by Judith Lucci
Frederico rose from the sofa and came within inches of Mitch's face. His face was ugly because his skin was greasy and porous. He had big red veins in his nose and small, dark glittering eyes. "Landry, you ain't got a clue about what we do. You ain't got no idea about what we've done. But to satisfy your curiosity, yeah, me and my buddy here been working the hospital over pretty good. Couple of dead nurses, a dead doctor. What the hell! There's plenty of em! Got a new one in tonight. Betcha they don't even know it yet!" Frederico laughed as he thought about his escapades.
The gangster continued with his voice low and threatening. "But, Mitchy boy, more importantly, you don't know what we will do. Fantasize Mitchy … it'll be your worst nightmare. We need your info, got the picture?" At that point, Frederico grabbed Mitch's right arm and held it in an iron grasp while he burned his forearm with his lit cigar. "Now, talk Mitchy. Tell Frederico what you know."
Mitch gasped as the hot cigar seared his arm. For a few moments, he was unable to speak, as he was forced to concentrate on the pain.
"What’s up, spill your guts, lover boy? Talk now or I'll match your other arm. You're an architect. You like things to match, right?" Frederico was threatening as he reached for Mitch's left arm.
Mitch pulled back, raising both arms in a reflexive posture. "Okay, okay. I know Bonnet's under a lot of pressure. All the patients that've been hurt are his. But, you know that," Mitch sneered at them. "The administration's messed up. None of them are getting along. They're also worried about media leaks. Seems like everybody else knows what's going on as soon as it happens. That's all I know." Out of the corner of his eye, Mitch caught a secretive smile on the ponytail's face and noticed that he was stroking his strap more aggressively and seductively. This man is evil, like a demon, he thought. Wonder if he hurt Mrs. Raccine?
"You ain't told us nothing. You ain't delivering on the big one, Mitchy. You gotta do better. Spill the dirt." Frederico took another menacing step towards Mitch. "Maybe a little pillow talk is what you need. Never know what you can learn from pillow talk. Wouldn't mind it myself." Frederico leered at him.
Mitch was frantic, and tried to buy some time. "I'm seeing Alex all weekend. We're going to the Endymion Extravaganza Ball Saturday night and staying the night at the Fairmont. The weekend after, we're going to an inn near my preservation project in Lafayette. I'll know more then. I promise!"
"Ain't good enough, Mitch. You told me you'd have what we needed two weeks ago. You got twenty-four hours and that's all. After that, it's over if you don't deliver. You and your girlfriend both’ll be history. Get my drift?"
Mitch was both terrified and desperate. "Okay, you've got it."
"We'll meet tomorrow night so you can spill your guts. I'll call and tell you where."
Mitch nodded.
“Don’t screw with me...bastard,” the gangster threatened.
The ponytailed man spoke for the first time. His voice was quiet but cold. "Maybe you better get over there tonight and start that pillow talk. You're about out of time, pretty boy." Salvadal gestured menacingly towards Mitch's throat with his leather strap.
When Mitch was sure they were gone, he went to his bar and poured himself a double scotch. Thoughts crossed his mind and all ran together. He felt guilty about using his relationship with Alex, pumping her for information to repay his gambling debt to the mob. His love affair was the black box. I've fallen in love with her. I can't do this, he thought.
After about a half an hour of disjointed irrational thinking, only one thought became comforting to him. He picked up his coat, got in his Lexus, and drove out I-10 towards the Gulfport-Biloxi Casinos. I still have a credit line at Casino Magic and the Biloxi Belle. I can make enough to get out of New Orleans. Alex and I can escape to Switzerland or New Zealand, maybe even Australia where they'd never find us. Mitch continued to have these irrational thoughts throughout the hour drive to the coast.
***
The St. Charles Inn, a late night hot spot on St. Charles Street, was host to all walks of life. The Cajun food was good, cheap, and the coffee was usually fresh. Raoul DuPree had just gotten off work at Tujague's and saw the evil one and Frederico as they came in. They sat in a booth several down from his. Raoul, facing Frederico, slumped down in his chair and tried to avoid recognition.
Tonight the St. Charles Inn provided a watering hole for Frederico and Salvadal. Each was drinking heavily to offset their displeasure with Mitch. They were both obviously pissed.
"Don't like the pretty boy, Frederico. I don't think he's gonna come through for us. What're you going to do?”
“The son of a bitch will pull it off. He’s scared. Just needs a good night with the broad. Don’t worry,” the gangster tried to lie to shrug off Salvadal’s words.
“You stupid fucker. Do you think you can blow me off? My bosses are getting restless and want to move. I'm sick of waiting for the Ivy League snitch to come through." Salvadal was impatient and becoming more and more agitated the longer he spoke. The liquor seemed to irritate and aggravate him rather than calm him.
Frederico noticed his companion was again stroking his leather strap. "Landry'll get us the goods, the shit on Bonnet, and the hospital. Too scared not to. We'll know soon. He's only got 'til tomorrow night." Frederico spoke with more confidence than he felt. "Besides, what other choice do we have? The hit on Bonnet is already set up."
"I have lots of choices. I got freedom to make lotsa choices and one of those choices is to kill you if you don’t deliver. Make sure your boy delivers what I need. You and the choirboy came to me, remember? I never would have sought out two assholes like you. No later than midnight tomorrow." Salvadal took a last sip of his drink, slammed the glass on the table, and left abruptly.
Frederico sat and contemplated his dilemma, wishing over and over he had more information on Salvadal's connections. The more he drank the more paranoid he became. Bastard's crazy, he thought. You'd think that damn strap was his lover the way he rubs it all the time. Frederico's most constant and comforting thought was that Salvadal's connections couldn't be more powerful than those of the mob. Besides, he could always have his man snuff the ponytail. Hell, he was just one man, wasn't he? The mob had plenty of talent he could call to get the job done. After several more drinks, Frederico felt better, made a phone call, and staggered drunkenly out of the St. Charles Inn.
Raoul DuPree watched him leaving, and searched his conscience about whether he should warn Dr. Bonnet.
***
Alex again slept fitfully, dreaming of Mitch, dark strangers with ponytails, and a Voodooist attacking Robert. Her phone ringing at six a.m. was almost a welcome respite from the nightmare. "Hello," she said sleepily.
"Get in here," bellowed Don Montgomery. "We have another one." Before she could ask any questions, Don hung up.
Chapter 15
It took Alex no time to reach her office at CCMC. She headed toward administration where Don and Dr. Ashley sat in Don's office. Both men were silent, and stared at the floor.
Alex walked in. "Well," she demanded, looking at them. They both just looked at her. "What’s happened?" she asked again loudly.
Dr. Ashley was visibly upset. "Not sure about this one, Alex. This is different. It could be a tragic accident. At this time there's no evidence otherwise." John Ashley's voice was discouraging and he was grey with fatigue and stress.
Alex was concerned about him and his ability to withstand much more chaos. "For heaven's sake, John, tell me what happened." Alex's look conveyed her irritation.
"We have a patient in the cardiac care unit recovering from abdominal surgery. Last week she had a heart attack, probably the stress of surgery, I guess. Anyway, about two this morning, she started to have some heart irregularities and the nurses hooked her up to a twelve-lead EKG to get a printout of her heart's activity. It's not clear how it happened, but her EKG machine malfunctioned and she received severe burns at each contact site. I don't know how it could've happened. That equipment is abs
olutely safe."
“Bullshit it’s safe!” Don screamed.
"She's alive?" Alex was afraid to hear the answer.
"Yes, at least for now. Although the electrical shock has played havoc with her heart and may end up killing her. She's having serious arrhythmias now."
As Alex looked at them, a thought crossed her mind. Her eyes searched the room as she said, "Let's go over to the Cajun Café and have some coffee. I could use a little breakfast."
Both men looked at her like she was crazy.
Alex put her finger on her lips to silence them, and gestured towards the ceiling as she walked out the door. They didn't understand but followed.
Alex said in a soft voice, "I think the executive offices and conference room could be bugged."
Don gave her a shocked look. "Are you crazy? What makes you say so?"
"We've had too many leaks. Why take the chance? How old is this woman?" Alex asked as they walked towards the cafe.
Dr. Ashley answered, "She's forty-seven. Bonnet’s patient, once again. Apparently, Dr. Bonnet thought she may have some underlying malignant disease and did an exploratory. Anyway, she had rheumatic fever as a child, and developed heart valve disease that wasn't diagnosed until after her heart attack."
They reached the Cajun Café, a gaily-decorated restaurant within the CCMC complex, and were greeted by a yawning waiter. Alex asked him if they could use the private dining room. The waiter nodded and the three went into the small room.
"So, what's her prognosis?" Alex questioned, not really wanting to hear.
"Don't know. Pretty bad, I guess. Her hands are badly burned. She has long narrow burned areas on her body where the leads wires were attached to the contacts. There's the fear of infection, body fluid shifts, and so on."
"Especially when you factor in her heart problems. Dr. Bonnet know?"
"Haven't reached him yet. You have any idea where he could be?"
Don was livid. “Bonnet is the reason that all of this has happened here. He’s the cause. He’s the common denominator. Somebody’s got a hard on for him. Probably somebody’s surgery he’s screwed up or something!”
Alex ignored Don’s tirade. "No, of course not, no idea where Robert is," Alex replied. Boy, the CCMC grapevine is powerful, she thought.
Don Montgomery glared at Alex and started again. "Bonnet's nothing but trouble. Have you noticed all of the patients that've had accidents or problems at Crescent City are his patients? Don't you think that's a little suspicious? Told you weeks ago Bonnet was trouble. I also told you to fix him."
Montgomery was working himself in to a real rage and was glaring at her, and looked angrier than she had ever seen him.
Alex glared back and held her ground as she addressed Don's accusations. "You mean both patients don't you, Don? Overall, that's an insignificant number when you consider all the patients Dr. Bonnet admits to CCMC. Does the press know about this latest accident and have the NOPD been called yet?"
"No press that we know of. I called the NOPD, but they're not here yet. Guess we'll have to put up with Francoise again. What a week, and it's only Thursday." Dr. Ashley rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to the cardiac care unit," said Alex. "Ask hospital engineering to meet me there, along with the safety coordinator. We need to find out why this EKG machine malfunctioned. Most of all, we need to be sure this doesn't happen again. Don, have you talked with this patient's family?" Alex was in control but very worried.
"No, and I'm not going to. You do it. You and John do it. You're better at it than I am. I’m the CEO, not a babysitter." Don was sitting with his face in his hands. "Somebody's out to get us. It's beyond the realm of probability that all this could happen to one hospital in one week. Someone's deliberately trying to destroy us. Just wish that I knew who and why? Who? Who? Who?"
Dr. Ashley shook his head at Don’s accusations before Alex answered slowly. "I don't know. But I'm beginning to believe you. There's some sort of plot here."
"Damn right there's a plot to put us out of business, or force us to merge with someone. Robert Bonnet's heavily involved in it. Bastard has to be the center of all this, there's no way that he couldn't be. Whoever's doing this is doing a good job. The hospital's only about thirty percent full now and most of our outpatient surgeries and diagnostic services have been cancelled. We're going to be history shortly."
Don stopped for a moment to catch his breath and continued, "Our competitors are doing well. Oh yeah, they're doing just fine. They've picked up our admissions and elective surgeries. Maybe they're plotting against us. Maybe that's who bugged our conference room. We're losing more physicians and patients each day while our competitors are picking them up and making those millions...our millions. I just don't understand. Why is this happening to us?" Don finished speaking, put his head on the table, and started weeping. He knocked over his coffee cup in the process.
Dr. Ashley turned to Alex. "I'll go with you to the cardiac care. I want to see the patient myself."
Dr. Ashley and Alex left Don in the Cajun Café and ran smack into Captain Francoise in the corridor outside.
He was his normal, cocky self. "Why're you all meeting here? Conference room bugged?" Dr. Ashley and Alex gave each other a funny look. The captain noticed but continued without commenting on it. "Think I'll open a satellite office here. May as well report here every morning and forget about going downtown. Secretarial support's probably better too." Francoise winked at them.
"We're going up to cardiac care. Been up yet, Captain?"
"Nope. Tell me what you know. All I know is that you have a burned patient. Any other particulars I need to know?"
Dr. Ashley answered, "Apparently a patient's EKG machine malfunctioned, and she was badly burned."
"Now, that's a change. That sounds like a normal hospital accident," Francoise snorted.
Alex retorted hotly, "Being burned in your bed by routinely safe medical equipment is not a 'normal' hospital accident."
"Relax, I'm on your side. This business is getting out of hand. Besides, I'm genuinely concerned about CCMC. If this accident is the work of the same group, their MO is taking a turn that'll hurt CCMC. If the public perceives a lack of expertise and safety, you'll be out of business in no time."
None of the group noticed Don Montgomery coming up behind them.
They turned when he began to speak. "We're practically out of business now. Our admissions and surgeries are down, and patients are going to other hospitals. We're in serious trouble financially and professionally. Someone's trying to put us out of business. Can’t you DO something,” Don demanded of the captain.
"I’m working on it. Yeah. I agree. Somebody wants CCMC gone. Let's go check this out, then we’ll talk over coffee."
It was clear Francoise wasn't saying anything else, so the trio proceeded toward the coronary care unit.
"I'll be in my office," said Don as he turned down a hallway and left the group.
The unit was quiet as the group approached. A plainclothes police officer sat in the lobby by the elevators.
Alex saw Barton Browning, the hospital safety coordinator, sitting in the nursing station. She signaled for Barton to wait for her.
A nurse took Alex, John, and the captain to Blanche Henderson's room. The nurse reported that she was heavily sedated and the cardiac monitor indicated a stable rhythm. The nurse also mentioned that the malfunctioning machine was back in the equipment room.
Alex called to Barton when they left the patient's room, and the four talked in the hall. Alex begged for more information.
"What happened, Bart?" Alex asked.
"Don't know. All I can tell is the machine delivered more current than it should have. I'm on my way to check it out. Our electrical equipment is fitted with adapters which prevent this. They're permanently affixed to the machine plug. The monitor of the machine in question is an older one, so it may not have that safety feature. Still, it's been used many times before without incident. Can't tell
you anything else until we check it out. I have checked all the product literature on the internet and there have been absolutely no incidences or accidents like this ever reported."
"Let's check the monitor," Francoise suggested. The group entered the equipment room where several nurses were talking about the accident. There was an immediate hush as the group broke up and left the room.
When Francoise, Dr. Ashley, Bart, and Alex bent down to examine the machine, it took only an instant for them to see what had happened. The adaptor had been neatly filed off, leaving the machine without any grounding at all.
Francoise immediately called an officer to secure the room as a crime scene and suggested they find an empty room and discuss the matter further.
They found an empty patient room and quickly shut the door tightly. Alex and Dr. Ashley sat on the bed while Francoise and Barton sat in the chairs.
Bart began, "This is unbelievable. This is more than an accident. It was done on purpose, and recently. We check this stuff all of the time."
Francoise barked at the safety coordinator. "Who has access to your equipment when it's not in use? Where's it stored?"
Browning looked uncomfortable. "This monitor's stored in the room we were in. Each floor has its own equipment room, and the equipment is checked and tested periodically which is standard practice and hospital policy."
"So, you're telling me anybody can get to this equipment, whether they're staff, patients, or visitors. Is that what you're saying?"
Browning hesitated, "We don't keep equipment locked up unless it's dangerous equipment, like x-rays and other radioactive stuff. An EKG machine isn't dangerous or hazardous medical equipment." Barton thought for a moment and added, "Yes, anybody could've gotten to it and filed the adaptor off."
"When was the last time the machine was used or inspected?" Alex said.
"Several weeks ago. No service was done, and it worked perfectly. You'll have to ask the nurses when it was used last. I don't keep a record of that."
"I'll check with the nurses. Anything else you can tell us?" Captain Francoise asked.
