Chapter 25

-EPOV-

Author's Note: All Characters belong to Charlene Harris.

Once we had returned from Salt Lake City, Sookie and I fell into a comfortable routine. She was happy, well as happy as she could allow herself to be, and the kids seemed to enjoy having me around. We weren't sleeping together and I did regret hurting her arms on the front porch at Grans house. I felt guilt. Actually I felt guilty towards a lot of things; physically hurting Sookie, emotionally hurting Pam and putting her endanger, but most of all I felt guilty about not telling the cops all the stuff about Quinn several years ago.

Dick and Dr. Hyde had been in contact almost instantly when we returned from Salt Lake. They wanted to meet with us separately. I'm not too sure what they wanted to talk about with Sookie but I was less sure what I could add to the investigation that I hadn't already divulged.

Yet, Sunday afternoon once we were done with church; I met up with the pair of them at my office. I hadn't been in for close to two weeks and I figured I could go over some of the more pressing items before returning to my house after my meeting with the pair.

The security guards buzzed my office to notify me my 2 o'clock appointment had arrived. The guard was a second cousin to Gran who had been looking for a job for a long time. My heart went out to the older man with four mouths to feed at home and I found one of the simpler but well paying positions at the office.

A wrapping on the door brought my head up and I saw the Detective and the Doctor patiently waiting on the other side of the glass. Sighing I went to open the door.

"Doctor. Detective." I still wasn't a fan of one or the other of the pair and highly doubted they liked me either. "What can I do for you?"

The Detective nodded to the Doctor. "Well first off you can discuss this compound with me."

She had produced a mass spectrum of a compound I knew very well.

"How did you get this? The medicine is still in the testing process and this compound is highly classified." I snatched the paper away from her and studied the peaks and valleys of the spectrum, assuring myself the drug was still locked away in the lab safe from corporate espionage.

"This compound was linked to every victim as well as John Quinn. He had a small stash of it."

"Where was it at?" I asked thinking back to John's house. He had created so many hidey holes in the walls and floor boards of the house it was surprising it didn't collapse from the structural damage he had done.

"We had a dog come and search the house for us. There was a hidden panel in his den." Her voice was oddly removed and flat.

"What else did you find in his hidden panels?" I was curious, if he had access to my unreleased medicine the possibilities of him having other things was limitless.

The Detective spoke up quickly. "He has more than one hidden panel?"

"Yes, he liked to show off at how he could hide things when he wanted and showed Jason and I a few of them once when he was really drunk. If I were you I would go over that house with a really fine tooth comb." I guess there were things I could still add to the investigation and it made me feel a little less guilty about all the trouble I had caused with Pam and Sookie.

"Is there any way you would be able to come over to the house tomorrow and show us where the some more of these spots are at?" He was leaning forward in his chair looking like a kid getting ready to sprint for a treat.

"Sure, it will have to be extremely early in the morning or later in the evening. This whole mess has taken me away from my duties as Vice President." I waved my hand over a stack of physical mail and pointed to the computer when more awaiting e-mails were stored. Grimacing, I thought about just sleeping in the office in hopes the correspondence would be taken care of with osmosis.

The Doctor laid a hand on the man's arm, causing him to relax a little into the chair. "That would be lovely, just let us know when you are going to come by. We are there most of the time these days. But back to the compound spectrum can you tell me some about it? The analysis shows characteristics of a benzo but not in the same class. What are it's ultimately uses?"

Wistfully I looked to the horizon; I could see the valley travelling towards home. Towards Green River where Sookie and the kids would be, towards my future; the sky was bright unhindered by clouds. I was lost in thought; what would the drug ultimately be for? For life, happiness, freedom from constrains of a biologically based disease. Yet, I couldn't say all of that. Shifting my eyes back to the pair I cleared away the dreams for the future.

"It will hopefully be able to reverse the damage on the cognitive part of the brain by decreasing the amino acids which cause the deterioration in the first place. It is the belief of the company it can prevent psychotic breaks in paranoid schizophrenics'."

"My; that is ambitious." She had leaned into the high back chair with a sort of stunned look on her face. With a pregnant pause the room was quiet for a few seconds. "Andy that is the connection we were looking for. The drug, the use of the drug that was his lure; John must have made promises to those young people that he had the cure all drug. It makes sense now, all of the chat room conversations about resurrection and recreation. He made promises that the drug could only keep. The FedEx records; of him shipping small packages to those kids before he met with them. He was getting them hooked on the drug and ensuring his trustworthiness before meeting up with them. "

"What a minute, are you telling me he has had access to this drug for a prolonged amount of time?" Uncertain of how that could be accurate.

"Yes, his first victim was nearly two years ago. She was only recently connected to this case. Quinn must have refined his routine since then because she was completely burned not the partial right side only."

"The company has only been doing trials on the medication for the last year. Are you sure the chemical composition is an identical match to this?" I held up the mass spec., waving it slightly.

"We also have IR spectrum that matches as well for all of the cases, they vary in such small ways we had to send it to an expert to ensure we were in fact looking at the same compound. But you say the testing has only been going on for a year? Where was it being tested or manufactured at prior to your study?"

"My mother hired an up and coming research chemist nearly the same time I returned. Truthfully, I don't like him but he brought this chemical formula to the company." I pressed my index finger on the mass spectrum. "His name is Victor Madden, Dr. Victor Madden. I'm not sure where he came by this formula nor were any real questions asked about his claims the formula was his own. He had been working at a research and development company in Nevada, just outside of Las Vegas. When he applied he claimed he was looking for a change of pace, a less demanding atmosphere than his current position. Mother hired him minutes after his interview; he brought the formula with him. I thought it may have been corporate espionage at the time but he has been a model employee nothing reproachable. Well not until today. By chance did the woman, the first one just recently tied to the case; where was she from?"

"Reno, Nevada." The Detective answered automatically.

Leaning my head back I stared at the ceiling. Corporate espionage, serial killer, and the link between the two; it all came together in my office. Slowly an idea formed in my brain. Quinn had gone on the MMA circuit right after high school, he settled in Vegas for a few years, right after I moved to California. He had made friends with a few of the executives in the UFC . It was a way for him to get a foot in the door. Felipe Madden had been at almost every fight Quinn had been in and he was sponsored by a pharmaceutical company at one point. Things began to click at a rapid pace.

My eyes snapped to the pair in front of me. "How well are you informed about Quinn's' career?"

"Just from what I read on the internet about him; his wins losses knockouts and such. Why?" The Detectives dark brown eyes sparked with interest and a fire I had not realized was there lying in wait under the surface of his general dopey appearance.

"There is more to him, much more. He was a fighter a really good fighter, you need to connect his sponsor to this and Dr. Madden too. Do you know where the UFC headquarters are at?"

"No." I now had the good Doctor's interest too.

"It is in Las Vegas, Nevada. Coincidently, where Dr. Victor Madden heralds from and where John Quinn was located for four of the last five years. Within months of one another, now that I think about it, both Quinn and Dr. Madden moved to Wyoming. I had never seen them physically with one another but I know Victor has his own fan page on Quinn. It was something I saw him farting around on one day, so I became curious and looked up the page. Here; this is the web site." Quickly I typed the corresponding web address to Victor's fan page on Quinn. It showed him at various events with people hanging about. There were stats about his fights and a brief bio on Quinn's life and history; with the exclusion of his mother's incarceration.

"Oh, my. Look Andy it is her, in the corner of the room, there, THERE." She was standing up with her hand over her mouth and a ghost white face. "Scroll down, see if any of the others are in the pictures."

"I don't believe it. Jesus Fucking Christ!" He was coming around the corner of the desk; he took control of the computer all but literally pushing me out of the way. I stood and peering at the computer screen; nothing out of the ordinary grabbed my attention with any of the pictures. "Ah, fuck it has all the vic's here except the last two. I wonder if that is intentional or accidental. My, God." He was scrubbing his hand rapidly over his face. Isabella had taken out a personal recording device and was rapidly explaining Quinn's stances in each picture, how the person who ended up a victim was present in the subsequent picture.

"Subject has a domineering stance in photo one, while victim of said picture has a diminutive posture with hands in pocket. Her hair is loose around her face, in most likely a submissive gesture." I lost interest in what she was saying into the little black device as the Detective pulled his cell phone from his pocket.

"Hey, Bud. This is Andy, you said to give you a heads up if I needed any help. Well, I sure do need your help now. Can you meet me at the Northman offices soon?" He looked to me and I shrugged my shoulders. I wasn't sure what they could do from here that they couldn't from the sheriff's department but I thought at this point the more the merrier.

"Nah, I don't think we are going to need a warrant. I'm pretty sure Mr. Northman will let us look around but having one on hand might be nice. Yeah, I can wait here while you get it." My head was spinning at that point. The Detective snapped his phone shut and glanced up at me. "Am I going to need a warrant to look around Dr. Victor Madden, from Las Vegas, Nevada; office?"

I just shook my head giving him the go ahead. "I can show you where it is at. Are you going to seize his computer?"

"I'm not sure. It depends on what he did with it."

"I wouldn't really care but the thing is…" I paused what could I really say, 'the formula is important' not in when it came to the reality of Victor and Quinn luring in victims or 'the formula works' that sounded similarly lame. "The thing is we have hopes for the medication improving patients' lives."

"You don't think I realize that? From all of the parents that I spoke to of each victim, they were astonished in their kids grasp of reality the days and weeks prior to their murders. Each parent said how wonderful it was that they actual communication prior to their kids deaths. That… that I am sure is what gave the parents of the victims a little peace;" he shrugged his shoulders "I know if it was me, if I could have," He stopped and glared at me like I had made him say too much; more gruffly than just second before. "Where is Madden's office, I want at it."

I noticed Dermont wandering the hallway just up ahead, it was on the path to Victor's office. I waved to the security guard. "Hey Dermont. Why don't you take the rest of the night off? I'll pay you don't worry about that, I just need the building to myself and friends for a little while."

"Sure thing Eric. Do you want me to lock up behind me or what?" He looked like a kid in a candy store having the remainder of the day to him and his kids.

"Nah, I'll lock up if I leave before the night guard gets here."

"Thanks Eric, I'm sure the kids will love to have me for the evening. Don't forget, Gran is having her monthly 'pot luck' at the park tonight." Dermont cheerfully waved as he headed, rather quickly for the front of the building.

"Shit." I muttered under my breath, I had forgotten about the pot luck which was happening in about an hour.

"Trouble?" Andy questioned.

"Not too much as long as I can leave you here to search Victor's office. I need to be at this pot luck tonight. My sister, well Pam and Jason I think are going to announce their engagement officially. I don't want to be the prick that misses it. Sookie and the kids are at Gran's house right now making, I think zucchini bread." I was thinking of the previous night when the kids were wandering around in the back yard searching my garden for the perfect zucchini to dice up, for the pot luck today. They had hummed and hoed over the merits of cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans but finally settled on zucchinis because they had figured out it could be made into a sweet treat rather than a straight veggie.

"How is Dr. Compton."

"Stackhouse, her last name is Stackhouse."

"Oh, and how much longer until it is changed to Northman?" We were standing outside of Victor's office door and I had just dropped the keys to the office with his question. Andy chuckled softly at my clumsiness.

Bending from the waist, I stretched my long torso towards the floor grabbing the keys and unlocked the door without answering his question.

Summer of 2004

I had graduated from San Fran with my Doctoral of Pharmaceutical Sciences. Little Dog had, predictable, out grew the 25 lb. weight limit of our lease and we had to move shortly after Valentine's Day. Lafayette good friend Dawn Green had a nice place with two extra rooms and a small back yard, which we hunkered down at for the final few months of my schooling.

I wasn't gay by any stretch of the imagination but Lafayette and I were a couple, an odd couple at that. Neither one of us were in a relationship and we just fell into our bromance as Dawn referred to our odd relationship. Secure in my masculinity, I fell into bed with her a couple of times just to prove I was into the opposite sex just as much as Lala was in to guys.

Dawn towards the end of the spring became pregnant and repeatedly told me it was mine. I was shocked and in denial but being the responsible adult I am, ended up staying with her. Well, until mid-May when the real father of the baby showed up. Some guys who looked like he was part animal, came wrapping on the door in the middle of the night. His name was Jake Belmont.

I opened the door and the mother fucker knocked my knee to the side so hard it dislocated the cap. As I collapsed into the door well, he brought a Louisville slugger down at the base of my skull, instantly creating a pressure in my head.

Lafayette was on the phone with 911 before Little Dog had pretty much mangled the asshole who attacked me. I spent graduation week in the hospital, while Lafayette fought with the city to keep Little Dog alive, Jake was in the county jail system being held without bond due to his flight risks and Dawn promised me up and down the baby was mine. In the end, Lafayette regained custody of Little Dog with the contingency we had to take him out of state; Jake was sentenced to 4 years for assault and battery while Dawn ended up having an illegal partial birth abortion after finding out the baby wasn't mine.

I was disgusted with the entire state of California with the exclusion of Lafayette. I packed my shit up out of Dawn's house, loaded a U-Haul trailer and headed for the great state of Oregon. A small but independent pharmaceutical company in Beaverton had been recruiting me for the last six months. I had even seen a few letters in the trash from them and had asked Dawn how they had gotten there. She explained she didn't want the father of her baby to move away. But since I found out I wasn't the father, I had no ties to her and was footloose and fancy free.

I even put the traditional sign in my window, "Oregon or Bust". Lafayette and I laughed down the road to our brighter future.