"I just left a message for a friend of mine down in Baltimore. I asked him to give me a call tonight or in the morning. If this guy is in Baltimore, we may have a few issues authorizing a warrant for his arrest and a separate warrant to search his records," Detective Griffin said interrupting their pill research. They both heard him but could not immediately respond because while he was on the phone, they found an RX prescription list of pill identifiers and as Orinda suspected from the second Mason found Stantigo Cruz’s affiliation with the Department of Veteran Affairs as a lead doctor of pharmacology, their discovery confirmed her suspicion.
"I think this person has been using your military and medical history to manipulate your medical records, but I also think you should stop taking these pills immediately and maybe consult with a private doctor. Your prescription is for Ativan, but this looks like you are taking Ativan and something else called Seroquel. That may be why you are hearing more and more voices, Mason. It’s not that your case of post-traumatic Stress Disorder is so severe or it’s getting worse, but you are making it worse by taking two different types of medications. We need to find this guy as soon as possible." Orinda said as she collected all of the pills she poured out on the desk to examine. She was right but what she couldn’t understand was how Mason did not see this before.
The name of the drugs was stenciled on each tablet but if that wasn’t enough, there were two different-sized pills in the container. That should have been a dead giveaway but to a man taking more than the prescribed dosage, and the way he took pills just to make his body’s reaction change, cognizant functionality was selective because he created a habit his body was trying to reject.
"We will find him. I have no doubts about that at all. I don’t care if we have to drive to Baltimore ourselves. I just need to get a warrant. I don’t know how we get a warrant without probable cause. We can’t base our probable cause off clues to an unsolved murder and an improperly filled prescription from the VA because a guy we think may have something to do with the murders is the doctor of pharmacology in another city in another state. We need more besides I would have to stand in front of a magistrate, and I still would need a goddamn affidavit to even get started. It could take at least a week, maybe even two,” Griffin said. He looked at his watch again; it was almost 5 o’clock, and he needed to get out of there soon.
"That’s all true but what if we don’t approach it professionally?" Orinda said. The look on her face was of someone who was trying to figure a way out of a situation. "Instead of calling in a favor with the Baltimore Police Department, why don’t we call the Office of Veteran Affairs? Let’s say ‘old friends’ from his Navy days would like to catch up with him because they were in town?"
Mason looked at her with fear in his eyes. He hadn’t said a word in several minutes. She figured his fear was a result of her wish for him to make the call, but that would be too obvious and would potentially turn the tables from Cruz being the hunter to the hunted. She was actually insinuating that she call the office and that’s what she did.
"Happy Holidays and thank you for calling the Baltimore Office of the Department of Veteran Affairs. How may I direct your call, sir or ma'am?" said the secretary on the other end of the line. Orinda called the number listed hoping to catch her man.
“Hello Ma’am. How are you? I’m looking to speak to Dr. Stantigo Cruz. My name is Bethany Martinez. I’m an old friend of his from the Navy, and I wanted to speak with him about meeting together before I fly back out West," she said.
Both Detective Griffin and Mason were impressed with how calm she was under pressure. They were almost persuaded she was someone else calling.
"I’m sorry, Mrs. Martinez," the receptionist replied.
"It’s Ms. I’m not married," Orinda said with a smile and conviction.
"I apologize again, Ms. Martinez. Dr. Cruz is actually out of town for a conference followed then by a vacation to visit with his family shortly thereafter. I will have to take a message for you and deliver it as soon as he returns. He asked not to interrupt his vacation with forwarded calls while he was away."
"Ah, always the professional. Well, thank you so much for your time, Ma'am. Oh by the way, out of curiosity, where is the conference?"
"You are very welcome, Ms. Martinez, and in answer to your inquiry, the conference is in our ‘Brotherly’ city to the North. Take care and again happy holidays," the receptionist said and then hung up the line. Orinda was on speaker phone the entire time, and they all heard the answer they needed.
Santiago Cruz, now Stantigo Cruz, was in the city of Brotherly Love, Philadelphia. What a convenient coincidence.
Chapter 16
"Good Morning Papi...Did you sleep well?" Orinda asked Mason as she came into the living room from the bedroom wearing one of Mason’s long sleeved dressed shirts. She walked over to a quiet Mason who sat with his hand over his head to hide his headache.
After the realization that his prescription was causing some of his problems, cold turkey was the only method to wean him off of the powerful drugs that catered to his natural disabilities and his military-issued PTSD. His other hand was used to control the mouse while he scrolled the web page in search for information. On the Department of Veteran Affairs’ page their logo and a message thanked all the attendees, keynote speakers, and the guest of honor for the 2014 VA Developmental Pharmaceutical Conference in Philadelphia. Mason didn’t respond to her greeting. He could only point to the screen. They were indeed running out of time.
"The conference was 13 days ago. If the letter’s mention of three weeks were any indication of when this is all going down, we have to act fast. We’ve been working on this for four days now," Mason said without looking at her. He felt her hand on his shoulder and for only the moment even the fact that death was only a day or two away, it didn’t matter. He nestled into her caress and then closed his eyes.
Last night after Detective Griffin gave more instructions to follow before leaving, they ate dinner. Afterward they both needed each other and they obliged. Mason did not let his inexperience and fear of not satisfying her sully the night as before. Orinda didn’t let her hunger to be taken do the same. They didn’t rush into the pleasure. They faced it head on and embraced because that was what was needed. They welcomed it. Mason took his time and moved to her movements instead of her moans, and her body cradled him as her orgasms made her pleasure tighten and release. He slowly gave her all that he had. They made love to each other before it was confessed and that’s what she wanted. Then he fucked her the way she needed in order to take his mind off death.
Afterward they lay together in the same bed for the first time. Mason stared at the ceiling and said nothing; he was afraid to. He didn’t want to ruin the best night of his life with words that should have been easy to say. Instead, he lay there with his head in a pool of sweat on the pillow as the fireplace added more heat to their bodies. Orinda didn’t mind the silence, she lay on him, and occasionally she looked up at him, smiled and kissed him underneath his chin and on his chest. She never made love to a man before, and it felt better knowing the man she made love to was willing to die for her. That allowed her to be more submissive and willing to take his burdens away. She knew they would return, but it was her duty as a woman, as his woman to make them go away for that night.
When he awoke that morning, he looked at her lying peaceful and angelic. He needed to figure how to protect her because he wanted to wake up to her like this for the rest of his life. Most importantly he needed to figure out how much longer the rest of his life was going to be. So he moved slightly to not wake her to get up out of bed. When he walked into the suite’s bathroom and turned on the light to take a look in the mirror, he examined his body and the scars of war but heard nothing. He was so used to hearing the voice asking for vengeance, but it was absent leaving only his eyes to speak to him through his reflection in the mirror. They were red, and his head was pounding.
The cotton-like feeling in his mo
uth wouldn’t go away no matter how many times he rinsed with an antiseptic and water. It must have taken four or five tries before he finally gave up. He was not used to having a woman in his bed, so he tried his best not to wake her, but the sounds of water running and his gargle appeared to magnify. He was trying so hard to be quiet. Urinating was so loud he sat down to mute the sound before he flushed and washed his hands. He needed to get some research done while she slept, and that’s what he did.
It must have been another hour before Orinda sleepily glided into the living room to be with him. He gave her the bad news. An hour had already passed while he sat in front of the computer looking at the screen of death. The screen wasn’t blue, but it showed him that he was days closer to being dead.
"To himself everyone is immortal; he may know that he is going to die, but he can never know that he is dead," Mason struggled to say. His words weren’t as choppy as normal. They came out almost lackadaisical. Orinda knew what was wrong and knew what to do. She didn’t respond to the letter’s beautiful message of mortality. She just kissed the crown of his head and then walked into the kitchen.
After being in Mason’s home for a few days now and rummaging days earlier, she knew where he kept everything. She grabbed two bags of tea and placed them both in deep bowled mugs and started some water in the tea kettle. Mason was showing early signs of withdrawals from his dependency on prescription drugs he shouldn’t have been taking to begin with. The tea would at least calm his nerves while his body tried to recover and find some normalcy.
"Do you think we are already too late? What if Cruz already has a plan in action to kill us, and he is waiting for us to walk into his trap?" Mason asked looking at a calendar. Seventeen days had passed since the conference had started. It would not have mattered if they figured the clues at the very beginning of their investigation because they were already two weeks in the hole. If the killing was going to happen in three weeks, the conference started two weeks ago and their investigations had lasted for four days. They only had hours to spare before it was over unless they avoided death by having Cruz arrested or by killing him themselves. The only thing they could do now was follow the strict instructions provided by their only law enforcement ally.
The brilliance of Cruz couldn’t be denied. Instead of providing clues that led directly to him, he provided clues to reveal his secret, not his identity. By the time his identity was discovered, more time had fallen off the clock.
"Don’t worry about time right now, baby. We need to get you better. Here! Have some tea," Orinda said bringing the tea to him at the desk. She knew how to relax him, and he appreciated it. They both then sat in front of the computer, looking at the calendar and the message on the page, thanking the dignitaries for attending the conference.
"The Director of Pharmacology has to be one of the dignitaries and a key note speaker at these things, right?" Orinda asked. Her question didn’t seem like much at first, but after Mason pulled away from the soothing aroma of tea and accepted its bitter, sugarless taste, he regained focus to the situation and Orinda’s question.
"Yes, but I’m only speaking from my military days. Anytime a person higher up in rank (in this case, the director) attended a conference to acknowledge an accomplishment or event, not only did they speak but they made their presence felt, they brought guests and shook hands, and they even made time to answer questions if the platform allowed for it. I think that may be our next clue, but we are going to need Griffin’s assistance for this one because they aren’t going to give us as journalists personal identifiable information from a Department of Veteran Affairs event, but I believe we may have just figured out more than we realized," Mason said. He didn’t stammer any of his words, but they were very slow. He still had the world’s largest headache as they continued the conversation, but his body felt different. It didn’t feel like he was missing anything that wasn’t supposed to be there.
"Help me out here, Papi. What does the fact that maybe or maybe not our killer was a keynote speaker or a dignitary have to do with anything? We know he is our killer. He may have something to do with your prescription being conveniently wrong which would cause adverse reactions, and we even know he is gay or may have gay tendencies, but how does him being a speaker at a conference help us?" Orinda asked churning thoughts to figure out Mason’s clue but after his phone call that followed her "Bethany Martinez" lead, she understood completely.
"Good morning, sir. My name is Special Agent Sessions calling from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. I need to speak with someone who can help me acquire a guest list from the previously held 2014 VA Developmental Pharmaceutical Conference. The federal government has acquired a just cause warrant to gather this information, and I will fax it to you shortly, but the criticality of the investigation has increased as the subject in question may be on the move. We need the list of names to confirm that he was at this conference in association as one of the speakers," Mason said. He was even able to alter his voice to hide his original tone and aid his slow speech.
The method was illegal but brilliant, and now Orinda understood. Mason figured if Stantigo Cruz was in the area for a conference in the professional capacity, maybe he invited others to see him speak, family even. The event in question didn’t matter as much as it did for a narcissist to be seen and heard. If there was a list of guest names that stood out to them, they could look for resident addresses and more. If they were lucky, the names would be directly associated with whom they were guests of. The receptionist in Baltimore did say he was visiting family on this trip as well. Maybe they would find him that way.
"Mr. Sessions, I surely can provide a guest list to you. Would you like me to fax it to you or would you prefer it to be emailed?" the receptionist asked on the other end. Mason didn’t actually expect his fraudulent, criminal tactic would work so well, but that’s the power of law enforcement. The whole lot of law enforcement officers uses a sworn title to acquire many privileges and benefits. It’s almost a second law to follow if the first option of honesty was not available. Orinda was in awe of his confidence as Mason took on a different persona in order to help continue their investigation. It aroused her. His confidence aroused her. He aroused her.
"Due to the severity of the investigation, I would ask that you not email this information. An email would create too many electronic stamps to trace. I would prefer to have the information sent via facsimile. Please provide a cover letter and address it to my last name only, no titles, no rank just my last name, Sessions. Also don’t use your name. Simply use the name of the hotel on the ‘From’ line. That will allow me to provide you complete autonomy, and it will allow me to continue with the investigation," Mason said as he stood up from the desk.
They just made another huge advancement in the investigation, and he could no longer hold in his excitement. He provided the receptionist the fax number for the Daily. All they had to do now was go into the office and pick it up. Of course, they would run it all by Detective Griffin beforehand to be sure he knew they were purposely deviating from his instructions. They could no longer wait for Cruz to come for them. They had to go get him.
"Okay, sir. I sent the information to the number provided. If there is anything else you need, let me know. I will be on duty for the next 12 hours," the receptionist said. Mason was thankful for the help, but he was even more thankful the receptionist always wanted to be a special agent for a federal law enforcement agency. Because of this, he gave the most important information of all without being asked, coerced or without having the supposed warrant sent to him.
“In fact, Special Agent Sessions, one of the keynote speakers from the event is still staying with us in our hotel right now, but I will wait to receive the warrant before I provide the name," he said and then had to abruptly end the call to service a guest, but that was all the information they needed. Mason’s felonious attempt to gather information worked.
"Well, what did they say?" Orinda asked still sitting
at the computer desk. She was still flushed with arousal but now more intrigued to find out what Mason knew. He couldn’t believe what he had learned, and he didn’t want her to wait any longer because if she knew, it would validate a reason to rush to the office.
"Well, the receptionist was a male and once I enlisted his help, he was willing to go above the call without an official document. He sent a list of the guests, dignitaries, keynote speakers and their affiliated guests to the Daily. We have to go there to pick it up now and make sure no one else sees it or knows that we are there, especially Chandler until we can clear him from this whole thing," Mason said slowly again with no hint of stutter as he plugged his phone into the charger.
"The guy must really hate his current job or maybe had bigger dreams than to work as a guest services representative at the Downtown Marriot because he was willing to help me more because he always wanted to be an agent. He told me one of the keynote speakers was still staying at the hotel, but he wouldn’t say who it was because he needed the official warrant to give away identifiable information," Mason said.
Orinda stood up with him and began to pace. They needed to get into the office, and they needed to get there quickly to get the information from the fax machine, but they knew that there was no way possible to get there without being seen by Detective Griffin’s lookouts on the street nor could they get to the information before someone else read it and asked questions of what it was for.
Orinda got on the phone while Mason went to shower quickly to wash the smell of sex and cigarette smoke off of his body before they left the house. She needed to call a favor into the office and have one of the other ladies grab the fax sent for Mason and hold it until they arrived at the building. She also checked to see if Mr. Chandler was in the office. If he was there, they would have to change their approach especially after they last departed.
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