“All hospitals feel that their death rates are confidential information,” Beaton said. “The general public doesn’t understand how they’re figured. Death rates can be a public relations disaster, something that Bartlet Hospital certainly doesn’t need.”
“I’ll agree with you there,” Traynor said. “So we keep him out of medical records. It shouldn’t be hard if CMV fired him. Why was he fired?”
“He was continually at the lower end of productivity,” Beaton said, “and at the upper end of utilization, particularly hospitalization.”
“We certainly won’t miss him,” Traynor said. “Sounds like I should send Kelley a bottle of scotch for doing us a favor.”
“This family is worrying me,” Beaton said. “Yesterday they came flying into the hospital to yank out their daughter, the one with cystic fibrosis. They took her out of the hospital against medical advice from their pediatrician.”
“That does sound bizarre,” Traynor said. “How’s the child? I guess that’s the important issue.”
“She’s fine,” Beaton said. “I spoke to the pediatrician. She’s doing perfectly well.”
“Then what’s the worry?” Traynor said.
Armed with the social security numbers and birth dates, Angela headed into Boston. She’d called Robert Scali that morning so he’d expect her. She didn’t explain why she was coming. The reason would take too long to explain and besides, it would sound too bizarre.
She met Robert at one of the numerous small Indian restaurants in Central Square in Cambridge. As Angela entered, Robert got up from one of the tables.
Angela kissed him on the cheek, then got down to business. She told him what she wanted and handed Robert her list. He eyed the sheet.
“So you want background checks on these people?” he said. He leaned across the table. “I was hoping that you had more personal reasons for calling so suddenly. I thought you wanted to see me.”
Angela immediately felt uncomfortable. When they’d gotten together before, Robert had never intimated anything about rekindling their old flame.
Angela decided it was best to be direct. She assured Robert that she was happily married. She told him that she’d come purely because she needed his help.
If Robert was disheartened, it didn’t show. He reached across the table and squeezed her hand. “I’m glad to see you no matter what the reason,” he said. “I’ll be happy to help. What is it you specifically want?”
Angela explained to Robert that she’d been told that a good deal of information could be obtained about a person through computer searches using just the social security number and the birth date.
Robert laughed in the deep, husky manner that Angela remembered so vividly. “You have no idea how much is available,” he said. “I could get Bill Clinton’s Visa card transactions for the last month if I were truly motivated.”
“I want to find out everything I can about these people,” Angela said, tapping the list.
“Can you be more specific?” Robert said.
“Not really,” Angela said. “I want everything you can get. A friend of mine has described this process as a fishing trip.”
“Who’s this friend?” Robert asked.
“Well, he’s not exactly a friend,” Angela said. “But I’ve come to think of him that way. His name is Phil Calhoun. He’s a retired policeman who’s become a private investigator. David and I hired him.”
Angela went on to give Robert a thumbnail sketch of the events in Bartlet. She started with Hodges’ body being discovered in their basement, then went on to describe the fascinating clue of the tattoo, and finished up with the theory that someone was killing patients in a form of misguided euthanasia.
“My God!” Robert said when Angela ended her tale. “You’re shooting holes in my romantic image of the peaceful country life.”
“It’s been a nightmare,” Angela admitted.
Robert picked up the list. “Twenty-five names will yield a lot of data,” he said. “I hope you’re prepared. Did you come in a U-Haul?”
“We’re particularly interested in these five,” Angela said. She pointed to the people who worked in the hospital and explained why.
“This sounds like fun,” Robert said. “The quickest information to get will be financial since there are quite a few databases we can tap with ease. So we’ll soon have information on credit cards, bank accounts, money transfers, and debt. From then on it gets more difficult.”