Crisis (16 page)
"The more material you can give me about the case, the greater the chance I might be able to come up with some suggestion."
"I'll see what I can do about getting the opening statement of the plaintiff."
"Well, then, I guess I'll see you later."
"Thanks, Jack. It's starting to seem like old times knowing that you're coming."
Alexis ended the call and slipped her phone back into her bag. When all was said and done, even if Jack didn't actually help, she was glad he was coming. He would provide the kind of emotional support only a family member could offer. She headed back through security and took the elevator to the third floor. As she entered the courtroom and allowed the heavy door to close as quietly as possible behind her, she could hear that Randolph was still describing the deleterious effect current-day medical economics was having on the practice of medicine. Choosing to sit as close as possible to the jury, she could see by their glazed eyes that they were no more engaged than when she had left. Alexis was even more pleased that Jack was coming. It gave her the sense that she was doing something.
5
NEW YORK, NEW YORK MONDAY, JUNE 5, 2006 3:45 P.M.
For a few minutes after hanging up with his sister, Jack sat at his desk and drummed his fingers on its metallic surface. He hadn't been completely up-front with her. Her assessment of why he'd avoided visiting her had been on the money, which he hadn't really acknowledged. Worse yet, he hadn't admitted it was still the case. In fact, it might even be worse now, since Meghan and Christina, Alexis's two youngest, were currently about the same ages as his late daughters, Tamara and Lydia. Yet he was caught in an emotional bind, considering how close he and Alexis had been back in Indiana. He was five years her senior, and the age difference was just enough for his role to be somewhat parental yet close enough to also be solidly brotherly. That circumstance, plus guilt from having avoided Alexis for the entire ten years he'd been in New York, made it impossible not to respond to her pleas in her hour of need. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be easy.
He stood up and for a brief moment debated whom he should talk to first. His first inclination was Laurie, although he was hardly excited about the prospect, since she was clearly uptight about the wedding plans; her mother was driving her crazy and she was, in turn, driving Jack crazy. Consequently, he thought perhaps speaking first to Calvin Washington, the deputy chief, made more sense. Calvin was the one who would have to give Jack permission to take time off from the OCME. For even a briefer moment, the hope that Calvin would say no to additional leave passed through his mind, since both Jack and Laurie were already scheduled for two weeks' vacation starting Friday. Being denied leave to go to Boston would certainly solve his issues of guilt toward Alexis and reluctance to confront Alexis's daughters, and the need to bring up the idea with Laurie. Yet such a convenient excuse was not going to come to pass.
Calvin wouldn't say no; a family emergency was never turned down.
But before he'd even logged off his computer, rationality prevailed. Intuitively, he knew he should at least try to talk with Laurie first, since if he didn't and she found out that he hadn't tried, there'd be hell to pay, as close as it was to the wedding date. With that idea in mind, he walked down the hall toward Laurie's office.
There was another reason Jack was not excited about the proposed trip to Boston, and that was because Craig Bowman was far from his favorite person. Jack had tolerated him for Alexis's benefit, but it had never been easy. From day one when Jack had just met the man, he'd recognized the type. There'd been several similar personalities in Jack's medical school, all of whom had been at the very top of his class. They were the type of individuals who made it a point to smother anyone with an avalanche of journal article citations supposedly confirming their viewpoint whenever they got into a medical discussion. If that had been the only problem, Jack could have lived with it, but unfortunately, Craig's opinionated ways were also sprinkled with an irritating degree of arrogance, grandiosity, and entitlement. But even that Jack could have found bearable if he'd been able to occasionally steer the conversation with Craig away from medicine. But he never could. Craig was interested only in medicine, science, and his patients. He wasn't interested in politics or culture or even sports. He didn't have time.
As Jack closed in on Laurie's office door, he audibly harrumphed when his mind recalled Alexis suggesting he had avoidant traits in his personality. The nerve! He thought for a moment and then smiled at his reaction. With a flash of clairvoyance, he knew she was right and that Laurie would wholeheartedly agree. In many ways, such a reaction was evidence of his narcissism, which he had admitted to Alexis.
Jack poked his head into Laurie's office, but her desk chair was empty. Riva Mehta, Laurie's darkly complected, silky-voiced officemate, was at her desk and on the phone. She glanced up at at Jack with her onyx eyes.
Jack pantomimed by pointing toward Laurie's chair while raising his eyebrows questioningly. Riva responded by pointing downward and mouthing "in the pit" without taking the telephone receiver from her ear.
With a nod of understanding that Laurie was down in the autopsy room, undoubtedly doing a late case, Jack reversed course and headed for the elevators. Now if Laurie found out he'd gone to Calvin first, he'd have an explanation.
As per usual, he found Dr. Calvin Washington in his office next to the chief's. In contrast with the chief's, it was tiny and practically filled with metal filing cabinets, his desk, and a couple of straight-backed chairs. There was barely room for Calvin's two-hundred-fifty-pound frame to squeeze past his desk and lower it-self into his desk chair. It was Calvin's job to run the medical examiner's office on a daily basis, which was not an easy job considering there were more than a dozen medical examiners and over twenty thousand cases per year resulting in almost ten thousand autopsies. On a daily basis there were on average two homicides and two drug overdoses. The OCME was a busy place, and Calvin oversaw all the pesky details.
"What's the problem now?" Calvin demanded in his basso profundo voice. In the beginning, Jack had been relatively intimidated by the man's muscular bulk and stormy temperament. As the years passed, the two had grown to have a wary respect for each other. Jack knew Calvin's bark was worse than his bite.
Jack didn't go into details. He merely said he had a family emergency in Boston that required his presence.
Calvin regarded Jack through his wire-rimmed progressive lenses. "I didn't know you had family in Boston. I thought you were from somewhere out there in the Midwest."
"It's a sister," Jack said simply.
"Will you be back in time for your vacation?" Calvin asked.
Jack smiled. He knew Calvin well enough to know that he was making a stab at humor. "I'll try my darnedest."
"How many days are we looking at?"
"Can't say for certain, but I'm hoping just one."
"Well, keep me informed," Calvin said. "Does Laurie know about this sudden development?" Over the years Jack had come to realize that Calvin had assumed an almost parental attachment to Laurie.
"Not yet, but she's at the top of my list. Actually, she's the only one on my list."
"All right! Get outta here. I've got work to do."
After thanking the deputy chief, who acknowledged him with a wave of dismissal, Jack walked out of the admin area and took the stairs down to the autopsy floor. He waved hello to the mortuary tech in the mortuary office and to the head of security in the security office. A waft of what New York City residents call fresh air came in from the open loading dock looking out to 30th Street. Turning to the right, he walked down the stained, bare concrete flooring past the big walk-in cooler and past the individual refrigerated compartments. Reaching the autopsy room, he glanced inside through the wire-mesh window. There were two figures in full protective gear in the process of cleaning up. A single body with a sutured autopsy incision was on the nearest table. It was obvious the case was over.
Jack cracked the door and called out to ask if anyone knew the whereabouts of Dr. Montgomery. One of the occupants said she'd left five minutes ago. Cursing under his breath, Jack retraced his steps and took the elevator back up to the fifth floor. As he rode, he wondered if there was any way to present the situation that would be easier for Laurie. His intuition told him she wasn't going to be happy with this new development, with as much pressure as her mother was putting on her about Friday's proceedings.
He found her in her office, arranging things on her desktop. It was apparent she'd just arrived. Riva was still on the phone and ignored them both.
"What a nice surprise," Laurie said brightly.
"I hope so," Jack said. He leaned his butt against the edge of Laurie's desk and looked down at her. There was no other chair. Not only did the medical examiners have to share offices in the outdated OCME facility, but the offices were small to begin with. Two desks and two file cabinets filled the room.
Laurie's questioning blue-green eyes stared back at Jack without blinking. Her hair was piled on top of her head and held in place with a faux-tortoiseshell clip. A few wisps of hair curled down in front of her face. "What do you mean 'I hope so? What in heaven's name are you going to tell me?" She was wary.
"I just had a call from my sister, Alexis."
"That's nice. Is she all right? I've wondered why you two don't stay more in touch, especially since she and her husband have been having their difficulties. Are they still together?"
"She's fine, and yes they are together. The call was about him. He's going through a difficult time. He's being tried for malpractice."
"That's too bad, especially since you said he was such a good doctor. I hate to hear that kind of story with what we medical examiners know of the doctors who ought to be sued."
"The bad doctors are much more risk-management-oriented to make up for what they lack in skill and know-how."
"What gives, Jack? I know you didn't come in here to discuss the malpractice crisis. I'm sure of that."
"Apparently, my brother-in-law's case is not going well, at least according to Alexis, and with the extent of his ego investment in being a doctor, she believes he'll decompensate if he loses. Furthermore, she believes that if that happens, the marriage and family will fall apart. If Alexis didn't have a Ph.D. in psychology, I might not give all this much credence, but since she does, I have to assume it's on the money."
Laurie cocked her head a few degrees to the side to view Jack from a slightly different angle. "You're obviously leading up to something, which I have a feeling I'm going to find upsetting."
"Alexis has pleaded with me to rush up to Boston and try to help."
"What on earth could you do?"
"Probably just hold her hand. I was as skeptical as you are and said so, but she practically begged me to come. To be honest, she tapped into my mother lode of guilt."
"Oh, Jack," Laurie murmured plaintively. She took a deep breath and let it out. "How long will you be away?"
"I'm hoping only a day. That's what I told Calvin." Then Jack quickly added, "I came here to your office first to talk to you, then stopped in Calvin's office on the way down to the pit when I found out that's where you were."
Laurie nodded. She glanced down at her desktop and played with an errant paper clip. It was obvious she was torn between Jack's sister's need and her own. "I don't have to remind you this is Monday afternoon and our wedding is set for one thirty on Friday."
"I know, but you and your mom are doing all the work. The honeymoon was my job, and it's all arranged."
"What about Warren?"
"As far as I know, in his words, he's cool, but I'll check." Jack had had trouble deciding who was going to be the best man, Warren or Lou. Ultimately, it had come to drawing straws, and Warren had won. Other than Warren and Lou, the only people Jack had invited to the affair were his office mate, Dr. Chet McGovern, and a smattering of his neighborhood basketball buddies. He'd specifically avoided inviting family for a multitude of reasons.
"And you?"
"I'm ready."
"Should I be worried about you going up to Boston and confronting your sister's daughters? You've told me in the past that was a problem for you. How old are they now?"
"Fifteen, eleven, and ten."
"Weren't your two daughters eleven and ten?"
"They were."
"From what you've shared with me over the years about how your mind works, I'm worried that you might be set back from having to relate to them. Where are you staying?"
"At the house! Alexis insisted."
"I don't care if she insisted. Are you comfortable staying there? If you're not, listen to yourself and stay in a hotel. I don't want you to be set back over this and possibly decide not to go through with the wedding. There's a chance your going up there could open old wounds."
"You know me too well. I've thought about everything you've said. My sense is that giving serious thought to the risk rather than ignoring it is a healthy sign! Alexis accused me of harboring avoidant traits in my personality."