Dead Duck (Flynt & Steele Mysteries Book 2)

by Micheal Maxwell

  “Ladies and gentlemen, if you would like to be part of this historical gathering, I have all the sign-up information down here. The gathering is restricted to a limited number, so if you are hesitant or could possibly not be able to make it, please, please leave the space for another this time around.”

  People from all over the hall began racing to the front, hands held high, waving as if to be called on.

  “Hell of a snake-oil salesman.” Steele stood.

  “He is,” Flynt agreed. “I’m going to sign up.”

  “Don’t you dare,” Steele growled. “We’re leaving.”

  “But what if it could help me? I’m no idiot, Steele. I know the sorts of things people say about me. What if this could help with the way I am?”

  “It won’t. This is nothing but a con. Mark my words. And more than that, I feel like if we can prove that Carson Butler took this D710 crap, Leik is going to find himself I a world of trouble.”

  Slowly, Flynt sat back down. They sat together, waiting for the lines to die down so they could speak to Professor Leik.

  * * *

  As the last few people in line started to disperse, Flynt noticed that Leik was looking at them. Twice he took a quick glance as if hoping they’d be gone when he turned back around. Flynt was a little jealous of all the people signing up to join in on Leik’s Awakening movement. Flynt never did any drug stronger than marijuana, but something about Leik’s D710 was very appealing.

  “Okay,” Steele said. “Let’s get down there before he tries to sneak out.”

  They walked down to the front of the room, where Leik was speaking with the last person in line. They were chatting right back as they filled out two forms. Flynt took a quick look at the forms and saw that it was essentially stating that Leik or the college could not be sued or held liable if anything happened after taking any dosage of D710.

  As soon as the last man handed his forms over to Leik and shook his hand, Leik turned away from the detectives, placing all of the signed forms into a neat stack.

  “Good to see both of you again, gentlemen,” Leik said over his shoulder. He shoved the forms into a small briefcase behind the podium and then gave them his undivided attention. “Did you enjoy it?”

  “Very much.” Flynt nodded vigorously.

  Steele shot him an annoyed look. “Honestly, professor, it sounded like nothing new. Some psycho-babble about unlocking the mind with the use of a psychedelic. You mentioned Leary, so I’m going to assume you know that men have been doing this exact same thing for years.”

  “You’re wrong, but I see why you might think that. LSD, acid, even newer discoveries like psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine are essentially just psychedelics that make people trip out. Sure, they sometimes come out of their daze with a feeling of enlightenment or even peace. But none of them have the capacity to unlock those unused parts of your brain.”

  “And your drug does?”

  “Indeed. Of course, it does not grant access to the entire unused ninety percent all at once. That would drive anyone mad.”

  “Funny I didn’t hear you mention that in your speech.”

  Leik shrugged and picked up his briefcase. “I consider myself a smart man, an attentive man. It is not lost on me why you’re so interested in me. I work at a college and am presenting a new drug that promises an awakening experience. You suspect me of peddling drugs to my students.”

  “Among others.” Steele frowned. “Who were the guys in the suits?”

  “Pharmaceutical reps, if you must know. Like DMT, D710 holds the promise of helping with cures for things like anxiety and depression. There is already a very loud buzz in the pharma community about the drug.”

  “Just need to test it on students first to work all the bugs out?”

  “I understand that you are just doing your job.” Leik smiled. “But I will not stand here and be insulted like this.”

  “That’s fine,” Steele said. “But understand this, if the results from Carson Butler’s blood work comes back with traces of your wonder drug in it—”

  “I doubt that will be the case. Numerous students have taken it before and with great results.”

  “What kind of results?”

  “Sharper focus, less of a need for sleep. Better grades, more productive. We’re showing the same results in the clinical trials.”

  “Complete with psychotic episodes, like you just told the crowd?” Steele shook his head.

  They were interrupted by the ringing of Leik’s phone. He took it out and looked at it passively at first. Then a worried look clouded his face. Then fear.

  “Who is it?” Flynt asked.

  “Campus police.”

  Flynt notice Steele smiled just a bit as Leik answered the call with a scowl on his face. As Leik spoke into the phone, his back to the detectives, Flynt whispered, “Steele, I think you’re being a little hard on him.”

  “Of course I am. You just now heard him; this thing is already opening eyes in the pharmaceutical community. Do you have any idea how much money he could make if D710 does even moderately well?”

  Flynt was going to answer, but Leik ended his call and turned to them with wide eyes. “Detectives…would you be willing to put our differences aside and come with me for a moment?”

  “What for?” Steele asked.

  “Because someone has broken into my office.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  During his sixteen years as a detective, Steele saw a magnitude of expressions on the human face. He saw the shock and horror of survivors of grisly car accidents; the grief on the faces of people who lost a loved one. But none of those compared to the look of absolute desolation that came across Leik’s face as he stood in the center of his office, looking around.

  Steele didn’t get it at first. Whoever broke in left the place in good shape. If not for the window sitting slightly askew in its frame, Steele would have a hard time finding any sign that someone broke in. But for the order and neatness of the scene, Leik’s terrorized face was all Steele needed to know: whoever broke in knew what they wanted and where to find it.

  Flynt crept up beside Steele. “He looks upset.”

  “Very observant.”

  Steele took one final look around. He wanted to see if he could pinpoint the area of Leik’s distress but found nothing.

  “What is it?” Steele moved closer to Leik. “Given that the place looks in order, I assume there is something specific the thief took.”

  “My duck.” Leik’s voice was dry and shallow, like a man on this death bed.

  “Come again?”

  “My duck. A rubber duck.”

  Steele and Flynt shared a confused look. Steele briefly thought of Carson Butler and the duck he carried. Certainly, that could not be a coincidence. Could it?

  Flynt chuckled. “Anything special about this rubber ducky?”

  Leik turned and glared at Flynt as if he made an unforgivably offensive remark. Taking a deep breath and realizing that he was in the presence of the law, he pulled in his rage.

  “I had a rubber duck that sat right there.” He pointed to a little table that sat off to the right of his desk. “I kept an active batch of D710 in it.”

  “Isn’t there a secure lab here at the school?” Steele asked.

  “I don’t know about secure. There are lockers of a sort available to anybody.”

  “Why keep it in your office, then?” Steele was interested to see how Leik would respond. Steele had an idea, but he wanted to see how forthcoming and honest Leik was going to be.

  “Well, until I had all the kinks worked out, I kept it at home, in my own private lab. But once it was ready for consumption, I kept it here, at school.”

  “To use in your Awakening meetings?”

  “Yes, but not ones like you saw tonight. There were private meetings over the past few weeks where I allowed willing students to try it.”

  “That’s strange,” Steele said. “Because the first time we spoke with you, you
assured us that no drugs were used in your Awakening meetings.”

  “And like I just told you…there are no drugs at the public meetings. It is only the private meetings, and—”

  “You’re not getting out of this on a technicality,” Steele said. “So, I’ll ask you a little more directly. Did Carson Butler ever take any of your D710?”

  Leik took a moment to think about it, then slowly shook his head. “No. I honestly don’t recall him ever taking it. I believe he was at a meeting where I offered it, but he did not take it.”

  Flynt started to walk slowly around the office while Steele and Leik continued their back-and-forth. He observed the bookshelf, nodding and making humph sounds at some of the titles.

  “Who knew you kept the drug in a duck?” Steele asked.

  “Oh, that would just be a handful of people, I think.”

  “Friends? Faculty? Students?”

  “One other professor, and a few students.”

  “I’m going to need their names, Professor Leik.”

  Flynt looked torn over the idea of giving this information, but before he could say anything, they were interrupted by Flynt.

  “Hey! What color is this drug of yours?”

  Leik and Steele looked over to Flynt. He was hunkered down by the slightly crooked window, looking at the windowsill.

  “It is slightly yellow in color,” Leik answered. “But you can’t really see the tinge of it unless it is on a white surface.”

  “Like a windowsill?”

  “Yes.” Leik gasped, hurrying over to where Flynt was hunkered down.

  “Yeah, you can see the yellow right there.” Flynt reached for the little bit of liquid he found by the window. Before he could touch it, Leik reached out and slapped his hand away.

  “No! It absorbs into the skin. It can be ingested as well, but after about five minutes, enough absorbs into the skin to take effect.”

  Flynt drew his hand back and massaged it. Steele joined them and looked down at the little bit of D710 that was left behind. It was a drop about the size of a dime. He was impressed Flynt spotted it.

  “How did security know someone was in your office?” Steele asked.

  “One of the security cameras on the back of the property caught a figure coming out of the office through this window.”

  “And now your rubber ducky is gone,” Flynt said.

  “Yes. And that could be very bad. Especially if whoever took it accidentally squirted this little bit out. That means there’s a very good chance someone is walking around out there, high on D710.”

  “Why is that concerning?” Steele asked. “If you give it out to students during your meetings, I’d assume it’s safe.”

  “In a controlled environment, it is! But just walking around with an unmeasured dose could be very—”

  He stopped talking and cocked his head to follow a sound. At that moment, Steele thought he heard something, too.

  Police sirens, in the distance, and they were getting closer. They were coming on campus.

  “I think it’s a safe bet those sirens will lead us to our duck thief.” Steele indicated the window.

  Without waiting for Leik’s response, he exited the office with Flynt following along behind him.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Flynt was out of breath by the time they approached the wailing sirens. They were coming from the campus quad, an expansive stretch of grass crisscrossed by a few sidewalks. When they arrived, Flynt took a moment to sit down on one of the benches by the primary sidewalk. He felt he’d done a good job keeping up with Steele and the frenzied speed of Professor Leik, but he needed a rest. He wasn’t too ashamed of the need to rest as Steele cast him a wary gaze, but the wheezing breaths were a bit embarrassing.

  There were three emergency vehicles parked at the right side of the quad: two campus security cars and a single city police unit. While the sight of the vehicles would have usually been the most interesting thing about the campus quad after nine o’clock at night, that was not the case.

  There was a young man, shirtless and screaming in the middle of the quad. He held another man in a headlock. Flynt could not be sure due to the darkness and his vision being hazy from his lack of oxygen, but he was pretty sure the shirtless young man was giving noogies to the man in the headlock.

  “Flynt, you good to go?” Steele asked.

  “Of course.” These two words were punctuated with a wheeze and a gasp for breath.

  Still, he dutifully followed Steele out to the center of the quad. The shirtless young man and his hunched-over victim were perfectly illuminated in the headlights of the three cars in front of them. As Flynt and Steele neared the two figures, Steele saw a third figure. This was another male, lying on the ground and clutching his stomach.

  “Stop right there!” This command came from the lone officer in the city unit in the parking lot. He was on a CB radio, watching the headlock scene on the quad.

  “We’re detectives Steele and Flynt,” Steele called out, showing his badge.

  The officer gave a thumbs up and reported this into his CB radio. Professor Leik, apparently wanting no part of what might happen, hurried down to join the security cops and the single police car. Flynt didn’t see the need in stopping him.

  They were less than five feet away from the shirtless man now. He realized someone was approaching from behind. He spun to face them. His eyes were wide and there was a smile on his face that reminded Flynt of the Joker—the type of smile that may just be there permanently.

  Aside from his peculiar expression, the face glaring at them was a familiar one. Flynt’s eyes widened recognition.

  “Hey! Look, Steele! It’s Ben Bower.”

  “I see that. Thank you, Detective Flynt.”

  Flynt was so perplexed by the presence of Bower that he nearly forgot about the man on the ground. He nearly stepped on him as he stared at Bower. When Flynt looked down at the man, he saw that he was mostly unharmed. He looked to be out of breath and possibly took a punch to the face if the blood coming out of his bottom lip was any indication.

  “You okay?” Flynt asked, hunkering down by him.

  “Dude punched me,” the fallen man said. “Just walked up and punched me and started laughing.”

  “In the face?”

  “And the stomach.”

  As Flynt stood back up, Steele approached Ben Bower. Bower’s smile remained and even seemed to get a bit brighter when he recognized the detectives.

  “Ben, please let this man go.” Steele kept his voice calm and even as if they were friends meeting for a conversation in the park.

  “Oh, for sure,” Bowers said. He let the man go and almost immediately reached out and grabbed him again. This time, he applied a deadly sleeper hold.

  “Ben…”

  “Ha-ha! You didn’t say for how long.”

  Bower was positively beaming. Flynt wasn’t sure he’d ever seen someone so happy. It was like looking at a man that just got word that he won the lottery. He was positively rapturous.

  “Nice sleeper hold,” Flynt commented.

  “What?” Steele asked.

  “That’s an excellent sleeper hold. It’s a wrestling move, made popular by Rowdy Roddy Piper and Brutus the Barber Beefcake.”

  “I see. Ben come on, please release the sleeper hold and then let him go.”

  “Whoa, yeah, sure. Ha!”

  Bower did as asked, giving the man a playful hug. The man took a moment, perhaps trying to decide if he wanted to retaliate, but ended up marching quickly down to the three police vehicles instead.

  “What have you been doing tonight, Ben?” Steele asked.

  “Found Professor Leik’s duck. I think I might have gotten a little something on me because…Whoa, man. This is amazing.”

  Steele took a few steps closer to him and offered his hand. “Remember me? I’m Detective Steele and I—”

  “Ha!”

  Bower threw a punch that came sailing with ferocious speed. It st
ruck Steele directly along the jaw. Bower clapped frantically and started laughing. It was bizarre because Flynt could see no ill intent or real violence behind it. He was interacting with Steele as if they were old-time playground friends. The punch wasn’t a means to hurt Steele, but almost like a playful gesture.

  Steele, however, did not see it as such. He took a little staggering step backward but rebounded with the force of a truck. He tackled Bower to the ground in a move that both impressed and scared Flynt.

  “Whoa, nice spear. Popularized by wrestlers like Goldberg, Edge, and—”

  “Mind lending a hand?” Steele barked.

  Steele flipped Bower over onto his stomach and wrenched the young man’s arms behind his back. Bower acted as if he were simply tussling around with a good friend.

  “Whoa, man, awesome takedown. Hey! My shoulder! Watch it. Ha-ha!”

  Flynt removed the cuffs from his belt, dropped to his knees, and cuffed Bower. As soon as they made the slight clicking noise, Bower giggled. “Click click click! Quack Quack Quack!”

  Steele hauled Bower up to his feet and gave a glowering look down to the parking lot. Leik was watching it all unfold with bewildered eyes, clearly trying to stay as far away from the trouble as he could.

  “Bower, where is the duck now?” Steele asked.

  “Ha! Wouldn’t you like to know?”

  “Yes, I really would.”

  “Better frisk me, copper, because it’s down my pants!”

  The comment was so ridiculous and unexpected that it took even Flynt by surprise. It also caught him by off guard when Bower burst forward with a surge of speed and energy. The movement was so quick and out of nowhere that Steele lost his grip.

  Bower went barreling forward across the quad. Shirtless and with his hands cuffed behind his back, it was a peculiar sight. It was made even more surreal by the sporadic quacks that Bower barked into the night.

  “This is ridiculous,” Steele complained loud enough for Leik to hear.

  Down in the parking lot, the two campus security guys and the lone cop all got into their cars. Steele took off running across the quad and Flynt followed. I’ve had just about enough of all of this running, he thought. He looked down at the cops in the parking lot. They sped their cars to the left, following in the direction Bower headed. Flynt wished he was in a car.