Page 55 of Stone Coast (Tyson Wild Thriller)

T yson rang the bell and flashed his badge when Mr. Langston pulled open the door. We had decided to do a little knock and talk.

"I suppose you're here to talk about Sierra," Dirk said. "You have any leads on the scumbags who killed her?”

He obviously didn't recognize me, and that was a good thing.

"We just have a few questions for you," Tyson said. "I'm Deputy Wild, and this is my associate, Officer Stone."

It wasn't a complete fabrication. I was technically still an officer with the CIA, last I heard .

"Did Sierra ever talk to you about a clinical trial for the drug Hemalogen?” Tyson asked.

Dirk tried to hide his surprise that we knew. He shook his head. "She didn't talk much about her work. It was kind of a deal we had. We left it at the office.”

"What do you do?" I asked.

"I'm an in-house attorney with Phaxelon Therapeutics. Compliance and liability.”

Tyson and I exchanged a subtle glance. This changed our whole approach. Maybe we should have done a little more homework on the guy.

"So you're aware of the clinical trials for Hemalogen?” Tyson said.

Dirk’s eyes narrowed, and his brow wrinkled. “What does this have to do with my wife's death?”

If he was in compliance and liability, he would have some degree of oversight or access to information about the clinical trials.

"Are you privy to the information that comes through in the case report portal?" Tyson asked.

"Yes, I see the data that is reported. I monitor for significant adverse events and other incidents that might cause regulatory risk."

Tyson had to tread carefully with his next question. “So, you were aware of the adverse events?”

Dirk’s eyes narrowed at him. "There are adverse events in every clinical trial. I saw nothing out of the ordinary. Why? ”

"If you call 16% of patients dying, and another 40% developing cancer standard, then that explains a lot."

Dirk’s brow knitted. “Where are you getting these numbers from?”

"Are you saying those numbers are incorrect?”

"That is most certainly not representative of the data that I’ve seen, and I have direct access to the portal." His eyes darted between the two of us, growing annoyed. "That's protected health information. How are you acquiring your data?”

"As an in-house attorney, I suppose you are aware that the company administering the patient portal is a subsidiary of Phaxelon Therapeutics. That's a hell of a conflict of interest, if you ask me."

Dirk's face went long, and his eyes rounded. "This conversation is over."

He closed the door and flipped the deadbolt.

Tyson and I exchanged a look.

"That son-of-a-bitch knows everything," Tyson grumbled as we walked back to the car.

"Maybe he found out about his wife's affair,” I said. “Had her killed. Maybe he caught on to the fact that Grayson was gonna blow the whistle. He could have had access to his wife's cell phone data.”

"There were three other doctors involved in that study. They all have to be experiencing similar incidents.”

"So, all of their data is getting modified in the portal? ”

"Looks that way.”

"That's a lot of people to keep quiet,” I said.

"I'm sure there were nice financial incentives for the participants. It's possible the other doctors don't know the extent of the manipulation. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions, but…”

"How do we handle this?"

"We don't. The FDA has oversight, and the DOJ handles the fraud. PBPD has dibs on the murder, but it happened within Coconut County, which gives me jurisdiction as well.”

"Nothing happens without hard evidence. We need to get in touch with those other doctors and see if they're willing to talk.”

"I suspect Dirk is just a pawn in this whole thing," Tyson said. “This goes all the way to the top."

"Then we take it to the top.”

“I have no doubt they’ve insulated themselves with layers of middlemen and bad actors. They’ll chalk it up to a computer glitch or blame some low-level employee at the oversight company.” Tyson shook his head. “Nobody’s ever going to jail over this.”

“All the more reason why we have to take care of it.”

Maybe Xzavier had the right idea. His concept of justice was like a virus, and it was beginning to infect my mind.