I’m sure you have tried to be nice to her, Noah thought sarcastically but didn’t say.
“I want you to make it crystal clear at the M&M that general anesthesia should have been used on this patient at the get-go. If it had been, we could have gone into the abdomen when we needed to do so. Admittedly, the patient might have regurgitated anyway during induction since his stomach was so full, but who’s to know. At least it would have happened at the beginning of the case and not at the middle, and it would have been an anesthesia fatality, not a surgical one. It’s aggravating to have this screw up my statistics.”
“So you think Anesthesia is solely responsible?” Noah said, trying to keep disbelief out of his voice.
“The lion’s share,” Dr. Mason said. “Of course the patient didn’t help, and Admitting should have discovered the man had eaten a full breakfast. Making sure the patient has been NPO is a major responsibility for them, everybody knows that.”
“Thank you for your time,” Noah said. He got to his feet.
“Let me warn you once again, my friend. Do not turn this case into a discussion about concurrent surgery. That is not the issue here. The fact that I was held up for a few minutes in one of my major cases because of a congenital abnormality was not a factor in Bruce Vincent’s death. You get my point?”
“I believe I do,” Noah said.
“Good,” Dr. Mason said. “It is nice to have you as our super chief resident. It would be a tragedy if your year was prematurely terminated.”
A cruel smile appeared on Dr. Mason’s face. He didn’t stand up.
Noah nodded a final time, then turned and left. As he punched the elevator button out in the hall he became aware that his heart was racing. Although he knew he shouldn’t have been surprised, he had not expected Dr. Mason to be quite so specific with his threat. Noah’s worst-case scenario would be losing his position at BMH this close to the end of what had been a long odyssey and practically a lifelong dream.
Once again, he was the only person in the elevator. With trembling hands he took out his mobile phone and texted Ava: Met with the enemy. Bad as expected. Will fill u in 2nite. Almost immediately the three little blinking bubbles appeared on his screen. As the elevator door began to open, a message popped up: At least you got it over with. I can’t wait to hear what he said. The message was followed by a smiley-face emoji.
Feeling relatively chipper from Ava’s text, despite the meeting with Dr. Mason, Noah emerged from the elevator onto the second floor of the Young Building, which served as the triage center for the BMH clinical services. His intent was to use the pedestrian bridge to get back to the Stanhope Pavilion. His destination was the fourth floor, to see if he could locate the chief anesthesia resident. For several days he’d entertained the idea of possibly interviewing Dr. Kumar, but after Ava had told Noah that he and Dr. Mason were close friends, Noah decided against it. Although both Dr. Wiley and Dr. Chung had corroborated Ava’s interpretation of the Vincent case, Noah wanted confirmation from someone higher up just to be sure.
11
SATURDAY, JULY 8, 7:39 P.M.
Knowing he was early, Noah slowed down as he entered Louisburg Square. He noticed the ambient light was significantly greater than it had been the evening before with the sun higher in the sky. Sunset wasn’t going to occur for another half-hour. There were more children playing in the grass enclosure, and their shouts and laughter echoed in the confined area. Bright sunlight bathed the fa?ades of the town houses on the upside of the hill, whereas those on the lower side, where number 16 was located, were in comparatively dark shadow.
A few doors away from his destination, Noah stopped and looked at his watch and wondered what to do. He was going to be twenty minutes early, and he didn’t want to seem too eager. Of course, he was too eager. He admitted it. As the day had passed, he’d gotten progressively more excited about returning to Ava’s that evening. And the excitement wasn’t just because of the M&M issue, although it contributed. He was looking forward to spending more time with Ava just to be with her, a feeling he couldn’t remember experiencing since he’d been a teenager. But as she’d already made clear her reluctance to form social relationships with fellow hospital personnel, he knew he had to proceed slowly, lest he scare her away. Arriving early could send the wrong message.
As he was standing there dithering, he saw Ava’s door open. With a sense of panic, he tried to decide what to do and whether he should turn around and flee. Before he could make a move, Ava stepped out onto her stoop, saw him, and waved.
Noah hesitantly waved back and restarted walking toward her. A moment later a second figure appeared from inside her house. It was a light-complected, clean-cut man, maybe forty, but what caught Noah’s attention was that he was even more athletic-appearing than Ava, which was saying something. He was wearing loose-fitting black workout pants with a white V-neck T-shirt that appeared to be a size too small. Even from where Noah was, he could see that the man’s biceps were straining the fabric. Noah felt instantly inadequate as he mentally compared his own body image to this physical Adonis. It was like day and night. When Noah got to the base of the stoop, the man came down the steps. There was a distinctive spring to his gait. With a slight, friendly smile he nodded to Noah as he passed. Noah nodded back and mounted the granite stairs.
“See you tomorrow, same time,” Ava called after the man.
The man didn’t answer or even turn around. He merely waved over his shoulder as he climbed into a black Suburban parked in front of Ava’s house.
“You’re early,” Ava said cheerfully as Noah gained the top step.
“Sorry,” Noah said. “Fearing I was going to be late, I rushed. I guess I didn’t need to, but it was a little after seven by the time I was able to leave the hospital.” He had indeed rushed to get home, practically jogging the entire way. He’s also taken a very quick shower, fearing for the worst about being late, but then here he was being early. He’d been keyed up all day and still was.
“You made good time,” Ava said. “Come in! Sorry about my being in my workout clothes yet again. We went over the allotted time we had set, and I didn’t expect you for at least another twenty minutes or so.”
“Who is ‘we’?” Noah asked as he entered the foyer. The inner door was also ajar.
“That was my personal trainer,” Ava said. She followed Noah inside.
“So you believe in personal trainers,” Noah said. He felt a sense of relief that the man with the buff body was a hired hand.
“I do. Don’t you?”
“Not really. Anybody can say they are a personal trainer. I think there are a lot of charlatans out there.” Noah silently chided himself for being jealous.