BLIND TRIAL Brian Deer (best novels for beginners TXT) 📖

TRUDY GULPED water until only ice remained, then took a small piece in her mouth. She felt sure there was nothing Gennifer Heusch could say now that would do anything but make this worse. Cardiac arrest? So, Helen Glinski’s heart stopped. You could write that on any death certificate. And dilated cardiomyopathy? A damaged heart muscle? Just possible. But that wasn’t the issue.

The issue was Doctorjee: why did he confirm the death? What on earth was he doing with Helen Glinski?

“You okay there now, honey? Want me to get you something else?”

“Just fine. I have this condition, like I was saying. Now and again, it gets me down. That’s all.”

“Well, you know Helen, she had everything. Least, always figured she had. Always complaining about something or other.”

Ben raised his hands and scratched behind his ears. “What, you mean a hypochondriac, was she?”

“That’s the word. Ever since a bitty girl. Mom was the same. Dr. Desai went into all that side of it. How that kind of thing runs in families.”

Way beyond his authority, the young lawyer persisted. “So what, she got symptoms then, your sister, like before Peter’s vacation, you were saying?”

“Oh, she was complaining long time before that. Think a lot of it was in her head, if the truth be known. Yeast thing in her mouth problem first. But I couldn’t see it. Thrush sort of thing, she said. Helen was always getting run down real easy, and then she lost a whole lot of weight.”

“Was she trying to? On a diet was she, or…”

“Ted reckoned she got that eating and throwing up thing, baloonia. Best part of a year it went on. Always a picky eater, but she figured something was going on. Then she was talking about pains in her gut and the headaches. Always something new she was coming up with.”

Trudy didn’t want to hear. None of this was in the database. This was a whole different clinical picture.

“Right,” Ben went on. “I get it. And this guy, Dr. Desai. What’s he say about all that?”

“Oh, he was just, awesome, you know. What an amazing man. Wonderful doctor. Real caring guy. Think Helen found him through her volunteer thing. Breast Cancer Awareness. Did the whole thing by the book, he did, second opinion, and the whole nine yards. Fantastic.”

“But he didn’t seem to, like, win it, you know? I mean your sister, she, well, like, she died.”

“Dr.…”

“Ben.”

“Dr. Ben, that man tried so hard. Tests he done. Practically brung the hospital up to Corona Heights. I said, ‘Helen, you go into the hospital if you want.’ But he said, ‘No way, we’re gonna give her the best right here with her family and friends.’ And he sure did that. Call, and he came running for a whole month when it was bad. More than a month. Other times too. Next day, same day couple of times, all kinds of medication. Two of these, three of those. No charge. Not a cent.”

“That’s in San Fran?”

“I was up and down 101 like a rat in a drain. Then Helen got to wondering if it was something in the water. Had all her teeth fillings changed, so couldn’t be the mercury. And Dr. Desai said, ‘Well, it could be the city water,’ or something mental, you know? And he asked if she’d be better up here with fresh air and dark skies. So up she came, and me and Ted had her.”

“And her physician here?”

“Oh, Dr. Desai would come right on up, just the same. I mean, awesome. Amazing.” She paused for breath. “Still makes me feel kinda… You know?”

Trudy felt nauseous, sick, frightened. She heard Ben say, “Sorry. Really sorry.”

She folded her eyeglasses. She’d a question: one question. But she wasn’t sure she wanted the answer. “Now, we’ll get all these forms to fill when we get back.” Her hands were steady; her voice anything but. “Government thing. National data collection and what have you. But I’m sure we can get all that from the doctor.”

“Didn’t I say that on the phone to Dr. Ben here? Dr. Desai, well, he wrote a whole heap of notes about Helen.”

“And you say he got a second opinion, did he? You remember who that was, at all?”

Gennifer Heusch tapped her forehead. “That’d be what now? What now? Nope. No. It’s gone… Can’t remember. Came over to Helen and Peter’s place before we brung her up here. Ted had to help her downstairs to the garage, on account of the doctor’s wheelchair.”

Thirty-seven

WernerVac Clinical Evaluation Center, San Francisco, 16:35 Pacific

HOFFMAN GRABBED his phone, which lay buzzing on Wilson’s table. Its screen announced the caller: Marcia Gelding. By now he’d realized that his order had been ignored. He took a breath and smiled. “Hey, Marcia.”

The shit had struck. Her British accent said it all: Masterpiece Theater on steroids. “Not at all good. Are you alone? Are you completely alone? We need to have a serious conversation.”

He rapped on the table, prompting Wilson and Doctorjee to look up from where they huddled at Wilson’s desk. The EVP had unlocked the database and, while they hadn’t found much, it was sufficient for concern should government inspectors come calling.

“Gotta take this guys. Close the door as you leave… Marcia, this the Wurlitz contract?”

“I’ve not even seen that. I’ve had Trudy on the phone yet again.”

“Damn that. Must apologize. Old girl’s getting difficult, is she? You know how crazy she’s been lately. And I’m thinking all the stress of next week might be affecting her. This thing’s her baby, I know.”

“Mark phoned me at home last night and said she sounded irritated, which wouldn’t be news. But then this evening this. I’d no choice but to speak with her. She’s well… Well, I don’t know… I don’t know what to say.”

“What’s rattled her cage now then? Tell you the truth, I’m getting to think the old girl might be losing the plot.”

“Yes, but look, she’s apparently gone to some woman, who