An Invisible Client Read Online Free PDF Page A

medication?”
    “I’ve heard about it. Someone laced it with cyanide, if I remember.”
    She nodded again. “That’s the story. That some lunatic laced children’s cough medicine with poison. But that’s not what happened. Not what I think happened, anyway. There’s more to it.”
    Her eyes started to glisten. She was fighting back tears, and I got the impression that it was taking everything she had not to break down right there.
    “What makes you say that?” I asked.
    She took a tissue out of her purse and dabbed at her eyes. “I talked to them. They’re covering up. Someone from their company, Debbie Ochoa, told me they were the ones that started the rumors about a lunatic. She told me that on the phone. I’d gotten to know her because I would call so much, and she told me that. Now they tell me she isn’t there anymore.”
    “Where were you calling?”
    “Pharma-K. They’re the company that makes the medicine. They got all these kids sick, and now they’re covering it up.”
    “Do you have any proof other than Ms. Ochoa’s statement?”
    “No. They won’t talk to me anymore. Just transfer me to their attorneys, who don’t tell me anything. I tried to go to the news, but they wouldn’t listen. They think I’m crazy.”
    I’d seen horrific accidents befall children, and without a doubt, the most common reaction from parents was disbelief. To have someone to blame—someone to point the finger at and say, “They did this”—was so cathartic that if that person didn’t exist or if the parents didn’t know who it was, they would invent him. I had a feeling that was what Rebecca Whiting was doing. Her boy had been one of the unfortunate ones to suffer because of some sick maniac, and without the maniac, she needed to blame someone. Pharma-K was as good a choice as any.
    “Ms. Whiting,” I said softly, “I’m not sure what you’d like me to do.”
    “I want you to sue them. Sue them so they can never hurt another child again. They’re just gonna keep doing this if they think they can get away with it.”
    I tried to be as compassionate as possible. “So, let’s assume you’re right, that this is something they’re covering up. That means the police investigation would have to be flawed, or maybe the police would have to be in on the cover-up. Dozens of employees of the company would have to know what was happening and agree to keep their mouths shut, and the investigative journalists working this story would have to come up with nothing in support of this view, or again, be part of it. All those things would have to happen for this to be true.”
    To her credit, she held my gaze. I continued. “But for us to win a lawsuit, all of those things would have to be true, and we’d have to be able to prove it in a court of law. I don’t see how exactly we would do that without spending tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars.”
    “Money? Is that really what this is about?”
    “It’s always about that.”
    “My son is dying, Mr. Byron. He’s in renal failure. The cyanide wasn’t enough to kill him, but it was enough to ruin his kidneys. He’s on the transplant list, but he’s too sick. I thought the transplant list was for sick people, but if they’re too sick, they don’t get a kidney. They’d rather give it to someone who has a higher chance at survival.”
    She dabbed at her eyes again. I didn’t know what to say. She was asking me to take on a case that we would likely lose.
    “I’m sorry. I don’t think our firm can help.”
    She sniffled. “Will you talk to them? Pharma-K? Just go out and talk to them. See what they say. My boy’s at the university hospital, and I’m there all day and night if you talk to them and then want to meet with us. Please, just talk to them.” She hesitated. “I knew no lawyer would take this case, but Tia said you would look at it. That you wouldn’t just turn us away like everyone else.”
    Her eyes held a desperation