Mercy

CHAPTER 26

Julie left Dr. Coffey’s office feeling ambushed and shaken. His explanation had some logic to it. Digging up unpleasant memories could call into question the competency of the cardiology department. After all, the group had access to the echo and EKG before Brandon Stahl’s trial. Why not bring it forward? Dr. Coffey had a sterling reputation to protect, which could explain his inaction and his discomfort with Julie’s findings.

Or perhaps Sam did have undiagnosed heart disease. And if that were true, Brandon Stahl was a murderer. Regardless of Julie’s personal beliefs on patient self-determination, the law clearly stated that Brandon had no business killing Donald Colchester. Go to jail; go directly to jail.

What Julie wanted now was a cup of tea and some company. What she got were two text messages in short succession, from different senders. They could not have come at a better time.

The first text came from Lucy: Checking in. What’s going on? How are you doing?

The second text came from Michelle: Off to meet Keith for lunch but want to know how it went with Dr. C. Any progress?

Michelle’s text was bit more specific. She knew Julie had a meeting with Dr. Coffey.

Julie texted back: Didn’t go as hoped. Will explain later.

Michelle: I’ll see Keith at dinner. Let’s meet for lunch in fifteen. Okay?

Julie called and invited Lucy to join them in the cafeteria in the basement of the Tsing Pavilion. Ten minutes later, Julie found Lucy, and the two women embraced with genuine affection. Neither felt they saw each other enough.

Both wore white coats over professional-looking outfits. Not all the docs here were dressed the same. A recent trend sought to do away with lab coats and neckties, because some studies cited them as culprits in the spread of infectious diseases.

Julie thought that was rubbish. The real villain was lack of basic hygiene. If all physicians took the time to wash their hands properly, those coats and ties would be as clean as any article of clothing.

Nevertheless, a movement had sprung up among the younger set to shun traditional attire altogether. Two camps had formed, those with coats and those without, and each wore their allegiance like Sneetches vying to be the coolest on the beaches. Julie and Lucy were old school. Roman Janowski was old school as well; he should have been opposed to dressing down, but he was shrewd when it came to recruiting talent. He made White Memorial a hip place to work.

Doctors dealt with life-and-death issues, and clothing choice had no relationship to patient outcome. But it represented a subtle shift in attitude that seemed to mirror a not-so-subtle shift in the business of medicine.

White Memorial was just another hospital in a long chain of health-care providers to migrate from a traditional HMO structure to become an accountable care organization. Julie did not expend much of her energy on the business side of medicine. She had enough to manage in the ICU, and the MBAs were best suited to make sure that more cash came in than went out. But Julie did not live with her head lodged under a rock, either. She had read up on ACOs in an attempt to ascertain if it was just HMO-style managed care disguised by another name. After some serious contemplation, Julie concluded that ACOs were an evolution to a better way of doing medicine.

There was reasonable concern that the ACO model would lead to an increase in hospital mergers, greater consolidation of market powers, and higher prices. So far Julie had not noticed much of a change since White Memorial adopted the model. ACO or HMO, Julie still had plenty of sick people who needed her care.

Michelle showed up later than expected, introductions were made, and it was not long before the three women were drinking their respective beverages and chatting like old friends.

Julie caught them up on her contentious conversation with Dr. Coffey.

“He said what?” Michelle asked.

“He said that I’m chasing unicorns,” Julie repeated.

Lucy was incredulous. “After he insulted her med school training. What an ass. You showed him the echo and EKG, I assume.”

“Of course I did. But he’s not at all convinced they mean anything.”

“Well, Sam had a clean heart,” Lucy said. “That should mean something to him.”

“It’s a Twinkie thing,” Julie said.

Lucy appeared perplexed. “A Twinkie thing?”

Julie spent some time going over what Dr. Coffey had explained to her about the vanishing sponge cake.

“So what, then? Abandon the search?”

Michelle’s question hit Julie hard. It was a reasonable one to ask, although the idea of accepting Dr. Coffey’s explanation did not sit well. If it had just been Sam’s case, Julie might have dropped the matter entirely. There was, however, this business with Brandon Stahl and his secret admirer to consider. The trio discussed this in detail as well.

“Who do you think gave Brandon Colchester’s file?”

Julie shrugged. “That’s a good question, Lucy. Nobody knows. It was someone who not only had access to the medical records system, but had a lot of knowledge as well.”

Lucy pondered that. “You know, I have a thought there.”

“Yeah?”

“I think this secret admirer of Brandon’s may have paid me a visit as well.”

“How so?” Julie was quite curious.

“Something to do with a cobalt poisoning case. I got results from a mysterious lab test that just happened to lead us to a correct diagnosis. I think I have an idea who might have sent me those test results, too. I’ll do some digging and let you know.”

“That’s wonderful. Thank you, Lucy.”

“Do you believe Brandon?” Michelle asked.

“He was very convincing. I guess I want to believe him.”

Michelle reflected on this. “If he’s telling the truth, then he has the worst luck imaginable.”

“How so?” Julie asked again.

“Well, he gets caught on tape offering to kill Colchester, which honestly I find deplorable, but that’s beside the point. Then Colchester dies of heart failure, but has the whole vanishing Twinkie thing, and Brandon gets sent away for murder. If that’s how it went down, it’s a shocking injustice.”

“You’re forgetting they found morphine in Brandon’s apartment,” Lucy said. “That taints him more than just a little in my mind.”

“Mine too, I guess,” Julie said.

Lucy said, “Let’s agree Brandon didn’t inject Colchester with a fatal dose of morphine, like he says. Then we’re still talking a very significant medical anomaly here. Two fatal cases in one hospital is more than just a unicorn, it’s a damn Pegasus.”

“Explain,” Julie said.

“Sam had a clean heart, and Brandon’s echo, from what you told me, was clear of any blockages. This Twinkie thing is ten percent of heart failure cases at most. Isn’t that what you said?”

“Well, that’s what Coffey told me.”

“Ten percent chance of it happening twice in the same hospital is an anomaly in my book. I’d love to get a look at that echo.”

Julie made a tsk sound and grimaced. “I can’t believe I let Dr. Coffey take those printouts,” she said. “He had me so rattled.”

“No worries. We can get it later.”

“Maybe getting you rattled was his intention.” Michelle tossed this out in a very matter-of-fact way.

It struck a chord with Julie. She took a long drink of tea and gave it some thought. “You think Coffey’s covering something up?”

“I’m just saying his behavior sounds odd to me. But I’m not a doctor.”

“You’re married to one,” Julie said. “That counts.”

Michelle gave a laugh. “I suppose there’s an osmosis factor I can claim. So I stand by my statement. Not only was Coffey being a jerk, he was being an odd jerk.”

“But why?”

“You said it yourself. He’s protecting his reputation.”

“And an innocent man goes to jail for it?” Julie looked dubious.

“The morphine,” Lucy reminded them.

“Hmmm… hard to explain away, isn’t it?” Michelle said. “So where do you go from here?”

Julie shook her head. “Honestly, I’m not sure. Dr. Coffey made another good point. What could have produced such a scare or sudden stress event that it caused two rare heart-stunning conditions?”

“Fatal stunning at that, which makes it even more unusual,” Lucy said. “It wasn’t like Donald and Sam got a lot of varied experiences in their days.”

Before anyone could answer, Julie spotted someone in line at the cafeteria-someone she had never met before, but wished to speak with urgently.

“Excuse me for a moment,” Julie said, getting up from the table. “I’ll be right back.”

Julie caught up with the willowy blonde as she was refilling a cup of coffee. Her tray held an apple and a blueberry Greek yogurt. Big meals in the cafeteria were a rarity-nobody had much time to eat.

Julie would not even have known about this woman had it not been for Brandon Stahl. After the prison meeting, Julie did some Googling and even a stint on the corporate intranet. She wanted to know more about Sherri Platt, the young nurse who essentially put Brandon Stahl away for life. According to her bio, Sherri had left her career in long-term acute care to work as an oncology staff nurse at White. It was a fairly significant career change, but jumping jobs in nursing was a common practice.

Julie gave the woman a tap on the shoulder. Sherri turned and tried to place the face.

“Sherri Platt?”

Julie had planned to ask Sherri some probing questions, at some indefinite point in the future. But the moment had found her, and Julie saw no reason to delay.

As Julie introduced herself, Sherri’s expression changed. It appeared that she recognized Julie, perhaps because of Sam’s accident.

“Dr. Devereux. What can I do for you?”

“I’d like a few minutes of your time, if possible.”

Sherri checked her phone, the watch of the new millennium. Julie guessed Sherri’s age to be about thirty, which meant she’d been in her late twenties during the Brandon Stahl trial. No ring on her finger, though she had a gold cross pendant hanging from a thin gold chain around her neck.

“I have to be back on the floor in fifteen minutes.”

“No worries,” Julie said. “This won’t take long.”

They found seats at an empty table and Julie exchanged a glance with Lucy, one she hoped conveyed that an explanation would be forthcoming.

“So what’s up?” Sherri sounded genuinely intrigued and her blue eyes flickered with curiosity. She was a pretty girl, Julie thought, and she acted receptive, though beneath the surface something about her was off-putting, a noticeable detachment. Sherri radiated cold, like a gray morning in fall.

“I want to talk to you about Brandon Stahl.”

In a flicker, Sherri’s body language shifted from open to closed. She stiffened as she slid her chair back, and then folded her arms tightly across her chest, her hands clenched in fists. She broke eye contact, tilted her head down, and fixed her gaze to the floor.

“What about?”

“I went to see him in prison.”

“Why would you do that?” Sherri’s voice was soft, but with an edge.

Julie couldn’t tell whether it was bad memories or something else making her so uncomfortable.

“I’m trying to figure out if there’s a connection between his case and my fiancé’s death. He died here a few weeks back.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry for your loss.” Sherri did not sound sorry. She sounded as if she wanted to be anyplace other than here.

“I’m wondering if you can tell me a bit more about what you heard Brandon say that day.”

“I already told that to the court.”

“Yes, I know. I was just wondering why you didn’t come forward when he first got arrested.”

Sherri stood. “I’ve got to go. I’m going to be late.”

Julie stood as well. “I’ll walk you.”

Sherri looked as if nothing could please her less.

“Look, that was a really horrible time for me. I don’t feel like reliving it right before my shift.”

“Why? Were you close to Donald Colchester?”

“No.”

Sherri was moving now, at a quick pace too, and Julie followed. Passing the table where Lucy and Michelle sat, Julie held up a hand to let her friends know she would be right back. She hurried her steps to catch up with Sherri.

“Can you tell me why you waited to come forward?”

Sherri stopped walking, turned, and fixed Julie with fierce eyes. She jerked her head back as if needing space. Maybe she needed more air, too, because her breathing turned heavy, while her body went perfectly still. Sherri took her hand away from her mouth to speak.

“Because he was going to get off and I had to do something,” she said in a shallow voice. “I had to do something or else he’d go free. So I told the judge what I had heard. I was coming down the hall pushing a cart of medicine and I happened to overhear a conversation between Donald Colchester and Brandon Stahl. It sounded private, and I didn’t want to rush in and intrude, so I waited outside the door. That’s when I heard Donald say that he wanted Brandon to help kill him, and Brandon saying he understood Donald’s pain and that he’d be willing to inject Donald with morphine. Brandon said, ‘You won’t feel a thing. You’ll just go to sleep like you want.’ I didn’t know what to do. So I left and gave Donald his medicine later. That’s the truth.”

Sherri shuffled her feet during much of her monologue, after which she fixed Julie with an unblinking stare.

“Okay,” Julie said. “I’m sorry to have upset you. For all those weeks the evidence against Brandon Stahl was in question, and here you were sitting on a powder keg. That must have been difficult for you.”

“What’s difficult for me is you bringing this up now.” Sherri pointed at Julie in an accusatory way. “Ambushing me like this. I don’t appreciate it at all. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to walk alone.”

Sherri spun on her heels and took off at a good clip. Julie watched her go. She was not a trained psychologist, had never studied body language. But Julie had raised a son almost into his teenage years. One thing experience had taught her was how to detect a lie when she heard one.