Page 99 of Night Watch
“Then they’d likely have to be connected to a research lab to have perfected these.”
“Absolutely. It’s not as simple as just putting tablets that you’d find at her house into the denture. It would need to be calibrated to dispense the right dosage. So if we find the heart meds in the dentures, we’ll have a limited number of people who would have the right knowledge to pull this off.”
He shook his head and smiled. “You are simply amazing, you know that?”
Color rose over her face, and she waved her hand to dismiss the compliment. “I just keep up on research and developments.”
“Still, it’s incredible that you thought of using the denture to look for Wanda’s meds.”
“Not sure incredible is the word.” She wrinkled her nose. “More like a crazy way my brain sees everyday things and figures out how they can be used to commit a crime.”
“Well, I for one, am glad you’re crazy.” He handed over the evidence bag. “I assume you can test for the meds here.”
“Yes. If it’s in the denture material, I’ll find it.” She pulled a sheet of white paper over the table and took the denture plate from the box. “I’ll have to crack this open to see if it includes microspheres. They protect the drug during the heat printing process and allow the release of medication as they gradually degrade.”
Excitement burned in Erik’s gut. He’d finally be able to prove that Wanda was murdered. She hadn’t died of suicide or incompetence, just like Kennedy had asserted all along. “What if inDents was experimenting with this heart medicine, and Wanda was trialing it for the company? Then these microspheres degraded faster than planned and gave her a serious overdose.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.” Maya looked up. “No offense, but I’ll do this quicker if you don’t watch me.”
“I’ll take off.”
“I’ll text you the second I know anything.”
“Will it be tonight?”
She nodded but didn’t look up.
He left the lab and took the stairs to his place. If Maya was right, he might still have time to tell Kennedy in person what had happened to her mother.
He opened his condo door and caught a faint hint of her coconut smell. His gut twisted, but then he heard Pong whimpering from his crate. The little fella would be a distraction from pain. The past few days, Erik had taken him out for bathroom breaks when needed but neglected the long walks the dog liked to take. That was going to change right now.
Erik opened the crate door. “Ready for a walk.”
Pong danced then sat as if he knew dancing wasn’t proper behavior for a trained dog.
Erik ruffled his scruff. “It’s okay, boy. At least one of us should be happy.”
Erik clicked on Pong’s leash, and they were soon out in the clear night, temps in the seventies. Erik should be enjoying his walk, but with the lack of focus came more thoughts of Kennedy. He had to do something to clear his mind.
“Let’s run, boy.” Erik started off, his tactical boots heavier than the athletic shoes he’d left in his condo, but soon the miles disappeared beneath his feet to the sound of paws clicking on the sidewalk. Perspiration coated his body, and his muscles strained, the punishment feeling good. And no signs of illness from anthrax. He felt perfectly fine.
Please keep it that way. For Kennedy too.
His phone pealed into the night, disturbing the peace. He came to a stop, his breathing sharp and fast. Maya’s name appeared on the screen, and he answered.
“I hope you have good news,” he got out between deep breaths.
“We were right! The dentures contained Wanda’s heart meds.”
“Finally.” He huffed out a breath and dragged in another. “An answer. So maybe she wasn’t murdered, and it was all a horrible accident.”
“If so, inDents needs to be held accountable for it.”
“Yeah,” Erik said, his focus on Pong, who was probably hot and thirsty. “I need to find out who they are and make sure they pay.”
He ended the call and turned to race back home. Pong kept up beside him, the patter of his paws like a clock ticking away and matching the thoughts pinging through Erik’s brain.
Could Jeremy Miller have been stealing the denture to keep anyone from discovering the medicine? Had Wanda’s boyfriend known about the trial? Had inDents killed him to cover it up?
