“Then come with me to see my daughter,” Kim said. “After you see her, you can then decide what to do. I’ll accept whatever decision you make. If nothing else, it will give added meaning to your work.”
“Where is she?” Marsha asked.
“She’s at the University Med Center,” Kim said. “The same hospital where I’m on the staff.” Kim motioned toward Marsha’s cell phone that he could see between the two front seats. “Call the hospital if you question what I’m saying. My name is Dr. Kim Reggis. My daughter’s name is Becky Reggis.”
“I believe you,” Marsha said. She wavered. “When do you have in mind?”
“Right now,” Kim said. “Come on. My car is right over there.” Kim pointed over his shoulder. “You can ride with me. Afterwards I’ll bring you back here to get your car.”
“I can’t do that,” Marsha said. “I don’t know you from Adam.”
“All right,” Kim said, warming to the idea of Marsha seeing Becky. “Follow me. I was only worrying about where you’d park once at the hospital, but screw it. Just follow me right into the doctors’ lot. What do you say?”
“I’d say you are persistent and persuasive,” Marsha said.
“All right!” Kim exclaimed, raising a clenched fist for emphasis. “I’ll loop around here, so just follow me.”
“Okay,” Marsha said warily, unsure of what she’d gotten herself into.
Jack Cartwright had had his nose pressed against the window. He’d kept an eye on Kim and had witnessed the entire confrontation between Kim and Marsha Baldwin. Of course he’d not heard what they’d said, but he did see Marsha follow his car out of the lot after the two had seemed to reach some agreement.
Leaving the reception area, Jack hustled down the central corridor, passing the stairwell where he’d taken Kim up to the observation tunnel. At the far end of the hall were the administration offices.
“Is the boss in?” Jack asked one of the secretaries.
“He sure is,” she said without interrupting her word processing.
Jack knocked on the president’s closed door. A booming voice told him to “come the hell in.”
Everett Sorenson had been successfully running Mercer Meats for almost twenty years. It had been under his leadership that the company had been bought out by Foodsmart and that the new plant had been constructed. Sorenson was a big man, even stockier than Jack, with a florid complexion, small ears for his size, and a shiny bald pate.
“What the hell are you all wired up about?” Everett asked as Jack came into the room. Everett had a sixth sense about his minion whom he’d personally elevated right off the patty-room floor into the company’s hierarchy.
“We got a problem,” Jack said.
“Oh!” Everett said. He tipped forward in his desk chair to lean his bulky torso on his elbows. “What’s up?”
Jack took one of the two chairs in front of Everett’s desk. “You know that article you pointed out in the paper this morning? The one about the crazy doctor carrying on about E. coli and getting arrested in the Onion Ring restaurant on Prairie Highway?”
“Of course,” Everett said. “What about it?”
“He was just here,” Jack said.
“The doctor?” Everett asked with disbelief.
“The exact same guy,” Jack said. “His name is Dr. Reggis. And I’ll tell you straight, this guy is a nutcase. He’s out of control, and he’s convinced his daughter got her E. coli from one of our patties.”
“Damn!” Everett intoned. “This is not what we need.”
“And it gets worse,” Jack said. “I just watched him have a conversation in our parking lot with Marsha Baldwin. Afterwards they drove away in tandem.”
“You mean, you think they drove away together?” Everett asked.
Jack nodded. “That’s the way it looked. Before they left, they’d talked for quite a while in the parking lot.”
“Jesus Christ!” Everett said, slapping the surface of his desk with one of his shovel-like hands. He pushed back from the desk and got to his feet to pace. “This is not what we need! No way! That goddamn Baldwin bitch has been a thorn in my side from the day she was hired. She’s constantly filing these stupid deficiency reports. Thank God Sterling Henderson has been able to can them.”