"The woman asked Laura if anybody knew about the implant.”
"Implant?"
"Laura kept telling them no. They kept asking her the same question over and over again. They didn't believe her. That's when they broke out the drill and went to work on her teeth. Start drilling someone's teeth without anesthesia, and they'll tell you everything you want to know real quick. But they kept going, just to be sure. They asked her if I knew anything about their plan. I was surprised she said no."
"Do you?”
"No! I have no idea what this was about. I'm just surprised Laura didn’t throw me under the bus. With as much animosity as that woman had toward me, I was floored." He frowned, and his voice softened. "I felt bad.” His eyes filled. "Then they killed her."
I shared a look with Jack.
"My heart was beating so loud, I was worried they’d hear me in the closet. I know I had to be hyperventilating." He paused. "They left, and I waited 10 or 15 minutes before I stepped out of the closet." A look of horror twisted on his face. "She was covered in blood. It was horrible. I was sure people would think I did this. I mean, I'm the person with the most to gain, right? A prime suspect.” He looked distraught. "These people are going to be looking for me. I'm sure they think I know something.”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier?”
“Would you have believed me?”
Jack said, “I’m going to go out on a limb and say she was laundering money for the cartel. She was afraid your attorney’s audit would find out. That's why she wanted to settle."
Greg agreed.
"What did they mean by implant?” I asked.
"Surely they're not smuggling drugs in someone's crown," JD said.
Greg shrugged. "I don't know. Honestly, I have no idea. She didn’t do implants.”
"You’re going to come down to the station and make a full statement," I said.
Greg hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "What if those people are looking for me?”
"We'll talk about this down at the station."
I called for a patrol car to pick him up. I didn't put him in handcuffs, but we likely had probable cause for an arrest. He admitted to being at the scene of the murder. I took his story with a grain of salt.
Mendoza arrived 15 minutes later, and we escorted Greg from the boat to the parking lot and helped him into the backseat. He was taken to the station and put into an interrogation room. We let him sit in there for quite some time before entering and asking him to go through the story one more time for the cameras.
He did.
Nothing about his story changed.
Score points for consistency.
I called Isabella and asked her if she could connect Dr. Latham to anything suspicious—unusual burner phones, large deposits, crypto transactions. I also had her look into the possibility of Dr. Latham being a federal informant. Perhaps that's why she waskilled. Maybe the feds got wind of her operation and threatened her with jail time if she didn’t cooperate. Dr. Latham didn't strike me as the type of woman who would handle prison well. Isabella said she'd look into it and get back to me.
I called Dr. Latham's office, and Pepper answered. There was plenty of administrative work to handle, appointments to cancel, billing to take care of, and the dismantling of the practice. Pepper had been referring all of Dr. Latham's patients to Dr. Tillman.
"I need a list of all recent implants that Dr. Latham performed," I said.
41
"Now, Deputy, you know I can't give out protected health information," Pepper said.
"You handle all the books and billing, right?”
“Yes.”
“Have you noticed anything unusual? Large transactions. Ghost clients. Irregularities.”
