Where did it suddenly go wrong? I don’t know. When did I first become suspicious? That too is a tough question to answer. I think it was after the first murder, the murder of Scott Trian, but more likely, it was after Bill Whitherson was killed in a similar fashion. The timing of the murders seemed such a strange coincidence to me. Harvey and Eric did not see it that way. They feared that someone was targeting our cured patients. But I saw something else unusual—the recent deterioration of both Trian and Whitherson. We had all assumed that they were suffering from SR1 side effects, but what if that wasn’t so? Whatever was wrong with Scott and Bill had still been in its infancy, but what if it was somehow AIDS-related?
Now that they were both dead and buried, there was no way to check. I asked Harvey about the possibility, but he just shrugged it off, which was not like him. I tried to press the issue, but the more I did, the more hostile Harvey became. “Whose side are you on anyway?” he would ask. “If you think the cure isn’t working, go retest Krutzer, Leander, and Singer.”
I did. I was relieved to see that they were all still HIV negative. But then again, they had not been treated as long as Trian or Whitherson. That bothered me. I was going to confront Harvey again but decided against it. He was all worked up over the latest round of proposed budget cuts. The members of the medical budget committee were preparing to pounce upon us like so many vultures on a wounded animal. The competition for funds is incredible. We spend more time agonizing over budget cuts than on curing patients—a shame but that is reality.
I decided to sneak behind Harvey’s back and draw blood from Riccardo Martino (you will find his chart enclosed in the packet). Then I had his blood tested. When the results of his Western blot and ELISA came back, I wanted to scream. Martino was HIV positive. He had AIDS. I panicked and ran toward Harvey’s office to tell him the awful news. But something made me stop. Harvey’s blind dedication has always intimidated me, but for the first time I was actually afraid of him. Our funding was about to be cut off, and I knew Harvey would do anything to keep us operating. But how far had he gone?
I walked into his office calmly and asked him when he planned on testing Martino again. He informed me that a result should be ready tomorrrow. I, of course, did not sleep that night. When I awoke in the morning, I sprinted into the lab, checked Martino’s code number, and looked at the blood sample for myself. Imagine my surprise to find both the Western blot and ELISA test showed that Martino was HIV negative, not positive.
How could it be? Had one of the tests been wrong? Did SR1 work? Was it a permanent cure or merely a temporary one? And how did the murders of Scott Trian and Bill Whitherson fit in? Were the murders a plot to destroy the clinic? A terrible coincidence? Or was there something else going on?
On the other hand, I had tested Krutzer, Leander, and Singer myself, and they were all cured. There was no question about it. So what exactly was I afraid Harvey had done? Tampered with some patients and not others? That would make no sense. Besides, Winston O’Connor ran most of the tests. Sometimes Eric. Very rarely did Harvey do any lab work.
It took me a while, Susan, but eventually I figured out what he was up to. The proof of Harvey’s crimes is in this packet.
My plane is landing, so I will have to wrap this up now. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, I do not know what will happen once I land. For that reason I will save the long explanations and give you some specific instructions. Enclosed are my private journals on each patient. I picked up the blood samples from our storage house in Bangkok. As per the clinic’s rules, all tested specimens were packaged after each test by either Eric Blake or Winston O’Connor. You will notice that there are two blood samples for each patient, labeled A and B. Sample A was taken from the patient when he was admitted (hence HIV positive). Sample B was taken when he was cured (hence HIV negative). Have someone you can trust run DNA tests on the two blood samples. When they don’t match, it will become clear what has been done.
The plane is on the ground now. I do not know if Harvey is acting alone or with some help. I cannot imagine he slaughtered Trian and Whitherson on his own, so I assume he has accomplices. I am sure that he is on to me. So tonight I will hide someplace. Tomorrow morning I will confront him in the clinic, where I know there will be a lot of witnesses and I will be safe. Since you are reading this letter, I guess I screwed up someplace. Know that I love you, Susan, and I am sorry for all the pain I caused. Please let Tommy know that his father will always love him and somehow I will always be with him.
Good-bye, Susan,
Bruce
She did not move. She just sat for a very long time. There was no need to reread the note.
“Susan?”
She turned toward her sister. “Bruce mentioned a package.”
“I mailed it to Harvey yesterday. He thought it might be important.”
Susan sat up. “Does anyone else know about this?”
“Just Sara. She’s with Harvey now.”
“I’M really sorry, Sara,” Harvey said, moving the gun from his left hand to his right. “I never wanted to hurt you.”
Sara stared at him with a mixture of disbelief and horror. “You?”
“Yes.”
“You murdered your own patients?”
“Not murdered,” he corrected. “Sacrificed. I’m not a monster, Sara.”
She glanced at the still body behind her. “Tell that to Eric.”
He smiled his weary smile. “You don’t understand.”
She said nothing.
“It was an impossible struggle from the beginning,” he continued. “Powerful people tried to squash us. You can’t imagine what we went through to get the initial funding for this place.”
Her voice, when it finally came, sounded hollow. “You killed your own patients?”
“They were already dying.”
“From what?”
“AIDS.”
Pause. “I thought they were cured.”
“No.” He smiled sadly. “Please, Sara, you have known me for a long time. I am not an evil man. I want you to understand before . . .”
“Before what?”
“I’m sorry. I wish there was another way, but there isn’t. As soon as Jennifer told you about the package, the decision was out of my hands. I’ll have no problem convincing her that Bruce’s package had nothing to do with the Gay Slasher. But you would have insisted on the DNA tests.”
“You’re going to kill me.” It was not a question.