Chapter 11
Amelia unlocked her front door, paused when she saw a stack of boxes, and no piles, and what looked like tracks in the carpet where a vacuum cleaner had been used. Unable to resist, she giggled as she called out, “Honey, I’m home.” She jerked when Raymond appeared at the entrance to the kitchen.
“Welcome, I made us some lunch.”
“What did you make?”
“Nothing much, just some chicken salad.” They went into the kitchen, and she saw the plates piled high with lettuce, other veggies, and chopped up chicken. Neither of them said a word as she went to the sink, washed her hands, and after she dried them, she settled at the counter.
“This looks good.”
“Thank you, it’s not much, because you didn’t have much in your refrigerator. Though it’s none of my business, is it always that empty?”
“No, I knew my days here were numbered, and I was using things up, but not replacing them. I’ll have to stop at the grocery store on our way out of town tomorrow. You are going to spend tonight, right?”
“Yes, after going through all your piles, I think we can get almost everything in the back of my truck, and your SUV.”
“I won’t have to rent anything?”
“Nope.”
“Good.” They ate in silence until their meals were gone, then she looked at him with a grin. “Did you get the photos I sent you?”
“Yes, and I backed them up in the cloud, sent them to my own e-mail, and put them on a flash drive, I also deleted them from my phone.”
“Good, now, do you want the tea on what I learned today?”
“Sure,” Raymond said with a shrug as he picked up the plates to take to the garbage and ended up dropping them as he whipped around to stare at her in shock. “Come again?”
“According to Betty, Perkins called the clinic five minutes before they closed last night. He informed Betty that she is to call Shay Hall to have him come in on Monday for a consultation for his surgery. He even told Betty to tell Shay that I was let go from the clinic because of being incompetent, and that I missed something vital in my treatment of him, and he’ll need surgery.
Once Shay agrees that he will be there on Monday, she is then to call over to the hospital to book the OR for Thursday. ”
“Please, tell me you’re joking,” Raymond said with a shocked expression as he picked up his mess, poured them each a cup of coffee, and settled back in his seat.
He frowned when she laid her phone on the counter between them, and pushed play.
When Betty’s voice came through loud and clear, saying exactly what Amelia had just told him, he stared at her in shock.
“What’s wrong?”
“Right now, with that conversation, I can’t do anything, but start a case against Perkins.
I’ll need more from Shay if he goes in to see Perkins.
” He shook his head as he tried to think.
“Right now, nothing would hold up in court because it’s a he said, she said situation.
However, if we can get Shay, Clark, or Naomi to record Perkins saying those exact words, about your character, then we have a defamation case, and possibly something else. ”
“What else?”
“It’s still defamation of character, but the verbal wording would be slander, and if he writes anything bad about you down, that’s libel.
We will need him to say it without any provocation.
Normally, it’s one against the other, but I believe we may be able to go after him for that, in addition to the malpractice. ”
“What are the consequences of the defamation case?”
“I would demand he make a public apology to you, also, because of your job, I would make sure he tells everyone he misaligned you to get an apology, then I would go after him for restitution. He would have to pay you money.”
“Damn. I’m not saying not to, but I don’t really need his money.”
“That’s neither here nor there, Amelia. He is spreading lies about you, trying to ruin your reputation.
The money is to prove that he can’t just spout off his shit and get away with it.
If we win a case against him, then it’s our way of telling him he can’t do that, and he has to pay for his mistakes.
There are consequences to what he is doing.
It’s more complicated than that, but that’s the nutshell version.
I’m not saying you have to keep his money, you can donate it, or do something good with it. It’s the principle of it.”
“Oh.”
“Other than that conversation with Betty, how was the rest of your day.” He froze when she looked at him with a grin. “What?”
“There’s more,” she said with a laugh, then actually giggled. She had to wipe her tears and it took several minutes before she calmed enough in order for her to tell him. With her waving her hand before her own face, she drew in several deep breaths and laughed.
“I had just finished all the copies I had made, and was finalizing some notes in my charts when Ervin barged into my office. Well, he knocked, but didn’t wait to be told to enter.
He came in like a bull in a china shop, sat down before my desk, without being asked, and started making demands.
” She held up her hand, grabbed her phone off the counter, accessed the audio recording, and set the phone back down, before she pressed play.
Raymond leaned in to listen, and ended up playing it twice before he looked at her. “Holy hell. Who is the woman he brought with him?”
“No clue,” she said as she grabbed her phone, found the photo, and looked at him.
“I didn’t send it to you yet, but I think we need to send this back to Yvonne, Kevin, and maybe even Duane.
” She showed him the photo and he took the phone to study it.
It was several silent moments before he shook his head, but he looked at her with a raised brow.
“Did she say anything?”
“No, she just stood there like that. After my real exit interview with Janet in HR, I showed it to her, and she was clueless as to who it was. She didn’t say anything, but I was under the impression that Janet was the only one that worked in HR.
Don’t quote me on that, but like I said, that’s the impression I got.
” She shrugged. “If she isn’t the only one, then at least she’s the head of the department. ”
“Do you mind if I send this to the people you mentioned?”
“Not at all, I think I have their contact information in my phone, oh, and send it to yourself so you can put it with the other things I sent you.” It took five minutes, but he had transferred the photo to not only himself, but he had also sent it to the three security people back home, with a short message asking them to look into who that person was.
He also said he would explain when he returned to the ranch.
He laid her phone back on the counter, and looked at her with a shake of her head.
“Damn, you had an interesting day.”
“I did,” she giggled and this time, she was the one to get up to refill their coffee mugs. She settled back in her seat, turned to him fully, and said clearly, “There’s more.”
“Holy shit, what else could there be?”
She raised up on her hip, reached into her back pocket, and held up the flash drive.
“I don’t know if any of this can be used if we decide to go with either a malpractice case, or a defamation case.
We both know that this information was obtained illegally.
I’m not saying you’re a bad lawyer and would stoop to something so low, but I thought that if maybe, just maybe, we do have a case of malpractice, we can subpoena records.
Again, this probably can’t be used, but it will prove that if he destroys evidence, we have this.
I know I’m blubbering, but we might even have to talk to Yvonne and bring in her former people from the FBI. ”
“What is that?”
“After I did what I did with the x-rays, I placed them all on one set of empty shelves. I broke that box down, then went to pick up another box. On the top of it, I saw a much smaller box that held CDs. Just out of curiosity, I put one in my laptop to view it.” She shook her head and grinned at him. “Thank god it wasn’t porn.”
Raymond snorted a laugh, moved uncomfortably in his seat, and shook his head as he asked, “What were they?”
“Case notes on some of Perkins past patients. Each CD is a different patient. Instead of reading them all, I uploaded them to this drive. I only saw a little bit of information, but I caught a few words.” She shook her head, sipped her coffee, and looked at him sadly.
“I saw the words, Patient deceased due to complications of surgery.”
“On all of them?” Raymond asked in shock and had to fist his hands when he felt and saw them shaking as he reached for the flash drive.
“No, I didn’t view them all. Only the first one, there were fifteen of them. After I saw those words, I only copied everything to this drive. I didn’t see or read anything after that.”
“Holy shit,” he said as he reached for the drive, but stopped with his hand only inches away. He cocked his head to the side, and gave her the stink eye. “Is there any more information you need to tell me?”
“Nope,” she said with a grin. “As far as my office at the clinic is concerned, I’ve gathered everything.
In my mind, we now have to wait to see if Shay gets a phone call, then whether Clark and or Naomi go with him, and see if they can record what Perkins and or Ervin says and does.
” She shook her head sadly. “I know I don’t want this to happen, but I’m going to be extremely curious as to whether Ervin will be in the exam room with Shay. ”
“Yeah, me too. We can’t do anything until Shay gets the call, and hopefully, they will reach out to us to let us know. Other than that, we’ll have to trust them to take it to the next level and show us any video later.”
The two of them sat there in silence thinking about what they had already learned, and what they were about to learn, and it was a good three minutes before Amelia heaved a sigh, and looked at him.
“As much as I want to dig into the information on that drive, I think I better concentrate on finishing packing up my home if we’re to pull out of here tomorrow. I want to be on the road by nine, and that’s with stopping at the grocery store.”
“Yeah, I agree. A couple of questions. What do you want to do with the bed I slept on?”
“Will you be spending the night again tonight?”
“I can, if you wish.”
“I wish. I’m going to leave that room intact.
I’ll wash and dry the sheets in the morning, and leave them folded on the bed.
” At his confused expression she elaborated.
“In case Betty needs to crash here. I know it’s cheap of me, but I’ll also be leaving the paper plates and plastic silverware, along with the coffee pot, because I saw one in the cabin I’ll be staying in at Broken Two. ”
Raymond looked at her with a smirk, picked up the pad of paper beside him, flipped it to a fresh page, and gave her a grin.
“Let’s walk.” They toured the entire apartment, and while she said what was to go, or stay, he took notes.
By the time they crashed for the night, they were all packed except for his clothes, and a few last-minute items of hers.
The next morning, as Raymond made the coffee, and Amelia tossed all the sheets into the washer, he looked at her with a frown when she joined him.
“What’s that look for?”
“Do you have to contact the landlord about you leaving here?”
“No.” At his confused look, she smiled. “I own this apartment. When I first started at the hospital almost fifteen years ago, these apartments were for sale, not lease, or rent. The builders wanted to make a name for themselves, and the market for units like this was hot. I got a great deal, and was able to pay it off in ten years. I only pay the taxes, and utilities. I’ll keep it until Betty decides what she’s going to do.
If she’s compromised where she is, and wants to hide out here, that’s fine.
If she wants to come to Broken Two, that’s fine.
I’m just going to leave it as a rescue place for her now.
She might even decide not to come to Broken Two and sublet this from me.
I’m good with whatever she decides. I know I don’t want to put any pressure on her.
I can’t force her to move, that has to be her decision.
If she does come to work for me, then I’ll look into maybe selling this place. ”
“Or,” Raymond said as he handed her a steaming mug of coffee and took one for himself.
“Or, what?”
“Or, you could leave it like this, and I don’t know how many people from the ranches ever come to Colorado Springs, but maybe until you decide, you could offer this to whomever comes instead of them paying for a hotel.
I’m not saying you have to do that, but I’m also not saying to turn it into an Airbnb either. If you know what I’m saying.”
“Ah, and maybe Shay, Clark, and Naomi can stay here if Perkins wants him closer to the hospital.”
“Yeah, about that, we’re going to have to come up with a plan on what he’s going to do if and when he’s called into the office, and how far is he willing to go.
I don’t know about you, but I’m going to put my foot down on him actually agreeing to the surgery.
I’ll know more once I go over that flash drive you have, and I can’t do that until we get you loaded up, groceries purchased, and we get to Broken Two.
” He chuckled at her. “At least for you, it’ll be a couple of hours, if you take stopping for groceries into consideration. For me, it was four days.”
Amelia wrinkled her nose, sipped her coffee, and went back to her bedroom to pack up the last of her things from the bathroom, and dressers. Three hours later, they both walked through the apartment one last time, and at the door, Amelia locked up, and looked at him.
“Remind me to leave this key handy so anyone can grab it if they’re coming to town.”
“I will.” They walked out to their loaded vehicles, and after the stop at the grocery store, they were on their way. Amelia didn’t know that he called ahead to let them know they were on the way, so that when they arrived, they had plenty of people waiting to help them unload.