Disclaimer: Dick Wolf, yada yada yada.
Title: Hurricane Katrina
Chap. 11-- Nun of the Above
Characters: Goren, Deakins
Genre: humor/angst
Rating: K+ (this chap.)
Next morning, One P.P.
Katayeva arrived first. She noticed the ME's report in their in-box, so she opened it up.
"Whatcha got?" asked Goren, as he strolled into the bull pen. He handed Katayeva her chai latte and put his own coffee on his desk. Before she could answer, Goren pulled one of the earbuds from his iPod from his ear and placed it in Katayeva's ear. She listened for several seconds.
"Ahhh…Peter, Paul and Mary. 1960's anti-war music," grinned Kat, "Maybe it should make a comeback? Thanks for the latte.…..Hmmmm, the ME's final answer is the nun died of cardiac arrhythmia from the Veletex. It was the only substance in her system capable of causing a cardiac event. We need to prove that Rupenian deliberately misread the prescription with the intent to harm the victim. Otherwise it's just negligence for failing to call the doctor for clarification. He can't be faulted on the reading of the word Veletex for Keflex. It's the dosages that don't match the Veletex."
"Remember the rule of three?" reminded Goren, "Two things are a coincidence, three makes a conspiracy."
"Yeah," responded Katayeva, "One, a patient dies as a result of being give the wrong medication; two, the decedent was the case worker who influenced Mrs. Rupenian to leave an abusive husband; and three, the pharmacy tech who filled the decedent's prescription is the abusive husband whose wife left him."
"The nun was not a regular customer of this pharmacy. She only went there because it was convenient to the dermatologist's office. It is unlikely that Rupenian had any idea that she would walk into his store. It was a crime….of opportunity. The hatred, the anger at the nun was already there. That illegible prescription gave him a chance to channel it."
"All we can do now is pull him in on a material witness warrant."
"It's a start," said Goren.
"How about we chat up his co-workers first?"
Goren nodded, "Maybe he bragged …how he got even with that nun?"
"One can only hope, Goren."
Goren and Katayeva returned to Drugs-R-Us. First they met with the store manager to verify which employee had actually filled Sister Mary Agnes O'Toole's prescriptions. The computerized record indicated that Rupenian had done all three of her medications. The detectives started questioning the four other pharmacy techs. Three had not been on duty when the nun brought in her prescriptions. Anita Rivera, another pharmacy tech, was on duty the same time as Rupenian that day.
"I don't understand this," said Anita Rivera.
"What don't you understand?" asked Katayeva.
"The pharmacy counter clerk was on her lunch break. The nun handed her prescriptions to me. I returned to the pharmacy work area and filled all three prescriptions."
"You read the prescription as Veletex and filled it that way?"
"No. The doctor's handwriting was atrocious. But I recognized that the dosage didn't match with the dosing for Veletex. I filled it as Keflex," Rivera was very emphatic, "Not only did the dosing match Keflex, it is quite common for an antibiotic such as Keflex to be prescribed along with the anti-itch medications to prevent infection from scratching."
"Veletex would never be prescribed with the anti-itch medications?" asked Goren.
"Improbable, but not impossible. The pharmacy is never given any diagnosis, though it can often be inferred from the medications prescribed."
"If you filled it as Keflex, how did Sister Mary Agnes end up with Veletex?" said Katayeva.
"Someone must have changed it, I guess."
"Who would do such a thing?" asked Goren.
"The only other person on duty with pharmacy access that afternoon was Immanuel."
"Thank you, Miss Rivera. We may need to speak with you again," advised Goren.
Goren and Katayeva just looked at each other.
"Isn't that tidy?" said Goren.
"Yeah," sighed Katayeva., "Do you think it's too late in the game to check for prints on the prescription bottles? Or has everyone in the immediate world touched them by now?"
"Do it," shrugged Goren. Katayeva called in the request to run the prints.
A conversation with the store manager revealed that a filled prescription could be re-done or changed at any time prior to the patient picking it up. Once it was scanned at the checkout counter the prescription details were locked into the computer system. Those details included the employee ID number of the tech who filled the prescription.
"Goren, the employee ID numbers are not kept confidential," said Katayeva, "They're included on the weekly schedule that's posted in the stock room. Anyone could theoretically enter anyone else's number."
"What's going on, if anything, between Rupenian and Rivera?" asked Goren.
"Everything is either about sex or money. Or both," replied Katayeva, "Which one do you want to take?"
"Sex or money? Oh…uh…I'd like Rivera. Are you comfortable with Rupenian? He's got a record as an abuser."
"Goren, I survived Afghanistan. I can handle Rupenian."
Ninety minutes later the two detectives compared notes.
"Anita Rivera has a major crush and a major fantasy going about Rupenian," said Goren, "I don't think he reciprocated her feelings."
"Rupenian thinks she's bossy and too skinny. She's asked him out several times, invited him for dinner at her place, and he said he's always refused. He's a Roumanian immigrant. Doesn't take well to pushy American women. We already know he went nuts when his wife liberated herself from him."
"What's that quote?" asked Goren, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
"Gee, Goren, sounds like you've had first hand experience with that," chuckled Katayeva.
"Uh..no….not at all," said Goren, turning pink.
"And you blush like that with the female suspects, no wonder they spill their guts to you. Women find it charming."
"I'll…uh…have to remember that."
"I want to chat up that teeny bopper checkout clerk. That age group lives for gossip and knows everything that goes on or doesn't go on."
Katayeva asked the manager to give the checkout clerk, Tiffany, a break. She bought Tiffany a Snapple and the two of them bonded over a couple of Godiva chocolate bars. Fifteen minutes later Katayeva caught up with Goren at the Starbucks™ on the next block.
"Ya just gotta love teenage girls," grinned Kat. "Tiffany confirms Anita's major crush on Rupenian, and that it hasn't been reciprocated at all. He has zero interest in her. This has been going on for months and in the last few weeks Anita has become angry about it. She just can't believe Rupenian is immune to her charms. And, best of all, there have been several incidences of work errors connected to Rupenian's employee number. Tiffany said that Rupenian is a very conscientious worker. He's worked here nearly eighteen months and never had any errors until recently. Oh, and the delivery boy has a thing going with the stockroom clerk. Tiffany knows all."
"We need to get the store manager to assign Rupenian a new employee ID number," said Goren, "but not tell anyone besides Rupenian and not have it not appear on the scheduling list. The old number should continue to appear on the list."
"So, the only person using Rupenian's old number would be someone trying to assign blame to him. We'll also be needing some fake prescriptions for Anita to screw up using Rupenian's ID number."
Their scheme worked remarkably well. Over the next two weeks Anita Rivera used Rupenian's old ID number to mess up 3 different prescriptions in her spiteful attempt to get him into trouble. She was arrested and confessed when confronted with the evidence of her crimes. A search of her Rivera's apartment revealed a folder filled with information about Rupenian. Apparently Rivera had hired a P.I. to snoop into Rupenian's life. She knew all about the restraining order and the fact that his former wife had been at the women's shelter. The info even included Sister Mary Agnes O'Toole's name. Rivera's fingerprints were on the nun's Veletex bottle. And Rupenian's were not.
The Archbishop was happy. The Chief of D's was happy. And Deakins was very happy.
"I was sure that Rupenian was good for it," said Deakins, "Why did you two think it could be someone else?"
"Everyone else at the drug store said Rupenian was a meticulous worker," said Goren, "Except Rivera. She tried to throw suspicion on him from the get-go."
"And we discovered that Rupenian had rejected Rivera's advances," explained Katayeva, "There are only two causes of crimes, money and sex. Some things never change."
The next morning Goren and Katayeva were up to their ears in paperwork for the Rivera case, when Captain Deakins arrived with someone in tow.
"Detective Katayeva, you've got company."
"Company? Who?...Gabriel! What are you doing here!"
Kat jumped up to wrap her arms around her big brother. He returned the hug, lifting his sister off the floor.
"I had a meeting upstairs with the brass on a securities matter. I asked your Captain if I could stop by to see you."
"Detective Robert Goren, I'd like to introduce my brother, Gabriel. He's a hard ass SEC lawyer. Gabe, Detective Goren is my temp partner."
Goren and Gabriel shook hands, looking very much like two bears meeting up. Two bears who both dressed in Armani.
"So, Goren, my sister hasn't caused you to shoot her or yourself yet?"
"Uh,… not so far."
"Don't worry she will," grinned Gabriel, as his sister smacked his arm.
"She did, umm….. mention something about a boy being suspended in the eighth grade for kissing a girl in the library."
"I'm surprised you told him that story, Kate. Dad grounded you for a month for that stunt, besides getting yourself suspended from school."
"Ahh…you were the girl he kissed in the school library?" grinned Goren.
Katayeva turned pink, even as she considered ways to get even with her brother.
"These accusations are baseless. On advice of counsel, I have no comment. Talk to my lawyer," laughed Katayeva.
"Our parents have always said that having five sons was just the warm up for the arrival of Katherine the Great here," said Gabriel, clearly enjoying tormenting his kid sister, "She tell you about the time she hot-wired Dad's pickup truck so she could drive to Jones Beach to go surfing? How old were you, Kate? 15?"
"No, she didn't mention that," chuckled Goren, "I didn't notice car chick on your resume."
"Gee, Gabe, don't you have to get back to the office or something? Chase down the next Enron or Arthur Andersen?"
"Actually, I'd like to take you out to lunch, if it's OK with your Captain and your partner?"
"These two just wrapped up a case, so she certainly has time for lunch," said Deakins, clearly enjoying the show.
"The paperwork will still be here when you get back," nodded Goren.
As Gabriel said his goodbyes, he reminded Deakins and Goren, "There's a reason they named that hurricane Katrina last year, gentlemen."
As Katayeva and her brother walked away, Deakins and Goren could hear the conversation.
"Gabe, I'm going to tell your wife that your house needs redecorating, that it's out of style."
"Jeez, Kate, you know what happens if you mention the word redecorating to Brianna," pleaded her brother.
"Too late, pal," smirked Katayeva, "Get ready for Martha Stewart on speed."