A shadow appeared on the corridor wall. Daniel could make out the bill of a baseball cap, but the shadow was too indistinct to tell him much more. He edged the door almost shut. The shadow flowed toward him along the wall. Daniel held his breath. If the intruder went into the bedroom he-Daniel-might be able to slip down the hall. If he went into the office first . . . Daniel opened the large blade on his knife.
Through the narrow gap in the door Daniel saw a figure in jeans and a leather jacket stop between the two rooms, facing away from him. The intruder hesitated, then the office door slammed into Daniel with enough force to stun him. Before he could recover, his wrist was bent back and his feet were kicked out from under him. The knife flew from his grasp.
Daniel crashed to the floor and lashed out with a punch that brought a gasp from his attacker. The grip on his arm loosened and he broke it, then struggled to his knees. A knee smashed into his face. Daniel grabbed his attacker's leg, surged to his feet, and twisted. His assailant went down with Daniel on top, his head pressed against the leather jacket. A blow glanced off Daniel's ear. He worked himself into a position to punch back, then reared up. As soon as he saw his attacker's face he checked his punch and gaped in astonishment.
'Kate?'
Kate Ross stared at Daniel. If she was relieved to discover that her foe was not a psychopath, she didn't show it.
'What the hell are you doing here?' she demanded angrily.
'I could ask you the same question,' Daniel snapped.
'I'm working on a case for Arthur Briggs.'
'If you're looking for Kaidanov he's not here.'
Kate hit Daniel in the shoulder, none too gently.
'Get off me.'
Daniel stood up and Kate got to her feet.
'How did you know I was behind the door?' he asked.
'I saw you push it shut.'
'Oh.'
'Did you make this mess?' Kate asked as she surveyed the chaos in the office.
'It was like this when I got here.'
Kate walked into the hall and stared into the bedroom. Then she said, 'Let's get out of here before someone calls 911.'
_ _ _
Kate and Daniel agreed to meet downtown at the Starbucks on Pioneer Square, an open, brick-paved block in the center of the city. Daniel parked and found a table next to a window. When Kate walked in he was nursing a cup of coffee and watching a group of teenage boys, oblivious to the cold, playing hacky-sack in the square.
'I got this for you,' Daniel said, pointing to a cup of coffee he'd put at Kate's place.
'You want to explain the B and E?' Kate asked without looking at Daniel's peace offering.
'Yeah, right after you explain the assault and battery,' Daniel answered, peeved by Kate's offhand manner.
'When someone pulls a knife on you it's called self-defense, not assault.'
Daniel flexed his still aching wrist. 'Where did you learn that judo stuff?'
'I was a Portland cop before I went to work for Reed, Briggs.' Daniel's eyebrows went up in surprise. 'I still know the person who's in charge of burglary. Right now I'm undecided about whether to call him.'
'Why, are you going to turn yourself in? I didn't hear anyone invite you into Kaidanov's house.'
'Nice try, but Geller Pharmaceuticals is a Reed, Briggs client. Kurt Schroeder authorized the entry to look for Geller's property. So, let's start over. What were you doing at Kaidanov's house?'
'Did you hear what happened at the deposition in the Geller case?' Daniel asked with a mixture of nervousness and embarrassment.
'Dan, everyone in the firm knows about your screwup. It was the main topic of conversation yesterday.'
'Do you know exactly what happened, why I'm in trouble?'
Kate shook her head. 'I heard something about a document that you turned over to Aaron Flynn, but I don't know the details.'
'Are you familiar with the Insufort litigation?'
'Only a little. I told Briggs that I wouldn't work on it.'
'Why?'
Kate's tough demeanor cracked for a second. 'My sister's kid was born with birth defects. She and her husband have gone through hell caring for her.'
Kate took a sip of coffee. When she looked up she had regained her composure.
'Do you mind if I give you some background on the case?' Daniel asked.
'Go ahead.'
'Insulin is a protein hormone secreted by the pancreas that helps the body use sugar in the form of glucose. Insulin becomes less effective in metabolizing glucose during pregnancy, which can cause some pregnant women to become diabetic. Insulin resistance during pregnancy must be treated because high sugar levels are toxic to a fetus and can cause birth defects. Geller Pharmaceuticals addressed the problem of insulin resistance during pregnancy by developing thalglitazone, which has the trade name Insufort. Insufort reverses the body's insulin resistance and prevents diabetes and its complications.'
'But there are problems, right? Birth defects?' Kate said. 'And isn't there a connection between Insufort and the Thalidomide scare from the late 1950s?'
'Yes and no. One tabloid called Insufort the `Son of Thalidomide,' and there is a connection. A drug called troglitazone helped pregnant women solve the insulin resistance problem, but it also may have caused liver failure. Geller's scientists combined a glitazone with the thalido ring from Thalidomide and created a harmless product that helps pregnant women overcome diabetes during pregnancy.'
'So why are women who take the pill giving birth to deformed babies?'
'It's either a compliance problem or coincidence.'
Kate looked at him with disgust.
'No, it's true,' Daniel insisted. 'Many of the women who claim that Insufort caused their child's birth defect probably didn't take the pill as prescribed. Maybe they took it occasionally or irregularly or only a few times and their glucose rose to dangerous levels.'
'So we're blaming the victim.'
'Look, Kate, most women give birth to healthy babies, but some women give birth to babies who have problems. Sometimes we know why. Some anticonvulsant drugs cause cleft palate. Babies of older mothers are more prone to have birth defects. Maternal infections can also cause them. Then there's alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. But the causes of most birth defects are medical mysteries. The difficulty is that Americans have been taught that there is an answer to every problem.' Daniel leaned forward and looked at Kate. 'Americans can't accept the fact that shit happens. You get cancer, so you blame overhead power lines; you run someone over, so you blame your car. Are you familiar with the Bendictin cases?'
Kate shook her head.
' `Morning sickness' is a problem for many pregnant women. For most it's unpleasant, but it can be deadly. You've heard of Charlotte Bronte?'
'The author of Jane Eyre .'
Daniel nodded. 'Hyperemesis gravida-`morning sickness'-killed her. In 1956, the FDA approved Bendictin, which was developed by Merrill Pharmaceuticals as a therapy for women with severe morning sickness. In 1979, the National Enquirer announced that Bendictin was the cause of thousands of defects in infants.
'The best way to determine if there is a cause-and-effect relationship between a drug and a problem is to conduct an epidemiological study. If a control group that hasn't taken the product has as many, or more, problems as the group that's taken the drug, you can conclude that there's probably not a casual connection between the drug and the problem. All of the epidemiological studies of Bendictin concluded that there was no statistical difference in the incidence of births of babies with defects in the two groups. That didn't stop lawyers from convincing women to sue.'
'The plaintiffs' attorneys must have had some evidence of a causal connection between the drug and the
