With the job of calling home out of the way, Laurie did what had been on her mind ever since she’d heard about Jack’s accident: call Lou. As the call went through, she hoped she wasn’t interrupting something important. She was always a little reluctant to call Lou in the evening because it was mostly in the evening or the wee hours of the morning that he was the busiest. The moment he answered she asked if he could talk or whether he needed to call her back.
“I’m on a homicide call, but I’m okay for a few minutes,” Lou said. “What’s up?”
“Jack had a serious bike accident.”
“Hell’s bells!” Lou groaned. “How is he?”
“It’s not as bad as it could be,” Laurie said. “But it is still bad. He’s in a concussion-induced coma, but from the neurologist I got the sense they are optimistic and expect him to wake up soon or at least within twenty-four hours. Luckily there are no skull fractures. At this very moment, he’s undergoing surgery to stabilize two fractures of his right leg.”
“That’s bad enough. What are the details of the accident?”
“That I don’t know.”
“Do you know where it took place?”
“They told me, but I can’t remember. Someplace on the Upper East Side, not too far away from the MMH.”
“That will be the nineteenth precinct. Let me call and find out, and I’ll call you back.”
Before Laurie could respond, Lou disconnected. She shrugged. She didn’t know why he was so concerned about the details of the accident. As far as she was concerned, it didn’t make much difference, and it wasn’t what she was interested in talking to him about. Putting her phone down, she picked up one of the cellophane-wrapped peanut butter cracker sandwiches and tore it open. Surprising herself, she had become a little hungry.
After two bites, her phone rang. It was Lou getting right back to her.
“Rush hour at the corner of First Avenue and Eighty-Third Street and not a single witness. Can you believe it?” he said quickly. “Only in New York. Anyway, it’s assumed it was a hit-and-run because the bike was toast, most likely run over by the car or van or whatever it was.”
“Whatever,” Laurie said. “At this stage it’s not going to help the doctors to know exactly what happened or who was at fault. Besides, as fast as he tended to ride, he didn’t need a vehicle to get himself banged up badly. Anyway, why I was eager to talk with you is to get your take on the medical serial killer issue and how probable you think it is. Obviously, I’m concerned with Jack now a patient here.”
“What medical serial killer issue?” Lou asked with obvious confusion. “I don’t know what you are talking about.”
“The medical serial killer that Sue Passero was concerned about,” she said. “The one Jack had heard about from the nurse you and he posted this morning, the one who shared committee responsibilities with Sue.”
“Jack didn’t say boo about any serial killer,” Lou said categorically.
“Really?” Laurie questioned with surprise. “That’s hard to believe. Jack told me that he had you up to speed with all he was learning over here at the MMH.”
“All he said to me was that it was a hotbed of intrigue and animosity, which was why I was trying to dissuade him from going over there playing detective.”
“You knew about him coming here?” Laurie demanded sharply.
“Only after the fact,” Lou said. “Well, except for this afternoon, where I guess he was headed when he had his accident. I had spoken with him just before he left the OCME, and he told me he was going. He also said he was going to meet whoever it was in the ED and not in the hospital proper.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” she questioned angrily. As tense as she was, every new fact bothered her.
“Hey, I’m not the bad guy here,” Lou said. “Jack told me not to tell you.”
“And you agreed?” Laurie asked with disbelief. “Thank you very much, Detective Soldano. Some friend you turn out to be.”
“Hey, don’t blame me! As I told him, being friends with you two ain’t the easiest job in the world. At his request, I agreed to go along with his wishes and not tattle by giving him just one more day to look into Sue Passero’s case, which was what he asked for. But he certainly didn’t mention anything about a medical serial killer being involved in any way or form. Had he said anything like that, I certainly wouldn’t have agreed to even one day considering what happened the last time you two were involved with a serial killer at the same hospital.”
“All right,” Laurie said, trying to rein in her roiling emotions. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I’m not myself, and I just couldn’t believe Jack wouldn’t have confided in you about this serial killer idea since he said that you were, quote, ‘on board.’ ”
“Apology accepted,” Lou said. “So, tell me what you know about this medical serial killer issue. I don’t like to think about the possibility, remembering that crazy Jasmine Rakoczi and the mayhem she caused.”
“Honestly, I don’t know much,” Laurie said, surprised Lou brought up the Jasmine Rakoczi episode. She had also been reluctantly reminiscing in the back of her mind about that frightful experience and how close she’d come to being victimized herself. “All I know is the little Jack had been told, namely Sue was convinced of it. And to make matters worse, he’d heard that Sue thought it was a very active medical serial killer, particularly over the last year.”
“Meaning, of course, lots of deaths.”
“Obviously,” Laurie said testily. “That’s what an active serial killer means.”
“Hey, don’t get impatient with me. You doctors speak your own language that we mortals don’t always understand. I just want to be sure I’m getting what you are telling me. Do you have any idea why Dr. Passero felt this way?”
“The nurse that you and Jack autopsied this morning told Jack it had something to do with statistics but didn’t elaborate, saying she would tell him today, when she’d have more time. But in the interim, Jack took it upon himself to get what statistics he could, which proved opposite to what he expected if a serial killer was involved. From the MMH, he learned that their mortality ratio, which is what the hospital uses for accreditation, was not only impressively low but had actually gone down over the last year. He also had our Medical Legal Department look at the MMH monthly death rate reported to the OCME and found that stat had also gone down over the previous year.”
“Whoa!” Lou voiced appreciatively. “Math has never been my forte, but it seems to me all that argues against there being any kind of a serial killer, particularly not an active one.”
“I agree,” Laurie said. “But here’s the rub. Sue allegedly believed it, and Sue Passero was one of the smartest people and most dedicated doctors that I have known. If she truly believed it, I’d have to give the idea significant credence.”
“But her believing it is hearsay,” Lou said.
“True,” she agreed, “but my impression was that Jack gave the source considerable credence. When I combine that with Jack’s concern that Sue’s death might have been a homicide, along with your concern the nurse’s death was a homicide, I’m feeling very uncomfortable having Jack here in this hospital. So much so that down in the Emergency Department, even with Jack unconscious, I brought up the idea of transferring him over to NYU.”