by Kelly Holm
Leo quickly got up and went over to untie Larisa, while he continued to keep one eye on Dr. Blackmore who was still lying on the floor. When he looked up, Lamar had left the room.
“You stupid woman, look what you’ve done!” Dr. Blackmore was livid.
“I’m terribly sorry, Irving, are you ok?” Mila asked, trying to sound innocent as she helped him off the floor. She purposely used his first name to rattle him. She had never addressed him with it before, and knew that when she did, it would be significant to him… and it was.
As Dr. Blackmore stood up and brushed himself off, he looked at Leo, wondering what he would do next. He didn’t like losing control, and he was definitely not in control anymore.
Leo continued to point the gun at Dr. Blackmore. He still
wasn’t sure which side Mila was actually on, so he kept his guard up.
“What are you going to do now, big boy?” Dr. Blackmore asked sarcastically.
“I’m going to report your ass, and you get to spend the rest of your pathetic life behind bars, where you belong. I can finally prove you had something to do with the death of my wife.”
“She wasn’t technically your wife… was she; she was just your girlfriend. Apparently, you couldn’t close the deal.” Dr. Blackmore knew just how to get under Leo’s skin.
“How do you know that?” Mila asked.
“Didn’t it ever occur to you that I might have done a background check on you and your family before I offered you the partnership? I mean, I had to know what I was getting in to.”
“So, you did know who my mother was, you lied to me. So is what Leo is implying correct, did you kill my mother?” She already knew the answer, but she wanted him to say it in front of Leo.
“That’s crazy, I didn’t even know her. Besides, how would you ever prove anything, she was immediately cremated.”
“How do you know that?” Mila asked, trying to get him to hang himself.
Dr. Blackmore realized that he slipped and quickly tried to cover it up.
“It was just a guess, a good one, apparently.” As he leaned back on the edge of the desk, he smiled, as he remembered making a pretty penny for Krystal’s organs.
“Mila, call the cops, I’m done listening to this piece of shit spew his web of lies,” Leo said, growing impatient.
Mila had no intention of calling the police; she knew they would just make the situation more complicated. She needed to get
Dr. Blackmore to admit he was responsible for her mother’s death so Leo would get mad enough to kill him.
“So, are you going to shoot me or what?”
“You wish.”
“I see, just like that nosey girlfriend of yours… all talk and no action.”
“What are you talking about?” Leo could feel the hairs on the back of his neck standing up; he was doing everything he could to keep his cool.
“She was a snoop too.”
“So, you killed her?” Leo asked as he turned the safety off and cocked the gun. He was seeing red now, and it was getting harder and harder not to pull the trigger and blow Dr. Blackmore to smithereens.
“Now, I didn’t say that…”
“He’s lying Leo, he killed Mama.”
“Oh, come on now, like I said before, you have no proof of that.” Dr. Blackmore was getting nervous and was carefully picking his words.
“Oh, but I do; I found the file in your office,” Mila said, as she looked directly into his eyes.
“Mila, is that true, did he really kill Krystal?” Leo needed to know the truth.
“Yes. Shoot him Leo; kill him like he killed Mama.”
“I think we should wait for the police, if I kill him, I won’t be any better than him,” Leo was trying to rationalize, but it was getting harder and harder every minute.
Mila was getting frustrated, she didn’t realize that Leo was such a choir boy; she thought for sure as soon as he heard that Dr. Blackmore was the one who killed Krystal, he would have no problem pulling the trigger. Dammit, I really hoped he had the
balls to pull the trigger so I wouldn’t have to, she thought. She would have to turn this up a notch.
“He killed her, Leo, and then he harvested her organs and sold them, including her eyes.”
That was all Leo had to hear. He already saw red, but that remark put him over the edge.
“You son-of-a-bitch…” Leo said, as he pulled the trigger and watched as the bullet flew across the room and directly into Dr. Blackmore’s forehead. He watched as the blood and part of Dr. Blackmore’s skull flew towards the back wall in slow motion and splattered. Leo knew he should feel remorse, but all he felt was relief as he watched Dr. Blackmore’s lifeless body slither to the floor.
Mila was shocked; she didn’t think Leo had it in him. Well thank God he did, she thought, otherwise I would have had to do the dirty work. This was working out great, Dr. Blackmore was out of the picture, and now she was in charge. Leo had no idea how much he just helped her out.
As Mila stood there in awe, she watched Larisa as she tried to comfort Leo; it was almost kind of sweet, she thought. Suddenly, Mila remembered that Larisa was worth a small fortune on the black market. So she casually walked over and picked up the gun without Leo or Larisa noticing. Once she got back over to the desk, next to Dr. Blackmore’s bleeding corpse, she pointed the gun directly at Larisa.
“How could you just throw me away like I was trash?” Mila yelled at Larisa. She wasn’t sure if she would be able to pull the trigger, she had never killed anyone in cold blood like this.
“Mila, Larisa had no idea you were still alive. Hell, I wasn’t even sure, that’s why I brought you to Krystal. Larisa was only doing what she thought she had to do. Trust me, I watched,
and it wasn’t easy for her.” Leo was doing his best to defuse the situation, but he wasn’t sure what Mila would do.
“Mila, I know you’re confused, I am too, but you don’t have to do this. Consider your practice, you don’t want to spend the rest of your life in jail,” Larisa pleaded.
“That won’t happen,” Mila said, as she walked over to the desk and nonchalantly pressed the red button conveniently located under the desktop on the right side. The button alerts the staff to quickly tear down everything that isn’t normal to a therapy office.
“What do you mean, it won’t happen?” Leo asked.
“Exactly that; you can call the police, but they won’t find anything when they get here except for Dr. Blackmore’s dead body, and well, your fingerprints on the gun.” Mila was still holding Larisa at gunpoint.
“As are yours,” Leo reminds her.
“Ya but, I’m the doctor, and I had to pull the gun from your hands after you shot Dr. Blackmore and my patient Larisa Bergman; I couldn’t let you couldn’t hurt anyone else.”
Mila thought things were progressing well. Apparently, she could have her cake and eat it too. She was feeling pretty proud of herself.
“Mila, what have you become, this isn’t how you were raised. Your mother would be mortified.”
Mila thought about what Leo said, and realized that maybe it would be better if she put the gun down and pretended to be confused. She was in charge of the whole operation now, if she lost one, would it really matter? Mila was already fabulously wealthy, thanks to Leo killing Dr. Blackmore. Besides she thought, there will be plenty more to harvest. Mila quickly changed her tone.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. I guess the news was more then I
was prepared to hear. Please forgive me,” Mila said, as she put the gun down and looked at Larisa.
“I understand. We both learned a lot today, I’m sure it will take some time to process it all.” Larisa said with relief.
“Things just got out of control. I didn’t know that Dr. Blackmore was performing different experiments then we had discussed. As far as I knew, we were just administering a trial medication to patients.” Mila did her best to sound sweet and innocent.
“We need to call th
e police; I’m actually surprised someone hasn’t already, what with the gunshot and all,” Leo said.
“No one would have heard a gunshot, all the rooms are soundproofed,” Mila replied.
“We still need to call the police.”
“And what will we be telling them?” Mila asked, knowing she didn’t want anyone else snooping around.
“The truth.”
“What truth? That you broke into the clinic, and when you were busted, you pulled a gun and killed Dr. Blackmore? I think we need a better story.”
“The truth, my truth, is better.”
“Like I said before, all the police will find is a normal therapy clinic with a dead doctor.”
“Along with some surgical equipment and a computer room where you are tracking patients without their knowledge,” Leo said; he knew what he saw.
“Look, I don’t know what you think you saw, but I assure you, all the police will find is a normal therapy office. There isn’t any surgical equipment or tracking devices here.” Mila knew that the staff was currently removing anything that would incriminate them and that once the police arrived, they wouldn’t find anything.
Leo wasn’t sure what Mila’s angle was, but he decided to call her bluff.
“Call the police Mila. You might feel ok lying your way through life, but I prefer the straight and narrow.”
“Suit yourself,” Mila said, as she dialed the police.
“Los Angeles police department, precinct 47, is this an emergency?”
“Yes, would you please send someone over, there’s been a shooting,” Mila told the police dispatcher.
“There will be a squad car arriving in the next ten minutes. Would you like me to stay on the line with you while you wait?”
“No, thank you, that won’t be necessary,” Mila said, as she hung the phone up.
“Thank you, you did the right thing.” Leo was relieved that the police would be here soon. He had quite a bit to tell them.
“Maybe so, but when they get here, let me do the talking. I’ll tell the police that Dr. Blackmore lost his mind and tried to kill you. You were here to take me to lunch, and you were just defending yourself.”
“But that isn’t what happened.”
“Yes, Leo, that is what happened.”
Ten minutes later, the police arrived and started to question the staff. They questioned everyone, but no one saw or heard anything, just as Mila said.
When they got to Lamar, he told them that Dr. Blackmore had been acting strange the past few days, and seemed to be losing his mind; thinking everyone was against him. The police believed him and thanked him for stepping forward and being so honest. Before they questioned Mila, they searched the building, and just like Mila predicted, they found nothing out of the ordinary.
As Mila walked out of room four and into the hallway, she noticed an older man, most likely in his late fifty’s, standing next
to Dr. Blackmore’s locked office. He must be the detective, she thought. He was dressed in khaki pants and a slightly yellowed, short-sleeved, white button-down shirt that just covered his protruding beer belly. He was holding a pen and a small notebook, jotting down notes and thoughts as they came to him.
Mila watched as he carefully tried the door, but quickly realized it was locked. As he sighed with frustration, he ran his fingers through his mostly salty, disheveled, bed-head hair, and looked around for someone who might be able to help him. Within seconds, he noticed Mila and started walking towards her.
“Excuse me, ma’am, are you the doctor in charge?” The detective asked.
“Yes, I’m Dr. Mila Thorton, and you are…”
“Detective Bert DeLoc,” he said, as he extended his hand.
“Pleasure to meet you, Detective, I wish it would be under better circumstances.”
“Yes, well then I probably wouldn’t be here,” he replied matter-of-factly.
Detective DeLoc was not at all thrilled to be there; he was one day away from retiring and putting his days of fighting crime behind him. His fishing poles were already packed, and he was ready to leave for his mini vacation to the Truckee River, up by Lake Tahoe, as soon as he finished his shift today. He had no intention of starting a new case that would delay this trip. He told himself he would do his due diligence, but that was really going to be the extent of it; unless he found something really ground-breaking.
“Just let me know if you need my assistance,” Mila said, as she turned to walk out to the waiting room.
“Well, I’d really like to get into this office, would you be able to assist me with that?”
That was the last thing Mila wanted to do; she knew
exactly what he would find in there. I have to create some sort of diversion, there’s no way he can go into that office, she thought as she tried not to panic. It was the one flaw in her plan.
“That’s Dr. Blackmore’s office… the deceased. As I’m sure you noticed, it’s a combination lock, and unfortunately, I don’t know the combination,” she lied.
“Is there anyone here who might know it; he must have an assistant.” Here we go, the detective thought, this is exactly what I was afraid of. He knew she was obviously hiding something in that office, and now he had to decide if he wanted to pursue it and delay his retirement; or look the other way.
“I’ll see if I can find someone who knows it, but in the meantime, have you spoken to Lamar Goodeve, he worked quite closely with the deceased.”
“I think one of the officers already has, but I will make a note to talk to him myself. Do you think he saw anything relevant?”
Mila sighed as she leaned in to speak more privately, “Look, this was just a huge misunderstanding gone astray.”
“Really… maybe you could explain that statement a little more…” Detective DeLoc was getting worried now; he didn’t want to find anything that would spark an in-depth investigation, he already knew there was something in that office, but maybe if he didn’t find anything else, he could justify turning a blind eye.
“Well, I noticed that Dr. Blackmore, the deceased, was acting quite peculiar the past few days.”
“Peculiar how?” he asked as he flipped his notebook to a fresh page and got ready to jot down anything relevant.
“Oh, you know, he was acting paranoid, thinking everyone was against him. He was very nervous and absent-minded.”
“I see, and the two he had tied up, what’s your connection with them?”
“Larisa Bergman is a patient of mine, and she was here for treatment. Leo Mills is a personal friend, and he was here to take me to lunch. He must have accidentally gone into the back area looking for me when Dr. Blackmore found him and assumed the worst.”
“Is Dr. Blackmore, the one who tied them up?”
“Yes sir, like I said, he wasn’t in his right mind. He thought that Leo was breaking in and kidnapping Larisa, so he drugged them both and tied them up. He had been talking about world domination all day,” Mila said, as she rolled her eyes and softly laughed.
“World domination… interesting. And the shooting, how did that all come about?”
“Well, like I said, Dr. Blackmore wasn’t in his right mind; he was spewing nonsense and holding both Leo and Larisa at gunpoint when I walked in. Leo was able to get free of the ties, and he tackled Dr. Blackmore. A struggle broke out, and Leo accidentally shot Dr. Blackmore. It was purely self-defense.”
“You wrap this up awfully neatly for someone who happens to have a dead doctor on site.” Burt DeLoc had been a detective for almost twenty-five years; he could tell when someone was lying, but this time, he decided to let it slide.
“Excuse me?” Mila was worried, it almost sounded like he didn’t believe her.
“Well, your story seems awfully clean, a little… unbelievable.” The hairs on the back of his neck were standing tall, just like they always do when something seems off. He knew there was definitely more to this story, but if he pursued it, he could end up delaying his retirement
for weeks; and that was something he had no intention of doing.
“I don’t know what to say to that. I told you what happened. I guess it does seem awfully unbelievable, but
Dr. Blackmore wasn’t your typical doctor. He was highly intelligent, quite overworked, and very high strung. He put in an average of sixty hours a week between this office and a hospital in a neighboring town. That’s a lot of hours for someone his age, don’t you agree?” She asked as she looked him in the eye.
“Yes, I see your point. I will need to speak with the two victims. Are they in this room over here?” He asked as he pointed to room four.
Mila knew that Leo was going to spill the truth about how Dr. Blackmore killed Krystal and sold her body parts on the black market, and that would definitely make this detective stick around. She had to do something and quickly.
“I think you should know that both victims were drugged pretty heavily before they were tied up, so they might be a little confused.”
“I’ll take that into consideration,” he said, as he paged backward in his notebook like he was looking for something.
“Did you have any more questions for me?”
“I did have one more; what exactly is your involvement with the deceased again?”
“He was my boss; I only work at this clinic twice a week. I was under the impression that he was just hypnotizing these patients’ problems away, he was a master hypnotizer. We were also testing a new medication on several of the patients; with their full consent, of course.”
“What type of new medication?”
“It’s a new drug for OCD and anxiety. We’ve had very encouraging results. However, I have been noticing lately that Dr. Blackmore has been acting strange, all crazy and paranoid. I actually came by today to put in my notice. It’s getting to be a little too much for me, with my personal practice and all.”
“Well I think I have everything I need from you,” Detective DeLoc said, as he turned to go into room four to speak with Leo and Larisa.
“I’ll stick around for a while in case you need anything.”
Detective DeLoc went into room four and sat down in the chair next to Leo.
“I’m detective DeLoc; would you mind telling me what happened here today?”
