well-to-do as evidenced by their clothes, bearing, and jewels.
As the minutes ticked by, Raymond found his irritation mounting. What
was adding insult to injury at the moment was Dr. Levitz’s obvious
success. It reminded Raymond of the absurdity of his own medical license
being in legal limbo just because he’d gotten caught padding his
Medicare claims. But here was Dr. Levitz working away in all this
splendor with at least part of his receipts coming from taking care of a
number of crime families. Obviously, it all represented dirty money. And
on top of that Raymond was sure Levitz padded his Medicare claims. Hell,
everybody did.
A nurse appeared and cleared her throat. Expectantly, Raymond moved to
the edge of his seat. But the nurse called out another name. While the
summoned patient got up, replaced his magazine, and disappeared into the
bowels of the office, Raymond slouched back against the sofa and fumed.
Being at the mercy of such people made Raymond long for financial
security all the more. With this current ‘doubles’ program he was so
close. He couldn’t let the whole enterprise crumble for some stupid,
unexpected, easily remedied reason.
It was three-fifteen when finally Raymond was ushered into Daniel
Levitz’s inner sanctum. Levitz was a small, balding man with multiple
nervous tics. He had a mustache but it was sparse and decidedly unmanly.
Raymond had always wondered what it was about the man that apparently
inspired confidence in so many patients.
‘It’s been one of those days,’ Daniel said by way of explanation. ‘I
didn’t expect you to drop by.’
‘I hadn’t planned on it myself,’ Raymond said. ‘But when you didn’t
return my calls, I didn’t think I had a choice.’
‘Calls?’ Daniel questioned. ‘I didn’t get any calls from you. I’ll have
to have another talk with that receptionist of mine. Good help is so
difficult to come by these days.’
Raymond was tempted to tell Daniel to cut the bull, but he resisted.
After all, he was finally talking to the man, and turning the meeting
into a confrontation wouldn’t solve anything. Besides, as irritating as
Daniel Levitz could be, he was also Raymond’s most successful recruit.
He had signed up twelve clients for the program as well as four doctors.
‘What can I do for you?’ Daniel asked. His head twitched several times
in its usual and disconcerting way.
‘First I want to thank you for helping out the other night,’ Raymond
said. ‘From the absolute pinnacles of power it was thought to be an
emergency. Publicity at this point would have meant an end to the whole
enterprise.’
‘I was glad to be of service,’ Daniel said. ‘And pleased that Mr.
Vincent Dominick was willing to help out to preserve his investment.’
‘Speaking of Mr. Dominick,’ Raymond said. ‘He paid me an unexpected
visit yesterday morning.’
‘I hope on a cordial note,’ Daniel said. He was quite familiar with
Dominick’s career as well as his personality, and surmised that
extortion would not be out of the question.
‘Yes and no,’ Raymond admitted. ‘He insisted on telling me details I
didn’t want to know. Then he insisted on paying no tuition for two
years.’
‘It could have been worse,’ Daniel said. ‘What does that mean to my
percentage?’
‘The percentage stays the same,’ Raymond said. ‘It’s just that it
becomes a percentage of nothing.’
‘So, I help and then get penalized!’ Daniel complained. ‘That’s hardly
fair.’
Raymond paused. He’d not thought about Daniel’s loss of his cut of
Dominick’s tuition, yet it was something that had to be faced. At
present, Raymond was reluctant to upset the man.
‘You have a valid point,’ Raymond conceded. ‘Let’s say we’ll discuss it
in the near future. At the moment, I have another concern. What’s the
status of Cindy Carlson?’
Cindy Carlson was the sixteen-year-old daughter of Albright Carlson, the
Wall Street junk-bond mogul. Daniel had recruited Albright and his
daughter as clients. As a youngster the daughter had suffered from
glomerulonephritis. The malady had worsened during the girl’s early
teens to the point of kidney failure. Consequently, Daniel not only had
the record number of clients, he also had the record number of harvests,