terrible things about him. He needed money, but he couldn’t go to work.
Maybe if he got fired. He heard that if you got fired, you could still get money. He’d heard that on TV sometimes. He kept pacing back and forth. He ran into his room and grabbed the bookmark that belonged to Sheryl. She was gone; did that mean he could keep it? That would be nice. When he held it, he thought of her. Like he had that night. He’d held it tight and remembered when he’d asked her to eat lunch with him. He kept thinking of that until…
When?
He’d woken up on the couch the next morning. Maybe he’d fallen asleep. Of course he’d fallen asleep. That’s why he’d been on the couch. He kept pacing back in the living room, squeezing the bookmark as tightly as he could. Maybe it would make him think of Sheryl, and that would give him an idea of how to get fired. Maybe if he did something bad. Messed something up. Where they could blame him, and have to fire him.
He smiled. He knew she would help him! He would have to do something bad so they would fire him. But what about the policeman? What about Sean? It would have to be something bad, but not something really bad. Something to get fired, but not go to jail. He’d have to be really smart.
He kept pacing and squeezing the bookmark, hoping Sheryl would tell him what to do.
He suddenly smiled.
He knew.
Chapter Fifteen
Dr. Nguyen was finishing up an old court inquiry when the phone rang.
“Coroner’s office.”
“Tony, Bernie again. I may have some information for you.”
“Regarding?” Dr. Nguyen had been suddenly overwhelmed with a mountain of paperwork. Everybody wanted to cover their butts. This was the part of his job he hated.
“BioGyn.”
“Yes, of course. Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. What do you have, Bernie?”
“Well, again, you didn’t hear this from me, but an associate of mine who’s done some consulting for them in the past still keeps in touch with some of the techs there.” Dr. Bernard Roth sounded a bit hesitant.
“Uh huh.”
“Apparently, they are working on a general nervous system depressant. What they’re calling a stress relief drug. However, they’ve done some monkeying around with some naturally occurring chemicals so they can cross the blood-brain barrier.”
“Uh huh. That’s not entirely uncommon. A few stress drugs can do that.” Dr. Nguyen sat up a little straighter.
“Well, the thing is that they are intending for this to be an over-the-counter medication.”
“I see. I can definitely see the danger there. But that’s kind of in the opposite direction. A general nervous system inhibitor would tend to lower blood pressure and other sympathetic systems. I was hoping for something that may have the opposite effect. You follow?” Dr. Nguyen sounded a bit let down.
“Yeah, well, here’s the thing. This particular thing they’ve altered is a compound that itself does some other things than simply lower blood pressure.”
“What’s the original compound?”
“Well, my source tells me it’s aminobutyric acid, a neuro-inhibitor. They’ve added a phenyl ring so it will cross the blood-brain barrier, making it much more potent.” Dr. Roth wondered if Dr. Nguyen would see his line of thinking.
“Yeah, when you mess with crossing from the bloodstream into the brain fluid, that’s kind of dicey. I’m surprised they are going for an over-the-counter with this. Especially with an inhibitor. That would turn people into zombies, more or less.”
“Well, my thinking on this,” Dr. Roth paused, “is that if this were a clinical run, and they were trying different combinations, there would be different levels of permeability,” he continued, referring to the amount of a chemical in the bloodstream that would be able to cross over into the brain’s extracellular fluid.
“Yeah, I see where you’re going with
Maybe if he got fired. He heard that if you got fired, you could still get money. He’d heard that on TV sometimes. He kept pacing back and forth. He ran into his room and grabbed the bookmark that belonged to Sheryl. She was gone; did that mean he could keep it? That would be nice. When he held it, he thought of her. Like he had that night. He’d held it tight and remembered when he’d asked her to eat lunch with him. He kept thinking of that until…
When?
He’d woken up on the couch the next morning. Maybe he’d fallen asleep. Of course he’d fallen asleep. That’s why he’d been on the couch. He kept pacing back in the living room, squeezing the bookmark as tightly as he could. Maybe it would make him think of Sheryl, and that would give him an idea of how to get fired. Maybe if he did something bad. Messed something up. Where they could blame him, and have to fire him.
He smiled. He knew she would help him! He would have to do something bad so they would fire him. But what about the policeman? What about Sean? It would have to be something bad, but not something really bad. Something to get fired, but not go to jail. He’d have to be really smart.
He kept pacing and squeezing the bookmark, hoping Sheryl would tell him what to do.
He suddenly smiled.
He knew.
Chapter Fifteen
Dr. Nguyen was finishing up an old court inquiry when the phone rang.
“Coroner’s office.”
“Tony, Bernie again. I may have some information for you.”
“Regarding?” Dr. Nguyen had been suddenly overwhelmed with a mountain of paperwork. Everybody wanted to cover their butts. This was the part of his job he hated.
“BioGyn.”
“Yes, of course. Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. What do you have, Bernie?”
“Well, again, you didn’t hear this from me, but an associate of mine who’s done some consulting for them in the past still keeps in touch with some of the techs there.” Dr. Bernard Roth sounded a bit hesitant.
“Uh huh.”
“Apparently, they are working on a general nervous system depressant. What they’re calling a stress relief drug. However, they’ve done some monkeying around with some naturally occurring chemicals so they can cross the blood-brain barrier.”
“Uh huh. That’s not entirely uncommon. A few stress drugs can do that.” Dr. Nguyen sat up a little straighter.
“Well, the thing is that they are intending for this to be an over-the-counter medication.”
“I see. I can definitely see the danger there. But that’s kind of in the opposite direction. A general nervous system inhibitor would tend to lower blood pressure and other sympathetic systems. I was hoping for something that may have the opposite effect. You follow?” Dr. Nguyen sounded a bit let down.
“Yeah, well, here’s the thing. This particular thing they’ve altered is a compound that itself does some other things than simply lower blood pressure.”
“What’s the original compound?”
“Well, my source tells me it’s aminobutyric acid, a neuro-inhibitor. They’ve added a phenyl ring so it will cross the blood-brain barrier, making it much more potent.” Dr. Roth wondered if Dr. Nguyen would see his line of thinking.
“Yeah, when you mess with crossing from the bloodstream into the brain fluid, that’s kind of dicey. I’m surprised they are going for an over-the-counter with this. Especially with an inhibitor. That would turn people into zombies, more or less.”
“Well, my thinking on this,” Dr. Roth paused, “is that if this were a clinical run, and they were trying different combinations, there would be different levels of permeability,” he continued, referring to the amount of a chemical in the bloodstream that would be able to cross over into the brain’s extracellular fluid.
“Yeah, I see where you’re going with
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