Just when Laurie was about to head over to the cashiers to ask for a house phone to page her friend, a hand tapped her on the shoulder. To Laurie's delight, it was Sue, who enveloped her in a big hug. Sue was a big-boned, athletic woman of color who had excelled at college soccer and softball. Laurie felt tiny in her embrace. As usual, Sue looked fetching. In contrast to most of her colleagues, she was dressed in a stylish and flattering silk dress overlaid with a highly starched white coat. Similar to Laurie, she liked to indulge her feminine side with her attire.
"I hope you didn't bring your appetite," Sue teased while gesturing toward the steam-table line. "But joking aside, the food's not that bad."
As they descended the steam-table line and chose their food, they maintained a superficial banter about their respective professional roles. While waiting in the cashiers' line, Laurie asked about Sue's two children. Sue had gotten married just after medical school and had a boy, fifteen, and a girl, twelve. Laurie couldn't help but be jealous.
"Except for the agony of adolescence, everything is hunky-dory," Sue said. "What about you and Jack? Any light at the end of the tunnel? Seems to me you've got to get a move on, girl! I happen to know you are sneaking up to the big forty-three in a few days, since I'm close behind."
Laurie felt her face flush, along with a twinge of irritation that she was incapable of hiding anything. She could tell that Sue had caught the reaction, and since she and Sue had been friends for al- most twenty-six years, she had confided in her about her desire for children and the situation with Jack, particularly over the last two years. Laurie was not going to be able to get away with platitudes.
"Jack and I are history," Laurie said, deciding to be more forthright than she actually felt, "at least intimacy-wise."
"Oh, no! What's wrong with that boy?"
Laurie wrinkled her forehead and shrugged to say she had no idea. She didn't want to get into a long, drawn-out emotional conversation in her current state.
"Well, you know something… good riddance. You've been more than patient with that indecisive nincompoop. You should get a medal, because he ain't going to change."
Laurie nodded and had to restrain herself from defending Jack, even though what Sue was saying was true.
Sue wouldn't let Laurie pay for her lunch and insisted on putting the charges on her house account. With their trays in hand, they managed to get a table for two by the window. The view was of an inner courtyard with an empty fountain. In the summer, it was lush with flowers, water gushing from the fountain's multiple tiers.
They talked casually for a few more minutes about the situation with Jack, with Sue doing most of the talking. She then insisted that she would find someone more suitable for Laurie, and Laurie teased her by daring her to try. The conversation then switched to why Laurie had to have the BRCA1 screen. Laurie told the story about her mother and the fact that as usual, her mother had hidden the information from her. Sue's only comment was that she would arrange an appointment for Laurie with a top-notch oncologist if the test came back positive.
"What about a primary-care physician?" Sue asked after a short pause. "Now that you are officially a subscriber, you're going to need one."
"How about you?" Laurie suggested. "Are you taking new patients?"
"I'd be honored," Sue replied. "But are you sure you would be comfortable with me as your doc?"
"Absolutely," Laurie said. "I'll also have to switch my gyno."
"I can help you with that as well," Sue said. "We've got some terrific people on staff, including the woman I use my myself. She's quick, gentle, and knows her stuff."
"Sounds like a good recommendation. But there's no rush; I'm not due for a yearly checkup for another six months."
"That might be true, but I think we should get it in the works. The woman I'm thinking of is awfully popular. For all I know, she has a six-month wait for a first appointment. She's that good."
"Then by all means," Laurie said.
For a few minutes, they both concentrated on eating. It was Laurie who broke the silence. "There's something else important that I wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh?" Sue commented. She put down her teacup. "Fire away!"
"I wanted to talk to you about SADS."
Sue's face screwed up into an expression of complete confusion. "What the hell is SADS?"
Laurie laughed. "I just made it up this second. You've heard of SIDS, sudden infant death syndrome."
"Of course! Who hasn't?"
"Well, I've coined SADS for sudden adult death syndrome, which is a good name for a problem that's been occurring over here at the Manhattan General."
"Oh?" Sue questioned. "I think you'd better explain."
Laurie leaned forward. "Before I do, I have to say that it has to be in strictest confidence that the information I'm about to tell you came from me. I had suggested to our deputy chief that some- one over here at the Manhattan General should be warned, but he blew his top, contending that it was all mere speculation with no proof, and as such, might hurt the hospital's reputation. Yet I feel like the researcher caught in the bind of conducting a double-blind study on a life-saving procedure, which has quickly suggested its worth. Even though I'd be destroying the integrity of the study, which might keep the FDA from approving the treatment, I've got to leak the results so the people getting the placebo can be saved."
Laurie leaned back and laughed at herself. "Wow! Am I getting melodramatic or what? But it is true that I have no specific proof concerning what I'm about to tell you, mainly because I haven't finished investigating the cases. I don't even have copies of their hospital charts yet. I just feel it strongly, and someone has to know sooner rather than later. Anyway, this kind of medical politics drives me up the wall. It's the one bad thing about my job."
"Now you've got my curiosity up. Way up! Come on! Spill the beans!"
Leaning forward again and lowering her voice, Laurie proceeded to tell the story in the chronology it had unfolded by starting with McGillan, then adding the two cases posted by Kevin and George, and ending with her case that morning. She talked about the ventricular fibrillation and the fact that the autopsies had been completely clean. She then told Sue that she felt that with no pathology on gross or microscopically, the chances of four cases happening by chance was about the same as the sun not coming up the following morning.
"What exactly are you saying?" Sue questioned dubiously.
"Well…" Laurie said with hesitation. Knowing Sue as well as she did, she was aware that what she was about to say was the figurative equivalent of slapping her friend in the face. "Although I suppose there is still a minuscule chance the cause of these deaths was accidental in the form of a late anesthetic complication or maybe an unexpected side effect of a drug, I sincerely doubt it. And when I say minuscule, I mean infinitesimally small, because our toxicology screens have so far been negative. Anyway, the bottom line is this: I'm concerned about the possibility that these deaths are homicides."
For a few minutes, neither Laurie nor Sue said a word. Laurie was content to let the information sink into Sue's brain. She knew Sue was enormously quick-witted and patriotic about the Manhattan General. She'd done all her residency training within its walls.
Sue eventually cleared her throat. It was obvious that what Laurie had said had troubled her greatly. "Let me get this straight. You think we have some kind of a grim reaper wandering around our wards at night?"
"In a way, yes. At least, that's my worry. Before you dismiss the idea out of hand, just call to mind those cases in the news over the last couple of years, where deranged healthcare workers were dispatching patients under their care. You remember them, don't you?"