The Society

For the first time, the questions took center stage in his mind.

Was the managed-care killer somehow involved? If so, to what end? He was supposed to be the ally of the movement. Why would they want to destroy him?

“Will? Are you listening to me? I asked if you thought you might be sued for this.”

“How should I know?” he replied, still staring overhead. “If I’m sued, I’m sued. That’s why I have malpractice.”

“Excuse me, sir,” Maxine said, “but if you’re sued for this, you don’t have malpractice. Have you forgotten?”

The clause! In fact, he had forgotten. In an effort to stem the bleeding from malpractice premiums that were going through the roof, Fredrickston Surgical Associates had decided to switch their coverage to PSF-Physicians Security Fund-a small physician-owned company based in Indiana. Among several clauses designed to keep premiums down was one omitting coverage for any incident involving the use of alcohol or other mind-altering drugs. It was not surprising that Maxine knew the details of his malpractice insurance better than he did. She was a businesswoman, and an avaricious one at that. If he were wiped out by a claim, which as of this moment seemed exceedingly possible, her finances would take a significant hit.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “but I just can’t get worked up about that right now.”

“But it’s true.”

“Yes, I suspect it’s true.”

“Damn you, Will. Don’t you ever think of anyone but yourself?”

Wolf Hollow Condominiums was a well-maintained, middle-class development situated a few miles outside the city. Will’s unit, a two-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath town house, was in the block farthest from the clubhouse and outdoor pool, thus bringing its cost down from absolutely prohibitive for him to merely unaffordable. Still, the kids enjoyed the pool and the game room, and had actually made some friends there. It would be hard to one day have to tell them that the place had become the property of Kurt Goshtigian or his heirs.

It was nearly eight when Will arrived home, having signed out against medical advice. Ken Millstein simply refused to authorize an early discharge for someone who had spent a large portion of the day on a vent due to a massive drug overdose and respiratory arrest. If nothing else, he insisted on a psych evaluation to determine whether or not Will was a danger to himself or anyone else. Ultimately, Will relented, and a colorless shrink named Yvonne Sands took more than an hour to determine that he was, in fact, mentally able to go home. Still, Millstein made him sign the AMA papers.

As Sid Silverman had predicted, the executive committee voted unanimously to suspend him from the hospital staff until his situation could be resolved. It seemed like only a matter of time before the Board of Registration suspended him, as well. Was there any way his disability insurance would pay anything without insisting he admit that he was an addict? Maybe he could claim a severe, paralytic depression and simply crawl into bed for a year or two. At the moment, such a diagnosis would not be stretching the truth very far. Will pulled into his parking space, grateful that no reporters or cameramen were lurking about, but he knew it was just a matter of time before they descended on 10-108 Wolf Hollow Drive, hungering for any ort of information about him and his life.

Compared to the house in Ashford, the condo was quite modest. Even so, Will liked the hardwood floors and the view of the woods out back, and bit by bit, as the bookshelves filled and art-framed prints or the twins’ masterpieces-began to fill the walls, the place had become home. There was no evidence inside that the police had been there yet. Feeling numb and detached from his life, Will brewed a pot of tea, then sank onto the couch in the small den.

Who? Why? How? After a few minutes, the three burning questions were joined by a fourth: What now? He wanted to fight back-needed to fight back-but he knew things were only going to get worse. A lawyer? Probably that was the place to begin. He really didn’t know any who handled this sort of thing. Thanks to the no-drug clause, there was no chance his malpractice company would provide one, and the incompetent weasel who had handled his divorce would probably succeed in getting him the gas chamber. What sort of retainers did lawyers charge these days, anyhow? At a recent Society meeting he had heard of one insisting on $50,000 up front. Was that possible?

The divorce and ongoing settlement payments had hit his finances hard, as had increasingly restrictive managed-care policies. He had maybe ten thousand in the bank, fifty or so in his retirement fund, and perhaps thirty that he could wring out of the condo. Not much to show for seven years in surgical practice. Jim Katz knew a lot of well-placed people. Maybe he or one of the other two partners could recommend someone.

Will sipped at his tea and stared across at the dark screen of the TV.

Shit. What in the hell had just happened to his life?

The doorbell had rung several times before he became aware of it. Let the circus begin, he thought. The guest bathroom overlooked the parking lot. Rather than answer the door, he went upstairs, carefully opened that bathroom window, and peered down. Patty Moriarity, alone, paced back and forth across the front stoop. Faced with the vast emptiness of his condo and, in fact, his world, a visit even from her was welcome.

“I’ll be right there,” he called down.

“The Fredrickston PD called and told us what happened,” she said when he opened the door. “I checked with the ICU at the hospital and they told me you were about to sign yourself out. So I decided to see if I could catch up with you here.”

He motioned her into the living room. She was wearing black jeans and the leather jacket he had now come to associate with her, and aside from maybe a little lipstick, wore no makeup. There was no gun that he could see, but he imagined a shoulder holster or a pistol strapped to her ankle.

“It’s locked in the car,” she said before he could ask.

“Just wondered.”

Keeping her jacket on, she settled in at one end of the burgundy sofa Gordo had given him for his then-new place, while he took the recliner the people at the Open Hearth had chipped in to buy for him.

“So,” she said, “it sounds like you’ve had a time of it since we last spoke.”

“Calling it the day from hell wouldn’t do it justice.”

“I haven’t spoken to the DA yet, but the FPD guys tell me there’s a chance you’ll be arrested soon for the drugs they found in your locker. I suppose there’s a chance the DA could go for an attempted-manslaughter charge if the guy makes it, and maybe manslaughter if he doesn’t.”

“That’s great, just great. Sergeant Moriarity, I didn’t take any drugs. Someone did this to me.”

“The killer?”

“I have no idea. Why would he do something like that? He said I was going to be his buddy from now on-his spokesman.”

“You don’t take drugs of any kind?”

“I smoked dope from time to time in college and med school. That’s it. Now I don’t even take Tylenol.”

“Any idea how the drug got into you?”

“If I hadn’t passed out the way I did, I’d blame someone in the lab putting it in my specimens. I’m superstitious and I have a few rituals that a lot of people know about. Maybe someone put the drug in my juice at breakfast, or the doughnut I like to eat.”

“What kind is that?”

Will felt color rush to his cheeks.

“Jelly stick.”

“I’m a glazed-cruller person myself, but those Krispy Kremes are starting to win me over. Dr. Grant, the people in your hospital have a great deal of respect for you. They’ve told me you’re one of the best. Same goes for the people at the Open Hearth. I just came from speaking with Benois Beane. You’re like a god to some of them.”

“That’s nice to hear. So you believe me about the drugs?”

“At the moment I don’t know what to believe. You see, everyone I talked to says you’re a great surgeon and a terrific person but you work too hard-longer hours than anyone they’ve ever known. A couple of them don’t know how you do it. Now, all of a sudden, a serial murderer is calling you on your private line, you almost kill a man when you pass out in the operating room, and you’re found to be loaded with narcotics. Don’t you think it seems possible,