair and went to the telephone on the desk. He dialed Edward's number.

Doctor Edwards answered with a bothered tone of voice, “Hello!”

“Did you test the Kerr girl for cannabis?”, asked Wallace.

“Do you realize that I'm trying to watch a movie and you're bothering the hell out of me?”

“Hey, I need to know”

“Then read my report”.

“You haven't submitted it yet”.

“Oh yes I did”.

“I didn't get it”.

“Well then, for your information I made three tests for cannabis. I tested her urine, hair and blood and each test was negative”.

“Suppose she used it a lengthy time before she was poisoned?”

“Listen, Robert, the urine test would indicate cannabis if she used it two to three days before her death, providing she was an infrequent user. If she was a heavy user, the test would confirm a positive if she used it between one to fifteen days. If she was a chronic abuser the test would pick up cannabis if she used it between one to thirty days. Now, as a pathologist who thinks very highly of himself, I would say that the test results from the examinations I conducted on Elizabeth Kerr not only indicate, but prove that there was no cannabis in her system. Now, if that doesn't answer your question, tough shit!”.

“You are a grouchy old bastard”.

“You'd be grouchy too if you had a movie interrupted by an inconsiderate Cop”.

“What's the movie?”

60. “Zulu”.

“Saw it. The British win”.

“Thanks a lot asshole. Good by”.

Wallace laughed as he hang up the phone. He then returned to the recliner and sat down. As usual when he conducted an investigation and in particular a homicide investigation his mind would constantly work, forcing him to view and review the evidence, the clues and specifically unanswered questions. “Why were there dead, dried flowers in both woman's cars?. What did the flowers represent? Sure as hell they symbolize something. What? Think, damn it think. Go over what you have already. Belly dancers, Moroccan leather identical pocketbooks,

oleander poison and dead, or dried flowers. Belly dancers, and Moroccan leather, combine the two and we have Morocco. Oleander and dried flowers, we have flowers”. Robert got up and out of the chair and went to his small library. He selected the red leather bound Encyclopedia with the large O letter on the spine and looked up oleander and read, “Oleander is the common and species name for a poisonous evergreen shrub or small tree, Nerium oleander in the dogbane family. Oleander is one of the most poisonous plants to humans known. It is found from Portugal in Europe and Morocco in North Africa to China.”

“Son of a bitch”, he said aloud. There it is again, another Morocco connection.”. He placed the book back on the shelf and went to the telephone. After dialing the number he waitedimpatiently for someone to answer. Finally, he got a response. “Crime Lab, officer Hudson.

“This is Captain Wallace. Do you know if all of the testing has been done on the dried flowers found in the Kerr and Esposito automobiles?”

“As far as I know the tests are on going Captain”.

“Good, I want an additional examination done on that evidence. Tell the technicians to look for oleander flowers or petals in both cases. Got it?”

“Yes sir”.

“Excellent, and I want a verbal and written report if they find them. Good by”.

With the telephone call over, Wallace went to the stereo and after selecting a record placed, “Maid with The Flaxen Hair” by Debussy on the turn table and as the music began to play he went to where his blue blazer was draped on the settee . Picking it up, he reached into the inside pocket and withdrew a notebook. Taking a seat again in the recliner he turned the pages of the small tablet and read and re-read his notes, notes that contained pertinent information in his investigation. As he read he stopped, then turned back the pages and started reading again from the first page.

Something was missing. Then it came to him. He had assigned

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Frank Stiles to interview Philip Spencer. “Did Frank talk to Spencer? I don't remember him reporting that he had, either verbally or in a written report. It wasn't like Stiles to not do an assignment”, Robert thought to himself.

Wallace glanced at his wristwatch, noticed the time and seeing it as being early evening got up out of the chair again and went to the telephone. There he called Frank Stiles at home. “Hello?”, said Stiles when he answered the phone.

“It's me. I have a question for you. Did you ever talk to Philip Spencer?”, asked Wallace.

“No, not yet. If you remember you gave me two assignments Cap.

One was the Spencer guy. The other was to search the newspaper morgue for information on Gloria Esposito. When I gave you the information on Esposito we got involved by going out of town, meeting with the Sheriff and going to Lenape Lakes.

I figured that the Spencer guy could wait”, said Stiles.

“OK, I understand, just checking my notes, that's all. See you in the morning”.

“Right, good night”.

Wally dialed Jane’s number. When she answered he said, “Sorry to bother you but what do you know about Philip Spencer?”

“As I told you, he was a mutual friend of Elizabeth. Along with Emma. Emma dated him, but there was nothing serious between them, or so I was told.”

“And, he's a student at Princeton?”

“All four of them planned to go to Princeton. Emma is there now. I don't know about the boys and I told you about Elizabeth”.

“Yeah, you did. Martin Thomas is a student there also. Funny, I interviewed both Emma Prescott and Martin Thomas and Phillip Spencer was never mentioned by either one of them”.

“And you find that odd?”, she asked.

“Somewhat”.

“And now you think