The Runaway Reporter (A Police Procedural Mystery Series of Crime and Suspense, Hyder Ali #3) (11 page)

He introduced himself to the secretary and asked if he could see Mr. Munn.  She told him his schedule was booked.  He stated that he worked for the
Daily Times
and was interested in Mr. Munn’s opinion on a story.

Realizing the potential of having her boss in the
Daily Times
, she quickly dialed his number.

She hung up and told him that Mr. Munn was currently on a conference call, but he had agreed to meet with him.

Ten minutes later, the secretary led Hyder into Munn’s office.

The first thing Hyder noticed was how grand and opulent the office was.  On the right, by the windows, was a large desk.  Across from it, on the other side of the room, were two sofas placed opposite each other.  Above the sitting area was a large chandelier. Around the walls were portraits of Munn.  Hyder also spotted a large mirror.

“Mr. Ali,” Munn said.  He looked diminutive behind his desk. He stood up and came over with a smile. “I wasn’t expecting you.”

“I’m sorry, but this was sort of spontaneous.”

“I don’t mind spontaneity,” he said with a wink.  “Come, let us sit and talk.”

He took Hyder to the sofas.

“Now, what would you like to drink? Coffee? Tea? Juice?”

“Nothing for me. I’m fasting,” Hyder replied.

Munn looked at him.

“It’s Ramadan.” Hyder explained.

“Ah, a man of God,” Munn exclaimed.  He excused the secretary and came over and sat down across from him.  “As you get older, you don’t find many people devoted to their faith.”

“Are you religious, Mr. Munn?” Hyder asked.

“I used to be.”

“Atheist or Agnostic.”

“Neither.”

“What do you mean?”

“I chose not to put myself in any category.  Most people find it easier to label someone, so they know how someone fits in society. But I find this to be very constricting.  We are all here on this earth for a short time, so I say, why put people in different boxes?”

Hyder nodded.

“Let me first apologize for the other night,” Munn continued.  “I didn’t recognize who you were even after you had introduced yourself.  You see, when you are surrounded by hundreds or even thousands of people, you’re not sure who is friend and who is foe.”

“You have received threats?” Hyder asked.

“Sure, but it comes with the territory.  While I have many devotees, I also have many detractors.”

“Just by looking at the turnout for your talk, I can tell you have more devotees than detractors.”

“Thank you.” Munn smiled.

“It almost resembled a religious gathering.”

“Or a cult? Isn’t that what you wanted to say?” Munn asked, giving Hyder a knowing look.

Hyder nodded.

“To be honest with you, I have no interest in religion.  If people want to follow a particular faith, then who am I to tell them not to?”

Hyder began to revise his initial opinion about Munn. He was now very congenial and charming.  Hyder could understand why Munn’s followers were so devoted to him.

“But religion can be very powerful,” Munn continued.  “It can be used for both good and bad. In your case, for instance, your belief in God has given you the strength to control your hunger and appetite.   It shows what the body is capable of achieving when the mind is focused.”

“Is that why you are against prescription medications? In one of your articles, you espoused the notion that the mind could heal the body, and in some cases, even cure cancer.”

“That’s true,” Munn replied with a smile. “I believe the mind is the most powerful tool humans have.  It can create problems and solve them as well.” Munn paused, as if collecting his thoughts.  “Please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say next.  I am not against medications; I am, after all, a doctor…”

“You are?” Hyder quickly asked. “I never read that in your bio.”

Munn blinked as if realizing he had said too much.  “That was a long time ago, but I am against pharmaceutical companies who are creating those medications.”

“But they are the ones who are creating cures for diseases.” Hyder politely challenged.

Munn scoffed. “That’s where you are wrong. The pharmaceutical companies don’t want to cure you, they only want to treat you, so you keep coming back.  Right now, they have medication or treatments for
all
major diseases, but obviously, it would not be profitable if they don’t have repeat customers.”

“Are you saying the pharmaceutical companies are purposely not releasing new drugs that could help save lives?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. And I’ll go even further and say it is these greedy companies who are trying to control who gets better and how they get better.” Munn was now standing by his desk, his face beet red. “They are trying to patent every aspect of the human body so that one day we won’t even have the right to do anything to ourselves without their consent.”

Hyder didn’t know what to say.

Munn composed himself.  “I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I apologize. I get a bit passionate when it comes to these topics.”

“I’m in no position to debate whether you are right or wrong.” Hyder replied.  “But I do believe that science, with the financial help of private interests, has assisted in the eradication of many diseases that once plagued mankind.  Whether it was chicken pox, malaria, measles, polio, or even typhoid.  Without these companies putting up money to mass market the drugs, who knows how many millions would have died from just these diseases only.”

“But do they tell you how many have died due to the various reactions to these drugs?” Munn asked.  “If I were you, I would look into it. You might be surprised by what you find.”

Hyder realized he had spent too much time debating Munn instead of finding answers to the questions he came to ask.  “The reason I came here, Mr. Munn, is to know why Francine Robeault from the
Franklin Herald
was so keen on speaking to you.”

“What I told you then, I’ll tell you now.  I have never heard of that name until you mentioned it.”

“I’m finding it very hard to believe you,” Hyder said.  “I have a note in her handwriting that states that she wanted to confront you and ask questions.  What I want to know is, what questions did she want to ask you?”

This time Munn looked annoyed.  “I think I’ve given you enough of my time.  I ask have to ask you to leave now. I have a lot of work to do.”

Hyder stood up.  “I will keep digging until I find what Francine was working on, you can count on that.”

Munn’s expression was impassive. “I expect nothing less from a reporter.  Goodbye, Mr. Ali.”

THIRTY-SIX

Lopez was back in the IT unit, but this time she was without Pascale.

Carl Danka was behind his computer, working the keyboard like a piano.  He glanced at Lopez and winked at her.

Lopez rolled her eyes.  Danka was at it again.  No matter how many times she turned down his advances, he still kept trying.  Maybe he couldn’t help himself.  Maybe he thought if he continued, he might wear her down and she would eventually cave in. 
Fat chance of that ever happening
, she thought.

“When did you get it?” she asked, hoping to divert his attention back to why she was there in the first place.

“It came in this morning,” he replied.

She was referring to the footage between Rudy Jr. and his girlfriend from their chat on the computer.  They had to send a court order to force the software company to hand over the video recording.

Now that they had it, Lopez wanted to view it.

Danka hit the play button. On the screen, Lopez saw an image of Rudy. He was wearing the same clothes he had worn on the day of the murders.

Rudy looked happy and excited.

“Is there audio?” Lopez said.

“Not right now, but further into the footage they use the microphones.”

Lopez was aware Danka had already seen it.  He was never one to wait for anyone.

“Can you fast-forward it to that location?”

“No problem. Anything for you, babe.”

Lopez was tempted to slap him across the head.

“Can you hear me?” Rudy said on the screen.

“Loud and clear,” Nataly replied with a laugh.

“Awesome.”

“Did you miss me, baby?”

“I did, and did you miss me?”

“So much.” She made a sad face.

“Don’t worry, I’ll drive over this weekend to see you.”

“But I’ve got my midterms next week.” More sad face.

“Then how about the weekend after?”

“It’s too far away,” she pouted.

“Baby, it’s only a week. After that we’ll see each other every day.”

“Yay,” she said like a child.

There was a noise in the background.  It sounded like the ringing of the telephone.  Rudy tried to ignore it, but it kept ringing.

“Baby, give me one second,” he said and got up.  He then disappeared from view.

Lopez heard him say “Hello?” Silence followed.  She then heard him put something down.  She assumed it was the cell phone.

Lopez could see the clock at the bottom of the video. . A good thirty seconds went by before Rudy reappeared.  Instead of coming back to the computer, however, he walked straight past it and disappeared from view once again.  She heard the door open and shut.

A few seconds went by.  Nataly finally asked, “Rudy? Baby? Are you there?”

More time went by and Rudy did not return. Tired of waiting, Nataly finally logged off.

“Go back in the footage,” Lopez said.

“How far back?”

“When he got up to answer the phone.”

Danka played it again.  Rudy went off camera, answered the phone, and then reappeared in the background.

“Play it in slow motion,” Lopez quickly ordered.

“What? Did you see something?”

“Let me make sure.”

On the screen, Rudy was moving very slowly.  The camera had caught him from the side angle.  As Rudy moved past the screen, Lopez exclaimed, “Stop it right there!”

Danka did, leaned closer to the screen.

His mouth dropped.

The first time she had seen the footage she had missed it, but the second time she had spotted the light reflecting off of it.  It was too fast for Nataly to have spotted, but Lopez had the luxury of technology.

“Is that what I think it is?” Danka asked.

“It is,” Lopez replied.

Rudy Ross Jr. was holding a knife.

THIRTY-SEVEN

Something had bothered Hyder about his discussion with Munn. It was specifically focused on the pharmaceutical companies and the side effects of prescription medications.  Munn had almost dared him to look into it.

Now that Hyder was indeed researching it, he found himself overwhelmed.  There was so much information available, and he didn’t know what to focus on first.

He found that almost half a million deaths occurred each year in the United States due to adverse effects of medications. This was costing society hundreds of billions of dollars annually.  Worse yet, drug reactions were killing one in five patients who were in hospital care.

This wasn’t just affecting people who were overdosing on prescription medication, it was even affecting people who were taking medication as directed by their doctors.

He found doctors had also become part of the problem too.  Drug companies were paying them to become their consultants and encouraging them to advise other doctors on their drugs.  The companies were even going further by paying for the doctors’ ongoing education in order for them to keep their licenses.  This made them more joined to the hip with these drug companies than ever before.

The drug companies now had more clout than ever.  Currently, there were billions of dollars worth of lawsuits being fought in the courts regularly.  And still, the drug companies were able to get approval for their drugs from the United States government.  There was just too much money at stake.

The problem stemmed from the fact that people were constantly being told that anything could be cured with just a pill. From weight loss, to hair loss, to acne, to shyness, just about any condition could be cured with medication now.

Very little emphasis was put on the reactions or side effects to these medications.  They were linked to fatal heart attacks, cancers, suicides, strokes, even loss of taste, sight, and smell.  This did not even include the possibility of severe headaches, stomach pains, amnesia, hallucinations, paralysis, and joint and muscle pain.

The list was so long and comprehensive that Hyder felt ill just reading it.

He understood that the problem wasn’t just the drug companies or the drug administrators, or even the health care providers; the problem was also the media.  They were not objectively reporting the side effects of these drugs.  They were complicit in promoting the benefits of these drugs, which was being provided straight from the drug companies themselves.