Twisted Justice by Patricia Gussin Read Free Book Online Page B

sure he’s okay.”
    â€œI’m goin’ with Mike,” snuffled Kevin.
    Nicole came over and gave Laura a hug, “Everything will be okay, Mom. Thanks for explaining to us. I tried to tell them, but they just wouldn’t believe me when I said I knew Dad wasn’t going to live here.”
    â€œI love you, Mom.” Natalie joined her sister and Laura and she put her arms around them both. “We get to see Dad, don’t we?”
    â€œOf course you do,” Laura said softly.
    â€œEven if I don’t want to,” challenged Nicole.
    â€œOf course you want to,” murmured Laura, trying to comprehend what was happening to her family.
    The phone interrupted.
    â€œWhy don’t you two go out and play. I’ll clean up here. Then maybe we can all watch a movie,” Laura suggested as she rose to answer the phone. She pushed the peach cobbler away, and steeling herself, assumed it would be Steve, calling about moving back in again as he had all week under the pretense of making arrangements for picking up the kids.
    â€œHello?”
    â€œDr. Nelson? I’m so glad I caught you at home,” drawled a vaguely familiar male voice. “I’ve tried you at the hospital, but —”
    â€œWho’s calling, please?”
    â€œSam Sanders. We met briefly. I’m an attorney handling the Ruiz case.”
    Laura was silent. Roxanne had warned her that this man was going all over trying to get evidence against the hospital and the doctors. Apparently, the truck owner’s insurance had lapsed, his license was invalid, he had a history of DWIs, and no financial resources. As a result, this Mr. Sanders was trying to sniff out some malpractice somewhere, looking for enough evidence to convince his potential client to sue any deep pockets.
    â€œLook, Mr. Sanders, I’m really busy right now. Perhaps —”
    â€œWon’t take but a minute,” he drawled. “I heard that you were mighty upset with the Tampa City emergency room performance that night.”
    â€œThat’s not something I can talk about right now.”
    â€œAnd why is that, if you don’t mind my asking? Nobody at the hospital wants to talk to me either — except for one of the nurses, that Roxanne Musing you work with. That makes me wonder.”
    â€œThat’s not what I meant. I meant that I just don’t have anything to say. And I don’t appreciate your calling me at home —”
    â€œI do apologize,” he interrupted. “Maybe you did all you could, maybe not, but that little Ruiz girl was alive when she got to that hospital in that helicopter, and I’m making it my business to find out why she died. I’m sure you don’t disagree that Mr. Ruiz deserves some compensation for all his losses. He’s a carpenter andwon’t be working for some time. I intend to see that his family is compensated for any mistakes that were made.”
    â€œI am truly sorry about the Ruiz family, but there’s nothing I can do. Now goodbye, Mr. Sanders.”
    Laura made a mental note to call Cliff Casey, Tampa City Hospital CEO, on Monday to pass along Sanders’s threat of a liability suit in case he was not already aware of it. Maybe this weekend Roxanne would come over with the little boy. With a stab, however, Laura realized that none of her own children would be home. They’d be off visiting Steve in that dingy, cramped apartment he’d borrowed.
    She sat down and ate half the peach cobbler while thinking about Roxanne. Was she developing a personal relationship with Louis Ruiz? On the day after the accident, his five-year-old, Jose, had been discharged from the hospital to the Hillsborough County Children’s Home. When Roxanne found out, she pleaded with the county to let her take the child to her own home. It was the least she could do, she told Laura, for such an unfortunate man who’d just lost his wife and both