Chapter 15 - THE SECOND PATIENT
Dr. Shaw returned three days later with a question.
“Mr. Costello, have you experienced unusual weakness in your hands or arms over the years?”
“Not beyond what you'd expect from inactivity.”
“Any episodes of confusion, fainting, or sudden changes in blood pressure?”
Luca looked toward Daniel.
“There were a few.”
Dr. Shaw opened her notes.
“The compound identified in your recent report can have broader effects than lower-limb weakness. I want to review every medication you've taken since the original collapse.”
Luca gave her access to the records.
Two days later, she called with an unexpected finding.
“The medical history contains a series of prescriptions that don't match your documented symptoms,” she said. “Some were written under the name of a second patient.”
“Who?”
“Your former wife, Elena Harper.”
Luca went still.
“Why would Elena have prescriptions in my file?”
“That's what I want to understand. The prescriptions were never filled under her name, but the insurance codes were entered as though she had received treatment.”
Luca called Elena.
She arrived that evening with her old medical folder.
Dr. Shaw reviewed the records and found a prescription for a sedative that Elena had never taken. The date was two months after Luca's collapse, when she was living alone and working two jobs.
“Someone used your information,” Dr. Shaw said. “Possibly to make it appear that you were both receiving treatment at the same clinic.”
Elena frowned.
“I never went to that clinic.”
“Did anyone ask you to sign anything?”
“No.”
Luca looked at Daniel.
“Could this have been used to create a false medical history?”
“Possibly,” Daniel replied. “Or to make it harder to track who was actually receiving the medication.”
Elena stared at the paperwork.
“Why would someone put my name in your file?”
Luca had no answer.
Then she noticed a handwritten note at the bottom of one page.
Patient contact: S. Rourke.
Her fingers tightened.
“Silas.”
Daniel took the page.
The note had been written by a clinic administrator. It listed Silas as the person authorized to collect prescriptions and speak with the physician.
Elena looked at Luca.
“He knew where I lived. He knew I was pregnant. He knew you were in the hospital.”
Luca's face went cold.
“He was managing everything.”
The discovery changed the investigation. It was no longer enough to prove that someone had poisoned Luca. They needed to establish how the medical records had been manipulated, who had authorized the prescriptions, and whether other people had been used to conceal the scheme.
Daniel contacted the clinic's former administrator.
She agreed to meet, but only if the meeting took place somewhere public.
The appointment was set for Friday.
Before leaving, Elena placed her hand on the file.
“I want to be part of this.”
Luca looked at her.
“You don't have to put yourself in danger.”
“I was already part of it. I just didn't know.”
He nodded.
“Then we do it carefully.”
That night, Maya came to the porch and found Luca looking at the medical records.
“Are you working?”
“Something like that.”
“Is it bad?”
“It's complicated.”
Maya climbed onto the step.
“Mom says complicated things get easier when you tell the truth.”
Luca looked at her.
“Your mother is wise.”
“She says that, too.”
He laughed.
Then Maya pointed at the file.
“Is someone making you sick?”
Luca did not want to frighten her. But he had promised Elena that he would be honest when it mattered.
“I think someone hurt me a long time ago.”
Maya's face grew serious.
“Are they still here?”
“I don't know.”
“Then you should find out.”
May you like
He nodded.
“I intend to.”
