by Adam Zorzi
“Big pulled up the rails of the bed, unlocked the wheels, and ran toward the ER pushing the bed. I followed and gave High Life the cannula for oxygen. Big gave him an aspirin to swallow and something else to put under his tongue. We ran down two corridors, through the concourse, and all the way to the ER. Big pushed him through the doors and right up to a doctor. He told the ER doc what he'd done and we left.”
Things were worse than she thought. This man would have died without Big and LouLou.
“Do you know Big's name?”
“No. He's been there every time I've been hospitalized. He's the one who always has the right meds.”
“Do you know High Life's name?”
“Dan Ramsay,” LouLou said without emotion.
Daniel. Bella was horrified. Her Daniel had almost died of natural causes. That could never be allowed to happen. She and Daniel couldn't spend eternity together if he died naturally.
Bella's face remained impassive as thoughts raced in her mind. She hadn't been vigilant enough. Maybe she shouldn't wait until Daniel was healthier to move toward eternity. Heart disease ran in Daniel's family. His father had died of a heart attack, but he'd been in his seventies. Had Daniel really had a heart attack? Maybe it was panic and LouLou didn't understand the difference.
Bella marshalled her thoughts to LouLou's deposition. She wanted it to be complete and over.
“Ms. Fleming, did you pass any medical staff on the way to the ER?”
“No.”
“When you returned to the day room, was there any medical staff there? Did anyone mention medical staff responding to the panic button call?”
“No and no.”
“This concludes the interview. Thank you, Ms. Fleming.” Bella announced the date and time for the record.
Bella was surprised to be the one shaking.
On her way out, LouLou stopped beside Bella's chair.
“Did you mean what you said about ghosts?” LouLou asked shyly. Bella hoped she looked encouraging. “That you would talk to me about ghost behavior?”
“Yes, any time you'd like. You have my number.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-FIVE
Bella was not impulsive by nature. She was brilliant, calculating, and aware of the effects of her considerable charm. She rarely made mistakes. Never in business. Never in love. Once, an oversight in birth control produced LouLou, who was promptly adopted into an appropriate Parisian home. She allowed herself one mistake.
Her Achilles heel was Daniel Ramsay. She'd felt his pull without reservation when they met at age seventeen. For the next five years, they'd been lovers, allies, and confidants. Neither could imagine a life without the other. There was no question they'd be together through eternity.
Where Bella was open to any and all possibilities life offered, Daniel preferred a predictable path and stubbornly defended it. He served as a check on her sometimes overly ambitious fantasies. She drew him into the world of broadened opportunities he would otherwise have left unexplored. They were perfect together.
Until. Until Daniel's eagerness to enter the business world led him to an MBA program in Miami rather than a gap year in Europe with her. She knew he'd be unhappy in Miami and would join her after his first semester, if he lasted that long. She hadn't counted on a pregnancy that would distract her from wooing him and eliminate the possibility of her flying to Miami to convince him over the Christmas holidays.
Without her regular physical presence, Daniel remained in Miami. Bella ended their relationship via letter. She didn't want him to come in the spring, when the baby would be born and by then, her focus and opportunities had shifted. She longed for him, but accepted the fact that her life would be without Daniel.
Their affair seven years ago reminded both of them what a deep and rare connection they shared. Daniel was on the verge of leaving his younger wife when his father died. Always a sentimentalist, Daniel broke down and lost his nerve. Worse, he’d failed to tell Bella he couldn't leave his status quo.
She wouldn't have minded postponing his divorce. In fact, she'd encouraged him not to divorce. She didn't need to be married to him to know he loved her with all his being. She could have waited out his grief, but his cowardice in not telling her of the change in plans infuriated her. She planned and got her revenge.
Still, she'd never stopped loving Daniel. To learn from LouLou that indifference and neglect at Commonwealth Psych could have led to his death by natural causes and eliminate any possibility of their being together forever shocked her soul.
After LouLou's deposition, Bella called Opal and got the date of Daniel's ER visit at Commonwealth Psych as well as the name of the doctor on duty that day. One phone call later, Bella learned that same man was working today. She headed to Petersburg.
***
Still dressed in her black suit and stilettos, Bella walked through the wall into the bleak utilitarian office of Dr. Arnold Moore. He was an ordinary man in every way. Average height, weight, amount of hair. He wore a lab coat with a mustard stain on the breast pocket over an ill-fitting brown suit with scuffed white sneakers. The ego wall in his office where framed diplomas and certificates hung was more akin to a dullard wall. Mediocre state schools, low ranked residencies, and no clinical board certifications. He was a hack.
Of course he was sitting in his office instead of seeing patients. If he was the kind of doctor who didn't respond to a panic call, she doubted he'd voluntarily spend time with patients. He was staring at the computer screen without typing or using the mouse. Watching a movie, no doubt.
Bella waited until he noticed her. He looked at her through smudged eyeglasses. She doubted he could see her clearly.
“Who are you?” He smirked. No doubt anyone who didn't wear a lab coat wasn't worthy of his time and attention.
“Were you on duty when Daniel Ramsay had a heart attack?” she demanded.
“Who are you?” he repeated.
She moved around his desk and closer to his chair. She spoke in a deadly whisper. “I don't like to repeat myself.”
Flustered, Dr. Moore moved his hands with grime encrusted fingernails to the computer keyboard. “What was the name again?”
“Ramsay, Daniel.”
He made a few false starts. “I'm not good with computers.” His nervous laugh was annoying. Bella stepped closer into his personal space.
“Found it. Yes.” He read through the information on Daniel's ER stay.
“You were the doctor on duty that day,” Bella said.
“Uh, yes. Yes, I signed in that morning.” He kept his eyes on the computer and didn't turn to face her.
“What did you do when you got the call from the panic button?”
This time, his laugh was genuine as he wheeled around in his chair to face her. “The panic button? Surely, you're not serious. That thing hasn't worked since the 1990s.”
Bella slapped him across the face. Hard. He reflexively reached up to touch his cheek that must have stung. He panicked.
“Looking for a panic button of your own, Arnie?” she hissed before she slapped him again. She put her hands around his neck and squeezed.
“This is what it feels like, Arnie. Your patient can't breathe. He's scared. He's helpless. He's waiting for his doctor who never comes.”
“Help,” he gasped as Bella pressed her fingers deeper into his carotid arteries. He flapped his arms in distress.
Bella flung him to the floor, where she kicked him in the groin. As he rolled around in pain, she repeatedly kicked him in the ribs. She rolled him over and stood on him and ground her five-inch narrow heels into his lower back and kidneys. He screamed in pain and released his bladder. She straddled him and yanked his head back by his hair while he lay in a pool of urine.
“You would've let Daniel die. My Daniel. He's mine. He's not yours to let slip away.” Her voice had gone from a deadly hiss to an eerie shriek. She banged his head on the one-hundred-year-old tile floor. Once. Twice. Three times. His broken
nose bled. His eyes were blinded by blood and sweat. The only sound he made was a gurgle.
She kicked his broken eyeglasses across the room, grabbed a computer cable, and knotted it. She looped it over his head and positioned herself so she could pull on it until he choked. She taunted him by pulling and releasing the cable.
“You bastard. You bastard. You bastard,” she shouted. “I'm not going to let you die easily. Just remember who has the reins.” She jerked on the cable and turned him over. She took off her shoes and was just about to stab him in the eye with a stiletto when she was grabbed from behind.
“Let me go.” She struggled. “How can you even see me?” She'd become invisible during her rage.
“Bella. Bella, it's me,” said the man softly and authoritatively. “It's me, Bella. I've got you.”
She turned to see her partner, who lived at Commonwealth Psych. He was helping her relocate the ghosts at Commonwealth who would need homes when the case was won and the hospital was condemned and closed. She tried to wrest herself from his grip and kicked the doctor one last time.
“Bella, stop. This quack is going to get what's coming to him. Don't ruin what you've started. Come on, step back.”
She let him pull her away from the man who was silently lying on the floor.
“Is he dead?”
“Doubt it. Just beat up. Broken nose. Broken ribs. His pride, if he had any, is hurt.”
Big pulled her to him and let her cry. “He could've let Daniel die. Daniel. My Daniel,” she sobbed into his chest. She beat her fists against him until she exhausted herself and fell into his arms.
He stroked her hair. “Daniel's alive, Bella. He didn't die. He's still your Daniel,” he whispered.
“You saved Daniel. LouLou told me about his heart attack during her deposition. She said you saved Daniel's life.”
Big hugged her tightly. “I don't think it was a heart attack. It happened when he discovered LouLou was his child with you. He was highly emotional. I'm almost certain it was panic. Daniel was fragile. Any news, especially news about you, would have triggered a strong emotional response. I treated it like a heart attack to be safe. At worst, it may have been angina. LouLou didn't know anything. She just did what I told her. She may have thought it was a heart attack because of what I did, but I believe it was panic. He must have been given a sedative and immediately transferred to a private hospital. LouLou too.”
Bella cried with relief. “You really don't think it was his heart?”
“No. I'm not a doctor, but I saw what happened first hand. The good thing was that it got both Dan and LouLou out of here and into private facilities where they were well-treated.”
Panic. Not heart. Big wouldn't lie to her.
He held her in his thick arms against his chest for a long time. Finally, a chortle rose from his chest. “Bella,” he tipped her chin up to make her look at him, “What's his story going to be? He got beat up by an invisible girl?”
A smile slowly came to her mouth. “You're right. He may become a patient.”
“Or at least another ghost story for Commonwealth Psych,” he said as he kissed the top of her head.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
The office was too quiet. No one from the AG's office had filed any motions.
A private graveside funeral service had been held for the not-so-Honorable Judge Paul Whiting in a public cemetery. Rumors circulated that only Anna, her husband, and John had attended. A Navy chaplain had conducted the service due to the unavailability of every Catholic priest in Richmond.
Margaret Whiting had been arrested, charged with first degree murder, and released on $250,000 bond. She retreated to a monastery run by an order of nuns at an undisclosed location within the state.
Bella and Mark continued the discovery phase of the case.
To reassure herself that every detail was on track, Bella suggested Mark call a short status meeting in the conference room. Opal took notes on a laptop while Mark ran the meeting.
“Let's get a sense of where we are. We're four weeks away from trial.” Mark looked at his team of two.
“Depositions?” Mark said. “Where are we with patient depositions?”
“All former patients on my list completed,” Bella said.
“All former patients except one for me,” Mark reported. “I'm meeting him at a hotel in Henrico County. His attorney said he's too ill to come to the office.”
Daniel. Daniel was Mark's remaining patient. Nina Lombardi, Daniel's attorney, wasn't going to let some civil rights case derail Daniel's health. She'd make it as easy as possible for Daniel to comply with the subpoena. Good.
“Other former patients?” Mark asked Opal.
“All accounted for, including those who've died. The public notices for the two who remain unavailable have expired.”
“Larry Yarbrough,” said Bella quietly, referring to the man who'd been convicted of killing Evan Cooper. She was subtly reminding them he'd been a patient first and a killer second.
Mark nodded in acknowledgement. “Dr. Constantine continues to update me. He'll let me know as soon as Yarbrough is healthy and lucid enough to speak with some clarity. That might be on very short notice. Maybe a same-day trip. So, we have two remaining patient depositions.”
Mark moved on. “Former hospital staff. Where are we on those?”
“Depositions from former doctors are scheduled for this week,” Opal said.
Bella reported that she had completed deposing the former nursing staff, reviewed their employee records, and examined documents they'd provided.
“Current staff. What's up with them, Opal?”
“Some of them are fighting the subpoena. I have a list of them and their scheduled dates. They need responses,” Opal said.
“I'll handle that this afternoon.” Mark stretched his head and neck. “We're good on patients and staff. That leaves consultants. Opal, how's that going?”
Opal had been thorough. She’d itemized every piece of evidence.
“Expert witnesses. Drafts of expert witness testimony that the state failed to protect Evan Cooper from a violent Larry Yarbrough, who still had bath salts pumping through his body, are on your desk. Civil rights documents. I have transcripts of all the Human Rights Watch group meetings, including closed sessions. I have a tally of abuses that were reported and ignored. Also, there's a list of all the civil rights violations reported by the hospital to the state. I'm finalizing the chronology of federal guidelines to correct abuses starting in 1999. None of them have been followed.”
“1999? Opal, that's almost twenty years the state has known about these violations,” Bella noted.
Opal shrugged. “That's according to two documents.”
Marked plowed on. “Motions?”
“The Motion for Summary Judgment is done except to fill in the blanks,” Bella said quietly.
Mark smiled at Bella. Of course, it was done. It had been done before Mark took the case.
“What's a Summary Judgment?” Opal seemed interested.
“It's a Fuck Off move to the AG's office,” Mark explained. “It means we advise Judge King that everything she needs to know about the case is in our motion with its attachments. Every crime has several parts called elements. The plaintiff—that's us representing Evan Cooper—has to prove that every element of the crime was committed by the defendant—the Commonwealth represented by the AG's office—and is supported by admissible evidence.
“We say every single element of the crime was committed by the defendant and we have proof of that. The defense can't deny or refute our statements without committing perjury—lying to the court. No one in the AG's office is going to lie to Judge King. They'll be disbarred. We ask her to rule in favor of Evan Cooper's family now and save the state from a long expensive trial.”
“What does the defense say?” Opal asked.
Mark smiled at his protégé. “They oppose our motion. First, they tell Judge King not all the elements of
the crime have been committed. Second, they try to discredit our evidence for every element. In this case, they'll submit some convoluted reason because there aren't any actual reasons. If they convince Judge King even one of the elements doesn't have admissible evidence, she has no choice but to deny our motion and proceed to trial.”
“That's not going to happen,” Bella jumped in. “Every element has been committed and we have double- and triple-checked the evidence for accuracy. The AG's office has nothing but BS. Judge King will see that and say let's not waste money for a trial that's going to end with the same result. She'll rule in favor of Evan Cooper's family.”
“Awesome,” Opal said. “I didn't know lawyers could be so cool.”
Mark smiled again. “The judge has to be cool too. Judge King is a very smart woman and an excellent judge. She hates wasting time. She fines lawyers who are late. She denies postponements unless there's a colossal emergency as the reason for the request. She's not going to preside over a six-week trial to come up with the same verdict. We'll win on our Motion for Summary Judgment.”
Opal's eyes darted between Bella and Mark. She looked stoked.
“Don't get too excited,” Mark cautioned. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime case. It's not always so cool, but at least we're the good guys here.”
Mark turned to Bella. “Did the AG's office follow through with the Notice of Appeal of Jurisdiction?”
“No,” Bella said. “They never filed. They either forgot or considered it moot given the uproar when Judge Whiting was outed and then killed.”
Mark nodded. “We win the case.”
“What do we win?” Opal caught on quickly.
“Damages. It sounds odd, but the court will award what's called damages. It's almost always money. Sometimes there's a particular request granted. In this case, we've asked for both.
“When Judge King grants our Motion for Summary Judgment, she determines how Evan Cooper's family will be compensated for his death caused by the state. We've asked for twenty million dollars plus the closing of Commonwealth Psychiatric Hospital.”