'I'm not upset, ' Clayton Iverson said. 'Okay, you're not upset. You only went from shooting four over par for the whole front nine, to shooting eight over for the first four holes since you brought up this business about the hospital. Why don't you have a seat at that little table over there and let me buy you a beer.'
The Judge started to protest, but then relented. 'Maybe I am a little upset, ' he muttered. Zack left him at the wrought-iron table and returned with two frosted mugs and two bottles of Lowenbrau. 'So, what's going on? ' Zack asked as he sipped at his beer. 'What do you mean?'
'I mean Frank, Judge. I know you helped him get considered for the job with Ultramed. Is that why you're being hard on him? Because you feel responsible?'
'Zachary, the mess your brother made of that damn electronics company of his wasn't his first fiasco. He just didn't have the patience for that kind of business. He was constantly trying to go directly from step one to step twenty. He was lucky the Ultramed opportunity came along when it did. I told him that when he-' Clayton Iverson stopped m mid-sentence.
'When he what, Judge?'
'Nothing. It doesn't matter.'
'He asked you for a loan, didn't he? ' Zack said. Suddenly pieces of conversations he had had with his brother over the years began falling into place. Although Frank had never shared the details of his company's failure, he had made it clear that he felt their father was, at least in part, at fault. 'It was a foolish request. He was already in it up to here. It would have been throwing good money after bad.'
'Frank didn't see it that way, Judge.'
'Well., I did. I agreed to help him out of the hole he had gotten himself in, but only on the condition that he get rid of that company.
The hospital job gave him a chance to get out from underneath that nonsense and to show everyone in town just what he could do.'
To say nothing of bringing him back here, under your thumb, Zack thought angrily. 'So, he got the job, and he's done it well. What more could you Want from him?'
'I could want him to bring the same values to his position that I bring to mine. That's what I could want. I could want him to stand up for what's right.'
Despite the warm afternoon, Zachary felt suddenly cold. 'What's right?'
I'm the one with Beaulieu's evidence, he wanted to shout.
I'm the one who confronted Maureen Banas. How can you be so damned sure of what's right? 'Dad, ' he said, 'exactly what have you done?'
'You know, Zachary, I don't particularly like that tone of yours.
You may be a big-shot surgeon, but you're still my son.'
Zack sensed himself backing away from his father's glare. He couldn't remember the last time he had pushed against the man this hard. 'Sorry,' he mumbled. 'Apology accepted. I think that thirty years on the bench more than qualifies me to tell when someone's handing me a line of bull. rhere was just too much smoke surrounding Beaulieu's complaints for there to be no fire. I… I didn't know until you told me that Frank had intervened on his behalf.'
He hesitated, and then reached into the pocket of his golf bag, withdrew an envelope, and passed it over. 'Here, ' he said, 'read this.'
Mrs. Leigh Baron Director, Operations Ultramed Hospitals Corporation Boston Place Boston, Massachusetts 02108 Dear Mrs. Baron, The contract effecting the sale of Davis Regional Hospital to Ultramed Hospitals Corporation is now in its fourth and final year.
As you are no doubt aware, the agreement contains provisions for the reacquisition of the facility by the community-based board, of which I am chairman, provided the board meets no less than five months prior to the termination date of the contract and agrees by a vote of no less than 51 % of its members to return to Ultramed the original purchase price-a sum currently held in escrow in the Sterling National Bank-in exchange for resuming control of the hospital. Until recently, I had no intention of convening the board to consider such a vote. However, a situation has developed that greatly concerns me-a conflict between Dr.
Guy Beaulieu, one of the first physicians to settle in Sterling, and your corporation. It was the late Dr. Beaulieu's contention that the hospital administration, and ultimately, Ultramed Hospitals Corporation itself, was responsible for machinations calculated to drive him out of medical practice. He further claimed knowledge of actions by your corporation, through Ultramed-Davis, which have been contrary to the best interests of our community. I know that he had conveyed his feelings to you on several occasions, and that he had, in fact, instituted legal action against both the hospital and Ultramed Hospitals Corporation. Dr. Beaulieu's widow has contacted me and has requested that the board seriously consider Dr. Beaulieu's allegations before the end of our provisional period at noon on July 19. 1 have asked Mrs.
Beaulieu to make every effort, in advance of that date, to supply me with details of her husband's claims and the evidence behind them.
Meanwhile, please consider this letter notification that I intend to convene the board at 11 a. m. on Friday, July 19, for the purpose of discussing our options. Also, as provided in our contract, I have commissioned a full, independent audit of the hospital, which I expect to be initiated within the next few days. As you know, according to section 4B of the contract, 15 percent of the hospital's profits over the past four years should have been funneled back into the community through the treatment of indigent patients, and another 3 percent through support of various civic projects enumerated in section 4C.
Violation of that section, even if uncovered after the July 19 deadline, will nullify our contract with you. Meanwhile, if you have any information or thoughts on this matter, I would welcome hearing from you. Hoping for an amicable resolution of this issue, I remain, Sincerely yours, Clayton C. Iverson Zack was incredulous, Beaulieu's widow and daughter had given him no indication that they planned to contact the board directly. 'Judge, just when did Mrs. Beaulieu call you? ' he asked. 'Well… actually, she didn't call me… I called her.'
'And has she contacted other members of the board?' til, um, suggested she might want to do so.'
'Oh, Judge, why? '
'Because ol' Guy might have been right, that's why.'
'But Frank said he wasn't. Why couldn't you have just given him the benefit of the doubt?'
'I. I felt that if he hadn't done anything wrong, he didn't have anything to worry about.'
'Of course he does. He's got to worry about how to explain to the people at Ultramed why his own father would be trying to sabotage their hospital. You don't even know what kind of so-called evidence Guy had, do you?… Well, do you?'
Clayton Iverson shook his head. 'I didn't think so. Well, I do, Judge. I know exactly what he had. Clothilde Beaulieu gave it all to me at his funeral. And I tell you there isn't enough proof of wrongdoing even to dent Ultramed. Circumstantial stuff. That's all he had accumulated. Just a pile of inferential lists, anecdotes, and newspaper clippings. 'I'll admit that I have some strong reservations about that company, but up till now there's no hard evidence-not one person that I know of-who was directly hurt by the corporation's policies. Why couldn't you have just gone to Frank?
Talked to him? That's what I had planned to do, Did he even see this letter before you sent it?'
The Judge took a long swallow of beer and wiped the foam from his lips with the back of his hand. Then he smiled. 'I haven't sent it, ' he said simply. 'What?'
'The letter is being held by my lawyer in Boston until I decide what to do. I was thinking about having him send it over to Ultramed on Monday.
I wanted to talk with you first. Now I'm glad I did.'
Zack felt drained and exhausted-a yo-yo on the string of a master. 'You could have just told me what you wanted in the first place,' he said.
'You can't play with people like that, Judge.'
'Nonsense. I haven't been playing with anyone. I needed your candid opinion, and I got it. I'm not committed to opposing turning the hospital over to Ultramed for good next week. I'm just reluctant to totally give up our leverage. You never know when you'll wish you had it. The truth is, it would take a hell of a lot more than anything I've learned so far to make me turn against Frank and send that letter.
There, do you feel better?'
'What I feel, ' Zack said, 'is wasted.'
