Page 38 of Done Dirty

My brow furrowed as I thought it through. “It can increase sexual desire,” I said. “But it’s such a low dose it really wouldn’t make much of a difference. And it would take time. It’s not instantaneous. Not like taking Viagra.”

“What about the last pill?”

Doug pulled up the fourth image. It was triangular in shape and white, with an imprint in the middle.

“Nothing is matching in the system,” Doug said.

“That’s because it doesn’t exist yet,” I said. “See the TL imprint on the pill? That’s a medical trial from a lab.”

“Ahh,” Doug said. “That makes more sense. Let’s see who matches TL. Margot, can you find any information on medical trial labs that have this imprint?”

“Of course,” she said. “Stand by while I do a search.”

Doug took the opportunity to eat another piece of pizza.

“I can confirm that no American companies use that imprint,” Margot said a few seconds later.

“Considering Rohypnol isn’t manufactured in the United States, what do you want to bet he got both from the same place?” I said.

“That is excellent reasoning, Dr. Graves,” Margot said. “I show that Tecnología y Laboratorios is a clinical research laboratory in Mexico City.”

“Mexico still prescribes Rohypnol,” I told them. “In small doses for insomnia mostly. But we know it still makes its way across the border. If Wade had a contact at the trial clinic it wouldn’t be hard for him to have access to the other as well.”

“Margot,” Jack said. “Let’s dig in deeper at the clinic. Find out what you can on doctors or active trials they have going. Maybe they’ve published their research. And maybe we can find a connection to our victim.”

“I’ll have something for you soon, sugar,” Margot said.

“That unknown trial pill is going to be the lynchpin for that grouping of drugs. You have Rohypnol, which causes sedation and impaired judgement with very low dosing, and it’s even been known to cause amnesia in some. Then you have a hit of testosterone and sildenafil, which affects sexual function in women.”

“In what way?” Daniels asked.

“In the same way Viagra does with men,” I told her. “It increases blood flow and arousal. But it’s not as potent in women as with men. There’s actually no FDA approved medicine to help women with sexual desire or function. My bet is that the trial pill functions as exactly that. And paired with the Rohypnol it would be a very dangerous combination. On the outside it would look like the woman is a willing participant. But her brain would be incapable of making the decision for herself.”

“Good God,” Daniels said.

“Yeah,” I agreed.

“Daniels, go back to the condo and take samples of anything in the fridge, just in case he kept something ready-made on hand.”

“You read my mind,” she said.

CHAPTER TEN

An hour later the pizza boxes were empty.

Jack rubbed his eyes then looked at Derby. “Where are you on the electronics?”

Derby had pushed his reading glasses up on his forehead and looked around the table for them before he remembered they were on his head. “Burner phone is encrypted. I’ve worked through a couple of layers, but it’s time consuming. This last layer has a self-destruct override. It’s not super sophisticated, but it’s a pain in the behind all the same. I figured the kid might want to take a look at it.”

“Oh, yeah,” Doug said. “Margot and I have a program for those kinds of issues.”

“I thought you might,” Derby said, his hangdog eyes tilting up in a smile. “The studio computer is a different story. He didn’t have anything but a basic password. Adonis1991 if you can believe that.”

“Subtle,” I said, making Jack snort with laughter.

“Our vic had an appointment book on his PC. His PC and his phone would have shared the information. But it looks like he used the same system for his appointment book as he did his little black book. At least partially. Some of the same initials show up in both. Every once in a while he’ll use a first name. Never first and last together. I’ve been working on cross-referencing the membership roster with initials that appear on his calendar or black book.”

“Any hits?”