higher than the normal average. In twenty years, the only stain on
Desert General had been the Case of the Purloined Pills. That was what
Peake named the affair when Sharp quickly briefed him on arrival, before
confronting Dunn and Werfell, it was a name Peake did not share with
Sharp, since Sharp was not a reader of mysteries as Peake was and did
not have Peake’s sense of adventure. Anyway, just last year, three
nurses at Desert General had been caught altering purchase and
dispensation records in the pharmacy, and upon investigation it was
discovered they had been stealing drugs for years. Out of spite, the
three had falsely implicated six of their superiors, including Nurse
Dunn, though the police had eventually cleared Dunn and the others.
Desert General was put on the Drug Enforcement Agency’s “watch list” of
medical institutions, and Alma Dunn, though cleared, was shaken by the
experience and still. felt her reputation endangered.
Sharp took advantage of that weak spot. In a discreet session with Alma
Dunn in the nurses’ lounge, with only Peake as a witness, Sharp subtly
threatened the woman with a very public reopening of the original
investigation, this time at the federal level, and not only solicited
her cooperation but brought her almost to tears, a feat that Peake-who
likened Alma Dunn to Agatha Christie’s indomitable Miss Jane Marple-had
thought impossible.
At first, it appeared as if Dr. Werfell would be more difficult to
crack. His record as a physician was unblemished. He was highly
regarded in the medical commumlty, possessed an AMA Physician of the
Year Award, contributed six hours a week of his time to a free clinic
for the disadvantaged, and from every angle appeared to be a saint.
Well… from every angle but one, He had been charged with income-tax
evasion five years ago and had lost in court on a technicality. He had
failed to comply precisely with IRS standards of record keeping, and
though his failure was unintentional, a simple ignorance of the law,
ignorance of the law was not an acceptable defense.
Cornering Werfell in a two-bed room currently unoccupied by patients,
Sharp used the threat of a new IRS investigation to bring the doctor to
his knees in about five minutes flat. Werfell seemed certain that his
records would be found acceptable now and that he would be cleared, but
he also knew how expensive and time-consuming it was to defend himself
against an IRS probe, and he knew that his reputation would be tarnished
even when he was cleared. He looked to Peake for sympathy a few times,
knowing he would get none from Sharp, but Peake did his best to imitate
Anson Sharp’s air of granite resolution and indifference to others.
Being an intelligent man, Werfell quickly determined that the prudent
course would be to do as Sharp wished in order to avoid another
tax-court nightmare, even if it meant bending his principles in the
matter of Sarah Kiel.
“No reason to fault yourself or lose any sleep over a misguided concern
about professional ethics, Doctor,” Sharp said, clapping one beefy hand
on the physician’s shoulder in a gesture of reassurance, suddenly
friendly and empathetic now that Werfell had broken. “The welfare of
our country comes before anything else.
No one would dispute that or think you’d made the wrong decision.”
Dr. Werfell did not exactly recoil from Sharp’s touch, but he looked
sickened by it. His expression did not change when he looked from Sharp
to Jerry Peake.
Peake winced.
Werfell led them out of the untenanted room, down the hospital corridor,
past the nurses’ station-where Alma Dunn watched them warily while
pretending not to lookto the private room where Sarah Kiel remained
sedated.
As they went, Peake noticed that Werfell, who had previously seemed to
resemble Dashiell Hammett and who had looked tremendously imposing, was
now somewhat shrunken, diminished. His face was gray, and he seemed
older than he had been just a short while ago.
Although Peake admired Anson Sharp’s ability to command and to get
things done, he did not see how he could adopt his boss’s methods as his
own. Peake wanted not only to be a successful agent but to be a legend,