Chapter Eight

Trapper turned from his coffee maker after hearing paper shuffling at his open door, where Gonzo was studying Leah's EKG readout. Watching him for a moment, Trapper knew by the crease of Gonzo's brow that something troubled him.

"Are those Leah's?"

"Mm hm."

"Well, let's take a look."

Handing the folded paper to Trapper, Gonzo stood next to him and used his pen to point to the area that concerned him. "See that noise there. It's only slight, but…" He took the echo to the light box on Trapper's credenza. "What do you make of that?" he said, pointing to something on the echo.

Taking a deep breath, Trapper crossed an arm and propped his elbow on it, rubbing his chin with his fingers. "It could be nothing."

"Yeah, but it could be a weak spot," said Gonzo. "It's big enough to make noise. Don't you think we ought to go in and look?"

"Ordinarily, I'd say yes. But I think I'd like to hear what Matthews has to say before we discuss it with her."

"Trapper, if that is a weak spot, it could turn into an aneurism. I'm not sure we can afford to wait."

"If she becomes emotionally compromised because she hasn't dealt with the accident, opening her up right now could be too risky. The stress could push her into an aneurism. She needs to be calm when we go in. Why don't we go see how Dr. Matthews is doing, hm?"

Trapper and Gonzo met Dr. Matthews in the hall. "Eric, are you already finished with her?" asked Trapper.

"Yes and no. I wasn't finished. She was. She left."

"What happened?" Trapper asked anxiously.

"Trapper, you know I can't divulge anything that was said."

Trapper moved a hand to his hip and bowed his head before he spoke, holding his hand out for emphasize. "Look, Eric. There's a situation with her heart that could turn deadly. I need to know where her head is."

"She refuses to talk about the accident, and there's nothing I can do to make her talk if she doesn't want to. From what I understand, she had no idea what happened until she came out of surgery with her husband's heart in her chest. And even then she didn't know who the donor was. She wasn't told until days later that her husband and children all died in that crash. And it was even longer before they told her the heart had belonged to her husband. I would imagine she's just not been able to deal with it, so she doesn't. I will tell you that, from what I hear around the hospital, her job might kill her as easily as facing her past."

"So what do you recommend?" asked Trapper. "At some point we'll have to go in."

"Well first, I'd suggest some time off."

Looking at Gonzo, Trapper drew his mouth into a tight line. "That's easier said than done."

"Trapper, I don't care how you manage it, but without some help, that woman's headed for an early grave."

Nodding agreement, Trapper said, "I'll go downstairs and talk to her. She's scared now. Maybe she'll listen to reason. Gonzo, I'll let you know how it goes."

Trapper leaned against the back wall of the elevator with his hands in his pockets, staring at the elevator door. When it opened, Mark Hansen stepped in. "John, how are you?"

Trapper answered with another question. "Mark, have you been in the basement in the last few minutes?"

"I came up about five minutes ago, why?"

"Did you see Leah?"

"Yeah, she was just coming down as I was leaving?"

"How'd she look?"

Mark thought for a moment before he answered. "Come to think of it, she looked like her mind was somewhere else. Is she alright?"

Trapper managed a smile and put a hand on Mark's arm just as the elevator door opened at the basement. "For now," he said as he stepped out of the elevator.

Leah saw Trapper come out of the elevator just as she was leaving her cube. She hurried left, going around the back of the cubes as Trapper walked up the aisle. Peeking around the corner of the last cube, she reached out to touch the up button. Thankfully for her it didn't take the elevator long to arrive, and when the door opened, the bell rang and she stepped inside. Hearing the bell, Trapper turned around and ran down the aisle as Leah feverishly pushed the floor and close buttons.

"Leah, wait!" yelled Trapper, arriving just in time to bang his fist into the closed door. Almost out of breath from running up the stairs, Trapper ran out the front door of the hospital just in time to see her car leave the parking lot. He hurried back in, took the elevator up to his floor, and went to the nurse's station, leaning on the counter while catching his breath. "Ernie, find Leah's home address."

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Just hurry," he said impatiently.

"John," called Mark, running out of the elevator. "I found this note on Leah's desk."

Trapper read aloud, "Mark, I'm taking a few days off. Hold down the fort." Grabbing Marks arm, he said, "Come with me. Ernie, I'll be in my office. Bring me that address as soon as you find it." Trapper went straight to his desk, turned around and leaned back.

"John, what's this all about?" asked Mark with a trouble frown.

Holding his hands up, Trapper said, "Just listen. How well did you know Leah's family…what happened to them."

Mark stood straight and dropped his hands to his sides. "I was at the hospital when they brought them in. John, Jr. and Beth, her children, were already dead; drowned, and John, Sr. was unresponsive. They were working on Leah as they rolled her through the emergency room."

"As I recall, Leah and her husband were thrown out of the car. The children were still in it when they pulled it out of the river."

"That's right."

"So who made the decision to give Leah her husband's heart?"

"There was no family, but John had a living will and a very comprehensive will and trust. Their attorney made the decision based on what was in John's will."

Trapper scratched his beard and walked around his desk, sitting in his chair, and motioning Mark to sit on the sofa. Leaning back and propping his feet on the corner of his desk, Trapper thought for a moment, then asked, "How long was it before she went back to work?"

"That's the spooky part, John. She was back to work in only three months. Admittedly, most of what she was doing at the time she could do from home, but when she came back into the office, she was…well, the way she is now. And she works god-awful hours. I wonder sometimes if she sleeps at all."

"She wasn't this way before?"

Mark laughed. "No, not even close. She was the same toward me, but anyone else…she just wasn't interested in being nice to anyone. She said recently that without family or friends, she couldn't get hurt."

Trapper sat up when Ernie walked through the door. "Trapper, here's her address."

"She has a rooftop apartment near the wharf," offered Mark.

"One last question, Mark," said Trapper as he removed his white coat and pulled on his suit jacket. "Is there any danger of her losing this job if she needs to take some time off?"

"I don't think they'd let her go even if they could. If she's on medical leave she gets disability, and our company is self-insured, so they have some stricter rules about letting people go who are already out. It really wouldn't matter financially. John had some hefty life insurance, and they were already pretty well off. Besides Leah's salary, John was an orthopedic surgeon. He took care of the Rams."

"Thanks for the information, Mark."

"Dr. McIntyre, is something wrong with Leah?"

Smiling, Trapper walked Mark out of his office. "Don't worry. It's not anything we can't take care of."