Sacred Trust (31 page)

The hospital board might even threaten to dismiss Estelle Pinkley for protecting Bower for so long. Bailey would probably push for that.

For a moment Jarvis hesitated. Should he give this information to Estelle? She was, after all, the administrator. Of course, she'd been nothing but a pain to him the past few years, changing everything here at the hospital so that they were computerized. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned medicine? And Estelle had been the one to hire Bower. If Bailey forced her out, that would be her problem.

Jarvis took another satisfied breath and smiled. He should have started taking this Demerol weeks ago.

L
ukas awakened to the sound of the overhead intercom paging Dr. Richmond to call the switchboard. He glanced at the lighted dials of the clock, groaned, and tried to turn over and go back to sleep. It was only ten-thirty. He wanted to sleep until noon, at least.

Unfortunately, as he dozed off again, he remembered that Beverly was on duty this morning. He needed to talk to her before the noon rush hit.

Beverly stood in the trauma room when he stepped from his call room. She had her back to him, checking the defibrillator batteries. She was alone. Good.

Lukas stepped into the room behind her. “Beverly?”

She stopped working, but did not turn around or speak.

“Can we talk?” he asked.

She stood for another moment with her back to him, then slowly turned around, a wary expression on her face.

He strolled over and leaned casually against the cot. “How are things going with Cowboy?”

“Pretty good.”

“Is he letting you drive his car?”

She flashed him a ghost of one of her old, teasing grins. “Now, Dr. Bower, you know I'm not going out with him just for his car.”

“Of course not. I figured you wanted to get to know Leonardo a little better.”

She shrugged. “He's a nice cat…in his place.”

“Which is in a stainless-steel cage?”

“Exactly.”

“Did Buck's wife ever forgive you for getting him into that mess?”

“She actually spoke to me at the grocery store the other day.”

“Good. Then things are back to normal.”

“If you want to call Cowboy normal.”

“The animals seem to like him, and animals are supposed to be good judges of character. I'm sure they like you, too,” Lukas added. “You've got character. Integrity.”

Her expression froze. She closed her eyes and sighed, turning back to her work.

“Beverly,” he said gently, “do you remember that AMA report you were going to do for me about Dwayne Little?”

She kept working and didn't answer. It was answer enough.

“It's protocol, Beverly. I need you to do the report.”

She worked a moment longer, then said, “I'm sorry, Dr. Bower, but I don't feel right about it.”

Lukas frowned. “You don't feel right about following hospital protocol?”

“I don't feel comfortable about the way you handled the case.” She sighed again and turned around. “You threatened Dwayne. No wonder he left against medical advice.”

“You know exactly what happened that day. Why have you changed your mind?”

“I've had some time to think about it. That medication could have killed him.”

“Only if he were a drug addict, and you know I wouldn't have given it to him anyway. I was just trying to bring the problem out in the open. You were the one who alerted me to his drug-seeking behavior.”

An expression of annoyance crossed her face. “Don't blame me for this. I didn't tell you to threaten him!”

“I did not threaten him. I even offered to get him into a drug rehab program. Come on, Beverly, Dwayne Little is in big trouble and everybody knows it.”

She crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to meet Lukas's gaze.

He shook his head impatiently. “If you have a problem with the way I handled the case, then write me up, but do the AMA form. If you don't, it looks as if I turned away a patient without offering relief from his pain, and that's not true. It's a COBRA violation, and it could put my job and the future of this hospital in jeopardy.”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “I'm sorry.”

Lukas waited for her to say something more, but she didn't. “Has Jarvis been threatening you?” he asked.

“No.”

“Dwayne Little?”

She shook her head, still not looking at him.

“Bailey Little, then.”

She turned away.

“He's threatening your job?” Lukas asked.

“He's saying I could be implicated with you if I do the AMA form.”

“He's wrong, and you should know that. He's manipulating you. The AMA form simply states the circumstances.”

“He's a powerful man, Dr. Bower. He could ruin my
whole career. If I sign that AMA form, I'll look as guilty as you, as if I were in agreement with your course of treatment.”

“Your signing of the form would simply show that you know that Dwayne refused my proposal.” He wished she would turn around and look at him. He took a step closer. “If you have a problem with the proposed treatment, you can write me up after you sign the AMA form.”

“It's a little late for that, isn't it? If I did that now, he would just say I was trying to cover myself.”

“His word is not law. Mrs. Pinkley will have something to say about this, and I won't let you take the fall. Beverly, you didn't do anything wrong. Neither did I.”

She still didn't look at him, but paced restlessly across the room. “Do you know how hard it is to make a living for a family of three on a nurse's salary around here? I don't get child support, I don't get help of any kind and I have kids depending on me. If I cross the president of the hospital board, I can kiss my job goodbye without any hope of a good recommendation.”

“That depends on whom you ask.”

She shook her head in exasperation and glanced at him briefly.

“You're willing to help Bailey and his son hide the truth?” Lukas said it sadly.

She stopped pacing and stared at him as if he'd slapped her.

“You're going to let Bailey Little's threats prevent you from doing the job you were hired to do?”

“When you have a family of your own to support—”

“Is that going to be your excuse when someone tells you to start letting patients die because keeping them alive cuts into hospital profits?”

“Of course not!”

“Where do you draw the line between principles and a comfy home?”

“Where do you get off talking about principles? You got kicked out of your residency for endangering patients!”

Lukas returned her glare. So Jarvis had sunk to mudslinging—Jarvis or Bailey, or someone else itching to get rid of him. What other rumors had been spread about him throughout the hospital, even the town? Mercy was right about Knolls.

“I was exonerated of all charges in Kansas City,” he said quietly. “My name was cleared in court.”

A voice from the hallway startled them both. “Should we don boxing gloves?”

They turned toward the door to find Jarvis George standing in the entrance, arms folded in front of him.

“You two were shouting loudly enough for me to hear you out at the desk.”

Lukas refrained from telling Jarvis that Beverly had been the only one shouting.

“Sorry, Dr. George,” Beverly said. She did not look at Lukas again but turned and walked out.

The older doctor smiled at Lukas. It was a smile totally without humor or warmth. “Trouble with the staff, Bower?”

“Trouble with empty rumors and poorly drawn conclusions.”

The smile vanished. “You're not going to have to worry about that much longer. You cut your own throat with patient treatment this morning. Add to that a letter that was faxed to me by Mrs. Ivy Richmond, and you're out of this hospital.”

“Which patient are you talking about?”

“Mrs. Dondi Baker. You gave her a breathing treatment
and sent her home with an acute myocardial infarction.” He drew the words out as if relishing the sound of them. “No EKG, no X-ray—”

“She refused them. Where is she? How is she doing?”

“That's not your problem now, is it, Bower?”

He took a step toward Jarvis. “Of course it's my problem. What's going on with her?”

“On her way to Cox South. She came in for her appointment and told me you left her alone in the exam room for at least an hour while you treated another patient.”

“You told her I took too many unnecessary tests last time, and she refused to let me do anything but a blood test, which showed—”

“I'm not really interested in that. The patient is not held liable where medical negligence is apparent. She shouldn't have to play doctor—that's why she came to the emergency room.”

“Was I supposed to diagnose an MI with a stethoscope?”

A hint of the hateful smile returned. “A good doctor could do it.”

Lukas shook his head. “Only if there's an S-4 murmur, which she did not have. I checked. Was I supposed to hold her down and do the tests by force?”

“If she had trusted you in the first place, she would have listened to you. I didn't have any trouble with her at all.”

“I wouldn't have had any trouble, either, if you hadn't already undermined me. Was it really worth all this just to get rid of me? What if she dies? Will it be worth it then?”

Jarvis held up some papers, the top of which was an incident report on Lukas's treatment of Dondi Baker this morning. “When the quality assurance committee sees this in a few minutes, and when the hospital board reads
the facts about you next week, Estelle Pinkley won't know what hit her. And then I won't have to worry about warning my patients about you.” He pivoted and left.

Lukas noticed that Jarvis's footsteps faltered as he walked away.

 

Tedi had not yet been released when Mercy received the call from Colorado. Ivy's voice sounded weak and distant. Maybe the connection was bad.

“Mom? Where are you calling from? I thought you'd be out in the middle of the mountains by now. Don't tell me you took my advice and carried a cell phone in your pack.”

“I didn't.”

Mercy didn't like the sound of her voice. “What's going on? Is everything okay?”

“Just a little mishap, nothing for you to worry about. I'll be coming back home sooner than expected.” Ivy sighed. “I'm afraid I've botched the whole trip for everyone, except maybe for Louise, Hugh Heagerty's old nurse. She hates Colorado and is coming back with me. I don't know how anyone could hate Colorado.”

“Mom, what's going on?”

“You were right, honey. I had no right to disregard your feelings and come out here.”

“What happened? You sound awful.”

“I just couldn't take the high altitude.”

“You had another bad rhythm.”

“My heart acted up on the trail,” she admitted. “Hugh had taken some extra precautions, thanks to you, and he broke the rhythm, then brought me and the rest of the gang all the way to Denver. I'm in the hospital now. He saved my life, Mercy.”

“Is Hugh there? Let me talk to him.”

“He's gone. I sent them all back, except for Louise. She's bringing me home Monday.”

Mercy leaned back against the wall, overwhelmed.

“I'm fine, Mercy. There was no damage. It wasn't a heart attack.”

“Who's the cardiologist treating you?”

There was a pause. “I don't know, Dr. Davis…something. I really didn't pay that much attention because it's no big deal. Hugh took care of everything.”

“I want to talk to him.”

“And I don't want you to. You have enough going on without taking this on. I told you I'm fine. Believe me, Hugh would never have left me here if he weren't convinced I'd be okay. And Louise will keep a sharp eye on me. Are you on rounds?”

“No.”

“Oh? I thought you were off this morning, but you didn't answer at home. Can't you stay way from that hospital?”

“It seems I can't.” Mercy hesitated. It didn't seem like a good time to tell her about Tedi, but Mother would be furious if she came back on Monday and…

“Honey?” Ivy prompted. “What's wrong? Are you okay?”

“I'm tired, Mom. I slept in the ICU all night on one of those hard cots.”

“Babysitting one of your patients again?”

“We had a calamity last night. Tedi was stung by a bee, and she had a reaction.”

There was a pocket of shocked silence. “What kind of reaction?”

“She went into anaphylactic shock. Dr. Bower almost
had to do a cricothyroidotomy before she started breathing again.”

Ivy gave a sharp intake of breath. “I knew I shouldn't have come. I should have been there.”

“It got a little ugly with Theo for a while, but Lukas managed to convince him he was not welcome here.”

“Lukas?”

“I slugged Theo in the mouth. Lukas kept me from killing him.”

There was a long pause, and Mercy could have sworn she heard a faint hum of reluctant approval. “Where is Tedi?” Ivy asked finally. “Can I talk to her?”