Price Hike by Preston Lang

Author:Preston Lang
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Down & Out Books

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Yeah, Payton was very cute—sending him all the way out to a goddamned Red Lobster in San Jose. Bravo, very clever. But also very stupid. She’d just let him know exactly how she got her clients. Maybe she knew who he was and how to avoid him, but her clients wouldn’t. He just had to find one who was waiting for the goods, sit on that poor mother, and he’d have his girl.

On the plane ride home—another five hours in the air—he looked back through her recent conversations. The last one to seek out Magenta was a woman from New Jersey with a son who’d been a strong responder to Lexproxovin. The family had qualified for Fermat Inc.’s assistance program after their insurance had completely screwed them on copays. Poor little Russell from Jersey. The kid was right there in Kanganis’s files.

The mom was named Jane de Vries. Her son had been on Lexproxovin for eighteen months, and he seemed to have done extremely well—he could go to school, required relatively few hospital stays. Off the drug, things were worse, and his parents were growing desperate. Back when Russell was still on Lexie, his parents had gone on the local news to plead their case. The segment was part of a series called Tales of Caring, and it was still available in the online archives of Action News 8. David and Jane, both gangly and unattractive with their heavy, tired eyes. Jane at least managed to find the right tone—decent and desperate.

“We’d just like people to look into their hearts. Because this is a disease that is bigger than we are. And that’s why we have to ask for help. We also hope—we sincerely wish—that no one else will ever have to go through what we’ve gone through.”

But when Kanganis watched a second time, he started to doubt her. Obviously the disease, the pain, the need for treatment were all true, but there was something fake about her. Maybe he was imagining that. TV could distort a lot about your character—no one knew that better than he did. Or maybe he was starting to see the worst in everyone: a whole world filled with thieves and carnies.

Then the dad started to speak. This guy was genuine, but he was pathetic and unlikeable. He talked as if he hated everyone, hated doing this. At the same time he clearly realized how much he sucked. Uncomfortable speaking, uncomfortable with himself. You might feel sorry for him if you didn’t want to smack him. He had a nasal tenor voice, shaky.

“And it could—you know…it could strike. At any time, if you’re a child. Or if you know a child. So there—I mean…that’s a reason to help children, and—I don’t know—it just seems like…”

The host looked at David encouragingly, hoping he’d finish the sentence, but he never did.

“No child should have to suffer,” the host offered.

He nodded at her hatefully, as if she’d just stolen his line.

Kanganis tried to find an address for this Jane de Vries but came up empty.

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