Morgan nodded. He did know. The hospital ran 24/7/365. If doctors took a weekend off, they were likely to come back to a lot of paperwork that needed to be sorted through.

I had a full slate of patients to see that day so I wanted to move my way through all of that as quickly as I could. Clark sat down at the huge central island and rubbed his hand over his face. Most of the time, its pretty straightforward. On that particular day, though . . . His words trailed off.

Please, Dr. Clark, Danielle said.

Right. Youre in a hurry. Although I cant see why. All of this happened months ago and its not like theres anything to be done to change it. The lawsuit was dismissed, too. I never even had to come into court, Clark said. Anyway, that morning I picked up a patients file, saw the billing code that indicated a very specific diagnosis, a very bad, very specific diagnosis. I called the patient to give her the bad news. I scheduled an appointment with her for the next day so we could talk more about her options. We hung up.

Did she come in for the appointment? Morgan asked.

Clark shook his head. No. She did not. Because she was already dead. Shed killed herself. It wasnt until several days later that I went back through her file and realized that it had been the wrong billing code. She didnt have pancreatic cancer. She had gall bladder disease. Unpleasant enough, but not fatal. By then it was too late.

What was the reaction from her family? Danielle asked.

Not good, as you can imagine. The son tried to sue us, but you know how these cases are. There are standards that have to be met and while I felt terrible about what happened, my lawyers and the hospital lawyers were very clear that this did not rise to that level. They were surprised the son was able to get anyone to take his case on. It didnt go far, though. The first judge dismissed it out of hand.

That fit with what Morgan had found out. Did the son try anything else? Did he threaten you physically?

Clarks eyes opened. I think things got heated at the actual hearing, but like I said, I wasnt there. If he threatened me specifically, I dont know about it. He might have posted some fairly nasty reviews on some of those rate-your-doctor sites.

Did you try to get him to stop? Danielle asked.

Clark shook his head. No. I felt terrible about the role Id played even if it didnt meet the malpractice standards. He had a right to be angry.

Have you received any other threats recently? Seen anything out of the ordinary? Felt like you were being watched? Danielle asked.

Clark shook his head again. No. Why? Realization dawned on his face. Does this have to do with those three young women who were killed?