Intent on trying their luck again with Brian, both security guards took yet another step toward him, but now Charles held up his hand, intuitively sensing that Brian was more than capable of holding his own. “Stand down!” he ordered. “Let the deadbeat have his say.”
“Thank you,” Brian said insincerely, sensing that Charles was merely humoring him. “Until recently I had good health insurance, so I never concerned myself with hospital bills, like when my daughter was born prematurely. I now think that was a big mistake. Everyone, myself included, is guilty of giving you people free rein, and your greed and your secrecy has had no bounds. You are all new age robber barons.”
Brian was just getting warmed up in giving this haughty, unprincipled businessman a dressing-down when he was again interrupted by the arrival of additional security. On this occasion it was an older uniformed patrolman who, like Brian had done years ago, was clearly earning some extra money covering the hospital on his day off. As he ran into the room, keeping the various police paraphernalia attached to his service belt from falling out, he pulled up short when he saw him. Almost simultaneously they recognized each other.
“Brian Murphy?” the officer questioned with shock. He’d been warned that a deranged individual had broken into the hospital CEO’s office.
“Liam Byrne?” Brian questioned. He’d not seen Liam for almost two years, and the man had gone prematurely gray. Plus, the face mask made recognition more difficult.
Charles immediately pricked up his ears at this interaction between apparent old acquaintances. Speaking scornfully to Liam, he said: “Do you know this trespasser?”
“Yes. He’s with the NYPD, like myself. In fact, he’s a member of the elite Emergency Service Unit. And his father, rest his soul, was commander of my precinct.”
“That’s a shock,” Charles said with a mixture of disgust and disbelief. “A policeman! It’s hard to believe with the way he’s carrying on. He should have known better. Well, you’ve saved him from himself, but get him the hell out before I have him arrested for trespassing and criminal intimidation.”
“Yes, sir,” Liam said. He stepped up to Brian and whispered, “I think it’s best I walk you out of here with no arguments.”
For a moment of indecision, Brian looked back and forth between Charles Kelley and Liam Byrne. He had a lot more that he wanted to say to Charles, but seeing a community friend, particularly one who’d known his father, shocked him back to a sense of reality. In his confused state of mind brought on by Emma’s death, the last thing he should have done was rush into Charles Kelley’s office and make accusations. He shuddered to think of what might have happened had the limo driver drawn his gun before coming into the room or if the other security people had been armed. Someone could have been killed, and there was a chance it could very well have been him.
Suddenly feeling embarrassed, he locked eyes with Liam and said: “Okay! You’re right. Let’s go.”
Liam grasped Brian’s upper arm, and the two of them walked out. The secretary didn’t say anything as they passed her desk, but her expression suggested she was satisfied that her quick thinking had saved the day. They started down the hallway, but behind them they could hear Charles ranting and raging about how the hell such a miscreant had been able to saunter into his office.
Brian and Liam didn’t say anything until they’d reached the hospital lobby, where they knew they could talk without being overheard.
“What on earth were you doing in there mouthing off to the hospital CEO?” Liam asked in a forced half whisper, sounding truly concerned. “He’s a bad dude from what I know.”
“My wife, Emma, died about an hour ago. I wasn’t thinking,” he said after letting out a deflating sigh.
“Mary, Mother of God, I’m so sorry. What was it, an accident? Or Covid?”
“No, neither.” He struggled against tears and had to take a few breaths in an attempt to keep them at bay. Despite his best efforts his eyes brimmed and a few tears ran down his cheeks, which he wiped away with the back of his hand. “She died of a viral disease called eastern equine encephalitis,” he added when he could.
“I’ve never heard of it,” Liam said, putting an empathetic hand on Brian’s shoulder.
“I hadn’t heard of it, either,” Brian admitted. He took a deep breath. “But apparently we are going to hear a lot more about it in the coming years thanks to climate change. It’s transmitted by mosquitoes that used to live in the tropics, but because it’s getting warm, they’re now all the way up to Maine and beyond.”
“Another virus we have to worry about besides coronavirus?”
“I’m afraid so,” Brian said with another sigh.
“Were you really mouthing off to Charles Kelley about climate change?” Liam asked.
Despite his precarious mental state, Brian let out a brief laugh and shook his head. “Hardly,” he said. “No, I wanted to make sure he knew that there was a chance my wife died after she had been discharged while she was still sick because I couldn’t pay any of her nearly two-hundred-thousand-dollar insane hospital bill. At least that’s what I’m afraid happened. I’ve been learning a lot of shady things about hospitals and health insurance companies the hard way. They’re in this together, sucking money out of the system like there’s no tomorrow.”
“What about our great health benefits as members of the NYPD?” Liam said. “How did you end up owing so much money?”
Although he was tired of once again explaining, Brian went ahead and described how he and Emma had retired from the NYPD to form their own security company and ended up with Peerless Health Insurance, which he described as legalized fraud. “These short-term health policies collect your premiums but then figure out a way of avoiding paying for most everything. Of course, I didn’t read the policy. I mean, nobody reads their health insurance policies.”
“You got that right,” Liam said.
“The hospital is already suing me,” Brian went on to elaborate. “And as I understand, that kind of aggressive, sped-up approach is all Charles Kelley’s doing. He even had the hospital form their own collections division.”
“I’ve heard he’s a mean son of a bitch,” Liam agreed. “I steer clear. Do you remember Grady Quillen?”
“Yeah, I do,” Brian said. “I’m surprised you brought him up, because he is the one who served me the papers for the hospital suit against me.”
“That’s why I mentioned him. I’d heard he worked as a process server after his retirement for the collections department here. I thought he might be someone for you to talk with for some advice.”
“He gave me the name of a lawyer,” he said. “He also told me how busy he is, meaning that MMH Inwood is suing a lot of people, so I’m not alone.”
“I can second that. A neighbor of mine is also being sued.”
“He said the same thing about one of his neighbors,” Brian said. “MMH Inwood is a lot more predatory than I thought. Until this happened, I’d always considered it a valuable part of the community. Now I’m not so sure.”
“How did you get here?”
“I came in an ambulance,” Brian said.
“I could call the precinct and have a squad car come and drive you home,” Liam offered.
“No need,” he said. “It’s a short walk. But thanks for offering.”
After a final conversation about how much everyone at the precinct missed Deputy Inspector Conor Murphy, Brian said goodbye. He thanked Liam for coming to his rescue in Charles Kelley’s office, admitting that he’d gone there in a fit of rage without giving it any thought.