someone should talk to her. You’ll do that, right?” She smiled. “Anything to get out of here.”
“Why waste my breath if you know what I’m going to say?”
Marge laughed. “No need to get peevish, Loo. All it means is that you trained me well.”
The bathroom was a closet crammed with a toilet, a wash-stand and a shower without a stall—a curtain cutting across one of the corners, and a mounted handheld water spray. White tile walls, white tile floors, all of it slippery when wet. A drain had been cut into the floor. Above the washstand was the medicine cabinet. Decker opened the cupboard, plastering his body against the opposite wall to avoid getting hit by the swing-out door. There appeared to be around thirty different white plastic bottles, each with its own label. At first glance, nothing was in duplicate form. Which meant everything would have to be bagged separately. Decker draped a clean cloth over the toilet seat—which was surprisingly in the down position (had a woman been in there?)—and laid the plastic evidence bags down on the clean surface. He also placed acloth over the washstand. Then he took out his pad and pen.
He started at the left upper corner:
Echinacea Purpura —For supporting the immune system. One hundred capsules at 404 mg each.
Decker wrote down the name of the drug, the number of tablets per bottle and the dosage of each pill. Then he spilled out the remaining capsules on the cloth draped over the washstand and counted them. Twenty-six still in the container. Carefully, he picked them up and put them back into the bottle, counting each kerplunk as they dropped to the bottom. Twenty-six tablets on the first count, twenty-six tablets on the second count. It’s a wrap. He bagged and labeled the bottle.
One down, around twenty-nine more to go. He glared at the vials, knowing the same routine awaited him. Aah, the glamour of police work. Perhaps a little gray matter helped solve a few cases. But the true tricks of the trade were patience and an eye for detail. Of course, a confession never hurt. With any luck, he’d finish the bagging before the procession ended. And if he didn’t, he hoped that the gurus would leave him alone to do his thing.
He took another bottle from the shelf: Zinc tablets (as citrate). One hundred tablets at 10 mg each. Forty-two tablets remaining.
Bottle three: Calcium (as calcium citrate). One hundred tablets at 200 mg each. Eighty-six tablets left.
Bottle four: Manganese . One hundred tablets at 100 mg each. Seventy-seven left.
Bottle five: Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid). One hundred tablets at 100 mg each. Forty-two left.
Bottle six: Sublingual B 12 with folic acid and biotin .
Decker read the instructions.
This unique formula is in sublingual (under tongue) form, the most effective form known for the absorption of vitamin B 12 and folic acid (other than injection) .
He thought a moment.
Other than injection .
Maybe that explained the IM needle marks in Jupiter’s arms and butt. He was shooting up B 12 . Maybe this was going to turn out to be simple.
One can hope. Decker turned the bottle in his gloved hand. It held one hundred tablets, each containing 800 mcg of vitamin B 12 , folic acid and biotin. One hundred and eleven left.
Bottle seven: Super-Antioxidants . One hundred and twenty tablets, each containing 100,000 IU of vitamin A (one hundred% as beta-carotene), 500 mg of vitamin C, 200 IU of vitamin E and 25 mg of selenium.
Decker emptied the bottle onto the cloth. They looked like horse pills. Fifty-seven left.
Bottle eight: Healthy bones supplement : For a healthy skeletal system. This one contained calcium, zinc, manganese, magnesium, copper (as gluconate), boron, horsetail herb extract, yucca juice and vitamins C, D, B and K.
Decker perused his notes, then looked back at the shelves. Lots of concoctions containing the same supplements—vitamins C, D and K. And the minerals zinc, magnesium and chromium. There were five