The 5th Horseman - James Patterson [86]
“Theoretically, that would be possible, but in actuality, it can’t happen. The doctors themselves are the first checkpoint. My staff is the second. The computer is armed and alarmed against tampering. And you have no idea how methodical I am.
“I check and recheck prescriptions against the charts all day long. Not just my own work, but the work of all the people in my department.
“People joke that I’m half a computer myself.”
I said, “But let me get this straight, it all hangs on the diagnosis?”
“That’s correct.”
“So you personally could change any doctor’s diagnosis—that’s what you’re saying?”
Engstrom stared numbly at me as I spoke, and then she snapped, “That’s outrageous. No, it’s beyond outrageous, it’s completely nuts. I’ll take a polygraph test anytime. Just say the word.”
“We may take you up on that later,” I said. “But right now, we’re just talking. Do you know Marie St. Germaine?”
“No. Who is she?”
“How well do you know Dr. Garza?” Jacobi asked.
“He’s our ER director,” Engstrom said. “We’re both senior staff —”
Jacobi stood, pounded the flat of his hand on her desk. Pens and paper clips jumped.
“Cut the crap, Dr. Engstrom!” he said. “You and Garza are what we call ‘close,’ aren’t you? Intimate, in fact.”
Engstrom’s face blanched.
I was so startled, I thought I might swallow my tongue. What was he talking about?
I remembered Jacobi’s call to me that rainy night when he tailed Garza to the Venticello Ristorante and back to Garza’s house. He’d described a willowy blonde, a babe about forty. As far as I can tell, he’d said, the doctor is guilty of having a girlfriend.
Across the desk, Engstrom’s eyes suddenly welled up with tears.
“Oh, God,” she said. “Oh, God.”
Chapter 122
ENGSTROM WAS MELTING DOWN in front of us, and loud gongs were going off inside my head. Garza and Engstrom. A perfect partnership for killing, everything probably as neat and efficient as her office.
I needed her to talk more—I didn’t want her to shut down on us now.
“Dr. Engstrom, take it easy. This is your chance to get ahead of this horror show. We’ll work with you if you tell us the truth, right now. Maybe Garza was using you. Does he have access to the computer software?”
I saw fear in her eyes. Slowly, reluctantly, Engstrom nodded, yes.
My skin prickled. All the hairs on my arms and the back of my neck stood up as Engstrom said, “I let him into the computer system a couple of times.”
“A couple of times?”
“Every now and then. But it’s not what you’re thinking! Dennis Garza is an excellent doctor. He’s very conscientious, as am I.
“The unexpected deaths of those patients were driving us crazy. Dennis was checking for inconsistencies between the diagnoses and the prescriptions. Just as I was doing.”
“Did you ever find a correlation?” I asked.
“No. Never. We put the errors down to mistakes made on the floor. Nurses mixing things up on their trays, dispensing medication to the wrong patients after the medication left the pharmacy. That’s the truth.”
“Were you with Dr. Garza every time he—what do you call it? Accessed the computer?” Jacobi asked.
“Of course. My fingerprint was needed—but I didn’t stand over him, if that’s what you mean.”
I saw the alarm come over Engstrom’s face as she realized what Jacobi was getting at. The cords in her neck stood out. She reached out to the desktop and steadied herself.
“Dennis would never, ever harm a patient. He’s a great doctor.”
Jacobi growled, “Yeah, well, sounds like you’re in love with him to me. Are you in love with Dr. Garza?”
“I was in love with him,” she said, a pathetic note sounding in her voice. “But it’s over, believe me. I found out that he was sleeping with somebody else. Dennis was fucking Maureen O’Mara. You know who she is?”
I nodded my head, but I was shocked. Maureen O’Mara had just put the screws to Municipal Hospital. How could it be that she and Garza were lovers?
I wanted to look at Jacobi, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Sonja Engstrom.
“You look surprised, Lieutenant. You didn’t know, did you?” Engstrom said.