it’s a tricky drug—and it’s not fully developed. I saw them bring Brianne in. She was wounded in action and wound up here at the VA hospital. She was Terry’s best friend—and probably more. I think he loved her.” He sniffed and looked away for a moment. “I’d never met her in person before, but we’d FaceTimed several times a week. She was always with Terry before he was discharged and sent home.”
“I’m so sorry,” Caden murmured.
“When I saw Brianne, I slipped in to visit her when she was finally alone. She was in a really bad place emotionally. Two days later, she was doing well. I knew they were giving her the drug. I told her not to stop taking it, no matter what happened.”
“Why?” Elliott asked.
“Because it’s highly addictive. I won’t bore you with the details of the ingredients, but even one pill will hook you, and if you stop taking it, the suicidal tendencies go up exponentially.”
Caden rubbed his chin and glanced at Elliott, who nodded for Caden to continue. “One pill?”
“Just one.”
Elliott shot a look at Heather. “Is that possible?”
She nodded. “Very.”
The detective grunted and turned back to Max. “What happens if you take more than one pill?”
“At the same time? Paranoia, uncontrollable impulses like violence mixed with massive confusion about why you’re doing what you’re doing. And yet you’re unable to help yourself.” He shuddered. “It’s horrible. It’s absolutely beyond anything I’ve ever seen. It’s why I sent the pills to Brianne. I wanted her to continue taking them for now until I could figure out a way to get to her and help her get off of them. I would have taken them to her myself, but I was afraid someone would recognize me, so I asked Sam to do it for me.”
“Is there a way to get off of them without suffering the suicidal ideations?”
“No.” Max’s shoulders slumped. “No, there’s not. At least not in all of the studies that have been done. I know they were asking for volunteers for the study and they would give the vets the medication and then, in a secure environment, stop the meds and see what happened. Each and every time, the participants went downhill within hours of missing the next dose.”
Caden nodded. “One more thing, please.”
Max sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Sure.”
“Sam Wilmont took two of those pills you meant for Brianne.”
Max’s eyes widened. “What?”
“He was a drug addict. Granted, a recovering one, but I guess the pills were too much temptation for him. He thought they were painkillers and popped two of them, thinking Brianne would never notice.”
“Oh no.” The man raked a hand over his head. “Oh no. Is he okay?”
Caden explained the incident with Sarah, and Max gulped. “That sounds about right.”
“He says he doesn’t remember any of it.”
“No, he probably doesn’t.”
“A sniper and quick-acting officers managed to save the day, but here’s the thing. Wilmont took two of those pills, wigged out like you say he would, but then woke up from surgery fine—albeit missing a few hours of memory. However, he has no suicidal inclinations. Just a lot of remorse for his actions—that he doesn’t remember.”
Max paced in the cramped area. “I don’t understand. That doesn’t make sense. How could that be? Withdrawing from one pill would be bad enough, but two? No, he would have done anything to end whatever was going on in his head. He definitely would have tried to find a way to kill himself.”
“Do you have proof of any of this?” Elliott asked. “That there are people manufacturing this drug, giving it to unsuspecting vets, then falsifying the results?”
“No.” Max pulled to a stop and met each agent’s eyes one by one. “And that’s why I’m a dead man living in a hospital, who was praying I wouldn’t get caught before I could find that proof.”
Trailed by Asher and Travis, Gavin and Sarah strode down the now familiar hallway while Sarah texted Caden that they were there. She looked up from her phone. “He said to meet him in front of the second-floor conference room.”
Five minutes later, Caden stepped out of the room, pulling the door shut behind him. “The detectives are just finishing up questioning Max and will escort him to a safe house while they investigate his story further. What did you have?”
Sarah shook her head and pulled the sleeves of her sweatshirt over her hands. “This is going to take longer than a step-out-of-the-room conversation. We need a place to sit down