Brian reached into his jacket pocket.
“What?”
He gave a bitter little smile.
“Of course he didn’t.”
“Knows you?”
Brian reached into his jacket pocket.
My heart started pounding.
It was a page from an old medical record.
“Brian, what are you talking about?”
He pulled out a folded photocopy and placed it on the counter.
“Read that.”
I unfolded it.
It was a page from an old medical record.
Most of it meant nothing to me.
The kitchen suddenly felt too quiet.
Then I saw the signature at the bottom.
Robert’s.
I looked at Brian.
“You were his patient.”
“I was seventeen.”
The kitchen suddenly felt too quiet.
“My parents were three hours away. Things got worse fast.”
“What happened?”
“Electrical injury. Summer job. Bad wiring.”
He swallowed.
“My parents were three hours away. Things got worse fast.”
“Robert treated you?”
“He was the senior surgeon on duty.”
“He was the senior surgeon when they decided they had to amputate.”
I braced myself.
“He was the senior surgeon when they decided they had to amputate.”
I whispered, “Oh my God.”
Brian shook his head.
“No. That’s not why I’m angry.”
“You don’t blame him?”
“The problem is what he did afterward.”
“For saving my life? No.”
His voice sharpened.
“I don’t blame him for that.”
Then he glanced toward the dining room.
“The problem is what he did afterward.”
I looked back at the page.
“That’s when I found this.”
“What am I reading?”
“Years later, I requested my complete file for an insurance issue.”
He gave a humorless laugh.
“That’s when I found this.”
He tapped a section of the photocopy.
“Another doctor missed a result in the first hour I was there.”
“Would that have saved your arms?”
“What kind of result?”
“One that suggested they should have intervened earlier.”
I felt sick.
“Would that have saved your arms?”
“Maybe.”
He held my gaze.
“Then what does Robert have to do with it?”
“Maybe not. Nobody can say for sure.”
“Then what does Robert have to do with it?”
Brian pointed to the handwritten note near the bottom.
“This shows he reviewed the result later.”
I studied the writing.
“So he knew it had been there?”
“I confronted him about it eight years ago.”
“He knew enough to understand what had happened.”
“You know that’s his handwriting?”
“I confronted him about it eight years ago.”
