“There are a couple of notes in your personnel file that indicated you might be having some issues. They don’t start until after Ms. Mason’s death. It’s reasonable to think you’d have some feelings around that, so I don’t see it as a problem, but you need to pull it together if it’s continuing.”
I shook my head and looked away wondering if Mia had betrayed me. Granted she and I weren’t an item. She was the hospital lawyer, but I thought perhaps she cared enough not to toss me under the bus.
“I’m fine now.” Or I would make sure I was from now on.
“There is a question about the EMR system—”
“That’s what I wondered about.”
“The hospital is going to have a tech person to look at it. I’m going to ask for those records. Until we get to court, it’s difficult for me to compel them to share them, and I have no idea what they’ll say.”
“Maybe they’ll say why my order for a chest x-ray didn’t go through.”
“You know that?”
I nodded. “I know I entered it correctly. It’s not an error.”
She leaned in closer. “To be honest, Nick, I wonder if any of that would have made a difference.”
“What do you mean?” Although I suspected I knew exactly what she meant.
“If the order went in right away, and let’s say in ten or fifteen minutes, they’d been done. They still needed to be analyzed. Would she have been able to be saved?”
“I don’t know.” That was the truth.
“But it’s possible it was already too late for her, right?” she said sitting back as the waitress set her water on the table.
“It’s possible,” I admitted, looking up at the waitress to see if she was taking in our conversation. I didn’t need the town getting the word that I was blaming Ms. Mason for seeking help too late. Fortunately, she looked more bored with us than intrigued by our conversation.
We ordered food, and then discussed my case some more. I felt good that she was thorough and had a solid plan. But I didn’t feel like any headway to absolving me had been made. And now that I knew my work was being tracked and recorded, and that Mia was probably adding information I’d revealed to her, I had to consider that this wasn’t going to go well for me.
“You have some fucking nerve.”
I looked up from my personal pizza to see Eli glaring down at me from behind Victoria.
“Eli.”
He stepped to the side and looked down at Victoria and then at me. “And here I thought you were getting into my sister’s pants again—”
I shot up from my chair. “Have some respect, asshole.”
His eyes widened. I realized it was the first time I’d ever barked back at him. He’d been right that I’d fucked his sister before and that I hadn’t been his mother’s doctor. I felt bad enough about both that I hadn’t ever contested him. But I wasn’t going to let him talk about Mia that way, even if she was betraying me.
“Respect? What do you know about respect? You betrayed our friendship. You betrayed our family. Look at you, now betraying Mia.”
“Mia and I aren’t together, Eli,” I said looking around the restaurant. “That would be against hospital policy.” I leaned forward, getting into his face. “You trying to get your sister fired? Jealous that Daddy is spending time with her?”
“You’re a fucker, Nick, you know that?” He looked at Victoria. “He’ll fuck you and leave you.”
She made a face of disdain. “I can see why living in a small town is difficult.” She stood when Eli frowned. “I’m Victoria Manning, Dr. Foster’s lawyer.” She held out her hand.
“Eli Parker, Dr. Foster’s worst enemy.” He shook her hand once, and then released it.
She gave a cool nod. “Parker, huh? I could be wrong, but it appears that you’re the brother of the hospital’s attorney. I can’t help but wonder if you’re trying to intimidate my client. Did she send you here?”
“What?” He jerked back.
I wanted to tell her no. Mia wouldn’t do that. But Eli might take the information she shared with him and use it against me.
She looked at me across the table. “I know you’re just looking for representation on the malpractice case, but if this is how hospital staff retaliates, you might have a case for harassment.”
It took a minute for Eli to respond. “Did he tell you he let my mother die?”
“Did you hear me when I said this encounter was going to go on the record against Mia Parker, the hospital lawyer?”
He sneered at me. “You’d let her do that to Mia?”
I shook my head. “Eli, you’re doing it. When are you going to take responsibility for your own fucking life?”
He glared at both of us, and then at me. “You use this against Mia and you’ll be sorry.”
“Are you threatening my client, Mr. Parker?”
“It’s a promise,” he said and then left.
Victoria sat down and started eating. Me, I needed a moment to get my shit together. I sat and downed my drink, lifting my hand to signal the waitress to order another one.
“You’re not really going to use that against her, are you?”
She looked up from her lasagna. “My job is to represent you, so yes, I’ll use whatever I have to. I’d like you to tell me who is here in this restaurant since they’re witnesses to his outburst in case we need their statements.”
“I don’t want to fuck up Mia’s—”
She studied me for a moment. “Is he right? Do you and Ms. Parker have a thing going on?”
I shook my head. “We had a thing in the past. Now we just work in the same place.”
“She’s the hospital lawyer. Her responsibility is to the hospital, not you.”
“Which is why I have you.”
“What was that about the
