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“This happened under Kligman?”
“Yes.”
“So why isn’t it in our Complaint? Why aren’t we suing for that, too?”
“We can’t.”
“Why not? It could have altered people’s brain chemistry for the rest of their lives.”
“I know, but I don’t have any of those clients. Chuck’s the one who came to me, and he tested Retin-A and poison ivy meds. So did the other guys, and they were all out of the state afterward. It’s a narrow class, and I can’t make a lawsuit out of thin air.”
“Can you find anybody who went through those other tests?”
“Not easily. Like I told you, they destroyed the records. You can barely find anybody alive anymore.”
“Tony told me that his cellmate was also injected with some kind of radioactive isotope. Is that true, too?”
“Yes, the Atomic Energy Commission authorized testing at Holmesburg, under Kligman.”
“Oh my God, Gabby.” I felt too shocked to concentrate on traffic.
“What if I could find you a plaintiff, somebody who had gone through that?”
“Thanks, but it wouldn’t help.” Gabby clucked. “Suing the government, the army, the CIA, and whoever runs the Atomic Energy Commission now, that’s next-level litigation. They have governmental immunity, and they’ll fight you to the end. Believe me, there’s a case in Canada trying to do it over MK-Ultra.”
“How does the government get immunity for crap like that?”
“Because it’s the government.”
“So where’s the justice?”
Gabby sighed. “The law has its limits, TJ.”
“Because it’s made by the government to protect the government and made by companies to protect the companies.”
“You sound like a public-interest lawyer.” Gabby chuckled grimly.
“It’s just wrong,” I said, feeling my gut twist. For once, I couldn’t find the humor.
“I know it is, but I do what I can do, and I doeverythingI can do. When Chuck came to me, I knew that I could help him and the other men in his position. I can’t bring the big-ass case against the government, but I can file a discrete, highly provable Complaint that will enrage a jury enough for punitive damages. I can get justice for Chuck and the guys who got skin cancer, and you can, too. So feel good.”
“I don’t. I can’t.” I tried to shake it off, but couldn’t. “Joe Ferguson told me they’ll get away with it, and they are.”
“Not this time.”
•••
I spent the afternoon driving north, where I met with Joaquin Hernandez and Walter Melendez. The men were older, Puerto Rican, and in poor health, and their experiences in the skin-patch tests were consistent with Tony’s and Joe’s. Both had been in Puerto Rico andhadn’t heard about the previous lawsuit, and they had no new medical problems.
I headed home on Torresdale Avenue, which ran through an industrial section of Philly, and the route took me past Holmesburg Prison, which was still standing, though it had been closed for years. The sky was getting dark, but on impulse, I pulled over and parked at the curb.
The prison itself wasn’t visible from the street, only a massive stone wall topped with boxy security lights that no longer worked. Old-fashioned Victorian turrets anchored its corners, with panels of cracked windows and peaked verdigris roofs. To its left was a padlocked parking lot encircled by a rusted cyclone fence topped with barbed wire. On it a sign readcity of philadelphia.
I took it in, thinking. I knew there were crimes that needed punishment. I myself had committed one and I’d punish myself forever. But what turned my stomach was that crimes would go unpunished because of proof problems, statutes of limitations, or the fact that the people wronged didn’t have means.
I eyed the prison. It struck me that I was trying to get justice with Gabby but obstruct justice with John. Lemaire’s murder weighed on my mind, and I had the address of the man who might have killed him. Barry Rigel.
In this mood, I was tempted to pick up. I knew it, I could feel it. Down the street was a bar with an old-fashioned neon sign blinking through the night. I imagined myself ordering a beer, or six. Once I started drinking, I wouldn’t stop, and I’d lose everything I gained so far.
