Tess Gerritsen - Harvest

Quickly she stepped outside and began to walk towards the hospital. The weight of her briefcase felt like an anchor weighing her down. Off to her right, a car engine suddenly roared to life. She whirled, expecting to see the van, but it was a station wagon pulling out of a stall.

Her heart was slamming against her chest. It didn't calm down until she was inside the building. She took the stairwell down to the basement and walked into Medical Records. This would be her final visit; she was down to the last four names on the list.

HARVEST

She lay the request slip on the counter and said, "Excuse me, may I have these charts please?"

The clerk turned to face her. Perhaps Abby was only imagining it, but the woman seemed to freeze momentarily. They had dealt with each other before, and the clerk usually seemed friendly enough. Today she wasn't even smiling.

"I need these four charts," said Abby.

The clerk looked at the request slip. "I'm sorry, Dr. DiMatteo. I can't get these files for you."

"Why not?"

"They're not available."

"But you haven't even checked."

"I've been told not to release any more files to you. It's Dr. Wettig's orders. He said if you came in, we're to refer you to his office immediately."

Abby felt the blood drain from her face. She said nothing.

"He said he never authorized any chart search." The clerk's tone of voice was plainly accusatory. You lied to us, Dr. DiMatteo.

Abby had no answer. It seemed to her the room had suddenly fallen silent. She turned and saw that three other doctors were in the room, and they were all watching her.

She walked out of Medical Records.

Her first impulse was to leave the building. To avoid the inevitable confrontation with Wettig and just drive away. To keep driving until this was a thousand miles behind her. She wondered how long it would take to reach Florida and the beach and palm trees. She'd never been to Florida. She'd never done so many things other people had done. She could do them all now if she'd just walk out of this goddamn hospital, climb in her car, and say: Fuck it. You win. You all win.

But she didn't walk out of the building. She stepped into the basement elevator and punched Two.

On that short ride to the Administrative floor, several things became instantly clear to her. The first was that she was too stubborn or too stupid to run. The second was that a beach was not really what she wanted. What she wanted was her dream back.

She got out of the elevator and walked up the carpeted hall. The Residency Office was around the corner, past Jeremiah Parr's suite. As she walked past Parr's secretary, she saw the woman sit up sharply and reach for the phone.

Abby turned the corner and walked into the Residency Office. There were two men standing by the secretary's desk, neither of whom Abby had ever seen before. The secretary looked up at Abby with that same stunned expression that had flashed across the face of Parr's secretary, and blurted: "Oh! Dr. DiMatteo-'

"I need to see Dr. Wettig," said Abby.

The two men turned to look at her. In the next instant, Abby was startled by a flash of light. She flinched away as the light went off again and again. A camera flashbulb.

"What are you doing?" she demanded.

"Doctor, would you care to comment on the death of Mary Allen?"

one of the men said.

"What?"

"She was your patient, wasn't she?"

"Who the hell are you?"

"Gary Starke, Boston Herald. Is it true you're an advocate of euthanasia? We know you've made statements to that effect."

"I never said anything of the-'

"Why were you relieved of your ward duties?"

Abby took a step back. "Get away from me. I'm not talking to yOU."

"Dr. DiMatteo-'

Abby turned to flee the office. She almost collided with Jeremiah Parr, who'd just walked in the door.

"I want you reporters out of my hospital now," Parr snapped. Then he turned to Abby. "Doctor, come with me."

Abby followed Parr out of the room. They walked swiftly down the hall and into his office. He shut the door and turned to look at her.

"The Herald started calling a half-hour ago," he said. "Then the Globe called, followed by about half a dozen other newspapers. It hasn't let up since."

"Did Brenda Hainey tell them?"

"I don't think it was her. They seemed to know about the morphine. And the vial in your locker. Things she didn't know." She shook her head. "How?"

"Somehow it leaked out." Parr sank into the chair behind his desk. "This is going to kill us. A criminal investigation. Police swarming up and down the halls."

The police. Of course. By now it's leaked out to them as well. Abby stared at Parr. Her throat felt too parched to produce a single word. She wondered if he was the source of the leak, then decided it was unlikely. This scandal would hurt him, too.

There was a sharp rap on the door, and Dr. Wettig walked in.

"What the hell do! do about those reporters?" he said.

"You'll have to prepare a statement, General. Susan Casado's on her way over. She'll help you with the wording. Until then, no one talks to anyone."

Wettig gave a curt nod. Then his gaze focused on Abby. "May I see your briefcase, Dr. DiMatteo?"

"Why?"

"You know why. You had no authority to search those patient records. They are private and confidential. I'm ordering you to turn over all the notes you took."

She did nothing. Said nothing.

'! hardly think an additional charge of theft is going to help your case."

"Theft?"

"Any information you gleaned from that illegal chart search was stolen. Give me the briefcase. Give it to me."

Wordlessly she handed it to him. She watched him open it. Watched him shuffle through the papers and remove her notes. She could do nothing except hang her head in defeat. Once again they had beaten her. They had made the preemptive strike, and she hadn't been prepared. She should have known better. She should have stashed the notes before coming up here. But she'd been too focused on what she would say, how she would explain herself to Wettig.

He shut the briefcase and handed it back to her. "Is that everything?" he asked.

She could only nod.

Wettig regarded her for a moment in silence. Then he shook his head. "You would have made a free surgeon, DiMatteo. But I think it's time to recognize the fact you need help. I'm recommending you seek psychiatric evaluation. And I'm releasing you from the Residency Programme, effective today." To her surprise, she heard a note of genuine regret in his voice when he added, quietly: "I'm sorry."

Detective Lundquist was a handsome blond, the ideal Teutonic specimen. He had interviewed Abby for two hours now, asking his questions while pacing around the cramped interview room. If it was a tactic designed to make her feel threatened, then it was working. In the small Maine town where Abby grew up, cops were the guys who waved at you from their cars, who walked cheerfully around town with keys clinking on their belts, and who handed out citizenship awards at high school graduations. They were not people you were supposed to be afraid of.

Abby was afraid of Lundquist. She'd been afraid of him from the moment he'd walked into the room and set a tape recorder on the table. She'd been even more afraid when he'd pulled out a card from his suit pocket and read her her rights. She was the one who'd walked into the police station of her own volition. She had asked to speak to Detective Katzka. Instead they had sent in Lundquist, and he had questioned her with the barely restrained aggression of an arresting officer.

The door opened, and at last Bernard Katzka walked into the room. To finally see someone she knew should have been a relief to Abby, but Katzka's impassive face offered no reassurance whatsoever. He stood across the table from her, regarding her with a weary expression.