The view was beautiful. Floor-to-ceiling glass windows highlighted Boston at night. The sight of the whole city spread out in front of her made her feel less important and actually calmer about the impending discussion.
“Sparkling water okay for you?” Matt asked, breaking her attention from the beauty of the city.
“Sure.” She took her place in one of the chairs opposite him. “Where do you want to start?” she asked.
He nodded at her and took out a pen and pad of paper. “What was your official role the evening of Mr. Weber’s death?”
“I was the chief surgical resident. I serve as backup in all situations—resident illness, difficult cases and high patient volumes. That night the on-call resident, Dr. Jensen, had been called away to do a retrieval with the transplant team, and I was called in in his absence.” Okay, so maybe this was going to be okay, clean, surgical. She relaxed back into the leather conference room chair.
“What was Dr. Reed’s official role?”
“Dr. Reed was the second on-call vascular surgeon. We have a backup system for all the major surgical disciplines so that in the event a surgeon is tied up in a prolonged surgical case, another patient can still receive timely care and surgical management.”
“How often is the second on call needed?”
“About once every three months, but Tate might be better able to answer that question.”
“Dr. Reed,” Matt stated firmly.
“Pardon?” Kate asked, not understanding what the question was.
“Refer to Tate Reed as Dr. Reed in all your discussion of the case. Referring to him as Tate implies you know him beyond your professional relationship.”
Kate couldn’t tell if this was just Matt the lawyer talking or if it was personal. She decided she didn’t need to know and waited from him to ask another question.
“When were you asked to consult in Mr. Weber’s care?”
“At about ten p.m. I was already in-house, dealing with some issues in a postoperative patient, when the emergency room doctor called me.”
“How soon after did you see him?”
“I went downstairs to the emergency department immediately and started my assessment. While I was examining him, the radiologist called and notified me of the CT scan findings.”
“When did you first try to contact Dr. Reed?” Matt lowered and softened his voice for this question. They were getting into the part of the evening that was less clinical and more personal.
“I called Dr. Reed on his cell phone immediately after I finished on the phone with the radiologist.”
“How many times did you try to call Dr. Reed?”
“I didn’t count, I just kept redialing when I didn’t get through.”
“Did you leave any messages?”
“Yes.”
“Was it unusual for Dr. Reed not to answer his cell phone?”
“Yes.” She wasn’t elaborating on her responses or providing any additional information. The lawyer in Matt actually seemed pleased about that.
“Were there any other occasions when Dr. Reed did not answer his phone?”
“Not prior to that night.”
“Did you have any reason to believe that Dr. Reed was purposely ignoring his calls?”
Here it goes, time to get personal. She took a deep breath and straightened away from the chair, sitting upright and focusing her eyes directly on Matt’s.
“After trying to contact Dr. Reed for twenty minutes, I concluded that he was probably unaware that the attempts being made to contact him were for patient care and subsequently asked the switchboard to reach him.”
“Was his primary contact number for patient care his cell phone?”
“Yes.”
“Then why would he not answer it in his role as second call?”
“That is a question for Dr. Reed. I cannot speak to why he would or would not do something.”
“You were always too smart for your own good, Kate.” He reached down and pulled his sweater off, leaving the dress shirt behind. Then he unbuttoned the cuffs and rolled the sleeves up, exposing his muscled forearms. He leaned on them and stared at her across the table. “I have a copy of Dr. Reed’s phone records from that night, as does the plaintiff’s attorney. They show several calls from your cell phone to Dr. Reed’s, all lasting less than a minute.”
“As I stated, I tried to call Dr. Reed for twenty minutes before relinquishing the responsibility to the switchboard.”
“The calls from you start at eight-thirty p.m., well before your interaction with Mr. Weber.”
“Yes.” She wasn’t going to give more detail. She had no intention of describing to Matt, Tate’s proposal and the reasons behind her rejection.
“If Dr. Reed had not answered your earlier calls, do you think it was appropriate to spend twenty minutes using the same form of contact that had been ineffective up until that point?” He wasn’t enjoying this, she could tell, and that was at least something.
“I was using the form of communication listed by the hospital as Dr. Reed’s first contact. When that failed I appropriately moved on to the switchboard as second contact and focused on Mr. Weber, pending Dr. Reed’s contact and arrival.”
“Your attempts to contact Dr. Reed earlier in the evening, were they related to patient care?”
“No.”
“You have a personal relationship with Dr. Reed?” It was more of a statement than a question. She knew where this was going.
“Yes.”
“What is your relationship with Dr. Reed?” He was agitated now. He ran his fingers through his hair. It was going to be a mutually uncomfortable conversation.
“We have worked together for several years and are friends.” Honest, she was being honest.
“Do you have a romantic relationship with Dr. Reed?”
“No.”
“What was your relationship with Dr. Reed the night of Mr. Weber’s death?”
“I was the chief resident and Dr. Reed was the staff surgeon.”
“What was the nature of your personal relationship with Dr. Reed the night of Mr. Weber’s death?” Matt asked pointedly, his entire attention fixed on Kate.
“We had been dating for one and a half years.”
“Was there anything about your personal relationship that night that would have led Dr. Reed to not answer your calls?”
“Once again that is a question for Dr. Reed. I cannot speak to why he would or would not do something.”
“Did you and Dr. Reed end your romantic involvement that night?” His jaw was clenched and she could see the muscle tense as it extended towards his temple. She hadn’t seen Matt angry a lot when they had first known one another, but she recognized it now.
“Yes.”
“Kate,” he sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair again, “you are answering like you are talking to the enemy, which I’m not. If this ever gets to court then, yes, this is the exact way you are to testify, but tonight, with