Alex Barclay - Blood Loss

Here’s what I got — do your worst.

TG.

Ren opened the package that Mark Whaley had sent to Taber Grace.

Holy shit.

She spent the next hour reading through all the evidence that Mark Whaley had gathered that would bring down MeesterBrandt and Nolan Carr.

There were memos from the late 1990s on Lang Pharmaceuticals headed notepaper, signed by Nolan Carr, detailing Lang’s marketing campaigns, with directives to pay physicians for prescribing Cerxus to children, and for a range of conditions it wasn’t approved for. There were emails to the lab directing them to re-word or bury negative findings. There were reports about suicides in the children who took Cerxus, and it was clear that Nolan Carr had known all along. There were emails between Nolan Carr and one of his lobbyists in Washington about the rumors that Shep Collier was talking to the action group trying to introduce tighter regulation of the pharmaceutical industry.

There was one final set of documents.

‘Jesus,’ said Ren, spreading out more papers. ‘Taber Grace hacked Bradley Temple’s patient files.’

He is better than Grabien .

There were print-outs of Temple’s files. Ren scanned through the list. She came to details of an Ellerol trial from two years previously.

Her anger spiked again.

There were eight drop-outs during the trial — no reason was documented. There was a second note from Taber Grace saying that five of Dr Temple’s patients died during the time frame of the trial, although there was no evidence linking the deaths to the trial. Yet, all of the patients were teens/young adults who had been treated at one point for schizophrenia.

Then there was the most recent trial: a combination drug trial for Cerxus/Ellerol.

Then there were the two patients whose names she knew.

Cameron Temple. And Joshua Merritt.

Cathy Merritt broke down when Ren confronted her about Joshua and the clinical trial.

‘It’s too late, Dale,’ said Cathy. ‘It’s too late. I cannot lie any more.’

‘I told Jonathan about Joshua’s behavioral problems,’ said Cathy. ‘They were causing huge issues in my relationship with Dale, and with Laurie. The tension in the house …’ She took a breath. ‘Jonathan told me that they’d started trialing Ellerol and Cerxus together for use in teens to treat a first psychotic episode … and he suggested that Joshua try it.’

‘And when did Joshua have this first psychotic episode?’ said Ren.

‘After the incident at Mrs Ronson’s house …’ said Cathy, ‘what we grounded him for …’

‘That he denied doing,’ said Ren.

‘Well, yes, he would,’ said Cathy.

‘But, accepting that he had done it, who diagnosed it as a psychotic episode?’

‘Dr Temple,’ said Cathy.

‘Joshua didn’t see a psychiatrist?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Cathy.

‘Had you tried anything else to help him with his anger before what happened at the Ronson place?’ said Ren.

‘Other antidepressants and antipsychotics …’ said Cathy.

Holy shit. A junk-food-eating, video-game-obsessed kid and you don’t think there’s a better solution than drugs?

‘I was furious at Jonathan when we got the call from Joshua in Breck,’ said Cathy. ‘Jonathan had assured me that the drug combination was safe …’

‘And Joshua had never been violent toward anyone before …’ said Ren.

‘He would get angry, just over the last year or so,’ said Cathy. ‘But, he was a good kid … he’d get a little unruly, talk back … but, no … he was never violent.’

‘Was he suffering from delusions?’ said Ren.

‘No.’

‘Hallucinations?’ said Ren.

‘No.’

And the ambiguity in the name antipsychotic is …?

‘Jonathan was trying to help us,’ said Cathy.

You just don’t get it. You just do not get that Joshua was slotted into a trial for money and for favorable statistics.

‘Jonathan Meester was trying to save his own ass,’ said Ren.

‘That’s not true,’ said Cathy. ‘Jonathan’s like family to us.’

‘Do you remember standing in the hospital hallway, wondering out loud why your ex-husband wanted the overnight visit with Laurie, asking me was that how twisted and sick he was?’

‘That still stands,’ said Cathy. ‘Look what happened with the sitter!’

You have no clue. ‘Cathy, do you really think Mark raped and murdered Shelby Royce? Really?’

‘Yes!’ said Cathy. ‘Yes. Don’t you? Aren’t you the people who solved the case?’

‘Didn’t you know what was going on with Mark? With MeesterBrandt, with Nolan Carr?’

Cathy looked shocked. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Mark was about to blow the whistle on Nolan Carr, MeesterBrandt and Lang Pharmaceuticals,’ said Ren. ‘He had been working on it all year. That’s what he was doing and they knew it. They had already taken Shep Collier down. Mark was next. Nolan Carr tried setting Mark up in Boston — they tried to do what they’d done to Shep Collier.’

Cathy looked confused. ‘But … Jonathan would never have let that happen … Jonathan would never-’

‘Jonathan knew,’ said Ren. ‘He knew damn well what was going on. He was part of the whole thing. And you and your husband gave Jonathan Meester and Nolan Carr the perfect opportunity to cover up the side effects of their drug, as well as taking Mark out of the picture.’ She took out a piece of paper and handed it to Cathy. ‘This is a print-out of your home phone bill that I just received. We had never checked it, because it had never needed to be. And Jonathan Meester knew that. Look at that number circled. The call was placed from the house at five after ten on Saturday night, November 14. The call was made to Nolan Carr. He was tipping him off about Joshua, and the opportunity that had opened up to frame Mark.’

Cathy stared at the page.

‘And here,’ said Ren, handing her photos. ‘These are from traffic cams in Breckenridge. This is Jonathan Meester’s car in Breckenridge on Monday, November 16. The day Mark went missing. Mark called Jonathan, asked for his help, and of course, Jonathan was happy to oblige …’

Cathy was crying quietly.

‘Nolan Carr had already brought in the same firm who arranged the Shep Collier set-up. Their scumbag investigators followed Jared Labati and found Shelby Royce in the house where Jared had allowed her to hide.

‘Jonathan arranged to meet Mark, but, while he waited, as insurance, Mark had mailed all the evidence he had on Nolan Carr to Taber Grace. His only mistake was thinking that Jonathan Meester was innocent. Instead of Jonathan, this dirtbag hired by Nolan Carr turned up to meet Mark, and told Mark that he had Laurie — and he had a photo to prove that she was alive. Of course, this photo had been taken by Meester before he left Denver. And Mark was allowed to speak with Laurie on the phone, a call easily set up, again, by Meester. This man forced Mark to shoot Shelby Royce. And to kill himself. Or Laurie wouldn’t be released.’

‘But … I thought …’ Cathy broke down. ‘Oh, dear God. Oh, dear God.’

‘Do you know why Laurie was found at Kennington?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Cathy. ‘I … Jonathan said he would drop her somewhere nearby, I didn’t think it would be there. I would never have done that. He watched her from the car until she flagged someone down, I know that much.’

Well, good for him. ‘Erica told me that you had warned Laurie about the rapist that was out there,’ said Ren. ‘I’m guessing Jonathan was aware you had too.’

Cathy stared at the ground. She could barely nod.