Chapter 13
At ten o’clock Monday morning, Shay looked over at Clark, sitting in the passenger seat of his truck, then back at Naomi, sitting behind Clark. “Are we locked and loaded?”
“Yes,” Clark said as he double-checked his camera and audio equipment. He looked back at Naomi and made sure she had hers in the correct position.
“I’m good.”
“So am I,” Shay said. “Let’s get this shit done.”
“Shouldn’t we have told Amelia about this meeting?” Naomi asked as Clark helped her from the back seat.
“No,” Shay said. “When I told Raymond about this visit, he told me to keep Amelia out of it, because if this goes to trial, they don’t want their lawyers to think Amelia coached me in any way.
However, because she’s already my doctor, I can go see her for a second opinion.
Just because she moved locations, that doesn’t mean she isn’t my doctor any longer. ”
“Ah, I understand, and I’m playing at the concerned boss, worried about workman’s compensation.”
“Correct, and I’m the worried landowner, worried about my insurance premiums raising from his injury.”
“And,” Shay said with a grin as he turned and walked backwards toward the building, and laughed. “I’m the patient that can’t walk because of the injury from your animal. That’s what was told to me when I got the call.”
“Who called you?”
“No clue, they wouldn’t give their name.”
“Before we go inside,” Clark said and they all stopped.
“We’re all going to go into the exam room, and Shay, you’ll be sitting on the table, Naomi, you’ll be on the other side of Shay, the furthest away from the entrance, making sure your camera catches the door.
I’ll stand on the opposite side, preferably near his head, getting the rest of the room, and anyone who comes in, and what is discussed.
If what I’m imagining the room will look like in my head, then the three of us should get angles of any x-rays he puts up on display. ”
“I agree,” Shay said, and they turned and walked proudly into the building.
Because Shay had been there with Faith before, he led the way to the elevators.
He did not have any brace on, and he hadn’t used any since five weeks after the accident happened months ago.
He also wasn’t on any pain pills and didn’t use a crutch, cane, or walker, he went under his own steam.
The trio remained silent as they entered the office from Shay’s previous appointment, and they all noted that someone in gray coveralls was scraping Amelia’s name off the door.
They also noted that there was a printed page with Perkins’ name on it.
Shay walked proudly up to the receptionist’s desk and gave his name.
He was given a clipboard with a form to fill out, and he made sure the entire form was caught on camera as he filled it out.
When it came to the part about his injury, he filled it out as he had before, but when there was a section of ‘additional information’, he wrote in large, capital, block letters that he was completely healed.
He turned it back in, and sat down on the other side of Naomi. They waited for fifteen minutes before they were called back. The nurse looked taken aback when all three of them approached her after she called Shay’s name.
“Um, ah, which one of you is Mr. Hall.”
“That would be me, and these are my employers. They want to talk to the doctor for insurance purposes.”
“Um, ah, okay, I guess that will be okay. Follow me.”
She led them down a hallway, and into an exam room. “Have a seat, and the doctor will be right with you.” She never gave her name, she wasn’t wearing a name tag, and she never took his vitals. Things normally done before you went in to see the doctor, she did nothing that a nurse would normally do.
Ten minutes later, the door opened and two men wearing white coats came in. They barely looked at the occupants before the taller of the two, who never introduced himself, slapped a set of x-rays up on a board, turned on a light, and started pointing at things with his pen.
“I’m sorry to say, that your x-rays show that your left knee is shattered, and you’re going to have to go in for surgery if you ever want to walk again.
I’ve taken the initiative to schedule an operating room for you for this coming Thursday.
You’ll have to be here by six in the morning, and as soon as you’re prepped, I’ll be operating on you by seven-thirty.
” As he talked, he had pulled a prescription pad from his pocket, and wrote on it.
He ripped it off, handed it to him. “These are pain pills for you to take in the meantime.” He turned off the light and started to gather the x-rays, and Shay shook his head.
“I want a second opinion.” His voice was firm and authoritative, the voice he had used while commanding his subordinates in the military.
Perkins turned to him for the first time, and Shay could only think of one word when he saw his expression.
It was mean. He looked mean. “I am your second opinion. You’re first orthopedic doctor was so incompetent that she should have had her license taken away from her years ago.
How someone could miss this hairline fracture is beyond me. ”
“Can we have a copy of those x-rays?” Naomi asked. “I own the horse that hurt him, and I’m going to need it for my insurance company.”
“I’m also going to need a copy,” Clark spoke then. “I own the land this happened on, and I’m going to need it for my insurance too. Maybe I can prevent my premiums from going up.”
“I can’t give these out.”
“But they’re mine,” Shay said firmly. “They are of my leg, and technically, they are part of my medical records, if I want a copy, I can get a copy, or at least, put them on a disc for me, so I don’t have to carry those large things around.”
“I’ll see what I can come up with.”
“Today, because Doc, I don’t care what you say, this is my life, my knee, my medical hardship, I am going to get a second opinion. Until that happens, I need a copy of those films to take to that doctor.”
“Fine, if you want to be permanently disfigured for the rest of your life, that’s your choice, but make it quick, if you’re not here for that operation on Thursday morning, you will be charged for the room. Oh, and it’s Dr. Perkins, not Doc.”
“And you?” Naomi asked the other man standing there.
“Do you agree with what Doc Perkins said?” She deliberately used that word, and glared at the other man standing there.
“Who are you anyway? Why don’t people here introduce themselves instead of walking in and scaring the bejesus out of people with their gloom and doom diagnosis?
” She shook her head. “It’s very unprofessional. ”
“No, what’s unprofessional is questioning a board-certified orthopedic surgeon that is trying to right a wrong done by Dr. Amelia Johnson.
She was incompetent in your initial diagnosis.
If she had done her job correctly, you wouldn’t be walking around in pain.
” The man who Naomi talked to said snidely, and with a sneer.
“My name is Dr. Alexander Ervin, and I am the head of this clinic.”
He reached out, grabbed the door, and they both stormed out, Shay hopped off the table and caught the door, and he called out to their retreating backs. “I’m not leaving here until I get a copy of those x-rays.”
“Fine,” Perkins said as he came back, and slapped the large manilla envelope against Shay’s chest. He leaned in, and Shay lowered the envelope to get what he said and did on the recording.
“Six o’clock Thursday morning, next door at the hospital, don’t fucking piss me off, or you’ll regret it. ” He then turned and walked away.
Shay looked at Clark and Naomi, neither of them said anything, and when Shay went to check out, he had a hassle of trying to get a copy of his bill, and again, refused to leave until one was printed.
He looked at the receptionist, and asked, “Who was the nurse that took me back? She failed to do her job, and I want to make a formal complaint against her.”
“Nurse Betty Laurel.”
“No, it’s not. I know Nurse Betty from when I was here as Doctor Johnson’s patient. That woman that called my name was not Nurse Betty. Why are you lying?”
“Because my life was threatened if I didn’t tell new patients it was her. That bitch’s name is Zoe Comfrey, and between you and me, I don’t think she’s a nurse. What did she do wrong?”
“She never took my vitals, never weighed me, never even said anything to me, or looked me up in the computer. If this is how this clinic is run now that Dr. Johnson isn’t here, I might have to find her and go to her. Wherever she is.”
“Good luck with that, she was so worthless at her job, that both Dr. Perkins and Dr. Ervin have to clean up her messes. That’s why you’re here now. Oh, and for your information, that Zoe Comfrey is sleeping with Dr. Ervin.”
“Damn, who pissed in your Wheaties?” Shay asked when she went from hot to cold with her snide comments, lies, and outright hostility.
“I am a fucking scrub nurse from the hospital, I was transferred here because Perkins and Ervin fired everyone else last Friday at the end of business. I am not a fucking receptionist, but I was told if I wanted to keep my job, I had to do what they said, otherwise, they would blacklist me.”
“Do they have that kind of power?”
“Yes,” she said through gritted teeth, and Shay knew it was time to leave, he quickly left, and caught up with Clark and Naomi out in the hall. They didn’t speak until they were in the truck, and Shay was the first one to crack.
“Holy fucking hell.” Shay shook his head and no one said a word as they disconnected their communications, and started for home.
The three of them were silent the entire ride back to New Double.
Clark parked before Raymond’s cabin, the three of them got out, and he only knocked once before the door was opened.
“How did it go?”
“Holy fucking shit,” Shay said as he entered, and the others walked in behind him. “Do you want us to tell you, or do you want to watch it?”
“Let’s get Jason and Ilsa over here first, then we can watch it together. Coffee?”
“I’ll make it, call Jason,” Clark said. “Oh, and have Kevin, Yvonne, and Duane here too.” No one questioned him and he sent out the texts. Thirty minutes later, five people walked in, took either bottles of water, or cups of coffee.
“We’ll answer questions later, but here,” Clark said as he pointed to the TV, and the first video that popped up coming from Naomi’s camera. They sat there and watched as all three angles were watched. No one said anything for a good five minutes before someone swore.
At one point, Kevin pulled his phone, and walked up to the screen to compare the photo Raymond had sent him days ago to the ‘nurse’ that called Shay’s name.
“Good, now we have a name to work with. We’ve been running it since we got it, but nothing’s come up, not even a DMV photo.”
“Wait,” Duane said as he rewound Shay’s video and played it, then paused to turn and scowl at Shay. “I was here when you were injured. Didn’t you injure your right knee, that was why you couldn’t drive?”
“Yes.”
“But Perkins said it was your left knee.”
“Yep,” Shay said with a gigantic grin. “I don’t know about this, but my next step is to go over to Doc Johnson, get my second opinion and see if Caleb can do x-rays again.”
“Are you going to show up on Thursday?” Ilsa asked.
“No, and if they send me a bill, then I’ll contact my lawyer to dispute it.” He looked at her, Raymond, and Jason. “Which one of you wants to represent me?”
“I’ll add it to the other charges,” Raymond said as he shook his head. “This is worse than I thought.”
“Oh, I have the prescription, but I didn’t fill it yet.”
“Why not?” Ilsa asked.
“I wanted to see what he prescribed first,” he said as he handed it over, and none of them could say the name of the medication.
“I have to go pick up the feed order in Fool’s Gold tomorrow, I’ll drop it off at the pharmacy, and pick it up after I load up.
Oh, does anyone need anything from the grocery store while I’m in town?
” He laughed when they immediately started naming items, but he held up his hand to hold them off.
“Write it down, and get me the list before nine in the morning. I’ll be pulling out shortly before ten.
My pick-up window at the feed store is after eleven.
I’ll drop off the prescription, go get the feed, then go back to pick it up, along with the groceries. ”
“Got it,” they all said, and then he looked at the three lawyers. “Can I contact Amelia to ask her for a second opinion? I want to have everything documented.”
“Yes, however, do not tell her what you learned at the clinic today,” Raymond said.
“It’s not because she doesn’t need to know, it’s to protect her.
If and when this goes to court, then if she’s put on the stand, and certain questions are asked of her, if she doesn’t know about these things ahead of time, then her reaction will be real. ”
Nothing, but since none of us can understand what these pills are, maybe she can tell me what they are. Once I know, then I’ll bring them over here so you can add them to your evidence or whatever.”
“Good plan,” Raymond said. “By all means, bring it back here and I’ll keep it safe.”
“Thanks, Raymond,” Shay said as he stuck his hand out to shake.
“I’ll continue to cooperate with this investigation, let me know if you need anything else.
” He started toward the door, then paused before he opened it.
“Oh, I’m telling you right now, I’m not being a bastard about it, I’m stating the God’s honest truth. ”
“What’s that?”
“This is for glorification, but I will not be going to that operation on Thursday.”
“Heard,” Raymond said with a grin. “I wouldn’t either.” They all laughed and Shay left to go back to work, then everyone else left to go back to their own jobs, leaving Raymond alone with the new evidence that was collected that day.