Free Fatal Dose by K. J. Janssen

and exited the parking lot. He looked forward to getting home and settling down with a glass or two of eighteen-year-old Glenlivet Scotch. There was a lot to think about, now that the FBI was getting more active in Atronen’s affairs.

CHAPTER EIGHT
    Dennis Peterson picked up his private phone on the second ring. “Yes?”
    “I told him about my new project. At first he just asked me to slow down my search of the Atronen files, but then he made me an offer of one thousand dollars to give him a copy of whatever I come up with on any of his employees with questionable backgrounds. He wants me to call him tomorrow with my decision. He also asked for the name of the agent I’m doing the work for. It sounds as if he’s getting desperate.”
    “That’s a twist I hadn’t anticipated. I’ll discuss this with Special Agent Matthews tomorrow morning. Thanks for the update, Marcia. Vennuti has no way of knowing what your daily schedule is, but just as a precaution, be careful not to discuss what you’re doing with any of your friends. Don’t leave anything on your desk. I’ll mix up your assignments so no one will know specifically who your primary agent is. If you have to deliver any files to Agent Matthew use a sealed inter-office courier pack. I’m pretty sure there is a leak somewhere, so we can’t be too careful.”
    “I’ll make sure that there is no trail. Good night Dennis. I love you.”
    “Good night. I love you too, Marcia, and thanks again.”
    Peterson sat back in his chair and reflected on the day that Marcia came into his office to tell him about Vennuti approaching her at the Slip-In Saloon. She occasionally frequented the bar because it was on her way home from work. Somehow Vennuti knew that Marcia worked for the Bureau. Dennis suspected that someone in his office passed along this information, but since Marco was asking about the agent she was working for, the squealer obviously had limited access. That was a plus.
    Marco’s offer at the time was three hundred dollars per tip for keeping him updated on anything the FBI was doing with regard to Atronen Pharmaceuticals. Washington gave Peterson the go-ahead to use Marcia as a counter-informer, passing along information in a controlled sting. This was becoming a more common practice, especially since 9/11, but Dennis was still uncomfortable with it.
    After Marcia graduated from college she applied to the FBI to become a Special Agent. Her scores were not high enough to qualify, but she was offered a job at the Cleveland FBI office as a Technical Support Analyst.
    Marcia was no stranger to Dennis. They’d been seeing each other for over four years. She was far from the beauty he married; his wife Joanne being a former Miss America runner-up. But what Marcia lacked in looks she more than made up for in tenderness and compassion, two areas that were very lacking in Dennis’s life. Marcia has been on an emotional rollercoaster with Dennis for some time, including several occasions when he was convinced that he needed to reconcile with Joanne for the sake of their son. The odd thing was that son Stephen had no use for his father and often had taken sick on his visitation days. The times that father and son had together became fewer. Now that Stephen was preparing to enter college, there didn’t seem to be much sense in reconciliation. Dennis finally filed for divorce and Joanne did not contest it.
    Marcia’s patience finally paid off. Now that his divorce was final, they were making secret plans to get married. As far as Dennis knew, no one had the slightest inkling of their relationship, that’s how careful they’ been and for now the way Dennis wanted to keep it. Too much was going on to muddy the waters.

CHAPTER NINE
    Marco Vennuti signed the “Visitors Book” at the Peaceful Hollow Funeral Home. He proceeded to view Brice’s body, to bless himself and then to wait on the line of friends and family paying their respects to Brice’s parents. When