Officer: So what do you do with complaints meanwhile? Bin them?
BBB (Crick): Mainly, Les, what we do, we shoot them straight back at the manufacturer, Messrs. Karel Vita Hudson. Then we either reply to the complaining party under KVH's guidance, or KVH may prefer to reply direct. Horses for courses. But that's the shape and size of it, Rob. Anything else we can do for you? Maybe we should pencil in another meeting for when you've got your documentation to hand?
Officer: Just a minute, d'you mind? According to our information Tessa Quayle and Dr. Arnold Bluhm came here in person last November at your invitation — ThreeBees' invitation- to discuss the effects, positive or negative, of your product Dypraxa. They also presented members of your staff with copies of the case notes they had sent to Sir Kenneth Curtiss personally. Are you saying you have no record of that meeting, not even who attended it from ThreeBees?
BBB (Crick): Got a date for it, Rob?
Officer: We have a diary entry confirming that a meeting was set at ThreeBees' suggestion for 11 A.m. on November 18. The appointment was made through the office of Ms. Rampuri, your marketing manager, who we now hear is not available.
BBB (Crick): News to me, I must say. How about you, Viv?
BBB (Eber): Me too, Doug.
BBB (Crick): Listen, why don't I look in Yvonne's diary for you?
Officer: Good idea. We'll help you.
BBB (Crick): Hang on, hang on. I'll have to get her OK on it first, obviously. Yvonne's a lot of girl. I wouldn't be going through her diary without her say-so, any more than I would yours, Lesley.
Officer: Ring her up. We'll pay.
BBB (Crick): No way, Rob.
Officer: Why not?
BBB (Crick): You see, Rob, Yvonne and her boyfriend have gone to this megawedding in Mombasa. When we said "attending to family affairs," that was the affair, right? A pretty bloody red-hot one, believe you me. So I would guess Monday would be the absolute earliest we could contact her. I don't know whether you've ever been to a wedding in Mombasa but believe you me —
Officer: Let's not worry about the diary. What about the notes they left with her?
BBB (Crick): You mean these so-called case histories you're talking about?
Officer: Among other things.
BBB (Crick): Well, if it's your actual case histories and that — obviously, Rob — technical discussion of symptoms, indications, dosage — side effects, Rob- then it's like we said, it's down to your manufacturer every time. We're talking Basel, we're talking Seattle and we're talking Vancouver. I mean, fuck. We would be behaving with criminal irresponsibility, wouldn't we, Viv, if we didn't immediately turn to the experts for evaluation. That's not just company policy. I'd say that was Holy Writ here at ThreeBees, wouldn't you?
BBB (Eber): Absolutely. No question, Doug. The chief insists. The moment there's a problem, it's get KVH on the help line.
Officer: What are you telling us? This is ridiculous. What happens to paper in this place, for Christ's sake?
BBB (Crick): I'm telling you that we're hearing you and we'll mount a search and see what we come up with. This isn't the civil service, Rob. Or Scotland Yard. This is Africa. We don't all march on our fucking files, right? We got better ways of spending our fucking time than —
P. R. Oakey, QC: I think there are two points here. Perhaps three. Can I take them separately? The first is, how certain are you officers that the meeting between Mrs. Quayle, Dr. Bluhm and representatives of ThreeBees that you're referring to actually took place?
Officer: As we already told you, we have documentary evidence in Bluhm's handwriting, from Bluhm's diary, that a meeting was arranged for November 18 through Ms. Rampuri's office.
P. R. Oakey, QC: Arranged is one thing, Lesley. Consummated is quite another. Let's hope Ms. Rampuri has a good memory. She conducts an awful lot of meetings, you may be sure. My second point is tone. Insofar as you are able to say, would the alleged representations have been adversarial in tone? Might there, for instance, have been a whiff of litigation in the air? De mortuis and so on, but from all one hears about Mrs. Quayle, she wasn't exactly one to pull her punches, was she? She was also a lawyer, as you say. And Dr. Bluhm is by way of being a professional watchdog in the pharmaceutical field, I understand. We're not dealing with nobodies.
Officer: What if they were adversarial? If somebody's died of a drug, people have got a right to be adversarial.
P. R. Oakey, QC: Well, obviously, Rob, if Ms. Rampuri smelled a claim in the air, or worse, or the chief did, assuming he did indeed receive the written materials, which is clearly open to question, then their very first instinct would be to send them on to the firm's legal department. Which would be another place to look, wouldn't it, Doug?
Officer: I thought you were their legal department.
P.R. Oakey, QC: (humour) I'm a last resort, Rob. Not a first resort. I'm far too expensive.
BBB (Crick): We'll get back to you, Rob. It's been our pleasure. Next time let's make it lunch. But don't expect the moon is my advice. It's like I say. We don't spend all day filing paper here. We have a lot of irons in the fire and as the chief likes to say, ThreeBees does business from the hip. That's how this company became what it is today. Officer: We'd like one more moment of your time, please, Mr. Crick. We're interested in speaking to a gentleman named Lorbeer, probably Dr. Lorbeer, of German, Swiss or perhaps Dutch origin. I'm afraid we don't have a first name for him but we understand he's been closely involved with the career of Dypraxa here in Africa.
BBB (Crick): On which side, Lesley?
Officer: Does that matter?
BBB (Crick): Well, it does, rather. If Lorbeer's a doctor, which you seem to think he is, he's more likely to be with the manufacturers than with us. ThreeBees don't run to medics, you see. We're laymen in the marketplace. Salesmen. So it's try KVH again, I'm afraid, Les.
Officer: Look, do you know Lorbeer or not? We're not in Vancouver or Basel or Seattle. We're in Africa. It's your drug, your territory. You import the stuff, you advertise it, distribute it and sell it. We're telling you a Lorbeer has been involved with your drug here in Africa. Have you heard of Lorbeer or not?
P. R. Oakey, QC: I think you've had your answer, haven't you, Rob? Try the manufacturers.
Officer: How about a woman called Kovacs, could be Hungarian?
BBB (Eber): A doctor too?
Officer: Do you know the name? Never mind her title. Has any of you heard the name Kovacs? Female? In the context of marketing this drug?
BBB (Crick): Try the phone book, I should, Rob.
Officer: There's also a Dr. Emrich we'd like to talk to —
P. R. Oakey, QC: Looks as though you've drawn a blank, officers. I'm awfully sorry we can't be more use to you. We've pulled out all the stops for you, but it just doesn't seem to be our day.
Note added one week after this meeting took place:
Despite assurances from ThreeBees that searches were under way, we are informed that no papers, letters, case histories, e-mails or faxes from Tessa Abbott or Quayle or Arnold Bluhm have so far come to light. KVH deny all knowledge of them, so does the ThreeBees' legal department in Nairobi. Our attempts to recontact Eber and Crick have also proved unsuccessful. Crick is "attending a retraining course in South Africa," Eber has been "moved to another department." Replacements have not yet been appointed. Ms. Rampuri remains unavailable, "pending the restructuring of the company."
RECOMMENDED: That Scotland Yard make direct representations to Sir Kenneth K. Curtiss with a request for a full statement of his company's dealings with the deceased and Dr. Bluhm, that he instruct his staff to mount a strenuous search for Ms. Rampuri's diary and the missing documents, and that Ms. Rampuri be produced immediately for interview.