All She Ever Wanted Page 19

  She was going to have face the board members now, but as soon as that formality was out of the way, Julie knew she needed to find an answer to Alex’s accusation. Obviously, she had not murdered Alex’s wife in cold blood. However, Alex was somehow under the impression that Julie was responsible. She needed to figure out what she could have possibly done to cause the death of a person she had never met.

  She was physically aware that Maryanne was leading her to her office, but she was deep in thought, racking her brain with an explanation for Alex’s accusation. Julie had thankfully never been involved in a motor vehicle accident, so that possibility was immediately ruled out in her head. She and Maryanne entered her office and found two men from the board and Donna Flanders from the human resources department, seated in chairs around her desk.

  “Snap out of it, Julie,” Maryanne whispered in her ear. “Damage control.” Julie turned to Maryanne pleadingly.

  “What do I say?” she asked in a hushed voice.

  “Just tell the truth,” Maryanne replied softly and closed the door behind her.

  Julie was met with noncommittal expressions from the men and a hard stare from Donna as she circumvented her desk to sit down in her swivel chair.

  “Gentleman, Donna,” she stated, dropping her bags next to her desk. “How can I help you this morning?” she asked in her best professional tone.

  Anthony, the board secretary, whipped out a legal pad and pen while Donna leaned forward.

  “Well, Ms. Hendricks, you can start by explaining your relationship with Alex Peyton,” Donna replied coldly. Julie realized she wasn’t getting a sympathy vote with hard-nosed Donna, who wasn’t a very friendly or compassionate person. Each year, she hired an abundance of employees and each year she also fired an abundance of employees, without even flinching. Julie believed Donna actually enjoyed the firing process, unlike most people that she knew.

  Donna was a tall, rail thin woman with manly hands. Life had not been kind to her and her hard, unyielding face reflected that. She didn’t tolerate any nonsense and she detested small talk. Rarely did she hire any “pretty” nurses. Any good looking female staff in the hospital were most likely hired by her assistant or before Donna was head of HR. She despised anyone who was better looking than her and considering her features, that was a lot of people. Julie was thankful that Donna had not been the head of HR when she was hired, she would have been petrified to interview with her. Almost like she was completely intimidated of her right now.

  “Well, it’s a complicated situation,” Julie began, only to be interrupted by Donna.

  “Try us,” Donna remarked smugly as she sat back in the chair, arms folded across her bony chest.

  “Yes, I will,” Julie replied in pleasant tone. “Mr. Peyton approached me after the new nurse orientation, back in June. He claimed to be impressed with my speech and credentials. Actually, he was standing out by my car in the parking lot that evening and quite frankly, scared the life out of me when he approached.”

  Donna opened a folder she had on her lap and produced a slip of paper. She held on to the paper as she spoke. “Yes, Mr. Peyton explained he did meet you in the parking lot the night of June 15th. He also told us the only reason he met you there was because you had handed him this slip of paper during the orientation. He states you fell into him and when he helped you up, you tucked this into his hand.” Donna held out a slip of paper to Julie. “Look familiar?”

  Julie took the slip of paper that Donna was holding out and examined it. The paper simply read, “Meet me by my car @ 7:30. Green Range Rover.” At the bottom of the note was her license plate number. The handwriting looked eerily similar to hers, but Julie didn’t remember ever writing it.

  “I didn’t write this,” Julie responded flatly as she handed the slip back. She couldn’t believe Alex was actually going out of his way to make it look like she instigated the affair. This forged note was not only deceitful, it was devious. Alex Peyton obviously had an agenda. It sickened Julie to realize that Alex quite possibly had an agenda from the first day.

  “Well, Mr. Peyton claims you did. There are several witnesses that can attest to you falling and him catching you on your way up to the podium. Myself included,” Donna reminded Julie.

  “Yes,” Julie sighed. “I am not denying I fell. My heel caught in the rug. However, there was no note given to Mr. Peyton at that time.” She wanted to spit saying his name.

  “So you admit that you gave him this note, but not at that time?” Donna inquired, obviously hoping to trip up Julie in her response.

  “No, that is not the case at all,” Julie adamantly denied.

  “Fine,” Donna continued, referring to her notes. “Mr. Peyton has supplied us with cell phone records. Your cell phone number placed sixteen calls to his over the past few months, mostly during working hours. There are 7,134 texts received from you in July alone. Over 6,000 of those were received during working hours.”

  Donna looked up from her notes and glared at Julie. “Mr. Peyton also provided us with video footage of you and him, at a hotel in an intimate and compromising situation.”

  Nausea swept over Julie at this announcement. “He video-taped it?” She was furious. She never felt so broken hearted and betrayed.

  Anthony was furiously scribbling away on his legal pad. Suddenly, it occurred to Julie that this was not just a social call. Regardless of the fact that she did not instigate the affair with Alex, nor did she promise him a position, she still did have an affair with him. She could never deny that, especially if he had proof with a video and phone logs. While not illegal, it would definitely be considered a faux pas by the board and quite possibly may end her nursing career at Huntington West. This was much more serious than a simple accusation; she needed protection.

  Julie stood up as Donna opened her bird like mouth to speak. “I’m afraid I will not be answering any further questions without a lawyer present. Thank you. I’ll be in touch when I retain one,” Julie commented politely.

  Donna sat with her mouth opened. “Well Julie, you do realize that makes you appear guilty?” she inquired haughtily.

  “I am aware of how it appears, however I am not interested in appearances. I am interested in protecting myself and my job.” Julie acknowledged, crossing the room to open her door. The gentlemen stood up and exited, nodding curtly. Donna, obviously defeated at the moment, closed her file folder and exited the room behind the men without looking at Julie.

  As she approached the elevators, Donna turned toward Julie and announced, “Oh, one more thing. You are on unpaid leave until further notice. You have one hour to vacate the premises and may not return until the matter is fully investigated.” Stepping onto the elevator, she smugly added, “Have a nice day!”

  Julie watched them get on the elevator and when she was sure they had left, she leaned against the door and let out a deep breath. She was seething with fury. Maryanne, who was watching the whole ordeal from her desk, now came over to Julie and put her arm around her. She led her back into her office and sat her down on the chair Donna had been perched on. Julie, who had remained calm while she had been grilled by Donna, now began to tremor with anxiety. She lowered her head into her hands.

  “He’s twisting this around, Maryanne. He’s trying to make it look like I sought him out and bribed him to have sex with me. Who would believe such a thing?” Julie gasped at the thought. “Oh my God, this is a nightmare!”

  Maryanne sat in the empty chair next to her boss. She rubbed her leg gently as she murmured, “I know. I heard the whole thing. I put your phone on speaker phone. That Donna is something else. She has no right accusing you until she’s heard the whole story. You were right refusing to talk without a lawyer.” Maryanne shook her head and frowned. “I have a feeling this could get ugly.”

  Julie ran her hands through her hair in disgust. “I admit, I did something unethical. But I was trying to amend it. What Alex is doing is downright evil. Why would he do this to me?” She lo
oked at Maryanne searchingly. “After he claimed he loved me, wanted me to move in with him, I just don’t…”

  Julie once again remembered his words about his wife. “Crap. He said something the other day when I went to tell him that I couldn’t see him anymore. He told me that it was my fault his wife was dead. As far as I know, I’ve never even met his wife.”

  “His wife is dead?” Maryanne questioned incredulously.

  “Yes,” Julie replied. “I was originally under the impression that he was divorced. But the other night, he told me that she had passed away three years ago. This is when he wanted me to move in with him.”

  “Why on earth would he want you to move in with him?” Maryanne asked.

  “He claimed I healed him; I helped him get over his wife’s death. Then he goes and does this to me,” she added bitterly.

  Maryanne pondered for a moment before replying, “Are you sure you never met her? Maybe she was a patient?”

  Julie froze. “Oh my God, Maryanne! That must be it! Why didn’t I think of that? She must have been a patient here!” Julie exclaimed, but then her face fell. “But wait, I haven’t been involved in hands on patient care in years. He told me that she died three years ago.” Julie pulled at her chin, completely puzzled.

  “Well,” Maryanne countered. “There’s only one thing you can do. We need to go through the archives and find out if she was a patient here.”

  Maryanne handed Julie her purse that was still on the floor and heaved her out of the chair. “Come on. I know Debbie in medical records,” she informed Julie, while pulling her toward the elevator.

  Julie allowed herself to be dragged. She was in a total trance, completely shocked at how she had been blindsided. Alex had produced evidence of their affair. The plan had been to blackmail her from the beginning. Julie wasn’t sure what hurt more; the fact he was out to blackmail her or the fact that he never cared for her and was able to get her to throw away everything in her life for him so easily.

  “I can’t stay long, Maryanne. I’m supposed to vacate the premises,” Julie groaned.

  “I know, I know,” Maryanne answered as she pressed the button for the basement. “But nobody will be looking for you down here. Relax.”

  A disturbing thought occurred to Julie. She was going to have to tell Josh the whole truth now. The fact that she had led him to believe Alex was a woman was going to make the situation a hundred times worse than if she had never said anything at all. He was going to be furious. Julie covered her eyes, dreading the imminent conversation that may ruin her marriage.

  Maryanne once again took Julie’s arm when the elevator doors opened on the basement floor, but this time she led her gently, with a motherly assertiveness. Her heart ached for her closest friend. She knew what Julie had done was wrong, but she was human and humans make mistakes. Julie had been trying to rectify her error and didn’t deserve such backlash, in her opinion.

  The women found themselves traveling down a series of deserted, twisted hallways. They finally came to the door of Medical Records, a dreary, underground cave of an office. Maryanne cheerfully greeted the woman at the reception desk and the woman, Debbie popped up and ran over to embrace her.

  “My word, Maryanne! It’s been a million years!” she cried exuberantly as she squeezed Maryanne tightly and kissed both her cheeks. Julie couldn’t believe such a chipper person worked in this dank dungeon.

  Maryanne chuckled as she returned the woman’s embrace. “Yes, yes it has,” she agreed, shooting Julie a “help me” look. “Debbie and I worked together many years ago in cardio.”

  “Yes, we did, didn’t we?” Debbie chimed in. “But little old me couldn’t stand it too long, so depressing, you know?”

  Julie glanced around at the dismal surroundings. And this isn’t depressing? Being surrounded by paper all day and not another human being in sight?

  “So,” Debbie inquired happily. “What brings you down to my lair?” She snorted hysterically, as if the word lair was the world’s funniest joke. Julie glanced at Maryanne and covered her mouth to prevent herself from snickering. She could see why Maryanne did not make it down here to visit her friend very often.

  “Well, Debbie,” Maryanne began, sitting down in a chair by the desk. “We need to find a patient’s records. From three years ago.”

  “Three years ago in February,” Julie added, remembering that detail from what Alex had told her.

  “Hmmm,” Debbie replied thoughtfully. “Well, I can’t just release records to anyone who wants them. Patient confidentiality and all.”

  “I’m the director of nursing. It’s regarding a former patient that may be suing the hospital. I need to see the nurse’s notes,” Julie quickly responded.

  Debbie eyed at Julie doubtfully, but when Julie showed her ID badge, super duper Debbie returned.

  “Oh, in that case, I’ll just need you to fill out this form with the patient’s name and info,” she quipped cheerfully.

  Julie took the clipboard Debbie had shoved at her. It requested basic information, such as patient’s name, doctor, admission date and discharge date. All Julie could supply was the patient name. Shaking, she wrote, Samantha Peyton on the patient’s name line. She handed Debbie back the form, apologetically.

  Debbie frowned, but turned to the computer screen and began clicking away furiously on the keys.

  “Well, this makes it a little difficult, but I have located two Samantha Peytons. One was a patient in 2009. She was 15 years old at the time,” Debbie reported, looking at Julie, hopefully. Julie shook her head. Alex’s wife had been dead at least a year by then and she certainly wasn’t 15 years old.

  Debbie nodded at turned back to the screen. “The second was a patient several times, twice in February of 2008.” Debbie squinted at the screen. “Twice in the same day in fact,” she remarked.

  Julie nodded her head. “That sounds like it could possibly be her. How old?” she asked.

  “The patient was 29 years old at last admission,” was Debbie’s reply. Julie nodded again, affirmatively. Debbie jotted down a number and then stood up, heading toward the stacks. “I’ll be back in a jiffy,” she called over her shoulder. “Make yourselves at home!”

  Julie sat uncomfortably on the wooden chair, perched at the edge. She folded her hands and tucked them between her thighs as her legs involuntarily bounced up and down. Maryanne lovingly placed her hand on Julie’s knee to calm her. Julie looked up at Maryanne appreciatively.

  It felt like hours, but in reality, Debbie returned in less than ten minutes with a bound chart. She waved it in the air at Julie and Maryanne. “Found it!” she called out to them. She placed the chart on her desk as she handed Julie the form to fill out to review the chart.

  “It can’t leave this area,” she warned as she pointed to a dimly lit corner with a small table and desk lamp. “You can sit over there and look through it, but nothing can leave here. And leave your purses in that cubby,” she instructed, pointing to a row of cubbies behind her desk.

  Julie nodded. Precautions were necessary in this litigious world where everyone was suing everyone else. The hospital could not take the chance that someone would alter charts or other records. She complied with Debbie’s instructions.

  Julie accepted the chart with trembling hands, fearful of what she would find inside. She was a very conscientious nurse and had been overly careful in treating of her patients. She rarely made mistakes and when she did, she had caught them and fixed them before they became a problem. Still, over the years, through no fault of hers, patients had died. It was simply an inescapable fact of life.

  Julie wondered if she had taken care of Alex’s wife and she had been one of the unavoidable deaths. She found it highly implausible however, because she had not been involved in much hands on patient care over the last seven years or so. Still, she felt the answers to why Alex felt she was responsible for his wife’s death, would be found in Samantha Peyton’s chart.

  Julie and Maryanne sat
side by side at the little table, carefully perusing sections of the chart. “She was admitted for an appendectomy in May 2005,” Maryanne announced.

  “Probably not relevant. Besides, I was on maternity leave in May of 2005,” Julie reminded her.

  “What are we looking for, exactly?” Maryanne questioned after several more minutes of perusing the documents.

  Julie considered the question. “I’m not exactly sure. Something that connects Samantha Peyton to me. Or me to her. I was working as the nurse manager of the ER at the time of her last admissions. Let’s start backwards and see if she came in through the ER.”

  Maryanne flipped to the back of her chart. “Well, let me check her last admission. That would probably be the most crucial, right?” Julie nodded her head in agreement. Maryanne began to read the top of the admission note and immediately covered her mouth.

  “What?” Julie demanded, snatching the page from Maryanne’s hand. On the top of the page was stamped in telltale red, D.O.A.

  “Ok, this is a start,” Julie affirmed, breathing deeply. “This is a start,” she repeated as she began to read the notes on the page. An expression of bewilderment came across her face. “This is odd. It says she was found by an EMT, slumped over the wheel of a car in the parking lot. They apparently tried to revive her in the parking lot, to no avail. She was brought into the hospital where she was pronounced dead at 9:02 pm.” Julie shuffled through the notes. Why wouldn’t they have brought her into the hospital immediately? Searching the page, her eyes fell on the date at the top, February 18, 2008.

  “Ah ha!” Julie whispered. “Now I remember.”

  There had been a blizzard that day. It started around 2:00 in the afternoon and while many of the staff was able to leave at the end of their shift, the incoming shift had a lot of difficulty making it to work. They had worked extremely short staffed that night. In fact, Julie did a lot hands on nursing that day, helping out in the ER by triaging and discharging. There had also been a disastrous school bus accident, as a result of the weather. So while many of the ER nurses were dealing with critically injured teenagers, Julie handled paperwork.