Corruption in the Or

by Barbara Ebel

  She nodded and frowned. “McCormick is talking to Tina, so be sure and follow-up back there.”

  “As soon as you leave.”

  “I can’t stay long. I need to spring Buddy from the hotel room to walk him, and bring him to the vet. I’m like an over-concerned mother until his stitches come out on his back leg.”

  “I’m sorry you have been delayed. Our pets are family to us and you are closer to that dog in less than two weeks than some long-term pet owners I know.”

  “Thanks, Jeff. There are three add-on OR cases already which will not be found on the printed schedule from this morning. One is a neurosurgical burr hole and the other two are orthopedic cases. You know what to do with that information, which did not come from me.”

  “I will check myself for those anesthesia reimbursement slips which should go to billing in the morning, as well as any other add ons I find out about. Jay Huff is still the doctor on call, correct? That has not changed?”

  “Still the same.”

  Jeff pushed off from the desk, which put him and her close. Very close.

  Viktoria took a deep breath as her heart thumped against her chest. His soulful eyes were searching her, making her feel like a schoolgirl, a young girl being flirted with by the male class dreamboat. It was stupid of her, she thought, she was beyond such feelings. After all, the most important man in her life was her hugest disappointment.

  “Thank you again for going out on a limb for this hospital.” He inched his hand forward, wanting to take hers, apparently for a handshake.

  Viktoria slid her hand into his, but he gently clasped it and raised it to his lips. He closed his eyes for a moment, making the gesture more personal.

  The silence of the room closed in on them like they were in a remote, private bedroom, like lovers getting away from it all. They both put their hands back to their side.

  “Please go take care of Buddy. I’ll text you later. I’d love to know how he fares at the vet, and I’ll let you know any developments from the DEA officer’s visit.”

  “With a clean bill of health, he and Mattie can have another romp.”

  “For sure.”

  Viktoria turned, but looked back from the door. “I must shake the feeling that I’m a traitor-like whistle blower reporting such incidents from an anesthesia department.”

  With a stern expression, Jeff shook his head. “Your situation is ideal. You are practicing excellent anesthesia, but are in no way an employee here. If you hadn’t followed up on the things you were suspicious of, no one else would have, even if they’d gotten wind of what was going on. They would have been too afraid. Your presence was meant to be. In addition, I personally love you being here and wish you could stay.”

  “All right, then. Talk to you later.”

  Viktoria left with a slight smile. In the car, she popped a chocolate licorice into her mouth before heading up the road to the Stay Long Hotel.

  -----

  “Buddy!” Viktoria exclaimed as she pushed the door open to her hotel room and dropped a few things on the counter. “Let’s go for a walk and a special appointment for your leg.” He licked her hand and furiously wagged his tail until it settled down to a slow spin. She responded by holding his head and dropping kisses on his forehead. After slipping on his leash, they headed for a walk and then loaded themselves into her Honda.

  It was one of a dog owner’s pleasures, when at all possible, to have a back window partially open and to see your dog’s pleasure in sticking his head slightly out the window, sniffing the fresh air, and letting the wind blow on his face. It was dog ecstasy, and she glanced over several times to watch her Border Collie’s sheer joy.

  After the hospital, she made a right turn and was soon at the Masonville Animal Clinic. Going inside, they went to check in.

  “Howdy, Viktoria,” Linda said.

  Surprised, Viktoria responded, “I forgot you worked here part-time. Guess you have off from the coffee shop today.”

  “Yes, I’m here today. I like the variety of having two jobs. Coffee and pets, two things I’m passionate about.”

  “Bet you can’t wait to be a vet yourself.”

  “So true.” She pulled one of her double braids in front and toyed with the end. “This must be Buddy’s big day to get his stitches out. Dr. Price can see you right away. We were super busy before, but things have calmed down.”

  “Appreciate it.”

  Linda walked them back to a room and fetched the veterinarian, who limped in with a suture removal kit. Linda helped hold Buddy’s leg while Dr. Price evaluated it. “Leg looks dandy,” he said as he already started snipping out a stitch. “And you have a fine and cooperative Border Collie here. They are fine animals and you two are going to have a solid relationship for a long time.”

  Viktoria nodded as the vet finished up and Buddy looked no worse for wear.

  They walked out and Linda spoke up, “No charge today for taking out what we already billed you for.”

  “Thanks so much, and I’m sure glad I met you at the coffee shop and you steered me to the right vet.”

  “Me too. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Bye.”

  Viktoria enjoyed the slower traffic trip back to the hotel. More cars were on the road from late day workers heading home, and Buddy had more window time.

  At the hotel, she grabbed a ball from the room, and brought him out the back-sliding glass door. The late afternoon weather was stellar for a game of catch, and in the security of the grassy area between the building and the back woods, she unleashed him, put a distance between them and threw the yellow tennis ball.

  With a fine toss each time, Buddy caught the ball with almost every throw. The more difficult chore for Viktoria was getting him to unclasp it from his teeth for her to throw it again. “Buddy, drop the ball,” she announced every time.

  Finally, she sidetracked him to the room and grabbed a few tiny biscuits to lure him to drop the ball in lieu of a treat. As they went back out, she noticed one of the two squirrels who hung around. He stood by a tree, his other squirrel buddy nowhere to be seen. Buddy veered off to the back of the next two buildings, sniffing and trotting along. His head dipped low several times, obviously into something.

  Viktoria let him wander a bit and, after calling him a few times, he finally stopped chewing, finished whatever he’d been eating, and trotted over.

  “These dog cookies are going to be tastier than the grass or whatever you were eating over three. I promise. Still interested in playing?” She tossed the ball in the air and Buddy made a full leap with a solid catch. His interest and energy level stayed steady, and she kept the game going for another half hour before bringing him in and setting down his dinner.

  -----

  Jennie Shaw pulled her elegant vehicle into the three-car garage and immediately closed the door with her remote. She sprung out of the car and into the kitchen door to find Marybelle wide-eyed and nursing a glass of water at the counter.

  “You’re here past three o’clock,” Jennie said.

  “I had no choice but to let those men in here. I feel so bad. Something’s not right. I wanted to stay to let you know more men came and took some stuff out of your house.”

  Jennie twirled a clump of her long black hair so tight in front of her chest that she thought it would rip right off her scalp. “Where from?”

  “Upstairs. I’m pretty sure from the master bedroom.”

  Jennie slumped over the coriander counter and put her head in her hands. Looking up, she said, “Thank you, Marybelle. You can go.”

  “Will you be okay?”

  Jennie wanted to nod, but she couldn’t. “Time will tell.”

  Marybelle grabbed her purse from a nearby chair and glanced back at her employer. “Good luck.” She approached the front door. “Casey’s home too. Just pulling in.”

  The housekeeper left as Casey pulled into the garage and came barging into the kitchen. Jennie’s large, alert eyes settled on him. “We’
re in big trouble,” she said. “Better go check the master bedroom. Marybelle said stuff was confiscated.”

  Casey clamped his teeth, and held the pressure the whole time he flew up the stairs. Jennie followed.

  “Shit,” Casey said. The board to the bottom of the bed was upturned and, with a peek underneath, the couple could tell from the darkened space that it was cleared out. Not a trace of their shoe storage drugs.

  Jennie sat on the bed. She always knew deep down that their antics were, or bordered on, being criminal, but she kept denying it. She mostly believed her husband that confiscating the anesthetic agents secretly and methodically from OR patients the way they did it, they would not get caught. But now they had. What would happen to her? She began to cry, tears welling in the corner of her eyes without any control. Sobbing, she wiped her hand across her cheek.

  Casey paid little attention. He circled the room like a large cat in a cage and fidgeted with his hands. “We better call that lawyer we’ve used for evicting tenants. We need him in our back pocket.”

  Jennie continued crying. She started out the day happy to be putting a patient to sleep under anesthesia and now she needed legal representation. Maybe to keep her out of jail.

  CHAPTER 31

  Viktoria held a grilled cheese sandwich and slid onto a stool as her cell phone rang. Glad to see the caller ID, it was Regina from the locum tenens agency.

  “Dr. Thorsdottir, how is Masonville General continuing to treat you?”

  “That’s a loaded question. A better question would be how am I handling them instead of them dealing with me.”

  “Don’t think I’ll get into that one. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

  “Not at all. I’m ready to tank down some orange juice, a grilled cheese sandwich, and a scoop of cole slaw. My Masonville dog, Buddy, is panting at my feet.”

  “Not much of a fancy dinner.”

  “It’ll suffice. Sometimes avoiding restaurants is the healthier alternative.”

  “I thought I’d run this by you regarding your next assignment. Even though you enjoy other locations, a hospital on Long Island is looking for anesthesia coverage starting the week after you finish there. You could stay home for a change.”

  Viktoria frowned and locked eyes with Buddy. She did prefer not being around her husband, but being in her own home for a change and letting Buddy romp in a fenced-in yard while she was at work, sounded like a fine idea. A month at home. On the weekends, she could take Buddy to the beach, and they could walk on the boardwalk.

  “Same pay, same hours as now,” Regina interjected. “No night call unless you feel so inclined. Mostly bread and butter stuff and some OB.”

  “Yes, I’ll take it. Sounds fine. Email me the paperwork and my electronic signature will be on it in a flash. My dog will love me for it.”

  “Perfect. Guess I don’t need to tell you the hospital or anything. I’ll shoot the info up there as soon as we hang up. Enjoy the rest of your meal.”

  “Thanks, Regina.”

  Viktoria finished eating, rinsed the dishes, and sat on the couch with a paperback and a bag of cookies at her side. After reading one chapter, she closed the book and called Rick.

  Her husband took the last hit of weed from the joint he was smoking, and grabbed the call before it slid into voicemail. “Viktoria, how’s it going?”

  “Not too bad, but I’m knee-deep in this anesthesia department’s affairs. Practicing medicine anymore isn’t only about rendering health care. Issues that pop up on the side are important too.”

  “Seems to me knocking people out and waking them back up is the priority.”

  “So true. Rendering safe anesthesia is number one, but preventing corruption in the OR is pretty vital too.”

  “Whatever you say. How’s Buddy? I can’t wait to meet him.”

  “You will. I just signed on for my next assignment, a local position on Long Island. We can both bond with Buddy because he’ll be there.”

  “You’re staying home?”

  “Yes, for at least one month.”

  “Maybe we can do some things, like go to the movies, and I’ll mow the backyard for the dog if the grass needs cutting.”

  “All right then. I better give Buddy his last walk and get ready for bed. It’s later than I like.”

  “Sweet dreams.”

  Buddy jumped up when Viktoria rose. She slipped on his leash, and they used the back door. As opposed to being at her Long Island home, she could make out the stars on the clear night, and the half-moon managed to reflect light brightly around it. They walked straight over the grass where they played ball, and to the edge of the woods. Buddy sniffed and lifted his leg on a clump of weedy bushes.

  Behind the ground foliage, Viktoria strained her neck upon making out something in a lump. Buddy slunk forwards, trying to decipher it as well.

  “Oh, no,” Viktoria muttered. It was a motionless squirrel, his tail and body as still as the dirt. His eyes were slightly open and death had taken hold. What a shame, she thought, and assumed it was one of the squirrels she had not seen earlier with his partner. The two rodents had seemed young and spirited, so she stood perplexed over this one’s death.

  Viktoria and Buddy stepped back into their room as her phone rang again, this time from Jeffrey Appleton. “Hello?” she said.

  “How is Buddy? Did his stitches come out?”

  “They sure did. He’s as good as new.”

  “Mattie will be happy to know,” he said, and chuckled.

  “Thanks for asking. I took him for a spin just now, and we found a dead squirrel. Not a pleasant way to end the day.”

  “I suppose not. Don’t fret about it. Maybe it was his time to go. And listen, with all that’s going on in the OR, I still can’t thank you enough. I have a feeling tomorrow will bring the department some closure. Perhaps more than I care to think about.”

  “I agree.”

  “See you soon…” he said and hesitated, “both professionally and personally.”

  -----

  Low overhead lights were on in the DEA office as Patrick sauntered in and found only a janitor hauling a trash can and Buster sitting on the top of his desk, his feet planted on the chair.

  “What’d you find out in the OR?” Buster asked, pausing before taking another bite out of a thick granola bar.

  “That doctor was right. We’ve got a match on lot numbers with what you confiscated from the couple’s home.”

  “Doesn’t surprise me.” Buster nodded and waved the snack. “We’ve stopped a harmful, deceptive scheme. I wouldn’t want to be a patient in that OR and have either of those two give me an anesthetic. You trust caretakers to do what’s right. Imagine being put under the knife while someone is holding back the pain medicine that is rightfully yours.”

  Patrick shuddered. “Gives me the creeps. I mean, what is anesthesia all about, except to prevent pain? I hope a judge throws the book at them.”

  “But being asleep and not knowing what’s going on is important too. At least I don’t want to overhear what the surgeon and the anesthesia provider is doing or saying. How about we do one more thing in the morning and check on Fred Stowe in the ICU? Hopefully, he’s off the ventilator, and we can question him. He’s gonna talk, which will cinch this case up like a hangman’s noose.”

  “Then we’ll go arrest Jennie and Casey Johnston. Right out of the OR.”

  Buster took the last bite and tossed the wrapper into the adjacent can. “This is a new one for me—perps getting married, followed by their arrest.”

  -----

  Wednesday morning, it wasn’t only the DEA agents that wanted to visit Fred Stowe in the medical intensive care unit. Viktoria stayed conscientiously attached to the welfare of any patient she had a direct relationship with, and in Fred’s case, she had inserted his breathing tube, and had had multiple personal run-ins with him in and about the Stay Long Hotel. With time to spare, she carried her to-go cup from the coffee shop up the elevator and into th
e unit.

  Reeling back when she entered, she was the fourth person to step into Fred’s room. A male RN hovered over chart work and the two DEA men were already there, making her reconsider that anesthesiologists are not the only people who start work at the crack of dawn. Still dressed in a hospital gown, the workman nervously swung his leg while sitting in a chair.

  Everyone turned to Viktoria, but she focused on the patient first. “I guess this answers my question whether or not you were extubated and are doing better.”

  “You again,” Fred commented. “You seem to show up when it’s important.”

  “Happy to help,” she quipped.

  “Internal medicine took him off the ventilator late last night,” the RN said. “He was more than ready.”

  “We were just asking Mr. Stowe about his drug habit,” Buster said, “and where he got the drugs he used to overdose on. Not only do we have a wrap on the persons providing them, but his two buddies receive anesthetic drug payments as well. Two CRNAs downstairs pay their employees very creatively.”

  Viktoria widened her eyes. “I’m sorry to hear the truth. I wish it were a different story.”

  “Us too,” Patrick added a firm nod. “We’ll be going straight down to the OR. Ever see an arrest in the surgical suite?”

  She shook her head. “Assignments are probably made out already for the morning cases. Hurry down before the cases start. The anesthesiologist in charge can reassign people to take the place of the two you are hauling away. We don’t want patients to suffer any kind of delay or rescheduling of their surgeries based on the history of these two narcissistic individuals.”

  “We’ll be following up with you,” Patrick said to Fred, and then turned to Buster. “Let’s follow her advice.”

  Viktoria patted Fred on the shoulder. “Glad you’re doing better, Mr. Stowe, but get yourself into rehab, and drop the drug habit.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Viktoria followed the uniformed men out the automatic doors straight to the OR.

  -----

  Of course, it was not Jay Huff making out the day’s assignments since he was postcall and had already left the hospital, but Phillip Nettle. The DEA men asked for Viktoria’s assistance, so she settled them in the doctor’s lounge with a cup of coffee while she changed into scrubs.