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

by Thomas Fincham

  There was suddenly a commotion. It was coming from the entrance of the hall.

  He spotted a woman with several police officers heading his way.

  The crowd began to whisper.

  “What was going on?”

  “Why are the police here?”

  “Is someone going to be arrested?”

  The woman came up to the stage and flashed her badge. “I’m Detective Marina Lopez of the Franklin Police Department. Mr. Munn, we would like you to come with us.”

  “What is this about?” he asked, putting a hand over the microphone.

  “You will find out when you get there.”

  “I have to make a phone call.”

  “To whom?”

  “My lawyer.”

  ONE HUNDRED-NINE

  They were in the interview room. Munn and his lawyer sat on one side with Lopez and Pascale on the other.

  She would’ve preferred to do this on her own, but with Pascale acting as her supervisor, she had no choice.

  He wanted in on this, and she didn’t care. He had given her the go-ahead to get Munn and she was grateful for that.

  Munn’s high-priced lawyer was blasting Lopez for what she had done. By physically removing his client while he was in the middle of his big presentation, she had harmed his reputation. He would sue both Lopez and the department.

  Lopez had dealt with his type before. They were arrogant and smug. They believed they could do whatever they wanted. They weren’t afraid of the law. They never broke it, but they were comfortable walking on the edge of it.

  They knew the rules and the regulations inside out and were able to use it in their favor.

  Lopez laid out the case like a deck of cards. Each card represented one fact in the case. The first card was Munn’s past and his desire to sabotage Devon Pharma for what they had done to him.

  “Flimsy and without merit,” the lawyer scoffed. “What evidence do you have to substantiate this?”

  The second card. “We have bank records from Francisco Luiz that show deposits totalling half a million dollars from a bank account registered to a company that Mr. Munn controls.”

  She slid the bank statements in front of them.

  Without touching them, Munn scanned them. He then grinned. “That is indeed my bank account, but if you look closely, it’s registered to a charity. I use it to disperse money to those who need it. Mr. Luiz may have been suffering from some hardship, and in order to help him, I may have extended some funds to him.”

  “Funds of over five-hundred thousand?” she said. “Isn’t that a bit too large of a donation?”

  Munn shrugged. “If you check my account history, you will see I have made donations larger than that, so this shouldn’t be an anomaly.”

  Lopez didn’t know what to say.

  Munn put his fingers together. “Why are you so interested in Mr. Luiz? And how relevant is he to me?”

  “We know he delivered a modified version of the drug to Rudy Ross, Jr. and to Detective Tom Nolan. This drug made them commit acts that were dangerous, and in some cases, deadly to others. To top it off, this very drug came from Devon Pharma, whom you’ve had a bad history with. What do you say to that?”

  “Okay, so you know my real identity,” Munn said. “That doesn’t make me a criminal, though. Devon Pharma did ruin my life, but now, as you can tell, I have everything a man could ask for. I have money. I have fame. And I have power.” He then looked her straight in the eye. “This makes me a formidable person to go against.”

  “Is that a threat?” Lopez asked.

  “Absolutely not.” He shook his head. “It was just a comment and nothing more. Why don’t you ask these very questions to Mr. Luiz? I’m sure he could tell you what you want to know.”

  “He’s dead,” Lopez said matter-of-factly.

  Munn didn’t even flinch. “Well, I guess you’re out of luck then. Sorry I can’t be of any more help to you.”

  Lopez had another card up her sleeve. “We have Felix Dent,” she then said. “He, too, received money from you, amounts similar to Francisco Luiz.”

  “So?”

  “So, it makes me question the fact that two people who happened to receive money from you were then caught on footage with murdering a reporter of the Franklin Herald. Her name was Francine Robeault. And if that name doesn’t sound familiar, she was the one who discovered your previous life.”

  “What are you saying, Detective?” he asked.

  “I’m not saying anything. I’m just putting the pieces together.”

  Munn gave her a hard look. “Why don’t you round up every person I have ever donated money to? You can then charge all of us with this conspiracy that you believe we are involved in. If you like, you can even throw in this reporter’s murder for good measure. I would like to see what a judge thinks once it reached the courts. If you have proof, then please charge me, and I will let my lawyers refute any and all claims made against me. If not, then we have nothing to talk about.”

  Lopez didn’t have a response. She had used all her cards and she had lost the hand. He was right. She didn’t have anything substantial on him. Whatever they did have would not hold up in any court of law.

  “Are we done?” Munn asked.

  She had no choice. “Yes.”

  “We’ll sue the department for false accusation,” Munn’s lawyer said. “You not only embarrassed my client in front of his devoted fans, you also tried to ruin his good name. You’ll be hearing from my office soon.”

  When they were about to leave, Lopez leaned over and whispered to Munn, “I know you’re involved. You destroyed the lives of three young people. You also shattered their families, which included my captain’s. You then tried to use someone I deeply care about to hurt a friend of mine. I will do whatever I can to make your life miserable.”

  Munn snorted. “Do what you will, Detective. I’ve been through worse.”

  Lopez put her face in her hands once they’d gone.

  “I’m glad I’m not you right now,” Pascale said.

  Thanks for the words of comfort, Lopez thought. She also wished she was someone else right now.

  ONE HUNDRED-TEN

  From his bed, Nolan gave a deposition about the effects of the drug on him. He made it clear that it was he who had attacked Hyder first and that Hyder had shot him in self-defense.

  Hyder was able to return home. His mother was naturally upset, but, after seeing her son free, she was more than glad to have him back. His brother, Akbar, was not as forgiving as their mother. He gave him an earful for what he had put them through. But in the end, he, too, was grateful that his younger brother wasn’t in jail.

  Lopez took a statement from Tim Ersham on how he modified the drug that altered both Rudy Ross Jr.’s behavior and Detective Tom Nolan’s as well. This not only supported Nolan’s testimony, it also refuted any wrongdoing on Devon Pharma’s part. Devon Pharma was still looking for a buyer, however.

  With the information now public, Captain Ross finally spoke to the media. He was flanked on either side by the parents whose lives his son had taken. He apologized to the families for not coming forward earlier. He wished he could have his son back and they could have their children back. They forgave him as he, too, had lost a child, and they wished that nothing like this ever happened again.

  Hyder went back to the Daily Times and wrote about his ordeal as a fugitive. In his story he also wrote about Felix Dent and how he was now serving life for the murder of Francine Robeault. He then wrote a subsequent piece and, with Veronica’s approval, personally hand delivered it to Irving Richler, editor at the Franklin Herald. His piece spoke about J. Robert Munn, or, more specifically, Dr. Byron Smith. He made sure not to mention Munn’s connection to the Riverfield Murders. Munn was never formally charged and any reference would put the paper under a lawsuit. He gave full credit of the story to Francine Robeault. At the time of her death, she was working on it for the Franklin Herald, so it made sense for the Fr
anklin Herald to print the story.

  Munn continued with his journey of enlightenment. He used Hyder’s article to further illustrate that if he could be reborn from Byron Smith to J. Robert Munn, then he could help anyone become who they really should be. This made Munn even more popular than before.

  He could not shake the shadow of Detective Lopez, however. She closely watched his every move.

  ONE HUNDRED-ELEVEN

  (Several days later)

  The house had been decorated with balloons, banners, and other decorations. They weren’t sure how Nolan would react, but they all wanted to give him a welcome home party. Luckily, when he arrived he was more than gracious and a little teary eyed. He did, however, promise to arrest anyone who trashed his house.

  They’d ordered food from a variety of places. There was Chinese, Italian, Middle-Eastern, Indian, Greek, Hakka, and American.

  Everyone had been invited; at least, everyone they could fit in the house. Hyder was the first to arrive. He came with his mom, his brother, and his sister-in-law. Today also happened to be Eid, the day Muslims celebrated the end of Ramadan. Hyder was dressed in traditional Pakistani attire, as he and his family had just returned from the morning Eid prayers. They had decided to spend the afternoon celebrating Nolan’s return from the hospital and afterwards they would go and celebrate the rest of the day with their families and friends.

  Lopez’s sister, Angela, was there, along with her boyfriend, Enrico. Angela had helped decorate the house, which was a daunting task, so Lopez was more than grateful to have her there.

  Mr. and Mrs. Barton were also invited. Their daughter had meant a great deal to Nolan and they still meant a great deal to him.

  Captain Ross dropped by with his wife Vivien. Ross wanted to pay his thanks for what they did for Rudy Jr. and also to wish Nolan a speedy recovery. He expected him to be back to work on Monday. He was kidding of course.

  Pascale and Halton weren’t invited. Even if they were, Lopez was certain they wouldn’t come. But in their place, Herb Lafferty, the department’s coroner, came with some homemade sweets. Nolan didn’t know Lafferty had a knack for baking. Lopez wished Herb could teach Nolan a few tricks. Nolan, on the other hand, had no desire to get behind an oven.

  Nolan’s neighbors also came over to be part of the festivities. Earl Winton, Nolan’s AA sponsor, was there as well. When Boris and Damian arrived with the liquor from the bar, Earl made sure to keep an eye on Nolan. Fortunately, he didn’t have to. Nolan stayed clear of the booze.

  When the party was in full swing, Hyder took the opportunity to fill several plates with as much food as possible. He then left the house and walked around the block to a white SUV.

  When he reached it, Tiny came out, licking his lips.

  Hyder handed a plate to him, a plate to Dante, and a plate to DeShawn.

  “Thanks, man,” DeShawn said with a smile.

  “I didn’t know what you guys liked, but I filled it with everything I could find.”

  “We don’t discriminate when it comes to food,” DeShawn replied.

  “Damn right,” Dante said.

  Tiny was too busy with his meal to give a response.

  “Enjoy your food,” Hyder said. “And give my best to Jazmin.”

  “Will do,” DeShawn said. “You take care of yourself, man.”

  “I will. And you too.”

  As Hyder was walking back to the house, his cell phone buzzed.

  “Hey, Lester,” he said as he answered. “Where are you? The food is almost finished.”

  “Remember you told me to find a way to read the messages on the forum?”

  “I vaguely remember, yes.”

  “Well, I couldn’t do it, but I asked Celeste to give it a shot. She’s a way better hacker than I am. She was able to write an algorithm that searched through all the private messages in the forum. She made sure to narrow the search on anything that could be a password, and guess what? She found one.”

  Hyder was now at the front steps of the house. “Wow, good. We’ll sit down tomorrow and go through it.”

  “This can’t wait, bro,” he said. “Dial that number you got from the pay phone and enter code 343323. You gotta listen to it now.”

  “Okay, I will, but hurry up and get here. The party is almost over.”

  “I’m on my way.”

  When Hyder hung up, he suddenly had a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  Lopez came out. “Hyder, where’ve you been? We’re about to cut the cake.”

  “I’ll be there in a second.”

  Hyder entered the house and got out of his wallet the piece of paper that had the telephone number. It was the very one that Felix had dialed when they were following him.

  When the automated voice prompted him for the password, Hyder punched it in.

  After a few beeps, a male voice popped up. Hyder could tell it had been altered. It said, “Kill Marina Lopez. Kill Marina Lopez. Kill Marina Lopez.”

  The blood drained from Hyder’s face.

  The message had been left not ten minutes ago. The instructions had been given now! He realized with a chill.

  He quickly scanned the interior of the house. He spotted Lopez in the corner. She was setting up the cake.

  He had to warn her.

  And then something caught his eye. One of the neighbors pulled out her cell phone and listened. Suddenly, something changed about her. Hyder had seen that look before. It was as if she was in a deep trance.

  Nolan looked the same way when he had attacked him.

  The woman headed for Lopez.

  Hyder spotted the cake cutting knife on the table. He was certain she was going for it.

  Hyder thought about yelling, but the noise in the house would drown him out.

  Lopez had her back to the table. The woman moved with purpose and determination.

  In one swift motion, the woman grabbed the knife. When she raised it up in the air, someone screamed. Lopez turned and saw what was about to happen. She put her hands up to shield herself.

  Hyder tackled the woman to the floor. Angela jumped in and wrestled the knife out of her hand.

  “I have to kill her! I have to kill her!” The woman screamed as others arrived to help subdue her.

  Lopez turned to Hyder. “You saved my life. I don’t know what to say.”

  “Don’t say anything. You gave me my life back.”

  ONE HUNDRED-TWELVE

  Everyone had left and the house was now empty except for Lopez and Nolan.

  Nolan slowly made his way around the living room, trying his best to help Lopez clean up.

  “I know it was Munn who was behind it,” Lopez puffed. “I was making his life difficult and he wanted to get rid of me.”

  Nolan didn’t say anything. He had learned to let her fume or else that wrath would be directed at him.

  “Luiz must have delivered that last package with the modified patch.” She then shook her head. “I shouldn’t have lost him, even briefly.”

  “Don’t be hard on yourself,” Nolan said, consoling her. “You used your professional judgement.”

  She turned to him. “And it worked out just fine, didn’t it?”

  He shut up.

  She sighed. “I wish I had some evidence against Munn. I need something that would hold up in court. Or at least, link him to the murders in some way.”

  “I need my medication,” Nolan said.

  “Is it hurting?”

  He nodded, and then winced. He wanted to distract her or else she would only get angrier.

  “Where did you put it?” she said.

  “I think it’s in my bedroom.”

  “I’ll grab it.”

  She went upstairs. While she was walking down the hall, she passed a room and stopped.

  Nolan used the room for storage. She noticed something on the table. It was a stack of paper. She went over and scanned it. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

  She grabbed it and rushed downstairs.


  “What is this?” she asked.

  Nolan looked at it. “It’s not my medication, that’s for sure.”

  “Tom, seriously, where did you get it?”

  “I got it from Devon Pharma,” he replied. “It’s the list of participants from the drug study. I was hoping to go through it, but I never got the chance. Plus, who has the time to go through almost nine hundred names?”

  She flipped through it. “It’s alphabetized.”

  She scanned the list.

  “I knew it!” she exclaimed.

  “Knew what?” he asked.

  “Munn’s real name is Byron Smith, right?”

  “I guess,” he said, not sure where she was going with this.

  “I always wondered how Munn knew about the drug or how it even functioned. Without it, he couldn’t have found a way to modify it to suit his needs.”

  “Okay.”

  “Well, you wouldn’t believe me, but there is a Byron Smith on this list.”

  “So?”

  “So it means Munn also joined the study, and to protect himself, he used his real identity. This way he could get a doctor’s approval and meet all the requirements. There are so many Smiths in the list he was certain Devon Pharma wouldn’t remember him from twenty years ago. And he was right.”

  “How does that help us?”

  She grinned. “You leave that to me.”

  ONE HUNDRED-THIRTEEN

  The news report on the television was about the arrest of J. Robert Munn, the self-help guru with legions of fans. Munn had been taken in, and charged for his involvement in the murders on Riverfield Street and for the death of reporter Francine Robeault. An image came up on the screen showing Lopez dragging a cuffed Munn from his house to a waiting cruiser. Munn looked stunned and defeated.

  The anchor went on to say that documents obtained from Devon Pharma confirmed that Munn had indeed enrolled in the drug study under the name of Byron Smith. This led police to raid a mailbox given as the address on the application forms. Inside they found several variations of the patch provided in the drug study. They were the same patches that a Tim Ersham had gone on record to confirm that he had altered. Furthermore, Munn had used a private forum to contact Francisco Luiz, Felix Dent, and Tim Ersham. The police were able to trace the IP address to a house that was under the name of Byron Smith. The anchor then mentioned that both Francisco Luiz and Felix Dent were involved in the death of Francine Robeault. A video had emerged showing they committed the crime. The anchor went on to say both Luiz and Dent had also received monies from an account registered to Munn. Police believed had Francine Robeault not uncovered Munn’s identity they would have not been able to make the connections. The police also believed that they had a strong case against Munn, who was now facing the possibility of life in prison.