Edge of Mercy (A Kate Reid Novel Book 11), Robin Mahle [freenovel24 .txt] 📗

my perspective. Scarborough’s been nothing but professional. I didn’t expect and haven’t seen anything to the contrary. We have a good team in place.”

“What about Quinn’s replacement? Have you put together your wish list?”

“I have a couple of names in mind, although I haven’t spoken to the entire team about them, mostly just Reid. Not even the prospective candidates themselves.”

“And she’s handling the transition well?” Cole added. “She’s been under Scarborough’s wing for some time. I’m not sure how she’ll do now that she’s out of his shadow.”

Fisher smiled. “I’m not sure she’s out, not completely, anyway. But I have no doubt Reid will pick up the ball and run with it. I think this is the opportunity she needed, frankly. Quinn wasn’t the right mentor for her and the relationship with Scarborough only complicated matters. No. Reid will be just fine and she’s open to whoever the candidate is.”

Cole sat up in his chair. “Keep me informed on the progress of your investigation.”

“I will.” Fisher stood and headed toward the door but stopped. “There is one other thing.” He turned back. “What I just said about Scarborough and Reid. About it having complicated matters.”

“Yes?” Cole pressed on.

“I think that could happen between Duncan and me. I don’t want it to.”

Cole nodded. “I am aware of your relationship and you might be right, Cam. Look, I understand the demands of this job better than you might know. The toll it takes on any relationship is great. Let alone on a relationship with a member of the team.” He sighed. “The closeness that can grow out of this way of life is almost inevitable. But if there was to be another situation like the one between Scarborough and Reid, I’m not sure the team could repair itself. Do you understand?”

“You aren’t sure I can be an effective leader as a result of my relationship with Duncan.”

“After the hoops I just had to jump through to keep Scarborough here and Reid off the chopping block? I don’t want to go through that again. I won’t sit back and watch my agents implode. What I’m saying is, this is all still fresh, and you’ll forgive me if I’m gun-shy on the matter. All I ask is that you take my words under advisement.”

Fisher nodded. “I will. Thanks, Chief.”

Our Lady of Mercy Hospital was just ahead. Walsh pulled into the visitor parking lot and cut the engine. “The school insists all records were transmitted here. All we can do now is talk to these guys and get their take on Bishop.”

“We don’t have a warrant to request Bishop’s records here,” Kate added. “I wasn’t sure we’d get this far. But now that we have, how do we go about this?”

“We can ask questions about Bishop. They can choose to answer them or not. But yeah, we won’t get his personnel records.” Walsh unlatched his seatbelt. “Then again, we may not need them.”

Kate opened the door and they walked to the hospital entrance. She was ready to haul in Theodore Bishop for the murder of at least five people. The profile on this guy was almost textbook. Angel of Death. God complex. Whatever anyone wanted to call it. Theodore Bishop killed those people because he wielded the power. Kate didn’t like to come to such a certain conclusion without so much as having spoken to the suspect. In this instance, she was positive about who Bishop was. She just needed the proof to back it up.

Almost from the moment Walsh said the name, Theodore Bishop, the nurses and doctors who worked with him wore fear on their faces. But fear of what? Bishop himself or had they feared they were complicit in his actions similar to what Kate believed had happened at the medical school?

“And you were partners with Bishop during your second year of residency?” Walsh asked the man.

“I was. We weren’t friends, not by a long shot. Bishop tried to undermine me every chance he got. He wanted the fellowship, which wasn’t even an option until third year. I don’t know. He had a hero complex or something. Like he had to be the guy who got it right every time. That’s not the way this works, you know?” The doctor dropped his cigarette into the ashtray around the back of the hospital.

“He was ultra-competitive. Is that what you’re saying?” Kate pressed on.

“Oh, it was more than that. Look, I heard some shit about him. Didn’t pay much attention until this one time when we were working on a case together. Easy. Some college kid came in with appendicitis. Simple stuff, right? Well, I’ll tell you, the kid ended up with almost complete organ failure within two days of his surgery. Bishop insisted it was an infection from the op.” He swatted away the notion. “That was bullshit right there. No, man. It wasn’t an infection. It was Bishop.”

“Are you saying you believed Dr. Bishop did something to the patient?” Kate asked.

“Hell, yeah. Not that anyone believed me. Oh, I took it to the top. They were all like, ‘we’ll look into it.’ And ‘that’s a serious allegation.’ Well, no shit it’s serious. I mean, really?”

“No one did anything with it?” Walsh added.

“Nope. Not a damn thing.”

“Why do you think that was?” Walsh continued.

“Lawsuits. Plain and simple. The hospital pays a shit ton of money for medical malpractice. No one wanted to face that.”

“So what did the patient do?” Kate asked. “Did he sue the hospital?”

“I have no idea. I was told it wasn’t mine to deal with and I should keep my nose out of it, so I did.”

“Interesting.” Kate looked to Walsh and back to the doctor. “Thank you for your time.” She handed him a card. “If you think of anything else, or maybe if you’d be good enough to make a statement when the time comes…”

“Look, Agent Reid, I’m an attending now. I, uh, I’m not sure…”

“Don’t worry about it.” Walsh placed his hand on Kate’s shoulder.