to talk, but Kara spoke first. “I repeat, I think I have a right to know where you got that erroneous information. If you won't talk to me I will call the president of the hospital and talk to him. I want to know what's going on.”
Ms. Talbot went back over to Kara. “Okay. I think, too, you have a right to know.”
Mr. Henderson spoke up. “Loretta, I'm not sure about —”
“Would you rather she talk to the president, tell him how upset she is? I'm not sure he'd be happy to hear we upset a patient.”
Mr. Henderson reluctantly agreed. “Okay, maybe you're right, although it is our job to check on any information like this.”
Ms. Talbot ignored the last portion of his statement and turned to Kara. “You're right, Kara, Nurse Stella is the one that told us this.”
Kara shook her head, obviously not impressed. “It seems to me Nurse Stella is a busybody that spends more time trying to get Dr. Sherman in trouble than she does doing her job. I don't know anything about her, if she has something in for him, or if she tries to get everyone in trouble, but if you ask me, if you're going to be concerned about someone giving less than adequate care, I'd look at her first.”
“While we're here,” Ms. Talbot said, “let me ask you a couple of questions about her care. Is it possible she could have checked your temperature last night while you were sleeping?”
“To be honest,” Kara answered, “yes, of course it's possible.”
Ms. Talbot and Mr. Henderson both seemed relieved with her answer, until she went on. “But I doubt it. I called her around 4:00, and I hadn't gone back to sleep yet at 6:00, so I know she didn't check it at all then. On top of that, I'm a light sleeper, so I doubt I would have slept through it once every hour. But I suppose it is possible.”
Mr. Henderson nodded. “She gave you the pain medicine at 4:00, you're sure?”
“Positive. I woke up and looked at the clock by my bed. It said 3:48. I waited about ten minutes to call, hoping I'd feel better, but I didn't, so I called a couple of minutes before 4:00. Dr. Sherman told me before he left the night before that the nurses should be giving me pain medicine every four hours for at least the first 24 hours after surgery, but if they didn't give it to me, I should ask for it because I would heal better if I didn't have to fight the pain from the surgery. She gave it to me last at 11:00, so four hours would have been at 3:00. That's why I waited ten minutes before asking for it. I thought maybe she'd given it to me and I slept through it, and it just needed a few minutes to kick in. When the pain got worse instead of better, I asked if it was time for more pain medicine yet, and she brought it right in.”
Mr. Henderson and Ms. Talbot were both quiet several moments. Finally he sighed. “Okay, Ms. Kerrington, thank you for this information. We will be closing the case on Dr. Sherman, but starting an investigation on Nurse Stella. Thank you for your help.”
“I have one more question,” Kara said. “Will Nurse Stella be my nurse tonight? I really don't think I'd feel comfortable with that.”
Ms. Talbot shook her head. “No, she won't be your nurse. I'm not sure if she's scheduled to work tonight, but we'll check on it and make sure she's not your nurse, even if she is here.”
“Thank you,” Kara said.
After they left Kara thought back over what she'd just learned. She picked up her phone and called Nick.
“Hey, pretty lady. How are you feeling?”
“So what's up between you and Nurse Stella?”
“Did someone come ask you some questions, by any chance?”
“Yes. What's going on? Did you know about it?”
“Kara, I'm on my way in to see you. Let me explain it all in person, okay?”
“Okay, but I'm confused.”
“I'll explain it when I get there. I'll be there soon.”
He walked into her room ten minutes later, carrying a bag from Schumaker's, a local deli, on a hospital lunch tray. “I stopped at the cafeteria and told them I'd bring your lunch up for them,” he said with a grin.
“Does the cafeteria always put their lunches in bags from Schumaker's?”
“Not always,” he admitted. “I told them to fix you something special for lunch today, though, so they went to Schumaker's.”
Kara laughed, and loved seeing him smile, as well. “So if they want to fix something special that's what they do?”
“Yep,” he said in a very matter of fact way. He turned serious, though, as he was taking the food from the bag. “Actually, I planned on eating lunch with you today and I love the corned beef sandwiches at Schumaker's. Have you ever had them?”
“No, but I love a good corned beef sandwich.”
“Then you'll love them,” he assured her.
“So you're saying this is better than the wonderful cuisine served from the hospital kitchen?”
“You betcha,” he said, grinning.
“Seriously, thank you, Nick. This was very thoughtful of you.”
“And a little selfish. Remember, I'm eating it, too.” After they both laughed, he finished putting the food out on her tray. “Now, are you ready for lunch?”
“Yes, I am,” she answered, “but I'm also ready to hear about the visitors I had this morning. Can you explain to me what's going on while we eat?”
Nick looked toward the door to be sure no one was coming in, then spoke quietly. “I can explain some of it to you now, but I'd prefer to wait until you're released and we're alone to go into some of the details. Can you live with that?”
Kara studied Nick several moments, and he could tell she was thinking. “I think I understand what you're saying, and I'll try. What can you tell me now?”
He glanced back to the door again. “Tell me if someone comes in.” She nodded, and he began his explanation. “Nurse Stella isn't a big fan of mine.”
“I gathered that. Why not?”
“She thinks I reported her to the chief of staff for some, some ... indiscretion.”
“Did you?”
“No. But she believes I did, maybe because it was my patient.”
“So when I said that you had been drinking and ran into me, she jumped on it?”
“Yep. She spends way more time than she should gossiping to begin with, so when she heard that, she thought she had the perfect opportunity to get even with me.”
“So did she get in trouble once, when she thought you ratted on her?”
He hesitated before answering. “I'd rather we talk about that when you're home.”
“Okay, I get that,”
