Code Blue With Intent

by Marilyn Esper Kelsey

  “Really! Me neither. Who was it?”

  “The tall, redheaded resident—the shy one. I think his name is Patrick?”

  “Oh yeah. I know who you mean. He seems really nice and always has a smile on his face.”

  “Wouldn’t it be funny if they got together? There must be something in the air or in the drinks because a lot of people are getting together tonight. Even quiet Rita was seen leaving with Josh, a nurse from the OR—you know, the one all the nurses wouldn’t mind getting their hands on. Do you know what I mean, Kate?” Julie smiled at her friend, “Have a good night, girlfriend. Tell Jake goodnight for me.”

  People were slowly leaving the party. Kate wandered over to a group of girls from the OR. The girls quickly reached out to Kate and pulled her into their circle. “What’s the deal with you and Dr. Fenelli? Something going on? What gives?” They all fired questions at her at once. Jake waved her over to the bar.

  Kate dodged the questions. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Gotta go now, girls.” Then she left the group to avoid the questions and to join Jake.

  “Thank you for saving me from the OR girls. They were grilling me about you.” Kate grinned.

  “I will save you anytime. I’ve been getting the same questions,” Jake said.

  “I guess it’s time to go home; everyone is leaving. I’ve had a fabulous time, Jake!”

  “Don’t go yet, Kate. Let me say goodbye to the last group leaving and come right back.”

  “Excuse me, Dr. Fenelli,” one of the waiters interrupted. “Phone call. It’s the hospital.”

  “I’ll be right back. Wait for me?” Jake asked.

  Kate nodded her head. “Yes, I’ll wait.”

  Jake left, and Kate walked over to the coffee station and asked for a latte. Sipping her drink, she became anxious waiting for Jake’s return. Everyone had left the party and the caterers were cleaning up and packing up the leftover food. She had overheard them saying that Jake had asked them to pack up the food and bring them over to the hospital for the night shift to enjoy. That was so like him.

  Chapter 16

  When Jake finished the call from the hospital, he rejoined Kate. Frowning, he informed her, “I have to go to the hospital. I’m so sorry. They called about Eileen Cantrell, Dr. Cantrell’s wife. She’s back in the hospital with a hemorrhage. She needs surgery. Jeffery Cantrell called and asked if I would come in since I’ve done surgery on her before.”

  “Are you alright to operate?” Kate asked.

  “Yes. I’m fine. I only had one beer earlier. I was too engrossed with someone to drink that much,” he said with a sly grin. “I’ll walk you to your car. Are you okay to drive? Do you need me to drive you and drop you off at your house before I go to the hospital?”

  “I’m good, thanks. Don’t worry about me,” Kate assured him as they reached her car.

  Jake frowned again. “This was not the exactly how I envisioned this night ending. I had something else in mind.”

  “Oh really? And what did you have in mind?” Kate asked.

  “This, for starters.” Jake drew her close. He kissed her softly at first, then with more urgency.

  Kate parted her lips and slowly swirled her tongue in the soft warmth of his mouth. He was taken aback by the sensuality of the kiss. Sometimes you only need one kiss to set off a spark. This definitely ignited a spark!

  Kate stepped back, shaken. She wanted more, but she knew he had to get to the hospital.

  Jake sighed with regret. “I really don’t want to go, Kate. I—”

  “I know. Go before I change my mind and kidnap you and hold you against your will.” She laughed and brushed her mouth against his, ever so softly.

  “It wouldn’t be against my will, believe me. I would go quite willingly.” He gently touched her cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Or, should I say later today? Go home and get some sleep. Maybe we could take a boat ride and stop for dinner.”

  “You need to go home after your surgery and get some sleep.”

  “We’ll see. We have some unfinished business to take care of. Goodnight, sweet Kate. See you later.” He kissed his finger and pressed it to her lips. He wanted to kiss her again, but knew he wouldn’t want to stop if he did.

  “Bye, Jake.” She got into her car and drove off.

  ***

  Across town, Josh and Rita sat in a café exchanging childhood stories. Rita felt so comfortable with Josh that she found herself opening up to him. Like her, he’d had a rough childhood—an alcoholic mother and a drug-addicted father had left him and his brothers alone to fend for themselves. It was nice to talk to someone who understood what she had gone through. Their conversation lasted till the wee hours in the morning. Josh promised to call her for a date, and Rita readily agreed. He kissed her goodnight, and she drove home with a grin on her face.

  ***

  On their beautiful rooftop patio by the garden of flowers and plants above the three-story spacious townhouse in downtown Morristown, Sonya grilled Larissa about the party. They sipped ice-cold Smirnoff vodka and tonic with slices of lime as they lay back against the brilliant, multicolored plump cushions on their lounge chairs and admired the stars sparkling in the clear, cool evening sky. Chesnokov played on the stereo.

  “Tell me, tell me! What happened?” Sonya pleaded.

  “Hold on. Let me get another drink, and I’ll tell you everything,” Larissa said.

  Sonya had begged Larissa to attend Jake’s party even though she knew Larissa hated social events and shied away from them as she herself did. So Larissa had gone for Sonya. Something big was happening at Premier Regional. Sonya had been a physician advisor at the insurance company for several years and knew there were big changes in the wind. First, she had inadvertently overheard the CEO talking about a merger. Then she heard something about the company wanted to get rid of one of the company nurses, Linda McCarthy, and a nurse from Northwest General, Kate Ross. It sounded like they were talking about some of the patients that had died.

  When Sonya asked for clarification, she was told to mind her own business and not concern herself about it. That just made her more curious. When some charts came across her desk, they were all the patients with frequent admissions and all the patients they had been talking about in their morning discussions. Then a doctor with a cocksure attitude marched into her office announcing that he wanted to change insurance companies. Sonya thought he might be after her job. Then the physician actually hit on her. That physician was Richard Timmers.

  When Sonya told Larissa about the encounter, Larissa laughed out loud and proclaimed that the skirt-chasing butthole would hit on anything female and was arrogant enough to think every woman would worship him.

  Following their discussion, Larissa had pulled the deceased patients’ charts at the hospital, and after reading the charts, disturbing suspicion nagged at her. She discussed her suspicion with Sonya, and they decided together that she would go to the party and see what she could learn. Larissa had always liked Kate and decided she would talk to her after assessing the situation.

  “Alright, I can’t stand it anymore. Tell me what you found out,” Sonya begged.

  So Larissa spilled the story about what Kate had said at the party. Then she told Sonya she believed that Kate and Linda were joking about the murders.

  “Are you sure? Should we talk to Kate and Linda?” Sonya asked.

  “I don’t know, but something is not right at Northwest General,” Larissa mused.

  Sonya nodded. “I feel the same about Premier Regional; they’re hiding something. Let me nose around at work and see what I can find out. Then we can decide who we need to talk to.”

  “Be careful,” Larissa cautioned. “We might be getting into dangerous territory.”

  Chapter 17

  “New assignment for you,” the muffled voice said. “Eileen Can
trell was admitted last night to the ICU, room 222.”

  “Don’t hang up on me this time. I want to talk to someone else this time. A human voice.”

  “Do this assignment,” the raspy voice ordered. “Then we will decide.”

  “No! I’m getting tired of this bullshit! I’ve risked my career, my reputation, my freedom, my whole life for you! I want some answers now!” she shouted into the phone.

  “Calm down. Just do your assignment and we’ll talk.”

  “You’re not listening to me.”

  Damn it all to hell! The bastards hung up on me again! I’ve had enough of this shit. I think it’s time for a change of plans, she thought. Let’s see how they like my game plan!

  ***

  After the enigmatic device disconnected, the mystery voice made another call. “Hey, we’ve got a problem. Our nurse wants to talk to us in person. Not good. I thought we could hold her off for awhile.”

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I’m not sure yet, but I know that if she doesn’t cooperate, she will have to be taken care of. On another matter, what happened with that nurse from the hospital, Kate Ross, at the party last night? Did you get any information out of her?”

  “Yes. I had a chance to talk to her. She doesn’t know anything. I’m sure of it.”

  “You damn well better be positive. We’re getting close now. I think we’re going to step up to the big plate with Eastern National. Our numbers are looking good.”

  “On another concern, I’m not real comfortable doing away with Eileen Cantrell. I know her husband, Jeffrey. He’s a physician at the hospital. What if he would get suspicious?

  “We’ve got to see our profits up. You assured me that our plan is undetectable.”

  “Yes it is, but—”

  “No fucking butts,” he interrupted. “We need to keep on schedule.”

  Chapter 18

  “Case management, Kate Ross speaking.”

  “This is Roy Lagoust calling from Premier Regional Insurance Company. I’m calling to see if Judith Adler went home on Saturday?”

  “Let me pull her up on my computer. No, she went home yesterday—Sunday.”

  “Do you have clinical for Saturday? She was only approved till Friday,” Roy noted.

  “Let me get her chart from Medical Records and call you back. I just walked into my office.” It was seven thirty on Monday morning. “Where’s Linda? On vacation?”

  “She’s on a leave of absence,” Roy replied abruptly. “I’ll be covering for her.”

  “Is everything alright with her?” Kate asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said curtly. “Please just get me the clinical and call me back.”

  Before Kate could reply, he had hung up. How rude, she thought. Hurry back, Linda.

  She turned to her co-workers in the office. “Hey, girls. Be forewarned—there’s a Roy covering for Linda at Premier Regional, and he’s not too friendly.”

  “Where’s Linda?” one of her co-workers asked.

  “All I know is that she’s on a leave of absence. If you all can get more information out of Mr. Personality, let me know.”

  Kate went over to Medical Records, found Mrs. Adler’s chart, and called the clinical review into Roy’s voicemail. She was relieved she didn’t have to talk to him personally.

  After the review, Kate sat at her desk daydreaming about Saturday night. She smiled, remembering the exhilaration of Jake’s kiss. She had not been able to sleep when she arrived home from the party at two in the morning. She tossed and turned, finally dragging herself out of bed at nine o’clock. She made coffee, ate breakfast, and went back to bed to try again to get some sleep. Her daughter had called around noon and wanted to stay overnight again at her friend Ava’s house. They were going to go the movies. Kate agreed and said she’d be in touch with her the following day.

  Kate’s cell rang immediately after she hung up with Megan.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi Kate, it’s Jake, I just came home from the hospital. After Eileen Cantrell’s surgery, which went well, two other emergencies came into the hospital requiring surgery.”

  “Oh Jake, you must be exhausted.”

  “I will admit I’m tired, but wanted to give you a call before I headed to the shower, then bed. I planned on inviting you over but I’m afraid I’d fall asleep on you.”

  “I’m tired too, didn’t get much sleep.”

  “Why not, Kate?”

  “Your fault Fenelli, couldn’t stop thinking about your wonderful party last night.”

  “Yes, we had a great time.” Jake stated and let out a loud yawn. “Sorry about that, can’t seem to stop yawning. Want to come over and tuck me in?”

  “Ha!” Kate teased. “If I come over you might not get any sleep.”

  Hearing his laughter made her pleased. “I’m going to hold you to that thought next time we meet.”

  “Close your weary eyes and get some sleep Jake. We’ll get in touch later or tomorrow.”

  “Ok sweet Kate, call you later.”

  “Sleep tight.”

  ***

  Kate fended off questions all morning about Saturday night. Maria had cornered her in the ICU, and so had Julie, Rita, Lydia, and Rachael—all-wanting to know what had happened between her and Jake. Kate turned the tables on Lydia. “What happened with you and Patrick?”

  Lydia blushed bright red. “He was just being nice. It’s time for twelve o’clock meds.” She spun around and walked briskly to the med room.

  “Rita, I saw you cozy with that yummy OR nurse. What gives with him? Does he have money? If so, maybe I should check him out,” Maria said. “You did all right for yourself, girl. Didn’t know you had it in you.”

  Rita smiled shyly. “Oh, we just talked.”

  “Yeah, right. Why does no one want to talk about their hot times?” Maria asked smugly. “I love boasting about my run-ins. Every little, or, better yet, every big detail, if you catch my drift. Let’s compare notes later, okay, Kate!” It was more a statement than a question.

  Kate shrugged her shoulders but couldn’t help being amused by Maria. She certainly spoke her mind; you had to give her that. She said goodbye, left the unit, and went to the Step Down Unit to review Eileen Cantrell’s chart. The patient’s insurance company was Premier Regional. Then she called and left clinical on Roy’s voicemail, again glad she didn’t have to speak with him.

  Chapter 19

  Linda McCarthy walked hesitantly down the hallway to her supervisor’s office, wondering why she had been summoned. What now? she wondered. With this merger on the table, it seemed that everyone was so nervous and edgy.

  The company had numerous meetings on cutting costs and getting tougher on approving inpatient hospital stays. Glancing out the hallway windows, Linda noted the storm clouds hovering—dark and gloomy like the mood around the office recently. Were they an ominous sign of things to come? She dreaded having to converse with her arrogant, pompous-ass boss. Since he had taken over as supervisor in their department two months ago, many workers had resigned because of his condescending demeanor.

  She knocked softly on his door, and a raspy voice bellowed, “Enter.”

  Mr. Frederick Ramkins was overweight and potbellied with sparse, gray, thinning hair. He was only in his early sixties but looked twenty years older. He was a heart attack waiting to happen. His two-pack-a day smoking habit showed up in his constant coughing and shortness of breath. His physician had warned him that if he stayed on his present regime of smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure he would die sooner rather than later. He didn’t care what the doctor advised.

  Linda opened the door to the smoked-filled office, where Mr. Ramkins sat behind his desk, with his hands folded behind his neck, exposing large perspiration stains in his armpits. His long-sleeved shirt stretch
ed over his protruding abdomen, making the buttons look like they were on course to burst any minute.

  “Sit down, Linda. We need to talk.” Mr. Ramkins proceeded with a coughing spell while Linda glanced around the dark-paneled room, noting the steel-gray chairs, carpet, and walls. The dark oak desk sat buried beneath a clutter of papers strewn haphazardly over the top.

  Linda waited for the coughing attack to subside. “Are you okay?” she asked. He looked as though he needed oxygen.

  “I’m . . . I’m . . . fine,” he spat out between breaths. Reaching for his water pitcher, he poured a drink, then pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and sopped up the sweat from his forehead.

  The waiting was excruciating. Linda fidgeted in her chair and thought, Come on, you ass-hole. Tell me what you want to say so I can get the hell out of here before you keel over and die. I will not care to resuscitate the sonofabitch.

  Peering over black glasses that had slid down his sweaty, bulbous nose, Mr. Ramkins said, “Linda, it has come to my attention that you have been telling people about our merger and our financial problems.” He stared at her with hard, penetrating, accusing eyes.

  Shit. What is he talking about? she thought. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Mr. Ramkins leaned forward and responded curtly, spitting specks of salvia across the desk. “Don’t play dumb with me. We have you on tape talking to a nurse at Northwest General about the merger and how we’re in financial trouble. And what’s this about killing off our patients?”

  “Oh, that. We were just joking around, I’ve known Kate for years.”

  “I don’t give two shits how long you’ve known her. It’s not a topic you should be discussing with anyone. You don’t know who the hell she’s going to talk to about this.” His face became redder.

  “I don’t think you should trouble yourself worrying about Kate Ross,” Linda defended herself. “She’s not going to tell anyone. It was just a joke between us.”