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loss,
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mother got worried and called my doctor.â
Carolyn asked, âWas the doctorâs name Walter Gershon?â
âYeah,â he said. âI wrote him tons of letters from prison. He never answered me.â
âI tried to find him as well. He isnât listed. He either retired, moved away, or heâs dead. Do you recall ever taking a drug called Levodopa?â
âNo, why do you ask?â
âWhen you were arrested, this medication was listed among your possessions. I checked with a psychiatrist and he informed me that this was the worst drug anyone could give to a person with your condition.â
Danielâs eyes drifted downward as he tried to remember. âI carried my pills in an envelope when I was at school or away from the apartment. Were the pills in an envelope?â
âYes,â Carolyn answered. âHow long had you been taking them?â
âA week maybe,â he said. âDr. Gershon changed my medicine. I donât remember what it was called. I know I was upset when I picked up the prescription from the pharmacy.â
âWhy were you upset?â
âBecause it had a different name than what the doctor had ordered,â Daniel told her, making small circles on the surface of the table with his finger. âI even got in an argument with the pharmacist, thinking heâd given me some other personâs prescription by mistake. He brushed me off, telling me it was a generic form of the same drug. You know, thatâs why it had another name.â
âHow did the drug affect you?â
âEverything fell apart,â Daniel said, tears glistening in his eyes. âI was doing really well in school before I started taking the new drug. Then I started having problems again. When I called the doctor, he told me to double the dose. As soon as I did, things got even worse.â
This was a vital point, Carolyn thought, not that either the psychiatrist or the pharmacist had made a serious error, but that someone related to the crime had kept this information from the court. âCan you tell me the name of the pharmacy?â
âOâMalleyâs,â he said. âBut the store isnât there anymore. I passed the street on the bus today. Thereâs a new shopping center where the drugstore used to be. All the drugstores are big chains now. The OâMalleys were a family.â
âI know,â Carolyn said, sad at how their world had changed. Family businesses were rare these days. âWhy did the doctor change your medication to begin with?â
âBecause I was only a few months away from graduating,â he said, blinking repeatedly as he continued to move his finger in circles on the table. âStress can set off an attack. Iâm sorry. Talking about this disturbs me.â
Carolyn forged ahead. Sheâd caught a glimpse of his illness. Now she wanted facts. âHave you ever committed an act of violence during an acute attack?â
âNever,â Daniel said. âIâve walked naked in the middle of the street, along with some other bizarre things. Iâm not a violent person. Even when I first got to prison and the inmates went after me, I didnât fight back.â
âLetâs concentrate on the night of the crime. Do you remember the three boys at all?â
âI know what they looked like from the courtroom,â Daniel told her, clasping his hands together tightly. âWhen they jumped me, it was dark and I couldnât see their faces that well. Iâd been studying at the library.â
âThe crime occurred in an alley behind Rudyâs pool hall,â Carolyn said. âWhat were you doing in the alley?â
âIt was a shortcut to my apartment. I wanted to get home so my mother wouldnât yell at me. She treated me like I wasââ
âTry to focus, Daniel,â she said. âYou need to tell me what happened.â
âI remember
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