Chapter 51
Daniels found me chatting up Denise at her desk. He had a stern look on his face. "There was an apparent break-in at the Zonatrex Pharmaceuticals lab last night. An experimental drug was stolen."
I played dumb. "Really? What kind of drug?"
"I'm not sure. Anticancer, I think."
"That's odd. I haven't heard anything about it on the news. Paris is usually on top of that kind of thing."
"That's sounding like a special crime if ever I heard one. You and that nitwit want to take it?"
I grimaced, feigning regret. "I'd love to, but I think we’ve got our hands full as it is.” Then I thought better of it. "Yeah, go ahead and give it to me. I'll sort it out.”
I wasn't too keen about walking back in there and interviewing Officer Haskins about the break-in. Fortunately, Jack had never stepped inside. He could handle the interview portion, and the investigation would go nowhere. It was for a good cause. At least, that's what I kept telling myself.
I said goodbye to Denise and headed back to the Avventura to check on Kara.
But by the time I got back, Jack had grilled up breakfast. He and Kara chowed down on the sky deck.
She looked fabulous. It was a complete turnaround.
Her skin was full of color, her eyes were no longer sunken and weary.
She shoveled down bacon and eggs like there was no tomorrow.
Fortunately for her, there would be a tomorrow, and many more after that.
"Well, look at you," I said, impressed.
"Back from the dead," she said with a smile.
"It's remarkable."
"And I owe it all to you guys.”
JD and I both feigned modesty.
“As long as I don’t develop side effects, I think I’m in the clear.”
“You’ll be fine. Power of positive thought.”
I filled them both in on the events of the morning. Jack wasn't surprised by the revelation. We had both figured Elias for a scumbag.
It was late afternoon when I got a call from Crenshaw.
After I told them where to look, they were able to find evidence of the hack on the cryo-lab’s network originating from Elias’s IP address.
With that, we were able to get a warrant.
I put a tactical team together, and we stormed his office with shock and awe.
The receptionist’s eyes bugged out, and she spilled her coffee.
“Where’s Elias Thorne?” I demanded.
“In his office. Do you have an appointment?” she asked in a timid voice.
“Don’t need one,” I said with a grin.
We stormed down the hallway to his office and caught Elias on the phone. The tac team flooded in and surrounded his desk.
With twitchy barrels pointed at his face, his eyes bulged. In a surprisingly casual voice, he said, “I’m gonna have to call you back.” He hung up the phone and forced a smile. “What seems to be the trouble, gentlemen?”
“You’re under arrest for the murder of Lance Wentworth and his wife,” I declared.
His face wrinkled with confusion.
“Put your hands behind your head and move away from the desk slowly.”
“There’s obviously been some kind of mistake,” he said as he complied.
Once around the desk, I told him to eat the floor. He did, and I clamped the cuffs around his wrists, then yanked him to his feet. “You have the right to remain silent…”
I marched him out of the office and down the hall, past stunned coworkers.
“I want a lawyer,” Elias said.
He may have been a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them.
Outside, I stuffed him into the back of a patrol car. He was taken to the station, processed, and printed. He’d asked for his attorney and wouldn’t be answering questions.
JD and I headed to Elias’s Stingray Bay mansion, where another team of deputies executed a search warrant. They had collected laptops, tablets, phones, and file cabinets of records. His wife looked on, horrified.
With all that evidence, Elias was surely cooked.
From there, we headed to the station and filled out after-action reports.
I got a strange call from Dr. Parker.