Chapter 14
"Fine," the woman said through gritted teeth. "The farm is a pet project of his. He and his friends decided they wanted to start a little outfit—an extension of the one in South America. But they didn't have a supply of the potions, so I don't know how they did it, but they found a way.
They found a way to bring the head of the Coven into the country. It was only for a brief moment. I hear you cannot move her far away from here for long. Finally, she's here, and they were able to bless the herbs they had, and then blessed…"
"Blessed? I don't understand."
"Without the blessing of the head of the Coven, the potion will not last as long. You would keep having to freeze it, but with the potion being blessed… All of this was explained to me by my husband, so it's not going to sound as original…"
"Just tell me."
"The Witch blessed the potion; they took her right back to South America shortly after they were fully operational. Every other batch of potions they made was just as potent, and of course, free labor. Of course, this meant Robert's profits were beyond reasonable. It was nearly 100%.
The land was something that was in the family and popped up something that could also grow anywhere. He started to make and manufacture the drugs here. Okay, meth, you name it—everything. His friends helped him with the distribution, exportation, amongst other things, and it was very easy for my husband to rise within the societies as an affluent man."
"Really? I had no choice. Did you try to run? It's impossible to run from someone like that. It's almost stupid. And besides, it was my fate, and I had long since accepted it."
" Bollocks. I don't believe you one bit. How did you know Tim?"
"I told you, we met each other in medical school. You sounded a bit too familiar when he spoke of him before." I turned to look at her again.
"He once tried to have me be his girlfriend, but I rejected him."
" Ah, young love," I smirked at her.
"Whay was I supposed to do? How was I supposed to know?"
" It was part of the reason why he must have been angry with your husband."
"Angry? Whatever Tim told you is not nearly the truth."
" But I'm willing to believe him because he's dead, and you know not. You are enjoying the fruits of whatever the army of your dead people is giving you, and he's only trying to have revenge, you know, even trying to deny the fact that your husband took him to hide and killed him there."
" Robert was a slightly troubled young man."
" That's your excuse? Interesting. Now tell me why I shouldn't hand you over to the police."
"Because they cannot keep me there. If the police have me, I can guarantee that in less than 2 hours, I would be dead, and perhaps added to Matthew's own army of the Dead. Make no mistake; I'm merely the wife. I'm not the player, just one who sits still and gets told what to do."
"But you didn't object," I stated flatly. "He didn't feed someone information outside that your husband was engaged in shady business. But you know what? Doesn't matter anymore. He's dead and I need the truth. If not for myself, for Tim."
I turned around and left the woman in her stone garden. I headed straight for the police station where Travis had sent me a message to meet him by the gate.
"You won't believe what I found," he said as I approached.
"I'm unable to recreate it, but let's just call it a serum. It has insane properties. The serum slows down the body's metabolism…"
" I know that. But are we talking about what killed the woman or the ones you found in the explosion?"
"The one in the explosion, obviously."
" But you can't recreate it."
"I can't. Even the thought of doing it… if I miss some of the measurements, it would kill me. The ingredients also outlandish, and I don't even know if they exist in this world. But some of them are so rare, and I don't know if they're easy to replicate in this part of the world without having to travel."
"What do you know that is so fascinating?"
"No. Why don't you surprised me."
" I find I've seen some of it before."
"Where?" I dipped my hand into my pockets and handed him some of the pills I stole.
"Not now, a lot of that for now. Run these for me and find out what it is."
"What is this?" Travis took a sniff at the pills. "Doesn't smell like anything."
"I know, but I need to know what it is. What is inside. Everything about that pill. Don't lose it and don't let the chief find out. Jack wants to see you, by the way."
"Oh, fine"
"You've been ignoring your phone. Why don't you pick up your calls?"
"Because I had to go into the warehouse for a moment and I didn't want my cover blown." I walked into the station and made my way to Jack's office.
"Where on God's green Earth did you leave your phone? It's called a handset, not a bloody landline, do you leave lying around!"
"Stop yelling at me, Jack, what is it?"
"I found a few things out. Like what?"
"The letter was deciphered, but we did it under the nose of the chief. Does it say anything different? Who is Matthew St. John?"
I rolled my eyes, fitting the pieces in my mind back together again. "He is Robert's brother."
"Well, whoever he is, he's not a good person."
"I don't know, but he's also quite unstoppable. He's also rather unreachable, and we can't find him."
"When you do, let me know. I had a short conversation with the missus today. What happened?"
"I recorded the conversation; you can listen to it here." I pulled out the little recorder I kept in my pocket at all times.
"Is there any conversation you don't record?"
"If I know it's important, then yes, nearly every conversation."
"Don't you have to ask for permission to do that?"
"I'm not a police officer. I can do whatever the hell I bloody want."
We both went to the forensics lab to check on Travis, who was bouncing excitedly in his seat. "The drug's compound is like an ice crystal. Of course, it's not conventional medicine.
It is meant to slowly kill people, but here's the twist. Most things inside are so toxic to human consumption, but when added together, it creates a slow poisoning effect. What a drug is this?"
"I found it in St. John's Warehouse, in an anguished neighborhood."
"How did you get your hands on it?"
"Oh, well… had a few words with a few people, walked into the place, stole a few samples, and left. Easy peasy, lemon squeezy." I shrugged my shoulders.
"That makes sense. But this drug's around the market right now. This is insane. Did you check what it could do to cancer cells?"
"It doesn't matter what it does to cancer cells, sure it may kill the cancer, but it's definitely going to kill you along with it. This drug is simply… I found some parts of the serum inside. It's only a minuscule amount, but it's this undefined compound."
He circled a spot on his screen that looked like a black dot. "Science has no name for this thing. It's effectively a magic potion," I heard Travis say with awe in his voice.
"So what now?"
"This is evidence enough to pull down the entire pharmaceutical company of the St. Johns. You might step on a few toes, but it's more than enough to get the job done. Perhaps a few tests on rats maybe."
I pointed towards Travis, who instantly got up and walked over to the cabinets lining the wall, and pulled out two small rats. He put one rat in a small glass box and fed it a minuscule amount of the drug.
"This is going to be terribly fatal to a creature of this small."
"But I have a question." I turned to Travis, who was watching the rat with so much attentiveness.
"What happens to the human body after they die when they ingest this drug?"
"I don't know. But I have a strange guess, and I might lose my job over this, but they become like those bodies you found in dear old Tim's basement."
"What does that mean?" Jack shook my shoulders after I was silent for a long time.
"They're making members of a workforce that will never demand for salaries or anything. It's the largest farming business I've ever seen with no cost of manpower.
These men are sick. But I don't think we can come after them like this. Let's first close down the pharmaceutical company."
I turned back to the rat, which was now twitching in one position. A few minutes later, the rat fell down and died.
"This is more than conclusive evidence," Travis said again with excitement in his voice.
"I will handle it," Jack said as he thumbed against his chest. "I'll leave you both to it then."
Two hours later, Jack walked back into the forensic lab with a huge smile on his face. The chief couldn't help but give me the warrants of search and arrest. Looks like we're going to be conducting a raid on St. John Pharmaceuticals.
I didn't follow them. I didn't feel the need to. Instead, I watched the video that was streamed from the body cams of Jack himself. At some point, the man was shouting so loud I felt my eardrums would burst. They apprehended as many people as possible and took in as many of the drugs as they could.
Within less than 30 minutes, the entire news outlets were standing outside the building reporting on the incident.
"What's the next step?" Travis asked as he sat on the high stool holding out a cup of coffee with Bernard beside him.
"For now, we just watch this," I pointed at the screen and took a sip of the hot liquid, enjoying the pungent flavor. "This is good coffee," I said, relishing the taste.
"Where did you get this coffee?" I turned to Travis, who simply smiled and looked back at the screen.
"None of that matters!" Jack shouted into the mic of one of the reporters thrust in his face.
"What matters now is that we have brought down an organization that sought to destroy the lives of people. I can only feel sorry for those who have bought those drugs in the past and those who trust their medical services, but this is only the beginning. I'm coming for you."
I couldn't help but chuckle at Jack's outburst and feel angry at the same time. Clearly, the man didn't understand how to be subtle.
"Subtlety? That's not who I am, old goat. I make noise wherever I go, and everyone must know me," he laughed and hit my shoulders when he came back from the raid.
"How did the police chief take it?" I asked as we walked into his office.
"Man, that man is insufferable and annoying. It took a lot of whining from him. He was practically begging me and telling me not to arrest their upper management, which I didn't. But at least we have much evidence, and Travis can run as many tests as you want." I sucked in a sharp breath and pulled out a cigarette from my pocket.
"That stuff is going to kill you, you know?"
"We're all going to die someday, Jack. Everyone is going to die. Whether it's a cigarette, or a gunshot, or a madman that gives you drugs that slowly turn you into one of his dead workers using voodoo, everyone is going to die." I smiled as I lit my lighter.
Later on that night, I walked into my apartment feeling a bit of relief. Hopefully tonight should give me my much-needed rest, I thought to myself. For the first time in a long time, I didn't endure dreams or any strange things. The morning after, I looked outside my window, squinting at the sun that greeted me.
"Another day, another struggle?" I asked the universe.
"Let's get to work now, shall we?" With a smile on my face, I pulled myself up from my bed and walked out into the bright day.