'Is there anything else I should know beforeI go about creating a worm for Sir Lancelot to bite on?'
'Just follow the protocol,' Loomis said.'I wish you luck;
Harry stepped out on to the street. Therain had stopped, but the humidity was still close to 100 percent.
'I'd like about a week before you go tothe DA,' he said. 'If we're going to pull this off, publicity would reallyhurt.'
'No problem. I'll check with you first,anyway.'
'Thanks. And Kevin?'
'Yes?'
'Do everyone a favor and see this onethrough.'
Loomis looked at him without making eyecontact.
'Yeah, sure,' he said. 'Thanks.'
It was the middle of the night beforeHarry found what he was looking for — a male patient, age thirty-five tofifty-five, whose insurance carrier was Northeast Life and Casualty. MaxGarabedian, a forty-eight-year-old school custodian. Garabedian, who wascompulsive about his work and his body, was something of a hypochondriac. Butin the main, he was healthy. And that was what Harry needed to know. There wasonly one way his scheme could work, and countless ways in which it could gohaywire. But barring a freak accident, having Max Garabedian show up in somehospital when he was already an inpatient at MMC would not be one of them.
Harry considered calling Garabedian toexplain what he was about to do. But if the man agreed, he would be open tocharges of insurance fraud. No, he decided. Max Garabedian would have tobe hospitalized for treatment of his expensive, potentially fatal illnesswithout his knowledge. Harry copied down all the pertinent data the hospitaladmitting office would need to know.
Now there were only two problems: comingup with an appropriately dire condition, and convincing Ray Santana to becomethe bait.
Chapter34
Harry stepped off the elevator on to Grey2 and headed directly for the chart rack next to the nurse's station. He wastrying to be unobtrusive, but he knew that every nurse, aide, and secretary onthe floor was aware of his arrival. He was also trying to appear nonchalant,although he felt more and more like he was on night patrol in the jungle. Itwas his third day of making rounds on the patient in room 218, the manregistered as Max Garabedian. In order to clear his name from one felony, hewas willfully committing another, probably several others. That theircharade had survived even this long was a tribute to meticulous preparation andincredible luck. But the clock was ticking.
It had taken two days of intense workbefore Harry was set to admit Ray Santana to the Manhattan Medical Center. Thediagnosis he had chosen for his creation was acute lymphocytic leukemia,complicated by a low white-blood-cell level and bacterial endocarditis — aserious, potentially lethal infection of the heart valves. To up the ante forSir Lancelot's insurance company, he added a code and special note implyingthat Garabedian was being evaluated for total body radiation and a bone marrowtransplant.
To test the case, Kevin Loomis had run thedata through the computers of Crown Health and Casualty. The projected cost oftreating Max Garabedian's illnesses over the 2.2 years he was projected to haveleft to live was $697,000. A bone marrow transplant would add $266,000 to theequation, partly by increasing his life expectancy 13.6 years. If Lancelot wasusing The Roundtable's selection program, Max Garabedian would light up on theNortheast Life computers like a flare.
Harry opened Garabedian's record andreviewed the notes and laboratory reports he had inserted there, including adictation he had done using the name of the chief of hematology. He had signedthe note himself and intercepted the copy as it was being placed in thehematologist's cubby. Such maneuvers were necessary to keep the nurses andchart reviewers from becoming suspicious. But each move carried with it thedanger of discovery, and Harry was definitely feeling the strain. He had beensleeping only four or five hours a night, had absolutely no appetite, and haddeveloped a nasty, dry cough that he felt certain was nothing more than nerves.
And to heighten the tension, there had beenabsolutely no sign that The Roundtable or The Doctor was nibbling at the bait.
Harry wrote a lengthy, problem-orientedprogress note in the chart. As had been the case during the first two days ofrounds, no one spoke to him unless he addressed them directly. It was just aswell. The less anyone asked him, the less he would have to lie. And lying wassomething he had never done very smoothly.
To discourage hospital personnel fromvisiting Max's room, Harry also added 'probable tuberculosis' to the mix — allin all, enough pathology to give even the most intrepid caregiver pause. GivenRay Santana's gaunt appearance, sallow complexion, and chronic five o'clockshadow, Harry knew that hospital personnel would have no trouble connecting himwith his frightening inventory of diagnoses.
Felony.
Garabedian, whom Harry had labeled in hisadmission history 'a successful commodities trader' was admitted to anisolation room. Throughout his hospitalization, he would be tended to by hisown special-duty nurses. The night-shift 'nurse' was a private detective namedPaula Underhill. The day and evening shifts were being covered by Maura,wearing glasses and a brunette wig. As Garabedian would be on precautions, both'nurses' would be required to wear surgical masks and gowns. Of course, AntonPerchek would be masked and gowned as well. But both Maura and Santana feltthey would still be able to pick him out. And Paula Underhill, a witty,Brooklyn-born black belt in Kenpo karate, was more than willing to try.
Felony.
Having special-duty nurses also helpedsolve one of the thornier problems Harry had tackled: laboratory tests. Heordered blood work each day, but none of it included Ray's white-blood-cellcount, which would have been normal. But with Garabedian having his own nurses,the nurses on the floor would almost certainly follow his laboratory tests lessclosely, if at all. The trick had been to create a patient requiring aninsufferable amount of work, and then to provide the regular staff with thesalvation of a private nurse. Harry did insert fabricated admission bloodcounts from his office to the inpatient chart and decided he could improviseand produce more lab work depending on what he was hearing from the staff. Hewas hearing nothing.
Most of the other details were simple towork out — at least in theory. The intravenous line would be taped to Ray'sskin and wrapped in gauze. IV medications would be run into the gauze or intothe sink. Oral medications would be discarded immediately or squirreled awaybeneath Ray's tongue until they could be. And of course, Percodan or Demerolwould be ordered every three to four hours as needed for pain.
Felony.
The final hurdle was Ray's absoluteinsistence on having his gun close at hand. Both the private detective, who wascarrying a gun of her own, and Maura, who was not, agreed to help him concealthe weapon if needed.
Felony. Felony. Felony.
Harry finished his note by indicating thatGarabedian's condition was improving slightly, but that another ten to fourteendays of hospitalization were anticipated. His goal was to fabricate as manycomplications as possible. Northeast Life and Casualty, like most insurers inthe brave new medical world, had a team of peer reviewers that checked therecords of hospitalized patients, poised to terminate benefits if the databasesaid it was time for 'the diagnosis' to be treated at home.
Outside room 218 was a steel cart with thegloves, gowns, and masks required for infectious-disease isolation. Harryprepared himself and entered the room, closing the door tightly behind him.Maura was in a chair, sketching in an artist's pad. Ray was propped in bedwatching Regis and Kathie Lee.