The Devil's Deal, page 17
part #3 of Deadly Deception Series
Chapter 11.
Julius just came back from the activity he’d chosen for that day. He felt relaxed, but in a bad need for a cigarette.
He wasn’t sure he could go and disturb Dr. Wright in his office, but he needed to get help soon before his nerves would have taken over his reason. The therapy had started only a couple of days before, and he had to admit that being smokeless was less difficult than he’d ever thought. Only at that precise moment, all the progress seemed to be unwound back to the moment before he started the therapy.
Without thinking about it anymore, he walked towards Dr. Wright’s office, hoping to get immediate help. Without further thought, as soon as he reached the closed door, he knocked, expecting to be received.
“Come in,” Dr. Wright’s voice replied inviting him to enter.
Julius peeked gingerly from the door, “Dr. Wright, do you mind if I disturb you for a moment?”
“Mr. Mendoza, please, come in. I am here at your availability,” he said standing up from his chair, inviting him to come in and sit down. “You do not need an appointment to see me, during these two weeks. I am here to help 24/7.”
“Thank you, I just came back from the yoga session, and I started to feel the desperate need for a smoke. I thought I could handle it, but it seems like the craving starts to take over my own self-control,” Julius admitted.
“There is nothing to be ashamed of, and it is quite natural for you to still have those cravings. Slowly you will realize that they can be controlled, and smoking will be something you won’t even consider anymore.”
His voice was calm, relaxed and had that particular modulation that was able to soothe. Julius felt the need to close his eyes and listen to that soothing tone. As Dr. Wright continued speaking, Julius felt more and more relaxed, and it was like his body didn’t have any weight. He was floating on the sound of Dr. Wright’s voice.
All thoughts about smoking, cigarettes, and everything concerning his addiction seemed to be far away, the only reality in that precise moment was the waves generated by the sound of Dr. Wright’s voice.
He could no longer distinguish what he was saying, but it was enough to make him feel comfortable with his choice of not smoking anymore.
When he finally opened his eyes, Dr. Wright smiled at him, “how do you feel Mr. Mendoza?”
“I have never felt so relaxed in my whole entire life,” he replied surprised of his feelings.
“Any need for a cigarette?”
Julius cringed, “No! Why would I?”
“Just checking,” Dr. Wright replied with a chuckle. “Remember, whenever you need to talk to me, please do not hesitate to seek me out, even if it is in the middle of the night. I am here to help you, and there is not such a thing as a right and wrong time.”
Julius nodded, “once again I really need to thank you for your help and for your availability. Only now do I realize how difficult it is quitting such an addictive habit. Perhaps for some people it’s easier, for me it has always been a mission impossible, but not anymore. Day after day I feel like the goal gets closer and closer.”
“I am really glad to hear that,” Dr. Wright replied, “how was the yoga session, did you enjoy it?”
“I have to admit that before I always considered yoga as something that would never suit me. I had to reconsider a lot of my convictions about many things,” he admitted. “I will for sure consider enrolling in yoga classes once I get back to Boston. For this week I have also chosen some of the outdoor activities, and I hope the weather won’t get any worse than this or they will all be compromised.”
“There are plenty of indoor activities too, but I do agree that some fresh air can perform real miracles on the mindset of a person, regardless of the weather conditions,” Dr. Wright observed.
“I will keep that in mind, but now I think I will go, I would like to make a phone call, and then I will go for dinner,” he said standing up from the chair, ready to leave the room. “See you tomorrow morning for the next therapy session.”
“Of course, have a pleasant evening,” greeted Dr. Wright.
As he was walking back to his room, Julius felt confident with a sense of self-achievement that he could not put into words. If there was a person, he needed to talk with, that was his mother.
The improvement he had begun to notice in his soul started to be evident after just a few days of therapy, and he thought it was enough improvement to show his parents his intention in reestablishing a relationship with them.
Perhaps it is just from those scars that we all can start to see our faults, and then to rebuild something more solid, able to withstand our differences and last for the rest of our lives, he thought, grabbing his mobile phone.
“Hello,” answered his mother.
“Hi, Mom, how are you doing?” He greeted, feeling glad to hear her voice.
“Oh, hi darling, everything is the same here, you know. But tell me what’s new with you? Have you already started the therapy?” She asked.
“Yes, I started a couple of days ago, and things are already starting to happen. Dr. Wright is an amazing psychotherapist, and I cannot stress enough the way he has committed himself in helping me out with my problem,” Julius explained enthusiastically, as he closed the door of his room behind him. “The first morning, I was craving a smoke so bad that I lost total control over my actions, and I yelled like a madman at Dr. Wright. It is good that as a psychiatrist he didn’t take anything personally.”
“How do you feel now?” She wondered concerned for the wellbeing of her son.
“I had just one small moment an hour ago. Although it wasn’t time for a therapy session, he met with me and helped me to battle through my craving for nicotine. I am still far from the goal I want to achieve, but I feel like I am making great strides every day,” he assured.
“You have no idea how this news is such a relief for me, and I believe your father will also be glad to hear that when I tell him. Have you called him?”
“No, I haven’t. He is the one with whom I had a more conflicted relationship,” Julius explained.
“Maybe it would be better if you call him, every now and then. He is always happy to hear your news from me, but if you call him, it will make it easier for you two to reach an understanding. I cannot always be the buffer between you two, there must be one of you who can be more considerate and start to reach for the other, or you won’t be able to reconnect the way you mean to.”
Julius nodded, he knew she was right, but it wasn’t easy and perhaps it was not the right time either to test the progress of the therapy in terms of self-confidence, but it was true that one of them needed to step in and forge the lines of communication.
“I will do that, but perhaps it is better that for the moment I just focus on my therapy.” Julius hesitated.
“You just do that, and whenever you are ready, come back, and we’ll celebrate, so you’ll have the occasion to clear the air about your discrepancies. How does that sound?” She proposed.
“Sounds like a deal, thank you, Mom.”
“No need to thank me darling, take good care of yourself now, and call me whenever you have any news to share, or even just to say hello, OK?”
“Of course. Good night and tell Dad hi for me.”
He smiled at himself, glancing at his image in the mirror.
He shook his head and wondered whether he would have been ever able to face his father without running away like he did in the past.
“You cannot run away every time you think you cannot face a situation, you need to be strong and hold your position no matter what, if this is what you are, then fight for it!” Julius exclaimed.
He raised his hands and went to the wardrobe to get a coat, so he could reach the restaurant close-by.
Later in the evening, Klaus Eckman and his colleague Abraham Whiterfeld reached the room where the laboratory of Prof. Doyle was set up.
“Good evening,” greeted Prof. Doyle as he saw them coming in, accompanied by Dr. Wright. “It is a pleasure to see you once again,” he added shaking their hands.
“Believe us it’s our pleasure indeed,” replied Klaus. “It’s an honor to join your research team, and we will do all we can to bring this project to the desired results.”
“I guess you would like to put your luggage in your rooms and freshen up a bit before we jump right in talking about work. I presume you must be tired after the journey you had,” Dr. Wright proposed.
Abraham glanced Klaus, “at least for me this would be the best idea. The trip was a long one, and a hot shower would be exactly what I need to get started.”
“Perfect! Follow me,” Dr. Wright said as he started to walk out of the room. “By the way, did you already have dinner? If not, there is a nice restaurant just a few hundred meters from here, you might want to try it.”
“Thanks, but we already ate, we stopped at a restaurant in the city before reaching this place, so we would be able to start working right away,” Abraham replied.
“Fine, so here are your rooms, make yourself at home, I will wait for you downstairs in the lab,” replied Dr. Wright walking away.
He sighed, trying to focus on the next step of the project, reaching the four-days target will not be easy. I just hope there won’t be useless victims this time. Perhaps I should go and search through my database for the next patient to test, he considered.
Absentmindedly he walked inside the lab and sat down on a chair, still thinking about who the best patient might be, then suddenly an idea came into his mind, and judging by how crazy it sounded, it might be just the right one.
“What are you thinking?” Prof. Doyle asked amusedly with an eyebrow quirked.
“I thought that it might be a good idea if I go and check my archives for the most suitable patient for the next step when I got the craziest idea ever,” Dr. Wright grinned.
“Sometimes the craziest ideas are the best, let’s hear it!” Prof. Doyle challenged.
“I was thinking about that shy young man, Abraham Whiterfeld. What do you think about him?”
“The researcher?” sputtered Prof. Doyle.
“Yes, that’s him. I thought that although he is part of the project and knows what the deal is, I still think that he could be a good candidate for the study. He is not a person who would easily hurt anyone, let alone kill. We might consider having a chat with his colleague and see what he thinks,” suggested Dr. Wright.
“We do not know anything about them, for all we know they could be a couple of ruthless assassins,” Prof. Doyle warned.
“You might be right, but I also have my own experience in the field, and I can tell you that Mr. Whiterfeld is not a ruthless assassin. Insecure, shy, brilliant student… but not a killer,” debated Dr. Wright.
“I see you already have a profile for our serial killer,” Prof Doyle laughed heartily.
“I’m serious,” Dr. Wright chuckled.
“Perhaps it is better to focus on less complex subjects. This guy might be unpredictable and…”
“And we need to test the unpredictability also,” interrupted Dr. Wright.
“You might be right about the unpredictability, but this might belong to another stage of the research,” Prof. Doyle replied shaking his head.
Dr. Wright remained silent when Klaus and Abraham entered the room. “We really needed to have a shower, but now let’s talk about business, we have a lot of work to do,” Klaus said excitedly.
“I will leave you gentlemen alone, I think you will be able to reach the goal within this week, so I might go and search for a potential patient to test the drug,” announced Dr. Wright standing up from the chair, and walking towards his studio.
Prof. Doyle nodded and glanced at Abraham, who seemed to feel uncomfortable in that new environment. “Dr. Whiterfeld, is there anything wrong?” Prof. Doyle asked as he started to observe him more carefully.
“Huh… no, I… well it always takes me some time to get accustomed to a new environment,” he tried to explain.
“Are you sure you will find comfortable enough to fall asleep tonight? It’s important to get proper rest,” Prof. Doyle replied concerned.
“Yes, I know, and there won’t be any problem…” Abraham assured nodding.
“My colleague is a bit shy, but I can say that I know him very well as we were roommates in college. Although now we are living in different apartments, we do often collaborate on the same projects,” Klaus glanced over at Abraham, with an affectionate smile. “He doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, but research is not a popularity contest, and Abe is a winner in his field.”
“You don’t have to take care of me,” protested Abraham with a very calm tone of voice. “I will try to relax this evening as soon as we are going to sleep. By the way, why are we talking about me and not about the formulation? We do not have all the time in the world to waste it with small talks.”
“You are perfectly right, so I suggest starting immediately,” proposed Prof. Doyle.
The next morning, as soon as Jonas reached his office, he dialed Gabriel’s phone number, knowing that Justin was going to have a chat with the librarian, Laura Jefferson.
“Hello,” growled Gabriel, coming out of his car in a hurry.
“Mr. Garcia-Mendez?” Jonas asked, caught off guard by Gabriel’s tone of voice.
“Who wants to know?” he was in a hurry and didn’t have any intention in having a chat with anybody right at that moment.
“This is Lieutenant Avaliani of the Bureau of Investigative Services,” Jonas replied introducing himself. “I am sorry to disturb you, but I need to ask you a couple of questions about the therapy you were participating in last year.”
Gabriel stopped for a moment, trying to understand whether he’d understood the man correctly and there was a Police Officer asking about the group therapy, or better yet the methods of Dr. Wright.
“You should have told me immediately the reason for your call. Please, if I can be of any assistance it will be my pleasure,” Gabriel replied with a grin.
“I am trying to get in touch with every patient who has been in Dr. Wright’s therapy group, and so far, we could trace Ms. LaMotte, Ms. Jefferson and you. Nevertheless, we could not find any information about the other two patients, Mr. Maximilian Blake, and Jonathan Abbey. Have you kept in touch with any of them?” Jonas asked.
Gabriel sighed, pondering what would have been the best answer to give to make them stop their search.
“Quite some time has passed since the last time I heard about them, they both moved abroad, Jonathan found an exchange student program and Max got the chance to participate in a project with another University. I can’t remember which kind of project he got involved in, nor which University, though.”
Jonas didn’t know what to think, but it seemed like there wouldn’t be the chance to talk with either of those people who had dropped out of the therapy. I have no idea how I would connect them with the case of the murder in Tbilisi, but it seems to me quite strange that each of them seemed to have a good reason to disappear. There must be more than just a coincidence, he thought.
“Well that is quite an unfortunate coincidence, but maybe you can help me by answering another question. Have you noticed anything strange during or even after the therapy?” Jonas asked just to test the waters. “Ms. LaMotte had recurrent nightmares, after the therapy. They seemed to fade away with the time, but I was wondering whether you had the same kind of problem.”
“I didn’t have any problems, and neither have I noticed anything strange or unusual. Jonathan got a bit oversensitive on the drug used, but he got his dose recalibrated, and after that, he didn’t have any problem. The fact that he left didn’t have anything to do with the therapy, he just didn’t feel comfortable with it any longer and preferred to have a more traditional approach,” Gabriel explained. “Maximilian got an offer for a project, and he didn’t want to miss the chance to potentially advance his career. Why do you think there should be anything strange going on?”
“That is confidential information I cannot give, but we are investigating another case that might be connected to Dr. Wright’s research, so we cast our net as wide as possible to be able to shrink it, by eliminating everything that doesn’t belong to the case,” Jonas assured.
“I understand, one thing I can say is that besides Jonathan, Sabina and Laura seemed to also be a bit oversensitive and got easily carried away by Jonathan’s initial hallucinations. I wouldn’t rely too much on their testimony because the memory of that period might be a bit biased,” Gabriel tried to reason.
“You may be right. Well, for now, I thank you for your cooperation, but I would appreciate your availability to answer other questions here at the Police Department, if we might require it.”
“Of course, just let me know when you will need me, and I will be there,” Gabriel replied.
“Thank you very much, I will keep you informed, have a nice day!”
Jonas hung up the phone, “it seems like, between Ms. LaMotte and Mr. Mendez, there wasn’t a friendly relationship. I could sense from both sides some sort of hostility,” he chuckled.
As he was thinking about it, his telephone started ringing, and he recognized Justin’s number.
“Tell me all your news,” Jonas replied with a smile on his face, getting more comfortable in his chair.
“I have talked to Ms. Jefferson, she was glad that Carolina Lynn was no longer missing, but she had some interesting anecdotes about the period she spent in that hotel,” he started to relay what he learned, as he was coming out of the library. “She has been telling me about strange movements and noises happening during the night. And people arguing outside the hotel. She admitted that she had some issues with the drug dose, but she is sure that there was something strange was going on, particularly her concern was on those who dropped out of the program. They seemed to disappear into nothingness as their social media profiles were deleted; I think we should make a cursory check over at the University. Mr. Abbey was a student, and Mr. Blake a researcher, if there are places where you can gain information about them it would be at the University.”
