Chapter 7 - Carlo's Crash
Adrian did not speak for almost an hour.
Finally he said, "My father called me the night he died."
"What did he say?"
"Nothing important. That's what I told myself. He asked if I'd eaten. Asked if I was still planning to leave Boston. Then he said, 'Don't let the family choose what kind of man you become.'"
Celeste looked out the window.
"That sounds important."
"Now it does."
The crash report said Carlo lost control on wet pavement.
Marco requested the archived evidence.
It was missing.
Adrian laughed once.
"Of course it is."
Back in Georgetown, Dr. Rice called with the lab results from Mom's infusion package.
The product was not counterfeit.
But it had been supplied through a contract that bypassed the hospital's normal oncology review.
The medication itself was approved.
The problem was the protocol switch and inadequate monitoring.
"So nobody tried to poison her," I said.
"Not based on what we have," Dr. Rice answered.
Then she added, "But someone pushed a high-risk substitution through a hospital where they knew your mother was being treated."
Adrian asked, "Can you prove intent?"
"No."
Again, the honest answer.
But the procurement override had been approved by a hospital foundation representative.
Name: Mara Quinn.
One of the five women.
I stared at Adrian.
"You said her father was a prosecutor."
"He was. Mara runs the Quinn Health Foundation now."
Celeste stood.
"You need to talk to her before Salvatore does."
Adrian called.
Mara answered immediately.
"I was wondering when you'd find my name."
His face hardened.
"Explain it."
"Not on the phone."
"Where?"
She named a church in Arlington.
May you like
Then added:
"Come without Salvatore's men. And Adrian? Bring the waitress.
