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importance.”
    â€œWe always edit our interviews,” Kelly said. “It’s a fact of life.”
    â€œFind another victim,” Kim said.
    Kim pushed open the locker-room door and had taken a step within, when Kelly called out again: “Dr. Reggis! Just answer one question. Has the merger been as good for the community as AmeriCare contends? They say they did it for purely altruistic reasons. They insist it’s the best thing that’s happened to medical care in this city since the discovery of penicillin.”
    Kim hesitated again. The absurdity of such a comment made it impossible for him not to respond. Once again he turned back to Kelly. “I have trouble understanding how anyone could say such a ludicrous statement and have a conscience clear enough to sleep at night. The truth is that the entire rationale for the merger was to benefit AmeriCare’s bottom line. Anything else they may tell you is rationalization and pure bull.”
    The door closed behind Kim. Kelly looked at Brian. Brian smiled and gave Kelly the thumbs-up sign. “I got it,” Brian said.
    Kelly smiled back. “Perfect! That was just what the doctor ordered.”
    Lindsey coughed politely into a closed fist. “Obviously,” he said, “Dr. Reggis has given his personal view, which I can assure you is not shared by other members of the professional staff.”
    â€œOh really?” Kelly questioned. She let her eyes roam the room. “Anybody here wish to make a comment concerning Dr. Reggis’s statement?”
    For a moment no one moved.
    â€œPro or con?” Kelly prodded.
    Still no one moved. In the sudden silence, the hospital page could be heard like the backdrop of a TV melodrama.
    â€œWell,” Kelly said brightly, “thank you all for your time.”
    Â 
    T om slipped on his long white hospital coat and arranged the collection of pens, pencils, and flashlight in its upper front pocket. Kim had come into the locker room and, after removing his clothes and throwing them into the hamper, had gotten into the shower. He’d not said a word.
    â€œAren’t you going to tell me who was out there?” Tom said.
    â€œIt was Kelly Anderson from WENE News,” Kim said from the shower.
    â€œIn our surgical lounge?” Tom questioned.
    â€œCan you believe it?” Kim said. “She was dragged up here by one of the AmeriCare admin guys. Apparently my ex told her where to find me.”
    â€œI hope you told her what you thought of that piece she did on cardiac surgery,” Tom said. “After my car mechanic saw it, I swear he raised his rates. I mean talk about backwards; my income’s plummeting and service people are upping their charges.”
    â€œI said as little as I could,” Kim said.
    â€œHey, what time were you supposed to pick up Becky?” Tom asked.
    â€œSix o’clock,” Kim said. “What time is it now?”
    â€œYou’d better get a move on,” Tom said. “It’s already heading toward six-thirty.”
    â€œDamn,” Kim said. “I haven’t even done my rounds yet. What a life!”

THREE
    Friday, January 16 th
    B y the time Kim did his rounds and checked Mr. Arnold in the recovery room, another hour had passed. En route to his former wife’s house in the University section of town, he pushed his ten-year-old Mercedes and made record time. But it was still going on eight when he pulled up behind a yellow Lamborghini directly in front of Tracy’s house.
    Leaping from the car, Kim jogged up the front walk. The house was a modest affair built around the birth of the twentieth century, with a few Victorian gothic touches, like pointed arch windows in the second-floor dormers. Kim took the front steps in twos to reach the columned porch, where he rang the bell. His breath steamed in the wintery chill. While he waited he fanned his arms to keep warm. He wasn’t wearing a