Authors: Chelsea Heights
Silence hung in the room.
After several minutes Delaney voiced her concerns. “What is hospital protocol for declaring someone dead and who declared Andrew deceased?”
Karen turned back to the computer screen and started scanning through the chart.
“This is strange.
It shows Dr. Roberts monitored the baby for most of the day.
According to his charting Andrew was stable, breathing on his own and had even tolerated a feeding.
He was voiding normally and maintaining appropriate vital signs, including body temperature.
Dr. Roberts signed off to Dr. John Wu at four o’clock.
“At five o’clock Dr. Wu charted the baby started showing signs of respiratory distress, and required oxygen.
Then it goes on that he started rescue breaths using an ambu bag but the baby went into complete cardiac standstill.
No heart beat detected.”
“Did he do chest compressions?” Jake asked.
“That’s the thing with babies.
We can provide ventilation with a good outcome.
But when an infant’s heart stops, even in the best hospital in the world, there is less than a one percent chance of saving them.
It almost always ends tragically.
But I find it strange that his heart just stopped.”
“Why is that?” they asked simultaneously.
“Well, I’ve just never seen a heart just stop before.
Usually the baby develops signs of distress first.
In this case it would be a slowing of the heart, not just a complete stop.
Babies in the NICU are constantly monitored by nurses, doctors, and machines.
You can see the crisis unfolding before your eyes.
The heart begins to slow down, causing decreased amounts of oxygen getting to the organs.
Staff starts breathing for the baby with an ambu bag and that holds the baby over until the doctor intubates and places a breathing tube down the infants’ throat.
But according to these notes it never happened.
And even more disturbing is the fact that the nurse never charted any vital signs.”
“Why wouldn’t she chart them?” Delaney asked.
“It can get nuts around here.
And I remember that being one of the most chaotic days ever.
Sometimes nurses try to take short cuts, and instead of charting the vital signs into the computer immediately, they print them from the monitor and put them in their pocket to enter in later.
Before they know it they get side tracked and busy with another delivery and that little piece of paper shoved in their pocket is forgotten.
It does happen and in all honesty it’s even happened to me.
But in this case the nurse never even signed on.
After Dr. Wu took over care for Andrew, nobody else is associated with this chart.
It appears he was the only person caring for the baby, but I know that can’t be right.
Just a case of a lazy nurse.”
Delaney and Jake were tightly gripping the edge of their seats; they couldn’t believe what she was telling them.
Jake brought up Dr. Wu next. “Karen, is Dr. Wu working today?”
“God rest his soul.
He died that night.
He was always a very private man, I believe it’s part of Asian culture.
But to know he walked around this place for months knowing he had an inoperable brain tumor and choosing not to tell anyone, just seems wrong. He had even signed up to bring the bagels for our monthly staff meeting, knowing he wouldn’t be alive.
His colleagues didn’t even know.
We just got a call from the emergency room physician saying he was dead on arrival.
Complete organ failure.
The brain tumor was discovered on autopsy.
Go figure.”
Handing the printed out documents to Jake, she began rising from the chair and said, “I hope I told you something helpful. It’s such a tragedy.
But if you folks don’t mind I want to get to radiology and see that picture with my own eyes before administration finds out and makes Brad take it down.”
Jake rose and shook Karen’s hand, thanking her profusely for all of her help.
On the way back to her house in the Mini Cooper, a scrunched up Jake asked, “So, are you going to tell me about the picture?”
Delaney just about choked.
“Are you asking me as Special Agent Jake Thrasher or as my lover?”
“As your lover.”
“Then, yes.
I sent it.
But she sent it to me first and all I did was forward it to everybody who attended our wedding.
And by the way, the other woman in the picture had been my best friend since the seventh grade.”
Delaney suddenly realized she didn’t know the tattoo’d woman’s name, and it no longer mattered.
Chapter Seventeen
She pulled into her long driveway and parked alongside Jake’s truck.
After sailing the night before they decided it would be better to trailer the boat in her backyard instead of towing it back to Philadelphia.
Hopefully Jake would find an affordable dock slip to rent and be able to keep it in the water.
Fetch was delighted to see them come home.
She ran in circles and jumped all over Jake, leaving a trail of fur all over him.
He walked into the kitchen and took two Diet Cokes out and opened one before handing it to her.
There was nothing in her refrigerator to eat, but that wasn’t new.
He quickly learned she lived off of caffeine and finger foods.
Jake tossed the ball with Fetch while Delaney went upstairs to shower and change.
Spending half of her day in the hospital made her feel germy and she couldn’t wait to scour herself under steaming hot water.
She threw on an old t-shirt and shorts and gathered up the DVDs she had made from the hospital security tapes and sat them on top of her television.
She smelled food and walked into the kitchen.
“It’s Lean Cuisine Night!” he said as she looked at the glowing microwave and then back up at him.
She wondered how long they had been in her freezer and if they had an expiration date.
Next she noticed he was only wearing tight fitting boxer briefs.
Expiration dates flew from her mind and were replaced by hot sex. Twenty-four hours ago she didn’t even know what hot sex was, and now she couldn’t get it out of her mind.
“I didn’t think you would mind if I threw my clothes in your washing machine.
I don’t have anything else to wear. Tomorrow I’ll just go commando, if that’s all right with you,” then he flashed his crooked smile and she just about jumped him.
Sweeping her off of her feet, he carried her out back and laid her down in the soft grass.
Carefully he took off her clothes and then his own.
She laid on her back staring into the black night as he rode her, and she enjoyed every inch he had to offer.
When they were done, he buried his face in her hair and whispered how beautiful she was.
They shared a lean cuisine and neither showed immediate symptoms of food poisoning and Delaney breathed a sigh of relief.
Jake gave the empty container to Fetch and she ran right out the doggie door with it.
He sat behind her desk and booted up her MacBook.
She threw a bag of popcorn in the microwave and got out a couple cans of cold Diet Coke.
It was going to be a late night.
“Bingo!” exclaimed Jake.
The sound of the laser printer started and she stood behind him looking over his shoulder.
A man of Asian descent appeared on the screen and she asked who it was.
“It’s our dead doctor.
I found this on the American Medical Board Association’s licensing site.”
Clicking on different tabs, Dr. Wu’s personal information started popping up.
Jake printed out his bibliography and started reading out the important facts.
“Born on October 1, 1970 to a single mother in Manchester, Vermont.
Has fraternal twin brother, Joseph.”
Covering her mouth with her hand, she took the printed and looked closer.
“We have to watch these DVDs now.”
Together they settled on her couch and played the first DVD from the hospital.
The grainy video was black and white without sound.
The date of filming was displayed in the lower right hand corner, along with the time in minutes and seconds.
There were a total of four DVDs to watch.
She listened to Jake eating popcorn as her head rested on his lap.
After the third DVD she started nodding off, and Jake poked her in the ribs to wake her up.
Sitting up now, she opened the last Diet Coke and they shared it.
There was something so intimate about drinking from the same can as him and she felt silly for feeling that way.
Snuggling into each other they saw Dr. Wu at the same time and jolted awake.
It wasn’t the clearest shot but it was definitely him.
As he walked through the hospital exit, his employee identification was hanging in clear shot of the hidden camera,
Dr. John Wu, Neonatologist, University Hospital.
A large black bag was hanging from his right shoulder and the bulkiness of it indicated it wasn’t empty.
Jake grabbed his legal pad and wrote down the section of the DVD Dr. Wu was first seen.
They continued watching but once Dr. Wu walked through the doors he was no longer visible on the screen.
Some random people walked by but nothing unusual.
The DVD continued and exactly two minutes and forty-four seconds later he reappeared but was empty handed.
Jake and Delaney looked at each other and were speechless.
By their expression, they knew they were both thinking the same thing.
There wasn’t enough of a time lapse for Dr. Wu to walk to the employee parking lot and back, even if he ran.
He must have had an accomplice helping him.
It was after two in the morning now, but the new discovery and the possibilities it brought had them both too wired for sleep.
Jake went upstairs to look for an extra toothbrush while Delaney straightened up and placed the DVDs back into their cases.
Walking around the downstairs she checked to make sure the doors were all locked.
Climbing the steps to her bedroom she could hear the water running.
Quietly she opened the bathroom door and undressed without him noticing her.
Opening the shower curtain she could see his soapy body.
Not being able to help herself she smacked his ass and scared him to death.
A moment later she had his full attention.
In the morning they ran together.
Obviously he could have gone faster but he didn’t; he ran at her side the entire time.
About three miles into their run Mike and Cecily passed them.
Delaney could see them both looking and read their lips, “Who the hell is that?”
Jake didn’t seem to notice and she enjoyed the sudden curiosity into her life.
Running by the General Store she saw William raising the “We’re Open” flag and propping open the door in preparation for bringing in the morning newspapers.
Delaney caught William watching them as they jogged, side by side.
She knew it would only be a matter of hours before the entire town knew she was sleeping with Special Agent Jake Thrasher, hottest man on the planet.