by Mary Bush
“And this would have been expensive?” Jack said enthusiastically.
“Hell, yes.”
Jack’s face lit up, and as he put his hand to his forehead, Val prodded his arm and said, “Care to tell me what’s going on?”
“Of course, but let me ask this question first. Are you interested in working undercover again? Because what you did with Lauren Fitzgibbons the other day was utterly brilliant.”
33
Jack’s compliment about her undercover work hit home, and Val rode with it. She wanted to do this. She hungered for it. She had once felt passion for her profession as a dentist, but this surpassed it. The night before she was to meet Julia’s lawyer, she barely slept. Adrenaline was fueling a high that was hard to come down from.
“Mr. Underwood, how did your professional relationship with Julia DeHaviland begin? You were the defense attorney for her lawsuit, correct?” Jack asked.
Tracking down the name of Julia’s lawyer hadn’t been easy. She didn’t have it listed in any of her records. Jack had finally managed to get it from Lauren Fitzgibbon’s attorney, who had met with Bradley Underwood just before Julia’s death.
Val sat next to Jack, trying to relax as she waited her turn. She was introduced as his partner. She was supposed to ask her own questions, and was keen to do so. Val was very familiar with malpractice insurance. She had to have a policy when she was in practice, so she knew the dos and don’ts. Cancelling a policy with the threat of a patient bringing a lawsuit would be a stupid thing to do. Sure, it would ruin the plaintiff’s chances of getting a large sum of money from the deep pocket of an insurance company, but the person being sued would ultimately be responsible for any payout, not to mention all the legal fees. Those legal fees alone could easily run into six figures.
In essence, Julia cancelled the policy so that Lauren and Colin wouldn’t benefit from a multi-million-dollar award, but she hired a lawyer that would have cost her a considerable sum. This meant that she had the money to pay him.
“She called my office one day and made an appointment. It was that simple.” Bradley sat behind a cheaply made desk, which Val guessed was veneered and not solid wood. The carpeting in both the office and hallway was standard industrial-grade steel gray, worn in many places by years of traffic. Mass-produced art hung on the walls. As she looked around at the unimpressive surroundings, Val couldn’t help but wonder how and why Julia picked Bradley Underwood as her lawyer.
“And you were paid privately?” Jack asked.
“Yes.”
“What is your retainer?” Val joined in.
“Twenty thousand.”
She was stunned at the amount and fought hard not to show it on her face. “Is that all you asked for in this case?”
“No. I also have an hourly fee once the retainer is exhausted. I usually ask for this to be paid as a lump sum at the end.”
“How much did that total up to the date she died?” Val asked a little too quickly, not thinking the question all the way through.
Bradley looked at her oddly. “I’m really not at liberty to divulge that kind of information.”
Val took a deep breath. “Okay. Hypothetically, if someone were to hire your services, and you were to put in the same amount of time as you did in Julia’s case up until her death, what would a ballpark figure be?”
Bradley shrugged his shoulders.
“Over twenty thousand?” Val pressed.
“Possibly. Give or take.” Bradley smiled and Val couldn’t help but think that amount was definitely on the give end.
Val decided to go out on a limb here. “Didn’t you think it was strange that she gave you cash and not a check for the retainer?” It had to have been in cash. There was no record of Julia paying by check.
“No. She was going through a divorce, as you must know. Her husband was after her money and it was easier for her this way.”
Julia paid twenty thousand in cash? Val thought.
“As far as the lump sum payment at the end then, weren’t you worried how Julia would be able to pay? I mean, how could she compensate you in the end if she also had to give Lauren a large award? Julia would be broke. Neither of you would get anything.”
“What do you mean?” Bradley shook his head in confusion. “Julia’s malpractice policy would have covered any award.”
Val grew puzzled. “But Julia had no malpractice insurance.”
“That’s incorrect. She had a pretty large policy. Ten million from what I recall,” Bradley said confidently.
“Oh, it’s very correct. She cancelled it. Cancelled it before she hired you.” Val’s thoughts quickly fired. How could he not have known this?
Bradley got up from his chair, walked over to a filing cabinet and began thumbing through the folders. He pulled one out. “I have a copy of her policy right here.”
“I can also show you a copy of the cancellation notice for that,” Val said. “If you thought Julia had a policy, didn’t you find it was strange that she would hire you privately? The insurance carrier would have assigned a lawyer to her. It would have been covered under that policy.”
“She told me she didn’t like the lawyer they picked for her. In fact, Julia said she couldn’t stand her.” Bradley sat back down. “Look, she never said anything to me about not having malpractice insurance. Not once. In fact, at every meeting we had she led me to believe that she had it. Jesus, the day she died, I advised her to settle the case. She had no chance of winning. Julia did this procedure as a favor to Lauren and probably should have waited until the office opened. It really was her downfall.”
“Excuse me? This was done in an office that wasn’t even opened yet?” Val asked.
“Yes, it was still being built. All of the equipment was in. I think all that was left to do was place some fixtures in the bathrooms, hang wallpaper and lay a rug in the waiting room. So basically, it was close, but there was no staff to witness the event. Julia hadn’t hired anyone because she wasn’t treating patients yet. She was alone with Lauren when she removed the mole and alone with her when she did the follow-up visit. There was no one to support her story.”
“Why would Julia do this?” Val said more to herself than to those in the room.
Bradley Underwood said, “In Julia’s defense, she thought Lauren was her friend. I’ve seen many doctors screw themselves because they take care of so-called friends after hours in less-than-ideal settings.”
“Where was Julia practicing before this incident?” asked Val.
“Julia used to belong to an organization that performed medical services in developing countries. It was tough work. She got burned-out and decided to go back to the US and set up her own office. So, she had no prior practice.”
“And she never opened this office?”
“No. The problem with Lauren stopped that,” said Bradley. “Instead, she got the job at the medical examiner’s office. She also had a degree in pathology and thought it would be better to work on the dead. The lawsuit really destroyed her confidence. It’s not uncommon for someone who is accused of malpractice to shy away from his or her profession for a while. Julia was done with shying away. She wanted to fight Lauren and Colin and be a plastic surgeon again.”
Once they were outside, Jack patted Val on the shoulder. “I’m impressed, Val. That was awesome questioning.”
She loved the compliment, but something bothered her. “I can’t get over the fact that she cancelled the policy, for whatever act of revenge she hoped to get by doing this. All she does is screw herself. If Julia wanted to be a plastic surgeon again, if this was her reason for hiring Bradley Underwood—so that he would fight this case—why cancel the policy? Why cancel it before the lawsuit even started? A lawsuit she knew she was going to lose. After this was over, there would be no way in hell Julia would ever be a plastic surgeon again. She would be broke, a bad credit risk and basically uninsurable again. But my bigger problem is that she lied to Bradley about the policy to begin with and that ma
kes me feel that she also lied to him about her reasons for wanting to fight this case. Why would she have done this?”
“We still haven’t answered our original question either. Where did she get the money to pay Bradley, especially if she had no previous plastic surgery practice?” Jack added.
34
It was only 9am and Val had already consumed four cups of coffee. As she ran down the hall to the ladies’ room she looked at her phone. There were two messages from Jack and three from Gwen, all within the last couple of minutes. She was about to read them when she bumped into Zoe.
“I’ve been looking for you,” said the toxicologist. “The results on the testing of the samples from the skulls for the muscle-paralyzing drug pancuronium are finished.”
Val completely forget about the need to pee. “And?”
“The unknown skull found in the Devil’s Hole Park was inconclusive for it, and so was the first one found—the one discovered in Chestnut Ridge Park. I’m not surprised by that, though. It was pretty dried out and that could have had a big effect on the testing. But Francine Donohue was positive for it. This new test actually seems to work. According to this, both Samantha Ritcher and her sister Francine Donohue had this drug in their system.”
Val wanted to hug Zoe for giving her such good news but then Zoe said something that made her legs feel weak.
“But Dr. Blythe isn’t buying it.”
Dr. Blythe knows about the drug testing, thought Val, horror mounting.
Zoe must have seen Val’s face, because she added quickly, “I only said anything to him because I thought he would be interested to hear that this type of analysis was possible and that it suggested Francine had this drug in her system too.” She sighed. “But he was concerned that this technique was experimental and he couldn’t possibly accept this as scientific proof. He needed more to go on to consider Samantha’s death related to Francine’s, let alone prove Francine had something like pancuronium in her system.” Zoe ended by stressing to Val that Dr. Blythe was really upset that she would even do this kind of testing. “He wants to know why I did it.”
The pit of Val’s stomach dropped. Dr. Blythe would certainly find out she also was involved with this experiment too, if he didn’t know already. He must have asked Zoe how she got the bone specimens. Oh God, does he know I gave them to Zoe?
“He’s going to rule Samantha’s death an accident,” she said. “Sorry, I thought we had something there.”
Zoe started to go into more detail about how mad Blythe had been. Val couldn’t listen anymore. With each word she knew how dangerous the situation was becoming and made an excuse to be on her way. She needed to think this through. Quickly.
Val was almost to her office when she heard someone yelling her name. It was Candace, calling for her to stop. Val halted and turned. When she did, her pulse exploded. Candace had a slip of paper in her hand.
“You received this message today.” She handed Val a note. “The woman seemed a little irritated that you haven’t returned her other messages.”
Val exhaled so strongly that she almost became light-headed. Candace made no mention of any skull specimens. And she didn’t say that Dr. Blythe wanted to see her about said skull specimens. Val read the message and she tried to comprehend what she was seeing. “Did this person say what this was in regards to?” she managed to ask.
“No, but she did say she needed to talk you immediately.”
What on earth could this be about? Val didn’t want to deal with out-of-the-blue problems right now. Unfortunately, she had to. The message was from the Florida State licensing department. They had questions about her dental license. Val had no idea what they could possibly want. She walked away from Candace without any further conversation and went to her office. At this point it was hard to even think straight.
She punched in the phone number and after a few rings someone answered.
“Division of professional regulation, board of examiners for the State of Florida, Stephanie Carter speaking, how may I help you.”
“My name is Dr. Valentina Knight. I received a message to call you back.”
Stephanie was quiet for a couple of seconds. Val could hear computer keys clacking in the background. “Ah, yes, Dr. Knight. I have been trying to track you down. You’re a hard one to get a hold of.”
“I’m sorry, what is this in regards to?” Val was curt, wanting to know why this woman was calling her. There was a lot on her mind and she wanted to get this nuisance out of the way.
“We’re going to need you to fill out a new application. It’s because of the lapse, you see. You can’t just renew anymore if it’s after one year of the expiration date.”
“Renew what?” Val responded, thoroughly confused.
“Your license to practice dentistry.”
“My dental license? I’m not renewing my Florida license,” Val said.
Stephanie ignored her response and continued. “If it was less than a year on the lapse we would just need a continuing education record and a CPR card to prove your cardiopulmonary resuscitation course was taken. You’ve sent both, but unfortunately, that won’t be enough.”
“There must be some mistake, I never filed paperwork for the renewal. I never sent you anything.” Val’s voice wavered. She started to grow worried.
“I have an application right in front of me. You are Dr. Valentina Knight?” She spelled the last name and then read Val’s Florida license number.
“That is correct.” Val’s heart started to pound. This wasn’t some simple mistake. “Can you tell me the date on the application?”
Stephanie stated the date and Val nearly dropped the phone. It was filed a few days after she was hired at the medical examiner’s office.
“Thank you very much,” Val said, her voice trembling. “But I’ve changed my mind on the renewal.” She didn’t give Stephanie Carter time to say much more before hanging up.
Val just stared at the wall in shock. Someone was trying to renew her Florida license. Someone sent in her personal information to do so. Someone also sent in a CPR card and continuing education record. She hadn’t taken any continuing education in over a year and her CPR certification was out of date. Val cupped her hand over her mouth and sat in the chair. Her skin felt prickly as every nerve came alive with fear. What in the hell is going on?
“There you are. I’ve been trying to call you,” Gwen said as she entered the office. “I heard from Jack. He’s been trying to reach you too. Why haven’t you answered your phone? He and Thomas are on the way to interview Colin again as we speak, and that’s not all!”
Val felt her head spinning. So much was happening all at once. Her thoughts quickly leapt from one nightmare to the next and she tried hard not to break down.
“Lauren Fitzgibbons is back in the hospital. Her infection just worsened!” Gwen said.
“Is she all right?” Val managed to get out.
“No. She’s critical.”
35
Colin slumped over the table in the interrogation room. A month in prison had taken its toll. He looked tired and defeated. Arrogant smiles no longer stretched across his face, the cocky attitude had been replaced with the solemn image of hopeless desperation. When told of Lauren’s condition he didn’t seem to care and appeared far more concerned with his own fate.
“I told you before, I don’t know how that other woman’s DNA got on my clothing,” Colin said. Thomas and Jack had been questioning him for nearly two hours and were no further along than when they first started. Gavin sat quietly in the corner. He hadn’t said two words since they began.
“I think my client’s had enough,” Colin’s lawyer said firmly.
“He’s my client too.” Thomas’s tone was sharp. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead. He hadn’t felt well all morning and this interview was draining what little energy he had left. Turning to Colin, he stated as strongly as he could, “Tell me again how Julia’s blood got on your cloth
es then. Let’s start there.”
Colin put his hands to his head, running his fingers through his hair, holding the strands back from his face. He sat up and continued. “I got her blood on me after I grabbed her wrist. She had a towel wrapped around it and it was dripping with blood. Now that I remember, it wasn’t just wet with blood. It was soaked with water too. She was washing her wrist under the faucet and had the towel wrapped around it. The bloody water from the towel splashed my shirt and I know at some point I wiped my hands on my pant leg.”
“What happened next?”
“She ran to the bathroom, I followed her and—”
Thomas interrupted him. “Did you do anything before going after her?”
“I opened the cupboard door to grab another towel for her.”
“Okay, then you followed her to the bathroom.”
“Yes, I stood outside the door trying to get her to let me in.”
“How long before she opened the door?”
“Not long. She yelled out that she was okay and she was bandaging her wrist. She came out a few minutes later.”
“She didn’t want you to take her to the hospital?” Gavin finally spoke up.
“I suggested it. She was embarrassed about what she did and didn’t want anyone to know. She said she took care of it and wasn’t worried.”
“Your wife cuts herself badly enough to get blood all over you and she’s not worried about it?” Gavin said. He stared at Colin, challenging him.
“Look, like I told you before. She was a surgeon. Who the hell am I to argue with her about things like that?” Colin snapped.
Gavin got up from his chair and walked over to Colin. He stood within inches of him. “What a convenient excuse.”
Colin lurched forward but the shackles kept him confined to his seat. His lawyer grabbed him by the arm to keep him from saying anything more.
“What happened after she came out of the bathroom? You stayed for quite a while,” Thomas said.