Code Blue (14 page)

"You and your son are doing fine," Cathy said.

Karen reached out her hand, wincing as tension on the needle in her wrist pricked her. "Thank you, Dr. Sewell. See, God brought us both through it just fine."

"I— Thank you, Karen. Now, you get some rest. I need to go help another doctor."

Cathy shucked out of her surgical gown and hurried to report to Harshman. She paused just inside the door and said, "Mrs. Pearson's doing fine. Footling breech with a cord prolapse. The FHT had dropped to eighty by the time we got the baby out. Healthy little boy."

"Good. We're almost through here. Dr. Steel's done a fine job assisting," Harshman said.

Cathy was thinking that he was too polite to add, "Better than you did."

Instead, Harshman said, "I must admit that I was a bit hesitant to send you offto do that emergency C-section.Glad you got through it."

"Thank you. Would you like me to tell Dr. Gladstone that everything is going well here?"

"Yes, please do. I'll be out in about fifteen minutes to talk with him."

She was halfway through the door when she heard his last words. They stopped her in her tracks.

"Good job, Cathy."

The anesthesiologist had said his good-byes and headed for home. Dr. Denny stopped by long enough to change into his street clothes and offer his congratulations on a successful C-section. Now Cathy and Marcus sat in the deserted surgeons' lounge, side by side on the sagging sofa. Their feet rested on a coffee table littered with the detritus left by previous occupants: discarded surgical masks and caps, pink message slips with cryptic scribbling, and pads of hospital progress notes. Cathy sipped from a cup of vile-tasting coffee.She hadn't wanted it, but Marcus had presented it like a peace offering.

"Thanks for the coffee," Cathy said.

Marcus nodded. "You're welcome."

Marcus was obviously walking on eggshells, so Cathy decided to try easing the tension. "I appreciate your scrubbing with me. I couldn't have done it without you."

"Happy to help, although there wasn't much choice. The case needed to be done stat, and I was probably the most logical candidate to scrub in."

A thought crossed her mind. "Are you angry that Harshman didn't ask you to do it?"

The wait before his answer told Cathy what she needed to know. Marcus blew on his coffee, tasted it, and made a face. "I don't really know. I guess my first thought was that I was more qualified to do it than you are. But, as it turned out, I was wrong."

"You didn't pay any attention to those letters about my qualifications, did you?" She felt the anger boiling up.Maybe it was time to get all this out in the open. "You know, you're just like the other men on the committee. You had your mind made up before that meeting that I would have the same privileges as every GP who's practiced in Dainger since the hospital opened. Never mind that I'm a residencytrained, board-certified family practitioner with undeniable qualifications and excellent recommendations. It was a foregone conclusion that, because I'm a woman, because I grew up here in the shadow of my father—a
real
doctor—there was no way I could ever be as capable as you men." She put the Styrofoam cup onto the table with enough force to slosh coffee onto everything, wishing it were a china mug so she could slam it down.

Marcus tossed his half-full cup into the trash. "No, no. I know you're qualified. It's just that I have to remain neutral in these things. If I take a side, I automatically end up with half the doctors on the staffmad at me."

Cathy rose and bent down until she was almost noseto-nose with Marcus. "And that's why you didn't want me to speak up at the credentials meeting. And why you didn't vote. You were unwilling to risk making someone on the committee mad. This way, the only person you disappointed was me. And you figured you could make that up by taking me out to dinner. Is that my price? A nice dinner? I'm insulted. Even Judas got more than that!"

Marcus was still talking when Cathy turned and stalked into the women's dressing room. She tried to slam the door behind her, but the automatic closer thwarted her efforts, easing it closed with a soft whoosh. Oh, well. She figured this wouldn't be the last time she had some strong words for Dr. Marcus Bell. Next time, she'd make her exit a bit more emphatic.

Y
OU LOOK DIFFERENT TODAY. NEW HAIRSTYLE?" THE REMARK WAS SO out of character for Josh that it took Cathy by surprise.

"No, same style I've had since I started med school. Low maintenance and plain."

"Maybe it's the makeup. You look different."

Cathy settled more comfortably in the chair. "I guess it's because I feel different. Let me tell you what happened a couple of days ago."

When she'd finished relating her experiences in surgery, Josh leaned back, crossed his legs, and clasped his hands together in front of his knee. "How are you sleeping?"

"I've been so worn out recently that I'm asleep as soon as my head hits the pillow."

"Any more run-ins with that black SUV?"

Cathy shrugged her shoulders. "No. The sheriff' s looking into it, and I'm careful."

"Let's review. You came here because you were depressed— understandably so, given what you'd experienced, although you didn't seem to realize it. Actually, you thought you were on the road to full-blown paranoia. You were afraid you might be showing signs of the same schizophrenia your mother developed. How do you feel now?"

"Better, I guess."

"You're relieved because, instead of being mentally ill, your life is actually in danger?"

"I know. It's crazy." Cathy laughed at her poor choice of words. "You know what I mean. Anyway, this is something I can fight, and I've made up my mind to do just that. And I have some help."

"The boyfriend turned lawyer?" The smile Josh flashed was a rare sight and one Cathy had learned to appreciate.

"Actually, the boyfriend turned lawyer seems to be turning into a boyfriend again. At least, I think so. Right now I want to stand on my own two feet, but it's nice to know someone has my back."

Josh shifted in his chair. "So, do you think we're about done here?"

Cathy shook her head. "I'd like to come back for a few more visits, but maybe we can stretch them out. I've still got some issues I'd like to talk out with you."

"Good enough. Let's do it."

For the rest of the session, Cathy poured out her thoughts as fast as they entered her mind, in a true stream-ofconsciousness catharsis. No stopping for a drink of water.No sweat running down between her shoulder blades. No racing of the pulse. Maybe she had gotten a handle on her problems.

Soon, Josh stood and stuck out his hand. "I'll see you in a couple of weeks. Call me earlier if you think it's necessary.But I think you'll be fine."

First a smile, and now this. Quite a red-letter day. She shook the hand Josh offered. "I appreciate all you've done."

Cathy stopped at the secretary's desk to arrange her next appointment. As she was about to leave, she said, "When I shook hands with Dr. Samuels, I couldn't help noticing the calluses on his hands. Unusual for a doctor, isn't it? How did he get those?"

"Oh," the secretary said, "that's from his hobby. He's a carpenter. He spends a lot of time repairing things that are broken—and building new ones."

Cathy envied Will as he sat next to her at the conference table arranging his notes, scribbling an occasional addendum in the margins. No sign of nervousness. Of course, he wouldn't be. This was his office. And he was a lawyer.Depositions were as common for him as cutting hair was for a barber. But she'd never been through one, and she was as nervous as she'd ever been in her life.

The door opened, and the stenographer entered. She took her seat before a strange-looking machine, added a fresh stick of gum to the wad already in her mouth, and stared at the wall with a blank expression.

Will leaned in and whispered in Cathy's ear. "Remember.Pause before you answer. That gives me time to stop you. If you have any questions, you can whisper them to me."

"What if you object to something they ask?"

"My objections will simply be to get them on the record.There's no judge here to rule on them. But anytime I object, you clam up. Okay?"

Cathy nodded. Her mouth felt as dry as the sands of West Texas. She poured a glass of water and sipped from it, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." Sam Lawton, Nix's lawyer, ambled into the room. He took a seat at the head of the table, nodded to Will and Cathy, and asked, "Is the court reporter ready?"

"Yes, Judge."

Will responded to Cathy's quizzical look with a whispered explanation. "Even though he was voted out years ago, Lawton's like most judges. He wants that title for life.Don't let it throw you. "

Lawton's gray hair spilled over the collar of a wrinkled dress shirt. He wore a blue suit that was five years out of style, accented by a slightly askew red polka-dot tie. Smeared reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. He reminded Cathy of a fine home gone to seed. But Will had warned her that, despite his age and appearance, Lawton's mind was sharp, his legal skills honed by years on the bench.

"Dr. Sewell, let's get started." Lawton's disarming smile was akin to what the snake must have displayed as he approached Eve.

Cathy placed her left hand on the Bible held by the court reporter, raised her right, and was sworn in.

"Now, Dr. Sewell, tell us about your medical training."

Cathy detailed her education, her residency training, and her postgraduate courses.

Lawton nodded in satisfaction, as though he'd just proven something important. She remembered Will's warnings.Don't try to read the man's expression. This was part fact-finding, part mind game.

Lawton led her on through a series of benign questions, and she concentrated on answering truthfully, careful not to volunteer information. Then, out of the blue, the lawyer asked, "And did you deliberately try to poison Milton Nix, or was it an accident?"

Will's voice never rose. "Sam, I'll object to that question and ask my client not to answer." He turned to the stenographer."Offthe record."

The woman took her hands offthe keyboard and rubbed them together.

Will shook his head. "Sam, do you take me for a secondyear law student?"

Lawton grinned like a fox. "Never hurts to ask, Will.Never hurts to ask."

The questioning seemed to go on and on. Finally, Lawton asked Cathy about her decision to switch Nix from Lanoxin to generic digoxin. She answered without pausing to think."I thought it would be nice to save him a few dollars."

"Had you been visited by a detail man from one of the pharmaceutical companies that makes this form of digitalis just before you saw Mr. Nix?"

Cathy bristled. "I never let pressure by pharmaceutical companies influence my prescribing. And for your information, generic drugs aren't detailed to doctors like brand name drugs. Maybe that's why they're cheaper."

Will's hand touched her arm and knew she'd violated one of the rules he'd stressed. Answer the question, don't volunteer information, and don't lose your temper.

"Never mind." Lawton pushed his glasses up offthe tip of his nose. He reached into a thin manila envelope resting on the table beside him. "This is a photocopy of the prescription you wrote for Milton Nix. Does the dosage appear correct?"

"I didn't—."

"Just answer the question I asked. Is the dosage correct?"

"No."

Cathy looked at Will, expecting him to say something about the prescription being altered. Instead, he turned away and appeared to study the crown molding across the room. For a moment, Cathy flashed back to the credentials committee meeting—men sitting in a room deciding issues that would affect her life, while she sat helpless. Was Will hesitant to go up against Judge Lawton because he didn't want to upset a local power broker? She ground her teeth as she prepared to answer the next question.

After the deposition, Will shook hands with Judge Lawton and said, "Sam, I'll be in touch about deposing your client."

"Just give my secretary a call, Will." Lawton picked up his briefcase. "You know, I was surprised that you're handling this case instead of a lawyer from the insurance company."

"They're willing to let me be the local presence. And I might as well be involved from the start. After all, I'll be filing the countersuit against your client."

To his credit, Lawton showed no surprise except a faint twitch of his bushy eyebrows. "Oh?"

"Sure, for malicious prosecution, tampering with evidence, and a few other violations. We'll be asking for five million." Will butted a stack of papers together and shoved them into his briefcase. "See you, Sam."

"Will, what was—?"

Will gave his head a single vigorous shake, his meaning clear. They stepped into the elevator and rode in silence to the ground floor. When they finally slid into Will's pickup and shut the doors, he turned to Cathy. "I guess I surprised you."

"You mean the way you let him accuse me of malpractice without objecting? The way you allowed him to imply that I'm guilty without uttering a word in my defense? Why, yes.You surprised me."

"A deposition isn't necessarily about getting information.It's mainly sparring, seeing if you can get the witness to lose their temper, say something rash so it's on the record under oath. That way, if that information comes up at trial, the witness can't back out of any corner they've painted themselves into without committing perjury. As for what we did today, I doubt that it will affect the trial—if there is one. He might ask you some of those same questions, but if he does, now you're prepared for them."

Cathy thought about that. "So you don't want to argue about anything he brought up?"

Will's eyes never left the road. "Why should I tip our hand? We know what our defense is, but they don't. Let's keep it that way."

"What about the countersuit. We never talked about that."

"Oh, if you want to go to the expense and trouble of filing one, we can do it after we discover who altered that prescription and why, but you'd never win it. Nix surely didn't change the directions so that he'd almost die, so there's no use suing him. He actually filed this suit in good faith. What we can do, after we get to the bottom of this, is see that whoever's responsible is prosecuted for what they did. But we're not about to file any civil suit. I just wanted to throw Sam off balance." He grinned. "He may be old and crafty, but I'm no slouch myself."

She knew he couldn't see her smile, but she hoped her voice showed it. "No, Will. No, you aren't."

"So, next we subpoena our own deponents."

"Pardon?"

"We serve subpoenas to the people we want to depose.Nix, his wife, the two pharmacists. Who else?"

"Let me think." Cathy nibbled on her thumb, a habit she thought she'd broken in her teens. Suddenly, she saw Robert's face in her mind's eye. The rumors? That would be his style. And he wouldn't be above paying someone to run her offthe road and frighten her. But arranging the alteration of a prescription—almost killing a patient? Despite his arrogance, Robert was a good doctor. She couldn't believe that of him.

"Well?" Will asked.

"I'm sorry, Will. I'm blank. I can't imagine how anyone else could have altered that prescription. It's got to be one of those people."

Will stopped at a traffic light. He turned to Cathy. "Don't forget to think outside the box."

"Like—?"

"Someone blackmailing one of the pharmacists. Someone with a key—the cleaning person, a former employee.Someone—."

"Okay, I get it. Anyone could be behind this."

Will accelerated smoothly into the intersection, then slammed on the brakes.

"Whoa!" Cathy felt the tug of her seatbelt. "What was that?"

"Some idiot driving a black SUV almost hit us."