Alex Barclay - Blood Loss

Colin held out his hands and squeezed two handfuls of air. ‘As long as I could find comfort in a big pair of-’

‘Yeah,’ said Ren. ‘Let me guess: you lost your virginity when you were twelve … or your dad brought you to a hooker to make you a man … or the Swedish babysitter jumped you on the sofa one night …’

‘I remember, I had a red Mustang, The Colonel,’ said Colin, ‘and a girl called-’

‘No, no, no,’ said Ren. ‘No. Information. And aren’t cars supposed to have girl names?’

‘Back to our case,’ said Cliff. ‘What are you saying, Ms Ren?’

‘What happens in Vegas doesn’t always stay in Vegas?’

‘If it did,’ said Cliff. ‘Vegas would have fallen into a sinkhole years ago …’

‘All that silicone wouldn’t help,’ said Ren.

‘Saline is the way to go,’ said Colin.

‘Thanks for that,’ said Ren. ‘Let me call my surgeon.’ She pretended to pick up the phone. ‘Hello? I’m calling on behalf of colleague. Mmm-hmm, yes, yes … gender reassignment. He’d like to find comfort in his very own big pair of …’

Ren went back to her computer and ran Bradley Temple through CopLink.

‘Meanwhile,’ she said, ‘it appears that Bradley Temple has been thrown out of two casinos — one in Vegas, one in Baton Rouge. Apparently, both times, he was having drunken money-loss-related meltdowns.’

Ren went back to the Google search results and scrolled down further. She began to get hits on the Cerxus lawsuit.

‘Talk among yourselves, people,’ she said.

A name had jumped out at her: Diana Moore, head of the nursing home in Jackson, Mississippi that Shep Collier funded. A children’s clinic she had run was mentioned in a piece about a consultant psychiatrist, Patrick Kilgallon, who had been questioned in 2008 in connection with accepting kickbacks from Lang Pharmaceuticals to prescribe Cerxus to children between 2002 and 2006.

Ren found the nursing home website and called Diana Moore.

‘Hello, Diana, my name is SA Ren Bryce, I’m with the FBI in Denver, Colorado. A clinic you ran came up in connection with a case I’m working on. And I was wondering if you could give me some more information on the consultant psychiatrist, Patrick Kilgallon.’

‘How do I know you are who you say you are?’ said Diana.

Ren gave her her number and waited for her to call back.

‘I’m sorry to have to do that,’ said Diana, ‘you just can’t take any risks these days.’

‘I understand,’ said Ren.

‘What is this in connection with?’ said Diana.

‘I’m working on a homicide investigation and I’d like to ask you about the pediatric clinic, Dr Kilgallon and Cerxus.’

‘OK,’ said Diana. ‘You’re talking about when he was questioned about the Cerxus class action suit?’

‘Yes,’ said Ren.

‘Dr Kilgallon had prescribed Cerxus to kids at the clinic and to a lot of other kids in the hospitals he worked in. He had close ties to the pharmaceutical company that made it, he carried out paid speaking engagements for them, etc., but when it came to prescribing Cerxus, there was no proof that he had been acting with anything other than integrity and the best interests of the children he was treating.’

‘So nothing happened,’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Diana, ‘and we believed in him. That’s why I was happy to hire him when I took over the nursing home after my mom passed; it was our family business.’

‘And how did that work out?’ said Ren.

‘Well, he didn’t prescribe any more Cerxus, but for a year, up until earlier this year, he was prescribing an atypical antipsychotic to dementia patients …’

‘To subdue them …’ said Ren.

‘Well, yes, but that was the least of it,’ said Diana. ‘Atypicals haven’t been approved for treating dementia, but worse — it’s not just that they haven’t been proven effective, they’re actually dangerous for dementia patients. That’s been proven with other atypicals. It’s even been proven with the older antipsychotics. They all have black-box warnings. This one was newer, so it wasn’t linked to any deaths or lawsuits.’

Ellerol.

‘Six patients being given the drug died during that year,’ said Diana. ‘Strokes and heart attacks mainly. We can’t prove that it was because of the drug. Except, one day, I got a call from Congressman Collier — I can’t call him anything else — and he asked me what Dr Kilgallon had been prescribing. I told him and he was furious — not at me, at the situation. He told me to fire Dr Kilgallon, which I did.’

‘Did he tell you why?’ said Ren.

‘He said “our patients did not come to this stage of their lives to be strung-out victims of someone else’s greed”. I have never heard him so angry.’

‘When did this happen?’ said Ren.

‘Back in August,’ said Diana.

‘Did Mr Collier say anything else?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Diana. ‘He said he hadn’t got time to get into the details, but that he’d explain everything another time.’

‘And did he do that?’

‘No,’ said Diana. ‘We spoke, but not about that. And the next time I saw him was at his press conference.’

‘Yes,’ said Ren. ‘I saw that.’

‘The whole thing stank,’ said Diana. ‘It was like watching a stranger. He didn’t even sound like himself.’

He didn’t sound right when he was talking to me either.

‘I will defend that man to the last,’ said Diana. ‘Congressman Collier’s housekeeper spent the last eight years of her life in our nursing home. She suffered a stroke when she was in her late sixties and the Collier family, the Congressman’s parents, paid for her to stay here. That family has kept our little nursing home going, ever since — and that was thirty years ago. The Colliers were devastated when she passed, she was like one of their own. The day her family came to take her personal effects, Congressman Collier and his siblings were there, and they made the announcement to all of us that they would fund this nursing home in her honor. And they’ve done that ever since.’

‘That’s such a wonderful thing to do,’ said Ren.

‘It is,’ said Diana. ‘I just hope I haven’t ruined everything by going public.’

‘I doubt that very much,’ said Ren. You’ve probably done him a huge favor.

‘That’s kind of you to say,’ said Diana.

‘Best of luck with everything you do,’ said Ren.

‘Thank you,’ said Diana. ‘I don’t care what anyone says, the world needs more Shep Colliers.’

Ren went to her laptop and opened up Shep Collier’s press conference again. She put on her headphones and pressed Play. She watched the speech. She played it again. She realized there were stresses on certain words. She played it again, typing the entire speech. She listened to the audio only, and she highlighted where Collier laid emphasis.

‘Thank you all for coming. I stand here today as a proud American, a proud Republican, and a man in whom, at this moment, I can have no pride.

‘On the evening of October 24th last, while on a business trip to Boston, I availed of the services of a prostitute.

‘No other language can be used to make what I did sound any less deplorable. I am a carbon copy of those who have gone before me, men branded liars and cheats. Although certain of the promises they made to their supporters, they discovered at the nexus of political and private life, a false, misleading god, and an abuse of power, the results of which you see here today.

‘My beloved wife, Marie, patiently bore the trials of being married to a politician for over a decade, and despite the devastating impact of my actions, remains by my side today, and is bravely dealing with the effects, both psychological and physical on all our family, particularly on our children.’