Chapter 50

Friedrich pushed the door to make sure, although he knew it was true what they said on TV. He did not watch this kind of shows, but lately, he was paying attention to all the gossip shows, since Dominik had decided to act like a true celebrity. After getting a copy of his client's key and persuading the manager to break his privacy policy, he managed to get the door open.

He grabbed his head with both hands and cursed under his breath.

The room is empty.

“Damn it!” He shouted and kicked the bed.

“What is going on?” Ewald asked from the door.

“Dominik's gone.”

“What do you mean he's gone?”

“He went back to Los Angeles looking for that girl.”

“How come?” Ewald looked around the room, hoping this was some kind of prank.

“Just like he did at the airport when we came to America, same as he did during that press conference. Dominik in an escape artist” Friedrich broke a sweat.

“Excuse me, sir” somebody's voice said from the door that made him look. “They left this at the front desk for Friedrich Treadaway.”

The man frowned, coming towards the guy who brought the envelope he was being handed over. As he looked at it and saw the name of the sender, a huge smile turned up on his mouth. He had forgotten the detective Raymond Carter was investigating everything relating to Samanta Andrade, and, by the looks of it, he had found a plenty. Those $5.000 it had cost him to expedite this process were worth every penny.

“What is that?” Asked Metzler.

“This, dear Ewald, is what will keep Samanta Andrade from getting in our way” responded Friedrich.

Ewald came closer to the publicist and pulled a paper sheet from the envelope.

“Narconon International. What is this?” He asked after noticing the marks on the paper Friedrich was holding.

Treadaway stuck to reading the paper carefully, paying special attention to the personal data.

Patient: Samanta Andrade.

Cause of Admittance: Intoxication from ingestion of MDMA.

His eyes opened in awe and he smothered a smirk. He took his phone and dialed the number at the bottom of the page.

“Good morning, Narconon International. How can we help you?” a woman's voice answered on the other end of the line.

“Good morning, I need information on a patient” said Friedrich trying to sound like a doctor.

“I'm sorry, sir, we're not allowed to share information of any kind about none of our patients” the woman said, keeping her nice tone.

“OK. I understand. Can you tell me about your institution?” He wondered.

“Of course, sir. Here at, Narconon we provide an efficient way for rehabilitation from drug abuse and help society avoid the burden of drug addiction at a world-wide level.”

“Drugs?” Friedrich was shocked.

“Yes, sir, we are a rehab facility for drug addicts. Not only do we cater to their physical and psychological needs drug use causes, we also solve the causes our patients resorted to drugs in the first place. As a result, tens of thousands of patients have graduated from the Narconon program, obtaining new lives, free from the use of drugs. The Narconon program is based on…”

«My, My. You're full of surprises, Samanta Andrade».

The voice of the kind woman faded away between Friedrich's thoughts, more and more macabre ideas came to mind. He had the perfect weapon to get Samanta out of the equation.

He hung up just like that and dialed a different number.

“What are you doing?” Asked Ewald.

Friedrich raised his hand asking for silence.

“Hello?” a male voice answered.

“My dear Steve Andrew, it's a pleasure to talk to you again.”

“Who's this?” Asked the editor to the magazine that provided him with Samanta's personal information.

“I am the man who will provide you with some info that'll shoot your sales outside the stratosphere.”

“What kind of information?” Steve asked.

“The dark past of Samanta Andrade, Dominik Weigand's latest love interest.”