Page 182 of Bad Blood

“He did it here too.” I slide the chart over the desk into Luca’s waiting hands.

“But he hasn’t had surgery.”

“Not yet.”

“So, why would he be messing with this patient?”

“To mess with me.” I assume and swallow the thought that this could be an over-the-top assessment.

Luca drops his gaze, shakes his head.

“Abbie Barkly. Wrong lab tests. No MRI. Misinterpreted findings. Surgery for a mass that didn’t exist.” I read the conclusion of the next patient on the screen.

Luca closes his eyes.

“Jason Pritchard—no follow-up after abnormal test results. Emergent surgery after Stage IV cancer findings on CT.”

“How did you find these?”

“On this.” I slide the tattered sheet of paper to him. “The similarities continue. Patient after patient after patient. Misdiagnosis, incorrect testing, unnecessary surgery, loss of life.”

“People don’t give you enough credit,” Luca says with a weary smile. He closes the laptop and offers me the two charts.

What the hell?

“What’s that supposed to mean?” My thoughts unravel. Has he known about this? Why doesn’t he care?

“I wondered how long it would take for you to figure it out, especially with everything else going on.” He leans back in his chair, placing his pen in the breast pocket of his shirt.

“You knew he was behind this?”

He leans across his desk, clasping his hands together. “But we had to wait.”

“I have all this proof.” I toss the two files back onto his desk and slide the laptop to him.

“I understand your frustrations.” His brow creases, his sickly pallor changing to a reddish hue when he clenches his jaw. “But I didn’t know about this.” He runs his finger over the names of the doctors on the list.

“I was making sure.”

“This changes things.”

“I’ve talked to the detectives, and I found these.” I spread the four polaroids in front of him.

His jaw drops open. He lifts one and then the next. He closes his eyes, pushing them back toward me. “Where?”

I scoop up the photos of Carrie, Jessie, Tara, and Nell, putting them in order with the first three on top and Nell at the bottom.

He picks up the phone and presses a button, holding up a hand for me to wait. “Bea? Can you call Dr. Matthews, please?”

My heart jumps into my throat. “No, not yet.” I have a clear vision of how things are supposed to go but failed to consider Luca jumping the gun before I’m ready.

“I need this. Can you leave it?” He reaches for my laptop, running his finger across the pad to bring it back to life. He doesn’t offer an explanation, but the look I get tells me it’s detrimental to his plan.

“What about these?” I slide both Blakely charts to him.

“I’ll hold on to them for safekeeping.”

I stand, feeling dismissed, as he continues staring at my screen. A voice in the back of my mind screams that it’s not wise to leave my laptop after the scolding I got from Eugene. And I reach for it, shocked when Luca pulls it out of my reach.

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