Robin Cook - Mindbend

“She didn’t have anybody else,” explained Jennifer. “I couldn’t let her go alone.”

“Of course not,” said Adam. “But if you don’t mind my asking, where was her family or her boyfriend? Why did it have to be you, Jennifer?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Jennifer. “But I went. And then she died!”

“Died!” repeated Adam with horror. “What did she die of? Was she sick?”

Jennifer shook her head. “She was apparently quite healthy. They were just about to do the abortion when Cheryl realized her own doctor wasn’t present, and she refused to go ahead with the procedure. She expected a Dr. Foley, but the man is dead. He’d committed suicide. So another doctor was going to do the abortion.”

“In some group practices the patient can’t choose which physician they see,” said Adam.

“That may be true,” said Jennifer, “but it seems to me that the patient should be informed in advance if the doctor she expected is not going to be there.”

“I can’t argue with that,” said Adam. “But if she refused the abortion, how did she die?”

“They said it was diffuse intravascular coagulation. She died right in front of me. One minute she was all right, and the next minute she fell on the floor bleeding. It was awful.” Jennifer pulled her lower lip into her mouth and bit on it. Her eyes filled with tears.

Adam put both arms around her and patted her back.

Neither spoke for a few moments. Adam let Jennifer calm down while he puzzled over the story. How could Cheryl have died of DIC if the abortion had been canceled? He guessed that it had been a saline induced abortion and the solution had already been started. He was tempted to ask more but thought it best if Jennifer weren’t made to dwell on the experience.

But Jennifer was unwilling to drop the subject. “What is diffuse intravascular coagulation?” she asked. “Is it common?”

“No, no,” assured Adam. “It’s very rare. I don’t know too much about it. I don’t think anybody does. Something starts the clotting process inside the blood vessels. I think it’s associated with extensive trauma or bad burns and occasionally with abortions. But in any case, it is rare.”

“It doesn’t happen to people who are just pregnant?” asked Jennifer.

“Absolutely not!” said Adam. “Now I don’t want you to get medical-schoolitis and think you’re going to come down with every exotic disease you hear about. Right now I want you to take a shower, try on this new dress, and then we’ll eat.”

“I didn’t get groceries,” said Jennifer.

“I noticed,” said Adam. “No matter. I have a wallet full of money and I’m dying to tell you how I got it. You take a shower and we’ll go out to a fancy restaurant and celebrate, OK?”

Jennifer got a tissue and blew her nose. “OK,” she managed. “I hope I’ll be good company. I’m so upset.”

While Jennifer showered, Adam stepped into the living room and looked up DIC. As he expected, the condition was not related to pregnancy. Putting the medical text back on the shelf, he noticed the PDR. His curiosity piqued, he slipped the volume out of the bookcase and turned to the section for Arolen Pharmaceuticals. Except for an extensive list of generic antibiotics, Arolen did not have many exclusive products in the patented prescription drug category. There were several tranquilizers that Adam did not recognize as well as some anti-nausea preparations, including one for pregnant women, called pregdolen.

Adam wondered how Arolen managed to do so well with such a small list of new products. They had to sell a lot of drugs to pay for the impressive headquarters. He put the book back, deciding Arolen’s financial base was none of his business. At least not as long as they continued to pay his generous salary.

Two days later, Adam was waiting on the street in front of his apartment house for the Arolen rep to pick him up. McGuire had called the preceding evening and said that a Percy Harmon would meet Adam at eight-thirty and take him on a round of sales calls.

Adam had been standing outside for nearly twenty minutes, but despite the cold drizzle he was glad to be out of the apartment. Although he and Jennifer had patched up their quarrel, she was still upset that he had dropped out of medical school and taken a job at a drug company. He knew part of the reason her reaction bothered him so much was his own ambivalence about working for Arolen. Still, it wasn’t forever and it did solve their financial problems. Maybe his in-laws would even tell her he’d done the right thing when she went out to visit today, but he doubted it.

A blue Chevy was slowing in front of him. The driver stopped and rolled down the window. “Can you tell me where 514 is?”

“Percy Harmon?” called Adam.

“You betcha,” answered the driver as he leaned over and opened the passenger-side door.

Closing his jacket against the rain, Adam ran down the steps and ducked into the car.

Percy apologized for being late, explaining that traffic on the FDR Drive had been murderous due to an accident at the Forty-ninth Street exit.

Adam liked Percy immediately, appreciating his friendliness. He was a little older than Adam and was dressed in a dark blue suit with a red polka-dot tie and matching handkerchief. He looked businesslike and successful.

They turned north on Park Avenue and headed uptown.

“Clarence McGuire was pretty enthusiastic about you on the telephone,” said Percy. “What’s your secret?”

“I don’t know for sure,” said Adam, “but I suppose it’s because I was a third-year medical student at the medical center.”

“Good God, of course that’s it!” said Percy. “No wonder they loved you. With your background, you’ll be way ahead of us laymen.”

Adam was far from convinced. He’d learned a lot of facts about bones and enzymes, and the function of T-lymphocytes. But how useful was that information to Arolen? Besides, such facts had a disturbing way of dropping out of Adam’s mind after a particular test was over. He glanced around the inside of Percy’s car. There were pamphlets in boxes on the back seat. Next to the boxes were looseleaf notebooks, computer printouts, and a pile of order forms. Printed memoranda were stuck into the recesses on the dash. The car had the look of a busy office. Adam was not convinced that his medical-school background would be of any use in his new job. He glanced over at Percy, who was busy navigating the New York City traffic. The man looked relaxed and confident and Adam felt envious.

“How’d you get involved with Arolen?” asked Adam.

“I was recruited straight out of business school,” said Percy. “I’d taken some health economics courses in college and was interested in the health field. Somehow Arolen found out and contacted me for an interview. I researched the company and was impressed. Being a sales rep has been fun, but I’m looking forward to the next step. And thanks to you, I’m heading off for the managerial training in Puerto Rico.”

“What do you mean ‘thanks to me’?”

“Clarence told me that you were going to be my replacement. I’ve been trying to go to Puerto Rico for a year.”

“They offered me the same opportunity,” said Adam.

“To go straight to Puerto Rico?” exclaimed Percy. “My God, man, take them up on it. I don’t know if you know it but Arolen is owned by an extremely fast-growing financial group. About ten years ago some clever guys started an organization called MTIC to invest in the health industry. Arolen was one of their first acquisitions. When they got control of the company, it was an inconsequential drug house. Now it is challenging the biggies like Lilly and Merck. Joining now, you’ll still be getting in on the ground floor. Who did you meet out at Arolen besides Clarence McGuire?”