François' Quest

12

"Bromethalin!" He announced, disgusted but satisfied all the same, letting his body collapse into the chair across from her.
She looked gorgeous, he thought as he walked into China Express. She was already sitting at their table. He walked over, bent down giving her a kiss, lightly on the cheek before he sat down to give her his findings.
Now as they sat across from each other they looked very serious. Staring at one another.
"What is it?" She asked as he was showing her the report from the lab.
"Bromethalin is a drug that causes paralysis then death by slowing the transmission of nerve impulses."
As she was looking at the report François was explaining to her. The report from the lab said, "Bromethalin, was detected in the bag, the rubber hose and the nozzle."
She kept reading. "Human feces was found on the nozzle?" She made a yucky face, "What does that mean?"
"I hope that this doesn't excessively upset you. I am positive Denzil didn't fall. The autopsy report said there were no broken bones. Only bruising and swelling. Clearly, signs of being beaten, but that was not on the report. There were no needle marks. Stomach empty." He paused to see how this was impacting her.
"Okay. Go on." She wasn't with him yet. He knew it but the realization would come really soon.
"Denzil was murdered just as you suspected." She sat back in the chair, clapped her hands together, then touching them to her lips as though she were praying, closing her eyes. She smiled a solemn sad victory smile.
François continued, "But!......when the coroner saw the body there was bruising and swelling. No needle marks so he wasn't a drug user nor had anyone used a needle on him. So they ruled out murder by bullet, knife wound or lethal injection."
"Got it! So far so good. Continue." She was getting excited now.
François knew she wasn't there yet.
He opened another file that had the crime scene pictures and Denzil autopsy pictures. "Brace yourself .....please." He warned her.
She looked. The pictures were not pretty, but they didn't look like Denzil either so that was easier for her to cope with.
"He looks like he was beaten up."
"Exactly. He was."
"Then dragged into the cave?"
"Right."
"Then left for dead?"
"Nope. They wanted to make sure that he was dead. They tried to make it look like an accident. As though he fell. They almost succeeded in making it look like an accident."
Then he showed her pictures of the bag and the rubber hose. His 'evidence' as he liked to call it. The lab took pictures during the examination. The evidence was safely stored in a vault in François' house awaiting trial.
He hoped there would be one.
"What is this thing?" She was confused.
"It's an enema-bag." François started to explain.
"An enema-bag? What does that have to do with killing him?" Lowdian couldn't believe it.
"There is human feces on the nozzle." He now waited just watching her. All of a sudden lights came on. Her eyes brightened. Wait! François counseled himself. Just wait!
Then slowly he slid the X-ray of Denzil's intestines across the table while he was fixated on her expression. "The bottom half of the intestines had some substance in them and the top half of the intestines were clear." He stated flatly. No emotion.
"I don't believe it." She said as she stared at the X-ray, as though she just figured it out and it was a shocker. Impossible to believe. "You mean to tell me....?"
"Yes. I am sorry to say it but, yes it is true."
"So you are trying to tell me that they beat Denzil, dragged him into the cave, forced a high dose of bromethalin into his rectum, the poison went halfway up his intestines, and they left him to die there?" Now her hands were covering her face as she was trying to absorb all of this.
"Yes. That is what I am saying." François now said with empathy, feeling, sorrow and sympathy.
"Why that?"
"The poison travels up into the intestines and kills the person without a trace. The stomach was empty, so no poison by ingesting something, no needle marks to indicate foul play. It all goes undetected. Unless the coroner is suspicious. I suspect the coroner was suspicious, thus the X-ray of the intestines. I also believe that he was threatened by the person who engineered the murder of Denzil."
"But, he knew that his neck had not been broken!"
"Yes, he knew, but 'they' got to the coroner and told him what to report."
François' heart went out to her. This is not easy no matter how long the person has been dead. She could have found out twenty years from then, it still would have been difficult to accept.
"Ohh, poor Denzil." She cried trying to keep control of her emotions. She felt both sorrow and total relief at the same time.
François nodded his head in agreement, said nothing.
What he saw next he loved about her. The sorrow he saw turned into fire in her eyes. He saw indignation. He saw justice.
"François?"
"Yes."
"How do we get these horrible people who murdered my husband?" She said it in a painful animal cry with her teeth clenched, fists balled up on the table top.
"I went to Judge Legister. I was granted judge's orders to exhume the body. I don't want to do that without your permission. They can still test for bromethalin from his remains, if you will allow it."
She smiled at him through tears of rage for his thoroughness and efficiency.
"Even if we do that how can we prove who gave it to him?" Her voice was shaky.
"The difficult part is proving exactly who did it. The first good thing is that the report about his death will be changed from accident to murder. If there is even a trace of bromethalin in his body, I mean even if there is a spec of it found in the coffin, that would be proof enough. The judge is willing to bring charges against the CEO of Galaxy Pharmaceuticals."
"Galaxy? Why them? Why him?"
"Galaxy Pharmaceuticals is the only company that manufactures bromethalin, for one. It is not readily available. I suspect that someone high up in the company orchestrated this whole thing, had someone insert the poison into Denzil then threatened the coroner to pass this autopsy by, then bury it deep, both the report and Denzil."
Lowdian had mixed feelings. Finding out the truth was such a relief. Exonerating her husband's name was another, yet, a sadness overwhelmed her at that moment. "How could such evil have been inflicted on someone that did so much good?"
"I have to warn you though. We will probably never win against Galaxy. It's like we're the Titanic but they are the iceberg. They have lawyers so powerful and ruthless they would scare the Prime Minister. But, what this will do, is change the reports and records about Denzil. Would you like that?"
She smiled at him again, it melted his heart.
He continued, "He will not have died in vain. Everyone will know what really happened to him. We will make sure that it is reported truthfully. The light will shine on him. CNN will be forced to tell the truth about what happened. TVJ News will be forced to tell the truth because we are holding their 'feet to the fire' for reporting something falsely when it is their responsibility to investigate and report the truth. We can shame them into telling the true story. I can make sure that happens."
Tears were running down her face now. François took her hand and squeezed it.
"Thank you." She could hardly get it out for the cracking in her voice.
François continued, "Big pharma is powerful. Their lawyers are pit bulls. They rarely lose. They control the government. They pass laws. They regulate. It is terrible. The good news is we can make a scene. We can make a dent by giving them bad publicity. We could upload a video on YouTube. It will go viral. Millions of people will know the truth. There is power in numbers."
The tears were still silently flowing down her cheeks as she kept looking at François just listening to everything he said.
"The other benefit of all this is that everyone will hear about cannabis and what it can do for people. So what they wanted so badly to hide will be exposed to the public for their benefit but big pharma's loss." Lowdian said.
"It will take a great deal of courage to go ahead with this. We have two choices. Say nothing or expose them. It's up to you."
There it was! He saw the fire in her eyes.
"Do you want to try?" He asked her gently.