Devil's Deal (1) Chapter 1 It was a beautiful office. Somewhere underneath mountains of records and articles and documents there was a taste well appointed however poorly appreciated. It was where the decisions were made and still doubled as a bedroom on more occasions than befitted the position. It was silent, dark and unobtrusive with the safe of quiet and the veneer of anonymity. It was really quite appropriate for the circumstance not lost on the resident. The irony had lost its significance to the necessity of the day-to-day management of what had become an increasingly hostile business. And so he sat in the soft light of the single desk lamp reading the minutia of legalese regarding purchase of his last twenty years of professional life. The life raft would need to be large enough for the partners and employees and it would need to be viable. There were patients that would still need care and some ninety employees who would be at risk. The lawyers were quite sure this was a good offer and the partners were ready to bail and for the final time he was reviewing the actuality of relinquishing responsibility, which was what was the most appealing part of the deal. There wasn�t much else to consider. The phone beeped and he pressed the intercom. �Dr. Stone I am getting ready to leave is there anything else you need.� �Bethany if you can page Dr. Walters to the back number and that�s a wrap. Have a good weekend.� �Have a good weekend and I�ll see you Monday. Oh by the way there was a personal call earlier while you were in with United Federal, uh, an old friend told you to call when you can, not an emergency but tonight.� �Who.� �Jimmy. He said you had the number.� The wave of nausea rivaled that of selling the practice. �Sure I�ll call him. Give Texas a page and get out of here.� Few moments passed before his phone buzzed and he picked up. �Tex.� �Yeah boss you rang.� �I�d like you to look at this before I present it to the partners. You were here when this place was nothing and I want your input before I submit this for a vote.� �Listen I�m just a dumb doctor, all I ever wanted and I�ll be a doctor working for somebody else if that�s the way it needs to be. How long have you been banging your brain � if it�s time then it�s time � let the rest of the gang decide and I�ll go along.� Typical Tex he thought but he had to ask. �The deal is guaranteed for five years and beyond that it may not be acceptable for the younger guys, so they leave and the practice dissolves and the hospital or Federal decides who stays and for what. Everyone needs to know that because I�ll be long gone.� �Deserved and understood. We�re all adults and I expect that everyone will take the deal given what we are facing in reimbursements in the coming years. Time to move on.� He felt a weight pass and took a deep breath for the first time in a long time. It was decided. �Okay the contract is on my desk and I�ll have Bethany circulate it Monday. I included the employee protection clause for three years and that is a deal breaker as far as I am concerned but aside from that I think it is ready to go back to the lawyers.� �Okay boss sounds like a deal. Anything else?� �Yeah I�m putting you up for managing partner.� �Nope.� �Think about this, you owe me and the rest of the group, there�s nobody else who can do this and I�ll help but there has to be a transition at some point�� �You�re fifty something. I think you can show up a little longer and until then I�m not working for anybody else.� �Okay well I guess we�ll need to talk about this some more and maybe I should have involved you a little more�� �No thanks.� �All right later. Have a quiet weekend.� �Same bud.� He placed the receiver on the phone and reached into his wallet for the piece of paper he hoped wasn�t there. But it was however wrinkled and yellowed it was legible and he dialed a number not dialed in years. �Bout time.� �What�s up.� �Everything.� �What�s everything?� �You need to be here and we�ll talk. Get on a flight tomorrow.� �It�s not a good time for me. Things are a little hectic. Give me a week or two.� �Bruce, Rusty and Donnie are dead.� �How.� �It wasn�t me but it�s related.� �Related?� �Come here and we�ll talk.� �Why would I go there now.� �I�m not getting wacked for this. I�m not doing this alone. I�m not protecting anything. I got nothing out of this�� �All right I�ll be there as soon as I can. Just don�t do anything stupid and I�ll see you as soon as I can get there.� �Right answer. Out.� The dial tone sounded and he dialed the phone with all thoughts racing, all calm summoned and little regard for the document in front of him. �Dr. Stone?� �Bethany I need you to get me on the red eye to Albany, NY tonight and reschedule my next week. Sorry for the short notice but I have had a family emergency and I�ll get back to you when I know more.� �Sure I�ll call now and text you the flight information. Sorry I hope things are okay?� �Thanks Bethany.� �Sure. Take care and have a safe trip.� She reached for her planner and found the number to the airline and dialed the number. As she waited for a human being to respond she realized that in all the years that she worked as a nurse and now an office manager that she didn�t know Dr. Stone had any family. Chapter 2. There was never enough time to get in LAX and feel good about it. Loafers, no belt, no carryon except the ever-present laptop that contained more details about his life than he cared remember. With some time to spare he arrived at the gate with enough presence to inquire about an upgrade. No such luck. It would be four hours in a cramped coach before Chicago and that was after being up most of the last night on call. He took the first window seat available and grabbed a pillow and blanket and settled into an inconspicuous position wedged against the window. For everything that was going on and for whatever was awaiting him he almost welcomed the possibility of a crash. He usually didn�t like to fly without being half in the bag but sleep came without incident shortly after wheels up and he was transported to what had been a happier time. There was one out and runners on second and third and Wilcox had pretty much had enough of curve balls. Lance Arrowsaul had befuddled a better team for five innings as he often did but balls can only curve so much for so long until by matter of chance or talent that hitters begin to get on the bit so to speak. The last drive nearly decapitated John Plant at third and knocking it down saved what remained of the season. He was warming up next to Danny Neadon the lefty senior and logical choice and as Wilcox was prone to do he walked to the mound and pointed to his right shoulder. It made some sense. He was healthy now and at one point was the second best pitcher of this group. Adversity had changed that and after a year rehabilitating his knee and building strength preparing for next year he was better than he remembered and he felt it in the warmup. He walked to the mound and took the ball from Wilcox. �We need strike outs. No finesse.� Wilcox grunted and waddled back toward the dugout. Don Keef rubbed the ball and placed it in his glove. �All fastballs unless I take my mask off. No matter what I do with my fingers you try and take my head off. We need two outs � go get them.� He looked at the batter and at Keef and wondered what would happen. He hadn�t pitched in months aside from throwing at a rug in his backyard or three quarter speed batting practice. The doubt lasted only until his set position and with the first delivery it was like nothing ever happened. The first ball was right down the middle and a called strike and brought Keef out to the mound. �What?� �Your kiddin right?� Keef said. �I barely caught up to that bad boy and it was right down the pike. You�re back my man, you�re back.� He ran back behind the plate and the mask couldn�t hide a grin that would have done a carnivore proud. Two more missiles and one out remained. What remained was their second hitter, a guy named Baker who was impossible to strike out and one of the best contact hitters in the league. The first pitch was a good mistake � tailing just up and in enough to catch the handle of the bat and result in a weak pop back to the mound. In four pitches it was over and Keef seemed happier than he was and bounded out to the mound like a puppy. Beyond the backstop was a solitary figure watching the events unfold. John Glendenen was well known to the players on both sides of the diamond. A large black man stood out in this largely white suburb of Albany but that was not what defined his presence. Glendenen coached the Latham Padres Connie Mack team. Really he established the team, bought the uniforms, coached and managed, pitched batting practice and willed this team to success against teams from embarrassing larger catchment areas. Year after year he made talent where there was none and found performance that Jack Wilcox and others like him blissfully ignored. He also wasn�t shy about stepping outside of the usual boundaries and coercing players to play for the orange and white. Yes the orange and white uniforms of the Latham Padres completed the absurdity of it all. The image of a priest dressed like a pumpkin beating your best players must have been as annoying for the rest of the league as it was gratifying for those selected. And it was a selection, really an invitation specifically from John Glendenon to the best players he had seen during the abbreviated high school season that was spring baseball in upstate NY and the truth was that everyone involved expected that things that would not happen might happen if you wanted that to happen. And the want in New York is no different then in the areas of the country where it made sense. Glendenon was about the want � the slim chance that this undersized whoever would excel at the next two levels. He believed he could find talent or make talent and that would vindicate his passion. And in fairness those chosen believed and wanted to believe. That was the orange and white � the Latham Padres. If you were chosen you had to believe because you met the man and you knew the process and you knew those not here who you played with or against. It made batting practice pitched from a large black man in a white suburb a privilege. You believed. You were a Padre. �Hey, hey didn�t know you had the heat.� Glendenon had spoken to him and he resisted the reflex to look for anyone else within earshot. �Fresh arm. It�s been awhile� he shrugged. �You used to throw all junk, you still have that stuff too?� �I guess. I�ve spent most of my time watching this year. Next year I should get plenty of time to see what I can do. �Sooner than that. Your time is now from what I just saw.� �Just four pitches.� �I�d like you to play for the team this summer. Four spots for seventeen year olds and I�m light on pitchers after Lezcano and maybe this guy Jones from Waterford. You belong if you want to.� �I�ll be there. Thanks.� �No guarantee except your wing but I like your chances.� Glendenon turned and walked to the parking lot and drove away without talking to anyone else. Either he was shopping for one item or he only saw one thing he liked and either was fine with him. Keef tracked him down and smacked him in the left arm. �That was some serious shit. Baker didn�t even see that ball move into his hands. It was settling into your glove before he got out of the batters box. This is gonna be some big fun squirt.� Keef ran over to the other seniors and celebrated the sectional title four years in the making and each and every senior at some point found him and tapped him with their gloves. It meant something to all of them. He saw her at the edge of the stands and went over to her. Her blond hair fell across her face and she brushed it aside, fell into his arms and kissed him. �I was so nervous I thought I would be sick,� she stammered. �Thanks for the confidence.� �No its just, you spent so much time training and waiting and I know that couldn�t have been easy�� �That�s always been the easy part. If I didn�t think I belonged I wouldn�t walk out there but it did feel good to have something matter. I�m not cut out to be a cheerleader.� �Not all bad Stone� grunted Wilcox as he walked past toward the lockers. �Thanks coach.� He waited a moment. �I think he was talking about you.� Both of them laughed and held hands as he walked back to the final team meeting of the year. �I better go. I�ll see you tonight?� �Pick you up at eight or so.� �I�m so happy for you. � She meant it and he knew it. He much preferred the dream but the stewardess needed to know his drink request and upon careful consideration he ordered a triple. �We don�t do that sir�, replied the stewardess. �How about two doubles?� �I can bring you a double, uh, what specifically are we interested in ingesting anyway?� She was more interested in him then her entire path thus far. �Bourbon, what else is there?� �Jack?� �Makers if you have it but I�ll settle for Jack. Jim Beam better come in a mug.� �I�ll be back soon.� She said. �Not soon enough,� he muttered. The dream he had wasn�t new, wasn�t welcome and would recur. It wasn�t the first time he had thought this. She brought what looked like a generous amount of bourbon to most. He decided that to be gentlemen he would time her next trip through but this was clearly less then a start for the next week. He saw that she was finishing in back and quickly downed the rest. The plastic glass with naked ice cubes left little to be imagined. �Another sir?� �I promise I�ll behave. Don�t love being at thirty thousand feet in a sardine can without any notion of who is at the controls.� She took his empty glass and returned up the walkway. One more double and maybe two hours of sleep and all together a cheap price to pay. Chapter 3. There is always that obnoxious mechanical sound when the wheels go down, enough to wake up weary travelers and better than the alternative but annoying nonetheless. He looked out the window searching for something familiar like anything would be familiar after twenty-five years from ten thousand feet and five stiff bourbons. Pilots are designated drivers in the simplest sense and looking at the ground was less comforting as it got closer. He started to focus on the task at hand. He booked a hotel during the layover in Chicago thanks to the WiFi connection and his trusty laptop. A rental car would be waiting and he should be at the hotel by four or so in the morning paying extra for that and reserving the room for a week. He would be in town for six hours before anybody could possibly expect him and using that time could be an advantage. He came out of operating on instinct and now began to realize the enormity of the uncertainty. And there was the other thing. Trust and whether he could trust. It was easier being far away. He picked up his luggage, got the rental car and turned out of the airport and headed toward 87 North to Latham and ultimately to Cocco�s Motor Lodge. Amazing how places of little consequence persist but this was the only place he could remember in the Latham area from when he left and sure enough it was still here and cheap and rightfully so. He arrived at four in the morning and the clerk was at the desk. �I�m Mr. Stone, I called earlier today.� �Reservation for one for one week. Is that correct sir.� The clerk was efficient, competent and surprisingly alert for the time of day. �Yes.� �I�ll just need a drivers license and your credit card and we�ll be all set.� He handed the two items to the clerk who efficiently made photocopies and returned them in short order. �You�ll be out in unit 24 down at the far end on the first floor if that�s okay.� �Sure sounds good. Anywhere to eat around here at this time of day?� �Yeah there�s a twenty four seven diner a quarter of mile down the road on this side. You won�t be disappointed. Anything else I can do for you?� �One thing. I greatly appreciate my privacy as I am here on a delicate matter with family. It is important that my presence is not known and I will not be expecting or accepting any calls.� �Mr. Stone as I understand it you are not here.� �Yes but if someone inquires it would be of interest to me. I just prefer to keep a low profile during the proceedings. I thank you for your understanding.� He took the keys and walked to his car and guided it down toward the end of the motel. He must have been the only legitimate guest tonight shuttled far away from the seedy undercurrent of a safe suburb. He took his bag and his laptop and opened the door and was pleasantly surprised by the lack of rodents but not by much else. There was a bed and a television and a bathroom and a bible and no minibar. He made his way to the bed and fell into it fully clothed. � Chapter 4. So much for sleep, he looked at the clock and it was five fifteen and he was as awake as he was going to be. A five-minute shower and he could be at Dapper Dan�s by six. Jimmy would be behind the bar and he would still have an hour before the Aleghany Steel shift ended. He was amazed at how much things had not changed. He turned down Watervliet Boulevard and parked the car in the lot. As he approached the bar he wondered just how dangerous this was. He had more questions than answers and had done more for Jimmie in the last twenty years than anyone but this all started with something that would be hard to consider trustworthy. And he was alone in the world. He opened the door and walked up to the bar looking both ways and seeing no one. �Not bad.� Jimmie said as he walked in from the kitchen �You got here within twelve hours. Good decision.� �What the fuck is going on. I�ve had it with this�� �Let�s go for a walk.� Jimmie had his finger to his mouth and glared like this meant something. �Yeah I need some air.� Jimmie grabbed his jacket and motioned him to the door. They walked down to the water along the water break. �I have thirty or forty minutes before a shitload of thirsty metal workers pay my bills. So here it is.� He looked back and around and didn�t see anything suspicious. �Your not involved with the cops right ? You gotta tell me that if you sold out.� �Fuck you. You�re kidding me � you fuck over my entire life and then you accuse me of selling out.� �All right I had to ask. I get it.� �So tell me what the fuck I am doing here. Time to tell me everything. If you want me to help I need to know what�s going on.� Jimmie looked around and lighted a smoke. �That�s the problem. I have no fucking clue. In the last three months Donnie, Rusty and Bruce have disappeared or are dead. Donnie decided to hang himself four days after getting out of prison. Maybe he missed the companionship. Who the fuck knows - not me. Rusty disappeared out of the blue. So I guess he just decided to abandon his Italian mother he still lived with, the only person who mattered in his life right after I talked to him and everything is going fine. He was in the bar shooting the shit and the next morning I get a call from his mother asking when Rusty will be home because she�s got some errands for him to do. Cops don�t even know if he�s missing or dead. Like I would fucking know. And then there�s Brucie.� Jimmie took a long drag on his cigarette and threw it into the Hudson. �Bruce died of meningitis or some shit within twenty four hours of being completely healthy. I mean I saw the guy in the morning and he was fine and I read his obituary two days later.� �Well that can happen.� �Sure it can. Sure it can but killing yourself when you get out of prison, abandoning your mother who you live to protect and getting a spinal infection and dying in twenty four hours�� He could get pretty animated and this was a good example. �Jimmy you�re not using again are you?� �Fuck you. How stupid are you. How obvious can this be?� He looked more scared than upset. �I never knew what happened.� �By design.� Jimmy yelled and then controlled himself. �By design. We protected you from that. You deserved that.� �And now you want my help so either I hear the details or I book a plane flight.� Jimmy took another cigarette out of his pocket and lit it and then broke a solemn promise. Chapter 5 He went back to the hotel and collapsed. There was no reason to be here. Either Jimmie was back on drugs or there were some unfortunate occurrences or people do stupid things but the chances of something illegal seemed remote. More importantly the chance he was in any danger of anything aside from crazy Jimmie allowed him to sleep soundly. He awoke and it was already eight in the evening. He took another shower to wake up and headed to Memorial Hospital to put this nonsense to an end. Donnie was a chronic dirtball with a drug habit and suicide would have been the first smart thing he ever did. Rusty wasn�t anything he could solve if the cops couldn�t. Surely there would be some professional understanding and once Bruce�s death was explained then he would be back to work on Monday. He entered the ER entrance area and realized that this might be a bit more complicated. In actuality he had no authority to be there. No documentation of representation and no real reason to be asking questions. Before saying anything he thought for a moment how this might work out. And then he saw something useful. �Carol?� �I�m sorry can I help you.� �We went to St Ambrose together, rode the bus home every night in high school�� �Oh my God I thought you were dead. You just disappeared. I am so glad to see you.� �Me too. My death was exaggerated.� �Good to see you. What are you doing here? Where have you been all these years?� He always liked Carol but this wasn�t time for an extended reunion. �Long story would bore you to tears. I�m a cardiologist practicing in San Diego.� �Married, kids?� �No, never.� �I always thought you and Laura would get married. Too bad you were great together.� �Yeah life happens I guess. Anyway what I�m doing here, that turns out to be a good question and I hope you can help me. You remember Bruce Rosenthal?� �Yeah it was terrible.� �Well I�m here for his wife Sharon. She asked me to look at what happened. Not in a medico-legal way just she�s struggling and as a friend I thought I could help.� �I wasn�t there but the shift here tonight was. Give me a second.� After a short period a man who looked like he was quite distracted to be required to speak with anyone let alone another physician appeared. He was a tall man with a light complexion and the reddened checks and ample gut to suggest chronic alcohol use. �I�m Dr. Pastor. What can I do for you?� �Hi Dr. Prewitt. I�m a cardiologist in practice in San Diego looking in on Bruce�s wife Sharon. She is having a tough time with his death and I thought any details I might provide could help.� He hoped that would be enough and not surprisingly it wasn�t. �Bruce who?� �Bruce Rosenthall. I think you may have been working when he came in with seizures and died I think of meningitis if his wife has it correct.� �You�ll need a release. Of course you would know that.� �Yes here�s my card and I can obtain that if need be. I just thought informally you could tell me what happened and I�ll tell Sharon and it�s all done. She�s not looking to sue and was very appreciative of the professionalism that all the staff here showed and she did want me to tell you that.� In for a dime in for a dollar he thought because there was no return trip after this story.
Go to part: 1 2
Copyright © 2012 Annacat |