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At this point her grin lit her entire face. “The network decided to use the movie as a pilot for a series called FraudBusters. I’m so excited I had to share it. Imagine, a series inspired by my life. Wow.”

  Matt gave her an inquisitive knowing look. She sensed he was wondering if there might be a part for him. She didn’t acknowl-edge the look.

  28

  Gelson’s food delivery arrived at exactly seven-thirty. Cameron’s dining room table had rapidly become the official conference table for the sleuthing operation. The Colonel fed Clarence a big carrot, then cleared his throat and said in a surprisingly strong tone, “Here’s what I remembered. Even though we didn’t like each other very much, this happened way before our encounters about Clarence. I was limping more than normal one night as we took our walk on Shady’s side of the canal. He was standing out in the front and greeted me. Like I said, that was before friendliness grew into confrontation.”

  Everyone around the table waited for him to continue.

  “I guessed maybe it was second nature for him to comment on my limp because he was an orthopedist. That led to my telling him about my war injury and the ongoing problems from it. Now, bear in mind, this guy barely knew me. The next thing I knew, he told me about OxyContin doing wonders for pain like mine. Then, he said if I wanted to wait for a minute, he would get his prescription pad and write me a prescription. He even said my insurance would probably okay it. However, he added that he always kept a good supply of the actual eighty milligram pills on hand in case I ran out.”

  The comments around the table varied from it sounding like very unprofessional behavior for someone who barely knew the Colonel, to Margaret commenting that as far as she knew writing a prescription for a drug like Oxy with no examination or even any knowledge whether the complaint was real sounded very suspicious. Garrett added that eighty milligrams was street drug strength.

  “I thought it sounded weird, too, so I thanked him, said I’d think about it because I don’t like taking drugs, and cut the conversation short. I’d just about forgotten the whole incident. But everything that’s happened recently made me think back to that night and wonder if it was just a kind neighborly gesture from a doctor who saw an old guy limping, or something more. Considering the kind of guy Shady turned out to be, I think it likely was the latter. There’s been so much in the news about these doctors who overprescribe opioids and get you hooked. Some of them actually get kickbacks from the manufacturer or the distributor. At first I thought he might have been trying to drum up a little side cash, but then I learned how wealthy he was. If his offer to write a prescription led to him planning to have me buy pills right from him, I’m sure they would have been pricey. Anyway, I’ve heard they’re like street heroin. Do you think he might have been one of those doctors?”

  After listening to more comments about the Colonel’s strange encounter with Shady, Garrett spoke up.

  “Definitely sounds like he might have been. Your story has more significance than you know. It feeds right into a call I got from Barrington.”

  “The detective? He called you?” Matt asked.

  “The very same. Matt, you’re no stranger to the power of celebrity. This guy really wants to get my take on certain aspects of the case. He’s read all my books, saw my movies and regards me as a Superman when it comes to crime solving. He called to give me some information even though he could have gotten in trouble for that call.”

  Matt nodded. “Yep, that’s what fans will do. Throw away the rule book. So why is what the Colonel just told us important, other than the fact that he might have been indulging in a side business of supplying drugs?”

  Without further delay, Garrett said, “Mike, your encounter with Shady is important because Oxy might figure into his death somehow. From what Barrington shared, the autopsy revealed a large amount in the good doctor’s system. Injected. Not enough to kill him, but enough to put him out of commission. The only thing I can think of is whoever did it was looking for something or some information and he wasn’t talking. It doesn’t explain the beating, though. I suspect that happened later.”

  Kate said, “Here’s another thought. If he kept a supply of pills in the house, it could have been someone who knew that and was looking for them. Addicts will resort to violence if they need a fix. Or if they want to sell them. But injecting it wouldn’t fit into that picture. I think he knew the person who did that.”

  “On the other hand,” Matt added, “Danny did mention they could have been trying to get information out of him. So, when he wasn’t talking, maybe whoever it was lost it and injected what they thought was enough OxyContin to kill him. But perhaps it didn’t do that. The blood points to him being shot in the house, but did the shots kill him? We don’t know what the Medical Examiner has determined as time of death. Only that he was dead. He was the only one home and if they were looking for drugs, they would have had plenty of time to search the house. My guess is they tried to beat whatever they were after out of him.”

  Garrett chuckled. “Matt, you’ve outlined a case of real overkill. Beat him, drug him and also shoot him?”

  “Don’t laugh. I’ve seen enough hokey TV screenplays where the writer really goes into scenarios like that.”

  “Well, maybe that’s something to consider, but I don’t think it’s likely.” Garrett looked around at his cohorts who were all waiting for his next comments. “Here’s something else. You may or may not know that OxyContin comes in pill form. In order to inject it, the pills would have to be crushed and mixed with water, then injected with a syringe. That would involve some preplanning. Barrington said the medical examiner found puncture marks on his arm. So, here’s something else for us to chew on. Someone had to crush those pills and inject him. And, according to you, Mike, he kept a supply in the house. So, I think it’s safe to assume it was someone who knew that, or someone who actually came prepared to inject him. That either leads to an outsider, or the strongest possibility—Barbara, the nurse practitioner. None of us know what went on in that house before she came to the meeting. We only know what she told us. I asked the detective to find out if the beating was pre or postmortem. If it was postmortem that could have been to make it look like something it wasn’t.”

  Cameron pushed back her chair and got up. “That’s a lot to digest. If everyone is up for dessert, I’ll just go take the cake out of the fridge. Back in a minute.” She collected some of the dinner dishes from the table and headed for the kitchen. Maggie jumped up and gathered other remnants of the Gelson’s feast in an effort to help.

  When Cameron returned, she placed the cake on the table, then cut generous portions and slid them onto the plates that Margaret extended to receive each slice.

  “Okay, everyone. Time to take a deep breath. First we’ll have this wonderful dessert, courtesy of the Viktor Bene Bakery via Matt, and then we can continue. It looks like some of the pieces of this puzzle are beginning to fall into place, but we’ve still got such a long way to go to even come close to solving this. How many want coffee? I just made a fresh pot.”

  She went back to the kitchen and returned with a tray holding the three requested cups of coffee, a silver sugar bowl and pitcher, plus a little silver bowl filled with pink and blue packets of artificial sweetener for those who wanted it.

  Between savoring bites of the cake Margaret said, “This has begun to form quite a picture. We already know that Barbara may have been the accountant she claimed to be, or maybe just someone who was good enough with figures to fake it. More important is the fact that she went from being a registered nurse to becoming a nurse practitioner. With the evidence that Shady was poked in the arm with an Oxy syringe, my money is on Barbara following through with her Angel of Death routine. Pills in the house, her medical expertise, then make it look like he was an addict even if he wasn’t. Husband Number Six overdoses and kicks the bucket, Barbara inherits. Boo hoo.”

  “That’s all well and good, but there are too many other loose ends. For example, wh
at about the beating and the gunshots? And the fact that she seems to have vanished off the face of the earth.” Matt’s face wore a confused expression as he scratched his head. “I’m not buying it without more things coming together. We have no idea if she’s a victim or the killer.”

  He paused and looked around to see if the others were following him. “Okay, I admit I’m not a writer like you Danny, or you Maggie, but if I was I’d probably write the scene with her injecting him and as he’s lying there on the floor high, but not dead, maybe have her beat him with a bag full of rocks or something hard to make it look like he was beat up by a tough guy and died. That’s a tactic in some TV shows. In this scenario, she stares down at this bastard who won’t die. Miraculously, he’s still alive, so she shoots him and gets out of Dodge knowing she has millions stashed somewhere and possibly a few more fake IDs. The inheritance would have been frosting on the cake, but she really can live very well without it. It’s worth losing the money in exchange for people thinking she’s dead.”

  Garrett tried to control his laughter, but it finally spilled out. “No, no. Too convoluted and way too many loose ends. Besides where would she have stashed the body during the days he was missing? Sorry, Pal. This is reality, not TV.”

  “Well, sometimes reality parallels fiction, you know.”

  “I don’t think that’s the case this time. However, this brainstorming is bringing out stuff I’m sure the cops are probably overlooking, and I really do think we’ll get there eventually. I’ll continue to get more info, Kate has her researcher on the job and Maggie has enlisted several friends who can fill in more about the Shadys. Although it feels great to be working on a case again, even if it’s not in an official sense, I say we wrap it up for tonight. Mike, I see you’re beginning to yawn, and Clarence is snoring over there by the fireplace. If anyone finds something really hot, we can do a group email. Tomorrow is another day. Agreed?”

  29

  The next day Cameron had a hard time concentrating on sexy disposable underwear because dozens of possible scenarios continued to filter through her mind nonstop. Was there more about Barbara yet to be discovered, or was she what she appeared to be—a greedy fortune hunter who married older men and then killed them for their money? Where was she, anyway? And, Shady—she couldn’t wait to find out if Maggie got more of a lowdown on him.

  Finally, she gave up fiddling with promotional ideas for lace-printed disposable undies and buzzed her creative director. It was time to allocate authority. She needed to be able to concentrate on getting some answers before her head exploded—focus on coming up with a plan.

  There was no hope of brainstorming with Kate who would be tied up with her agent and producer all day. After discarding some other possibilities, she decided to call Kim in DC to ask for help and fresh ideas. Kim always seemed to be able to sort things out logically thanks to her accountant’s mind. It was two o’clock DC time, so she should be back from lunch.

  When Kim answered, Cameron didn’t even bother to say hello. She wanted to get right down to it. “Hey, are you ready for a puzzle? Let me bring you up-to-date on what’s been happening with the murder and disappearance we told you about a few days ago.”

  “Um, yeah, sure. I have a little spare time. You know I’d be right there with you if I could, but we’ve got some huge projects in the mill and I can’t get away. Lay it on me.”

  “So, things are heating up. I really need to hear any suggestions or thoughts you might have. Kate’s meeting with her TV people all day today, Danny Garrett and his friend Maggie are tapping their own sources and Matt, the action star, is trying to turn the whole thing into a hokey TV script. The Colonel gave us some interesting insight last night, though, that casts yet another light on it. I’m going nuts with all the possibilities running through my mind.”

  She proceeded to fill her friend in on everything as well as some of the potential scenarios she had considered. When Kim was quiet, for a moment Cameron thought the connection had dropped.

  Then Kim said, “The thing that interests me the most is what the Colonel told you. There is a huge undercover operation investigating doctors, distributors and manufacturers tied to the growing opioid problem. I’m not sure if I should be telling you this, but Nathan told me last night that tension is building between that segment and the cartels because it’s cutting into their revenue. The Attorney General’s office is involved and you know Nate tells me a lot, but I’m pretty sure he can’t or won’t tell me everything.”

  Cameron assured her that anything would be helpful.

  “Anyway,” Kim continued, “here’s what I’m thinking. What if your esteemed doctor got himself into something he couldn’t get out of? What if his wife had some hand in it? After all, from what you’ve told me she is a nurse practitioner. That means she knows quite a bit about drugs. With her being all about getting as much money as she can, maybe she wasn’t kidnapped. What if she’s kicking back in some country with no extradition waiting to collect his insurance while you and the cops run around like hamsters in a wheel looking for her?”

  “After the Colonel told his story I wondered about that, too, but didn’t give it much weight. I guess it’s possible that Shady was involved somehow in the illegal prescription business. Matt said a few of his friends in the movie business used Shady as their doctor. Maybe he was supplying them. Still, even though he was a total jerk, he did seem like an upstanding citizen, but you’ve given me a line of thinking to pursue. Thanks.”

  “Okay, happy to help. Gotta go back to work. Let me know what happens.”

  After talking with Kim, Cameron was able to return to working on the Sexy Seniors campaign. She calmed all of her other thoughts and concentrated on running Kim’s idea past the team that evening. By the time her creative director buzzed and asked if she could look at some of his ideas, she was clear-minded and all on board.

  AS SOON AS EVERYONE assembled that evening, Cameron opened by saying she had some theories for them to consider.

  “Okay, then I guess you want to go first,” Garrett said. Maggie and I also dug up some interesting information about the good doctor, but let’s hear what you have to say.” He stretched out his long legs, leaned back in the chair and put his hands behind his head waiting to hear what she had to offer. Maggie appeared curious about Cameron’s information, and leaned forward, then placed her hands on her knees.

  Kate, usually calm and collected, was grinning like a Cheshire Cat. “Yeah, I can’t wait to hear whatever it is, but I’ve got news first. You know part of the reason I’m here was to meet with my agent and a network producer.” She let out a very un-Kate-like whoop. “The deal is done. We signed contracts for FraudBusters today. A two-hour movie pilot and depending upon the ratings, they’re talking about a contract for sixteen episodes. Imagine a TV series. The network loved it. So, Cami, and our friend Kim will officially be signed on as advisors and, Matt, I put in a good word for you, too. Sorry, I couldn’t wait to get all of that out.”

  “Congratulations. I really want to thank you for keeping me in mind,” Matt said. “You know in this business, you’re only as good as your last movie or TV show and this one sounds like it has long-term potential.”

  The others joined in with their congratulations. Clarence even got up from his spot in front of the fireplace and laid his head in her lap.

  Kate said, “Sorry for stepping on your toes, Cami. What has you so excited?”

  “I decided to call Kim today and get her take on all of the crazy possibilities running through my mind. I kept trying but couldn’t turn it off and all of you were busy.”

  Cameron proceeded to fill them in on her conversation about the big opioid operation throughout the United States and the growing actions on the part of cartels because it was cutting into their business. She added that Kim’s husband, the United States Attorney General, had mentioned it to her just the night before Cameron called.

  “This keeps getting more and more interesting,” Mar
garet offered. “Today Danny and I followed up the idea of Shady offering Oxy to you, Colonel. It sure sounds like this might all be tied together.”

  30

  Their conversation was interrupted by the jangling sound of Cameron’s landline. Unlike so many who only had cell phones these days, she still preferred using it when she was at home.

  “Excuse me. I’ll just be a minute.” She walked toward the kitchen where she kept the base station and one receiver. As promised, she returned quickly, holding the receiver to her ear. “Hold on a sec.”

  She lowered the receiver to her side and said to the group, “This is Kim. I was surprised to see her calling so late. It must be ten-thirty her time. She said our conversation today triggered something in the back of her mind—something she remembered hearing but couldn’t totally recall, so she just ran it past her husband. I’m going to put her on speaker now.”

  She punched the speaker button and turned up the volume, then placed the phone in the middle of the coffee table. Chairs were pulled closer to the table to be able to hear Kim better and for her to hear them.

  “Hi, everyone. Kim Hartman here. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m the third member of the FraudBusters. Cami and I had quite a conversation this morning and the topic of the opioid crisis in the country came up. She previously told me that your HOA Vice President, Doctor Al Shady, was murdered and this morning added that it was discovered he was not only beaten and shot but injected with OxyContin. She also told me he offered to prescribe Oxy for you, Colonel Thompson. When she said that was without an exam and that he even offered to sell you some from the supply he kept at home, I realized his name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why I recognized it. I decided to run it past my husband Nathan. His answer cinched it. I have information for all of you.”