“I don’t know why,” he said quickly. “I do know that Dr. Berger is also a practicing cardiac surgeon. Perhaps he was also scheduled too tightly for the travel. Actually, I was glad about the switch. Despite what you’ve implied, I have nothing against homosexuals.”

“Why were you glad about the change?” Oliver asked.

“Because…” Shockley tried again. “Once I…understood Dr. Decameron, I found him easier to deal with.”

“Easier than Dr. Berger,” Marge clarified.

“Yes.”

“How’s that?”

“A better team player. Quicker. Faster. Cutting edge. More willing to try unorthodox approaches if conventional ones weren’t working. I found Dr. Berger to be a very, very cautious man. Which is always a good thing when you’re testing out a new drug. But he was cautious to the point of being mulish. Had it been up to him, I’m sure Curedon would still be relegated to Sparks’s homespun lab. You know, if you’re going to do good for humankind, eventually you have to take the drug out to the market and test it on humans. There’s only so much you can infer by testing the drugs on primates.”

“Berger didn’t feel the drug was ready to be tested on humans?”

“He never actually espoused that opinion, no,” Shockley said. “Because Sparks always called the shots, of course. But the D.C. labs were frustrated by Berger’s pickiness.”

“Maybe some would call that exacting,” Oliver said.

Shockley’s smile was mean. “There’s being exacting…and there’s being ridiculous.”

“Ah,” Oliver said. “I guess it takes a person of very high intellect to know the difference.”

Marge shot Oliver a look, and he backed off. He asked, “Did you express your lab’s frustration with Dr. Berger directly to Dr. Sparks?”

“Of course not. We had complete confidence in anyone who represented Dr. Sparks. And I don’t want to imply that we were unhappy with Dr. Berger. We just felt that Dr. Decameron was…”

Oliver said, “More with the program?”

Shockley’s smile was condescending. “Better suited to the job.”

“Dr. Decameron told us the initial trials of Curedon looked promising.”

“Yes.”

“He’s also told us that some of the latest data was not so promising.”

Shockley said, “There are always wrinkles. That’s why we have trials before the drug is presented to the public, my friends.”

“Would you have the latest results?”

“Not at my fingertips.”

“Could you get them for us?”

“No. They aren’t your business.”

Marge said, “We can get them from Dr. Decameron.”

“So do that.” Shockley’s smile was smug. “You know, I am trying to help you out. But you can’t expect the company to just open up its data banks for you. First, it would serve no purpose. Second, it’s confidential information. For all I know, you two might be industrial spies.”