The Doctor Digs a Grave by Robin Hathaway

Author:Robin Hathaway
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2012-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 23

STILL LATER THURSDAY MORNING

Despite the delay for cosmetic surgery, Fenimore arrived at the emergency room of Franklin Hospital at 10:00 A.M. But not alone. Officer Santino stood in the hallway, watching him through the glass door of the ER. The young woman at the desk, cradling a cup of steaming coffee, glanced up. She registered nothing when she saw his face. Three cheers for Mrs. Doyle.

“I’d like to see the records of Joanne Field.” (He had almost forgotten her Anglicized name.) “She was here on Saturday, October 29th—in the late afternoon, around 4:30. But she left before she could be admitted.” He showed her his identification.

The nurse blinked. “I think I was on duty, Doctor. Was she a Native American?”

“Yes.” Another eyewitness? He could hardly believe his good fortune.

“I’ll get the file.” She disappeared between a pair of sliding glass doors.

He watched her walk over to a desk and boot up a computer. The scent of the coffee she had left behind reached him. In his convalescent mode, he had wanted tea. In his recovery mode, he wanted coffee. He looked around for the coffeepot. He spotted it in a corner, complete with packets of sugar, milk, and Styrofoam cups. ER employees, apparently, were undaunted by warnings about high cholesterol and recycling. Helping himself, he went back to the reception desk. He had scalded his mouth twice before the nurse came back and handed him a printout.

“It was quiet here that day, Doctor,” she said. “That’s why I remember her. Later on it was a zoo. We had an apartment fire, a three-car accident, and a stabbing. But when your patient walked in, it was as quiet as a church.”

“Tell me what you remember.”

“Well, the thing I remember about her is that after a very short time, she walked out. And a few minutes later Dr. Sheehab, two nurses, and an orderly came rushing after her.”

“What did they say?”

“The doctor said, ‘That woman who just left is an MVA case. Is there any way we can get her back?’ I said, ‘Her home number must be on her chart.’ And he said—I remember this distinctly—‘She may not make it home.’”

MVA stood for malignant ventricular arrythmia, a condition known in the popular medical vernacular as “the Pearly Gates syndrome.” If you had it, and it was untreated, that’s where you were headed.

Fenimore glanced at the file. “Anything else?”

“No. Except she looked terrible. I almost stopped her myself. But she was moving so fast and looked so determined … .” She shrugged.

Fenimore thanked her and, still studying the file, felt his way to an empty chair. When he came to the electrocardiograms, he let out a low whistle. No wonder they had run after her. After scanning the computer printout of her SMA 20 blood test, he laid the file aside to consider.

The report held the following significant facts: distinct abnormalities in her electrocardiograms—heart block, ventricular tachycardia, and MVA. Such irregularities could occur years after complete repair of tetralogy of Fallot. But the presence of another factor altered this conclusion.

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