“All this is accomplished by spinal manipulation, correct?”

“You got it. We, of course, have a special name for it. We call it adjustment.”

“Are you saying you can function as someone’s GP?”

“Absolutely,” Newhouse said, pronouncing each syllable as if it were a separate word. “I believe I serve as your friend Nichelle Barlow’s GP. And I’m sure she’ll tell you she is in terrific health. I adjust her regularly, because her spine needs constant attention.”

“I suppose you don’t have a strong feeling about antibiotics.”

“Generally, they are not needed. Once I get the innate intelligence flowing normally, any infection clears up rapidly. Besides, antibiotics are dangerous. You see we dispense remedy, not drugs.”

“How about vaccinations?”

“Not needed and dangerous,” Newhouse said without a second of hesitation.

“All vaccinations for all kids?”

“All vaccinations for all kids,” Newhouse echoed. “Vaccines are more dangerous than antibiotics. Look at this autism tragedy. I tell you, it is a terrible shame, if not a national disgrace. If one of those kids had come to me before getting vaccinated, they’d be normal today.”

Jack literally had to bite his tongue to resist arguing with this off-the-wall charlatan. Though it seemed Newhouse believed what he was saying, Jack couldn’t tell whether he was a well-intentioned but misguided therapist or a modern-day snake-oil salesman.

“What about infant colic?” Jack asked hesitantly, since the issue struck too close to home. “Can you treat that?”

“Not a problem,” Newhouse said confidently.

“You’d treat an infant with spinal manipulation?” Jack asked nervously. He couldn’t help but envision JJ being tortured by the man sitting in front of him.

“Well, first there’d be the diagnostic stage.”

“Which would involve what, exactly?”

“Visual examination, careful palpation, observation of movement, and, of course, X-ray.”

“You’d do a full spinal X-ray on an infant?” Jack asked, just to be certain. He was incensed. He wondered just how many infants Newhouse had exposed to the amount of radiation necessary for spinal films, even if his equipment was digital.

“Of course. It’s a major part of our thorough diagnostic and therapeutic process. We use X-rays to diagnose, to document the course of treatment, and to make sure troublesome vertebrae stay in place. Since X-ray is so central to our mission, we have the latest digital system. Would you like to see it?”

Jack didn’t answer. He was still trying to digest the information about infants being bombarded by ionizing radiation to make a bogus diagnosis of their youthful normal spines being somehow out of line.

Taking Jack’s silence as acquiescence, Newhouse leaped from his chair and motioned for Jack to follow him. Dutifully, Jack got to his feet and shadowed him out into the hall and through one of the previously closed doors. The calm he’d achieved during the bike ride had been replaced by anger directed at Newhouse and his like-minded colleagues. Jack felt personally embarrassed, as if their existence was his fault.

The X-ray unit was impressively state-of-the-art. Knowing approximately how much such a unit cost, Jack could guess why they used it as much as they apparently did: It had to be paid for. Jack didn’t listen as Newhouse, like a proud father, went through a litany of the machine’s attributes.