Michael Palmer - Flashback

Guy Beaulieu, one of the first physicians to settle in Sterling, and your corporation. It was the late Dr. Beaulieu's contention that the hospital administration, and ultimately, Ultramed Hospitals Corporation itself, was responsible for machinations calculated to drive him out of medical practice. He further claimed knowledge of actions by your corporation, through Ultramed-Davis, which have been contrary to the best interests of our community. I know that he had conveyed his feelings to you on several occasions, and that he had, in fact, instituted legal action against both the hospital and Ultramed Hospitals Corporation. Dr. Beaulieu's widow has contacted me and has requested that the board seriously consider Dr. Beaulieu's allegations before the end of our provisional period at noon on July 19. 1 have asked Mrs.

Beaulieu to make every effort, in advance of that date, to supply me with details of her husband's claims and the evidence behind them.

Meanwhile, please consider this letter notification that I intend to convene the board at 11 a. m. on Friday, July 19, for the purpose of discussing our options. Also, as provided in our contract, I have commissioned a full, independent audit of the hospital, which I expect to be initiated within the next few days. As you know, according to section 4B of the contract, 15 percent of the hospital's profits over the past four years should have been funneled back into the community through the treatment of indigent patients, and another 3 percent through support of various civic projects enumerated in section 4C.

Violation of that section, even if uncovered after the July 19 deadline, will nullify our contract with you. Meanwhile, if you have any information or thoughts on this matter, I would welcome hearing from you. Hoping for an amicable resolution of this issue, I remain, Sincerely yours, Clayton C. Iverson Zack was incredulous, Beaulieu's widow and daughter had given him no indication that they planned to contact the board directly. "Judge, just when did Mrs. Beaulieu call you? " he asked. "Well… actually, she didn't call me… I called her."

"And has she contacted other members of the board?" til, um, suggested she might want to do so."

"Oh, Judge, why? "

"Because ol' Guy might have been right, that's why."

"But Frank said he wasn't. Why couldn't you have just given him the benefit of the doubt?"

"I. I felt that if he hadn't done anything wrong, he didn't have anything to worry about."

"Of course he does. He's got to worry about how to explain to the people at Ultramed why his own father would be trying to sabotage their hospital. You don't even know what kind of so-called evidence Guy had, do you?… Well, do you?"

Clayton Iverson shook his head. "I didn't think so. Well, I do, Judge. I know exactly what he had. Clothilde Beaulieu gave it all to me at his funeral. And I tell you there isn't enough proof of wrongdoing even to dent Ultramed. Circumstantial stuff. That's all he had accumulated. Just a pile of inferential lists, anecdotes, and newspaper clippings. "I'll admit that I have some strong reservations about that company, but up till now there's no hard evidence-not one person that I know of-who was directly hurt by the corporation's policies. Why couldn't you have just gone to Frank?

Talked to him? That's what I had planned to do, Did he even see this letter before you sent it?"

The Judge took a long swallow of beer and wiped the foam from his lips with the back of his hand. Then he smiled. "I haven't sent it, " he said simply. "What?"

"The letter is being held by my lawyer in Boston until I decide what to do. I was thinking about having him send it over to Ultramed on Monday.

I wanted to talk with you first. Now I'm glad I did."

Zack felt drained and exhausted-a yo-yo on the string of a master. "You could have just told me what you wanted in the first place," he said.

"You can't play with people like that, Judge."

"Nonsense. I haven't been playing with anyone. I needed your candid opinion, and I got it. I'm not committed to opposing turning the hospital over to Ultramed for good next week. I'm just reluctant to totally give up our leverage. You never know when you'll wish you had it. The truth is, it would take a hell of a lot more than anything I've learned so far to make me turn against Frank and send that letter.

There, do you feel better?"

"What I feel, " Zack said, "is wasted."

"Good. In that case, suppose we play us some golf."

The Judge set his beer down, took his driver from his bag, and wiped its head with a cloth. "I'm pleased with the things you've told me about your brother, Zachary, " he said. "I haven't made any secret of my disappointment with him over the years. But as long as he keeps acting for the benefit of our town, then he and Ultramed have nothing to worry about from me. However, if you learn of something, anything, that I should know, then dammit, you owe it to all of us to speak up. Clear?"

"Clear, " Zack said numbly. "Including anything in that material of Guy's."

"Right."

The Judge set his ball on the tee. Once again in control, he looked relaxed and confident. "Okay if I hit first? " he asked. His swing was loose, compact, and smooth as velvet. The drive was arrow straight and by far the longest of the day. An hour later, Zack stood on the eighteenth green and watched as his father rolled in a twelve-foot putt for a birdie. "Five straight holes for me, " the Judge said. "That's eight bucks. I just love this game, don't you?"

Dose by dose, microgram by microgram, the Haldol level in Annie Doucette's blood had been rising, The input from her senses, barely adequate to keep her oriented before the tranquilizer was started, had become blunted and distorted. Her periods of lucidity, even in the bright, noisy daylight hours, had all but disappeared. Now, as the muted stillness of late Sunday evening drifted over the hospital, what little hold she had been able to maintain on reality had begun to slip away.

One moment, she was home, in her own room, her own bed, in the next, she was someplace else, someplace at once foreign and familiar. It was evening, it was morning. Desperately, she struggled against the madness.

Desperately, she tried to focus her thoughts. Still, nothing was certain-nothing except the realization that somehow, she had wet and soiled herself. Call Zack… Call Suzanne, her mind urged. Tell them to come and clean you up. Tell them to get you out of this place. She turned to search for a telephone, but a wave of dizziness and nausea forced her back onto the pillow. Lifting the sheet, she stared down at her legs. Foul-smelling, loose excrement was smeared over the insides of her thighs. So disgusting. So humiliating. Must get washed… Must get showered before someone comes. Annie peered through a gray mist toward the door of her bathroom. Shower… Clean up… Then call-who? What was his e?

With all her strength she struggled onto her side. There were metal railings along both sides of her bed. Using one of them, and battling the constant spinning, she pulled herself up. How disgusting… How humiliating… There was no guard railing at the end of the bed. With agonizing slowness she worked her way over the feces-soaked sheet. Then she dropped one leg over the low foot board and onto the chilly linoleum floor. The dizziness was becoming unbearable. Still, she knew she had to get clean. An inch at a time, she slid her other leg onto the floor.

With every ounce of her strength, she tried to stand. Momentarily, her leg held. But then suddenly, it gave way, and for the briefest time she was floating in air. She landed heavily and gracelessly, air exploding from her lungs with a loud grunt. There was another sound as well-a sharp, snapping sound coming from somewhere within her body. An instant later, unimaginable pain shot through her from her left hip. Second by second, the pain intensified. Then, a heaviness settled onto her chest.