Klinger was able to reach the Medical Journal. Hawkeye, who'd gotten on the phone, found out the name and contact information for the doctor. He'd told the secretary at the Medical Journal that he wanted to call the doctor and ask him some additional questions – and that the 4077th MASH had found the article very helpful.
Now, it was time to call the Vermont doctor. Klinger put in a call to Burlington – the doctor was affiliated with the University.
"Dr. Mark Stover?" Hawkeye asked.
"Yes. How can I help you?" came the reply.
"Doctor, I'm an MD at a MASH in Korea. We wanted to ask you about an article you'd written for the New England Journal of Medicine," Hawkeye began, "It was about a procedure done at a MASH, here in Korea."
Doctor Stover answered, "New England Journal of Medicine?"
"That's right," Hawkeye replied.
"I'm the Department Chair for Electrical Engineering here at the University of Vermont," Dr. Stover explained.
"Why would your name be listed as the author of a medical article?" Hawkeye was perplexed.
"Doctor," began Stover, "I can only imagine it's either a mistake – or someone is playing a joke. Actually, the joke angle makes a bit more sense. Is Frank Stribbler still an editor, there?"
Hawkeye thumbed through a recent edition of the magazine and found the name.
"Frank and I went to high school together. Every now and then, he gets an article from someone who would rather use a pseudonym. Privacy issues. If the author doesn't have one of his own, he uses my name," Dr. Stover replied, "Normally, he sends me a post card to let me know."
"Doctor Stover," Hawkeye started, "That goes over at a publication like the New England Journal of Medicine?"
"It's a rarity. The articles don't get altered just because my name's on it. If it were up to me, I'd include some capacitors and vacuum tubes," Stover laughed, "You'd need to call Frank to find out who really wrote the article. I'd imagine that's not easy to do from where you are."
"Well, we don't have a line at a phone booth, here," Hawkeye replied.
"Doctor, thanks for your work in Korea. Good luck with Frank. He'll help you," Dr. Stover ended the call.
Klinger then worked to get a call through to the Medical Journal for the second time. Hawkeye was connected with Frank Stribbler, who explained that the author was a Dr. David Bestwick. The doctor normally wrote articles under his own name – so this was different. Did Hawkeye want Dr. Bestwick's address and phone number? Hawkeye grabbed a pencil and wrote it down. The call was getting weaker, so Hawkeye thanked Stribbler just before the call was disconnected.
"Sorry, Hawkeye. Hard to get more than one call to the states," Klinger said.
"Klinger, you've done great. You've got a future with the phone company after the war," Hawkeye replied.
"Only if they let me make free long distance calls," Klinger replied, "I have a lot of family!"
Hawkeye, BJ and Margaret walked to the mess tent.
"What now, Hawk?" BJ asked.
"I think we need to tell Charles. He may know this Bestwick, and why the whole thing happened," Hawkeye noted.
"He'll be furious that we went behind his back," Margaret stated.
"I think he may be more angry with Dr. Bestwick, who is thousands of miles away," Hawkeye responded.
"Besides," BJ pointed out, "Charles always gets mad at Hawk and me. We're used to it."
The three agreed to tell Winchester, and walked to the Swamp. Charles was in the midst of reading a two week old Boston Globe.
"Charles?" Hawkeye began, "Do you know a Dr. David Bestwick?"
Charles looked right at Hawkeye, "Dr. David Bestwick is a classless shell of a doctor who was in my class at Harvard. He was loud, boring and not that bright. Couldn't stand the man."
"He's the one who wrote that article you were accused of stealing from. "Dr. Stover" is just a pen name," Hawkeye answered.
Winchester stood up and walked up to Hawkeye. They were almost face to face.
"The nerve of you going behind my back. Should never have trusted Klinger," Charles angrily began.
"Charles, we just wanted to help," Margaret firmly replied.
"Help? I don't want or need your help, Major," Charles answered.
"Yes you do. You're simply too proud to admit it," Margaret said.
"Charles, Dr. Bestwick is the problem here, not us," BJ added.
Winchester stepped back from Hawkeye and pondered BJ's statement. His friends had gone out of their way to help him, and he hadn't asked. Klinger had let loose the secret. These people had gotten him the answer he needed. He began to relax.
"Bestwick spends a lot of time at that medical journal," Charles began, "He's been trying to get on their editorial board for years. The cretin saw my article, copied it, and submitted it as his own. Then, he "buried" the REAL article. Of course, when they received my work, they'd see it was a copy. Bestwick, damn him, is the plagiarist here. You wouldn't have his phone number, would you?" He asked.
"Better than that. We've got his address, phone number, and the name of the guy who put Dr. Stover's name on the article," Hawkeye was energetic.
"Well, then," Charles began, "Thank you. I believe I'll ask Klinger to put in a call to Dr. Bestwick. Seems like we need to chat – the bastard."
"That's the spirit, Charles," Margaret smiled.