03_Cornered Coyote (22 page)

“Did Jorge know you suspected that there was some tie-in between the motel, drugs, and the behavior of the guests?”

“No, not then. He came to my room around 7:00 that evening and we talked for a couple of hours. I told him about Jeffrey’s background, my suspicions, and that I couldn’t figure out how all of us could have become addicted to some substance at the motel. He ruled out water because he and Luisa only drank bottled water. Food was out of the question because of our different weights, food preferences, and spoilage. The only thing left was the air. One of us, I forget which one, came up with the idea that maybe it was being piped into our rooms through the air-conditioning system. The more we thought about it, the more sense it made.”

“So you’re telling me you and Jorge came up with the idea that some addictive substance was being piped into your rooms, is that correct? And did you tell the others?”

“Yes. Jorge and I went to their rooms and asked them to come to my room for a meeting. When Jorge and I told them our theory, they were outraged. They couldn’t believe anyone would do that. We explained we suspected Jeffrey because of his scientific background and how we had come to believe that it was a definite possibility.”

“Okay, then what happened?”

“It was pretty much a joint decision by all of us. We decided we needed to meet with Jeffrey. You have to realize none of us had ever met him. Jorge and I walked over to the office and asked Maria if she would call Jeffrey and tell him we’d like to meet with him. She called him and he told her to have us come to the lab.

“The six of us went down the stairs to his basement laboratory. I knocked and Jeffrey opened the door. In my work I’ve been around a lot of people who are mentally unstable. When I saw him, there was no doubt in my mind that he was unbalanced. His hair was greasy and matted and his beard was studded with food droppings. He smelled terrible, but what I really remember were his fingernails. They were yellow and must have been a couple of inches long. His eyes looked like they were on fire. I wondered what he was seeing in his mind. I introduced myself and the others to him. He gave us a tour of the lab, clearly proud of it and his experiments.

“I think most of us knew we were in the presence of a genius, albeit a mentally disturbed genius. It was as if he’d lost touch with reality. He showed us how he’d been able to get the drug he called “Freedom” piped into our rooms through the air-conditioning system. He was very proud of his accomplishments. He even told us he was going to do what Buddha, Christ, Mohammed, and others had been unable to do – achieve world peace. He’d combined Freedom, the ‘feel good’ drug, and the anti-aging hormone into a pill which could be taken monthly. The price for the pills was $20,000 a year. Jeffrey had even prepared packets of twelve pills for each of us. Each pill lasted a month. He was that certain we would want to buy them. I think I told him we needed to talk about it and asked him if he would meet us early the next morning, which he agreed to do.”

“Did you meet the next morning?”

“Yes. I asked the group to come to my room at 7:30 the next morning. That night we each went our own separate way to do some soul-searching and think about whether or not we wanted to take the drug. We met the next morning and the meeting was very contentious. Sam, a Native American pediatrician, was very opposed to anyone buying the drug from Jeffrey, and spoke passionately about the decimation of Native Americans from the improper use of alcohol and drugs. I had decided I wouldn’t take the drug. That left the other four.

“All six of us went down to the lab that morning. Jeffrey had spittle foaming from the sides of his mouth and he seemed even more unstable than he’d been the night before. It was a very short meeting. Sam left almost immediately, saying he’d be in touch with me later. I left shortly thereafter. Before I left the motel, I put a business card under everyone’s door with my telephone number on it. I also gave one to Maria when I checked out. I drove to Phoenix and flew back to my home in Colorado.”

“Did you ever see Jeffrey again?”

“No. Never. I went through a period of withdrawal after I refused to take Freedom. The next time I heard of Jeffrey was when Detective Lawrence called me saying he had found my name on a computer at the motel and wondered if I could tell him anything about the Blue Coyote Motel or Jeffrey Brooks.”

“So, let me be very clear about this. In your professional opinion, was Jeffrey Brooks insane?”

“Yes, without a doubt. I would stake my professional reputation on it.”

“Do you think Maria Brooks knew that her husband was administering the drug to the motel guests?”

“No. I don’t think she had anything to do with it. Maria is one of the gentlest people I’ve ever met. I don’t believe she is capable of committing murder. If she pulled the trigger on the gun that killed Jeffrey Brooks, I am absolutely certain it was in self-defense, in fear of being killed by that madman.”

“Thank you Mr. Moriarty. I appreciate your honesty. Your witness, Ms. Sinclair.”

* * * * *

“Mr. Moriarty, I heard you say that you had been defrocked by the Catholic Church for child molestation and that you were an alcoholic. Is that correct?”

“Yes. That is correct.”

“No further questions, your Honor.”

* * * * *

“The defense calls Jill Loren as its next witness,” Brian said.           

“Ms. Loren, thank you for coming. Would you tell the court how you happened to spend some time at the Blue Coyote Motel?”

“My husband had passed away and I was very depressed. I’d even gotten a doctor to give me a prescription for sleeping pills. I was ready to commit suicide by taking an overdose of those pills. I was driving back from Dallas when I realized I was going 110 miles an hour. My car was nearly out of control and I, for sure, was out of control. It was dusk and I was tired when I saw the sign for the Blue Coyote Motel. I remember when I walked into the office Maria came around the desk and hugged me,” she said as she smiled at Maria.

Jill’s voice began to quiver, “I didn’t realize tears were rolling down my face. What Maria did was an instinctive act of compassion. Like Sean, I ate, went to bed and woke up feeling wonderful, the best I’d felt since my husband, Rick, had died. I threw my sleeping pills out the car window when I left the motel on my way home. I returned to Newport Beach, became active in non-profit fundraising, traveled to Nepal, and met and fell in love with a doctor from San Francisco.

“After a few months I began to feel depressed, much like I’d felt after my husband died. I decided to go back to the Blue Coyote Motel and try to regain those good feelings I’d had when I first visited it. I went on Memorial Day weekend. My experience was exactly like Sean’s. Saturday was wonderful out by the pool. That evening we met in Sean’s room. He and Jorge told us their suspicions. I was very frightened when I saw Jeffrey. He looked like how a madman would look in my worst nightmare. I wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible, but Jeffrey began telling us about the new drug he’d formulated which combined Freedom with an anti-aging hormone.” She stopped and took a deep breath.

“I’m not very proud of what I did, but I was so afraid of becoming suicidal again. I had a second chance at life with a wonderful man I’d met. I couldn’t go back to being the depressed woman I’d been when I’d first stayed at the Blue Coyote Motel. I bought a year’s supply of the drug and left the lab. If it meant I was addicted to a drug, at that time I really thought it was worth it. However, I don’t think any of us felt very good about it. Some of us had flights to catch, others long drives. We barely spoke to one another as we left.”   

“Ms. Loren, when Jeffrey died, the drugs were no longer available. What did you do?”

“I stopped taking the drugs prior to his death. My fiancé found them in a drawer. I admitted I was taking drugs. He’s a doctor and told me he wouldn’t marry me if I continued to take them. I remembered Sean had given each of us his business card when he’d left the Blue Coyote Motel. I called him. He told me he and Sam were talking once a week via Skype and I was welcome to join them. They’d supported each other when they’d experienced withdrawal symptoms. Without their support I’m not sure what would have happened to me. I’m no longer addicted to the drug Jeffrey called Freedom. I honestly believe Jeffrey Brooks deserved to die. He was a crazy, terrible, insane monster.”

“Objection, your Honor. The witness is not an expert witness.”

“Sustained.”

“Thank you again, Ms. Loren. Your witness,” he said turning to Marsha.

* * * * *

“Ms. Loren, Freedom had been piped into your room through the air-conditioning system when you went back to the Blue Coyote Motel that Memorial Day weekend, is that correct?”

“I believe it was.”

“You said you thought Jeffrey looked like a madman when you met him in the lab, is that correct?”

“Yes, I believe that’s what I said.”

“Isn’t it possible that your perception of Jeffrey being a madman was caused by being under the influence of Freedom?”

“The drug had no bearing on my intellectual capabilities. I was definitely able to assess his mental state as being insane, over the edge, whatever you want to call it. His presence was scary and frightening.”

“No more questions, your Honor.”

“Court is adjourned until 9:00 tomorrow morning. The jury is admonished not to discuss this case with anyone or read or watch any media coverage about it. Have a nice evening.” Judge Adams banged his gavel and left the courtroom.

CHAPTER 38

Jordan turned on his car radio and found an all-news station. The lead story was the trial. The drug angle had only recently come to light. It was a story the media couldn’t get enough of.

When he got home, he hurried over to the television and turned on a news channel. They, too, were featuring the trial. There were photographs of him, Maria, the witnesses, and the courthouse. Every station had its own expert attorney giving his or her thoughts on the outcome of the trial. After he flipped from one to another he stopped on channel four and listened.

“Mr. Swayze, in your professional opinion, what do you think the outcome of this trial will be? In other words, will Maria Brooks be convicted for the murder of her husband, Jeffrey Brooks?” the talking head asked.

“I don’t see how the jury could acquit her. Think about it. She certainly had the motive, actually several motives. Four million dollars is a pretty good motive. And if her husband was going insane, wouldn’t it make more sense to kill him in a basement when no one else was around than wait until he was completely insane and have him committed to a mental institution. And if he was committed to a mental institution, that money would still be half his.”

“Do you think Maria knew he was piping an illegal drug into the rooms of the motel guests?”

“I can’t believe she didn’t know about it. She ran the motel. She had to know about it. Certainly she was benefitting from it. We know he gave her an anti-aging hormone. I mean, think about it. He lost his chance of receiving a Nobel Prize, one of the most prestigious awards in the world, because of her paranoia about aging. So we have drugs, no witnesses, a ‘person of interest’ who leaves the country, four million dollars, someone who changes her name to escape detection, and a woman who is so beautiful men can’t help falling in love with her, even a policeman who should know better. It seems to me Maria Brooks had a number of reasons to kill her husband. Who knows? She might even have the drug formulas and is looking for the right opportunity to sell them.”

“So, let me get this straight, Mr. Swayze, it is your professional opinion that Maria Brooks will be convicted of murdering her husband, is that correct?”

“Yes. I don’t see how a jury can do otherwise unless there is some blockbuster piece of evidence that the defense will introduce. As the facts stand now, I think it’s all over. How much time Maria Brooks will spend in prison is the big question.”

Jordan turned off the television and went to bed. He felt sick to his stomach. He knew how hard this was on Maria, but it wasn’t any easier for him. If the attorney was right, he was going to have to start thinking about raising a child by himself. Maria had more or less told him she wouldn’t consider having an abortion. Part of him wanted their child, but the other part of him had no idea how he would raise one by himself.

The next morning was no better. When he opened the paper, he saw the headlines, “Maria Brooks Trial Drawing to a Close-Conviction Seems Certain.” There were pictures of a very beautiful Maria, him as he left the courthouse with a grim look on his face, Jeffrey when he worked at Moore Labs, and several others. The article was almost as bad as the ones that had been in the Celebrity Spotlight tabloid.

He made himself some scrambled eggs and toast and then threw them out after one bite. Food didn’t interest him. He wondered what new revelations would come out today. Brian had been right. Marsha had been tenacious and even though he was a layman, it seemed to him that she was scoring some serious points with the jury.

CHAPTER 39

“The defense calls as its next witness, Douglas Ritchie.”

“Mr. Ritchie, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to testify in this trial. I’d like to start by asking you to tell the court how you happened to stay at the Blue Coyote Motel.”

“My life was a mess. I’m a salesman and I couldn’t make my sales quotas. I was fat, liked the hooch too much, smoked, had high blood pressure, and I’d gotten into the habit of banging hookers. Nice picture, huh?” The jury seemed riveted by Doug’s disclosure. The man sitting before them bore no resemblance to the man he’d just described. 

“My ex-wife was constantly harassing me about the back alimony I owed her, and I was really, really lost. I was on the way to LA from Phoenix after another day of making sales calls and not selling anything. My car started acting up. I had to get it fixed and the only place around was some little gas station in the desert. The owner recommended I stay at the nearby Blue Coyote Motel because the part he needed to fix my car wouldn’t be delivered until the following day. He loaned me his truck and I drove to the motel. I remember meeting Maria. She was so beautiful she took my breath away. She was also one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. A few hours later I started to feel better and by the next morning, I felt great. After the stay, I became the top salesman at my company, gave up smoking, pretty much gave up drinking, got in shape, and fell in love with a wonderful woman. We got married and just recently found out she’s expecting.”