by L Jan Eira
“But some of these cases happened in other counties many miles from here. How would he be involved? What times are these murders taking place?”
“The times vary from early morning to late evening,” said Jack, reading quickly through several pages where he had summarized the information.
“OK, this doesn’t tell us a whole lot,” said Claire. “He’s in town, but we can’t put him at the scene of the crime.” She took a sip from her coffee. “And we still don’t have a motive.”
Jack smirked and pointed at Rupert’s calendar. “We may have just established opportunity.”
Claire nodded. “This all suggests to me he may not be working alone.”
“Let’s review the IRB research files,” said Jack, picking up a stack of files. “That may give us some clues.”
“Go through all these research projects and explain them to me, one by one,” said Claire.
And so he did. The first three folders reflected ongoing trials involving gene manipulation in the pig model, in the unrelenting fight against different cancers. Jack made extensive notes about each study, including lab personnel involved, equipment required, and anticipated costs. At each turn, Jack explained to Claire the intricate workings of the particular protocol.
The next folder consisted of several studies involving human research with the novel drug for angina, JAC272. This agent had shown significant promise in earlier short-term investigations, allowing patients to be able to perform more physical activities despite their atherosclerosis.
There was an ongoing trial in humans assessing the utility of cardiac magnetic resonance and computerized tomography imaging to evaluate patients with different types of chest discomfort.
“Ah, here it is,” said Jack, his attention piqued. “This is that new drug John told us about, the one to treat patients with congestive heart failure. The folder contained information about how to surgically manipulate the rats to create a heart-failure model.” Jack skimmed through and read certain portions aloud. “The heart is exposed…dissection of the left anterior descending coronary artery…the main arterial supply to the front of the heart…This vessel is tied off, causing the rodents to have a myocardial infarction in the anterior wall…”
“What’s all that mean?” said Claire.
“This is how they develop the heart-failure model in the rat,” said Jack. “Here we go…The surviving animals will then be randomized to receive an intravenous dose of placebo or L-F-J-six-five-nine. The dose-determining initial research efforts have been difficult…”
“You’re killing me, Jack. Get to the good stuff.”
Jack continued skimming through and data mining the manuscript. “Initial cost estimates for this phase have been underestimated, and petitions were made for additional capital…Many more rats than initially estimated were necessary to complete this phase.”
“The infamous Rat Poison drug, right?” said Claire.
“Yeah,” said Jack, only half paying attention to Claire, his mind focused on the report he was surveying. “The reason for this remained ambiguous…Different protocols are now ongoing to fully evaluate the effects of the drug…” Jack’s eyes met Claire’s. “It says here, ‘Rats treated with this agent over two to three weeks fared better than the control counterparts; they could walk longer distances, for longer periods, and have less fatigue and fewer incidences of sudden cardiac arrest.’ So this is where they received IRB permission to conduct the experiment on humans.”
“Anything else out of the ordinary?”
Jack’s index finger and gaze continued to scan the words. “I’m looking to see what happened to the rats given a high dose of L-F-J-six-five-nine.” More perusing. “Ah, here it is…listen to this…‘Rats administered’… blah, blah, blah…‘developed aggressive and violent destructive behavior’…blah, blah, blah…‘mutilating their family counterparts.’” Jack’s eyes veered from the page to face Claire. “If Rat Poison does this to rats, why wouldn’t it do it in humans?”
“Did they recruit any humans into that study?” said Claire.
“I don’t know,” said Jack. “I don’t have any data here, only the ILR consent. They received this a few weeks ago, so presumably they began the study with humans, I guess.” He put the chart down. “This is all starting to make sense.”
“Look through the other studies in case there are important things in there as well.”
Jack glanced through the remaining charts and settled on one, which he scrutinized for a long moment. “This study is the one where they’ve come up with a way to insert medications into tiny bubbles. This one experiment in pigs with liver cancer is delivering chemotherapy right to the site of the malignancy. Nuclear-tagged molecules in the bubbles that allow tracking throughout the body. When the bubbles reach the site of the cancer in the liver, they use ultrasonic waves at a prespecified frequency to burst the bubbles, allowing release of a high concentration of the chemotherapeutic drug right where they want it.” Jack’s eyes scanned the paperwork in the folder. “They dial in the correct frequency and bang. This is expected to cut down significantly on systemic side effects. They are putting the medication right where it is needed, so it doesn’t affect other organs. Neat, huh?”
“This could be how the bad guys deliver the Rat Poison drug,” said Claire.
“I think so. Detonate the bubbles full of Rat Poison at the precise moment and transform a good law-abiding man into a hypermonster.” Jack slowly shook his head. The two sat there, hushed and flummoxed.
“What’s our next move?” asked Claire, breaking the long moment of silence.
“Now we have to prove this beyond the shadow of any doubt,” said Jack.
“That’s for the cops to do!”
“We have the methodology,” said Jack, his eyes in a squint. “But not the doer.”
“Or doers,” said Claire. “Let’s look at Rupert’s calendar entries again. I saw some unusual writing on the edge of the page.”
Jack looked through the copies he had made from the calendar. “Rupert wrote down two names on the edge of the calendar. One is a Major Wayne Rooner. Who could he be? A cop? A soldier? Boy Scout troop leader?”
Claire smiled. “Maybe he’s an air force pilot? Why don’t you ask the cops?”
“I will. The other name written on the side is Muhammad Akrim.”
“Did they have meetings? If so, when and why?”
“Couldn’t tell you.” Jack walked to his computer, hit the Escape button to wake it up, and Googled the names “Major Wayne Rooner” and “Muhammad Akrim.”
Claire followed him and watched in anticipation. “Nothing,” she said. “How can there be nothing at all on these two?”
“I thought everybody in the world had at least one line in the Google search engine.”
“Not if you want to be under the radar.”
“So these two are probably not regular people, are they?”
“And I bet they’re dangerous,” said Claire. “I do hope we’re not getting involved with wicked criminals.”
“We’re investigating murders, Claire,” said Jack. “We’re getting involved with criminals.”
CHAPTER 27
The meeting room quieted down, and Detective Fuller gave Jack the nod he was waiting for. Jack stood up and began the report he was eager to deliver to the cops.
“I reviewed the medical records in detail. I also looked into the ongoing research projects at Newton Memorial over the last year. The whole thing starts with different trials whereby the number of rats being purchased for experimentation skyrockets for about three months. As this starts to taper off, the money required to purchase rats decreases to its usual baseline.
“Soon afterward, we start to see a spike in the number of inpatients dying of unusual causes at Newton Memorial. After the inpatients start dying, we see the out-of-hospital casualties of equally bizarre circumstances. It is noteworthy that these were all men of a similar age group and previously in good health. Death
s were premature, freakish, unexplained, and marked by confusion, paranoia, and bizarre behavior. The causes of death have been acute heart attack, intracranial bleeding, acute aortic dissection, and cardiac arrest occurring in patients who had just been studied in the hospital and discharged with markers of a good prognosis. The tests are not one hundred percent foolproof, but for so many patients to have tested normal and go on to die so soon afterward is implausible. These circumstances have all the ingredients of a research study. It is methodical and systematic.” Jack sat down and waited for comments and questions.
“Solid work, Jack,” said Fuller, getting up. “This does seem to provide some pretty convincing evidence that the hospital is the source of the crimes. Specifically, the research laboratory.”
“I don’t think we have proof that the research lab is involved. It could be that an employee anywhere in the hospital is scoping out the patients.” interjected Agent Mike Ganz.
“True, but I think that’s where we must concentrate our efforts first. We have to start somewhere,” added Fuller.
“What about motive?” asked Quentin.
“Until proved otherwise, motive is almost always money. Who would stand to gain financially?” said Fuller.
“The head of the department, Dr. Ian Rupert. Have you interrogated him yet?” asked Jack.
“No, but I think we need to,” said Fuller.
“We don’t have enough to compel him to talk. We should wait and get more information,” said Ganz.
“I think we have enough to ask him to come in for a brief discussion,” disagreed Fuller.
“You’ll be tipping him off to our strategy and investigative direction. I would wait,” rebutted Ganz.
“OK, I will bow to your learned opinion, Mike.” Fuller looked at Quentin, then back at Ganz.
“What did we get from reinterviewing all the people at the crime scene?” asked Ganz after a short moment.
“I spoke with a nurse who recalled seeing Dr. Rupert the morning of the murders,” said Quentin. She paused for a beat to look through her notes.
“What did you find out?” said Fuller.
Quentin’s eyes drifted from her notebook to Fuller’s. “Joan Wally was one of the nurses on duty the shift of the murders. She recalls seeing a man in a gray suit. When I showed her Rupert’s picture, she became convinced it was him she saw that morning.” Quentin looked up from her notes and scanned the room. “It was a little before six o’clock in the morning. He had a small bag with him. He looked through the charts and heart monitors for several minutes. He paged Dr. John Connor and asked him to come up to the unit. She recalls hearing him say that he wanted Dr. Connor to see Butterworth. She remembers seeing Rupert leave the unit with a small device in his hand. A few minutes later, Ms. Wally had to go to the blood bank to get two units of blood for her patient, Christine Rickman. The nurse recalls it was odd to see Rupert in the waiting room, hiding behind a large column. As she walked by, she noticed he was concentrating and working on a small handheld device.” Quentin’s gaze found Jack’s. “Why stand behind a column? There was no one in the waiting room. There was no one to hide from.”
“Interesting observations,” said Jack. “The gadget the nurse noticed in Rupert’s hand was a handheld unit that sends out a certain preprogrammed frequency that bursts tiny bubbles filled with a drug they coined Rat Poison. He first—”
“Stop right there,” yelled Ganz, standing up. “How do you know this information?”
“I obtained the research files from the IRB office,” said Jack, his eyebrows furrowing.
“Don’t share any of that with us,” said Ganz. “You obtained that information illegally. If we know or act on that, the case will be thrown out of court.”
“Why should that be?” asked Jack.
“You’re now an agent of the police,” said Ganz. “You’re here meeting with us and…” Ganz turned to Fuller. “This is exactly why I was against having him here, Herb.”
“Yeah, Jack,” said Fuller. “Hold off on telling us about what you found on your own investigation. We’ll check with the DA and see what, if any of it, we can act upon. Then we’ll get it all from you.”
“We have to gather information based on legally obtained processes,” said Ganz. “Jack, I want you to stop investigating completely on your own. You’re just making it easy for the bad guys to go free after our hard work to apprehend them.”
Fuller nodded. “Go on, Suzy. What else did the nurse tell you?”
“She proceeded to the blood bank. When she was on her way back, she heard gunshots coming from the CCU. She ran away and called the police from a phone downstairs. Afraid of what was happening, she did not return to the crime scene. This is why we didn’t interview her the first time.”
“Hmm,” said Fuller, his eyes peeping behind a squint. “Any fingerprints on the gun or shell casings other than the perp’s?”
“No, none at all,” said Ganz. “And nothing on the FBI ballistic database.” Ganz’s jaw muscles tightened. “The weapon continues to be a no-show.”
Fuller got up and scanned the audience. “It does look like Rupert had the opportunity to have given Butterworth the gun.”
“Yes, but again this is not conclusive. We need more,” said Ganz, his air cocksure confident.
“What’s our next step?” asked Quentin.
“We’ll reinterview the lab personnel,” said Ganz. “I would like to interview the nurse Susan talked about and see if I can get any more from her.”
“OK, Mike, go over and talk to Nurse Wally again,” said Fuller. “Then work on the gun aspect of things. I feel the gun is the key to this whole ordeal.” Ganz nodded. Fuller began walking toward the exit. “We’ll go to the research lab and see what we find there.”
CHAPTER 28
The doors to the research lab were locked. The police, pending a search, had secured the department. Yellow tape crisscrossed the door, declaring it off limits to all but the authorities and their designees. Detectives Fuller and Quentin approached the door, Jack right behind them.
Fuller took a deep breath. “Breathe the fresh air out here,” he said. “In there the air is…not as fresh.” Fuller held up the yellow tape while Quentin unlocked the door. The animal cages were still there.
“I figured you guys took all the animals somewhere else,” said Jack.
“We don’t have the facilities. We have the SPCA come here daily and take care of the animals. It’s working out all right,” said Quentin.
“SPCA?” asked Jack.
“The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,” Quentin explained.
They started to snoop around in different directions as soon as the lights to the large room came on, showering brightness everywhere. Fuller and Quentin began with the offices, the first of which was that of the laboratory chief, James Miller. This was the second go-around. The CSI people had been through taking pictures, drawing schematics of each room, and taking inventory.
The invoices and requisition forms for the purchase of the animals necessary to run the lab were found here. This reestablished that the number of rats sacrificed in experimentation had spiked up tremendously earlier in the year, occurring right before the murders began. This lent confirmation to the notion that the murders were merely the continuation of a bleak killer experiment transferred from the animal lab to the male humans at large. Not actually at large, since the chosen ones had been selected from people who had required services at the hospital. The cardiac examination of these men had actually served to certify that they were indeed good specimens for research. Good enough to be killed.
While the detectives nosed around the offices looking for paperwork, Jack searched for the lab equipment. He wanted to see with his own two eyes what he had read about the night before.
“Where are you, you instruments of macabre, poisonous research efforts?” Jack whispered to no one as he entered one of the rooms. The equipment in the lab was much like that of a surgical
suite with which he was very familiar. Jack continued to browse, stepping farther and farther away from the detectives.
Several minutes later, Jack rushed into Miller’s office. He held in his excitement.
Fuller was speaking. “There’s a large folder of invoices from a company called MultiTech, Inc.” Quentin made note of this name. Fuller continued. “Looking through the invoices, it looks like this company manufactures research drugs. Suzy, will you call the station and request that these folders and all others be taken to the police station for further detailed analysis.”
Jack then noticed a moment’s silence, so he spoke from the entryway into the office, his voice anxious. “Herb and Susan, come look at this.”
Intrigued, the detectives followed Jack to an area where a large ultrasound machine was the focus in the room. In a cabinet nearby were two devices.
“This unit, labeled Bubble Maker, is used to compose tiny bubbles, which could be filled with any material or drug,” said Jack. “John Connor had told me about this before he was…”
Quentin and Fuller nodded, their eyes shifting from Jack’s gaze to the Bubble Maker. The detectives walked around to view the machine from all angles.
“This other small handheld device, labeled Radiofrequency Sonicator, breaks the bubbles by emitting a predefined frequency.” This unit comprised a small round dial demonstrating a series of numbers corresponding to the frequencies.
“This is what you were talking about before, right?” said Quentin.
“Since we’re discovering it now, legally this time, go ahead and fill us in on what you know,” said Fuller.
“The idea is that the tiny bubbles are filled with a specific drug and then are injected into a vein. The bubbles circulate throughout the body, but the drug remains contained inside the bubbles.” Jack’s gaze scanned the detectives’ eyes and then landed back on the two devices on display. “Using ultrasound, the doctors can visualize when the bubbles reach a certain organ, say a cancer in the liver. At that point, the bubbles are burst open using this high-frequency emitter. This allows the medication to be delivered right to where it’s needed in high concentration and eliminates systemic issues. Theoretically, this system should cut down a lot on side effects of chemotherapy.”