Chapter 61

Damn! She seems pretty calm. But what else do you do? Something else there though...

"Not long after Elizabeth arrived," Harry said. "Too early to know what was going on, but there was some buzz went on for a few days."

"There were some worried faces for a while," said Elizabeth. "private meetings with Doctor Copeland and the CEO. Then it settled down. But Philip - the lead pharmacist - was pretty shaken. He stayed late for a couple of days, something he never does."

The nachos arrived.

"Could we have some wine?" Jennifer asked.

"Sure. I'll bring the wine list."

"You OK?" asked Jessica.

"I'll be all right. I'm just tense."

"Doctor Copeland." Jessica said. "Is he the only doctor they have there?"

"He's the only one I've ever seen," replied Elizabeth. "I don't know if I've met everyone. There's not much mixing, except among whatever nurses are on duty at any time. I rarely see the suits."

"His name seems to be the only one that ever shows up," said Jessica. "Harry, is he the only one in the records you've looked at?"

"Have to ask Mary Ann. I'll check whey we get back."

The waitress came back with the wine list. Jessica and Jennifer made a selection, Elizabeth declined. Harry asked for a beer and Alex decided to have one as well.

"Can we be overheard here?" Jessica asked. "You said you listen to gossip here, working on cases."

"Out there, yeah. These booths, you'd have to be standing almost inside to hear anything. But I reserved three, one on each side of us.

"And I'm tight with the owners. They make sure this area is clean. Not that we've got anything to hide at this point, other than being seen together. And that might be a problem if things get ugly, but not now."

The waitress brought the drinks and left.

"Do you know why your brother was hospitalized originally?" Harry asked.

"Supposedly pneumonia. He thought he had the flu, and was about over it. He'd had it before, and got over it easily. He stayed home from work for a couple of days, and then went back. He collapsed during a meeting, and they called an ambulance. They took him to St. Bernards, and they said he had pneumonia. He was in there for six days, and then they sent him to to Arkansas Continued Care. They said he had pulmonary fibrosis and would need some time to recover.

"When I got there he was unconscious, and they said he was under sedation because he was delirious. But each time I went there they told me something different. He was having anxiety attacks, was delusional. A couple of times he was tied to the bed. I didn't know... I didn't think it was right."

"Are you his only family?" Jessica asked.

"Yes. Mom moved away several years ago when she married a guy from Oklahoma. She and Dad were divorced when Matt and I were young, and we haven't seen him in years. I was going to see him after work.

"A couple of times when I went he was awake, but out of his head. He was talking about things, they had a box with wires, attached to pads..."

"A telemetry box?" Elizabeth asked.

"Maybe, it had some lights, about the size of a TV remote. One time he put his hand on it and said 'this needs to be in the refrigerator'. He mostly just moaned and once in a while said something I couldn't understand, and sometimes just went to sleep."

The steaks arrived and they waited until they were finished before continuing.

"Jennifer.." Elizabeth began, and was interrupted by the waitress.

"Can I get you anything?"

Jennifer had another glass of wine, and Harry and Alex had beers. Jessica and Elizabeth declined.

"We should finish up," Harry said after the drinks were brought. "Jennifer..."

She took a sip of wine, and started to speak, stopped.

Probably shouldn't be doin' this in here.

She wiped her eyes.

"Matt died. I was at work the next day, after I'd gone to see him. He was in the same condition. Just after I got to work, about nine, I got the call.

"They said it was myocarditis. The state I was in, I was alone, I didn't know what to do. I called Mom, she and her husband came out for the funeral. I still don't know what to do, but something... something about it made me suspicious. I went to see a lawyer and told him I thought they had done something, and were covering it up."

"Marc Stewart," Harry said. "He and I have been talking some, he told Jennifer to come see me."

"Let me ask you something, Jennifer." Elizabeth said. "By the way, to you go by your full name or do your friends call you Jen, maybe?"

Little smile. She's hurtin' bad. What if they'd called Jessica and told her I was dead?

Only they did. But I wasn't. Tryin' to kill me?

"Yeah, my friends and family call me Jen."

"Mine call me Liz. Jen, there's a couple of things I need to know. Was Matt vaxxed?"

"No, neither one of us is. That whole thing was creepy, scary creepy. Like the whole world went crazy, or most of it. And the ones that didn't were being called crazy by the ones who were."

"Myocarditis is killing people like crazy," Elizabeth said. "because of the vaccine. I don't know what will come of that, as corrupt as everything is. But psychotropic drugs also induce myocarditis. From the way you describe Matt's condition, I have to suspect they were being used on him."

"Like Alex," Jessica said.

Elizabeth looked at Alex.

"They failed with me I guess." Alex said.

"I'll fill you in back at the office." Harry said. "Everybody ready to go?"

He raised a hand to signal the waitress.