Page 20 of So Wicked

Faith’s heart went out to the grieving vet. The first difficulty most people experienced when confronted with the death of a loved one was trouble wrapping their heads around the fact that someone could be smiling, laughing and talking with them one moment, and then seemingly the next moment, they were dead. Emma had probably only just been notified of Lisa’s death.

“Really wish we didn’t have to be the bearers of bad news,” Slade said.

Emma sniffled. “Not your fault.” She took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. “So, I assume you need to ask meabout the last time I saw her, if I saw anyone suspicious and stuff like that?”

“Sure. We’ll start with that.”

She chuckled bitterly. “Well, the last time I saw her was yesterday at the clinic. We didn’t really say much, just a quick greeting over coffee. I had a lot of patients, and she was scheduled for a surgery that ended up taking hours longer than it should have.”

“Why’s that?” Faith asked.

“There was an incident with the patient. The patient coughed during surgery, and the spasm caused Lisa’s scalpel to come into contact with a major blood vessel. I don’t know all of the details. I was actually going to talk to her about it today, but she never came.” She fought tears for another moment, then said, “Idoknow that the patient survived, and they expect no further complications.”

“I’m glad to hear that,” Faith said.

“Yeah,” Emma replied. “Me too.”

“Did Lisa seem different at all to you?” Slade asked. “Any recent changes in mood or behavior?”

“Um…” Emma sighed. “She was a little more stressed lately.”

Faith raised an eyebrow. “How so?”

“Well… that incident with the patient wasn’t the first time that…” She caught herself and said, “You know, I don’t think I should say anything. I don’t want her or anyone else here to get in trouble.”

“No one here is going to get in trouble with us unless we have reason to believe they were involved in Dr. Patel’s murder,” Slade assured her. “But we need to know the answers to our questions. They’re critical in helping us find the person who did this to Lisa and bringing them to justice. That means you might have to say some things about your colleague that you’d rather not say.”

Emma took a deep breath. “I understand. I hate it, but I understand.”

“I don’t blame you for hating it,” Faith said. “You were about to tell us that the incident with the surgery last night wasn’t the first time there’s been a mistake during one of Lisa’s surgeries?”

“Last night wasn’t a mistake,” Emma insisted. “The patient coughed at the exact wrong time. There was no way to avoid what happened, and frankly, a lesser doctor would have been unable to save the patient’s life the way Emma did.”

“But the other times?” Faith pressed.

Emma sighed. “Just one other time. There was a patient a few months ago, a therapy dog. He was in surgery to have a cyst removed from his gallbladder, and he died during the operation.”

“And it was Dr. Patel’s mistake that caused that to happen?”

Emma looked at the door and bit her lip. “If… Can I say something and not have it repeated in court?”

“I can’t make that promise,” Faith replied.

“But,” Slade interjected, “I will remind you that we’re here to solve Lisa’s murder, not rake her memory over the coals for her mistakes as a surgeon.”

Emma looked down at her desk. “Officially, the death was ruled an accident. Unofficially… Lisa told me that she wasn’t paying attention and accidentally sliced open the patient’s liver. I wasn’t in the room, so I can’t tell if it was her fault for sure or if it was only the guilt talking, but as far as she was concerned, shewasresponsible for the patient’s death.”

“How did the owner feel?” Faith asked.

“Very much the same way.”

Faith didn’t show her excitement, but she felt it.Now we’re getting somewhere.“What’s the owner’s name?”

“Jack Thompson. He’s an Iraq war veteran who was prescribed a therapy dog to help with his PTSD. That’s what hetold us, at least. We don’t have access to his medical records obviously.”

“How did he react when he learned his dog died?” Slade asked.

“Badly. Security had to escort him out of the building. The next morning, he came back and became belligerent and aggressive. When security tried to remove him again, he became violent. They were able to subdue him and hold him until the police arrived. We trespassed him from the property, but he came back again, and when he was arrested again, he shouted… I don’t remember the exact words, but he threatened to kill Lisa.”

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