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The trio of men led the way into the lobby, where Caroline was already waiting to greet us. Her face flickered from Rees to the men with him, then finally settled on me.
Her complexion paled. She was not pleased to see me again. For some reason, that felt fantastic.
“Mr. Court,” Caroline said, shaking Rees’s hand.
“Caroline,” he said. “These are my lawyers, Mr. Hammond and Mr. Druthers.”
“Hello,” Caroline said, shaking their hands next. Neither man spoke. They looked more like mafia goons than lawyers. She didn’t approach me, and I wasn’t about to touch her slimy palm.
“You know Lori and Piers,” Rees said. “Come on, let’s go get this over with. I have another meeting in an hour.”
Caroline stuttered something then awkwardly led the way across the lobby and down a short hall. A suite of conference rooms lined one side, and she took the group into the largest. A woman in a light gray pant suit stood, a clutch of papers under her right arm. She wore black glasses, her dirty-blonde hair pulled back in a sleek, professional bun.
“This is the hospital’s lawyer, Trisha Lumber,” Caroline said, taking a seat beside the woman.
“Hello, Ms. Lumber,” Rees said, and went around making introductions. When everyone was sitting and settled, a silence dropped down like a curtain, and I leaned back in my chair to study Caroline’s face.
I should’ve hated her. And I did, except now that I was faced with her, across the table and in possession of documents and proof that would ruin her, I began to feel almost bad.
Her job wasn’t easy. In a city like Philadelphia, in a hospital of Westview’s size, there were always competing interests pulling you in all directions. The hospital administrator must’ve felt it worse than most, and it likely drove her crazy, trying to balance all those competing interests.
Still didn’t excuse her for trying to destroy my career, but still.
“We don’t need to spend too much time discussing this,” Mr. Hammond said, the taller of the two lawyers, with thinning hair and a trim, dark beard. “Evidence has come to light that Ms. Pincher has falsified documentation relating to Dr. Hood’s suspension.”
The hospital’s lawyer frowned a bit, glanced at Caroline, then held out a hand. “I’d love a copy of that, if you can provide it.”
“Of course.” Mr. Hammond passed over a folder. Caroline glanced down at it, but showed nothing. If she was worried, she was doing a great job of hiding it.
“I’m not sure what I’m looking at here,” Ms. Lumber said.
“Let me explain,” I said, interrupting Mr. Hammond. He glanced at me, clearly annoyed, but I barreled forward. Rees didn’t seem to give a shit either way—he had his face buried in his phone, reading and texting. “The hospital alleges that I made some negative comments in my notes about Mr. Tippett. I dispute those claims. We have proof that those comments were falsified—which would negate the absurd lawsuit against me for malpractice.”
Caroline laughed lightly. “This is a little much, even for you,” she said. “Do you really think I’d go to these lengths to try to screw you over, Piers? I could just fire you, you know.”
“No, you couldn’t,” I said. “I’m too valuable.”
She rolled her eyes. The hospital’s lawyer continued to page through the papers, her frown deepening, then looked up. “There’s a reference to a recording,” she said. “Is that available?”
“Of course,” Mr. Hammond said.
Caroline seemed to freeze. Her sneer slowly melted away. “What recording?” she asked.
“You didn’t know?” I said, unable to stop the smug grin from spreading across my face. Even Lori looked a little gleeful. “Gina admitted everything.”
“That’s crazy,” Caroline said. “There’s nothing to admit.” But she looked around the room, her eyes getting wild.
Mr. Hammond produced a tablet from his briefcase, opened up a file, and hit play.
The recording was superb. Theodore really was good at his job. The conversation was straightforward: Gina answered all his questions as if they were at a job interview, and it was a matter of course that she would tell the truth. She admitted everything, all the fraud, all the lies. Caroline’s face turned pale, then green, and I thought she might be sick all over the table.
When the recording finished, she looked at me. “What do you want?” she asked.
“I want to be reinstated,” I said. “I want you to resign. I want the hospital to take on my case against the Tippett family, and I want them to win it. And I want a big, fat cash settlement, half of which will go to Lori.”
Caroline let out a strange, choking sound. Everyone in the room stared at me like I’d gone insane, especially Lori.
“What are you talking about?” Lori asked. “Half to me?”
“Call it emotional damages,” I said.
“Piers, that’s insane.” Her mouth hung open. “You can’t be serious.”
