Blue Coyote Motel (42 page)

Ralph pulled the handle on the lab door, bracing himself for a possible confrontation with Jeffrey. Ralph was a big man who worked out with weights whenever he was at home and if Jeffrey had caused Maria any pain, he would be sorry. The pedestal Ralph had placed Maria on was pretty high and he was prepared to keep her on it.

As soon as he opened the laboratory door, Ralph smelled Jeffrey before he saw him. Ralph had served in the Marines in Iraq and he recognized the smell of death. He found himself detaching, doing exactly what he had learned to do in Iraq to keep the horror of the war at bay. He simply took notice of Jeffrey, the gunshot wound, the pooled dried blood, and the remnants of food. Nothing could be done for Jeffrey. He closed the door and went up the stairs, taking a deep breath of the clear desert air when he got outside. The air in the lab had been stifling.

He dialed 911 on his cell phone. The dispatcher answered on the first ring. "My name is Ralph Martin. I'm a trucker and I stopped at the Blue Coyote Motel out on Interstate 10 for a cup of coffee. There's no one here and it looks like there's been a murder."

"Stay where you are. Don't touch anything. There's a patrol car in the area and they'll be there shortly," the dispatcher said.

When he hung up, Ralph began to look for Maria. If someone had killed Jeffrey, maybe Maria had been hurt as well. Maybe someone had taken her. He looked in each of the motel rooms, the refreshment area, and behind and in front of the motel. He looked in the pool and in the bushes around the area. There was no sign of Maria. He knew she drove a van, which was also gone.

Twenty minutes later, a patrol car pulled into the parking lot, red lights on and siren going full blast. A few minutes later, two more patrol cars pulled into the lot. A deputy sheriff got out and walked over to Ralph, introduced himself, and shook Ralph's hand. "Mr. Martin, I'll need you to tell me what you've seen and what you know about this place. I've driven by it a hundred times, but I've never stopped here."

After telling the officer who he was, why he was there, and what he had seen, Ralph took the officer to the steps that led to the basement laboratory. He had seen enough and let the officer go down on his own. A few minutes later the officer walked back up the stairs, cell phone in hand. He turned to Ralph. "I just called the dispatcher. They're sending a detective out here along with someone from the coroner's office. I need you to stay and talk to the detective. It will take a while for him to get here, so please be patient."

Soon another car pulled into the parking lot. Detective Lawrence got out of the car, introduced himself to Ralph and asked him to show him where the body was located. Ralph told him he’d show him the room where the body was, but that he’d seen enough of death and that he’d remain outside the lab if the detective wanted to talk to him. The detective began examining Jeffrey's dead body, trying to get some idea of when and how the victim had died. Because of the gaping hole in his chest and lack of powder burns on his body, it seemed unlikely that Jeffrey had committed suicide. The size and position of the gunshot wound indicated that the fatal round had been fired at close range, probably around five feet. There was such a look of disbelief on Jeffrey's face that the detective could easily believe that he had known the murderer. He noticed that the decedent was wearing a wedding ring. In cases like this, the obvious starting place was the spouse and since the spouse was nowhere around the area, a massive search for her would begin immediately.

Detective Lawrence then asked the other deputies to enter the lab. Ralph could hear the detective talking to his men, telling them what he wanted done. In a few minutes he came out of the lab and asked Ralph to go upstairs with him. His men had started collecting evidence at the crime scene. The coroner arrived to take the body to the morgue. Deputy Lawrence showed him where the stairs were located that led to the lab and Jeffrey's body.

Then he turned to Ralph and said, "I'm going to need a statement from you since you're the one who discovered the body. I also want to know anything you can tell me about the motel, the owners, guests, if you know, and anything else that might be relevant."

For the next hour, Ralph told the deputy everything he knew. The only thing he omitted was his secret love for Maria. That wasn't relevant. He did tell the detective that he was worried about her and how out of character it was for her not to be present on the premises. He told the deputy that the van she drove was also gone.

When they were finally finished, Ralph drove his big rig as fast as he legally could to Phoenix. He'd lost valuable time on his run, even though he had a good excuse. In his business, time was money, and he had just squandered both.

CHAPTER 39

Two weeks after Jeffrey's death, as Sean got ready to go to the clinic, he unplugged his cell phone from the charger and noticed that he had missed a call that had come in a few minutes earlier. The number wasn't one he knew and he couldn't place the area code. He returned the call, figuring it was someone who wanted him to speak to their group about the clinic.

"This is Detective Lawrence," the voice on the other end said.

"Hello Detective, I'm Sean Moriarty. I believe you called me a few minutes ago. How can I help you?"

Detective Lawrence continued, "Mr. Moriarty, I'm investigating the murder of Jeffrey Brooks, the owner of the Blue Coyote Motel. The records we got from the motel computer indicate that you were a guest there on two occasions. I was wondering if you could tell me anything that might help with the investigation. Have you ever met the owner, Jeffrey Brooks? He lived on the property with his wife, Maria, who is missing. She closed out their bank accounts, abandoned her van, and flew first to Paris, then on to Marseille. Her trail ends there. Did you ever talk to her about her husband, their life, France, or anything else that might shed some light on this case?"

Sean quickly made a decision not to reveal anything he knew about the Blue Coyote Motel. As a psychologist, he was a keeper of secrets and there was nothing to be learned from the secrets he carried about the motel.

"Detective, I wish I could help you. I stayed there twice. It was a convenient place to stay when I was on the road between Los Angeles and Phoenix. I never met Jeffrey. My dealings were always with Maria, who seemed like a lovely young woman. I'm sorry for the loss of her husband. There must be some explanation for her leaving. I certainly never had the impression that she was anything other than a loving wife. Once I overheard her talking to someone about her husband. It seemed that she was concerned about his mental health, but that's just about the extent of my knowledge. Could he have committed suicide?" Sean asked.

"No. Our tests clearly indicate he was killed by a gunshot to the chest, but it was not self-inflicted. From the looks of him, he may have had a mental breakdown. Who knows? Maybe it was too much for her. Well, thanks. You have my number in case you think of anything else," Detective Lawrence said.

Sean texted the other guests who had been at the motel that Memorial Day weekend. He told them not to answer their phones and that he wanted all of them to join him in a conference call in two hours. He gave them the number to call and the code.

He didn't feel good about lying to the detective. He had met Jeffrey, but what use would it be to dredge up the Freedom gas, the Freedom pills, and the work that he was now doing with Sam, Luisa, and Jill? Enough pain had come to all of them. They didn't need to be involved and there was nothing that any of them could do for Jeffrey or Maria.

Sean justified his lie to the detective by telling himself that what he knew was privileged information. There was a legal right and requirement for him to keep confidential any communications between a psychologist and his patient. In reality, wasn't he doing therapy with all of them when they talked on Wednesday nights? He was well aware that a psychologist had the same confidential rights as a lawyer. Information about the patient could not be released unless the patient was intending to do harm to another. None of his "patients" were intent on harm. They were just trying to help themselves and doing a very good job of it.

Two hours later, with all of the Blue Coyote guests on the line in the conference call Sean had arranged, he told them about his conversation with Detective Lawrence. No one was surprised that Jeffrey had been murdered, but everyone was surprised that Maria was a person of interest. Everyone had liked her and there was concern for her safety and hope that time would reveal that someone other than Maria had committed the crime.

Their collective lives were going well and their addiction to Freedom was slowly fading. Sean had made it clear to them that they were the victims of an unintentional addiction. Theirs wasn't anything like other people who were addicted to cocaine, alcohol, or other controlled substances. None of them had willingly taken or sought the drug in the beginning. They had no idea that they were even inhaling a drug into their systems. Even though some of them had taken Freedom after their second visit to the Blue Coyote, what had changed in the last few hours was that they could never get Freedom again, so a relapse wasn't possible.

Sean told them to expect a phone call from Detective Lawrence and the position he had taken with the detective. He suggested they all do the same. There was nothing to be gained from telling the detective about Freedom. He told them he had lied about not meeting Jeffrey, but was loosely justifying it as part of the psychologist-patient confidentiality requirement. None of them wanted to get involved and they readily agreed to follow Sean's suggestions.

They said their good-byes and hung up, knowing they would "see" Sean on Wednesday at 9:00 p.m. Five minutes later, Sean's phone rang.

"It’s Doug. I need to talk to you. I guess I'm the only one still taking the Freedom pills, but from what you said a few minutes ago, I won't be able to take them any longer. I took the last pill I had several weeks ago and was just getting ready to write a check to Jeffrey for another three months' supply. I couldn't afford a larger supply. Now I'm going to have to adjust my lifestyle and learn to get along without Freedom. Would it be possible for me to join your group?"

Sean replied, "Of course. We talk via Skype Wednesdays at 9:00 p.m. If you don't have it, get it installed. Our weekly sessions have been very successful. You're probably going to have a few uncomfortable weeks, but soon the whole thing will seem like a bad dream from the past. I remember you told me how wonderful your life has become. At the time, you didn't know it was because of the drug, but trust me, you can still maintain the good life you've made for yourself and you can do it without the drug.

"The others have all made it and so can you. Your body is going to go through a period of withdrawal. The Freedom drug is just that, a drug, and your body will experience withdrawal from an addictive substance. For a time, your body's going to crave the substance, but it will adjust to not having it and you'll get on with the business of life. I know it will work and welcome to our group. When you get to know all the people in the group better, you'll come to really like them. They're human. We all are."

Sean found Jeanne looking out the window at the snow beginning to pile up in the driveway. It had been a cold late winter in Denver. It felt good to be inside with a warm fire and the woman he had come to adore standing next to him. His past life, the alcohol problems, the young boys, the church, they all seemed like a distant memory. He had been one of the lucky ones. He silently vowed to help each member of his Wednesday group achieve the peace and love of life he felt. 

CHAPTER 40

Detective Lawrence called Ralph on his cell phone two weeks later. "I told you I'd let you know if we found anything out about Maria. It looks like she left the country. She cleaned out their bank accounts, abandoned her van at a Wal-Mart on the outskirts of Phoenix, took a flight to Paris and then on to Marseille. Obviously, we don't have jurisdiction there and even if we did, we'd have to find her first.

"We haven't found the gun yet, but her fingerprints are all over the lab and everywhere else. So far we haven't found any signs that anyone else was ever in the lab. The bits of food we found on the plate in the lab match the food prepared in the kitchen behind the office. Looks like Maria took him a meal and then we just don't know. I'd feel a lot better if she hadn't skipped.

"There's something else. Evidently the decedent, Jeffrey Brooks, was a brilliant scientist. He was even touted as being a future Nobel Prize winner for his work on an anti-aging hormone. The company where he used to work, an outfit called Moore Scientific Laboratories, says he quit because of medical reasons. The unofficial word on the street was that he was giving the anti-aging hormone he had discovered to Maria, his beautiful wife. Evidently he violated company policy when he gave her the hormone and they fired him. They gave him a large sum of money so he wouldn't sell the formula to some other drug company.

"There's talk that he had become mentally unhinged, although we don't have any direct evidence of that. Anyway, that would be very hard to determine unless someone had been around him lately. From what we've been able to find out, he never left the motel, so we haven't run across anyone who saw him. Maria dealt with the public, handled the banking, and bought everything that was needed for the motel.

We found a computer in the reception area with information for the motel guests on it and we've already started contacting each of them to see if anyone has any information about Maria or her deceased husband, Jeffrey. So far it's been a dead end. The coroner did an autopsy on his body to see if he'd taken any drugs, but it'll take a couple more days to get those results. If you think of anything else, let me know and again, thanks for your help."