Strictly Business (10 page)

“
I should have been more careful, especially after the break in at Mr. Johnsons.”

“Listen, this is not your fault. No one could have predicted that it would escalate
to this degree. Breaking and entering is one thing. Attempted murder is quite another.”

“
Obviously the new information he got has really ruffled some feathers.” Wade stated.

“We have to proceed cautiously.”

“
This won’t stop me. We need to get some answers. I’ll do whatever it takes!”

After a short pause she heard, “Watch your back. You
sure you can trust her?”

“Yeah,
” Wade replied softly.

“They probably
also realized that he took the MRI. We’re getting closer and our case is getting stronger. We just have to connect the dots. Joel is still out of town. He should be meeting with his friend from the State Insurance Board on Wed.”

“
Keep me posted. If Ben doesn’t pull through this—” Wade started angrily.

“Ben’s a
fighter. Fighting is what he does best.”

“I’m more determined than ever to make those damn quacks pay. Now they can add attempted murder to the list
of atrocities. Fucking doctors!”

Nina’s ears rang as Wade’s angry words
echoed through her head like the reverberations of a chapel bell. Acid burned a hot hole in her stomach and her legs pedaled her back slowly until she collided with a chair. Wade bolted around the corner, a middle aged man dressed impeccably in a dark suit at his heels.

“Nina, are you all right?” Wade asked,
grasping her shoulders.

She
nodded, but she could feel her knees wobble. Wade’s intense gaze searched her face, and she knew she hadn’t fooled him.

“This is my law partner Andre
w Bennett. Andrew, this is Nina.”

She
extended a slender hand and Andrew shook it firmly. He held her gaze a little longer than was comfortable then turned to Wade. She couldn’t shake the odd feeling that she was the punch line of a secret joke. Wade was wearing a scrub top that one of the nurses had given him. The inappropriately sized garment stretched across his wide chest and the tight sleeves bunched above the curve of his large biceps. She noticed that the swelling in his left arm had increased. He’d probably re-injured it when he’d tackled her to the sidewalk. He didn’t seem to notice as his blue gaze stalked her every move. The tension in his jaw squared his unreadable features.

“I’ll cover your cases for the next few days. I know you’ll want to be here.”

“Thanks Andrew.” Wade turned back to his partner.

“Please be careful and call me with any
new developments.”

Andrew departed and Nina turned to Wade
, her arms pretzeled across her chest. She tried valiantly to smother her anger and the quakes that threaten to wrack her body. When he looked at her she could almost see the emotions weighing down his shoulders. He touched her arm to direct her to a chair, but she pulled away. She needed to keep a clear head, and she couldn’t do that when he was touching her.

“Let’s talk. I assume that you overheard that whole
conversation.”

“I heard enough of it to know that I’m not going to like what you’re about to tell me.”

He sank into one of the chairs in the waiting area and looked up at her. She sat gingerly beside him, trying to read his odd expression.
Regret? Anger? Pain?
She wanted to reach up and smooth away the lines that marked his forehead, but she resisted.

“Ben is a private investigator who works for my firm.”

Nina nodded and he continued, “His shooting has to do with a case that we’re working on. It’s a medical malpractice suit against a doctor and it also involves egregious misconduct by a major medical insurance carrier. It’s now become apparent that there might be other parties involved.”

She
listened intently. She wasn’t surprised so far by anything he’d said. She braced herself for much more given the gravity of his voice. Her fingers felt cold and numb, a feeling that was slowly consuming her body.

Wade
issued of a harsh curse under his breath, causing her to look up. She tracked his steely gaze to the waiting room entrance.

A tall lanky figure stalked
angrily towards them, the wide bottom of his wrinkled trenched coat flowing behind him like the cape of a villain. He came to an abrupt halt directly in front of Wade. What drew Nina’s attention was how disheveled the man looked. His oily hair was slicked back from his receding hairline and gray stubble spread in blotchy patches over his neck and jaw like a poorly mowed lawn. Sunken cheeks and dark circles under his eyes made him look like he hadn’t slept in days.

“What the hell are you ambulance chasers up
to now?” the man asked gruffly without preamble.

“Good day to you too
, Detective Sullivan,” Wade answered evenly.

“Good day
, my ass! I was finally on my way home after staking out a murderer for five days straight when I got the phone call about Ben. I have better things to do than to run around town after you guys! I don’t know why the captain’s got a soft spot for you.” He paused briefly and when he spoke again his voice held little remorse. “So one of yous finally got plugged, huh? It was just a matter of damn time!”

“Ben’s in surgery now. Thanks for inquiring about his
welfare, officer.” Sarcasm dripped from Wade’s voice.

“If
yous amateurs would stop playin’ coppers this sort of thing wouldn’t happen! Let
us
cops do our job and
you
concentrate on leaching every dime out of schmucks like me!”

Wade
stared calmly at the detective’s jabbing finger, but she could sense his barely banked fury. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Come on
Connolly, fess up, who’d you and your partners piss off now?”

Nina sat quietly and watched the dark shadow settle
across Wade’s face. His smile was tight, and the tense crackle of his control palpable.

“I have no idea why anyone would want to hurt Ben.”

She couldn’t hide the surprised on her face. Why would Wade lie to the detective? Why would he not enlist his help in finding Ben’s shooter? He knew the shooting was related to his case.

The detective sighed wearily, spearing fingers through his oily hair.
“Tight-lipped as always, hey, Connolly?”

“I’m always more than happy to cooperate wit
h the police,” Wade drawled, crossing his muscular legs in front of him.

Detective Sullivan stood for a quiet moment then said, “You know you’re not suppose
d to leave a crime scene. My officers told me you hightailed it outta there with this chick.” Detective Sullivan turned to her then as if just seeing her sitting beside Wade.

“You mixed up in this too? You a lawyer?”

She cleared her throat and stood primly. She extended a hand to detective Sullivan. “My name is Nina Henley. I’m a physician.”

Sullivan looked down at her extended arm like she’d just handed him a cobra. He ignored it and looked back
at Wade, a humorless chuckle erupting from him. “They’re making doctors prettier than I remember.”

Wade stood then, his large frame hovering dangerously close to the lanky detective. “Leave her alone. She doesn’t know anything.”

Nina stood frozen, staring at the two men. Animosity crackled between their bodies. Detective Sullivan stood his ground, seeming to get a charge out of Wade’s sudden burst of emotion.

“Fine!” Sullivan finally
sneered, stepping back. “Have it your way. Hopefully the next time I see you it won’t be to scrape you up off the sidewalk like your friend.”

With those words Detective Sullivan spun around on his heel
s and left, his coat billowing out behind him.

“Why didn’t you tell him what you kn
ow?” she questioned, her voice alarmed.

“Detective Sul
livan and I have a long history,” he explained simply.

Wade sat and nudged her down beside him.
She opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off. His blue eyes captured hers as he started to explain his case. A vice constricted her throat and squeezed tighter and tighter until her jaw slackened and her eyes bulged in disbelief.

“You are telling me that
you think a doctor knowingly misdiagnosed his patient because the insurance company paid him off?” She could feel the tension wind between her shoulder blades. Wade held her gaze steadily, scrutinizing her reaction.

“Yes. Not only did he do
that, but he produced fraudulent MRI scans to back up his contrived diagnoses.”

Nin
a followed his thoughts slowly, trying to digest the information, her heart thudding dully against her aching chest. “Right. The MRI scan you say he got from WMH—the hospital where
I
work?”

He
nodded, his silent stare assessing her.

“And you know that because
of ‘R.L’ stamped on the back?”

He took a deep breath.
“We’re not exactly sure yet of the connection. Nina, I know this is hard for you to believe right now, but—”

“What you’re telling me is ridiculous!
” she exploded, shooting up from her seat. “I know all the doctors who work in radiology at WMH. I work closely with them every day. No one would do such a thing! As a doctor we take an oath to heal, to cure, to ease pain,
not
maliciously inflict it!”

He
quieted her when her voice rose in pitch. He scanned the room to ensure no one had entered the waiting area. His blue gaze grew determined.

“I respect your work ethic and your ideals, but not
everyone holds that medical oath as dearly as you do. Plus, your reality may be clouded when it comes to you profession.” A pulse ticked in his jaw.

Nina winced, feeling anger roll off her in waves. She didn’t like the emotion stirring his voice. She paced the small area, needing to be away from him. She needed to think, to sort through this preposterous story. She knew how the MRI department worked. It would be impossible for someone to pull off what he suggested. They’d have to print MRIs that already existed. To do this they’d need access to the entire data base of MRI’s at WMH from which they could select a scan that closely matched the patient. Not just anyone had that access.

Wade’s head followed her as her long legs stalked back and forth. He marveled that even when she was angry she was sexy.
He knew she was having a hard time wrapping her brain around what he’d just told her. He could tell by her stiff spine and the angry slash of her lips that she didn’t believe him. What he counted on was her analytical mind to sort through the details, to put aside her emotions, her cloudy idealism, and methodically contemplate the possibility.

“Only senior
attendings have access to the MRI data base, but names and dates on the films would have to be changed. He’d have to print the films without being noticed…”

“He, she or they. We don’t know.”

Nina faced him. “I know reimbursing for surgical procedures is expensive, but I can’t believe that an insurance company would resort to such extremes. Won’t most of these patients keep going back to the doctor with the same complaints or get a second opinion?”

“I suspect that some of them did. I think that they were given more physical therapy and more pain medication as my client was. Sure, some ended up having surgery
, but many didn’t. Those who didn’t would save the insurance company millions. I think most people with chronic pain learn to live with it, especially if your doctor says nothing more can be done. In my client’s case his pain became crippling, and he started to distrust his doctor. He came to us for help.”

“
Why you?” she asked bitterly. “Did he see you on TV offering to be his champion against us quacks? Why didn’t he get a second medical opinion?”

Wade
shifted his weight, bracing himself and ignoring her caustic remark. His fingers itched to grab her and shake her, wake her up to the realities of life. Instead he kept his voice calm.

“His insurance carrier doesn’t pay for
a second opinion or for a second MRI. He’d have to pay out of pocket. For a lot of people that’s a deterrent. I think the doctor selects certain individuals who they know will be very compliant. Some people regard their doctor as God and don’t question him. Thank goodness my client started to question his care. He brought the scan to us and our doctors realized it wasn’t his. Whoever is behind this is desperate to get the scan back; they’ll even resort to murder.”

“How did Mr. Johnson get the scan? I
f what you say is true I can’t imagine they gave it to him.”

Wade hesitated before answering. “He took it from Dr. Barton’s office.”