Bone Crack: A Medical Suspense Thriller (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 6)

by Bette Golden Lamb

  He eyed the staffing schedule and immediately saw Gina Mazzio next to his name. She would be his scrub nurse for the procedure.

  * * *

  Gina was setting up for the cardiac cath, trying not to think about the confrontation with Mort Tallent that was bound to happen.

  What could she say when he asked why she was roaming through his offices after hours?

  She tried to push it out of her mind as she continued with her set-up, went through her check list for the sterile field:

  Sheaths, diagnostic caths, guide caths, guide wires.

  Tallent’s notes indicated this patient probably had severe narrowing of her arteries. She checked out the stents he might need, along with the angioplasty balloons.

  She was feeling very insecure—she’d never scrubbed in for the procedure without a preceptor to guide her through the process. But the worse part, Tallent was known to give nurses a really bad time. He’d have more than enough opportunity, and reason, to really lay into her.

  She waited, ready in her OR garb, sterile gloves on, fingers of both hands interlaced at chest level. She could see Tallent through the glass in the scrub area. He’d glanced at her a couple of times and his face above the mask appeared stern and hard.

  Standing there, she had blocked out Gwen, who was working with the patient before the procedure began, but now she tuned into them again.

  They were past the preliminary part, reiterating what meds the patient took and any known allergies. Gwen was at the point of giving the patient meds to help her relax and again going over what she could expect.

  Their voices drifted away and she turned back to Tallent, who was almost finished with his scrub and ready to come into the OR. The circulating nurse lifted the covering sheet from the table setup, exposing all the instruments in the sterile field.

  This could be the last day I work at Ridgewood.

  Tallent stepped into the room and Gina handed him a sterile towel to dry his wet hands. When he was gowned and gloved, he stood in front of the table, staring at the set up.

  Ignoring Gina, he spoke to the patient, “We’re going to start now. You just close your eyes and before you know it, we’ll be all through.”

  The patient mumbled something. Tallent said to Gwen, “Good job.”

  Chapter 27

  “I couldn’t believe it, “Gina said to Harry. “Mort Tallent never said a word about Lolly or me wandering through his office. Not one word.”

  “How did he treat you?” Harry took a huge bite of his taco; sauce dripped from the bottom, covering a good portion of his plate with thick, red salsa.

  “Standoffish, condescending. Definitely looking for any little glitch he could pin on me. You know, read me the riot act about some nonexistent thing that almost killed the patient.”

  “You’re good.” Harry wiped off the sauce, which had now dribbled onto his wrist. He took her hand. “And, you’re one lucky woman.”

  “I guess the question is, why didn’t he speak up? I know there’s something screwy going on with Tallent, bookkeeper or no bookkeeper. We need to get to the bottom of it.”

  “Where did that we come from?” Harry looked at his watch. She knew it was getting close to the end of their lunch break. He finished up the remains of his taco. “I told you I didn’t want any part of this whole business right from the beginning.”

  “Have you found a hacker for us yet?”

  “Man, did you even hear one thing I said? Besides, we just talked about it. Give me a chance. One of us has to think about consequences. That’s one big, dangerous step hacking into someone’s computer files. I’m not exactly into the federal prison thing. They toss you in there and throw away the key, even for white-collar crimes.” He chuckled. “Besides, it would mess up our wedding plans.”

  “Oh, hell, people hack into stuff all the time.” Gina used her fork to push salad from one part of the plate to another.”

  “Not like you to skip lunch.” Harry pointed to her dish full of food.

  “I’m still kind of keyed up.”

  Harry moved his chair closer to her, nuzzled her neck, kissed her cheek. “I’ll bet you were great in that OR. Believe me, if you weren’t, you would have heard.”

  “Get a room,” her brother Vinnie said, pulling up a chair and setting his tray on the table. “Harry, you have to learn to keep your hands to yourself.”

  Harry gave Vinnie a wide smile. “Not on your life.”

  “I swear, Vin, don’t you ever eat anything other than hamburgers and French fries?” Gina reached across the table and stole one of the fries and dipped it into the spread of catsup that covered a quarter of the plate.

  “Hey, when I love something, I never give up on it.” Vinnie pointed a fry at her. “Otherwise, I’d have gotten rid of you long ago.”

  “Ha, ha.” She snatched the fry from his finger tips and stuck it in her mouth. “Where’s Helen?”

  “Taking a later lunch. Too busy to hang out with her fiancée.”

  Gina looked up and caught a man with piercing eyes staring at her. Actually, she’d noticed him on and off throughout lunch, but hadn’t thought anything about it. He was in no hurry to turn away when he saw her looking back at him.

  Harry stood. “Short, but sweet. I have a lot of really sick ones in ICU. Better get going.” He leaned over and kissed Gina goodbye. “See you later, beautiful.”

  She watched Harry walk away, agilely slipping between the crowded tables. Just watching him made her chest swell with happiness.

  How did I ever get so lucky to find this Lucke guy?

  Then her eyes found the man again. He was still watching her.

  * * *

  Mort Tallent was relieved at the end of the cardio cath procedure. When he’d placed the stent in the artery, he couldn’t stop his hand from shaking. It was fortunate everything turned out okay.

  All I need is to poke an arterial vessel and shoot off a clot to the brain or the lungs.

  Having Gina scrub in with him had made him nervous and unsure. It was as though she were scrutinizing his every move—which he’d expect every good scrub nurse to do. But this was different.

  He’d started out wanting to put her on the defensive from the moment he knew she would be assisting him. But in the end, he was the one who felt insecure about how to proceed with questioning her about the break-in with Lolly.

  Back in his office he’d refused to go out for lunch. Instead, he heated a can of tomato soup in their kitchen, took it to his office, and closed the door. Both Bob and Jon had indicated earlier that they wanted to talk to him about something. At the moment, he didn’t want to talk to anyone ... about anything.

  He sat behind his desk and stared at the bowl of hot soup—soon the tiny plumes of steam slowed and disappeared. He made himself take a spoonful.

  Now, it was almost room temperature.

  He leaned back into his chair, tried to take deep breaths to relax, but suddenly he was sobbing; his chest heaved and he gasped for air. Without thinking, he opened the bottom desk drawer and pulled out a picture of Annie.

  He stared at her beautiful face. She’d had a smile that melted his heart.

  He hadn’t looked at this picture for a long time and thought he should get rid of it. He’d thought that before, but every time he started to toss it, he stopped and tucked it back in the desk drawer.

  Why did she have to fall out of love with me when I loved her so much?

  And why did he always ask himself the same question when he already knew the answer?

  When money became more important than her, or anything else, he’d lost her. And he knew what he was doing, but he couldn’t stop himself. It was as though the money would justify his giving up the things he’d lived for before he became a physician.

  Fucking fool!

  His whole relationship with a killer started with Annie. He’d allowed Vlad to push him over the edge, arrange for her killing—and it hadn’t stopped there. He’d also arranged for his book
keeper Maria, and in the end, her mother, to die. All at the hands of Vlad.

  It was Maria’s own fault. Yes, she’d brought it on herself. All she had to do was her job. It wasn’t up to her to question his practice, to question why he padded and created Medicare costs that didn’t exist. That he’d gone ahead charging for procedures that were cancelled.

  Did she have a right to question the extent of his charges? They were his, not hers.

  No! All she needed to do was keep the accounts straight. That was her job and if she’d done that, and only that, there would have been no need for Vlad to step in.

  He couldn’t even begin to think about what that maniac did to Lolly to get her to leave town. Her resume said she’d come from the Bronx—probably taken off and gone back East.

  Now, there was Gina Mazzio. Another Bronx bitch. Vlad would probably want to take care of her, too, even though Tallent had said to let it go.

  But how do you stop a stone-cold killer once he’s been let out of the cage?

  Chapter 28

  Kat Parker sat in the Golden Eye Tech employee cafeteria, across from Cal Cortez. The timing had been difficult, but they’d finally managed to match up their lunch hours. Without thinking about it, they’d both ended up with a Cobb salad, which they were discreetly feeding to each other and laughing. The place was very crowded so they kept a business-like distance, too far to hold hands under the table, which is what Kat really wanted to do.

  Thoughts of her future medical procedure plagued her and she knew she should tell Cal about the upcoming surgery. They’d talked about everything else and it was continually popping into her head—she wanted to tell him, but she was sure it would scare him away.

  Who wants to get into a new relationship with someone who’s sick?

  If they’d known each other longer, had some kind of history together, well, maybe it would have been an easier choice. But they’d just found each other. It seemed like forever since she’d felt so close to another person. She couldn’t bear the thought of him shutting her out for any reason.

  Is this really me? Cautious, self-conscious me? Allowing myself to fall for someone in the blink of an eye?

  When they’d made love, she’d forgotten she was no longer young, that she was fat. He’d made her feel so beautiful, and important.

  She couldn’t help but notice how handsome he was in his soft brown sport shirt—it matched his coco-colored eyes. When she looked at his wavy brown hair, she blushed, flashing on the moment she’d clutched a massive tuft of it, lost in an orgasm. Was he remembering that moment, too, because his face had tinged pink and he smiled at her with dreamy eyes?

  “Would you like to have dinner at my house tonight?” she asked, freeing a foot from her shoe, rubbing it across his calf.

  “I would love that.” He put his fork down and looked at her with his soft eyes. “I can’t begin to tell you how much our time together means to me. All I want to do is reach across the table and touch you all over.”

  Kat thought her heart would burst. “Me, too.”

  “I’m not exactly sure what’s happening, but truthfully, I’d given up finding anyone like you.”

  He was so calm, so serene, so earnest, she couldn’t help but believe him. “Anyone?”

  “Kat, I’ve been divorced for ten years. I’ve dated a lot, an awful lot—meeting people on-line, through friends. You name it, I’ve done it.” He reached for her hand across the table. “But never once has there been the kind of instant spark that you and I have.”

  “And I’d kind of given up, too, of ever falling in love again.” She couldn’t help it, she squeezed his hand tightly.

  Her iPhone, sitting on the end of the table, buzzed. She glanced at the cell’s window, saw it was from Dr. Tallent’s office.

  It must be for the pre-op appointments.

  She let the call go to her message box. The last thing she wanted to do was discuss her future appointments in front of Cal.

  * * *

  Kat was back in her office staring at the scatter of notes on her desk reminding her of all the projects she had to work on. Right now, she didn’t feel like tackling any of it. She was still under the spell of her lunch time with Cal.

  She stared at her cell. She’d listened to the lunchtime message, knew she had to call the doctor’s office and make her appointments. If she was going to start a new relationship, she wanted to know where she stood with her health.

  Might as well get this over with.

  “Drs. Tallent, Cantor, and Brichett’s office. May I help you?”

  “Yes, hi. This is Kat Parker, returning you call.”

  “Good afternoon, Ms. Parker. I was calling to set up your pre-op appointments. Can you possibly come in tomorrow at two for your physical and blood work?”

  She wanted to scream, no!

  “How long will all that take?”

  “About an hour.”

  “If I must, I must.”

  The receptionist responded with an expected laugh. “I’m afraid so.”

  “Yes, I can work that out. I’ll see you tomorrow at two.”

  * * *

  Mulzini was staring at the television, had been for the last half hour. He couldn’t tell you what movie he’d been watching—couldn’t even remember who the characters were, or what was what in the dumb plot. That’s the way it had been since he saw the doctor. He had trouble concentrating on anything for more than a few minutes.

  He’d always been okay with the idea of dying. After all, he was a cop—his number could come up at any moment.

  But that was on the job. Now he had to stare down his mortality in a different light—he’d chosen to look death in the face, head-on, and it was pock-marked and charred with time.

  Why the hell did I insist on the procedure? Why not limp along? Keep taking tests?

  Probably the easiest question to answer he’d ever asked himself.

  That’s not me, you idiot!.

  Marcia had stayed out of his way as much as possible. Right now, she was in her studio painting. A couple of hours ago, he’d helped her carry in a large batch of pre-stretched canvasses she’d found on sale. He’d complained all the way into the apartment. Not only that, she’d run out of a lot of her favorite colors and the tube-filled bags of pigment seemed endless.

  Wasn’t he supposed to worry about lugging things? Guess not. That doc didn’t seem to think so.

  He’d made a dumb comment to Marcia, “What are you painting? The Sistine Chapel?”

  Bad move.

  She’d looked at him with stony eyes that made him cringe.

  After everything was set up in her studio and he’d turned and walked away, there was no thank you to follow him out the door.

  Women! I’ll never understand them.

  Chapter 29

  Robert Cantor and Jon Brichett were waiting for Tallent when he finished hospital rounds and returned to his office. They’d been trying to talk to him for days, and until now he’d successfully dodged being cornered. He looked at the two men and knew he was in for a rough ride.

  “Sorry to barge in like this,” Cantor said, standing next to his desk. “But it’s way past time we had that talk we’ve been asking for.”

  “And good afternoon to you, too,” Tallent said.

  “Hey, now don’t get all up tight, Mort,” Brichett said. “We haven’t gotten together to talk about the practice for ages.”

  “Yeah, well, take me out to dinner, wine and dine me, and I’ll call that a great meeting.” Tallent hung his jacket in the small office closet and shrugged on his white coat for his patient visits. “But this feels more like a gang bang.”

  “Just like you to always go for the gonads,” Cantor said. “But if it’s anything, it’s more like an intervention ... so I’ll just lay it on the line and we’ll get into it.”

  Tallent walked behind his desk and sat down. “What do you want?”

  “Look, we’re here as colleagues,” Brichett said, smiling. “It�
��s just that—well, let’s face it, since Annie died, you haven’t been yourself.”

  “What you mean is, since Annie took off with another man and divorced me. Isn’t that what you really want to say?”

  Brichett looked away.

  “Okay, I’m going to dump the whole thing in your lap,” Cantor said. “You’re a real ass and I’m not going to pussyfoot around with you.”

  “No one ever accused you of zipping it up.” Tallent moved some papers around on his desk, trying to calm himself.

  “What the hell is going on?” Cantor leaned over the desk until he was practically in Tallent’s face. “You’re overbooking, overusing the Cath Lab.”

  “Are you forgetting that the equipment and facility privileges are here for all three of us?” Trying to stall, Tallent looked at Jon Brichett, who sat down in one of the chairs—it was obvious he wasn’t about to dive into this.

  “That’s right. It does belong to the three of us, but I have to wait to get on the schedule. It takes so long I have to use Ridgewood when I shouldn’t have to.”

  “We’ve never fought over this before,” Tallent said. “Why now?”

  “Well, hell’s bells, you’re certainly not losing any money, but my receivables are beginning to look like shit.” Cantor paused for a moment. “Look, Mort, besides all that, you’re not yourself. You’re walking around with your head up your ass.”

  Tallent jumped to his feet. “Get out of here!”

  Brichett rushed over to Cantor. “Bob, cut that out. You don’t have to be rude.”

  “Maybe I do, Jon. Seems it’s the only way I can get this man’s attention.” Cantor turned back to Tallent. “Listen, I’m sorry about the outburst, but we’re worried about you. You don’t seem to be yourself.”

  Tallent sat back down in his chair, covered his face with his hands. He swallowed hard, tried to regain his composure. Finally, he looked up at Cantor.

  “Look, I know I’m not the easiest person in the world to get along with. I wish I could be more like the two of you. But I can’t. That’s just not my nature.”