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“Tyler?” a man, in green scrubs, gasps as we approach the hospital doors.
“No. I’m his twin brother, Trey.” I hold out my hand to shake his.
“My God! I thought I was losing it,” he says shaking my hand and studying my features. “You two really are identical.”
“Right down to the week’s worth of razor stubble,” Mandy adds.
“I just stopped by to see how he is doing. We just got back from her mom’s funeral in Tennessee,” I explain.
“So you are the one I talked to the other day on the phone,” he says, having a sudden realization. “The conference with your mom and Vanessa.”
“It was and you are one of his doctors?” I glance at his nametag, only able to make out the first few letters.
“Yes, I’m Dr. Potaturri. I took over his care on Saturday.” His eyes shift back and forth nervously, so I start paying closer attention to the blond guy standing next to him. I notice that he has retreated a couple of steps since we started talking.
“I’ll catch up with you later on, Doc,” he says before turning to walk away. He was obviously uncomfortable with my increasing scrutiny. I made a note of his spiked hair, blue eyes and the switchblade tattoo on the back of his neck.
“Yes,” he dismisses him with a wave and turns back toward me. “I’ll stop up shortly to check on your brother and give you an update.” He holds out his hand and gestures toward the entrance.
“Is he doing all right?” I ask again.
“He seems to be stable, but we won’t know for sure until we can bring him out of sedation,” he replies in a hushed voice. “You go ahead, I’ll be up in a bit.” He points us toward the elevators on the other side of the waiting room.
“Did you see the looks on their faces when we walked up?” Mandy whispers as soon as the elevator doors close. “I thought the blond guy had crapped his pants.”
“Yeah, I noticed he was slowly backing away while I was talking to the doctor. I wonder why Tyler has a different doctor?” Another weird feeling rises up from within me. “That’s why I was a little confused on the phone call. This guy is doing things completely different than his first doctor.”
“Maybe we should find that first doctor and find out what happened?” Mandy suggests. The elevator dings and the doors open.
“Dr. Novacek, we were just discussing you,” I tell him as he steps into the elevator.
“Are there more concerns?” he asks dryly, glaring at me over the top of his glasses.
“Yes actually. I was wondering why Tyler has a new doctor and why he thinks Tyler needs to remain sedated?” I glare back at him with equal intensity.
“Your family requested the change,” he says in a snide tone. “Weren’t you in on it?”
“No. Mom didn’t seem to know why things had changed either,” I reply befuddled by his explanation. “The only other person is his fiancée, Vanessa.”
“I don’t know the specifics. All I know is that someone from your family requested that Dr. Potaturri be his primary care physician,” he replies with obvious disdain in his tone. “God knows why.”
“Does he have more experience with drug overdoses?” I ask, hoping to unearth a rational explanation.
The elevator dings as we reach our destination, but Dr. Novacek presses a button to momentarily prevent the doors from opening. “I’m on my way to my office. Why don’t you join me?”
Mandy and I exchange nervous looks before following the doctor to his office. He remains completely silent until we are inside and he has closed the door behind us. “Dr. Pot, as I like to call him, undoubtedly has more experience with drug overdoses,” he says, moving behind his desk and taking a seat. “Unfortunately, most of the overdoses are his own patients.”
“I don’t understand.” I sit down in one chair and motion for Mandy to take the other.
“Dr. Potaturri is a pain specialist. He has a private practice in addition to working here at the hospital. From what I hear, he has three Physician Assistants at his clinic who are going through prescription pads like toilet paper.”
“Okay. So why would Vanessa request him as Tyler’s doctor?” I ask, getting even more confused.
“Why did he change the standard protocol?” the doctor asks me. “That’s an even better question.”
I lean forward in my chair. “What if someone tried to kill him instead of it being an overdose? They wouldn’t want him to wake up.”
