Lowell picked up Gloria and carried her to the couch. The nurse took her pulse on her wrist and neck.
Gloria began to come around. “What happened?’
“You fainted,” said the nurse. “Can you sit up?”
“I think so.”
With Lowell’s help she managed to get into a seated position. The nurse handed her a glass of water and applied a wet cloth to her forehead.
Gloria sipped the water. “I’m feeling much better, thank you.” Color was starting to return to her face.
The door to the operating room opened and a man wearing scrubs and gloves came out. “What’s going on here?”
The nurse walked over to him. “Dr. Meltzer, there’s been a terrible accident. It’s Dr. Williamson. He’s fallen out the window. I’m afraid he’s dead.”
“What?” said Meltzer, the shock quite obvious on his face. “Dead? But how is that possible? Who was here when it happened?”
“We were.” Lowell extended his hand.
The doctor took off his glove and shook it, without thinking. “Who are you?”
“David Lowell. I’m a private detective hired by Dr. Williamson to find the whereabouts of his wife.”
“Wife? I didn’t even know Ethan was still married.”
Gloria sat forward. “I’m Mrs. Williamson. We’ve been apart for many years but never divorced.”
Meltzer sat in one of the chairs. “I don’t know what to say. Ethan was my friend. I just can’t believe this has happened.”
Lowell took Gloria’s hand and patted it. She smiled weakly.
The door to the operating room opened again and a young woman in scrubs came out sobbing. As she ran past, Dr. Meltzer called out. “Maria?” But she continued out the door of the waiting room.
Lowell watched. “Maria Rodriguez, I assume?”
“That’s right,” said Meltzer. “But how…”
“I don’t think she’s coming back.”
“I don’t understand.”
Lowell turned to the doctor. “I’ll explain it all to you in due time. Right now we have another problem that must be addressed immediately. There’s a very sick boy in that operating room.”
The doctor looked at him, his attention scattered. “Yes, I was about to assist in a transplant.”
“Doctor, what are the options for a heart transplant when a potential donor dies suddenly?”
The doctor sat back in the chair and removed the second glove. “While other organs such as kidneys can be kept ready for some time, a heart transplant must occur within about four hours of the removal of the organ.”
“Dr. Williamson was an organ donor. You’ll find that in his records.”
Meltzer shook his head. “The closest transplant center is in New York. We would have to hurry to secure Dr. Williamson’s organs, especially the heart, to make sure it can be donated in time.”
“You have a patient right here who’s on the list of recipients, but without a proper donor.”
Dr. Meltzer looked surprised. “But I don’t understand.”
Lowell tugged on his ponytail and tried to word his response carefully. “Actually, if you examine the donor you’ll find that he’s a perfectly healthy young man.”
The doctor looked at him incredulously. “What are you talking about? I was told the boy had late stage brain cancer with very little time left. I have to look into this.”
He went into the operating room and returned a few minutes later.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I was brought in to assist in a heart transplant, and now I find that my donor is, in fact, perfectly healthy. This is most irregular.”
“I believe you will find Dr. Williamson’s blood type is a match for his son. Can you do the operation?”
“I can. But I don’t know if I should. There’s something very amiss here.”
Gloria stood unsteadily, walked over to him and took his hand. “My boy is dying. Without this transplant he won’t last much longer. He’s on the list of recipients, and his father is a donor.”
Meltzer went to the computer and opened a file. “Yes, I see that the boy has been on the list of recipients for the last year. But I’m not sure about the legality of all of this.”
Lowell took out his cell phone. “Perhaps I can help.”
He called Melinda. “It’s me. I’m at the hospital in New Jersey and there’s been a terrible accident. Dr. Williamson fell out of a window and is dead. I have Dr. Meltzer here and I need you to talk to him. We need to transplant Williamson’s heart into his son Edward as soon as possible, and there may be some legal problems you should discuss with Dr. Meltzer. The boy’s mother is here and prepared to okay the operation.”
He handed the phone to Meltzer. After a brief conversation and a number of grunts and I sees, he handed the phone back to Lowell.
Meltzer turned to Gloria. “And you’re his mother?”
“Yes.”
“And you agree to this operation?”
“Absolutely.”
“Well, this is most…fortuitous.” He picked up the phone and pushed two numbers. “Get me Dr. Williamson’s medical records and a release form for a heart transplant STAT. And I need someone who can assist in a transplant.” He was about to hang up. “Oh, and get me an anesthesiologist.”
He hung up. “You know there is no guarantee that his body will accept the new heart, although being a parent increases the chances that the HLA markers will match. The boy’s chest cavity appears to be large enough to accommodate his father’s heart.” He turned toward Gloria. “Even if the operation is successful your boy will probably have to take autoimmune drugs for the rest of his life.”
Gloria nodded.
“They’re very expensive,” said the doctor.
She sighed. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Lowell took her hand. “Please don’t worry about that now. One thing at a time. Let’s just get through this procedure.”
Another nurse brought up the necessary paperwork for Gloria’s signature.
Dr. Meltzer went into the operating room and returned about fifteen minutes later. He shook his head. “I’m not completely satisfied that everything is on the up and up. I don’t know what’s going on. It isn’t like Edgar to make such a grievous mistake. But I’ve seen the medical situation, and that boy in there desperately needs a new heart soon or he will die. His father has suddenly become a donor, and there is nothing else I can do but perform this operation. The blood work shows compatibility and there is every possibility that it will be successful.” He headed toward the scrub room. “Now if you’ll forgive me I have a transplant to see to.”