Lena let out a long sigh and, staring at her office, wondered whether she should say anything. He couldn’t have overheard what they’d said; of that she had no doubt. She herself never heard her secretary on the phone. And what to tell him? Anything she came up with would only embarrass him. No, better she let him hear this piece of gossip from someone else. As for her own demeanor, should Dr. Collins’s visit ever come to his notice, she’d acted impeccably. He couldn’t fault her on that.
An hour later Charles Braden Senior asked Lena to join him in her own office. “Thank you, Lena,” he said when they were seated, returning Bessie McDonald’s charts to her. He’d been reviewing them since his arrival around ten that morning. “I’ll want to look at the microfilmed case now, then I’ll be catching an afternoon train back to the country. Chaz is ill, and I’ve got guests up for Thanksgiving.”
“I’ll help you get the microfilm set up, if you’d like.”
“That would be lovely. I’m all thumbs with those things.”
“Shall we go? I’ll get the key.”
By one-thirty he was back at her door. “One more thing, Lena. Before you leave today, I’d like these charts collected and left in your office so that I can come in over the holidays to have a look at them.” He handed her a folded paper.
She opened it and read:
All the Morbidity/Mortality reviews of patients under Melanie Collins’s care for the last twenty-five years.
Lena gaped at the note, astonished.
“Is there a problem?” Braden asked.
“No, sir. Not at all. Except there could be a hundred, maybe two hundred charts involved here.”
“That’s right. And again, I appreciate your discretion about this. Gossip is such a terrible thing.”
She knew an order to keep her mouth shut when she heard one.
Chapter 13
Later that same afternoon, Wednesday, November, 21,
2:15 P.M.
The Plaza Hotel
Earl slammed back in the leather seat as Tommy accelerated away from the snarled traffic of Madison Avenue and headed east on Sixty-second Street. He caught the green at Park, only to hit the brakes for a red at Lexington. “I know what you’re thinking, Earl. Kind of a waste, my driving a Jag in New York. All that power, and I only get to make like it’s a drag strip a block at a time.”
“Uh-huh,” Earl said. He wasn’t one to get carsick, but neither did he appreciate having his stomach sloshed against his spine, then slung forward against the lap strap of his seat belt. “If you don’t want me to upchuck on your calfskin interiors or polished mahogany dash, you better slow down.” He tried looking at the horizon, but had to settle on a restricted view of the elevated FDR Drive and a glimpse of the East River beyond. It didn’t help much. And the brilliance of the sky, a bleached polar blue, made his eyes hurt.
Tommy looked at him askance. “You’re, kidding right?”
“Uh-huh.”
He looked relieved. “But don’t you just love the sound of that motor?”
Insecure Tommy, still needing everyone’s approval. Earl swallowed hard to keep his lunch down.
The last thing he wanted was to go beer drinking with Leannis. It wasn’t just the prospect of listening to the man’s bravado and usual litany of worries that deterred him. After having worked the phones for the past few hours talking to more of the former students, interns, and residents who were involved with the digoxin toxicity cases, yet finding zilch, he’d nearly run out of reasons to remain in New York at all. Maybe he should go up to Hampton Junction and help out with the legwork. Unfortunately, the locals there probably wouldn’t talk any more frankly to an outsider than the physicians here would have opened up to Mark.
The idea of squeezing out of this whole grungy mess for a few days to spend Thanksgiving with Janet and Brendan instantly became irresistible. He’d try to get a reservation as soon as he got free of Tommy, then tell Mark he could be back in a heartbeat, if needed.
He wouldn’t even have had to be stuck with Tommy if he’d been quick enough when the call came through.
“Hey, Earl. Can I buy you a beer?” Leannis had said as soon as Earl picked up the phone.
He’d sounded pretty happy for the prince of worry. “Tommy?”
“Yeah, I know an Irish joint that’s about a five-minute drive from those pretentious digs you’re in. I’ll pick you up outside the hotel.”
“Hey, no! I’m waiting for a callback-”
He’d already hung up.
Tommy had never once initiated the two of them going out for a beer together their whole time in med school. Nor had he looked up Earl since then. The guy was after something. Stuck at an unseemly long traffic light, Earl decided he might as well make him get to the point.
“So what did you want to talk about?”
“I figure I needed to warn you.”
“About what.”
Another sprint start sent them roaring toward Second Avenue. “A strange conversation I had with Melanie this morning. She got me in her office, all worried about you and Kelly.”
Something that had nothing to do with Tommy’s driving tightened in Earl’s gut.
“Oh?”
“Yeah. Apparently you two had a conversation last night. She found it suspicious that you never asked who she thought Kelly’s lover was.”
Earl’s every instinct went on alert. “Kelly’s lover?” He tried to sound curious, but not overly so.
Tommy gave him a sideways look as he rocketed through the next intersection. “Hey, Earl, come on. Don’t play dumb. Melanie said she already told that snoop Roper that Kelly had the look of a woman in love. Naturally, she found it strange you never asked about it, since Roper must have made it part of the investigation you’re helping him with. So now she’s thinking maybe the lover was you.”
Shit! Earl felt a cold sweat percolate on his back. He could kick himself for having made such an obvious omission. The only response he could think of was to act incredulous. “What? You’re kidding me.”
“Nope, and I figured you ought to know she’s already making noises about reporting you.”
“Oh, my God, that’s ridiculous. I didn’t ask what she knew about Kelly’s love life because I figured Melanie would have told me anything of importance without me having to dig for it.”
“Hey, buddy, you don’t have to convince me. One way or the other, my lips are sealed. As I said, I figured forewarned is forearmed.”
Earl’s mind raced. Every emotion he could come up with that seemed appropriate for a guy wrongfully accused – astonishment, indignation, disbelief – he threw into his performance. “I’m calling her right now, and putting an end to this nonsense. Why, if a rumor like that got started…” He trailed off, digging out his cell phone, checking for her number in its memory, and punching ENTER. Let Tommy believe him, he prayed. And for Christ’s sake, let Melanie believe him.
“Hey! She’ll know I told you,” Tommy protested.
“I can’t just let her think-” Her answering machine interrupted, ordering him to leave a message at the sound of the beep. “Melanie, it’s Earl. We got to talk. There’s been a terrible misunderstanding, and I might have given you a very wrong impression. Please call me as soon as possible. It’s urgent.”
Tommy lurched the car left onto York Avenue.
Earl’s stomach seemed to keep on going toward the river. “Jesus, Tommy, do you have to beat every car at every light-”
“Don’t you be tellin’ Melanie I warned you. But if you explain to her like you did to me – it sounded pretty good, that part how you thought she’d tell you anything important about Kelly’s love life without your asking – she just might buy it.”