the sun,” she added. “Do I make myself clear?”
Sean cast a quick glance at Dr. Mason who was still smiling warmly.
“I didn’t come here for a holiday. If Forbes had been in Bismarck, North Dakota, I would have wanted to come. You see, I’ve heard about the results you’ve been getting with medulloblastoma.”
Dr. Mason coughed and moved forward in his seat, placing his coffee on the table. “I hope you didn’t expect to work on the medulloblastoma protocol,” he said.
Sean’s gaze shifted between the two doctors. “Actually, I did,” he said with some alarm.
“When I spoke with Dr. Walsh,” Mason said, “he emphasized that you have had extensive and successful experience with the development of murine monoclonal antibodies.”
“That was during my year at MIT,” Sean explained. “But that’s not my interest now. In fact, I feel it is already yesterday’s technology.”
“That’s not our belief,” Dr. Mason said. “We think it’s still commercially viable and will be for some time. In fact, we’ve had a bit of luck isolating and producing a glycoprotein from patients with colonic cancer. What we need now is a monoclonal antibody in hopes it might be an aid to early diagnosis. But, as you know, glycoproteins can be tricky. We’ve been unable to get mice to respond antigenically, and we’ve failed to crystallize the substance. Dr. Walsh assured me you were an artist when it comes to this kind of protein chemistry.”
“I was,” Sean said. “I haven’t been doing it for some time. My interest has changed to molecular biology, specifically oncogenes and oncoproteins.”
“This is just what I feared,” Dr. Levy said, turning to Dr. Mason. “I told you this was not a good idea. We are not set up for students. I’m much too busy to babysit a medical student extern. Now if you’ll excuse me, I must get back to my work.”
Dr. Levy got to her feet and looked down at Sean. “My rudeness is not meant to be personal. I’m very busy, and I’m under a lot of stress.”
“I’m sorry,” Sean said. “But it is difficult not to take it personally since your medulloblastoma results are the reason I took this elective and drove all the way the hell down here.”
“Frankly, that’s not my concern,” she said, striding toward the door.
“Dr. Levy,” Sean called out. “Why haven’t you published any articles on the medulloblastoma results? With no publications, if you’d stayed in academia, you’d probably be out looking for a job.”
Dr. Levy paused and cast a disapproving look at Sean. “Impertinence is not a wise policy for a student,” she said, closing the door behind her.
Sean looked over at Dr. Mason and shrugged his shoulders. “She was the one who said we should be honest about all this. She hasn’t published for years.”
“Clifford warned me that you might not be the most diplomatic extern,” Dr. Mason said.
“Did he now?” Sean questioned superciliously. He was already beginning to question his decision to come to Florida. Maybe everybody else had been right after all.
“But he also said you were extremely bright. And I think Dr. Levy came on a bit stronger than she meant. At any rate she has been under great strain. In fact we all have.”
“But the results you’ve been getting with the medulloblastoma patients are fantastic,” Sean said, hoping to plead his case. “There has to be something to be learned about cancer in general here. I want desperately to be involved in your protocol. Maybe by looking at it with fresh, objective eyes I’ll see something that you people have missed.”
“You certainly don’t lack self-confidence,” said Dr. Mason. “And perhaps someday we could use a fresh eye. But not now. Let me be honest and open with you and give you some confidential information. There are several reasons you won’t be able to participate in our medulloblastoma study. First, it is already a clinical protocol and you are here for basic science research. That was made clear to your mentor. And second of all we cannot permit outsiders access to our current work because we have yet to apply for the appropriate patents on some of our unique biological processes. This policy is dictated by our source of funding. Like a lot of research institutions, we’ve had to seek alternate sources for operating capital since the government started squeezing research grants to everything but AIDS. We have turned to the Japanese.”
“Like the Mass General in Boston?” Sean questioned.
“Something like that,” Dr. Mason said. “We struck a forty-million-dollar deal with Sushita Industries, which has been expanding into biotechnology. The agreement was that Sushita would advance us the money over a period of years in return for which they would control any patents that result. That’s one of the reasons we need the monoclonal antibody to the colonic antigen. We have to produce some commercially viable products if we hope to continue to receive Sushita’s yearly payments. So far we haven’t been doing too well in that regard. And if we don’t maintain our funding we’ll have to shut our doors which, of course, would hurt the public which looks to us for care.”
“A sorry state of affairs,” Sean said.
“Indeed,” Dr. Mason agreed. “But it’s the reality of the new research environment.”
“But your short-term fix will lead to future Japanese dominance.”
“The same can be said about most industries,” Dr. Mason said. “It’s not limited to health-related biotechnology.”
“Why not use the return from patents to fund additional research?”
“There’s no place to get the initial capital,” Dr. Mason said. “Well, that’s not entirely true in our case. Over the last two years we’ve had considerable success with old-fashioned philanthropy. A number of businessmen have given us hefty donations. In fact, we are hosting a black-tie charity dinner tonight. I would very much like to extend an invitation to you. It’s at my home on Star Island.”
“I don’t have the proper clothes,” Sean said, surprised at being invited after the scene with Dr. Levy.
“We thought of that,” Dr. Mason said. “We’ve made arrangements with a tux rental service. All you have to do is call in your sizes, and they will deliver to your apartment.”
“That’s very thoughtful,” Sean said. He was finding it difficult to deal with this on-again, off-again hospitality.
Suddenly the door to Dr. Mason’s office burst open and a formidable woman in a white nurse’s uniform rushed in, planting herself in front of Dr. Mason. She was visibly distressed.
“There’s been another one, Randolph,” she blurted out. “This is the fifth breast cancer patient to die of respiratory failure. I told you that . . .”
Dr. Mason leapt to his feet. “Margaret, we have company.”
Recoiling as if slapped, the nurse turned to Sean, seeing him for the first time. She was a woman of forty, with a round face, gray hair worn in a tight bun, and solid legs. “Excuse me!” she said, the color draining from her cheeks. “I’m terribly sorry.” Turning back to Dr. Mason, she added, “I knew Dr. Levy had just come in here, but when I saw her return to her office, I thought you were alone.”
“No matter,” said Dr. Mason. He introduced Sean to Margaret Richmond, director of nursing, adding, “Mr. Murphy will be with us for two months.”
Ms. Richmond shook hands perfunctorily with Sean, mumbling it was a pleasure to meet him. Then she took Dr. Mason by the elbow and steered him outside. The door closed, but the latch didn’t catch, and it drifted open again.
Sean could not help but overhear, especially with Ms. Richmond’s sharply penetrating voice. Apparently, another patient on standard chemotherapy for breast cancer had unexpectedly died. She’d been found in her bed totally cyanotic, just as blue as the others.
“This cannot go on!” Margaret snapped. “Someone must be doing this deliberately. There’s no other explanation. It’s always the same shift, and it’s ruining our stats. We have to do something before the medical examiner gets suspicious. And if the media gets ahold of this, it will be a disaster.”
“We’ll meet with Harris,” Dr. Mason said soothingly. “We’ll tell him he has to let everything else slide. We’ll tell him he has to stop it.”
“It can’t go on,” Ms. Richmond repeated. “Harris has to do more than run background checks on the professional staff.”
“I agree,” Dr. Mason said. “We’ll talk to Harris straight away. Just give me a moment to arrange for Mr.
