Chapter 6 - The Frozen Prescription
Emily drove back to the hospital with Vanessa beside her.
Vanessa had refused to remain in the apartment after Daniel left. She carried the tablet, the empty medication envelope and printed copies of the payment confirmation.
Neither woman spoke until they reached the hospital garage.
Then Vanessa said, “I didn’t know Lily would be placed in danger.”
Emily turned off the engine.
“You saw her name on the package.”
“I thought Daniel had arranged some kind of replacement.”
“You accepted ninety-six thousand dollars.”
“I owed people money.”
“So you let yourself believe him.”
Vanessa looked down.
“Yes.”
The honesty did not make Emily forgive her.
But it was more than Daniel had offered.
Inside the pediatric wing, Lily had been moved to the ICU. Nurses rushed through the glass doors while Dr. Bennett argued with an insurance supervisor on the phone.
“The prescription was falsely closed,” he said. “The patient has not received the complete course.”
He listened, then replied, “I understand your policy. I am telling you that your policy is based on fraudulent data.”
Emily approached.
“Can the hospital use its own supply?”
“We’re trying,” he said. “But this treatment is controlled through a limited distribution system. Another hospital has one emergency dose. A courier is already bringing it.”
“How long?”
“Forty-five minutes.”
The monitor alarm changed tone.
Emily looked through the glass.
“Does she have forty-five minutes?”
Dr. Bennett did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
Vanessa handed him the tablet.
“This shows where the first dose went.”
He reviewed the payment.
“Meridian Patient Relief,” he said.
“Do you recognize it?” Emily asked.
“I’ve seen the name in reimbursement disputes.”
“Is it a medical company?”
“On paper.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means it submits claims. I don’t know whether it treats patients.”
Nurse Rachel hurried toward them carrying the pharmacy record.
“The two remaining doses were transferred electronically at 2:12 a.m. The inventory containers physically left the hospital at 2:29.”
“Who collected them?” Dr. Bennett asked.
“The camera outside the loading entrance was disabled.”
“Disabled by whom?”
“Maintenance says they received a shutdown order from hospital administration.”
Emily looked toward Daniel, who had just entered the corridor.
A uniformed police officer walked beside him.
Daniel raised his phone.
“You dragged the police into a family disagreement?”
Emily entered Lily’s room and answered his call through the glass.
The conversation unfolded exactly as she would remember it later.
She demanded to know where the medication was.
Daniel claimed he had given it to Vanessa.
He said Vanessa mattered more.
Dr. Bennett took the phone.
The officer stepped closer.
Emily activated the recording.
Then Rachel arrived with the full transfer history.
“Vanessa never received those two doses,” Rachel announced. “They were transferred to an external reimbursement account.”
“Whose account?” Dr. Bennett asked.
Rachel looked at Emily.
“Emily Carter’s.”
Daniel’s face turned pale.
The police officer told him to step away from the doors.
Daniel recovered quickly.
“There,” he said, pointing through the glass. “You have your answer. Emily transferred them.”
“She was here,” Dr. Bennett replied.
“She could have scheduled the transfer earlier.”
Emily held up Vanessa’s tablet.
“And you could have created the account using the personal information you managed.”
Daniel looked at his sister.
Vanessa did not lower her eyes.
The officer extended his hand.
“Mr. Carter, give me your phone.”
“Do you have a warrant?”
“At this moment, I’m asking for voluntary cooperation.”
“Then my answer is no.”
The nurse entered with the emergency replacement dose.
As the medication began flowing through Lily’s IV line, the alarm softened.
Emily bent over her daughter and whispered, “You’re not alone.”
Behind her, Daniel spoke to the officer.
“I am leaving.”
“You may leave the corridor,” the officer said, “but hospital security has been instructed not to allow you access to the pharmacy, medication rooms or your daughter’s medical files.”
Daniel stared through the glass.
“This is my daughter.”
Emily turned toward him.
“Then you should have acted like her father.”
The officer escorted him toward the elevator.
Before the doors closed, Daniel looked at Emily and tapped his phone twice.
Her own phone vibrated.
A message appeared.
Ask Bennett why he approved the account.
Emily looked toward the doctor.
He was standing beside Lily’s bed, studying the monitor.
On his wrist was a silver watch engraved with the initials SCF.
May you like
St. Catherine Foundation.
The same foundation listed as the verification authority on the fraudulent transfer.
