Sophie stood in front of Adam. “Earth to Adam. Hey, is every
thing okay? You’re awfully quiet. Is everything okay at school?”
“Yeah, yeah, school’s fine.”
Sophie worried not only about Danny but about her husband.
She was not going to let the two of them become one of those
statistics Jody had mentioned. They needed to keep the lines of
communication open. “What is it then?”
“I had a beer with Dr. Wagner last night.” He went on to tell
Sophie about the evening. “I’m still trying to make sense of what
he told me. And who’s Josh? Do you know?”
Sophie shrugged.
“He sure acted nervous about Mitch spouting off. If Dr. Wag
ner is responsible for your and other women’s early deliveries,
who else knows about it? Is anyone in administration involved?
He did mention a guy named Charlie and someone named Rita.”
Sophie interrupted. “I know who Rita is. She’s the one who
checks in with Kim and the nurses about the census of the unit.
Maybe she’s keeping tabs on numbers of babies, which translates
to the amount of income for the hospital.”
“Well, maybe they’re involved too. I don’t know. But even
if we went to someone in administration to tell them our suspi
cions, would they believe us? If they’d heard what he confessed to
me, would they want to shut him up? Or more importantly, would
they try to hush us? Are we even safe?”
Sophie paused to consider the seriousness of what Adam had
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JULIE HATCH
just suggested. Were they getting in too deep? Putting their noses
where they didn’t belong? Probably, but they couldn’t just stop now.
“That wasn’t really a confession, was it?” Sophie said. “It
sounds more like he was confirming what we already think. But
only what we think. We don’t know anything for sure.”
Sophie had a ten o’clock appointment with Madeline Cross,
chief operating officer of Metro Women’s and Children’s. Kim
had told her that her best chance of someone listening to her and
taking her suspicions seriously would be to talk to Madeline.
When she’d called to make the appointment, Ms. Cross’s sec
retary answered the phone, sounding irritated.
“Ms. Cross is a very busy woman, but she’s agreed to squeeze
you in. Just know, it’s time she really doesn’t have.”
Great. Already I feel like it’s a waste of time.
Regardless, Sophie headed to Madeline Cross’s office deter
mined to make her case. She’ll either kick me out on my ass, or she’ll
invite me in to hear more.
At 9:50, Sophie got on the elevator and pushed the button
for the eighth floor. A nurse got on at the fifth floor. The door
closed, and the elevator started to move, slowly at first, then very
quickly, catching both passengers by surprise. They grabbed the
rail on the side of the elevator wall to catch their balance.
Suddenly, the elevator bounced to a stop between the fifth
and sixth floors. The nurse started pushing buttons, lighting up
every button on the panel. The elevator didn’t budge. The nurse
started yelling for help, and Sophie pushed the emergency alarm
button.
A short while later, there were voices in the elevator shaft
telling them not to panic, that help was coming. Sophie relaxed
for a minute, until she looked at her watch. It was ten o’clock.
The elevator lurched down a few feet.
“What was that?” the nurse gasped.
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THE VERY BEST OF CARE
The elevator made a noise like it was gearing up to start run
ning. Then the noise stopped, and the lights went out, putting
the elevator compartment in total darkness. The nurse pulled out
her phone and turned on the flashlight.
“Maybe it’s just part of fixing the problem,” Sophie offered
with little conviction.
It was now 10:20. Sophie sighed. Her chances of convincing
Ms. Cross to look at Dr. Wagner’s delivery pattern were slipping
away. What if Dr. Wagner had found out about her appointment?
Could he be behind the elevator malfunction? No, that’s being
too paranoid. Isn’t it? Now she was too nervous and worked up to
speak to Ms. Cross. More time passed. The elevator showed no
signs of starting back up.
