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“Yes,” Lori said. “He had enjoyed his dinner with you, as I remember. He mentioned that he stayed a bit late.”
“We got to talking, and the time flew by.”
Lori smiled. “Yes, I imagine so.”
For the rest of the meal, they talked about cheerier topics. But the next day, she was still stewing about her father’s death.
Lori was trying to piece it all together. Her father had taken ill, so he had stayed home. He hadn’t come into the clinic after that. Every day, he had called to touch base with Lori. She struggled to recall how he had sounded.
There hadn’t been any forewarning that the illness was more serious. And maybe it hadn’t been. Lori still didn’t know what had precipitated the respiratory failure. She was driving herself crazy over it.
If only Lori could reconcile things in her mind, but she couldn’t. Each day, she did more research. And she organized the records that she’d been going through. The supply orders were inaccurate, and she needed to talk to Matt, a task that she had put off for too long.
Then Lori discovered an odd item on the order sheet, so she went to see Sarah. The nurse helped her look for it, but the item wasn’t in the supply room. It couldn’t be found anywhere. That was disturbing.
“Why would someone order Prussian blue?” Sarah said.
“I have no idea,” Lori said. “It’s an antidote for thallium poisoning.”
“I don’t know much about that type of poisoning,” Sarah said.
“Thallium is used in fiber optics and glass lenses,” Lori said. “Many years ago, it was used in rat poisons and insecticides, but once its toxic properties were discovered, those products were banned. It’s no longer available except for industrial uses.”
“I don’t understand why the antidote was ordered.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Lori said. “I’ll go talk to Matt.”
Matt was in his office and was not pleased to see her. “I’m busy. You could knock.”
Lori sat across from him. “This is important. I’ve been meaning to go over something with you, and it can’t wait.”
As Lori went over the discrepancies in the supply orders, Matt’s expression turned dark. She shoved a few documents across the desk so he could see for himself. The evidence was there, and Matt should have been concerned—yet he just glared at her.
“Are you accusing me of something?” Matt said.
“I’m not accusing; I’m asking. How do you explain this?”
“I don’t explain it,” Matt said. “You know very well that I’m not the only employee who handles the orders.”
“I realize that, but you are in charge of operations,” Lori said, hoping he would take his management role seriously.
“When was the last time you did an audit of the supply orders?” Lori said. “Were you aware of the situation?”
“I didn’t know about it until you plunked all these records on my desk,” Matt said. “And besides, what’s the big deal?”
Lori was furious. “You have the nerve to ask that? You run a medical establishment here.” She snatched the documents from the desk and stood up. “And one more thing, Prussian blue was ordered, but I’m unable to find it. Do you know how it was dispensed?”
“I didn’t order it,” Matt said. “Why would I? Maybe it was just an error. I’m sure you didn’t think of that. You’re so quick to point the finger, but there’s always the chance that you can’t find it because it wasn’t ordered.”
“You’re saying it’s a mistake?” Lori said. “That the order record is in error?”
“I’m not saying anything. I told you that I didn’t order it, but you need to consider the possibility that the records are inaccurate.”
Lori walked toward the door.
“The staff around here aren’t a bunch of criminals,” Matt said. “But that doesn’t mean that a mistake couldn’t have been made.”
*****
