he down here to spy on me?" If he was, he'd gotten an eyeful, walking in on her and Richard. She rapped her pen against the chart rack in irritation. "I didn't do anything wrong. I was just trying to help."
"By breaking hospital protocol?"
"If I have to." She leveled a stare on him. Ed returned it full force--no surprise, it was hard to intimidate the man who'd helped change your diapers when you were a baby.
But, as usual, he gave in. "I'll see what I can do to keep the police off your back. And the Executive Committee."
She sniffed at the mention of the governing board of the hospital. "They're too busy recruiting drug addicts to the medical staff to worry about doctors actually trying to make a difference."
"I'm sorry about Richard. I argued with the Committee, but he threatened a lawsuit if they didn't let him back. And you know how powerful his family is."
"Not to mention his father being on the Committee, himself." Richard's father was head of orthopedic surgery, his uncle the senior partner and his brother the managing partner of the largest law firm in Pittsburgh.
"If he becomes disruptive in any way," Ed continued, "tell me so I can bring him before the disciplinary board."
"Why? So they can feed him coffee and doughnuts while they lecture him?"
"My hands are tied."
She realized he was sorry about more than just Richard. She regretted shutting Ed out of her life, but all she could think of when she saw him was Ed proudly leading her down the aisle on the happiest day of her life. The day when she'd made the biggest mistake of her life.
"Have a good shift." She left to change and get breakfast.
Cassie walked into the "dirty" room of the temporary pharmacy and found Drake already there, head to head with Fran, the glow of the computer screen bathing their faces in blue. Fran laughed charmingly over some shared joke, then looked up to greet her. "Food. You're an angel."
Cassie deposited two cheese Danish and a blueberry muffin on the desk. Drake snagged the muffin for himself before Cassie could make a grab for it. Another strike against him. He was making it damn hard to pretend he didn't exist. She saw the gleam in his eye as he bit into the muffin and wondered if that was the point. To annoy her into acknowledging his presence.
She glanced around. Drake perched on the corner of the desk, looking over Fran's shoulder. There were no other chairs available. She settled for the safety of the lab bench behind Fran's computer station. As far away from Drake as she could get and still see the monitor.
"I rechecked our stock of fentephex." Fran typed one-handed as she nibbled on a Danish. "Every pill is accounted for. But what if someone were replacing it with look-a-likes? It wouldn't take a lot. One legitimate pill to duplicate, anyone could do it."
"FX is kept locked up, right?" Drake asked. "How would they make the switch?"
Cassie fielded that one. "Think of how many are dispensed a day. Almost every post-op patient, a lot of the cancer patients, even ob-gyn uses FX. That's hundreds of patients every day, which translates into hundreds of times someone familiar with the hospital and how the wards are run could have opportunity to sneak a few here or there."
"So you think that's what they did? Stole FX and replaced it with sugar pills?"
"I'm sure of it," Fran said. "Instead of trying to track the fentephex and where they all went, I did a search of medication failures, times when nurses had to give more sooner than expected or gave a different drug because the fentephex didn't work."
"Because it was a placebo." Cassie filled in the blanks.
"How many?" Drake asked.
"I only went back a month, but I found over two hundred. Way above average. And that was just inpatient. I didn't have time to check the outpatient stock."
"Two hundred?" Drake pursed his lips in a silent whistle. "That's about ten
"By breaking hospital protocol?"
"If I have to." She leveled a stare on him. Ed returned it full force--no surprise, it was hard to intimidate the man who'd helped change your diapers when you were a baby.
But, as usual, he gave in. "I'll see what I can do to keep the police off your back. And the Executive Committee."
She sniffed at the mention of the governing board of the hospital. "They're too busy recruiting drug addicts to the medical staff to worry about doctors actually trying to make a difference."
"I'm sorry about Richard. I argued with the Committee, but he threatened a lawsuit if they didn't let him back. And you know how powerful his family is."
"Not to mention his father being on the Committee, himself." Richard's father was head of orthopedic surgery, his uncle the senior partner and his brother the managing partner of the largest law firm in Pittsburgh.
"If he becomes disruptive in any way," Ed continued, "tell me so I can bring him before the disciplinary board."
"Why? So they can feed him coffee and doughnuts while they lecture him?"
"My hands are tied."
She realized he was sorry about more than just Richard. She regretted shutting Ed out of her life, but all she could think of when she saw him was Ed proudly leading her down the aisle on the happiest day of her life. The day when she'd made the biggest mistake of her life.
"Have a good shift." She left to change and get breakfast.
Cassie walked into the "dirty" room of the temporary pharmacy and found Drake already there, head to head with Fran, the glow of the computer screen bathing their faces in blue. Fran laughed charmingly over some shared joke, then looked up to greet her. "Food. You're an angel."
Cassie deposited two cheese Danish and a blueberry muffin on the desk. Drake snagged the muffin for himself before Cassie could make a grab for it. Another strike against him. He was making it damn hard to pretend he didn't exist. She saw the gleam in his eye as he bit into the muffin and wondered if that was the point. To annoy her into acknowledging his presence.
She glanced around. Drake perched on the corner of the desk, looking over Fran's shoulder. There were no other chairs available. She settled for the safety of the lab bench behind Fran's computer station. As far away from Drake as she could get and still see the monitor.
"I rechecked our stock of fentephex." Fran typed one-handed as she nibbled on a Danish. "Every pill is accounted for. But what if someone were replacing it with look-a-likes? It wouldn't take a lot. One legitimate pill to duplicate, anyone could do it."
"FX is kept locked up, right?" Drake asked. "How would they make the switch?"
Cassie fielded that one. "Think of how many are dispensed a day. Almost every post-op patient, a lot of the cancer patients, even ob-gyn uses FX. That's hundreds of patients every day, which translates into hundreds of times someone familiar with the hospital and how the wards are run could have opportunity to sneak a few here or there."
"So you think that's what they did? Stole FX and replaced it with sugar pills?"
"I'm sure of it," Fran said. "Instead of trying to track the fentephex and where they all went, I did a search of medication failures, times when nurses had to give more sooner than expected or gave a different drug because the fentephex didn't work."
"Because it was a placebo." Cassie filled in the blanks.
"How many?" Drake asked.
"I only went back a month, but I found over two hundred. Way above average. And that was just inpatient. I didn't have time to check the outpatient stock."
"Two hundred?" Drake pursed his lips in a silent whistle. "That's about ten