Samson 3 The enemies within by Michael Z Lewin

Author:Michael Z Lewin [Lewin, Michael Z]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Samson, Private investigators, Albert (Fictitious character)
ISBN: 0394490312
Publisher: New York, Knopf; [distributed by Random House]
Published: 1974-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Kokomo with nothing to do. Where had I heard that before?I drove back to Indianapolis.

I didn't go straight home; I stopped at the library. Asked ifthey'd been plaguing my home address with phone calls andpostcards to tell me the Kokomo sex book was in. They hadn't.

I went to the doorway phones and used a dime. Answeringservice. I should know better.

And then I called my doctor. Doctor Harry, as we refer tohim in my circle. A foul-mouthed teetotal flatfooted practi-tioner who has developed other vices in his old age. Poker, tobe precise. He came to the game late—and I must claim creditfor the introduction—but was so impressed with the craft andcunning required that he's taken it up seriously. His cantan-kerous core has developed into a playing style; he bluffs a lot.

But Evvie answered the phone. "Yeah, he's here. This medi-cal, or something you want him to do for you?" Husbands tendto deserve their wives.

"Both," I said.

She called him. He came. "You interrupted my fuckinglunch. You know how much time I get for lunch? Not enoughtime to be fucking interrupted. So what do you want, Al?"

"Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura," I read.

"What about it?" As if he had it for dessert every day.

"What is it?"

"Rare. Progressive. Fatal. Blood disease with severe internalbleeding. If you can talk to me on the phone you haven't gotit."

"It's not me," I said. "I know of a little kid who died of it andI'm trying to find out what kind of disease it is."

"It's not nice," he said quietly. "Check standard medicalsources. I've seen one case, when I was training. It's notpretty."

"Is it a kids' disease?"

"Not especially. No, I don't think so. I saw a girl in her earlytwenties. The remains of same."

"What causes it?"

"Don't know."

"I mean, is it hereditary or something? Like hemophilia?"

"Christ! Now what did I just say? Cause is unknown. Un-known. That means there's no known genetic association. Justbecause I say blood disease doesn't mean it's fucking hemo-philia. Anything else you want to know? Brain degenerationin middle-aged private detectives?"

I'd rather not know. "I'll let you get back to lunch," I said.

"About fucking time." Then he said, "Come around some-time, Al. Let us hear from you."

Since I was in the library, part of my master plan, I had alittle browse amongst the medical books. Such as they were.

TTP, as we say in the trade, is not exactly your disease in thestreet. Harry had done pretty well off the cuff. But he misseda few additional charming symptoms: convulsions, coma, fe-ver; anemia and "intermittent neurological symptoms,"things like numbness.

I spent an hour.

And became certain Edmund Kee Junior's death was in noway associated with the consanguinity of his biological par-ents. If his death was a punishment, then God's hand musthave been directly involved.

Melanie hadn't understood, but neither had Kee. The medi-cal books acquitted Melanie of any suspicion of beating thechild. A progressive disease, with a lot of subcutaneous bleed-ing. For a couple of months before he died, little Edmund justbruised very easily. At the end, by a touch, much less a slap.

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