Chapter 4

I held up my phone, angling the screen toward the cameras.

"At 7:32 p.m. on September 17, I requested that my EHR e-signature credentials be disabled. Here's the IT service ticket."

Someone moved their phone closer for a better look.

"What does 'disabled' mean?"

I replied, "It means that after 7:32, any e-signature made using my credentials couldn't have been mine."

Grant responded immediately.

"Your e-signature is only one piece of the puzzle. You could've given verbal instructions. You could've directed the team in person and had a junior doctor start the case."

I nodded.

"Then let's look at the second piece of evidence."

I pulled up Daniel's progress note.

"At 7:36 p.m., I documented that Daniel's coagulation results were abnormal and that he wasn't a candidate for an after-hours case under the same-day surgery pilot program. I recommended postponing the surgery."

Then I pulled up the third screenshot.

"At 7:40 p.m., I told the unit in our department chat not to send Daniel to the OR. Helen confirmed she'd gotten the message, and Dr. Brown agreed."

Laura froze.

She turned to Elise.

"Didn't you say Dr. Caldwell was the one pushing for the surgery?"

Elise started crying even harder.

"She called me afterward. She said the message in the group chat was just to create a paper trail and that the actual plan hadn't changed. She told me to start the surgery and said she'd be there soon."

I looked at her.

"Then where's the call log?"

She bit her lip.

"You called me from a hospital extension. I didn't record the call."

I let out a short laugh.

"I was in the ER at Lakebridge General. How exactly was I supposed to call you from an Avermont extension?"

Grant frowned.

"Jessica, the records from Lakebridge General only prove you were there for part of the night. You could have left at any point."

That was exactly what I'd been waiting for.

I pulled up my ER records.

"At 7:55 p.m., I checked into the ER at Lakebridge General.

"At 8:02 p.m., I completed intake.

"At 8:30 p.m., I helped stabilize an older man who had collapsed from severe hypoglycemia outside the ER.

"At 10:30 p.m., a nurse started my IV in the observation unit.

"At 2:40 a.m., I was discharged and left Lakebridge General.

"From the start of Daniel's surgery through the bleeding and the resuscitation, I was at Lakebridge General the entire time."

Elise immediately cut in.

"Those records could've been faked too. You're a doctor. Who knows if you got someone there to add them after the fact?"

The crowd immediately joined in.

"Hospitals cover for each other all the time."

"Don't doctors write their own charts anyway?"

"She says she was at another hospital, and we're just supposed to believe her?"

Grant said nothing.

But I caught the flicker of relief on his face.

I didn't bother arguing with them.

Instead, I made a video call.

It rang for a long time.

Long enough for a faint, mocking smile to creep across Elise's face.

Just as Grant was about to speak, the call connected.

The older man I'd helped at Lakebridge General appeared on the screen.

His hair was graying, and he wore gray loungewear with reading glasses perched on his nose. Behind him was a wall lined with bookshelves.

I turned up the volume.

"Sir, I'm sorry to bother you. I need your help confirming something.

"On the night of September 17, from around 8:30 to 11:30, was I at the ER at Lakebridge General the whole time?"

The older man nodded.

Someone in the crowd muttered under their breath.

"Who's that?

"And we're supposed to take one old man's word for it?"

Elise visibly relaxed. Still crying, she quickly said, "Jessica, I know you helped him, but he might not remember the timing that clearly. And he might just be saying that because he's grateful to you."

Grant finally spoke.

"Jessica, witness testimony can be considered, but it doesn't override the hospital's electronic records."

I stared at him.

I was just about to answer when hurried footsteps came from the direction of the conference room.

Dr. Wallace rushed out.

The moment he saw the man on my phone screen, all the color drained from his face.

"You... how did you end up on this call?"