Final Venture

'I'm sorry, Simon,' she said. Am I forgiven?'

'Of course.'

'Can I come back?'

My heart leapt. I kissed her.

We took a taxi back to my hotel. We fell on each other, fulfilling each other's need, expressing with our bodies what we couldn't say in words. Joy, tenderness, fear, love, loneliness. Afterwards, as she lay softly in my arms, I didn't want to move, never wanted to leave this drab hotel room, this nondescript queen-size bed, and Lisa. Here was the woman I loved. Outside was all that had driven us apart.

Lisa sniffed. I looked down and saw a tear running down her face.

'What's wrong?'

'I was just thinking about Zoe,' she said.

'I know. It's very sad.' I squeezed her.

'I was really fond of her, you know.'

'I know'

She lay quietly for a few moments, and then dabbed her eyes with the sheet. 'It was horrible without you, Simon.'

'It was awful for me too.'

'It wasn't that I'd left you. It was that I thought you'd changed. Become someone else. Or, even worse, that you never were the man I thought you were. The man I loved. You haven't changed, have you Simon?'

'No,' I said, stroking her hair.

'I'd lost Dad like that too. And he turned out to be a different man than I thought he was.'

'No, Lisa, that's not true.'

Her eyes flicked up at me in surprise.

'Your father always loved you,' I continued. 'That was always genuine. He had one secret he kept from you, but he kept it from himself also. And it had nothing to do with you. He never regretted being your father, you know that. Don't think of him as someone different. He would have hated it.'

A smile spread across her thin face. She kissed me on the cheek and nestled into my chest.

'I'm sorry, Simon. I must have been very difficult.'

'You were having a very hard time.'

Lisa sighed. 'You know what the worst thing about taking BP 56 is?'

'What?'

'I'm pregnant.'

'You don't think…'

'I don't know. In theory it should have no effect at all. But you can never tell with new drugs. I'm scared.'

So was I. After all this, I prayed that the baby would be all right.

'Was the ultrasound OK?'

'So far. I'm going to have all the tests I can. I'm sorry, Simon.' I held her tight. She lay there in my arms for a long time.

There were two people to see before we headed out for the airport that evening. Lisa's mother was overjoyed. She kissed us both and wished us luck. She pleaded with us to keep our date for Thanksgiving and the only way we could extricate ourselves was by consenting.

Eddie was more difficult. I waited outside his building. Half an hour passed before Lisa came out.

'How did it go?' I asked, as we waited for a cab to appear.

She was silent for a bit. 'I'm lucky, Simon. I've got you, although sometimes I'm too stupid to realize it. Eddie doesn't have anyone.'

'You feel bad about leaving him?'

'Dad's death has torn him up.'

I looked her in the eye. 'Lisa. I don't want to force you to choose between your brother and me. When we've sorted this out, go back and stay with him for a while. I don't want to be his enemy.'

She glanced up at me and smiled. 'Thanks. Now, let's go.'

33

They were all there in the large conference room: Gil, Art, Diane, Ravi and Daniel from Revere, and Enever and Jerry Peterson from BioOne. Gardner Phillips had called everyone to his offices first thing on Monday morning at my request. He was also there, of course, together with one of his associates, an earnest-looking woman with pen and yellow legal pad poised.

He stood up, shook my hand, and indicated that we should take our seats at the head of the long table. He sat on my right. Although I still didn't know him very well, I trusted him. At that moment I needed a good lawyer, and I was thankful to Gil for getting me one.

'Thank you for coming, ladies and gentlemen. I think you all know my clients Simon Ayot and his wife, Lisa Cook. They have some information about BioOne that they would like to share with you. Simon.'

I smiled at the assembled group. Diane nodded and returned my smile, Ravi looked vague, Daniel fascinated, and the others all glowered. Gil stared at me through his thick lenses, his forehead pulled down in deep furrows over his eyebrows. Enever looked furious. Not exactly an eager audience.

'I have bad news,' I began. 'Lisa and I have uncovered evidence that BioOne's drug neuroxil-5 is dangerous to human life.'

There was a stir around the room. 'Prove it,' demanded Enever.

'We will,' I said, nodding to him. Then I told them the whole story. About Lisa's concerns about neuroxil-5, about John's message to me before he died, and about my own investigations at the clinics involved in the trial. I then said that Lisa had been able to get hold of more complete data that had confirmed her initial suspicions.

Enever was quick with the counter-attack. 'What data?' he shot at Lisa.

'I can't be specific,' she replied. Gardner Phillips had warned us to stay well clear of how we had got hold of the information. 'But I can assure you there can be no question as to the conclusions.'

Enever snorted. 'That's absurd. Your "conclusions" are all unsubstantiated. They have no validity at all. Let's all stop wasting time and get back to work.'

'Don't you have any concerns about the incidence of strokes in patients who have been taking neuroxil-5 for more than six months?' Lisa asked.

'No, of course not,' Enever replied.

'Do you deny that you attempted to get clinicians to reclassify patients who suffered strokes as non-Alzheimer's patients?'

'No. Where appropriate. It's easy to misdiagnose mini strokes as Alzheimer's.'

'What about Dr Catarro? He was concerned, wasn't he? And his two patients who died of strokes were shown to have Alzheimer's at their autopsies, weren't they?'

'Possibly. But these are elderly people. Two of them dying of a stroke is no more than a statistical blip. He was just being difficult.'

'It was convenient he had his accident, then, wasn't it?'

'Too right,' muttered Enever. Then, as eyebrows were raised round the table, he continued. 'Look, of course I'm sorry the guy died. But he was a fool, all right?'

Enever's insensitivity was playing into our hands with the people gathered round the table. But he hadn't admitted anything yet.

'Will you make your data available for an independent consultant to analyse?' I asked Enever.

Absolutely not,' he said. 'This is commercially sensitive information of a highly confidential nature. Anyway, the FDA sees all the adverse event reports.'

'But in a population of elderly people like this one, the abnormally high incidence of strokes wouldn't necessarily leap out at them, would it?' Lisa said. 'Not until they analyse all the data at the end of the trial?'

Enever glared at her.

Gil spoke for the first time. 'Where did you get this data from, Lisa?'

'I can't say,' she said.

'Pure fabrication!' spluttered Enever.

Gil looked at both of us. 'You realize how serious these allegations are? If they are true, then neuroxil-5 will be withdrawn. BioOne's stock price would collapse immediately. The results would be catastrophic for all of us.'

'I know,' I said. 'I wish BioOne was a success. But it isn't. And the sooner we face up to that fact, the better.'

Jerry Peterson was watching me, not convinced I was telling the truth, but not convinced I was lying, either. 'Thomas, can't we analyse the data on Phase Three in-house?' he asked.