The Genesis Illusion

Chapter 17

Buried in paperwork Detective Lewis studied his computer screen, reading messages and writing responses. He expected Anita Johnson from the CSI team to arrive at any moment with an update on the Columbia University bombing. The telephone rang, though, interrupting his concentration.

"Hello, Detective Jaylon Lewis NYPD," Detective Lewis said into the phone.

A voice on the other end said, "Hello, Jaylon, this is V.K. Nara."

"VK, it's great to hear your voice again. How are you?"

"I'm fine, and you?"

"Doing great. Eating too much as usual and my weight shows it. Have you been following Manchester United lately? They're really coming on."

"You know I am. That new forward they got from has really made a difference. Perhaps they can still catch Chelsea?" Both Jaylon and VK were big soccer fans. The English Premier League perennial power, Manchester United, was VK's favorite team. Jaylon had arranged for the two of them to go to an NY MSL game while they attended the police training where they met. "Say, Jaylon, I called to let you know Mr. Jacobs checked in with me as you requested."

"Ah, good, I'm glad that worked out."

"Also, I wanted to let you know Maria Koh is here as well."

"Really? I guess that's not too surprising since she has relatives in Singapore but she didn't tell me she would be traveling."

"Jacobs told me there was no restriction on her travel so I just thought I would let you know."

"Thanks, VK."

"Also, there's been a development here. You told me that Mr. Jacobs was here to interview three prominent Singaporean inventors. Believe it or not, minutes before the scheduled interview the three were kidnapped."

"Incredible." This was the only word Lewis could utter, so he listened for VK to give more details.

"During the abduction the kidnappers shot a security guard, and he later died at the hospital."

Just then Anita Roberts entered Detective Lewis' office and took a seat after he motioned that it was alright to enter. She could read the shock and concern on Jaylon's face as he continued talking on the phone.

"That's terrible. Now we have murder investigations, in Singapore and New York and our Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Koh were at both."

"Exactly. I've restricted Jacobs' travel by confiscating his passport until our investigation clears him."

"What about Maria Koh? VK, before you answer would you mind if I put this call on the speaker? Anita Roberts, who is leading our CSI team, is here in my office and I'd like her to hear this."

"Go ahead." Nara paused until he heard the telephone connect. "This is Inspector V.K. Nara with the Singapore police."

"Thank you Inspector," Anita said. "Please continue."

"Ok, where was I?" Inspector Nara said. "Oh, yes. I haven't talked with Ms. Koh yet but her connection to the kidnapping seems to be only that she was here. But I may have to restrict her travel temporarily as well? Do you have any new information from your investigation?"

"We don't have anything new yet." Detective Lewis said, looking at Anita for a sign she might have something new. "I already told you about the explosive device. If we find anything significant, I'll send you an email or call. If there's nothing else, I don't want to run up your long distance bill."

"Thanks, Jaylon. Anita, I wish we could have met under other circumstances. Depending on where this goes I may want to have you talk with our forensics team leader. I'll, of course, send you anything we find." The call disconnected leaving Jaylon and Anita staring at each other across the detective's desk.

"That's shocking," Detective Lewis said to Anita. "Paul Jacobs and Maria Koh were going to talk with the inventors minutes before they were kidnapped. There's got to be a connection between these crimes. Do you have anything new to report on the Columbia University bombing?"  Lewis hoped Anita remembered about controllingher fast talk tendency. 

She nodded smiling at Lewis using a deliberatespeech pattern, and said, "Yes, I do have a little more information but our investigation is still far from complete. We confirmed that the explosive device was a military ordinance, only available either on the black market or through military or ATF sources. We contacted the legitimate sources and asked them to check their inventory to see if any of those particular devices were missing. So far we have received no reports of missing M116 grenades. We also acquired the security video from the University and observed an individual wearing a hooded sweatshirt near the rear of the theater late the night before the explosion. We have found no fingerprints or DNA samples near or on the bomb or fragments recovered at the scene."

"That isn't much. Have you been able to search Mr. Wilson's apartment and his work computer?"

"We're evaluating it now. We took a little while to obtain a search warrant for his apartment but the CSI team is in there now. The UN Statistics Division gave us permission to take Frank's work computer for examination. We have it in our crime lab. The Statistics Division technicians are reviewing the UN servers and other storage files to see if Frank Wilson saved anything pertinent. They have been very cooperative and promised to give us anything they find."

"That's good news. Anita, I'm getting the feeling Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Koh didn't have any involvement in this crime, but I'd like you to obtain search warrants for each of their homes and work computers, anyway."

"Yes sir, I'll get on that right away. Are there any other people we should investigate?"

"I think there were a couple of others at the conference that knew Wilson. I don't remember their names. We should ask them to cooperate and see if they will give us permission to conduct a light search. This whole thing smells like organized crime or maybe gang violence."

"Perhaps something to do with illegal drug activity?"

"Let's get in touch with our gang informants, see if there's any street-chatter? The apparent motives of Mr. Jacobs and Ms. Koh just don't seem strong enough to justify murder, but I think there's something about the Singapore inventors."