Chapter 9 #3
She pulled up photographs on the digital wall.
The pantry was immaculate—everything organized, everything in its place.
But tucked behind a row of protein powders were four small unlabeled bottles, each containing different pills.
Different colors, different sizes. And on the bottom of each bottle, written in black marker: a number.
I leaned forward.
Daniels clicked to the next set of photographs—close-ups of each pill, laid out on an evidence sheet. Different colors, different shapes. My eyes went straight to the oblong olive-green tablet in the second row.
“Oh, man,” I said.
“This isn’t the first time I’ve come across these,” Daniels said. “Looks like our victim had a dark side.”
“What am I missing?” Doug asked.
“Rohypnol, darling,” Margot said. “It seems our victim’s death is well deserved.”
“Someone still murdered him, Margot,” I said. “Our job is to find out who killed him.”
“I’m just saying, someone who plays in that lane is likely to get run over.”
“You’re not wrong,” Jack said. “But two things can be true at once. He can be a bad man, and someone still murdered him in cold blood. Maybe in finding his killer we’ll find other victims. That’s why we always have to dig deeper.”
“Acceptable logic,” Margot said.
“What about the other three pills?” Jack asked.
“Running them now,” Doug said. He had his laptop open and his fingers moving. “Give me a second.” He pulled up an image recognition program and matched each pill to the database. “Okay. Bottle number two—small blue diamond-shaped tablet, film coated. That’s sildenafil fifty milligram. Viagra.”
“That makes sense,” I said. “If he’s been a steady user of performance-enhancing steroids, that often causes erectile dysfunction issues. And considering the frequency of his sexual activity, he would probably need the testosterone and erection assistance.”
“Bottle number three,” Doug continued. “Small round white tablet, scored down the middle. It’s being identified as methyltestosterone. Low-dose oral testosterone. It’s not commonly prescribed in the US anymore.”
“Now that doesn’t make sense,” I said. “He’s already got the injectable testosterone he takes with his steroids. It wouldn’t make any difference for him to up his dosage. You can max out on testosterone.”
“What does it do in women?” Jack asked. “Especially if added to the Rohypnol?”
My brow furrowed as I thought it through. “It can increase sexual desire,” I said. “But it’s such a low dose it really wouldn’t make much of a difference. And it would take time. It’s not instantaneous. Not like taking Viagra.”
“What about the last pill?”
Doug pulled up the fourth image. It was triangular in shape and white, with an imprint in the middle.
“Nothing is matching in the system,” Doug said.
“That’s because it doesn’t exist yet,” I said. “See the TL imprint on the pill? That’s a medical trial from a lab.”
“Ahh,” Doug said. “That makes more sense. Let’s see who matches TL. Margot, can you find any information on medical trial labs that have this imprint?”
“Of course,” she said. “Stand by while I do a search.”
Doug took the opportunity to eat another piece of pizza.
“I can confirm that no American companies use that imprint,” Margot said a few seconds later.
“Considering Rohypnol isn’t manufactured in the United States, what do you want to bet he got both from the same place?” I said.
“That is excellent reasoning, Dr. Graves,” Margot said. “I show that Tecnología y Laboratorios is a clinical research laboratory in Mexico City.”
“Mexico still prescribes Rohypnol,” I told them. “In small doses for insomnia mostly. But we know it still makes its way across the border. If Wade had a contact at the trial clinic it wouldn’t be hard for him to have access to the other as well.”
“Margot,” Jack said. “Let’s dig in deeper at the clinic. Find out what you can on doctors or active trials they have going. Maybe they’ve published their research. And maybe we can find a connection to our victim.”
“I’ll have something for you soon, sugar,” Margot said.
“That unknown trial pill is going to be the lynchpin for that grouping of drugs. You have Rohypnol, which causes sedation and impaired judgement with very low dosing, and it’s even been known to cause amnesia in some.
Then you have a hit of testosterone and sildenafil, which affects sexual function in women. ”
“In what way?” Daniels asked.
“In the same way Viagra does with men,” I told her.
“It increases blood flow and arousal. But it’s not as potent in women as with men.
There’s actually no FDA approved medicine to help women with sexual desire or function.
My bet is that the trial pill functions as exactly that.
And paired with the Rohypnol it would be a very dangerous combination.
On the outside it would look like the woman is a willing participant.
But her brain would be incapable of making the decision for herself. ”
“Good God,” Daniels said.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Daniels, go back to the condo and take samples of anything in the fridge, just in case he kept something ready-made on hand.”
“You read my mind,” she said.