Wally watched the dark clouds rolling across the sky. His joints had been aching since yesterday, a sure sign of rain. He didn’t listen to the weatherman; his body never failed him and he told people all the time when to expect bad weather but nobody seemed to listen. Standing in the church vestibule, he watched Caroline praying over the empty grave of her son. Seeing her here all the time caused him to develop a special fondness for her even though she was so understandably tormented. Having lost a child himself he understood her grief, but could never quite wrap his head around the disappearance of her son’s little body. He felt grateful for having the chance to give his precious wife and baby a proper good-bye and burial.
Holding a large black golf umbrella in his hand, he walked the cemetery path, occasionally bending down to pick up a piece of litter that had been inadvertently left by visitors. There was a low rumble of thunder and stillness in the air. He could smell the approaching storm.
“Caroline, the sky is about to open up. You shouldn’t be out here, it’s going to be bad, thunder and lightning.” Wally opened the umbrella and held it over her, feeling the first drops of rain hit his face.
Caroline looked up and stood, then whispered, “Thank you.”
Halfway back to the church the wind started and the few drops of rain had turned into a waterfall. The sound of the pounding downpour was deafening. They walked fast and Wally was grateful when they reached the church. Holding the door open for Caroline, he waited until she was in before closing the umbrella. Henry appeared with two cups of steaming coffee. “I saw you coming over the hill and thought you could use a boost of midday caffeine.” Gesturing with his head he led them into the small kitchen, where Agnes’s homemade sugar cookies were spread out on a serving platter. The trio sat down, each sipping coffee and eating cookies in a comfortable silence.
Caroline spoke first, “I spend so much time at Andrew’s grave but haven’t been to church since the memorial service. It feels sad but good to be in here again, I can’t explain it.”
Putting his cookie down, Henry spoke in a sincere voice, “Caroline, this door is always open. You’re welcome to come in whenever you have the need or desire. That being said, it would be nice to see you and your mom sitting in one of those pews again. You’ve been missed but not forgotten. Every day I pray for peace to find you.” She reached across the table and together the three of them held hands, forming a closed circle. With heads bowed and eyes closed, Henry led the prayer for his sister-in-law and niece, for Andrew, and for all the lost children and the parents they left behind.
Jake and Delaney arrived at University Hospital and showed their identifications to the front desk. Having more impressive credentials than a local cop, Jake did the talking and requested a meeting with the nursing manager from labor and delivery. They stood waiting while the lady helping them made some phone calls. Finally she finished and told them, “Karen Rosenfield will meet you with on the unit. Someone from security will be here shortly to walk you over.”
“I appreciate your help,” Jake replied as he turned to see Delaney buying two cans of Diet Coke from a barista in the waiting area. He smiled to himself at her predictability and thought about the evening they spent together. Just the thought of what she did to him the night before made the heat in his pants grow. She walked over and handed him a can of Diet Coke. He took audible gulps of the ice cold beverage hoping it would put out the fire happening between his legs. As he settled himself down, the security officer arrived.
“You must be the police,” he said and quickly shook both of their hands. “I’m Tony and I’ll be taking you over to see Karen. This place is so big it’s easy to get lost around here.”
Jake and Delaney followed, and got an earful of everything that was wrong with the world. In the ten minutes it took walking to the unit, he complained about his health benefits being cut, his wife’s cooking, and how the clerk at the grocery store wouldn’t accept his expired coupon. He gave his opinions on how to solve the economic down turn and reasons why New Jersey should become two separate states. The elevator ride to the eighth floor felt like it took forever and they were both relieved when Tony announced their arrival at the nurses’ station and left with the housekeeper, his voice booming down the hall as he continued on his rant.
Nurses in coordinated light blue scrubs were scurrying around everywhere. Delaney wondered how anyone knew what was going on with all the noise. She could hear multiple phones ringing and the countertops were filled with TV-like monitors with different color lines flashing across the screen with alarms sounding. In the background of all this commotion she could hear the screams of more than one woman giving birth. Apparently a father passed out in one room and was now propped in a wheel chair with a nurse holding smelling salts under his nose. Once he opened his eyes and answered the nurse’s questions correctly, he was left in the hall to linger. Her first thought was thank God she didn’t become a nurse.
A large woman from behind the desk stood and escorted them into an empty patient room. “Karen will be right with you, just stay here and wait,” and she turned, closing the door behind herself. The room was small but bright with three rocking chairs and a physicians stool with wheels. The bed was neatly made with crisp white sheets which had University Hospital stamped in dark ink all over them. Awkwardly Delaney looked at the stirrups coming from the foot of the bed and the large round mirror hanging from the ceiling directly over them. On the other side of the bed was a tall narrow table with shiny instruments which resembled tools of torture. This was the closest she had ever been to an actual birth and she felt terrified for all pregnant women. She felt herself cringe and squeezed her legs together. As if Jake could read her mind, he let out a laugh but before he could say anything the door opened and a very animated Karen Rosenfield introduced herself.
Karen was short and stocky, with heavy breasts hanging down to her waist pointed in opposite directions. Her blue scrub pants were too tight and the stitching along her outer thigh looked like it could burst open at any second. Holding a stack of disheveled papers, she waddled to the rocker and plopped down.
“Mrs. Rosenfield, thanks for meeting us on such short notice.”
Immediately she corrected Delaney, “I’m a miss not a misses. And you can call me Karen.”
“Okay Karen, we’re here because we have some questions regarding the birth and death of Andrew O’Sullivan. Surely you’ve heard of him?” Jake studied her face and waited for a response.
“Of course I’ve heard of him. Who hasn’t? It’s horrible. We still talk about him and his mom, but always out of the earshot of administration.”
Delaney straightened up and asked, “But aren’t you considered administration? You are the manager of this unit, aren’t you?”
“Oh no, are you kidding? I’m a floor nurse. My name just happened to be highlighted on the schedule today, making me in charge. Usually it’s not a big deal around here but our manager was fired today. Apparently someone e-mailed a picture of her in bed with a man and another woman to the vice president of this place.”
Delaney’s ears immediately perked up and she wanted to know more. “Who would do something like that? Does she have any idea who sent it?” She leaned toward Karen, not wanting to miss anything.
Karen was eager to answer, “No, our IT department said it wasn’t traceable because it came from a hotmail account. But it gets better. Brad in IT saw the picture, and he said she has a tattoo on her lower stomach that says ‘lick me’ with an arrow pointing downward to her goodies. Can you believe it? She was always such a cold-hearted witch, it’s been cause for celebration around here. Do you want to see it? I was on my way to radiology when I got the call you wanted to see me. Apparently Brad printed it and now it’s hanging on an x-ray board, lit up for all the world to see.” She let out a howl larger than herself.
Delaney couldn’t believe it; she thought there was justice after all. Realizing she just said that out loud she looked up to see Karen s
till laughing but Jake had his eyebrows raised. She knew he wasn’t going to let this go.
Trying to change the subject now, she asked Karen if she was working the day Andrew was born.
“Actually it was my day off but it was crazy here and the supervisor called to see if I would come in for double time and a four hundred dollar bonus. I jumped on the opportunity and came in. From what I remember he had already been born and was in the NICU. It was mad busy that day, I remember coming in to chaos. Summer is always the busiest time of year for us.”
“And why is that?” Jake questioned.
“Well, I guess it’s because people have more sex during winter months. It’s a known fact. And with that we get more babies born and they overcrowd our NICU. The increase in drug-addicted babies takes most of our time; they tend to have longer stays.”
Jake didn’t know people had more sex in the winter. He made a mental note of that. “Was Andrew a drug baby?”
“Oh, I have no idea. But let me check for you,” and she logged onto the computer mounted on the wall.
Delaney spoke up, “Karen, do you want to consult with the hospital attorneys before you search his records?”
“Are you kidding me? They’re so busy over that picture, it’s driving them crazy. Apparently it was e-mailed to well over a hundred people, and they’re scared silly of being sued, sexual harassment issues and stuff like that. It’s not good for publicity. And anyway, I’m set to retire next week. I’ve had it with this place and their privacy rules. After thirty years I don’t even get a watch. Whatever you need I can print from this room, just let me know.”
Jake and Delaney glanced at each other then back at Karen. “What about the drugs? Was Andrew screened for any, legal or illegal?” Delaney asked.
“He was definitely screened, along with his mother. It’s hospital policy that when any baby has a seizure, blood is drawn. Seizures are a symptom of drug withdrawal. Here it is, he had blood, urine, and stool tested for drugs, legal and illegal. It all came back negative. His mother was negative also. Standard procedure also calls for a routine work up to rule out other things too. All the tests and reports are right here. Ultrasound of head, EEG, EKG, chest x-ray, and multiple blood tests. But I can tell you everything came back normal.”
Jake let out a sigh of disappointment and then asked, “You’ve been here a long time. What do you think happened?”
Leaning back in her chair, Karen started, “You know, sometimes things just happen and we can’t explain it. From what I’m reading in his chart it sounds like he stabilized pretty quickly. There are some babies that just don’t transition well from the womb to birth. The shock to his system could have been too much, causing a singular seizure. He had a million dollar work up, everything came back negative. It’s likely he never would have seized again. But I guess we’ll never know.”
Silence hung in the room. After several minutes Delaney voiced her concerns. “What is hospital protocol for declaring someone dead and who declared Andrew deceased?”
Karen turned back to the computer screen and started scanning through the chart. “This is strange. It shows Dr. Roberts monitored the baby for most of the day. According to his charting Andrew was stable, breathing on his own and had even tolerated a feeding. He was voiding normally and maintaining appropriate vital signs, including body temperature. Dr. Roberts signed off to Dr. John Wu at four o’clock.
“At five o’clock Dr. Wu charted the baby started showing signs of respiratory distress, and required oxygen. Then it goes on that he started rescue breaths using an ambu bag but the baby went into complete cardiac standstill. No heart beat detected.”
“Did he do chest compressions?” Jake asked.
“That’s the thing with babies. We can provide ventilation with a good outcome. But when an infant’s heart stops, even in the best hospital in the world, there is less than a one percent chance of saving them. It almost always ends tragically. But I find it strange that his heart just stopped.”
“Why is that?” they asked simultaneously.
“Well, I’ve just never seen a heart just stop before. Usually the baby develops signs of distress first. In this case it would be a slowing of the heart, not just a complete stop. Babies in the NICU are constantly monitored by nurses, doctors, and machines. You can see the crisis unfolding before your eyes. The heart begins to slow down, causing decreased amounts of oxygen getting to the organs. Staff starts breathing for the baby with an ambu bag and that holds the baby over until the doctor intubates and places a breathing tube down the infants’ throat. But according to these notes it never happened. And even more disturbing is the fact that the nurse never charted any vital signs.”
“Why wouldn’t she chart them?” Delaney asked.
“It can get nuts around here. And I remember that being one of the most chaotic days ever. Sometimes nurses try to take short cuts, and instead of charting the vital signs into the computer immediately, they print them from the monitor and put them in their pocket to enter in later. Before they know it they get side tracked and busy with another delivery and that little piece of paper shoved in their pocket is forgotten. It does happen and in all honesty it’s even happened to me. But in this case the nurse never even signed on. After Dr. Wu took over care for Andrew, nobody else is associated with this chart. It appears he was the only person caring for the baby, but I know that can’t be right. Just a case of a lazy nurse.”
Delaney and Jake were tightly gripping the edge of their seats; they couldn’t believe what she was telling them. Jake brought up Dr. Wu next. “Karen, is Dr. Wu working today?”
“God rest his soul. He died that night. He was always a very private man, I believe it’s part of Asian culture. But to know he walked around this place for months knowing he had an inoperable brain tumor and choosing not to tell anyone, just seems wrong. He had even signed up to bring the bagels for our monthly staff meeting, knowing he wouldn’t be alive. His colleagues didn’t even know. We just got a call from the emergency room physician saying he was dead on arrival. Complete organ failure. The brain tumor was discovered on autopsy. Go figure.”
Handing the printed out documents to Jake, she began rising from the chair and said, “I hope I told you something helpful. It’s such a tragedy. But if you folks don’t mind I want to get to radiology and see that picture with my own eyes before administration finds out and makes Brad take it down.”
Jake rose and shook Karen’s hand, thanking her profusely for all of her help.
On the way back to her house in the Mini Cooper, a scrunched up Jake asked, “So, are you going to tell me about the picture?”
Delaney just about choked. “Are you asking me as Special Agent Jake Thrasher or as my lover?”
“As your lover.”
“Then, yes. I sent it. But she sent it to me first and all I did was forward it to everybody who attended our wedding. And by the way, the other woman in the picture had been my best friend since the seventh grade.” Delaney suddenly realized she didn’t know the tattoo’d woman’s name, and it no longer mattered.
Chapter Seventeen
She pulled into her long driveway and parked alongside Jake’s truck. After sailing the night before they decided it would be better to trailer the boat in her backyard instead of towing it back to Philadelphia. Hopefully Jake would find an affordable dock slip to rent and be able to keep it in the water.
Fetch was delighted to see them come home. She ran in circles and jumped all over Jake, leaving a trail of fur all over him. He walked into the kitchen and took two Diet Cokes out and opened one before handing it to her. There was nothing in her refrigerator to eat, but that wasn’t new. He quickly learned she lived off of caffeine and finger foods.
Jake tossed the ball with Fetch while Delaney went upstairs to shower and change. Spending half of her day in the hospital made her feel germy and she couldn’t wait to scour herself under steaming hot water. She threw on an old t-shirt and shorts and gathered up the DVDs s
he had made from the hospital security tapes and sat them on top of her television. She smelled food and walked into the kitchen.
“It’s Lean Cuisine Night!” he said as she looked at the glowing microwave and then back up at him. She wondered how long they had been in her freezer and if they had an expiration date.
Next she noticed he was only wearing tight fitting boxer briefs. Expiration dates flew from her mind and were replaced by hot sex. Twenty-four hours ago she didn’t even know what hot sex was, and now she couldn’t get it out of her mind.
“I didn’t think you would mind if I threw my clothes in your washing machine. I don’t have anything else to wear. Tomorrow I’ll just go commando, if that’s all right with you,” then he flashed his crooked smile and she just about jumped him.
Sweeping her off of her feet, he carried her out back and laid her down in the soft grass. Carefully he took off her clothes and then his own. She laid on her back staring into the black night as he rode her, and she enjoyed every inch he had to offer. When they were done, he buried his face in her hair and whispered how beautiful she was.
They shared a lean cuisine and neither showed immediate symptoms of food poisoning and Delaney breathed a sigh of relief. Jake gave the empty container to Fetch and she ran right out the doggie door with it. He sat behind her desk and booted up her MacBook. She threw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and got out a couple cans of cold Diet Coke. It was going to be a late night.
Sail With Me Page 7
