Free An Invisible Client by Victor Methos Page B

laughed.
    “Brandi and Brandon are both here at the Huntsman Cancer Institute. Imagine that? Both your children getting cancer at the same time? They’ve been here two months, and they come by and visit with Joel. He goes up there sometimes, too.”
    “Kids his age need friends.” I looked at her. “I spoke to his doctor.”
    “And?”
    “And they don’t think he can qualify for the transplant list.”
    “If I had money, I bet he’d qualify. Money to donate to the hospital. The person whose name is on this building wouldn’t be denied an organ.”
    I didn’t say anything. We sat in silence, watching as Joel and the other two kids shared games and photos on their phones. The siblings took one photo of Joel making a ridiculous face, then several more with all three of them together.
    I pushed the ice cream away from me. I didn’t have much of an appetite right now.
    “We should get back,” Rebecca said. “He can’t expend this much energy. It’s not good for him.”
    We went over and helped Joel to his feet. I watched Brandi and Brandon. They were twins, which I hadn’t noticed before for some reason, and both looked as healthy as I thought a preteen could look. I saw no hint of what was tearing them apart on the inside.
    We led Joel back to his room, and he took out his phone to show me the photo of the face he’d pulled. I smiled. He posted it to his Instagram, and as we helped him back into bed, I heard footsteps in the hallway. Two men appeared at the open door. They looked surprised to see me.
    I recognized one of them—a man named Cole Harding, an attorney with Walcott.
    I stepped between them and Joel. “You gotta be shitting me,” I said.
    “No letter of representation’s been sent. You’re not officially his attorney yet,” Cole said. “We can interview him if we want.”
    “Interview?”
    “Noah, he is not your client yet. Our firm is perfectly within our rights to interview someone who may—”
    “Get the hell outta this room. And if you come back, I’ll file a TRO to make sure you can’t even come into this hospital again. I don’t think any judge is going to be too happy that you tried to take advantage of a child who’s already represented.”
    The two men looked at each other, then went away.
    “What was that about?” Rebecca asked.
    “That was about being careful. Which we’ll have to do from now on. They wanted to try to catch Joel in a position where he might say something that would hurt any future lawsuit.”
    “Like what?”
    “Like something that might indicate he was sick before he took their medication or that he has a genetic predisposition—something like that.”
    “But he doesn’t. He got sick after he took the medicine.”
    “Rebecca, the law has nothing to do with what actually happened. It’s about what a jury hears. That’s all. They want to make you guys look bad.” I glanced toward the door. “They won’t be back, though. I’ll make sure.” I turned to Joel. He looked exhausted just from the effort of going up to the cafeteria for a few minutes. “I’ll keep in touch, Joel. My investigator, a man named Anto, is going to come interview you soon. Don’t talk to anyone else unless you have my say-so, okay?”
    “Okay. Thanks for coming here.”
    “You’re welcome. I’ll see ya soon.”
    I nodded to Rebecca and headed out of the room. When I was out in the hall, I called Jessica’s cell phone. Not many legal secretaries made eighty thousand a year, but I wanted access at all hours in exchange for that money. Still, I never abused the privilege and had used it only a few times.
    “Hi,” she said. “What’s up?”
    I could hear the pen click in her hand. “Joel Whiting. I’m taking the case. Send a letter to Walcott, informing them I’m Joel’s lawyer, and tell them to keep the hell away from him. Send letters to Pharma-K’s insurance and the Attorney General’s office, too.”
    “AG? What for?”
    “Walcott’s got connections