Free Twisted Justice by Patricia Gussin Page B

engulfed her as it had that night. The ER should have called her in earlier. The excuse of the fracture in the cervical spine and the chaos in the ER that night was just that, an excuse. There had been too much blood in those chest tubes, and she’d told that doctor from the ER that. When Laura had looked at the electrocardiograms afterwards, there’d been evident signs of cardiac tamponade, signs that should have triggered immediate chest surgery.
    â€œThe point is, Dr. Nelson, we know what you told the ER resident about the delay in calling you in for surgery that night.”
    â€œStill, I’m not certain —” Laura couldn’t continue. How would she feel if the medical system had failed her ten-year-old daughters? She looked directly at Louis Ruiz and couldn’t ignore the tears he was attempting to hide. She watched Roxanne reach over and gently caress his hand. Taking a breath, she turned to Sam Sanders.
    â€œListen, I wasn’t in the ER that night, and I will stand by mystatement that I should’ve been called in for Wendy earlier. I’m not certain whether that would have made a difference. There was a hole in her aorta —” She forced herself to keep looking at the attorney, not at Mr. Ruiz, “—she had a broken neck, and no matter what, she would have been paraplegic had she lived.”
    â€œBut she might now be alive,” Sam quickly concluded. Turning to his client, who was now weeping openly, he added, “I think that’s enough.”
    Exhausted by six thirty, Laura called Marcy for the second time from a corner in the hospital records room. Because the kids weren’t home yet, she decided to stay to sign discharge notes and deal with the endless paperwork that plagues all physicians. She had two remaining charts in front of her.
    â€œStill quiet here,” Marcy said, “too quiet. Why don’t you just stay and finish what you’re doing?”
    â€œOkay. But call me the minute they get home, okay? And one more favor. If Steve brings them home before I get there, would you mind going over so he can leave before I get home? I really don’t feel like fighting with him tonight. I have all day with the kids tomorrow. I just want to relax with them, take them to the beach on Anna Maria Island with my parents. Anyway, I’ll only be here another forty-five minutes or so.”
    Home long before midnight, Laura’s concern escalated from annoyance to a mix of panic and rage as the night wore on. She called Steve’s number three times, each time reaching the answering machine Steve still had, compliments of Channel Eight so that he wouldn’t miss any news-related calls. The first message she left on his machine was polite; the second, irate; the third, anxious.
    She lay fitfully on the living room sofa. The family room furniture was a lot more comfortable, but after what Steve and Kim had done there, she just couldn’t relax in the room. She couldn’t focus on the old Elvis movie on the TV either —
Viva Las Vegas
. Sheclicked off the TV set. She tried to read the new novel her mother had left for her,
The Thorn Birds
, the kind of sweeping saga that usually stole her attention completely, but she couldn’t concentrate. She could not eat; had not eaten all day. Anger grew as she realized that Steve had simply defied her by keeping the kids overnight in his small apartment. Marcy said they left with bags, right? They must be sleeping on the floor. You’d think he would have at least called. She could not wait to see that lawyer next week; things with Steve were getting out of control. Eventually she went into the kitchen and put the kettle on for tea. Her stomach growled and she rummaged through the refrigerator for that last slice of cherry cheesecake. But what if they’d had some kind of horrible accident — like the Ruiz family? While the water heated, she paced, saying one Hail Mary after