Alice went to the kitchen and came back with a glass of Coke. It probably had Crown Royal splashed in there, too. Alice called it her vitamin.
“Why do you ask?” she said to Mary. “Looking for a new dealer for your female Viagra?”
“Very cute, Timothy Leary,” Mary said. “I’m talking about prescription drugs.”
“Well, I’ve been able to cut back on some of my medications now that I’ve lost some weight working with Sanji.”
She shot a wink at Mary.
“Of course, the money I’ve saved has all gone to buying more lube.”
“Please stop,” Mary said. “So have you ever heard of someone getting drugs from a manufacturer and not a doctor?”
“Can’t say that I have, Mary. Why? Are you looking into Botox? I hope for your sake?”
“No, afraid not.”
“You pay for your own health insurance, don’t you?” Alice said.
“Sure do.”
“That has to suck.”
Alice drank from her glass and Mary popped the last of the cookie into her mouth. Damn, it was hard to beat a good cookie.
“It does suck sometimes, Alice,” Mary said. “But back to the topic at hand. How would a woman get a bottle of pills directly from a manufacturer?”
“How do you know she did? Did she tell you?”
“No, she’s dead.”
“I see. What if the manufacturer didn’t give them to her?”
“I see where you’re going with that,” Mary said. “Maybe she stole them.”
“Or maybe she was part of an experiment. Don’t drug companies test drugs all the time?”
“Yeah, but they usually do it overseas. For legal reasons, you know. Not a lot of tort lawyers in Mongolia.”
“That’s disgusting.”
“And the truth.”
“Something tells me they aren’t trying out drugs in Beverly Hills.”
“Unless there are volunteers.”
“I know plenty of women who would volunteer for drugs that made them lose weight, or wrinkles, or perk up their girls.”
Mary thought about that.
“Another possibility is that drug companies send their stuff to doctors, and the doctors give the stuff out, sort of as trial runs.”
“I could see that happening,” Alice said. “Did you see in the news about that one doctor who just got arrested for billing hundreds of dead people? Some of those guys have no conscience. Like most private investigators.”
Mary knew she had to talk to a doctor she could trust. But first, she wanted to scope out this drug company.
Right after another cookie.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Mary loaded up on Peet’s Coffee then guided the Accord out of Santa Monica toward Pasadena. She had waited until she was confident the office was open.
She dialed the number, got an operator, and asked for the CEO’s office. She was transferred to a secretary, who answered the phone by saying, “Mr. Ward’s office.”
“I’d like to make an appointment to see him this morning, preferably at about 10 a.m.”
“So you don’t have an appointment?”
“No.”
“May I ask what this in regard to?”
“I’m a venture capitalist interested in investing in one of his new drugs. I’ve got about a billion dollars to burn through by the end of this month. That’s why I’m personally calling.”
“I see,” she said.
Mary knew she didn’t buy it.
“Usually this kind of thing is handled by submitting your proposals in writing…”
“Look, I’m not a venture capitalist. I’ve been seeing Mr. Ward for several months and I have some important news for him of a very intimate nature, if you know what I mean by ‘intimate.’ But he’s not returning my calls which means he’s either not horny, which I find hard to believe, or he’s avoiding me, which is much more likely. I will be at your office at ten o’clock. I’m a gorgeous blonde woman. My name is Cary Mooper.”
Mary disconnected the call.
This should be interesting, she thought.
Traffic was quicker than she expected and she pulled up in the parking lot of Synergy Labs fifteen minutes before ten.
The building was a collection of soulless cubes set back in the shadow of the Pasadena foothills.
Mary had heard bears still roamed the foothills and could frequently be found in dumpsters looking for food.
Mary parked the Accord and entered. She went to the front desk and told them she was Cary Mooper there to see the CEO.
The security guard looked at her with recognition, pressed a button, and two security guards with a man dressed in a dark blue suit approached her.
Uh-oh, she thought.
Chapter Thirty-Four
“Ms. Mooper?” the guy in the suit said.
Mary liked how that sounded. She kind of felt like a mooper right about now.
“Yes,” Mary said.
She turned to the three men. The two security guards were big guys and the gentleman in the suit was pretty large, too. She could tell they were aware of their physicality, and were using it as a way to intimidate her.
It wasn’t working.
“I’m afraid I have bad news,” the man in the suit said.
“How about the good news first?”
The man ignored her.
“You will not be allowed to see our CEO today. In order to submit a proposal for venture capital, you need to fill out the proper paperwork and have all of this prearranged. I’m sure you understand.”
“I do, understand. But I also have some questions that are unrelated to venture capital. It’s more like venture criminal investigation.”
The man’s face stayed blank, like a stone. Which also happened to be the material Mary guessed his face was made from.
“You see, there have been a string of murders, and one of the victims had a large supply of drugs manufactured by your company,” Mary said. “The police don’t know about this yet, but I do. And if I don’t see your CEO, then the police will be hearing about the situation immediately.”
The man considered her for a moment, then nodded to the security guards who stayed put.
The man took out a cell phone and called someone.
Mary waited, watching the two big guys.
“Fellas,” Mary said.
They ignored her.
The third man quickly returned to her.
“There’s someone you can talk to.”
They rode an elevator to the top floor, and Mary followed the man to a conference room.
She was shown in, and then the door closed behind her.
Two men sat at the head of the table. They turned, and one of them, a man dressed in an expensive suit with a gold tie clip, pointed to a chair to his right.
She sat down.
The other man was dressed in a much cheaper suit, darker, with no gold tie clip.
“My name is Xavier Rodan,” the man in the expensive suit said. “I’m head of the firm’s Legal Department. And this is Larry Coldwater, head of the firm’s security.”
“Gentlemen,” Mary said.
“And what is your name?” Rodan said.
“My name is Mary Cooper and I’m a private investigator. I’m looking into the death of a woman named Ann Budchuk who was found with a large supply of drugs made by Synergy Labs. I’m here to find out how she got them, as they don’t appear to have been prescribed by a doctor.”