“Because it’s highly addictive. I won’t bore you with the details of the ingredients, but even one pill will hook you, and if you stop taking it, the suicidal tendencies go up exponentially.”

Caden rubbed his chin and glanced at Elliott, who nodded for Caden to continue. “One pill?”

“Just one.”

Elliott shot a look at Heather. “Is that possible?”

She nodded. “Very.”

The detective grunted and turned back to Max. “What happens if you take more than one pill?”

“At the same time? Paranoia, uncontrollable impulses like violence mixed with massive confusion about why you’re doing what you’re doing. And yet you’re unable to help yourself.” He shuddered. “It’s horrible. It’s absolutely beyond anything I’ve ever seen. It’s why I sent the pills to Brianne. I wanted her to continue taking them for now until I could figure out a way to get to her and help her get off of them. I would have taken them to her myself, but I was afraid someone would recognize me, so I asked Sam to do it for me.”

“Is there a way to get off of them without suffering the suicidal ideations?”

“No.” Max’s shoulders slumped. “No, there’s not. At least not in all of the studies that have been done. I know they were asking for volunteers for the study and they would give the vets the medication and then, in a secure environment, stop the meds and see what happened. Each and every time, the participants went downhill within hours of missing the next dose.”

Caden nodded. “One more thing, please.”

Max sighed and rubbed his eyes. “Sure.”

“Sam Wilmont took two of those pills you meant for Brianne.”

Max’s eyes widened. “What?”

“He was a drug addict. Granted, a recovering one, but I guess the pills were too much temptation for him. He thought they were painkillers and popped two of them, thinking Brianne would never notice.”

“Oh no.” The man raked a hand over his head. “Oh no. Is he okay?”

Caden explained the incident with Sarah, and Max gulped. “That sounds about right.”

“He says he doesn’t remember any of it.”

“No, he probably doesn’t.”

“A sniper and quick-acting officers managed to save the day, but here’s the thing. Wilmont took two of those pills, wigged out like you say he would, but then woke up from surgery fine—albeit missing a few hours of memory. However, he has no suicidal inclinations. Just a lot of remorse for his actions—that he doesn’t remember.”

Max paced in the cramped area. “I don’t understand. That doesn’t make sense. How could that be? Withdrawing from one pill would be bad enough, but two? No, he would have done anything to end whatever was going on in his head. He definitely would have tried to find a way to kill himself.”