Page 39 of Deranged
She sped off toward my car again. One of the few in the lot. “Please. I’m sorry for trying to make light of it. I honestly don’t know what’s going on, but I promise I’ll figure it out.”
She stopped at my car and waved toward the door. “Have a good day, Doctor.”
Before I could say anything, she spun around and marched straight back toward the building. Another flare of guilt, but I squashed it. Right now, an old friend and I needed to have a conversation.
I got to Mo’s paper just as he was getting out of the old Volvo he’d had for a decade. I cornered him before he could scurry into the building. “Explain to me, Mo, how I get fired the day after I gave you this story and explain to you why I need to keep my name out of it?”
He switched his briefcase to his other hand and peered around the slowly filling parking lot nervously. “Look man. My boss almost fired me, and threatened to if I pursued the story anymore.”
“But to hell with me, right? As long as you keep your job.”
He huffed. “It wasn’t like that.”
“What about journalistic integrity? You used to be filled with it when we were in school. Now, you’d rather save your own skin rather than put the truth out there for the world.”
Sadness entered his eyes now. “Yeah. I had a lot less to lose back then.”
He shoved away from his car toward the building. “I’m sorry, and I hope you get the help you need to do whatever it is you are doing.”
I watched him walk away, and for a moment, I regretted not going to Donny. If I lost my job anyway, what could Donny take that might be worse than losing my career and Kory at the same time?
Waffling on Donny meant I wasn’t ready for that choice yet. I got back in my car and went home. A home covered in a fine sheen of dust. A place I never really lived in, not like I did in the tiny cell with Kory in my arms. It still felt so wrong to be outside, be free, with her stuck in the hospital. I couldn’t give up on her, not when she was already giving up on herself.
I moved random things around my dull beige apartment until the restlessness started to eat at me. I needed to see her, warn her, inspire her to keep fighting since obviously protecting me shouldn’t be her priority anymore. I didn’t want her to risk everything when I’d already lost everything I valued.
I grabbed my keys, climbed in my car, and headed back to the hospital. At the very least, I could see her, even if only for a second. Look into her eyes and find my center again. I needed her unlike I’d needed anyone in my life. It scared me and invigorated me. I lived for the feeling of her hands on my skin.
How had things devolved so thoroughly? How did I have so little lack of control, I couldn’t get Kory free before I’d gotten myself kicked out of the hospital? She was stuck there all alone now, with no one to help her. After I promised. I promised to help her, and my failure ate away at my insides like acid.
I held her face in my mind as I entered the parking lot and parked at the far corner. I’d already been escorted out once, and I had no security badge. No doubt the nurses would be on the lookout for me to come back. Minthe might have warned them, or kept her word and pretended she didn’t see me. I couldn’t know until I tried.
I squared my shoulders and went into the building with my breath held. No one approached me, and I climbed the stairs quickly. I reached the landing, and as if by magic, two men entered the stairwell and blocked my way. “Hey guys,” I tried. “Can I help you?”
“You are going to have leave, sir. You don’t have the credentials to be here.”
Considering the hospital didn’t hire these two thugs, they weren’t supposed to be here either. They looked like Demeter had sourced them from some kind of hulking wrestling convention. “And you gentlemen are?”
They stepped forward, effectively pushing me down a step. I gripped the railing and held my ground as they tried to force me back with their collective bulk.
“We are Ms. Sito’s private security. Senator Sito decided to hire security for her daughter as she comes into the spotlight for her presidential run. Now please, sir, please leave before we call the police.”
I didn’t want jail time to be heaped on top of the shittastik day I was having. “I’ll go.” I wished I could have gotten onto the floor. Seen her face at least.
They followed me all the way down the stairs and out to the parking lot. Only turned around when I began to back out of the parking space. As I made it to the freeway, my phone rang with a number I didn’t recognize. For a second, I thought maybe it was Kory.
“Hello?”
“Doctor Plouton?”
I didn’t recognize the voice. “This is he.”
“I’m calling on behalf of the State Medical Board of Ethics. Allegations have been made against you, and I am calling to inform you that there will be an investigation. Your license to practice medicine is suspended until the investigation has been concluded. Do you understand?”
My lungs felt like they’d collapsed into my diaphragm. It wasn’t like I didn’t consider this was a possibility, but it was still a kick in the stomach. “Yes. I understand what you are telling me.”
“Goodnight, Doctor.”
His tone said I had everything to worry about in this situation. No doubt the investigation would reveal my relationship with Kory. Demeter would be sure of it the second she called the board in the first place.
