Dead Edge

by Jack Ford

Cooper glanced down at the corpse. ‘I can’t smell anything apart from him. I’ll have to scrub that dead stench off me tonight.’

  ‘I know it’s overpowering, but smell again. Go on, Tom… Underneath it all, can’t you smell the bleach?’

  Cooper sniffed, managed not to vomit, and shook his head. ‘Nope. All I have is him in my nose.’

  ‘Then look around you. What do you see?’

  ‘A whole heap of nothing,’ Cooper said.

  ‘Exactly, but a whole heap nothing with no specks of dust whatsoever. It’s spotless. Look on the shelves. No dust. There or in the corners. Along the skirting boards. Nothing. You’d have thought there’d be something, especially out here. The floor’s pristine.’

  Kneeling down to the floor, Maddie put her nose close to the wooden floorboards.

  ‘Bleach. Everything’s been bleached, Tom.’

  ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Absolutely. And whoever’s done it has done a pretty good job.’

  ‘Bullseye!’

  Maddie and Cooper turned to Rosedale who’d managed to open the small wooden cupboard. He held up a white plastic bottle. ‘Well it would be if there was anything in it apart from, get this, bottles of bleach… Why the hell lock them up though?’

  As she walked over to Rosedale, Maddie quietly said, ‘Exactly. Why would you? It’s not like the killer would’ve cleaned up and then locked bottles of bleach in a cupboard. It doesn’t make sense.’

  Pulling out a pair of disposable surgical gloves from her rucksack, she put them on. ‘Pass them to me, will you please, Rosedale.’

  One at a time she took the bottles from him and proceeded to shake them, before unscrewing the red lids and pouring the bleach down the sink.

  Coming to the sixth bottle, she shook it. Then shook it again. Turned it upside down and banged the bottom of it before pushing and hooking her finger inside it. ‘There’s something in there…’ With her tongue sticking out in concentration, Maddie began to grapple with the object, which was now just inside the small opening of the bleach bottle and, managing to grip it, she eased it out gently.

  It was a small wrap of foil, sealed and taped up in a transparent grip-seal plastic bag. She shook it gently and watched as flecks of white powder began to spill out into the sealed bag. ‘I won’t open it, but what do you guys say we take this with us? We could get it analyzed by Eddie. Tom, would you take it to him?’

  ‘Yeah, of course, I could fly across to DC the day after tomorrow. Drop it off. I’m sure he’d turn it round as quickly as possible.’

  ‘You don’t want to leave it for the cops, Maddie?’ Rosedale asked.

  ‘We can call them anonymously once we’ve left here, but it’s not like it’s this stuff that killed him. I’m curious to know what it is.’

  Rosedale peered closely at the white powder. ‘You don’t think it’s coke?’

  ‘No, do you? I mean it’s such a tiny wrap, perhaps a gram or so, if that. There’s no way you’re going to bother hiding such a small amount of coke, especially if you’re way out in the middle of nowhere. And then of course there’s all these bleach bottles. Makes me think… So, what do you say?’

  Rosedale said, ‘I say, whatever we need to do, we do.’

  81

  Nb4 Rc1

  ‘Eddie! Come here, buddy. It’s good to see you.’ Cooper ran up the stairs of the private Forensic Laboratory of Entomology and Archaeology in DC which Eddie ran and owned, two at a time. He gave his old friend a big hug. ‘Thanks for sorting this out so quickly. Eighteen hours, I’d say that’s almost your record… I’m sorry I missed you yesterday when I dropped it off, it would’ve been nice to go for a beer. It’s been too long.’

  ‘It’s been too long, Coop, because you keep ignoring my calls. The girls are really upset. They think they’ve done something wrong.’

  Trying to take Eddie seriously as he stood in a beaver costume, complete with giant buck teeth, Cooper said, ‘Why would they think that?’

  ‘Because they’re little girls and those little girls adore their Uncle Coop. So when you keep on promising to come over and see them and you don’t, well, what are they supposed to think? What are any of us supposed to think?’

  ‘Not that. Jesus, Eddie, you should’ve told me.’

  Eddie, a second generation Burmese, smiled sadly. ‘I did and so did Jennifer and so did Maddie. Jennifer thought you’d at least have come to see the new baby, seeing as you’re Godfather.’

  Cooper felt like he wanted to run, like he was being carpet-bombed with emotion. ‘Look, Ed, I’m on a bit of a clock here. I need to get back to Scottsdale, but how about…’

  Eddie put up his hand, which happened at that moment to be a huge beaver paw, and cut in. ‘How about you don’t make any more promises to me, and I don’t ask you anything as a friend, then nobody can disappoint.’

  ‘Eddie…’

  ‘No, Coop. You want my help to analyze any of your stuff, I’m right here. Anytime, dude. But anything else, I’m not available until it’s a two-way road.’

  The awkward silence certainly wasn’t helped by the giant teeth which hung down from the two-foot-high beaver’s head perched squarely on Eddie’s own head.

  Trying to break the tension, Cooper remarked, ‘Nice outfit by the way.’

  ‘Thanks. Jennifer and I are booked for a birthday party for a five-year-old later. He’s been in hospital for the past eight months. The parents got in touch with our charity, told us he loves all things wildlife.’

  ‘I think it’s great what you two do with the Wish Kids’ Party Foundation.’

  ‘Well, you have to pay it forward sometimes, don’t you? Some of us just aren’t born as lucky as others… Anyway, sadly I can only give you fifteen minutes, but I’ve got the results you wanted. I’ll show you.’

  Cooper followed Eddie into the small lab.

  ‘Did you have any ideas yourself what it might be?’

  Cooper shook his head. ‘No, not really, though obviously the first thing which comes to mind is coke or speed.’

  ‘Wrong on both counts. Not even close. It’s hyoscine hydrobromide, also known as scopolamine hydrobromide. They use it for motion sickness and postoperative nausea.’

  ‘So why would anyone try to hide it?’

  ‘Because there’s a darker side to it. You must’ve heard about it. They sometimes call it the truth drug, which is basically a colloquial name for a whole heap of psychoactive medications used to gain information from people. Maybe you’ll recognize the other name scopolamine goes by. The one they use in Latin America… Devil’s breath. The most dangerous drug in the world… Yeah, now you know what I’m talking about.’

  ‘I know a bit about it but not enough for it to make sense.’

  Eddie glanced up to the large red clock on the wall. ‘You want me to give you a little history of it, Coop?’

  ‘If you’ve got time.’

  ‘I’m okay for ten minutes… ’

  Cooper jumped up onto one of the work surfaces, listening to Eddie get into his stride.

  ‘It’s derived from a particular type of tree common to South America, but the main place it’s grown is Colombia. The most dangerous part of the tree are the seeds which, via a chemical process using bleach…’

  Cooper cut in. ‘Bleach?’

  ‘Yeah, there are a lot of similarities to how you go about making the drug, to that of how you make cocaine. But you need a hell of a lot of bleach because unlike coke, the smallest amount of scopolamine can do some real damage. Bleach will not only help the chemical process to make the scopolamine powder, but it’ll also help clean the whole place up. With this stuff you need to wash everything down. The guys that make this stuff illegally often do so naked, then wash themselves down in a solution of bleach to make sure they get rid of any trace… Anyway, once you’ve done all the processing, it’s pounded out and you’re left with a hell of a drug which basically puts the victim in a hypnotic trance.’

  ‘How’s it ad
ministrated?’

  ‘The perpetrator could blow it in somebody’s face, or put it in their drink or food. In a lot of the cases in Colombia the incident occurs in night clubs or bars, and what’s really disturbing, Coop, is that anyone could be a victim in a matter of moments, and put under the power, shall we say, of scopolamine. Happens within seconds. You then spend the next few hours, or however long it is, being a slave to the drug and the offender. Scopolamine basically robs a person of free will. Like a genie in a bottle under a person’s control. Doing anything they ask. Telling them anything they ask.’

  ‘And can you tell they’re under the influence of it? Do they look like they’re drunk or anything?’

  ‘No, you wouldn’t know. Which is scary, right? People who’ve ingested this drug lose their rational thinking, and are under the total command of whoever’s given it to them, but they don’t lose control over their bodies. It’s the mind only, and it’s a real problem in Colombia. Gangs are using it more and more to rob people, and prostitutes use it on their clients, so they can rob them. The victims really are acquiescent to any demands. Everything from being raped, emptying bank accounts… ’

  ‘How do they do that?’

  ‘It’s literally just a case of saying to the person, get some money out of the ATM, or what’s the pin number of your bank card? Hard to believe, but absolutely true. No question. There are even incidents of people donating, or rather being forced to provide, their own kidney. Coerced into giving up an organ. International organ trafficking is a big business of course, especially in Latin America.’

  ‘So could someone potentially take the victim somewhere, and get them to do something like give up their ATM number, or give up a special secret code even? Before taking them back to where they came from, without the person objecting, or anyone else around suspecting they’re under the drug’s control?’

  Eddie nodded his head vehemently. ‘Totally. Scopolamine is odorless and tasteless and the recipient becomes like a child, but after it wears off, the victims have no recollection of anything. Nothing. What they did or where they went or what they said. People can’t even identify the criminals responsible for administering it. The drug, basically, and put simply, blocks memories from forming. It’s like the blackout some people have when they’ve been drunk. They can’t remember anything.’

  Cooper spoke, half to himself. ‘That’s exactly what he said.’

  ‘Who?’

  ‘Oh, just this guy we’ve been speaking to.’

  Eddie talked as he collected up his things. ‘You know, interestingly, the CIA used it in the Cold War.’

  ‘The CIA?’

  ‘Yeah, and the Soviets… You okay, Coop?’

  ‘Sorry, yeah. I’m just thinking.’

  ‘You know, from a forensic point of view, I’d say it’s the perfect substance to commit criminal acts, because the victim won’t realize what’s happening and won’t remember anything either. It’s a hell of a drug if you’re a criminal. Plus, there’s the added bonus that it’s not detected in your blood stream. Only a special kind of hair strand test can do that. So if you’re not looking, or don’t know you should be looking for scopolamine, you sure as hell won’t find it.’

  ‘Could you?’

  ‘Find it?’

  ‘No, do the hair strand test? Could you do it here?’ Cooper said.

  ‘Yeah, sure.’

  ‘Once I’ve got the strand, I’ll courier it over. But I’ll call you direct for the results, I don’t want Granger knowing anything about this.’

  Eddie said, ‘When do you? That man really isn’t the one running the show, is he?’

  Cooper smiled. ‘As long as he thinks he is, that’s all that matters. Thanks for everything. You’ve been brilliant… And Eddie, I know I’m not a good friend, and I’m truly sorry. Sorrier than you’ll ever know.’

  ALABAMA, USA

  82

  Nd5 Kf7

  Sitting in the rental car outside Senator Rubins’ house, Maddie watched Rosedale talk on his cell a few meters away, whilst the AC blew out and Cora played with three curious looking worms she’d found in the forecourt of the diner they’d been too thirty miles back, whilst Cooper covered his face with Rosedale’s hat, lightly falling in and out of sleep.

  Clicking off his cell, Rosedale walked up to the car. Leant his arm against it and immediately regretted it as the hot metal of the car roof burnt his arm.

  Wiping the sweat from his forehead with the blue handkerchief which had been tied round his neck only moments earlier, he said, ‘So I managed to get an ID on who our guy is. Rather who he was. Turns out his name was Harry Gibson. Ex-CIA.’

  ‘Seriously?’ Maddie said.

  ‘Yeah and this is where it begins to get stranger. I knew him. Or rather I knew of him. He was a fantastic agent, great reputation and he had his head straight – which, let me tell you, isn’t easy when you spend your life working clandestine. Anyhow, next thing everyone knows the guy’s in the slammer in Saudi. Turns out he had a thing for young boys. Really young boys.’

  Maddie glanced at Cora who was quietly chattering away to the worms.

  ‘Rosedale, watch what you’re saying.’

  ‘Big mouth. Sorry. Anyway, he was given a long-ass sentence.’

  ‘No more than he deserved.’

  ‘Right. But here’s the thing, Maddison – and of course I haven’t seen any evidence and the guy could be as guilty as sins in southern hell – but I do remember at around the same time there was a rumor going round about how Gibson wanted to whistle-blow. Apparently he was unhappy about what was going on in one of the black sites. You know, enhanced interrogation ,and the use of illegal substances on the prisoners. But his main beef was with one person in particular. The guy in charge. A certain Mr Chuck Harrison.’

  ‘No kidding?’

  ‘No, honey, none whatsoever.’

  Hearing the word, honey, Cooper stirred and took off the hat covering his face and and turned to stare at Rosedal,e as Maddie continued to talk.

  ‘So when was he released from Saudi?’

  ‘He wasn’t. Or he wasn’t supposed to have been.’

  ‘You think our government brought him back on the quiet?’

  ‘No. No way. But somebody else did. Someone with influence.’

  ‘You’re not thinking Senator Rubins, are you?’ Maddie said.

  ‘No,’ said Rosedale. ‘I think he’s an innocent party in this. Rather that’s how it looks, but how it looks isn’t always as it seems.’

  ‘But the upshot is,’ said Cooper, ‘Gibson ends up hiding out in the woods and most likely making scopolamine.’

  ‘Yep.’

  Maddie pulled a face. ‘Not exactly a life, is it?’

  ‘It’s a life away from a Saudi prison. Those woods were paradise in comparison.’

  ‘But of course all this needed somebody else behind it, because he needed money. Clothes, food. Everyday essentials to live.’

  Rosedale lit his cigar and took a deep drag and snatched back his hat from Cooper. ‘Give me that… Sorry, Maddie… And you’re right, because I’m betting Gibson was both desperate and grateful, but also completely reliant on whoever had got him out of prison. Because let’s face it, it’s not like the guy could go and get a job and be out and about much; he’d have to work some big favors and do stuff in return.’

  ‘Like finding out about the Senator’s movements and then setting about drugging him.’

  Blowing out the cigar smoke, Rosedale said, ‘Baby, you got it.’

  83

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  Pleased to be away from Maddie and Rosedale, Cooper leant his head on the Senator’s front door. Dreams of Ellie had come thick and fast through the night and he was struggling. Tired. Everything felt too much. Cora. Maddie. Even the trip to Eddie had taken what little energy he had. And the only thing which was keeping him standing, keeping him going, were the pills. The Goddamn pills he hated and despised and reviled and couldn’t wait to be rid of a
nd couldn’t live without. ‘Goddamn it! Goddamn it!’

  Senator Rubins flung open the door, which in turn flung Cooper forward, straight into the Senator’s large round body. Rubins looked shocked. ‘I thought I heard somebody. You okay?’

  Straightening himself up but not looking Rubins in the eye, Cooper shrugged. ‘Yeah, sorry, I was doing my lace. Lost my balance. Must be getting old.’

  ‘Come on through…’

  Cooper followed the Senator into his office as the Senator continued to talk.

  ‘… You want a drink of water, Cooper? Iced tea? The Alabama heat still gets to me sometimes.’

  ‘No thanks, the others are waiting in the car, but I appreciate you putting time aside to see us again. As I said on the phone I won’t keep you long… I need to take a small sample of your hair, Senator, so we can get it analyzed.’

  A combination of shock and concern passed over Rubins’ face. ‘What! Why? You need to tell me what the hell is going on. I haven’t mentioned the incident to anybody yet, but I will do if I don’t start getting answers because when you start asking me for hair samples, then I begin to worry there’s a whole lot more that you’re not telling me.’ Rubins stopped and then as an afterthought added, ‘I’ve just got back from a security briefing with the head of CTC. It was about other matters of course, but it was very tempting to speak to him about what happened to me.’

  Cooper kept his voice even. ‘I take it we’re talking about Chuck Harrison.’

  Rubins nodded. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Then I’d say it’s doubly important not to voice anything. Just act as if you don’t know what’s going on.’

  Leaning his large behind on the rosewood desk, Rubins narrowed his eyes. ‘Well, that won’t be difficult, seeing as I don’t know anything. You do realize this is a very difficult position I’m in. I don’t want to be compromising myself in any way, and now you’re asking for a hair sample from me… How do I know I can trust you, Cooper? You’ve got to understand what happened to me is very troubling, especially given my position.’

  ‘Senator, we realize this is a big ask, but it’s vital at this point to keep it to yourself. Once we know more, then it’ll be down to you to decide what you want to do with the information.’