Suit seemed to be counting the holes in the acoustical ceiling.
'He's with pediatrics,' said Stephanie. 'Serving as a consultant on the Cassie Jones case-helping the family cope with the stress.'
Plumb swung his eyes back to her. Ah. Very good.' He touched her arm lightly. She endured it for a moment, then backed away.
He renewed his smile. 'You and I need to confer, Stephanie. I'll have my girl call yours and set it up.'
'I don't have a girl, George. The five of us share one woman secretary.'
The gray twins looked at her as if she were floating in a jar. Suit was somewhere else.
Plumb kept smiling. 'Yes, the ever-changing nomenclature.
Well, then my girl will call your woman. Be well, He led his entourage away, stopped several yards down the hall, and ran his eyes up and down a wall, as if measuring.
'What are you going to dismantle now, boys?' said Stephanie under her breath.
Plumb resumed walking and the group disappeared around a corner.
I said, 'What was that all about?'
'That was about Doctor Plumb, our new chief administrator and CEO.
PapaJones's boy-Mr. Bottom Line.'
'M.D. administrator?'
She laughed. 'What, the coat? No, he's no doc. Just some kind of asinine Ph.D. or something-' She stopped, colored. 'Jeer, I'm sorry.'
I had to laugh. 'Don't worry about it.'
'I'm really sorry, Alex. You know how I feel about psychologists-' 'Forget it.' I put my arm over her shoulder. She slipped hers around my waist.
'My mind is going,' she said softly. 'I am definitely falling apart.'
'What's Plumb's degree in?'
'Business or management, something like that. He uses it to the hilt-insists on being called Doctor, wears a white coat. Most of his lackeys have doctorates, too-like Frick and Frack over there: Roberts and Novak, his numbers crunchers. They all love to traipse into the doctors' dining room and take over a table. Show up at medical meetings and rounds for no apparent reason, walking around staring and measuring and taking notes. Like the way Plumb just stopped and sized up that wall. I wouldn't be surprised if the carpenters show up soon.
Dividing three offices into six, turning clinical space into administrative offices. And now he wants to confer with me-there's something to look forward to.'
Are you vulnerable?'
'Everyone is, but General Peds is at the bottom of the barrel.
We've got no fancy technology or heroics to make headlines. Most of what we do's outpatient, so our reimbursement level's the lowest in the hospital. Since Psych's gone.' She smiled.
'Even technology doesn't seem immune,' I said. 'This morning, when I was looking for an elevator, I went by where Nuclear Medicine used to be and the suite had been given over to something called Community Services.'
Another of Plumb's coups. But don't worry about the Nukersthey're okay. Moved upstairs to Two, same square footage, though patients have trouble finding them. But some of the other divisions have had real problems-Nephrology, Rheumatology, your buddies in Oncology. They're stuck in trailers across the street.
'Trailers?'
As in Winnebago.'
