Natural Causes

CHAPTER 17

July 20

SARAH WAS CERTAIN THAT AT TIMES IN HER LIFE SHE must have felt as conspicuous and ill-at-ease as she did tonight, but she could not remember when. The Milsap Board Room at MCB was long and fairly narrow, with a plush Oriental carpet, floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the city, and a massive walnut table surrounded by twenty high-backed oxblood leather chairs. Although Sarah had never actually seen the room before, she had heard about it, mostly through doctors' litanies of the medical equipment that Glenn Paris elected not to purchase so that it might be built.

Five men-Paris, Drs. Snyder and Blankenship, chief financial officer Colin Smith, and a prissy attorney named Arnold Hayden-sat at one end of the table, sipping drinks from a mirrored wet bar and chatting amicably. Sarah paced at the other end, alternately gazing out at the sheets of windblown rain and checking her watch.

Several days before, a letter from attorney Jeremy Mallon to Sarah's insurance carrier, the Mutual Medical Protective Organization, had made it official. Sarah was being sued for malpractice by Lisa Grayson. Two days after that, the claims adjuster at the MMPO assigned an attorney named Matthew Daniels to her case. The meeting tonight had been requested by him.

Sarah had spoken with her new attorney by phone for almost an hour, but had come away from that conversation with little sense of the man other than that he was southern and most economical with his words. The hazy image she had formed of him sprang more, she suspected, from the balding, potbellied, perspiring Hollywood stereotype than from anything Daniels actually said.

"Sarah," Paris called out, "come on down here and have a glass of this Chablis. We're all getting nervous just watching you stalk around over there."

Sarah hesitated, then took the path of least resistance and accepted the offer. Paris, like the two department heads, had been cordial enough toward her since the news of her suit, but she could tell that each of them had doubts.

"I wonder why this Daniels wanted us to get together here at the hospital and not at his office," Arnold Hayden blustered. "Irregular. Highly irregular."

"Arnold, have you ever heard of him?" Smith asked.

"No. I started doing some checking, but I haven't gotten too far. He's an Essex Law grad."

"Not exactly Harvard."

"Not exactly law school," Hayden corrected snidely. "His firm is Daniels, Hannigan and Goldstein. I've never heard of them, but I have someone making inquiries."

"I'm certain the insurance company wouldn't assign someone to my case who wasn't good," Sarah said. "It's their money. Besides, I don't think it will take any Clarence Darrow to prove that I'm not guilty of malpractice. All Mallon has to base his case on is that the three women happened to have taken my supplement. We can produce many others who also took it and had perfectly normal deliveries."

"True," Blankenship said. "What we really need to close the circle, though, is a case of DIC like the others, but in a woman who never took anything other than standard prenatal vitamins."

"Of rather be found guilty than have another woman go through that," Sarah said.

"Of course. Of course. It goes without saying that we all feel that way. But if such a case does occur-or has occurred somewhere-it would certainly take you and your mixture right out of the loop, as it were."

Sarah checked the time and began pacing again. Matthew Daniels was already five minutes late. His arrival would bring the group to two attorneys, two medical professors, two hospital executives, and her. Being the only woman in the group was more or less neutralized by her status as an M.D. But nothing offset her dismay at being the accused. In truth, she couldn't have been more out of place had she accidentally crashed an exclusive fraternity induction ceremony. The whole evening would have been significantly easier to handle had Rosa Suarez agreed to come. But the epidemiologist had begged off, stating that it would be best for her to stay removed from hospital politics and personalities.

Since her arrival on the scene, Suarez seemed to have been living at MCB. Sarah had seen her at all hours, measuring off corridors with blueprints in her hand, lost behind a wall of tomes in the library, making notes in the record room, or talking to staff. She had interviewed Sarah at length early in her investigation and briefly a number of times since. Although Suarez was reluctant to speak of anything not germane to her mission, she did share that she had a husband, Alberto, back in Georgia, and that she had no family or friends in Boston. Sarah had responded with an invitation to dinner, but the woman politely declined. Her manner was soft-spoken and certainly not aggressive, but Sarah had no difficulty discerning her intelligence and determination.

"Sarah," Paris said, "did you put together this list of the ingredients in your vitamins?"

"The list yes, the explanation of each component, no. Rosa Suarez did that. She plans to expand on the information when she has a chance to do the research."

"Does she now. What a little beaver that woman is. I only wish she would keep me better informed about what's going on. I have the feeling she doesn't like me very much, although I'll be damned if I know why. I gave her essentially free run of the hospital. Do we know if she's gotten anywhere?"

"She's borrowed one of my technicians and is setting up a spare lab of mine to do some cultures," Blankenship said. "Sarah, I agree with Glenn. Mrs. Suarez is exceedingly capable. But she's also very secretive. I do suspect, though, that somehow or other she is going to get to the bottom of all this."

"Which would make both this meeting and your tardy attorney moot," Paris added.

"Late to his own meeting." Arnold Hayden clucked. "Irregular. Highly irreg-"

As if on cue, the door to the Milsap Room opened and Matt Daniels backed in, shaking off his umbrella and his trench coat in the hallway. The moment he turned around, Sarah was pleased to acknowledge that her projection of him could not have been much farther off target. He was tall and well built, with a rugged, weathered face. He was also soaked.

"Daniels, Matt Daniels," he said, pawing at his forehead and dark hair with a handkerchief even more sodden than he was. "Sorry I'm late. I had a flat. My own damn fault, too. I did enough dumb things today to bring a curse on the Pope."

His drawl was unmistakable, though not nearly as pronounced as Sarah remembered. The initial vibrations she was receiving were all positive, especially those that were telling her he was ingenuous enough to be almost as out of place in this gathering as she was. He moved to shake hands with the man closest to him, who happened to be Randall Snyder. But then, when it was apparent that the OB chief preferred to stay dry, he backed off and simply nodded.

Irregular, Sarah thought, pleased. Highly irregular.

Daniels circled to an empty seat, slid his briefcase onto the table, and wiped it dry with the sleeve of his sport coat. If he was aware of the expressions of amusement and disbelief on the faces of the other five men, he certainly did not show it.

"Mr. Daniels, I'm Sarah Baldwin," she said, extending her hand, which felt lost in his.

"Matt," he said. "Matt'll do fine."

She introduced the five to him, but blanked out on Arnold Hayden's name.

"Well, I'd like to apologize again, and thank you all for coming out on such a night," Daniels began, after Hayden had somewhat irritably filled in Sarah's blank. "Our adversary in this case is a lawyer named Jeremy Mallon. I decided to set up this meeting after I spoke with him earlier today. As you'll hear, he certainly seems intent on moving things along."

No comment at all on his opponent. Sarah noted the MCB men exchanging glances and had no trouble reading their thoughts. In malpractice circles, according to what she had been told by Glenn Paris, Mallon was something of a legend.

"Mr. Daniels, do you know who Jeremy Mallon is?" asked Arnold Hayden.

Uh-oh, Sarah thought. Here we go.

"Well, actually sir, I don't."

"Well, Mr. Daniels," the attorney went on, clearing his throat, "I-um-I think before we begin, it might help us some if we knew a little of your background in the area of medical malpractice. The hospital hasn't been sued yet, but there's every reason to believe we will be if it looks like Sarah's going to lose-and not just by the Graysons, but by the families of those other women as well. Even worse, we stand to take a pounding in the press. So I hope you won't think it presumptuous of me to ask."

"Not at all, Mr. Hayden," Daniels said evenly. "Why, you hardly seem like the presumptuous type. Let's see, the answer to your question is: I've only defended one doctor for malpractice. He was a dentist, actually. A woman claimed her headaches were caused by his pulling out an extra molar and messing up her bite. For what it's worth, we did go to trial, and I did win the case."

"That's very reassuring," Hayden said not kindly. "Do you have any idea how the MMPO came to choose you for this case?"

"To tell you the truth, I've kind of wondered some about that myself, although I'm very pleased they did. I've been on their roll of available attorneys for a couple of years now, and this is the first time they've sent me a case."

"Well, that's great, just great!" Paris erupted. "Mr. Daniels, I don't mean to sound rude, but you must understand that there is a great deal at stake here. Your adversary, as you call Jeremy Mallon, is totally dedicated to bringing this hospital to its knees. And he is damn good at what he does, which in the main is to sue doctors. Don't you think we ought to call the MMPO and have them assign some other firm to the case?"

Sarah studied Daniels as he thought over the question. If he was disturbed by the two-pronged attack from Hayden and now Paris, it did not show in his face, which at that moment reminded her of Fess Parker as Davy Crockett, debating whether or not to stay on and defend the Alamo. His expression was severe enough, but there was a spark in his azure eyes-a defiance-that Sarah felt certain only she was appreciating.

"Well," he said finally, "for any number of reasons, I'd sure hate to see that happen. But since you've brought it up, I guess we ought to consider it."

"Good," Paris said.

"However," Matt went on, "there are a couple of points I'd like to make. For one, Dr. Baldwin here is my client. Whether I stay or go is really up to her. For another, since speaking with her the other day, I've done some reading and some talking to people. Mallon or no Mallon, I think I can do a good job representing her."

"How can you say that, with almost no experience in this area?" Hayden demanded.

"Because the law's the law, Mr. Hayden. And I'm still just naive enough to equate the legal process with getting at the truth. And getting at the truth is something I always liked doing."

Glenn Paris turned to Sarah. "Sarah, it is our opinion that you can get better counsel and a better defense from someone more, how should I say, experienced than Mr. Daniels here. But he is right. You are his client. And it is for you to decide."

Sarah looked over at Daniels, who held her gaze coolly. Bring on Santa Ana, Mr. Travis. I ain't plannin' on goin' nowhere.

"Well, Mr. Paris," she said, "provided my job isn't on the line over this, I guess I feel that if Mr. Daniels handles himself in court the way he has here, I'm in pretty good hands. Mr. Daniels-Matt-I'm sure that if you needed to involve Mr. Hayden or any of the other MCB lawyers, you'd do it, wouldn't you?"

"Anytime."

"In that case, Mr. Paris," Sarah said, "I'm comfortable being represented by this man."

"Good Lord," Eli Blankenship suddenly exclaimed, "I think I just figured out who our Mr. Daniels is. Let's see if I get this right, Matt. Bottom of the ninth, no outs, bases loaded, three and nothing on the Toronto batter-"

"Yes, yes," Matt said, a bit impatiently, "that was me. Thank you for remembering. But that's ancient history now."

"Remembering what?" Sarah asked.

"Nine pitches, nine strikes, three outs, ball game over," Blankenship went on. "One of the greatest short relief performances ever. I thought the name sounded familiar when I first heard it."

"I'm sure the 'Matt' part threw you off," Daniels said more kindly. "Not many remember that I actually had a real first name."

"Hey, do I get clued in here? I am the defendant."

"I'm afraid I'm in the dark, too," Paris chimed in.

"Black Cat Daniels," Blankenship explained. "Ten years as a relief pitcher for the Red Sox."

"Actually twelve," Daniels said. "Now, if you all wouldn't mind getting back to the business at-"

"Why Black Cat?" Paris asked.

Daniels sighed.

"Dr. Baldwin-Sarah-I'm really sorry about this," he said. "I would imagine that what you're going through is not pleasant, and is probably more than a little scary for you. Having to sit there while my qualifications get called into question, and now all this baseball talk, certainly can't be helping."

"I'm fine, actually," Sarah said. "Besides, I want to know, too."

"Okay. Mr. Paris, my nickname came from my having a fair number of superstitions back when I played the game."

"Always stepped on first base coming into a game," Blankenship said. "Never sat down in the bullpen. Never pitched without a piece of red ribbon tied around his belt."

"Blue," Matt corrected. "You know your baseball."

"Yes, of course, it was blue. Are you still like that? Superstitious, I mean."

"I-um-still have an interest in ritual and luck if that's what you're asking. But trust me, Dr. Blankenship, it doesn't get in the way. When I'm in the courtroom, I keep that ribbon tied on my belt in the back where my suit coat hides it. Now, I think maybe we ought to get down to business. As Mr. Paris so eloquently put it, we have a lot at stake here. And unfortunately, it seems that our esteemed adversary has gotten a bit of a jump on us."

"What do you mean?" Paris asked.

Daniels took some notes from his briefcase. "Sarah, the man who provides you with your herbs and roots, his name is Mr. Kwong?"

"That's right. Kwong Tian-Wen."

"Well, this afternoon Mr. Mallon obtained an ex parte discovery order to seal off Mr. Kwong's shop. At eight tomorrow morning he'll be there with a chemist, someone from the sheriff's office, and God only knows who else. He plans to get samples from the place and follow chain-of-evidence procedures to have those samples analyzed."

"Can't you do something about that?" Paris asked.

"I'll defer to Mr. Hayden to answer that question, sir."

"Not at this point, Glenn," Hayden said. "It's just a case of being outmaneuvered. Dr. Baldwin, do you have any idea how Mallon could have gotten the name of this man so quickly?"

"A couple of possibilities come to mind," she said.

"And?" Paris asked.

"I think I ought to do some checking before throwing out any names. Besides, I have implicit faith in Mr. Kwong. He is one of the very best at what he does. The sooner Mallon gets this thing done, the sooner he'll learn that he doesn't have a case."

"I think someone from the hospital should be there," Daniels said. "We'll be meeting tomorrow morning at this address." He slid the court order over to Hayden.

"Can't do it," the lawyer said. "I'll be in court."

"Eli, how about you?" Paris asked. "You'd be a perfect representative."

"I think I can be there," Blankenship said.

"Perfect. Extra dessert for you, Eli. We must hope Sarah is right about all this, Daniels. But do you see what we mean about Mallon? He has handled dozens-probably hundreds-of malpractice cases. He's got a huge staff, and he won't leave any stone unturned."

"He doesn't seem like someone you can just hook and reel in," Daniels acknowledged. "I'll give you that."

"Perhaps," Hayden offered, "you can involve your partners in this case. Do either Mr. Hannigan or Mr. Goldstein have any expertise in this arena?"

Damn, Sarah thought. Are they ever going to let up?

"Actually," Daniels said, "I'm glad you mentioned that."

"Then they do have some malpractice experience," Hayden said. "That's excellent. Collaboration is the key in this business."

"Well, sir, not exactly. You see, Billy Hannigan never did like being a lawyer, but his wife wouldn't let him quit. Then last year, after she ran away with another attorney, he just took off. Last I heard he was working as a disc jockey on a radio station in Lake Placid."

"And Goldstein?"

Daniels rubbed at his chin and then sighed.

"Well," he said, "the truth is, Goldstein was someone Billy made up. Before I joined him, he was in solo practice, but he called his firm Hannigan and Goldstein. Something about Billy's wanting to attract Jewish clients. I just got around to having new stationery printed up with only my name, but I keep forgetting to have our little yellow pages ad changed."

"This is highly irregular," Hayden blustered. "Highly irregular."

"Sarah," Paris said, "I think this deception allows you to reconsider your decision."

"Mr. Paris, deception seems a bit strong a word," she countered. "Clearly, there's been no attempt to hide the truth. I think we'll do just fine with Mr. Daniels, even without Mr. Goldstein."

"Much appreciated," Matt Daniels said. "Now, if we're all in the same corner, I think we ought to start putting together our case. Tomorrow morning at eight, round one begins. So let's have at it."

"Highly irregular," Sarah heard someone mutter.