05.1 Nicotine Overdose

Natalia drove to Milwaukee in a downpour. She was thinking her exposure stunt was little premature but who could be following her. Talks failed and he is killed, the will would be in the hands of Cyril. There were several other things going on in her mind connected to Whiting. What was the connection to the women? There were more questions than answers. The nicotine contents of the vial and syringe definitely reflected the article on Virago. And Anton Cyril managed to keep his affair secret from his family for over two decades.

She stopped at The Plaza Hotel in an area close to McKinley marinas and the Bradford beach where Savon used to hang around. He loved surfing and boating – that she read from the magazine article.

She called Jonathan Simms and faxed him some handwritten notes requesting to obtain the Police Report and an autopsy report of Savon Martin from the coroner in Milwaukee. It could save a lot of time if a police station requested for them.

Again, she wanted the files to be delivered at the hotel on Cass Street so that she wouldn’t have to go there to pick them.

Simms said, “Your Tayana 37 is a recent model. It belongs to a Captain Paul Clancy from Beaufort.”

“How did you find it so quickly!” cried Natalia, “I guess the Hull Number was caught in a photograph I sent you!”

“No but I did look for it,” Simms said, “I took the shortcut. I called the Ashley Marina Harborage and asked who owned the boat. Simple as that.”

“Thanks, Jon. It’s not important,” she hung up.

She took a ride to the beachside and the marinas while waiting for the reports. Milwaukee Bay was another splendid sight. Cloud covered the sky over the Great Lake of Michigan. Thousands of yachts moored in the marina. Neatly kept curbs and pathways, flat turfs of green grass and dispersed trees. She took photographs and enjoyed hanging in the bars.

Natalia entered the fully carpeted lounge with a wood polished counter, dressed in a black cocktail dress for the evening. Walls glimmered in gold and bright like candles. ‘The Plaza’ inscribed on the rug she stepped on before the counter. She collected the items and went into the secret garden café located between the two units with living green walls. An open corridor with a single row of tables on both sides under black umbrellas and torchiere lights, the towering buildings in a gap view. There she sat quietly to read the contents and take down notes. Natalia ordered, “A Wisco-Style Brandy Old Fashioned,” she had to try it one day.

“Where do you come from?” asked the waiter.

“California,” she replied.

“Do you like it sweet or sour?”

Natalia frowned, “Sweet!”

There were the names of the police investigators but the most important bits were the photographs of the crime scene. A report that described his upright position in bed, a Fowler’s position, when he was found dead with hypodermic needles and emptied syringes around. He was not known a tobacco addict but his death related to nicotine overdose administered by intravenous injection. There were three needle marks in his upper left arm, one in the groin and one in the right neck.

Savon Martin was right-handed and the syringes bore his fingerprints. Therefore, it gave evidence that the execution was carried out by him to commit suicide.

What motivated him to do that? It remained still unknown. Savon Martin lost his mother in a car accident in Wolf Lake twelve months ago. His father, Anton Cyril, died five months ago in Raleigh, NC.

None of his half-brothers or half-sisters knew about his existence or Anton Cyril’s marriage to Sidney Martin way back in 1962. There was no mentioning of this pair in a will as beneficiary or inheritor as maintained by the lawyers at Jacob Lawrence PLLC.

Savon Martin wasn’t involved in any business or employed anywhere. His bank records proved he was still financially strong.

The body was claimed by Carmen Law Office in Indiana who claimed the body of Sidney Martin. So would be their belongings; the photo album and the will.

The autopsy report supported nicotine overdose death. It contained scientific terms of the findings. All in all – he died of cardiorespiratory arrest; a cardiac arrest. A high level of nicotine found in blood at a rate of 60 mg to his body weight of 77 kg. In summary it read, ‘Nicotine is a highly toxic chemical that might be fatal. It is not easy to predict poisoning if there’s no sign of drug ingestions at the scene even through meticulous investigation. It can be overlooked and considered as a sudden cardiac death.’

She remembered at once what was in the newspaper clippings about the women from Whiting – cause of death; sudden cardiac arrest.

There were interviews collected from people in his circles; friends and associates. All described him as a ‘mentally disturbed person’. One of the names, Heidelinde Klutz, began to ring like a bell but she could not hear a sound. Heidelinde Klutz was his girlfriend.

Natalia closed the files and took a deep breath. There were too many places to go and too many people to see and too many pieces to the puzzle. However, a link was missing. She made up her mind to start with Carmen Law Office in Hammond, Lake County, Indiana.

Determinedly, she picked the camera case from the Bronco and went to her room. Spread the clippings on the queen size bed, surrounded by beige-colour walls and small windows with white borders. Natalia began to think. One of the women who died of cardiac arrest was a nurse at St Catherine where Sidney Martin worked. Her name was Cindy Lockwood; 39 years old. She died on 16^th October before Savon Martin’s death and four months after Anton Cyril’s death. Cindy Lockwood died in sleep at home. She had a high dose of nicotine in blood.

The other woman was a Laura Hudson; 56 years old. She was found dead on a bench in the frosty Forsythe Park on 21^st November; eleven days after Savon’s death. Two women must be in close connection to Sidney Martin – so she believed because both appear in the newspaper obituary in the camera case and reside in Whiting.