But I had to lay it all out for Mark now: that Darden hadkilledDoug to scapegoat him for knowingly leaving a drug on the market that they knew was hurtingbabies,when Doug had, in fact, tried to hold them accountable. And that Blair, Stevenson might be implicated in helping them cover up Doug’s death.
My phone vibrated in my hand. Sergeant McKinney—who was watching Cleo.Fuck.I fumbled to answer it. “Is Cleo—”
“She’s fine, she’s fine.” He didn’t even let me get all the way there—a person accustomed to handling panicked people. “But she went out. To some house. She seemed happy enough going inside. Appeared completely voluntary. So I think it’s all fine. I mean, within reason. I don’t know whose house it is.”
“Okay,” I said, but I didn’t like the sound of that. “Can you text me the address? I’ll meet you as soon as I can.”
This conversation with Mark would be uncomfortable but brief. Because I planned on getting right to the point. Mark would probably be defensive at first—it was only human not to want to be responsible, even tangentially, for something bad that had happened. But the facts were the facts. And they were not good. Darden had done something monstrous and the firm had helped them do it. The fact that Mark had kept his eyes shut the whole time wouldn’t protect him from the fallout.
Mark looked wary when he peered out his living room window. I’d had to ring the bell a couple times when I arrived and then texted to wake him. When he finally opened the door, he was in a robe, gray hair sticking up in a bunch of different directions. He looked much older and smaller than he ever did in the office, like glimpsing Oz out from behind his mighty curtain.
“Kat?” he asked. “What are you …” He looked past me to the street, like the answer might lie over my head. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I know it’s the middle of the night. I wouldn’t have come if it wasn’t important.”
“Is Cleo okay?”
“Yes, yes—she’s fine. At least for the moment.”
Mark reached for my arm. “Come in, come in.”
As I stepped inside, Mark’s wife, Ruth, appeared on the stairs in a matching robe, looking equally sleepy and even more concerned. Very frail, too, noticeably ill, worse than the last time I’d seen her.
“Oh, Kat,” she said, pausing halfway down the staircase. “Is everything okay? What’s wrong?”
“Kat is having an issue with a case,” Mark said. With the state of Ruth’s health, he didn’t like to worry her. “Nothing’s wrong. Go back to bed, honey. I’ll be right up.”
Ruth scowled, looking from Mark to me and back again. She wasn’t the kind of woman to be sent away easily. “Kat shouldn’t be working in the middle of the night, Mark. People need sleep. No case or client is worth making yourself sick.”
Mark adjusted his glasses on his nose. “I know, Ruth. Now, please go back to bed,” he said, calm but firm. “We can’t talk about a client matter with you down here. And we can’t get Kat on her way back home to bed until we’ve spoken.”
She shook her head and sighed heavily before turning back up the steps. “Fine, fine, fine. But quickly, please.”
Mark put a hand on my shoulder and motioned with the other toward the living room.
“What’s happening, Kat?” Mark asked when we were seated. “Tell me everything.”
“It’s Darden,” I began, pulling out my phone. I had taken photos of Tim Lyall’s documents.
“Darden?” He made a face. “They’re absolutely delighted at the moment. Perhaps that’s the wrong word, but didn’t you see the article?”
“I didn’t have a chance to read it yet. I saw your text, though.”
“TheJournalsomehow got ahold of the information about Doug Sinclair.”
“You mean that Darden intentionally leaked it to them.”
“Oh, no.” Mark shook his head. “I’m sure not.” He was quietfor a moment. “SomeoneatDarden may have leaked it. I’m sure there are employees anxious not to be thrown under the bus themselves, or to be sure Darden isn’t going to go under because of this lawsuit. People are human. They’re worried about their—”
“Theyknew,Mark.”
“Who knew what?”
“Darden knew there was a problem with Xytek. Right after approval, they had calls from doctors reporting issues with pregnant patients.” I gathered myself. “The same doctors called more recently and spoke to Doug, relatively new to Darden at the time, and yet Darden still didn’t notify the FDA. Doug Sinclair was threatening to go public.”
Mark went still for a moment, then rubbed a hand over the top of his head, smoothing his rumpled hair. “Okay, explain to me how you know this?”
“There are emails from DougtoPhil Beaumont, warning him of the report from the doctor six months ago. And the first calls from doctors came right after the drug went on the market. Darden knew about the potential risks to pregnant women and yet didn’t even warn patients or doctors. You and I both know what that could mean in terms of punitive damages. Tim Lyall knew about these emails and about Doug’s threats.” My eyes locked on his—I know about the other fixer.“It’s possible that we’ve been helping Darden cover all of this up.”
