Chapter 17
Under Fire
After the closing remarks of the conference, Hector and I left for the airport. Not surprisingly, he was returning on the same flight. It would be hard not to suspect this was intentional, but really, how many afternoon flights from Boston to Kansas City could there be? I let it go. There was no point in bringing it up now, not after our conversation that first night.
Hector never offered any information on the lunch with his wife or if anything came of it, and I’d be damned if I asked him, so I tried to concentrate on work. In the waiting area for our flight, I decided to check my email. I was excited to open the messages waiting in my inbox, ready to dive into work, and grateful for the distraction, but it all changed as I read them one by one.
“What’s wrong?” Hector asked, no doubt seeing the concern plain on my face.
“This can’t be right.” I scrolled to the next email and the next, but they all said the same thing.
“What is it? You’re starting to scare me.”
I placed my phone in my pocket and looked up at him. “They all said no.”
“Who? No to what?”
“My follow-up grant. The doctors at Heartland Metro, who I invited to sign on to the follow-up grant for the trial, all said no. I shared the preliminary data report to hook them in, and I pitched some ideas for what might be included in the proposal.”
“Okay . . .”
“They all said no. Every doctor I invited to participate in the next trial.” I let out a breath that shrank me like a deflated mylar balloon.
“What? All of them?”
I nodded. “Well, the physicians at the hospitals administering the current trial in California, Texas, and New York all said yes. But every doctor I contacted at Heartland Metro said no.”
“How many?”
“Six. I re-invited the four on the trial now, plus two more. I wanted to add a psychological support component to the next trial, so I invited two of our top-rated psychologists as well.”
Hector’s jaw clenched. “Those sons of bitches.”
“What could this be about, Hector? Doctors usually jump at a chance to be included in a project like this. I figured with you involved, it was an easy sell. I’d understand if one, or even two said no—especially if they were over-burdened with other projects. Butall six?Something is off here.”
“Don’t worry. We’ll figure it out when we get back.”
We didn’t have the opportunity to investigate, however, because, on our first day back, I was called into Chief Stuart’s office. When I arrived, Hector was already in one of two chairs in front of the chief’s desk.
“Dr. Ramirez, please take a seat.”
“What is this about?” I asked.
“We’ll get to that,” Chief Stuart said.
“How was the conference?” he asked. “I wanted to go but couldn’t make it work with my schedule.”
He looked between Hector and me, and it wasn’t clear to whom he had directed the question.Shit,I thought. He knew we had been there together. When we didn’t respond, he smiled.
“Hector asked for the time off for the conference several months ago. When you asked, Carolina, I didn’t put two and two together.”
I nodded, and he continued. “We have a problem. I’ve been ignoring the rumors, but it’s getting harder to—”
“Chief,” Hector said, jumping in. “You have my word that the rumors are unfounded. We have done nothing that we would be ashamed of. Our relationship is purely professional.”
Well, it was mostly true.
The chief turned to me, and I winced.