"The Beta. Take a look at Van de Vliet. He's a walking testimonial. No side effects for him, so why not? The worst thing that could happen would be nothing, right? So she figured, what did she have to lose? Well, now we all know."
"The Beta? That's...?"
"You fucker." Grant bounded to his feet. "You don't know the first thing about what I'm talking about do you? How the fuck did you find out about Kristen anyway?"
"I told you I spoke to her." Well, it was almost true. He'd yelled at her. "She's very . . . unsettled just now. But I guess you know that"
"Hey, she was always fucked‑up, but W.B. liked all the energy behind that. He looked right past the eating disorders and the coke and the late‑night clubs she went to all the time. But, man, if you think she's spaced, try her mother. That crazy—"
"Grant, why not level with me? There's something very wrong going on here. I'm in the business of telling the truth, and I've got a keen nose for medical horse‑pucky. So how about coming clean? If it's good, why not, and if it's bad, it's going to come out eventually anyway. Hasn't Winston Bartlett learned anything from all the screw‑ups in Washington? It's not the situation—it's the cover‑up."
"Well, I don't know what Kristy did or didn't tell you, so we're not going in that direction. I heard about her little trip downtown this morning. I assume that's probably when you saw her, if in fact you actually did. Right now she's being taken care of, for her own good."
" 'Being taken care of'? So happens I had a close encounter with a couple of her caregivers today. They're taking care of her, all right."
"Look, she used to be W.B.'s girlfriend okay? He's still very concerned about her. Everybody's really sorry about her situation, but nobody saw it coming. And now he's got some problems of his own."
"You seem to be pretty heavily involved with Winston Bartlett's personal problems."