Blood Loss

60

Valerie Trent’s office was in a historic building in downtown Denver. She was an unlikely match for her ex-husband. She was classically good-looking, naturally stylish. She had shoulder-length sandy blonde hair, and wore a beige Armani skirt-suit with a cream pussy-bow blouse. Like her ex-husband, she was perfectly groomed, but she had the striking looks to make it incidental.

Judges must love you, Valerie Trent.

‘What’s this all about?’ said Valerie.

‘I’m working on an investigation,’ said Ren, ‘and I’d like to ask you about your ex-husband, Nolan Carr.’

‘Who did you say you were with?’ said Valerie.

‘The Rocky Mountain Safe Streets Task Force.’

‘Aren’t you a violent crime squad?’ said Valerie. ‘Has something happened to Nolan?’

‘No,’ said Ren. ‘But it is a homicide investigation.’ Ren watched as the lawyer processed the information.

‘Is this about the MeesterBrandt CFO? The murder-suicide?’ said Valerie.

‘Yes.’

‘You think he didn’t do it?’ said Valerie.

‘The investigation is ongoing,’ said Ren.

Valerie smiled. ‘Ah, yes, the investigation is ongoing …’

Ren smiled back. ‘Can I ask you some questions?’

‘Sure,’ said Valerie. ‘Go ahead.’

‘I watched your ex-husband’s interview with CNN in 2000,’ said Ren. ‘The show about the dangers of antidepressants.’

‘Yes,’ said Valerie.

‘He used you as an example to illustrate the safety of Cerxus,’ said Ren. ‘You divorced by the end of that year. Was that a coincidence?’

Valerie nodded. ‘No.’

‘Can you talk to me about what happened?’ said Ren. ‘I’d like to hear your side of things. I’d like to know your experience of your ex-husband’s time with Lang Pharmaceuticals.’

‘Well, I had thought that time was great,’ said Valerie. ‘We were young, recently married, happy. He had a good job, I was studying law. We were lucky. Lang had a blockbuster drug in Cerxus and it was making hundreds of millions of dollars for them. It was the newest one on the market, while some of the others’ patents were running out. Some antidepressants were getting bad press because of side effects, but in the show you saw, they were talking about sexual dysfunction, and about the drug’s withdrawal symptoms. A lot of people had come forward to say that the withdrawal symptoms were so bad, they had to go back on the drugs. It was a big scandal at the time and Nolan was on damage-control. He was a clean-cut, attractive, young man who was presenting a good case. And Lang had spent thousands on media training for him. Nevertheless, he was dealing with an aggressive interviewer.

‘So I’m watching it at home,’ said Valerie, ‘and I hear him say, “I wouldn’t allow my wife to take it if it wasn’t safe.” And as you saw, he didn’t stop there. He said that our baby had been stillborn and that I had taken Cerxus to deal with the aftermath. What he said about our baby was true. But absolutely not something I wanted to share with America. So, in a few sentences, he managed to plant several ideas in the viewers’ heads: that Cerxus was safe, that it could be used to treat grief or post-partum depression … and what man is going to approve of his wife taking a drug that could cause sexual dysfunction? It was clever.’

And so screwed up. ‘So you weren’t taking Cerxus,’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Valerie. ‘There’s no shame in taking meds if you need them. But Cerxus had huge issues. People were being misled. And I knew that what Nolan had said about me would reassure the public, and it made me sick to my stomach. It made me sick to think that people could die because of what he said. Can you imagine watching that, and it’s your husband on the screen, and he’s telling the whole of America about you? I was speechless. I just sat there. I couldn’t move. Nolan rushed home afterward, “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. It just came out. You saw the guy, he was on my case, it just came out. He was asking me was this drug safe, you saw him, he was pummeling me, and it just came out.”

‘He apologized over and over, and I believed him,’ said Valerie. ‘A few weeks later, I was looking for something in his study and I found some papers. There were memos back and forth from the head of Lang’s research lab to the sales and marketing department, drawing attention to the side effects of Cerxus, patients suffering from severe withdrawal symptoms, suicidal thoughts, terrible anxiety. Then there was a page with bullet points and on the top was written Cerxus/CNN. It was basically how to tackle the task of reassuring the public, how to minimize the fallout. Halfway down the page, I see, hand-written in the margin “personalize/empathy/Val”. The print-out was dated one week before the interview. And the note was in Nolan’s handwriting. So this wasn’t even an order from the top — mentioning me was something Nolan came up with himself.’

‘What did you do?’ said Ren.

‘I went crazy. I confronted him when he got home, and then I walked out.’

‘What did he say when you confronted him?’ said Ren.

‘Well, he couldn’t deny it,’ said Valerie. ‘He pleaded with me, he told me again that he had been under huge pressure from his bosses to deliver. But I know Nolan. His ambition is quite something. It’s like a force all of its own. When he’s in a room with people who are senior to him or more powerful than he is, his ambition is palpable. I used to find it attractive at the start. And I was foolish enough to think that I was separate from that, that our marriage was ultimately the most important thing to him, and that his career success was something I could watch unfold, something I could be proud of. And then this happened. I couldn’t forgive him for his lack of concern for all the patients taking these drugs, I couldn’t forgive him for using me, no matter what pressure he was under. It was too late. I’m a very private person, and that was so public. I knew I would never trust him again.’

‘So,’ said Ren, ‘do you believe your ex-husband would go to great lengths to protect his career?’

‘Absolutely,’ said Valerie.

‘Knowing what you know, would you ever do anything about Nolan or Lang/MeesterBrandt?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Valerie. ‘I wouldn’t do that.’

Ren nodded. ‘I understand.’

‘Oh, not because Nolan is my ex-husband,’ said Valerie. ‘But because he has covered his tracks so well.’

‘So, you didn’t keep any of the documents you saw?’ said Ren.

‘I wish I had, but, no. I threw them in his face.’ After a moment, she went on, ‘Do you want to know what’s even more screwed up? When Cerxus’ patent was set to expire, Lang applied for pediatric exclusivity with the FDA. That meant, if they could prove that it was an effective treatment for depression in children, then they could get an extension of six months or so on their patent, which was still worth a lot of money to them — over half a billion, at least. It was trialed on kids and the results were positive, so the patent was extended. Doctors began prescribing it to kids … but gradually, it became clear that the side effects were devastating — kids were committing suicide, harming themselves, lashing out. The drug was banned in Europe.

‘There’s a law firm in Denver currently working on putting together a class action suit, but I know for a fact that they are having a hard time gathering enough evidence that Lang Pharmaceuticals knew of the dangers of Cerxus. There are question marks right the way back to the original trial results. They skewed the negative side effects by slotting them under different categories or using “milder” words to describe them. Also, how the trials were carried out in the first place was likely flawed. For antidepressants and antipsychotics, doctors use a scoring system, and you need to reach a certain score to be eligible to take part in the trial. And if I’m a doctor, getting paid five to ten thousand dollars for every patient I enroll, I might just say you’re a little more depressed than you really are. And then when your symptoms improve, I can attribute that to the medication. Lang are not the only company to do this-’

‘But that’s ultimately unprovable, right?’ said Ren.

‘Unless you find an email or a memo from a pharmaceutical company or CRO to a doctor spelling that out, yes — it’s unprovable. And that kind of document just does not exist. No-one would be that dumb. It’s understood. There are also concerns that Lang illegally marketed Cerxus for treating childhood depression well before they even went for patent extension.’

‘So what happens if lawyers do find evidence on Lang?’ said Ren.

‘Well, MeesterBrandt Pharmaceuticals, because they bought Lang, will have to shell out a lot of money in fines and settlements. Other companies have paid billions of dollars to make these things go away. Lang was one of the few firms to have so far escaped a lawsuit. Worse than that for MeesterBrandt, though, Cerxus could actually be withdrawn-’

‘Even after all these years?’ said Ren.

‘Absolutely,’ said Valerie.

‘If the evidence is there …’

Valerie nodded. ‘Basically, what these lawyers need is someone who knows where the bodies are buried.’

Maybe they already found that someone.

Misty Bryce looked up at Ren with an expression that Ren was trying hard not to read as “dejected”. Ren leaned down and gave her a rub.

‘I’m sorry if you’ve been feeling lonesome,’ she said.

Misty pressed her body against Ren as they walked up the path to Melissa Grace’s house. Ren rang the doorbell and crouched down for hugs from Misty as they waited.

‘Hi,’ said Melissa.

‘Hi,’ said Ren, standing up.

Melissa glanced down at Misty with the look of a non-dog-lover.

‘I can tie her to the …’ Ren glanced around.

TJ came down the stairs. ‘Hey,’ he said. His face lit up when he saw Misty.

Result.

‘TJ, if your mom doesn’t mind, maybe you could take Misty for a walk? She’s been in the house quite a lot recently because of my work, and I’m afraid she’s going to end up the dog equivalent of those people who have to be removed from their house by a crane through their second-floor window.’

TJ laughed. He looked at his mom. ‘Can I?’

‘Sure,’ she said. ‘OK. Don’t go too far.’

TJ rolled his eyes.

‘Thank you so much,’ said Ren.

TJ went down the hallway to grab his coat.

‘Melissa, why don’t you wait in the living room in the heat? Close over the door. I’ll stay here with Misty.’

TJ came out onto the step with a bright red jacket on.

‘No-one’s going to miss you in that,’ said Ren. She walked down the path with him, and pretended to show him how to operate a leash that was an old-school leash with no fancy system.

‘TJ, I need you to do me a very important favor,’ said Ren. ‘I know your father wouldn’t go anywhere without keeping in touch with you.’

TJ said nothing.

‘Can you pass on a message for me, please?’ said Ren. ‘If he responds, you call my number, the one on my card, OK? If he doesn’t, he doesn’t.’

TJ still didn’t commit.

‘Can you tell your father to check out the rapper Too Short?’

TJ frowned. ‘My dad’s into rap?’

‘He might be into one of his tracks, yes,’ said Ren.

The one called Blow the Whistle.

TJ Grace called Ren that night. His father told him to tell her that was a good track, and that he’d meet her the following morning at ten. TJ gave Ren the address. And he thanked her for Misty. He actually said ‘Thank you for Misty.’

Bless his heart.