What We Find (Sullivan's Crossing, #1)(68)

“If anyone had trouble following that—the time from the very first of five injured arriving in the emergency room until Dr. Sullivan entered the OR suite—ten minutes. If you could break it down, she probably had less than thirty seconds to make a decision. Her notes are written by the attending physician and verbally recorded. I not only looked at the accident reports—police, paramedic, fire and rescue—but the postmortem reports. And I must tell you, the entire scene must have been horrific, and yet the record is not only flawless, it is flawlessly consistent. The only report lacking in this vast collection of documentation is a blood test done on the emergency room and operating room staff to measure drug or alcohol use. It was not done because there was no indication. Fifteen emergency room and operating room employees were deposed and under oath stated that the physicians in question appeared rested, sober and efficient.

“I pored over all of this detailed information and yet the most telling and crucial fact came down to a single number—the time of death. Rory Busch in the operating room and Carl Markiff in radiology for a CT both expired ten minutes after arriving in the emergency room at the exact same time. Well, resuscitation began on both patients at exactly the same time and continued for several minutes. Their injuries and cause of death were nearly identical as well—both died of head injuries that led to massive brain hemorrhage. This fact alone made it physically impossible for Dr. Sullivan to make either choice work, although the testimony of the staff establishes that her decision to take the unconscious lad to surgery first is indeed protocol.

“But let me say this—I believe it needs to be said. For any doctor to enter a melee such as that emergency room, filled with critical teenagers, make a sound decision, move to intervention in the midst of chaos and try to save a patient under such dismal circumstances and against such overpowering odds is nothing short of heroic.

“Because we have access to the many reports and depositions, I don’t feel anything further can be gained by reading or reciting them aloud in this courtroom. I’m dismissing this case with prejudice. I find no case here. Mr. and Mrs. Markiff, my deepest sympathy for your tragic loss. We are adjourned.” His gavel struck and the courtroom began to stir, first with voices, then cries of happiness, cries of devastation from the Markiffs.

“With prejudice?” Maggie asked, though she thought she knew what it meant.

Steve Rubin was looking at her, smiling somewhat sadly as he wiped the tears off her cheeks with his thumb. Maggie didn’t even realize that when the judge started going through the events of that night it took her back and the tears were automatic, rolling down her cheeks. “That means the case is closed forever,” he said. “Of course, in the event of new and previously undisclosed evidence, the plaintiffs can petition the court, but it would have to be stunning and they’d have to find a lawyer willing to do that when the odds of winning are so remote. This is it, Maggie. You’re through here. You did nothing wrong. There was no mistake.”

“Oh God,” she whispered weakly.

“I think some people are waiting for you,” he said.

She looked up to see Rob Hollis leaning over the rail, grinning like a fool. “We’re going to O’Malley’s down the street, Maggie. Terry sent a posse ahead to hold tables. We’re taking you out to celebrate.”

“Jaycee?” she asked, looking around.

“She’ll be there. She just had to call her service first. You coming? Of course you’re coming!”

“Of course, yes,” she said. “Go ahead. I’ll meet you. I’m going to get out of the courthouse parking garage and drive down. And thanks,” she said.

She turned to Steve. “Will you join us?” she asked.

“I’m going to pass,” he said, laughing. “I wish I could, but there’s always work to finish. Not for you, though. Your work here is done.”

She hugged him. “We were lucky, weren’t we?”

“You were in the right all along, but there’s no such thing as a slam dunk in this business. Now go enjoy your friends. And get a good night’s sleep.”

“Thank you, Steve.” She smiled. “Pleasure doing business with you.”

“Hardly anyone is actually pleased when they have to do business with me...”

“Then we have that in common,” she said. She grabbed her purse and briefcase and headed out the door.

She wanted to be alone. She wanted to be away from people. She saw a ladies’-room sign at the end of a long deserted hallway far away from the courtroom, in the opposite direction from where the crowd seemed to be heading. She walked that way and ducked in. There was only one occupied stall so she washed her hands and checked her appearance. A little blotchy, but not bad. The toilet flushed and a uniformed female security officer came out, smiled hello, busied herself at the sink for a moment and departed.

Maggie pulled out her phone. She dialed Cal’s cell phone number and mentally prepared a message. Since he’d been at the crossing he hadn’t carried his phone during the day. He sometimes took it with him when he ran errands and checked it once or at most twice a day. He was free of encumbrances and seemed happy about that.

“Maggie?” he said.

“Cal? You’re there?”

“Right here, baby,” he said.

“Where are you right now?”