Page 29 of Raymond's Forever

“Holy shit,” Jason said. “He just defamed Amelia.” Jason looked at him in shock and started to scribble furiously.

“I know, but I didn’t want to do anything yet, because just based on that conversation alone, it’s a he said, she said case, nothing that would stand up in court. I’m hoping if Shay gets called in, then Naomi and Clark go with him, you know, concerned boss and property owner, and they can get both audio and video of his misaligning Amelia’s professional character.”

“Yeah, that will stand up in court. What you have now won’t. You’re good for waiting. But that’s not what’s got you in a tizzy. I’m going to be honest here, Raymond. When I found out you were coming to work for Erin, I had my own background check done on you. I know you’re a solid lawyer, so tell me, what has you in this state?”

“What I’m about to show you is from those CDs Amelia found and downloaded to this drive. There are fifteen cases, I know this information was obtained illegally. I know I can’t use it, but I wanted to see what I’m dealing with. Amelia also brought up the point that if these cases get destroyed if we go for a warrant for them, then we have these to work from.”

“They won’t be admissible in court.”

“I know, shit,” he said sadly, scrubbed his face, and brought up what he had been reading before he’d gone for his walk. He went to the beginning of the file, and turned the laptop so Jason could read. “This is only the second file I read so far. Go ahead, read it.”

Jason scowled as he looked between Raymond and the laptop, but shrugged and began to read. Fifteen minutes later, he whipped his head up and glared at Raymond. Neither one of them heard the door open, or the two women that walked in, but they heard his question.

“ARE. YOU. FUCKING. KIDDING. ME!” Jason demanded as he looked between the computer and Raymond.

“What’s wrong?” Ilsa asked, and went to Jason’s side, she read at what he pointed to and actually jerked back like she had been slapped. “Holy shit.”

Amelia stood there in confusion, and went to the other side of Jason to read. She shook her head and sighed. “Figures.”

“What do you mean, figures?” Jason demanded, then gave his entire body a shake. “I’m sorry, I’m not angry at you, but does this shit happen often? He ignored the patient’s medical history, administered a drug the patient was allergic to, operated on the wrong limb, cut the femoral artery, without trying to patch it, causing the patient to bleed out on the table, then has the fucking audacity to tell the family that the patient refused to disclose their allergy. Then if that’s not bad enough, he told the family of the deceased that shit happens?” He whipped his head around and glared at Raymond. “I want, no, I’m going to be your second.”

“Thank god,” Raymond said, and everyone could see his relief.

“What’s that?” Amelia asked with a confused look on her face.

Raymond gave her a relieved smile.

“Think of it like this, when you’re in the operating room, do you have another doctor standing beside you, or across from you, watching everything you do, and helping you if you need it?”

“Yes, it’s standard operating procedure.”

“Okay, now picture the three of us, you, me, and Jason sitting at the table in the court of law. Me, I would be the one trying the case, you, you would be the plaintiff, the one suing Perkins, and Jason, he would be considered the second chair. He would know everything about the case, and if for some reason I can’t make it, or if I’m unsure of any aspect of the case, he can fill in. With him as second from the beginning of the trial, the defendant’s team won’t have to call for a mistrial, or a continuance because he’s filling in for me. He would be part of the team from the get-go.”

“Ah, okay, explained like that, I understand.”

Raymond held out his hand to her, and sighed in relief when she took it and then took the seat beside him, he didn’t talk until Ilsa got them all coffee. He was ready for one now.

“I came here to Jason to get his professional opinion. He’s a federal prosecutor, where I’m just a lawyer.”

“Well, I’m a lawyer too, but I have more clout than Raymond.”

“Does this mean that if you’re the second chair, Perkins and his lawyers might be shaking in their boots?”

“Yes, it could.” Jason sipped his coffee and nodded. “Now, here lies the problem. Yes, these files were obtained illegally, and as of right now, we can’t use them against him. That’s problem number one. But like Morris explained to me, you copied them because you thought if something happened and we needed to get a warrant, and these came up missing, we would have proof. That’s a great idea, and if it comes to that, then we’ll go that route. However, there’s nothing to say that we can’t read this, go over them with a fine-tooth comb, to establish a pattern of neglect, medical malpractice, and even murder.”

“You said there was one problem, which I understand, and I’m assuming there are more problems?”

“Yes, but first if Raymond hasn’t told you this already, I’m going to tell you now. This case, and there is a case here, won’tbe done overnight. It might even take a few years before it’s completed. If these files had been obtained legally, we would be filing now, but we have to wait.”

“I understand.”

“Problem number two, from this point on, you are not to read anything on this flash drive. Have you read these files yet?”

“No, I only saw the words,patient died from complications of surgery, then I put the CD in my laptop, and downloaded the entire CD to that drive. There were fifteen of the CDs. What I read was only on the first one, and it was on page one. I have no clue how many pages each CD had or if each one is a separate case or multiple ones on one recording.”

“Okay, thank you for being honest about that. The reason I don’t want you to know what is on these is so that the jury will be able to see your professional as well as personal facial expressions to what we will reveal to the jury, when you’re testifying.”

“You’re going to want me to testify?”