Chapter 10: What Was in the Box

Kip's POV

The hospital counsel offered me my job back on Monday, in a conference room with a view of the parking garage.

He had a trustee beside him, a silver-haired man who did not give his name.

He didn't need to, since the Whitbread name was on the building.

"It's very simple, Dr. Neville," the lawyer said. "One sentence."

He slid a page across the table.

I read it.

It said that I had not observed Mrs. Hazard decline emergency transport on the night of the gala.

It also said that I had no knowledge of the circumstances of her delay.

"Both of those are true," I said. "I didn't see her decline anything."

"Then there's no difficulty."

"The second one isn't. I was kneeling next to her. I know the circumstances very well."

The lawyer's pleasant face didn't change.

"If you sign, the inquiry into your conduct with Mrs. Hazard goes away. Thursday's hearing is cancelled."

"And?"

"You keep your title, and the trauma chief position is yours in January."

"And if I don't?"

"Then Thursday happens."

I looked at the trustee.

He had the face of a man who had never been told no in a room he'd paid for.

"I'd think very carefully," he said.

I put the page back in the middle of the table, squared it with the edge, and stood up.

"I've done my thinking," I said. "I did it on a marble floor."

I drove home with the radio off.

My house was quiet. It usually is.

I stood in the hall and realized I was listening for Hallie anyway.