Authors note: This is a work of fiction. It does not reflect any actual events, and all of the characters are fictional. Any similarity to events or persons living or dead is purely coincidental.
There is a real city of Oceanside, California. It’s San Diego County’s third largest city with a below-average crime rate.
The Grand Pacific Hotel is fictional, but during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, there were at least two similar resort hotels that did exist, primarily serving railroad passengers and tourists as described in this book.
— Tom Morrow

Chapter 3

Friday morning arrived and the two homicide detectives were laying out the groundwork for Professor David Cho in the conference room adjacent to the squad room. The first item on the agenda was to present what evidence they had collected at the scene including the gruesome photos of Mrs. Dobbins’ body and the autopsy report. Next, they would take the professor over to the house and show him the crime scene.
After he performed his magic, they would return to the station and go over his analysis. Even though they felt Dr. Dobbins was their number one suspect, they would withhold their candor and let the professor ascertain whom he felt might have committed the crime.
Around ten o’clock, a rather short man with round face walked into the squad room. His facial characteristics depicted him being that of Chinese descent. But his voice was nothing more than perfect English with no Asian accent. He looked around the room and spoke to no one in particular.
“I’m looking to meet with Detective Danny Sanzee, please.”
“Hey Sanzee. Your soothsayer is here,” one of the uniformed officers hollered. Danny, who was on the opposite side of the room and had his back to the door, quickly turned around and hustled over to meet the professor. He greeted him with a handshake and an open smile. The professor returned the gesture.
“Professor Chow, so glad you could make it. I’m Detective Danny Saenz. It’s actually pronounced Signs.”
“And I’m Professor David Cho. It rhymes with Who.”
They both looked at each other and chuckled. Danny then walked him over to the other side of the room offering him a cup of coffee along the way. He accepted and they proceeded into the conference room where the professor met Detective Joe Steins. They had a few moments of idle chitchat and then got down to business.
For the next forty-five minutes, the detectives brought the professor up to speed. Afterwards, they took him out to the crime scene and pointed to the wall with the spatters. Professor Cho looked closely. He speculated the spots were blood but wouldn’t know for sure until he downloaded the information from his brand-new high-tech camera. It would not take long once he got back to the station.
After looking over the room for the best angle to shoot, he opened his large metal suitcase and began retrieving its contents. While doing so, he asked Danny some questions.
“Have you attempted to use Luminol and ultraviolet lighting on this wall yourselves?”
“Well, no, we haven’t. When we asked our tech guys about using it to determine the pattern, they decided not to because they discovered there was a possibility it might smear the spatters making it even more difficult to determine a pattern. They simply didn’t want to compromise an already tough situation. But yes, they still use Luminol in the field but in other types of situations where they feel more comfortable and not further compromising the scene.”
“Yes, that’s true. In some situations, Luminol can safely be used. But keep in mind that Luminol is toxic, and it can dilute blood samples to a level in which DNA cannot safely be recovered. Also, Luminol can react to substances like bleach, rust, fizzy colas, and coffee causing false readings especially when someone tries to clean up the mess using a chlorine base cleaner. But I’m sure your tech person already knows this.”
“Yes, I’m sure he does.”
“Have you had an occasion to use the Luminol before?” asked Cho. “Yeah, several years ago. As I recall, there wasn’t a problem and the suspected perp was convicted and sentenced to thirty. But beyond that, we haven’t used it. I do know other detectives have used it with success.”
“Luminol can be used safely and probably will be for the foreseeable future until this new camera technology takes hold and more readily available. In a sense, you guys lucked out. I had a slight break in my schedule allowing me the time to come here. Otherwise, it might’ve been a few months. But, your supervisor seemed to have a compelling case that caught my attention. That helped, too.”
“Well, we appreciate it. At the moment we’re between a rock and a hard place and time is of the essence. Another couple of months and we might loose the case for good. We really need to act now.”
“Most departments do, but I see your urgency.”
“So, what’s so special about this camera?”
“Well, the outer workings of it really aren’t that complicated to operate. Just aim and plunge an external cable to open the lens. But the guts of the camera are complicated, and I won’t try to explain that. I’ll just try to explain what it does.

“Essentially the camera’s different filters do all the work depending on which filter you want to use. But, contingent to what filter is being used, they can distinguish between blood and the other four elements I just mentioned—bleach, rust, cola, and coffee.
“When I take an image of a scene, such as our suspect wall here, the camera beams pulses of infrared light onto the surface and detects the infrared that is reflected back. In this case, I’ll use a transparent, eight-micrometer-thick layer of the protein albumin placed in front of the detector, which acts like a filter. This process will make a bloodstain show up against its surroundings, that is the wall and any other substance that might be on the wall, by filtering out wavelengths that aren’t characteristic of blood proteins. And … voilà!
“Simply by modifying the chemical used for the filter, it should be possible to detect contrast between a surface and any type of stain. No doubt, this new technology is a great advancement to forensic science.”
“Hell, I’m impressed,” Joe said looking at the professor and then over at Danny. Danny in turn passed on his praise to the professor. He then asked a curious question.
“Is this new crime scene technology accepted by the courts?”
“Yes, it is. There already have been some court cases where evidence was entered using this technology; and factual information regarding its use have been proven successful. If you have to use what I’ve ascertained in court, you will not have a problem.”
“Good to know, Professor,” Danny said affirming his statement. Joe was glad to hear it, too.
During this conversation, Professor Cho had everything set up and his filters in place. When ready, he plunged the cable to the camera to survey the wall in question. It took several minutes for everything to be digitized and recorded onto a hard drive on the accompanying laptop computer he had set up nearby. The next step was to download the information and display it to a computer screen so he could make determinations. When finishing up his work and replacing the camera and equipment back into its case, he asked Danny a few more questions.
“Do you have a suspect in this case, detective?”
“Yeah, we do. But some of the evidence dictates otherwise. But for the moment, we really don’t want to say. When we get back to the office and go over your results, we’ll talk more. We’re really quite anxious to see what you have.”
“Well, it won’t take long once we get back to the station. I will need some time to go over the data and make a determination. I suspect by then we can further discuss the case and go from there. I’m really interested in looking at the autopsy photos and what the coroner has written in his report. I think with a combination of the two, we can come to a fairly accurate determination. But for the time being, it’s probably a good idea to keep this crime scene closed and not let the owner back in until all the work has been completed. Is that a problem with the owner?”
“For the moment, I don’t think so. He’s been released form the hospital and living with his son and wife. From what we’ve heard, the arrangement seems to be working out,” Danny replied.
“Well yes, victims need to be with close family members during times of trauma.” Both Danny and Joe looked at each other with trepidation. Sooner or later, Professor Cho would know their concern.
Back at the station, Danny escorted Cho to the conference room where the evidence still remained on the table, including the Big Bertha golf club and Tommy Armour putter. However, there was one key piece of evidence they didn’t have—the doctor’s pajamas. Apparently at the hospital, the blood soaked pajamas disappeared after they were taken off the doctor. They have yet to be found. It is quite possible they were accidentally disposed of and burned along with other medical waste routinely incinerated.
After another brief chat about the evidence, Cho opened up his laptop computer to display the information he had recorded. In the meantime, the two detectives left to room so that Cho could work alone without being disturbed.
About thirty minutes of going over the data, looking over the crime scene photos, reading the autopsy report, and studying the golf driver and putter, he summoned the detectives back into the room.
“Well, it is my opinion that the spatters on the wall is blood and no doubt coming from the victim. It appears she was beaten several times with some sort of blunt object with a sharp edge and that one of the blows cut her carotid artery on the left side of her neck. That’s where most of the blood came from that splattered the wall. But what else is interesting is that she has a bruise on her left cheek just below the eye. That bruise came just before her beating.” “Do you know that for sure?” Danny asked.
“Yes, I’m quite sure. A bruise can appear on the skin even after death. By the color of this bruise, it appears to have formed just after death and not before leaving me to believe she was coldcocked, probably by a fist, just before she was beaten to death.”
“Now that is very interesting, professor.”
“Yes, it is; however, it’s not uncommon. Many perps will pummel their victims to incapacitate them just before killing them. I’ve seen this type of bruise many times.
“Based on what you’ve said, and the way I see this, the husband heard a noise and got up from the bed to investigate. While he was in another part of the house, the perp quietly went into the bedroom and slugged his wife hard enough to throw her back into the bead. This incapacitated her. Apparently she rose from the prone position and was sitting on the side of the bed. As you can see from the photos, she is laying on her right side and not on her back. Her feet and legs are on the edge of the bed.
“It is at this point the perp went into the room where the doctor was and shot him. He returned to the bedroom and began pummeling her severing the artery. That artery carries oxygen to the brain. When that is cut off, death occurs quickly. That more than likely caused her death. Of course, the severe blows to the head didn’t help. She died rather quickly. No doubt gruesomely.”
“And the spatters on the wall?” Joe asked.

“There is not as much blood there as I would have expected probably because the perp only hit her about four times. The first two blows would have incapacitated her even more after being slugged. The next two would have opened up the skin causing the spatters. Had there been more blows, there would have been more blood.” “Interesting theory,” Danny said.
“These two golf clubs? You brought them in thinking they were used to do this.”
“Yeah, that was our thinking. But they don’t have any blood on them. The driver we brought in because it was found in a closed cabinet and not with the rest of the other clubs in the bag. The putter because it had a bent shaft,” Danny said to the professor.
“Well, we can prove or disprove that fairly quickly. Let’s take them to your lab. In this case, we can use Luminol and UV. Even though an item doesn’t appear to have blood on it from an attempted cleaning, telltale signs say otherwise.”
Danny picked up the clubs and, along with Joe and the professor, directed them to their forensics lab on the other side of the building where they met a technician. They explained what they wanted to do, and the Luminol and UV light were brought to them.
Everybody donned latex gloves and paper face-masks covering their noise and mouth. The professor sprayed the clubs with Luminol. They then all walked into a small room that could easily be blackened out and turned on the UV light. The putter showed no signs of blood; however, the driver lit up like a Las Vegas boulevard at midnight. The entire head of the club indicated that blood had been present. Even though under normal lighting conditions the club looked clean, the Luminol, which is highly sensitive, can detect blood in the parts per billion. No doubt, the murder weapon had been found. But the fact remained, who used it on Mrs. Dobbins?
After this revelation, the trio walked back to the conference room where a stack of store-bought hamburgers and French fries had been delivered along with several cans of iced tea. It was just after the typical lunch hour and they were hungry. Lieutenant Hastings, to save time, brought in the lunch. It was a welcomed gesture.
Sitting at the large conference table eating, they further discussed the case and tried to come up with who may have committed this crime.
Professor Cho opened up first.
“You care to enlighten me as to your suspect, Danny?”
“Well Professor, I think it’s the husband, Dr. Dobbins.”
“And your thinking is?”
“It’s my hypothesis that a break-in did not occur as opposed to what the doctor told us. He said he was confronted in the family room, which is just off the bedroom by a masked individual wearing driving gloves and was subsequently shot by this person.
“He tells us this person was the one who beat his wife. Apparently he passed out shortly after being shot. When he came to, he went to the bedroom, saw his wife unconscious on the bed, and then called 9-1-1. After that, he passed out again. The police and medical team had to break down the front door to get to him. However, we did find the sliding door to the patio unlocked.”
“And what is your theory?”
“I think he got up at a predetermined time, went to the garage, retrieved the driver, went back to the bedroom, and then beat his wife. Afterwards, he cleaned up the club, put it in the storage bin above the workbench, presumably to hide it, and returned to the family room where he shot himself in the abdomen, and I might add, away from any vital organs. When he regrouped from this non-severe wound, he safely disposed of the gun, which we have yet to find, unlocked the patio door on the pretense somebody jimmied the lock, and then called 9-1-1. After doing so, he laid down beside the bed and waited for the emergency crew to arrive.”
“Interesting theory.”
“Most of our early investigation does point in his direction; however, and unfortunately, we failed to test him for gunshot residue. It wasn’t until several days later that we suspected him. By then, he had been thoroughly cleaned up at the hospital, and we felt our efforts would’ve been pointless.”
“Yes, that’s probably true. The residue would diminish over that period of time. However, if you could find his pajamas, the residue from the gunpowder would still likely remain.”
“Yeah, we know that. But they’re gone. Probably incinerated.”
“Those pajamas could have also revealed something else.”
“What’s that?”
“Blood spatters from the victim. Whoever beat that poor woman would have gotten a mouthful of blood. The front of that person would have been almost soaked from her blood.”
“You think so?”
“On examining the driver, I have no doubt. After determining the club had blood on it, and presently believing it’s the murder weapon, I looked back over my notes. Now it makes perfect sense why there wasn’t that much blood on the wall. It was thrust back onto the perp.”
“I don’t know that I understand what you’re saying.”
“You see, in this case, the driver is a right-handed club. When the perp used the club, he did so with the face of the driver contacting the left portion of the victim’s head and neck. The point where the face of the club joins the sole plate, called the leading edge, there is some sharpness. This club could be considered blunt with a sharp edge. The sharp edge is what severed the carotid artery.
“But the specs of the driver is another telling factor. It’s marked on the club that it has an eleven-degree loft. All drivers have some degree loft because that’s what gets the ball into the air. No club has zero-degree loft. And, as I said, this club has eleven-degrees.”
“I’m trying to follow you, Professor.”
“Anyway, because of the way the perp was holding the club and the angle with which he hit the victim in a downward motion, the face angle of the club was situated so that it would force any blood back towards the person doing the hitting; that is, given where he was standing just off to the side of the bed.
“If the club had zero-degree loft, the blood would have dispersed out equally in a roughly 360-degree fashion. But because of the face angle, and also the head angle relevant to the shaft, the blood was mostly dispersed backwards towards the hitter. I would estimate that 75 percent of the blood was dispersed back within a 210-degree arc where the perp was standing. The remaining 25 percent of blood was dispersed out over a 150-degree arc. That’s why there wasn’t that much blood on the wall.”
“And if the perp held the club so that the housel or back of the club hit the victim?”
“The blood would have dispersed in an entirely different fashion and splattered higher onto the wall. As you can see, the back of the club is parabolic. Just that alone would have caused a different pattern. But it’s also doubtful it would have cut the carotid artery. I think whoever used this club to kill Mrs. Dobbins knew what he was doing. He knew the face of the driver would do the most damage with the least amount of effort. It’s quite possible, if it wasn’t Dr. Dobbins, that he, too, was a golfer; and probably a right-handed golfer at that.”
“So, now we need to be looking for a right-handed perp golfer with a chest full of blood. And given the time frame from then to now, I believe that will be virtually impossible,” Danny said looking grim.
“Well, maybe not,” the professor said.
“How’s that?”
“Your prime suspect, Dr. Dobbins. When he was admitted to the hospital, the attending physician might have noticed blood patterns on his face and pajamas.”
“But the pajamas were dark burgundy. It’s doubtful blood could have been seen on them,” Danny said with trepidation.
“I think you’re wrong. Blood does not hide itself very easily even against another dark red. It would show up as being darker. And in this case, the blood being thrown back would produce large spatters. It’s very conceivable they could be seen. You might want to revisit the hospital and talk to the attending physician who first saw the doctor to see what he might’ve recognized when he came in.”
“Well, okay. I think it’s time we re-interview Dr. Dobbins!”
Danny, Joe, and Professor Cho continued discussing more of the evidence, especially going over various theories of why the sliding glass door was unlocked. Some good came of the continued conversation but there was still some sliver of doubt that Dr. Dobbins just might not have done this terrible deed to his wife. Anyway the detectives looked at it, more digging was necessary to either solidify their case against him—or find evidence to the contrary exonerating him of the pending charges. But for the moment, things were at a standstill.
“Good luck to you,” Cho said as he left the squad room.

Chapter 4