by Scott Pratt
The last part of the night for Brooke was the graduation ceremony. She assisted the chief in presenting each student with a certificate. Hopefully, the academy had given the cadets a better understanding of what police work was really like. As they filed out, several of the students shook Brooke’s hand and thanked her for her time. Some she recognized, some she didn’t.
She was packing her files up when the chief approached her. “Brooke, I want to thank you for the commitment you gave to this class. You did a great job, and you did it while handling an incredibly difficult case. It’s over isn’t it?”
Brooke looked up, surprised by the question.
“I hope so. There are some things that we need to follow up on, though.”
“We were between a rock and a hard place with the press release,” the chief said. “We were aware of your concerns about the levels in Rodney Odell’s tox report and the possibility that he’d been framed. But based on the evidence that was found at the scene, we thought it would be irresponsible not to get something out to the public. We kept things pretty vague. What they choose to write or broadcast is up to them.”
Brooke packed up her things and drove home. She walked up the sidewalk to her house, and as she stepped up on the porch, she looked into the living room through the window. Lukas was sitting on the couch with his feet propped up on her coffee table like he had lived there his whole life. He was engrossed in a football game, completely at ease. Sierra was lying on Lukas’s lap in her Cinderella Halloween costume. She was sound asleep.
Incredible. Brooke sighed and opened the door, wishing things were different between her and Lukas.
But the time just wasn’t right, and she had to accept that it might never be right.
Chapter Twenty-Three
The following Monday found Lukas staring at the giant homicide book he and Brooke had put together. Before he knew it, he was flipping through the pages.
There was something he just couldn’t let go of, and from his experience, that usually meant something had been missed. He knew he might be mistaken, but he needed to get whatever was nagging at him out of his mind.
Lukas flipped to the section in the book that contained Rodney Odell’s personal information. Odell had three children from two relationships. He perused Odell’s priors. Drug charges, solicitation for prostitution, along with three shoplifting and two traffic charges. He also had two arrests for being behind on child support, but nothing violent. Committing a string of vicious murders seemed totally out of character.
Lukas sat back, rhythmically tapping a pen on the top of his desk. Would Odell have lashed out against prostitutes with children because they had children? That didn’t make sense. Besides, he apparently liked hookers. At least that’s what his priors revealed.
Lukas closed the book and looked up at the white, tiled ceiling. The more he thought about Odell, the more his head hurt. He turned on the computer and hammered out a subpoena for Rodney Odell’s cell phone records. Maybe they could learn something from those. He printed and saved the digital copy of the subpoena to the case file.
After a quick trip to the coffee pot he returned to the murder book. He found the CSU evidence slips that were taken from Odell’s house, and noticed a brief description of the vials that were found at the scene. He turned back to the photos of the crime scene at Odell’s and of the vials. The photos showed the two glass vials on the table. Something about them bothered him. He looked closer and realized what it was. They were clean, a stark contrast to the filthy table they sat on and to the rest of the house. The entire place had been filthy.
Lukas checked the evidence log to make sure the vials had been collected. They had. He glanced at his watch. It was 3:05 p.m. If he hurried, he could have enough time to collect the vials from evidence and get them over to Odessa. He jumped up and almost ran to the evidence storage room to sign out the vials.
Twenty minutes later, Lukas wheeled into the parking lot of the forensic lab just as Odessa was walking out. He met her halfway to her car holding the yellow evidence bag. Odessa propped her hand on her plump hip. “I’ve seen that kind of bag and that look before. Can’t possibly be good at this hour.”
“I really need a favor.”
“The staff have all left for the day. It’ll be tomorrow.” She took the bag from Lukas and read the writing on the outside. “Lukas, this is from Odell’s house. What do you want me to do with it?”
“I just want you run it for prints.”
“All right, but if I do this and it comes back with only Odell’s prints, will you please let it go?”
“You have my word.”
“I want more than your word. I want you to buy me dinner.”
“Deal. But I can’t tonight.”
“Of course you can’t. Okay, I’ll take a rain check. Just remember you owe me.”
“You’re a peach.”
‘I’ll get to it as soon as I can tomorrow. You have fun with whatever it is you’re doing tonight. I’ll call when I have the results.”
Lukas got back into his car. The clock on the dash read 4:35 p.m. He had just enough time to get the subpoena for Odell’s phone records signed if he hurried.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The next morning, Lukas made three phone calls to Odessa from his desk phone. The first two went to voicemail. She answered the third call.
“Lukas, you only call me like this when you need something.”
“Any news on the vial?”
“I told you I’d call you when I had something. Have I ever let you down before?”
“No, I just thought maybe—”
“When I have it, I’ll call you.”
Lukas closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. He checked his watch for what felt like the hundredth time. His cell vibrated, and he saw Odessa’s name on the ID.
“Odessa, hey, what did you find?”
“There were no fingerprints on the vials. But there is something else. Can you come by the office?”
“I’ll be right over.” He hung up the phone and headed for his car.
Lukas drove to Odessa’s office and soon found himself standing over a microscope looking at the vials.
“See what I mean? They appeared to have been wiped clean, but see the stripe on the sides? It looks like something was there, a label maybe.”
“I see it.”
“I think these were hospital vials. The question is, where did he get them? A street user with access to hospital vials? The toxicology came back on him a little while ago. They found enough morphine in his system to kill two people, and strangely enough, they found the pain killer dilaudid, too.”
“What’s that mean to you?” Lukas said.
“I’m not ready to say he was murdered yet, especially in light of the other evidence found at the scene. But users like Odell know how much they can shoot up. They’ve been doing it for years. Sure, occasionally they’ll go heavy on the plunger and sign off, but the amount he had in his system doesn’t make sense. And neither does the dilaudid. That’s not a drug known for abuse. It’s hard to get and would cost a mint on the street. In high doses, it becomes more of a sedative. He had to know he was taking a huge risk with this cocktail.”
Lukas was trying to make sense of this new information. What was the stripe on the sides of the vials? “Do you think he overdosed, either accidentally or on purpose, or was he murdered?”
“I don’t know, and I’m not going to speculate. Let’s figure out what the lines on the vials are. My guess is they’re glue from a label that’s been peeled off.
“There aren’t any fingerprints on the vials,” Lukas said. “Which means somebody wiped them.”
“Okay, let’s say you’re right in thinking the scene at Odell’s was staged and he was murdered. What are you going to do?”
“I’ll find some tang
ible evidence.” He headed for the door.
“Lukas—”
“I’ll be in touch. Thanks.”
He left without looking back. Outside, he dialed Brooke’s number.
“Hey, Lukas.”
“Are you busy?”
“I’m scheduled for court this afternoon. What’s up?”
“It’s about the vials we found at Odell’s. Can you swing by the department when you get free?”
“Sure. What about them?”
“Just swing by when you get done.”
“I will.”
Lukas spent the afternoon researching both the drugs found in Odell’s system as well as the vials. Dilaudid was a high potency pain killer, and like Odessa said, it was expensive and hard to come by on the street. She was also right about mixing dilaudid with morphine. Apparently, that was a deadly combination. Brooke texted him to say she was outside just as he was finishing his research.
They headed to Odell’s, and Lukas filled Brooke in on what Odessa had said about the vials. They arrived at Odell’s just after dark, and after two hours of searching, they found nothing that would support the theory that Odell was murdered, at least nothing that would hold up to the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard used in criminal cases. Lukas stood in the room where Odell was found, thinking about the vials.
“Hey, Lukas,” Brooke said. “It doesn’t look like CSU took the trash.”
She bent down with gloved hands and delicately started going through the trash can beside the bed. Lukas shook his head and walked over to join her. CSU didn’t usually leave trash at a crime scene where a body was found.
“Look at this.”
Brooke held up an adhesive strip with a series of numbers and what looked like a bar code. He studied the strip. They could very well have come off the vials that Odessa had examined. Lukas wondered whether they could match them up.
“Here’s another one,” Lukas said. “It looks the same as that one.”
“I wonder if we can track them.”
“Not sure, but at least we found something. Let’s bag these and get out of here. I have an idea.”
When Lukas and Brooke arrived back at the Johnson City headquarters, Lukas used the computer at his desk to research the numbers found on the labels. An hour into the search, he pushed the chair back, turned, and looked at Brooke.
“I didn’t find much, but it looks like the labels are from a drug manufacturer. The question is whether they came from a hospital pharmacy or somewhere else.” Lukas picked up his cell and dialed a number. “But I think I know someone who could tell us. If… hey Gabby. I need a favor. Are you working tonight?”
“No, I’m off.”
“Listen, if I give you some numbers I found on some labels that I think were on drug vials, can you find out if they came from your hospital?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never had to do that. And it’s late. I don’t know if anyone I trust in the pharmacy is around.”
“Would you do me a favor and try? Make a call or two?” There was a pause. He knew she wasn’t happy with him right now, but maybe she’d try. “Gabby?”
“I’ll call.”
“Tonight. Now?”
“Yes, Lukas, tonight.”
“Thanks, I’ll text you some pics.”
Lukas disconnected the call and took photos of the labels with his phone. He texted them to Gabby’s number. He looked at Brooke, whose eyebrows were arched.
“What?”
She shrugged.
“What? If you have something to say, you might as well spit it out.”
“No, nothing. Really.”
“Do you think I shouldn’t have asked her to help? Is that what it is?”
“Hey, I’m not getting in the middle of this. I think I’ve caused enough problems.”
“You haven’t done anything wrong.”
“The only thing that bothers me is that she’s a civilian with no connection to the case. You might be asking her to do something that will get her into trouble with the hospital. She might even lose her job if it turns out she’s doing something she’s not supposed to be doing.”
“You might be right. But let’s say we go through the normal channels. The hospital finds out we’re investigating a crime where a man has been a victim of an overdose due to one of their people smuggling out morphine, maybe dilaudid, and who knows what else. The attorneys go straight into damage control mode. Next thing you know, the records somehow mysteriously disappear. All because big corporate is worried about a lawsuit. And there goes what might be a good lead on five dead women.”
A few minutes later, Lukas’s phone lit up. Gabriele.
“Hey, what did you find?”
“Donna Blalock is the charge nurse tonight. I talked to her, and she talked to someone in the pharmacy she trusts. The meds came from University Hospital, both vials. They were signed out in the ER on November seventh. The bad news is that there’s no way to tell who signed them out. I just have the names of the nurses who were on shift that night.”
“You mean there’s no control protocol on narcotics?”
“There is, but it should probably be better. Basically, a nurse signs out the meds with a patient’s ID number. But once they’re dispensed, there really is no control.”
“Meaning, if a person was in pain, and the nurse signed out, say, morphine, she could either give it to the patient or put it in her pocket?”
“I suppose so, I mean if the patient didn’t complain up the chain that he or she wasn’t getting pain meds, and nobody asked. It’s not something that’s ever even entered my mind.”
“Can I have the names of the nurses on duty?”
“I’m not sure I want to be the cause of someone losing their livelihood.”
“Gabby, if a nurse is stealing narcotics, they need to be fired, they need to lose their license, and they need to be prosecuted. Can I please have the names?”
She paused. “You’re putting me in a tough spot, Lukas.”
“I know, and I’m sorry. But it’s important. I know this sounds dramatic, but lives may be at stake.”
“Okay. Stephanie Remine, April Summerton, Kate Snowden, Paul Dolan, and yours truly.”
“We can rule you out, right?”
“Come on, Lukas, really? Please be discreet. For me.”
“I promise.”
“Listen, I know things have been a little cold lately, but I was wondering whether you might like to go up to Dad’s lake house and spend a nice quiet weekend together. Maybe we can, you know, kind of reconnect.” She lowered her voice. “What do you think?”
“I could definitely use something like that right about now. And thanks again for doing this for me. I’ll call you later. Bye.”
Lukas looked over the pad he had written the names on. “So, one of the names on this list smuggled the vials containing morphine and dilaudid out of the ER at University Hospital.”
“Which means the vials that were found at Odell’s house were most likely sold or given to him by a name on that list,” Brooke said.
“Let’s start with the names. Gabriele’s name is on the list. I promise we can count her out. Three of the others are women and one is a man.
Lukas plugged the names into the criminal database one at a time. In return, he got photographs and criminal and traffic records. He printed each out and laid them on the table in the center of the room.
Brooke pointed to the last picture he’d printed out. “Lukas, I recognize this guy.”
“Well, he’s a nurse from the ER here in Johnson City. Could that be it?”
“I’ve only been there once or twice. Not enough to recognize any of the nurses. No, it’s from somewhere else.” She stood and walked around the room, rubbing her temples.
“Could it be someone you’ve arre
sted?”
“No, I don’t think that’s it.” Suddenly, she turned to face Lukas and pointed a finger at him. “The Citizens Police Academy. He was one of the cadets.”
“Are you sure it’s the same man?”
“Positive!”
“Okay, calm down. Let’s see if he’s working tonight. I’ll call the ER.”
Lukas dialed the number from his desk phone and confirmed that Paul Dolan was working. He looked up at Brooke. “We’ll swing by there and have a little chat with him.”
They drove separately to the ER. The precipitation that had been in the forecast for the last two days was finally making its appearance in the form of spitting snow. Lukas focused on finding someone at the hospital he could trust. He found Donna Blalock at the charge nurse station.
“Hey, Lukas,” Donna said. “Gabriele is off tonight.”
“I know. Listen, Donna, I kind of need a favor. And I need you to keep this between us, if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Gabby called you earlier asking about some vial labels?”
“She did. I checked with the pharmacy and confirmed that they were checked out through the ER. She asked me to find out who was on the floor that night, so I did, and I gave her the names. What’s this all about?”
“We’re just tying up some loose ends on a case. Would you mind walking us through the ER department? We’d like to talk to Paul Dolan if possible.”
“Sure, let’s go.”
There were a few familiar faces in the ER. A couple of them nodded as they walked by. Donna stopped and had a quick conversation with another nurse, then approached Lukas.
“Paul was working tonight.”
“What do you mean, was?”
“Apparently, he left about fifteen minutes ago. He said he was sick.”
Lukas had printed out a copy of Dolan’s driver’s license photo. He showed it to Donna.
“Is this him?” Lukas said.
“Sure is. Let me see when he checked out. Follow me.”
He and Brooke followed her back over to the nurse’s station. Lukas noticed a yellow pad lying on the desk with the names Gabby had given him and the date of November seventh along with Gabriele’s name and number.