Page 106 of Stone Coast
"Did you find anything else?”
"The last text between Grayson and Sierra is quite telling," Tyson said. He read the exchange between them.
[16% of my patients enrolled in the study are dead. Another 40% have progressed to malignancy. Somebody is manipulating the data after I enter it into the system.]
Sierra replied:[That's not possible.]
[I'm telling you, it's happening. I have all my notes and copies of the data. Phaxelon Therapeutics is manipulating the outcome of the study. I'm going public.]
[I'm sure there's some kind of mistake. A clerical error. A glitch in the system. I'll look into it. Don't make a big deal out of this just yet.]
[I'm not sure what your definition of a big deal is, but this is a pretty fucking big deal.]
"I won’t read the rest of it," Tyson said. "She detours the conversation to specifics you probably don't want to hear about.”
"It really doesn't matter to me.”
"I haven’t seen anything about a clinical trial in all this stuff,” Tyson said, motioning to our surroundings. “But this should be easy enough to find online. Federal law requires registration of all clinical trials.” Tyson searched the web on his phone. “What's Grayson's last name?"
"Mitchell," I said.
Tyson tapped the name into the phone, and a moment later, his eyes lit up. "Hemalogen. Grayson is one of four clinicians involved in a Phase IIb clinical trial.”
“Are there any details about the study?”
Tyson frowned and shook his head. “Looks like Grayson was about to derail their new drug. Anyone who knows about his findings is a target. I’m sure they think you’re on that list.”
An ironic chuckle huffed from my lips. “Maybe we discussed it, but I sure as hell don’t remember. We should talk to his PA or someone in his office. They could be on the hit list as well.” I paused, contemplating the whole thing. “It sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
Tyson shook his head. “You’d be surprised at what people will do for a buck or a billion.”
I called Grayson’s PA, Kiera Lewis. She answered my call in a tentative voice after a few rings. “Hello?”
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"How are you?" Keira asked in a superficial voice. It was easy to tell she didn't want to be on the phone with me. After all, the news had made me out to be a killer.
“I'm good, all things considered."
"That's good," she said, filling the space.
The silence was still uncomfortable.
"Listen, the reason I called… Grayson was involved in a clinical trial.”
After a moment, she said, "Yes. Hemalogen.”
"What do you know about it?”
She hesitated. "Well, I'm not really supposed to discuss protected health information.”
"I’ll get straight to the point.” I told her what we knew and our theories.
She was silent for another long beat. "I don't know if I should really talk about this over the phone.”
"We can meet somewhere, if you prefer.”
I don't think she wanted to do that either. “Aren't you like a fugitive?”
