Kim told Kelly the whole story, including the details of the discussions he’d had with Kathleen Morgan and Marsha Baldwin. He told her about his visit and arrest at the Onion Ring restaurant. He even told her about the harrowing episode in Higgins and Hancock, culminating in his second arrest.
When Kim fell silent, Kelly exhaled and leaned back. She shook her head. “What a story,” she said. “And what a tragedy for you. But what brings you to me? I assume there is something you want me to do.”
“Obviously,” Kim said. “I want you to do a story about all this. It’s something the public needs to know. And I want to get out the message about Marsha Baldwin. The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced there’s a conspiracy here. If she’s alive, the sooner she’s found the better.”
Kelly chewed the inside of her cheek while she pondered Kim’s request. There were some intriguing elements to the story, but there were also some problems. After a few moments, she shook her head. “Thank you for coming by and telling me all this, but I’m not interested from a professional point of view: at least not at this time.”
Kim’s face fell. As he’d told the story, he’d become progressively convinced of its merit, and Kelly’s rapid negative decision came as a disappointing surprise. “Can you tell me why?” he questioned.
“Sure,” Kelly said. “As much as I sympathize with you about the tragic loss of your darling, talented daughter, it’s not the kind of TV journalism I generally do. I go after harder, bigger stories, if you know what I mean.”
“But this is a big story,” Kim complained. “Becky died of E. coli 0157:H7. This has become a worldwide problem.”
“True,” Kelly admitted. “But it’s only one case.”
“That’s the point,” Kim said. “Only one case so far. I’m convinced she got it at the Onion Ring restaurant on Prairie Highway. I’m afraid she’s going to turn out to be the index case of what could be a big outbreak.”
“But an outbreak hasn’t happened,” Kelly said. “You said yourself your daughter got sick over a week ago. If there were going to be an outbreak, there would have been more cases by now, but there haven’t been.”
“But there will be,” Kim said. “I’m convinced of it.”
“Fine,” Kelly said. “When there are more cases, I’ll do a story. I mean, one isolated case is not a story. How can I say it more clearly?”
“But hundreds of kids die each year from this bacteria,” Kim said. “People don’t know that.”
“That might be true,” Kelly said. “But these hundreds of cases are not related.”
“But they are,” Kim said with exasperation. “Almost all of them get it from ground beef. The meat industry that produces the hamburger is a threat to everyone who eats ground beef. It’s a situation that has to be exposed.”
“Hey, where have you been?” Kelly asked with equal exasperation. “It’s already been exposed, particularly by the Jack-in-the-Box outbreak and the Hudson Meat recall. This E. coli has been in the news just about every month.”
“It’s been in the news but the media has been giving the wrong message,” Kim said.
“Oh, really?” Kelly questioned superciliously. “I suppose that in addition to being a cardiac surgeon you’re also a media expert?”
“I don’t profess to be a media expert,” Kim said. “But I do know that the media coverage of this issue has given two important false impressions: one, that the presence of this dangerous E. coli in ground meat is unusual; and two, that the USDA is on the job inspecting meat to guarantee its safety. Both these messages are false as evidenced by the deaths of up to five hundred kids a year.”
“Whoa!” Kelly commented. “Now you’re out on very thin ice. I mean, now you’re making a couple of major accusations. How can you back it up? What kind of proof do you have?”
“My daughter’s death,” Kim said with obvious anger. “And the CDC’s reports of the other deaths.”
“I’m talking about the accusation you made about E. coli being so common and the USDA failing to inspect the meat.”