“Well, which?” Kim asked. “And would you recommend one? The consults I deal with don’t see kids as a rule.”
“You’ve got a lot of superb people,” George said. “I guess I’d recommend an infectious-disease guy, at least initially. Try to get Claude Faraday. You can’t do better than Claude anyplace.”
“Thanks, George,” Kim said.
“My pleasure,” George said. “Sorry I’m not around.”
“Me too,” Kim said.
“Keep me posted,” George said.
“I will,” Kim said.
Kim disconnected, then used speed-dialing to get the hospital. He had the hospital operator patch him through to Claude Faraday. To Kim’s relief, the man was at home.
Kim explained the situation much as he did to George. Claude listened, asked a few pertinent questions, and then graciously agreed to come to the ER directly.
Kim pulled into the hospital. On this occasion he drove directly around to the parking area reserved for the emergency room. He looked briefly for Tracy’s Volvo. When he didn’t see it, he went up the steps to the ER platform and pushed inside.
The emergency room appeared to Kim nearly as busy as it did the night before, although he saw some empty chairs in the waiting room. He bypassed the reception and went directly to the nurses’ desk. Both Molly and Monica happened to be sitting there as he came in. They exchanged nervous glances.
“Has my daughter come in yet tonight?” Kim asked.
“I haven’t seen her.” Molly said. She seemed disinterested and a tinge wary at the same time.
“Nor I,” Monica said.
“Is she supposed to come in again?” Molly asked.
Kim didn’t bother to answer. He left the desk and headed directly back into the emergency room proper.
“Hey, where are you going?” Molly demanded. She stood up with the idea of coming around the edge of the desk to bar Kim’s passage as she’d done the previous night, but Kim was already beyond. Molly hurried after him.
Monica snapped her fingers to get the security man’s attention. When he looked over, she pointed frantically at Kim’s disappearing figure. The security man nodded and started after him as well. As he trotted, he slipped his two-way radio out from its holster.
Kim walked the length of the first room, sticking his nose into each cubicle as he went along. Molly caught up to him. “Just what do you think you are doing?” she demanded.
Kim ignored the woman, who was joined by the security man. They trailed after Kim. “What should I do?” the security man asked Molly. “I mean, he is a doctor.”
“I haven’t the slightest idea,” Molly said.
Kim ran out of cubicles on one side of the room and started on those on the opposite side. Finally he found David Washington suturing a laceration on a child’s hand. A nurse was assisting him. David was wearing two-plus oculars, and he regarded Kim over the top of them.
“My daughter’s on her way in,” Kim announced. “Now she’s apparently passing frank blood.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” David said. “What’s her blood pressure and pulse?”
“That I don’t know,” Kim said. “My ex-wife is bringing her in. I haven’t seen her yet.”
With his sterile, gloved hands raised in the air, David turned to Molly and asked her to get a mom ready with a crash cart and plasma expanders in case they were needed. Molly nodded and disappeared.
“I want my daughter seen immediately,” Kim ordered. “And I want her to have an infectious-disease consult.”
“Dr. Reggis,” David said. “Let’s try to be friends. It would help if you recognize I’m in charge here,”
“I’ve already talked with Dr. Claude Faraday,” Kim said as if he’d not heard David. “He’s on his way. I presume you know him?”
“Of course I know him,” David said. “That’s not the point. The usual protocol is for us to order the consults if the patient does not have an AmeriCare gatekeeper. AmeriCare is very clear on this issue.”
“I want Dr. Faraday to see her,” Kim averred.
“All right,” David said. “But at least understand we are doing you a favor. This is not the way things are usually done here.”
“Thank you,” Kim said. He turned and walked back the length of the room. He scanned the reception area, and when he didn’t see Tracy and Becky he went out onto the receiving platform. He stood waiting just as he’d done the evening before.