But the Children Survived (54 page)

Michael’s doctors told him they’d reached the end of their options for treatment and he would do well to get his affairs in order.  He was in pain most of the time, but he kept pushing himself.  He wanted to leave this world with a clean slate.  He had to find some way to make money and to make it fast. 

The last time Michael saw Teresa for her annual visit, he suddenly began to think about the purple placenta.  He believed that Teresa had been taking something that had virtually cured her condition.  He decided to talk to Antonio Russo and find out what he had done to make his wife well, for Michael believed the biologist was responsible. 

Michael would use any means possible to get Antonio to talk to him.  He would even blackmail him if necessary.  Michael needed money desperately.  He came up with a plan to put before Antonio. 

Michael could use the drug, or whatever it was, to help women carry their pregnancies to full term.  For this, he would charge them $10,000 just for the treatment.  His services would still be billed to their insurance carriers. 

Michael Tomlinson sat in his office after calling Antonio Russo and wept.  What he was doing was the antithesis of how he’d lived his life.  All he wanted to do was pay his debts and keep his practice open a little while longer.  He also thought of taking this drug himself to see if it could somehow stop the cancer.  Why did it all feel so wrong?

*****

Michael met with Antonio and took him to the yacht club.  He used all his powers of persuasion to push Antonio into giving him the drug.  Michael could see the disgust on Antonio’s face.  No one had ever looked at him like that.  Antonio excused himself and left the table.  When Antonio didn’t come back, Michael sat there thinking he should drop this fantasy and apologize to Antonio. 

When Michael left the club, he could see Antonio sitting in his car in the parking lot.  Michael's guilt was overwhelming.  As he approached his car, a pain shot through his body so intense that he almost fell over.  His body was reminding him why he had come here.  He got into his car, and then he saw Antonio approaching in his side-view mirror. 

Antonio agreed to help him.  Michael continued the charade and made it sound like they were doing something noble.  He said it would be like a trial to get Antonio his FDA approval.  Even though Antonio had told him to stick to 100 women only, Michael figured he could change Antonio's mind once he saw how well it worked and how happy the women were with their babies.  Michael was amazed at the whole “we'll sell it as a supplement” thing that had come out of his mouth. 

He drove away from the yacht club and back to his office.  He took out the files of the women he knew had a history of cervical insufficiency and prepared new files for them.  He kept these files in a separate cabinet with a key only he and Maisie had access to.  He told Maisie to come into his office and he handed her a list. 

Michael told to her that these women would be getting a special drug that was not approved by the FDA.  They would be selling it as a supplement and this information was to be held in strictest confidence. 

Maisie had no reason to doubt Michael's honesty and she readily agreed to keep anything that was said between them private.  He told her that the next time any one of these women was due for an appointment, to let him know a week in advance so he could prepare the supplements for them.  He then called Antonio to find out when he would be bringing in the first batch of Fetura.  Everything was in place, and soon Michael Tomlinson was back in the black. 

The women were all thriving and the babies were being born.  Michael would arrange for a private room at the hospital where the babies were delivered and kept for three days.  Usually by that time the purple sheen had worn off.

  Most of the women had enough money to pay for the extra time in the hospital if their insurance companies balked.  They wanted to stay there anyway until the babies were a more normal color.  Michael would hire private nurses to assist in the deliveries.  In this way, Michael was able to keep his practices a secret. 

Michael’s pain was growing worse as the cancer ate away at his intestines. It had spread to his other organs.  One day, in desperation he took out one of the tubes of spores and mixed it with water.  He drank it down as fast as he could.  The effect was almost instantaneousness. 

Michael’s pain stopped and he began to feel energy coursing through his veins.  He felt like a teenager again.  The effect usually lasted a few weeks and Michael would have to treat again.  He went to his doctors and they were amazed by his test results.  His cancer was getting better. 

Michael knew he would have to continue the treatments until the cancer disappeared.  He would need more tubes of Fetura than he had anticipated.  He would have to find some way to convince Antonio that their original agreement of 100 women would have to be renegotiated. 

To make ends meet, Michael had been dividing the tubes into smaller portions and so far had treated over 300 women.  The drug worked just as well whether they got a full dose or a fifth.  But he was afraid of running out now that he had to take it, so he called Antonio and arranged a meeting. 

Antonio refused to even consider giving him more Fetura.  He was concerned about his patent, and about being deported.  Michael played on this fear by telling Antonio that he’d been selling the drug as FDA approved.  This was a lie of course.  He also told Antonio that he’d treated over 500 women, another lie.  But Antonio was turning pale and Michael knew he had him. 

Michael told Antonio to send him 100 more tubes of the spores.  Antonio agreed, but Michael never received the tubes.  The next thing he knew, Antonio was dead and there would be no more Fetura delivered to Michael. 

He had to stop taking new patients looking for the miracle supplement.  He had enough to treat himself at least 100 more times if he used one-fifth of the tube.  But what if that wasn't enough to cure the cancer completely?

One day he walked into an examining room and saw a young, bleached blond with too much make-up on.  Before he could say more than three words, she jumped off the examining table and handed him a slip of paper.  She said Antonio had sent her.  She then ran out the door and got to her car before Michael could catch her. 

When Michael called the number, she’d answered and told him she had the plants and was willing to give them to him for a price.  He arranged to meet her and went to his bank to withdraw the money.  If it were true, he could make the drug himself.  It couldn't be that hard.  He may even be able to get the formula from Antonio's wife - for a price.

Chapter 68

“That's all I know,” Maisie said.  “He told me he was meetin' somebody that evening and to lock up the office when I left.  I never saw him again.” 

“How do you know all this?”  Dani asked her.

“Michael wrote stuff in his journal.  He kept it locked up in his desk.  I went over there the next day to open up like I always did.  The police had left a message for someone to call when they got into the office.  I called and they told me they had found Michael's car. 

“I kinda panicked and went to the cabinet where he kept the drug.  I took them out and put them in my car.  Then I went to his desk and tried the key.  It opened it and I found the journal.  I took that too. When they found his body, they made me guardian of the files so people could get their records.”  Maisie paused.  “I thought he was a good man.  He always did right by me.  He must have been in awful pain to do those things.”

“Then why did he have my father killed?”  Jason was looking at Maisie.  His eyes were hard. 

“Son, he never did nothing like that.  He would have put that in the journal.  Why kill the goose that laid the golden egg?”

“She's right, Jason.  He needed your father.  He wouldn't have killed him.”  Dani looked over at Jason.  He was still angry. 

“Then who did?  Who killed him?  Who had a motive?”  Jason was trying to hold back his anger.

“Maybe it was just a botched robbery,” Dani said.

“They didn't take his wallet.  They left everything.  This was no robbery, Dani.  This was murder.” 

“Could have been the drug company,” Maisie said.  Jason and Dani both turned to look at her.  “They kept harrassin' Michael for the drug.”

“What drug company?”  Dani asked.

“One of the big ones.  Starts with a W.”  Maisie was thinking hard.

“Wilmer?”  Jason asked. 

“Yup, that's the one.  They kept sending Michael letters telling him to cease and desist.  I remember that ‘cause they came all the time.  Michael just ignored them.  I filed them away.” 

“You wouldn't have a copy of one, would you, Maisie?”  Dani asked.

“Maybe in there.”  Maisie pointed to the box and drawer.

Dani and Jason scrambled to search through the papers again.  Jason could find nothing from Wilmer and March Pharmaceuticals.  Finally, Dani pulled a sheet of paper out of the banker's box with the Wilmer and March letterhead. 

It was dated the year Antonio had been killed.  It said that Wilmer and March was aware of Michael's illegal use of their product and that he was to cease and desist or face a lawsuit to recover damages. 

“What are they talking about,
their
product?”  Jason said. 

He remembered reading his father's notebook.  Antonio had been afraid to file for the patent in case Wilmer and March caught on and took the plants from him, but his lawyer had been able to file for Antonio and he got his patent.  Jason remembered the file he had found tucked under his father's dresser drawer. 

“They found out,” he said.

“Who found out what?”  Dani asked him. 

“Wilmer's.  They found out about the plants.  They knew about my dad's drug.” 

Dani and Jason sat and looked at each other.  They then looked at Maisie.  It was time to leave, but they just couldn’t leave her here alone.

“Why don’t you come with us, Maisie,” Dani said to her.

“I'm fine.  I have enough food, and the purple stuff is workin' fine.” 

“You're taking it?”  Dani asked.

“I have diabetes.  When the medicine didn't work anymore, I started taking little bits every couple of months.  I just got better and better.”  Maisie smiled.  “You don't have to worry about me.”

So that explained how she’d stayed alive during the tragedy. 

“But don't you get lonely?  You'll run out of food eventually.  We have a big place with plenty of room.  Why don't you think about joining us?  We can always use another adult.  You could help us teach.”  Dani was trying to look excited. 

“I'll think on it.  You come round tomorrow, and I'll give you my decision.” 

Dani and Jason left Maisie's home and headed back to the beach.  Jason was quiet and Dani was thinking.  If Wilmer's had arranged for Antonio's murder, what had they hoped to gain?  Surely one doctor in Florida couldn't make that much of a dent in their profits.  Or was it revenge for Antonio stealing their property, even though they hadn't used it in over 40 years? 

“I'm sorry, Jason.  I'm afraid we have more questions.  At least we know there aren't any more children out there alone somewhere.  Maybe I'll bring Mindy with me to meet Maisie tomorrow.  I hope she decides to come with us.” 

Jason didn't respond.  He was too lost in all that Maisie had told them.  The man he’d hated all his life, the man he believed had killed his father may actually be innocent.  Somehow he had to find out.  He decided to go back to the school with Dani and spend the night.  He wanted to talk to Andrew at the biosphere.

 
Chapter 69

Jason appeared at his door while Andrew was working on the computer.  He asked Andrew if he could help him search for something in Wilmer's mainframe.

“I don't know if the corporate mainframe is working.  I've had no reason to go into it, and if the electricity is off, we can forget it.”  Andrew was looking at the monitor and didn't see Jason's face.  He turned to look at him and saw that the kid was really mad at something.  “What are you looking for, Jay?” 

“I always thought Tomlinson killed my father.  Now I think it may have been someone else.”

“Who's Tomlinson?”  Andrew had been out of the loop about the purple babies.  He knew about the kids, but he didn't know how they got that way.

“My dad found this stuff that prevented miscarriages.  Tomlinson was the doctor who used it.  But then my dad stopped giving it to him, so my mom thought he was the one who murdered my father.”

“Your dad was murdered?”  Andrew was half-listening to Jason while he typed. 

“Yes, Andrew, he was murdered.”  Jason smiled sadly at Andrew.  “And if Tomlinson didn't do it, I want to find out who did.”

“What makes you think hacking into Wilmer's will help you find out?” Andrew was typing fast.  He was trying to see if Wilmer's corporate was online.

“I think they hired someone to kill my father.” 

Andrew stopped typing.  He turned his chair and looked at Jason.

“Jason, you're not gonna find that kind of information in their corporate files.” 

“Then where will we find that kind of information?”  Jason kept his gaze steady.

Andrew sat thinking.  Those kinds of deals went down in private.  The parties didn't keep written records.  What you would need is a witness, and since almost everybody in the country was dead, including Jacob Wilmer, the odds of finding a witness were pretty much nil.

“Isn't there a special place here Wilmer built for himself?  Maybe he kept something there.”

“The door's open,” Andrew said as he got up off the chair and followed Jason out the lab door.  They went down the stairs, and a bunch of kids ran over to ask Andrew to play with them.