Once Danny had turned the corner and was safely on his way
to recovery, Sophie wanted to try again to get him transferred
out. She spoke with Dr. Morrison, but her request went nowhere.
She spoke with Jody, their social worker, who told her she’d see
what she could do.
Days went by, and there was no progress toward getting
Danny transferred. She resigned herself to standing guard over
Danny for the rest of their time until he was discharged. At least
Kim was there for help and support. That was worth a lot.
Sophie and Adam went to the cafeteria to cash in some of the
food vouchers Kim had given them. In the corner were Dr.
Sheldon and Dr. Wagner, heads close together, deep in conversa
tion. There was a stack of clean napkins in front of Dr. Sheldon,
and a scattering of napkins with writing on them spread across
the table in front of Dr. Wagner. He was scribbling on the nap
kins as he and Dr. Sheldon talked.
Sophie and Adam walked past, unnoticed.
“Danny was just a parasite away from dying,” Sophie said,
picking at her sandwich. “It doesn’t make sense. Why was he the
only one affected?”
They looked over at Dr. Sheldon and Dr. Wagner, whose
conversation was getting heated.
“A lot around here doesn’t make sense anymore,” Adam
215
THE VERY BEST OF CARE
replied. “Why was there contaminated blood in the blood bank,
and how did it come to land in Danny’s transfusion?”
Sophie nodded toward Dr. Wagner.
“No, it couldn’t be,” Adam said. “He wouldn’t go that far . . .”
“I don’t think that anything is too extreme for players like Dr.
Wagner. He’ll do anything to preserve his reputation. He’s afraid
of us calling him out. This was the worst threat he could possibly
make—Danny’s life.”
Sophie and Adam turned again to the rising voices coming
from the doctors’ table. Dr. Sheldon was half leaning across the
table, his face two inches away from Dr. Wagner’s and turning
beet red. Dr. Wagner stood up, knocking over his chair, and
walked out. Dr. Sheldon remained alone at the littered table.
After a few moments, he collected the napkins scattered across
the table, stuffed them in his pocket, and left.
“I wonder what that was all about,” Adam said.
As Sophie and Adam walked by the table, there was still a
small mess of napkins left behind. They had numbers and calcu
lations and dates scribbled on them. On one of the torn napkins,
Sophie read: —ndling project.
