Summary Of The Short Novel 'Strong Medicine' By Richard McAndrew:
Chapter 1
Dr. Mark Latto, a British aged in his early thirties, a doctor of western medicine, came to Santa Cruz , California to visit his friend Dr. Deborah Spencer, American, aged 42, a doctor of Chinese medicine, who had lived in West Cliff Driver. Latto tuned to find Spencer was dead. Latto met Spencer only once a few years ago and emailed each other since then. Detective Tony Martinez, aged almost sixty, working for Santa Cruz Police, explained briefly to Latto what happened and asked Latto to stay here longer for further investigation.
Chapter 2
Latto checked in Ocean View Motel during the stay. By mails he knew there were other two assistant doctors, Ray and Sylvia, with Spencer before. But so far he didn’t know their family names and what he would do for the next two weeks. The next day when he began his dinner at Casey’s Bar and Grill in the end of the wharf, he found that he had left his sunglasses at the office table in Spencer’s house. When he turned back to get his sunglasses, he spotted a young man with a gold ear ring in the left ear take Spencer’s laptop. Latto was then knocked out by the young man with a plant pot. Latter Martinez found Latto and urged him back to rest in his motel.
Chapter 3
The following morning, Ray Molinaro, a old-looking man aged in his late thirties, and Sylvia Koning, aged late twenties, visited Latto in his room. Latto knew from the two that Spencer had been written a book about how to take care of and even improve patients with Parkinson’s Disease. She wrote it in her laptop and made no copy in any CD or else. Now it would be a problem since the laptop had been stolen. Molinaro asked Latto if he could enter his room and use the bathroom before leaving.
Chapter 4
Later Latto booted up his laptop and received an email from Spencer sent on the day he left Britain . The letter was nothing but some simple greeting and a touring program Spencer made for Latto when he arrived Santa Cruz . Then Martinez came with photos of criminals in this region to show Latto, hoping he could identify the guy that hit him in the head at Spencer’s house that day. Latto couldn’t find the guy in those photos. Later Latto discussed with Martinez about his ideas of the whole case and the connection of Spencer’s book in her laptop, a robbery of the laptop, and Spencer’s death.
Chapter 5
Latto dated with Koning later in the evening at Giovanni’s, a restaurant on the wharf. Koning lived with her parents and three brothers in Stowe , Vermont , eastern United States . They all went shooting and fishing in summer and skiing in winter. Latto was doc in a small Scottish town named Melrose . After the dinner, as they walked back to his motel, they saw someone was climbing out of Latto’s room window, with his laptop. Latto wondered how someone would know where his laptop was and why they wanted his computer. So Latto decided to take action the next day.
Chapter 6
Latto wanted to make sure if his idea was right, so he went secretly to Molinaro’s office and waited there. Then he found a man, the exact one with the ear ring parked his white Dodge and carried a bag. Shortly after Molinaro drove a black Nissan next to the white one, coming out with a thick envelop, probable with money in it. The two had a short conversation and exchanged the items in their hands. Latto then followed Molinaro down the way to a building named Keiffenheim Laboratories Inc. Latto also took pictures of all this. Knowing this, Latto went back to his room for he was hungry and thirsty. As he opened the fridge to take out the orange juice, he found something wrong with the juice bottle. It had a small hole on the top. Maybe someone had put something poisonous into the bottle. Latto called Martinez immediately to come and told him everything he knew.
Chapter 7
At this moment, Martinez ’s boss, Lieutenant Becker had taken Martinez off the case because the case, according to the scientists in the police department, was no longer a murder case. They believed Spencer had died of accident of heart attack. Besides, Becker and Martinez didn’t like each other much. But Martinez would still like to make this case clear with Latto anyway.
Chapter 8
Martinez also told Latto what he had researched for the case. He found Molinaro had a bad habit of gambling and owed $150,000. from a casino in Las Vegas . He had to pay back this money in a very short time. This might be the motive for Molinaro to have contact with a drug company because the company wouldn’t Spencer’s research work to cure Parkinson’s Disease and Molinaro could help them get rid of their anxiety. After all, $150,000. was nothing for a drug company like this. Martinez pretended a mechanician of California Telecom, calling Molinaro, hoaxing him out the name of the person he contacted in the lab. They found Matthew Corcker, the head of the department, was involved. Martinez and Latto then knew their next move.
Chapter 9
Latto phoned Crocker to tell him deceptively he had a CD copy of Spencer’s book and asked $150,000. from Crocker to ransom the CD at the University of Santa Cruz arboretum around midnight.
Chapter 10
At the arboretum, Martinez gave a gun to Latto, but he refused. Then he put two small microphones on the inside and outside of Latto’s jacket in case Crocker found any one of the two. Martinez hid behind the tree and would record what Latto and Crocker later would say. Crocker showed up with a gun in his hand, pointing to Latto, telling him all had been over.
Chapter 11
Unfortunately, their plan failed. Max, the man with ear ring, and Molinaro came together with Crocker and found the hidden Martinez and all the recording gears. The three seemed to have controlled the whole situation by putting a gun behind Martinez ’s head in the back. Latto was armless. Crocker revealed that Spencer was ordered to be killed by putting a large amount of heart medicine, Cloperoxomine, in her milk, and it was hard for police to find the real reason of her death. At this critical moment, they all heard a voice shouted, ‘Drop your guns and don’t move!’
Chapter 12
Hearing this, all were stunned. Crocker reached for the bag and got shot in the arm. Latto quickly turned around, knocking down Molinaro’s gun and gave him a real punch. Martinez then held Crocker and Molinaro down and kept a careful watch over them. Max had already fled and disappeared. Latto and the unknown person who rescued them chased after Max. The person was Koning, who was good at shooting and outdoor sports. Max then suddenly ran back toward them, with a mountain lion behind him! Koning shot the lion and then took Max down.
Chapter 13
At the police department, Molinaro told everything. It was he that put Cloperroxomine into Spencer’s milk. Crocker ordered him to do so. And it was Max that put the same poison into Latto’s orange juice bottle, trying to kill him the same way on the day Latto followed Molinaro to the lab. The case was here finally cleared.
Chapter 14
Latto spent the rest of the two weeks happily with Koning. On Latto’s last evening in Santa Cruz, Martinez came to Latto’s motel with two laptops, one was Latto’s and the other was Spencer’s, in which they found another email sent from her old college classmate, Dr. Alison Partridge, who replied to Spencer that she had got the copy of her book about curing Parkinson’s Disease. She thought the idea was completely new and different. That was really a good news that Spencer’s ideas were not just vanished.
The End
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