Suddenly Raj heard loud footsteps against bare concrete. To his horror, he realized that someone was behind him in the stairwell, descending from above. From the proximity of the noise he could tell the person was imminently going to reach and round the landing between the third and fourth floors, at which point Raj and his loitering would be in full view! Raj knew he had two choices if he didn’t want to be seen: either he could run back down the stairs, maybe as far as the basement, or he could exit onto the third floor and take the risk of being seen there.

The footsteps were rapidly descending; Raj had to decide! He was in a panic. He heard the more hollow sound as the approaching individual reached the landing. In an even greater panic, Raj opened the door to the third floor only enough to step through and then used his hip to push it closed. Not realizing he’d been holding his breath, Raj allowed himself to breathe as he glanced up and down the corridor. Behind him, in the stairwell, he could hear the now muffled steps descending toward the third-floor landing. For fear whomever it was might try to exit on the third floor, Raj pushed off the stairwell door and headed for his patient’s room. He’d been forced into action. It had been like standing at the edge of a pool afraid of the water and then being pushed in. Raj did not look back until he’d reached David Lucas’s door. Just ahead, two nurses emerged from the next patient room, in deep conversation about the individual’s care. Luckily, they immediately turned toward the central desk. Had they looked in the opposite direction, they would have locked eyes with Raj a mere ten feet away, and he would have had some serious explaining to do.

Luckily, he was able to slip unseen into the room, but then he stopped just inside the door. He heard hushed conversation. Mr. David Lucas was not alone!

Confused about whether to stay or flee, Raj froze. A second later a wave of relief spread over him. It wasn’t a visitor; it was the TV. With a surge of confidence, Raj walked farther into the room, rounding the outer wall of the bathroom, affording him a view of the strikingly obese patient propped up in the hospital bed. The patient was asleep. A nasogastric tube issued forth from one nostril and was connected to suction. About a half-cup of yellowish, blood-tinged fluid could be seen in the collecting bottle. A cardiac monitor on the wall behind Mr. Lucas played out a regular rhythm. All in all, the entire scene looked identical to how it had looked when Raj had left for the day a little after three that afternoon.