An Invisible Client by Victor Methos Read Free Book Online

television . . .” She was silent for a long time.
    I said, “What happened next, Rebecca?”
    She bit her lip again. “He, um . . . I didn’t hear anything. So I went into the living room to see what was going on . . . and I found him on the floor. He was just flat on his stomach, like he couldn’t move. I ran over to him, and I was shaking him and screaming his name, but the only time he moved was when he vomited.” She wiped the tears away from her cheeks. “I called 911, and then I just held him. I didn’t know what else to do. I just held him.”
    I waited until she was ready to speak again.
    “Anyway,” she said, “the ambulance came, and they took him to the hospital. They thought he’d had a stroke. And then they told us they thought he’d had a heart attack. They didn’t know what to look for. And then a nurse said she’d heard of another little boy across the valley who had gotten sick after taking this cough medicine that had cyanide in it. So the hospital tested the medicine, which they were nice enough to go to my house and get so I could stay with Joel, and it came back as having cyanide in it. But not a lot. Just enough to hurt a child.”
    Tears started flowing again, and she took a few crumpled tissues out of her pocket and dried her eyes.
    “We’ve been here ever since. His kidneys are failing. The cyanide wasn’t enough to kill him. But it did a lot of damage. They won’t give him a transplant. I’ve tried everything to convince them, even called the governor’s office, but they won’t do it.”
    “Is there a chance he’ll recover?”
    “I pray for that every day. But according to the doctors, no. He’s getting worse every second.”
    I couldn’t believe they wouldn’t get him a transplant. Several of my clients had received transplants, even alcoholics and drug addicts who would get clean just long enough to test and qualify for the organ. It didn’t make sense that they wouldn’t give a kidney to a little boy who’d done nothing wrong.
    “So,” she said, “did you talk to them?”
    “I did.”
    “And?”
    I chose my words carefully. “It was . . . odd. If the COO had just met me, apologized, and said he was doing everything he could to make the situation better, that probably would’ve been the end of it. But they had a team of lawyers there. It was like they were trying to scare me away.”
    “I knew it! I knew they were hiding something.”
    “That doesn’t mean they’re hiding anything. They could just be frightened of the bad press from a lawsuit.”
    She shook her head vigorously. “Mothers know these things, Noah. They did this to my boy, and they’re trying to get away with it.”
    “Where did you buy the medication?”
    “At a grocery store, Greens. It’s by our house. A little store just in the neighborhood.”
    “Did you check the tamper-resistant seal?”
    “Of course. It was sealed. No one had tampered with that bottle. I’m sure of it.”
    I rubbed my forehead. “Do they still have the bottle, in case we want to retest it ourselves?”
    “I guess the police would. They came and took it.” She stole a quick glance through the glass on the door. “So, are you going to help us?”
    I looked at Olivia. She wore the same pleading expression that Rebecca did.
    I couldn’t take the case yet; liability wasn’t clear and I didn’t want to jump in until I knew for certain something was there. But it wouldn’t hurt to look. “I’m not officially taking the case, but I’m going to look into it a little more. Maybe send out our investigator and see what he can turn up.”
    She smiled and put her arms around me in a hug. Surprised, I didn’t move. Though Rebecca didn’t look much like Tia, something about them was similar. Just a scent, maybe, or the way their touch felt. It sent a jolt through me. When she pulled away, I stood and said, “I’ll be in touch for some more information tomorrow.”
    “Don’t you want to meet