by D P Lyle
“And there are others? Not just Amanda?”
“Three that I know of. Other docs in the neighborhood might have seen some cases we don’t know about.”
“Who are these other people?”
“I can only tell you that Amanda’s friend Rose was one. She stopped the pills a couple of days ago.”
“She knew these things were toxic and she didn’t tell Amanda?”
“That’s not what happened. I saw another young lady who was taking these pills. She also came close to dying. Closer than Amanda, but that’s splitting hairs. I had a talk with both Amanda and Rose because I knew they were taking supplements from Morelli. Rose agreed to stop, but Amanda was, shall we say, reluctant.”
He shook his head. “Vanity. That’s always been one of Amanda’s problems. Don’t get me wrong. I love her, but sometimes she can be trying. Always on some crazy diet or taking handfuls of God knows what from whatever health-food store is the go-to place. For that month anyway.” He looked down at the floor, shaking his head slowly from side to side.
“Don’t be too hard on her,” I said. “Vanity is a common disease around here.”
He looked up at me, his face tight. “I told her that these over-the-counter concoctions were dangerous, but she wouldn’t listen to me.”
“I bet she will now,” Jill said.
“Is the hospital going to do anything about this guy?”
Jill glanced at me.
“Jill and I are trying to figure out what to do,” I said. “We had the pills analyzed. On the sly. There is no doubt that they contain each of the drugs in question here. I’ve even visited the county medical society.”
“And?”
“Didn’t get very far. It seems that the president and Morelli are good friends.”
He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, glancing toward the door, at the floor, and then back to me. “I know who can solve this.”
“Who?” Jill asked.
“Dr. James Hawkins. The county medical examiner. Julian Morelli might have his friends, but I have mine, too. I’ve known Jim Hawkins for years.”
Chapter 43
It’s not everyone who can summon the county medical examiner with a simple phone call, but Daniel Brody wasn’t just anyone. He made a phone call and forty-five minutes later Dr. James Hawkins appeared at Hamptons Heritage. Daniel, Jill, and I met him in the front lobby and then walked down to Jill’s office.
Hawkins was younger than I expected. He looked to be no more than forty or so. His thick, tightly curled black hair clung to his scalp like a skullcap, and his blue-gray eyes were bright and inquisitive behind tortoise horn-rim glasses.
“Thanks for coming,” I said.
“Daniel said you had a situation here that extended beyond Amanda. Something about toxic medications?”
I nodded. “I assume you know Julian Morelli?”
“Sure. Does this relate to him in some way?”
I glanced at Daniel.
“I didn’t want to tell Jim too much,” Daniel said, “since I’m not sure I understand the entire situation. I thought I’d let you tell the story.”
“This started a few days ago. At least I stumbled on it a few days ago. A young lady, a teenager, high school track star, suffered a cardiac arrest. Right outside the emergency room here. She was resuscitated successfully. Her lab work showed markedly elevated thyroid and digitalis levels as well as very low potassium and magnesium levels. There was also an ephedrine-like amphetamine found. According to her father, and her, she had been taking some energy and weight-loss pills from Morelli.”
Hawkins’s eyes narrowed and his jaw tensed. “A dangerous combination.”
“I knew that Amanda and her friend Rose Maher were also taking the same concoction. So I had their blood tested. Both showed a similar pattern, though not quite as dramatic.” I glanced at Daniel. “Rose stopped the medication, but Amanda decided to continue it.”
“And it damn near killed her,” Daniel said.
“Jill and I collected some of the pills from the young girl and from Rose and Amanda and sent them to a lab for analysis.”
“And?” Hawkins asked.
“Exactly what you’d expect. Furosemide, desiccated thyroid, digitalis leaf, and the amphetamine.”
“Dig leaf?” Hawkins asked. The surprise on his face was evident. “I haven’t seen that in years.” He scratched an ear. “I’ve certainly never seen a combination like this.”
“Me either. But it worked and that’s why he has such a loyal following.”
“There’s a sucker born every minute,” Hawkins said. He looked over at Daniel and gave an apologetic shrug. “Sorry.”
“No apology necessary. Getting this clown off the street is.”
“The digitalis and amphetamines kill the appetite,” Hawkins said. “The thyroid and amphetamine rev up the metabolism and energy level.” He shook his head. “If it wasn’t so goddamn sinister, it would be clever.” His brow furrowed as if a thought had suddenly popped up. “Where does he get these pills from?”
“We think he makes them at his clinic. StellarCare.”
“Figures. Can’t see any legitimate manufacturer putting this one together.”
“So where do we go from here?” I asked.
“Do you still have all the blood samples you obtained?”
Jill jumped in. “They’re stored in the lab.”
“I’ll need to take them and some of the pills to my lab for retesting. See if we can duplicate your findings. Also, I need to talk with everyone concerned. The young lady you mentioned. Amanda and Rose.”
“There’s one more,” I said.
Both Hawkins and Daniel looked at me.
“Nicole Crompton. The granddaughter of Ellie Wentworth. She suffered a seizure earlier today and has been taking the same drugs. Her blood showed similar results, just not quite as high as the others.”
Hawkins nodded. “She here in the hospital?”
“Yes. Dr. Martin Gresham is evaluating her.”
“I know Marty,” Hawkins said. “I’ll need to talk to him and to young Nicole.”
“I’m heading upstairs to see her,” I said. “If you want, I’ll introduce you.”
“I’ll round up the blood samples and the pills we’ve collected,” Jill said.
Hawkins stood. “Let’s get to work.”
Nicole was sitting up in bed, cushioned by several pillows. She seemed to have recovered well and was her usual beautiful self. Both her parents were there and Ellie had arrived. I introduced Dr. Hawkins to them.
“She’s supposed to get married in a few days,” Jackie said. “Then something like this happens.”
“This isn’t Nicole’s fault,” I said.
“I know that. But do you really believe those vitamins she was taking are responsible for what happened?”
“Of course they are,” Ellie said. “Julian Morelli and his poisons are the problem.”
“We can’t prove that yet, but I believe Ellie’s right,” I said. “We’re still waiting for Dr. Gresham to complete his evaluation, but it’s likely that these so-called vitamins triggered Nicole’s seizures. Even if it turns out that she has some other reason to have seizures, the amphetamines and the disturbances we found in her electrolytes could certainly precipitate what happened today.”
“It’s just hard for me to believe that some vitamins and herbs could do that,” Jackie said. “I mean they’re supposed to be natural ingredients.”
“Natural isn’t always good,” I said. “Health-food stores and people like Julian Morelli have made millions from the word natural. It sounds so right, so natural, when in fact it means that it hasn’t been tested or blessed by the FDA.”
“They aren’t exactly competent, from what I’ve read,” Jackie said.
I smiled. “They do make mistakes, but what they mostly do is prevent things like this from being sold. They would never approve this combination of chemicals.”
“Do you ag
ree, Dr. Hawkins?” Mark asked.
“I do. From what Dr. Lawson has told me, these pills contain some very toxic substances and in a very odd combination. My lab will analyze them over the next couple of days. If what appears to be in them is indeed present, this could easily have triggered what happened to Nicole.”
“I told you about the young girl who nearly died the other day,” I said. “Another woman came to the ER today under very similar circumstances. She nearly died, too. She had the same blood abnormalities that we found in Nicole.”
“So I think you can see why we have to get to the bottom of this,” Hawkins said. “And we must do it quickly.”
“I’m going to leave you with Dr. Hawkins,” I said. “I’ll come back by and see how you’re doing tomorrow, Nicole.”
I excused myself and left the room. Before I took too many steps, someone grabbed my arm. I turned around. It was Jackie.
“I owe you an apology. I was wrong. I had no idea that Julian Morelli could be poisoning my daughter.”
“I’m just glad everything worked out.”
“Did it? We still don’t know what caused her seizure. Whether it was these pills or not.”
“But we do know that she doesn’t have anything sinister like a brain tumor or an infection. Let’s let Dr. Gresham finish his workup and see what we’re dealing with. Then we’ll know how to make Nicole better.”
She nodded. “Thank you for everything.”
That went well. Everybody was now on the same page. Jackie even trusted me. A little bit anyway. And now with the medical examiner involved, we could get to the bottom of Julian Morelli’s entire scheme.
I was feeling happy and satisfied with myself until I walked into Jill’s office.
“I’ll sue your ass off. Just you wait and see.”
It was Julian Morelli. He stood looking down at Jill across her desk, his fists balled at his sides.
“You violated my privacy,” Julian said. His voice was high-pitched and strained. “My patients’ privacy. You’ve damaged my reputation and slandered my name. You’ll pay for that.”
I rapped my knuckles on the doorframe. “Excuse me.” Julian whirled in my direction, his face a red mask of anger, his neck veins thick ropes. “You.” He jabbed a finger at me. “You did this.”
“Actually, Julian, you did it to yourself.”
“Who the hell do you think you are? You go down to the medical society and trash my name. You have no right to do that.”
“You have no right to poison people with your concoctions.”
He took a step in my direction. I honestly thought he was going to attack me. I set my feet to respond but inside prayed he would back off. He did. Sort of. After two steps he stopped and glared at me.
“I know about you. I know about you being fired. I’ll make sure that you never practice medicine in the Hamptons again.”
I noticed now that Jill had the phone to her ear. She said something that I couldn’t understand and then hung up.
“Security is on the way,” she said.
Now Julian turned back toward her. “You called security on me? You’re the one that’s causing the problems, not me. I’m just here to defend myself.”
“You’ll get your chance,” I said. “In court.”
When he turned his gaze back to me, it was cold and hard. “You’re damn right I’ll have my day in court. When I sue you back to the Stone Age.”
“I assume you know Dr. James Hawkins?” I asked.
“The medical examiner? What does he have to do with this?”
I noticed his anger ebbed a bit, now edged with a hint of concern. He knew what was coming.
“He’s upstairs talking with Nicole Crompton right now. Then he’s going to talk with Amanda Brody, Rose Maher, and Valerie Gilroy. He’s also going to analyze the blood obtained from all of these people as well as the pills you gave them. That’s what he has to do with this.”
I heard the door swing back open behind me. Two security guards came in.
“Ms. Casey?” one of them asked.“Is there a problem here?”
“I think you should escort Dr. Morelli out of the hospital.”
As the two guards moved forward, Julian raised both hands and said, “Okay. I’m leaving.” As he walked by me, he muttered, “You haven’t heard the last of this.”
Neither had he.
Chapter 44
“It’s my fault,” Ashley said. “I’m the one who hooked Nicole up with him.”
“You were simply trying to help her,” I said. “How could you know what Julian Morelli was up to?”
Ashley, Jill, Divya, and I were sitting at the patio table outside our place at Shadow Pond. I had a beer, everyone else wine. Earlier in the day, Boris had sent over two bottles of what appeared to be very expensive French wine. Dieter had delivered it to Evan while we were at the hospital. There was no note and no reason given, so I just figured it was Boris being Boris.
Evan had decided to barbecue and right now he stood in a cloud of smoke, finishing up the tri-tip he had marinated all afternoon. Nearby he had a bowl of shrimp that would soon join the beef on the grill.
“How could he do that?” Ashley asked. “Give us pills that were harmful?”
“Greed is a very powerful motivator,” Divya said. “You’ve been to his clinic, haven’t you?”
“Sure. Several times.”
“I love those oxygen chambers,” Evan said.
“Me, too,” Ashley said. “They’re my favorite thing there.”
“I think we should buy one,” Evan said. “We could put it in the spare room.”
“That would be so cool,” Ashley said.
“I wonder if they make them for two people?”
“Why?” I asked. “So you could blow up someone besides yourself?”
“A double chamber could be fun,” Jill said.
I scooped up some guacamole on a chip and popped it in my mouth. Speaking around it, I said, “Don’t encourage him.”
She shrugged. “I’m just saying, it could be interesting.”
“Back to my original question,” I said to Ashley. “You’ve been to the clinic. What does it look like to you?”
“Amazing,” Ashley said. “It’s so big and modern. It looks like an exclusive dance club, or something like that.”
“That’s my point,” I said. “Like it’s geared more toward entertainment than health care. Style over substance doesn’t fly well in medicine. Julian is more interested in appearances than he is in your health.”
Ashley had a chip in her hand. She tapped it against her lower lip a couple of times before biting off a tiny corner. “I guess I see what you’re saying.”
“Most nutritionists work to improve their patients’ dietary and exercise habits. And like Julian, most use supplements of some kind. Vitamins and minerals. Maybe potassium and magnesium in those who exercise and sweat a lot. But some, like Julian, step way out of bounds and do some crazy things.”
“I still don’t see how he could do this,” Ashley said. “Wouldn’t he know that something like this could happen?”
One would think so. Unfortunately what seems obvious to some people is not so clear to someone else, particularly when that someone else is profit driven.
“The problem is that he might not know the difference. He’s not a medical doctor. He’s a nutritionist. He might understand proteins and carbs and fats and things like that, but he has no real experience in medical treatment. You know the old adage that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing?” Ashley nodded. “That’s part of what’s going on here.”
Ashley forked her fingers through her hair. “He always seemed so smart. I thought he knew everything.”
“Maybe he does,” I said. “Maybe he just doesn’t care so long as the money keeps rolling in.”
“That’d be my guess,” Jill said. “I’ve had no medical training and I know that digitalis and thyroid and amphetamines are a dangerous mixture. I would think anyone wo
uld know that.”
“Who’s hungry?” Evan asked.
“Starving,” Divya said. “I did six follow-up visits today and didn’t have time for lunch.”
Evan placed a platter in the center of the table. Two dozen perfectly charred shrimp surrounded a pile of thinly sliced tri-tip. He disappeared into the kitchen and returned with a bowl of potato salad and a plate piled with marinated green beans.
Everyone served themselves and then ate in silence for a while. I switched to wine and refilled everyone’s glasses. That emptied the first bottle, so I opened the second one.
“What do you think will happen now?” Jill asked.
“I don’t think it will go well for Julian,” I said. “Once Dr. Hawkins completes his testing.”
“Then what?” Ashley said. “Will Julian be arrested?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was charged with assault by poisoning. He’ll need a good defense attorney to avoid jail.”
Ashley swirled the wine in her glass and stared at it for a minute. “Is Nicole going to be all right? I mean like this didn’t do any permanent harm, did it?”
“I think Nicole will be fine,” I said. “I’ll see her tomorrow and talk with Dr. Gresham. We’ll see what he uncovers and then take care of it.”
“If Jackie will let you,” Ashley said.
“I think she’s beginning to understand that we’re only interested in Nicole doing well.”
“But is she?”
I stopped my tri-tip-laden fork just short of my mouth and looked at her. “Why would you think that?”
“That didn’t come out like I meant. Jackie loves Nicole. There’s no doubt about that. She just has odd ways of showing it.” She bit off a piece of shrimp. “I mean like she buys her everything, and gives her everything she wants. But sometimes it seems to me that she’s like not very interested in Nicole. Does that make sense?”
“You mean she doesn’t get involved in Nicole’s activities?” Jill asked.
“She’s definitely not interested in those kinds of things. The swim meets and volleyball tournaments and other sports stuff that Nicole did in high school. She and Mark like never showed up for anything. I know that hurt Nicole’s feelings, but that’s just the way they are.”