The Woman in the Rain

Part 2: The Doctor Who Never Forgot

At 8:15 the following morning, Elias Baron received a file on his hospital bed.

The name on the first page made his fingers tighten.

Claire Bennett.

Thirty-two years old. Former attending physician at St. Vincent Medical Center. Specialization: Emergency Medicine and Critical Care.

He turned the page.

Then another.

And suddenly, the room seemed much colder.

Eighteen months earlier, Claire Bennett had been the physician responsible for overseeing his emergency treatment after the accident.

She had recommended an immediate neurological intervention.

But the final medical report stated that the procedure carried an unacceptable risk.

The recommendation had been withdrawn.

Elias stared at the signature at the bottom of the document.

Claire Bennett.

“Michael.”

His physician entered.

“Yes?”

“Why did this doctor leave the hospital?”

Dr. Reeves hesitated.

“An internal investigation. There were allegations that she had violated hospital protocol and falsified part of a medical report.”

“Did she?”

“I don’t know. The case was closed before I joined the hospital.”

Elias looked at the photograph attached to her personnel file.

It was the same woman who had knelt beside him in the rain.

“Find out everything.”

An hour later, his assistant, Thomas, arrived with another envelope.

“Mr. Baron, there’s something else.”

“What?”

“Miss Bennett was dismissed three days after your final surgery. She appealed the decision, but the hospital rejected it.”

“Why?”

Thomas lowered his voice.

“Apparently, she accused someone on the medical board of deliberately altering your treatment records.”

Elias went completely still.

“Who?”

Thomas placed a second document on the bed.

Dr. Richard Coleman.

Elias recognized the name immediately.

Coleman had been the senior consultant overseeing his rehabilitation.

He had also been a close business associate of Elias’s late father.

“Bring me every medical record from that period,” Elias ordered.

“Immediately.”

Before Thomas could leave, another name appeared on Elias’s phone.

Margot Ashford.

He answered.

“Elias, darling.”

Her voice sounded sweet again.

“I heard you were hospitalized. Why didn’t you tell me?”

Elias looked at the cemetery photograph on his bedside table.

“You already knew.”

“I was upset last night. You have to understand how difficult this has been for me.”

“Difficult?”

“Watching you struggle every day. I have needs too, Elias.”

He closed his eyes.

There it was.

Not concern.

Not love.

An explanation for abandoning him.

“I think we should stop pretending, Margot.”

Silence.

“What does that mean?”

“The engagement is over.”

“You can’t be serious!”

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“I’ve never been more serious.”

“Elias, don’t make a mistake you’ll regret. You need someone beside you. Someone who understands your condition.”

He gave a quiet laugh.

“That’s exactly what I thought I had.”

He ended the call.

For the first time in eighteen months, he felt strangely free.

Three days later, Elias was discharged.

His driver brought him to his penthouse overlooking the Philadelphia skyline.

But instead of resting, he asked Thomas to take him somewhere.

“Where, sir?”

“St. Vincent Medical Center.”

“Are you sure you’re ready?”

“No.”

Elias adjusted the blanket over his legs.

“But I need answers.”

Claire was no longer working there.

After making several inquiries, Thomas finally found her current address.

A modest apartment above a small neighborhood pharmacy.

When Elias arrived, he found Claire carrying two bags of groceries up the stairs.

She stopped when she saw him.

“Mr. Baron?”

“Hello, Doctor Bennett.”

Her expression immediately hardened.

“I don’t work at the hospital anymore.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you here?”

“I want to talk about my accident.”

Claire put the grocery bags down.

For several seconds, neither spoke.

Finally, she said, “You shouldn’t have come.”

“Why?”

“Because some people are very good at making sure the truth stays buried.”

Elias leaned forward slightly.

“Were you telling the truth when you recommended surgery?”

Claire’s eyes filled with something he couldn’t identify.

“I was.”

“Then why was the procedure canceled?”

She looked toward the street.

“Because someone changed the risk assessment. Someone with enough authority to make my recommendation disappear.”

“Who?”

Claire shook her head.

“I don’t have proof.”

“Tell me what happened.”

She studied him for a long moment.

Then she spoke.

“Your spinal cord wasn’t completely damaged, Mr. Baron. There was significant compression, but your condition wasn’t necessarily permanent. I recommended a procedure that could have given you a chance to regain movement.”

Elias felt his throat tighten.

“A chance?”

“Yes. Not a guarantee. But a chance.”

“And the report?”

“Dr. Coleman replaced my assessment. He told the board the procedure would probably kill you.”

Elias gripped the armrests of his wheelchair.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

Claire picked up her grocery bags.

“But I do know that my career ended because I refused to sign the revised report.”

Elias looked at her.

“You could have told me.”

“I tried.”

He frowned.

“What?”

“I sent three letters to your rehabilitation center. I called your legal office twice. Every time, I was told you didn’t want to hear from me.”

Elias’s face changed.

He had never received those letters.

Not one.

“Who handled my correspondence?”

“Your personal assistant at the time. A man named Jonathan Pierce.”

Elias slowly looked at Thomas.

Thomas immediately recognized the name.

“Mr. Baron, Jonathan left the company six months ago.”

Elias turned back to Claire.

“Why did you save me in the cemetery?”

She looked down at his wheelchair.

“Because I became a doctor to save people. Not to punish them for what happened to them.”

Then she opened the building door.

“Goodbye, Mr. Baron.”

Elias didn’t stop her.

But before she disappeared upstairs, he said something that made her pause.

“Claire, if there is even a small chance I can walk again, I want to know.”

She turned around.

“Then you’ll need someone willing to tell you the truth, even when it hurts.”

“I think I’ve found that person.”

For the first time, Claire almost smiled.

Almost.