“Jayson, let me ask you one thing,” he interrupts me, raising his hand like a student in class. “Have you ever heard of the drug Sodium Amytal?”
A cold shower runs down my spine, hitting me with such sudden force that its impact is impossible to hide in front of him.
“Thought so,” he says, casting me a condescending smile. “It’s the drug you use on your patients, isn’t it? When you knock them out before your procedure.”
I frown at him. “Among others, yes. But I don’t use it to ‘knock them out’; the effect mechanism works a little more complex than that.”
Christopher waves me off. “Yeah, whatever. But you’re familiar with it?”
“I am.”
“And you see, this is the thing here, Jayson,” Christopher says, taking a deep inhale as he seemingly prepares for his final strike. “Not many people are familiar with it. It’s not widely used anymore, because there are better alternatives to it—as I’m sure you know. In fact, you’re the only licensed physician in the area who is known to use it on a regular basis.”
“It comes with the job.”
“Oh yes, sure it does,” Christopher agrees. “I’m sure it has its benefits when your goal is to hypnotize a person, to make them tell you things they wouldn’t tell anyone else, to make them docile and pliable.”
“That’s not what my service is about,” I say, locking him down with a sinister stare. “And you know that.”
He nods again, slowly this time, withstanding my gaze.
“Of course,” he says, a cavalier tone lacing his voice. “But it can be used for that, right? Administered to the right person, it could make them an easy victim, wouldn’t you agree?”
I shrug, unsure where he’s going with this. “Sure.”
Christopher sighs, giving the impression that he’s not entirely satisfied with my nonchalant reaction. That changes when he continues speaking, finally revealing why he’s telling me all of this and what he meant by the things he said to Malia.
“You know, Jayson, there’s something about that latest victim of the Bridgewater murderer that may lead our investigation in an entirely new direction,” he says, emphasizing each word and visibly enjoying his moment.
“The autopsy report revealed something rather interesting: They found Sodium Amytal in the girl’s body.”
He takes a deep breath, throwing an ugly smirk at me when he concludes. “And like I said: Jayson Bowlan is the only person in this area who’s administering this drug, known far and wide.”