“What on earth are you doing here?” Colleen asked. She then gestured for Laurie to sit back down while she took the seat right next to her.
“My teenage-mindset husband who insists on riding his bike all over Manhattan took a nasty spill this afternoon.”
“Oh, God!” Colleen lamented with a shake of her head. “Men will be boys! How is he?”
“He’s still kicking, thank goodness,” Laurie said. “But he’s unconscious from an apparent concussion and has two fractures in his right leg, which are going to need to be surgically repaired. They are waiting for a neurological consult before going ahead with the surgery.”
“How awful. I’m so sorry.”
“I keep reminding myself it could have been worse. But anyway, how are you?”
“Coping. With some difficulty, thanks to the pandemic. I’m wondering if my kids will remember me when this is all over considering the number of shifts I’ve been forced to take. I’ve been practically living here. When I get home, I have to change clothes in the garage and shower in the guest room.”
“I can imagine,” Laurie said. “You frontline healthcare workers have been carrying the burden for all of us. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I guess your team has been equally busy.”
“Unfortunately, yes,” Laurie said. “Bringing up an unpleasant subject, I suppose you are aware of Sue Passero’s unfortunate death.”
“Oh, gosh, yes! Such a tragedy for the whole hospital. I still can’t believe it. She was so damn healthy and vital and a true contributor to this institution. It was a shock.”
“You spoke with her often, didn’t you?”
“For sure. Sometimes every day, at least when I wasn’t working the night shift like I am this week. Even then, she’d call me often. She frequently had patients in whatever intensive care unit I was covering. She was such a conscientious doctor.”
“Did she by any chance say anything to you recently about being worried there might be a medical serial killer active here at the MMH?”
“A serial killer? You mean someone killing patients on purpose?”
“Exactly.”
“What a strange question.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not as strange as it sounds. A dozen or more years ago, I was responsible for figuring out that a medical serial killer was operating here. It was a nurse being paid handsomely to kill off certain postoperative patients.”
“Good God! Really? That’s terrible. I never heard anything about it, as it was certainly before my time.”
“I’m not surprised you haven’t heard about it. For the obvious reason it was a PR nightmare. The hospital administration tried to put the kibosh on the story as soon as it was uncovered, and they were reasonably successful. The reason I’m asking the question now is because my husband had been told that Sue recently came across some kind of statistic that suggested to her there might be another such killer.”
“If she was concerned, she never mentioned anything to me,” Colleen said, with a shake of her head. “Wow! I certainly hope it is not the case.”
“Excuse me,” a voice said, “are you Dr. Montgomery?”
Both Laurie and Colleen looked up into the masked face of a doctor in a long white coat. A telltale percussion hammer protruded from one of his pockets, indicating his specialty. Laurie answered in the affirmative.
“I’m Dr. Fredricks. I’m a neurology consult. I’ve examined Dr. Stapleton. He’s suffered a concussion and remains unconscious. On the positive side his cranial computed tomography is entirely normal, as is his neurological exam, including being responsive to what we call noxious stimuli, all of which is encouraging. I have cleared him for emergency orthopedic surgery to stabilize his fractures, and he is on his way upstairs to the operating room. I was told to tell you that Dr. Thomas, the orthopedic trauma surgeon, will be in touch as soon as the case is over.”
“Thank you for letting me know,” Laurie said.
“You are more than welcome. Do you have any questions?”
She thought for a moment before asking how long he thought Jack might be unconscious.
“It’s difficult to know,” the doctor said. “But as I said, his neurological exam is normal, including all reflexes and responses to stimuli. I’m encouraged. If I had to guess, I’d say twelve to twenty-four hours, tops, but there is no way to estimate exactly. Any other questions?”
“I guess not,” Laurie said.
“Very good. If you do, you can page me. I’ll be checking in on him after his surgery.”
“Thank you,” Laurie said.
The doctor nodded, turned around, and hustled back into the interior of the ED.
“Fingers crossed,” Laurie said, looking back at Colleen and trying to make light of the situation.
“That’s all positive news, and I’m sure he will be fine,” Colleen said, trying to be upbeat. “It will be good to get the surgery out of the way. What are you going to do while you wait?”
“I don’t know,” Laurie said with a shrug. “I suppose sit here and answer email. I’m afraid it’s going to be a long evening. I’m really intent on keeping as close a watch over Jack as I can with even a hint of a potential serial killer here. As soon as it is medically okay, I want to have him transferred.”
“Why don’t I take you up to the surgical lounge?” Colleen suggested. “At this time of day, it’s practically deserted and you’ll probably have the place to yourself. There’s also peanut butter crackers and coffee. Have you had anything to eat?”
“No, but I’m not hungry in the slightest.”
“What do you say? It will be better than sharing this space with the cast of characters who come into the ED on a nightly basis.”
“I can’t argue with that,” Laurie said.
“Then let’s go,” Colleen said as she got to her feet. “I’ll not be far away. I’m mostly in the surgical intensive care unit for tonight, which is near the surgical lounge, so I can pop in and check on you now and then.”
“All right,” Laurie said. “I’ll take you up on your offer. I appreciate your thoughtfulness.”
On the way up in the elevator, Colleen had another suggestion. “If you are planning on being here for a long time and intent on keeping an eye on Jack, which I’m sure I can help happen, why don’t we get you a set of scrubs? Not only will you be more comfortable, you’ll need to be in scrubs if I can prevail on the charge nurse to let you in the SICU, where Jack will probably end up after being in the post-anesthesia unit. The other benefit of your coming up to the surgical lounge is that you have an entire locker room at your disposal. There’s even a shower if you are so inclined.”
“Wow! I hadn’t thought about that but it makes sense,” Laurie said. “This is going to take me back to my residency days.”
“Is that a good memory for you or bad?”
“Definitely good,” Laurie said, managing a slight smile at the thought despite her general anxiety.
Twenty minutes later she found herself dressed in a white doctor’s coat over scrubs sitting on a couch in the surgical lounge all by herself. In front of her was a cup of coffee as well as several unopened individual packages of peanut butter crackers. After Colleen had showed her around the lounge and the locker room, she had gone back to the SICU with the promise of poking her head in occasionally. Laurie had Colleen’s mobile number in case she needed to get in touch with her.
Once she was situated, the first thing Laurie did was call home. She had hoped to get Caitlin but got her mother instead as Caitlin had already gone to her quarters once Emma had been put to bed. So as not to worry her mother, she merely said that Jack had been in a bike accident and was having an operation to fix his leg and that she planned on being at the hospital for the time being. Although Dorothy did ask about Jack’s condition, Laurie could tell she was preoccupied by whatever it was that she was watching on the TV. Keeping the conversation short, which was mostly her mother complaining that Jack never should have been foolish enough to ride his bike in the city, Laurie got to chat briefly with JJ. He, too, was preoccupied as he had finished his homework and had moved on to playing computer games. Neither seemed overly upset that Jack was in surgery, which was good as far as she was concerned.