Chapter 7 - THE PATIENT WHO RECOGNIZED THE NAME
Three days later, Mara returned to work.
Her supervisor had been informed that Mara was disputing an unauthorized professional endorsement.
The hospital's compliance department began its own review.
Mara was temporarily removed from certain administrative responsibilities while the matter was investigated, but she continued providing patient care under supervision.
She accepted the precautions.
Her patients had to come first.
During an evening shift, Mara cared for a seventy-year-old man named Walter Keene.
He had undergone cardiac surgery and was recovering slowly.
While Mara adjusted his monitoring equipment, he noticed the name on her badge.
“Ellison.”
Mara looked up.
“Yes?”
Walter studied her.
“Are you related to Dr. Samuel Ellison?”
Mara froze.
“My father.”
Walter's expression changed.
“I knew him.”
Mara's father had died when she was nineteen.
He had been a physician who lost his hospital privileges after raising concerns about questionable billing practices.
The scandal destroyed his career.
He died two years later.
Mara had spent much of her adult life trying not to think about it.
“How did you know him?” she asked.
Walter hesitated.
“I worked in hospital administration.”
Mara felt her pulse quicken.
“Where?”
Walter named a facility that had since been acquired by one of Harborlight's investment partners.
Then he said something Mara would never forget.
“Your father wasn't wrong.”
She stared.
“What?”
Walter looked toward the door.
“He found something. Something people paid a great deal of money to keep quiet.”
Mara's hands went cold.
“What did he find?”
May you like
Walter swallowed.
“Ask Julian Vale what happened to the original audit.”
