Lady of the Lake: Chapter 34 – The Not-so-Round TableFeeling somewhat overwhelmed by the scale of what was happening, Dr Geoffrey Landgraab put those issues aside to concentrate on his rounds and check on his favourite and most critical patient. Morgana’s vital signs had improved only very slightly through the night. But of primary concern was that the swelling of the brain tissue had not reduced anywhere near his expectation.
Geoffrey and Jamie double checked all monitors, fluids and medication but the news was not good. Jamie proposed a different antibiotic but Geoffrey decided to drain more cerebrospinal fluid from the brain to alleviate the pressure. He then asked Jamie to run some standard reflex tests to establish a baseline.
“Who are you mentoring this week?” Geoffrey asked his second in command.
“Agnes. She has exams this morning. If you recall, we originally had Morgana down for a rotation in ER but I’m putting Agnes in that slot.”
“Okay. Bring her up to speed on Morgana. I’m going to need to rely on you a lot this week; and I don’t want you dead on your feet. Oh, and by the way, those two candy-stripers are still smooching in the equipment store. Sort that out will you?”
Jamie smiled, “Holly and Ethan. I’ve a feeling that’s more than just a teenage crush for those two. Personally I think they’re a good match but I can see hysterics coming from Vita when she finds out.”
Geoffrey Landgraab smiled at that thought as he made his way to the waiting room where he knew Thornton and Galeas would now be waiting. To his surprise he found not just Thornton and Galeas there, but also the family that Morgana so loved to talk about.
As Galeas made the introductions of his father, Bors, who was holding little Bronwyn, Geoffrey Landgraab was struck by a sense of
déjà vu. His dream of last night seemed not so improbable after all. Before him stood the embodiment of Sir Bors the Younger, the penultimate King of Gaunnes, the man who knighted his illustrious forefather, Sir Aeron of Almandy.
Geoffrey’s rational brain acknowledged there had to be a logical explanation but in his heart of hearts, he hoped his wildest imaginings could be true. Geoffrey knew the royal house of Gaunnes died out with the death of King Elyan as history recorded that Sir Bors the Younger died in the Crusades on Good Friday.
Geoffrey speculated that even if Sir Bors the Younger had fathered another child before his death, surely a distant descendant could not look identical to his ancestor? No man in the Almandy family looked anything remotely like the original Aeron of Almandy. Forty-seven generations had diluted the blood. Only the brown eyes seemed to have survived but brown eyes were a dominant gene so that didn’t count.
On being introduced to Valerie, Geoffrey was struck by her old fashioned Georgian dress in bright vermillion which he thought looked exactly right on her. But it was her cornflower blue eyes that reminded him of one of the ladies in the Holy Grail painting who also had blue eyes and wore a very similar coloured gown. This was surely no mere coincidence, he pondered.
Next, Geoffrey was introduced to Ginny who was reading to the toddler Daisy. The teenager promptly said her name was Guinevere. Chills danced along Geoffrey’s spine as he noted her strong resemblance to her father and her real name. Geoffrey had only heard of her referred to as Ginny so he supposed her first name was Virginia. Geoffrey noted Lance was missing and looked for him. Galeas saw Dr Landgraab’s puzzlement and correctly interpreting it, said that Lance was travelling and would be in Sunset Valley as soon as he could.
Geoffrey knew intuitively that Lance was going to be Lancelot. But surely the names really meant nothing at all. Geoffrey had already known that Morgana’s family were medieval enthusiasts. It was not all that unusual to name your children after beloved characters. Geoffrey remembered all the mothers naming their children Kayla, Kimberley, Hope and Bo when he was a first year medical student. People often chose names of characters or actors they liked. Indeed Geoffrey had done just that. He had named his son Malcolm, because he really liked a '
Firefly' character even though Nancy told everybody that Malcolm was a family name.
Reigning in his overactive imagination, Geoffrey told everybody “Morgana’s vital signs are unfortunately not yet stable enough to lift the ban on anyone visiting the ICU.”
“Will she make it?” asked Thornton, his grey eyes filled with distress but his features devoid of expression as if he couldn’t possibly absorb any more pain.
“Truthfully Thornton, I don’t know. We may not know for another 48 hours.”
“Can I just see her through the window?”
“Sorry but I don’t think that’s a good idea. You would barely recognise a human under all that equipment and bandages. She is heavily sedated to reduce brain activity so she won’t even know you’re there. I’ve got her on the strongest analgesics her system will take and she is breathing via a ventilator. We’re giving her very strong antibiotics to prevent infection but as you know hospitals are the prime breeding grounds for antibiotic resistant bacteria. The best prevention is eliminating any chance of bacterial contamination.”
Dr Landgraab sighed, “Look Thornton, she’s made it this far and that’s actually a good sign. Her injuries were among the worst head injuries I’ve ever seen. That’s she’s still alive is a minor miracle in itself.” Guinevere gasped and buried her head in her hands. All other eyes focused squarely on Geoffrey Landgraab; even the little girls stopped playing and watched him. “We’ve done everything we can. At the moment all I can say is that her condition is stable. We have a long way to go before she is out of the woods, but I’ll be the last one to write off her chances of recovery.”
“What can I do?” asked Thornton.
“Nothing... for now. So go home, eat a decent meal and try to get some rest. It won’t help her at all when she wakes up if she finds you are a total mess.”
“I’ll make sure he eats,” Galeas replied.
“Actually, Galeas, if it’s not too much to ask, I have an important meeting in my office in a few minutes that I think you and your father might like to sit in on.”
Bors stopped snuggling Bronwyn and raised his head and looked directly at Dr Landgraab. This was a most unusual request. He was definitely intrigued and replied. “Thank you Dr Landgraab, we would like that but you should know that I don’t exclude Valerie from anything, so she may as well come along to this meeting too. Ginny will take the girls and Thornton back to the Condor Museum Lofts. A hospital is no place for them to play.”
Ginny looked at her father raising her eyebrow. “Sure Dad, but you’re going to tell me all about this too, aren’t you?”
“If this pertains to Morgana, then I will not keep the truth from you.” Bors conceded.
“Fair enough,” replied Ginny. “Come on Thornton, how does grilled cheese sandwiches sound to you?” Thornton didn’t answer but was suitably horrified as Ginny thrust a protesting Daisy into his arms so she could take Bronwyn from her father. Dr Landgraab escorted the family to the lifts and tried desperately not to laugh as the little ginger haired toddler tried to rearrange a smile on Thornton’s wooden features. The lift echoed to her piping voice imploring ‘Tonton’ to smile.
Geoffrey Landgraab led the trio to his office and saw Anja Svard was already waiting for him.
He introduced the duGaunnes who showed they had no idea who Anja was other than as the OSHA investigator he introduced her as. Clearly the duGaunnes did not read the tabloids. Although to be fair, Anja hadn’t been in them for quite some time. However, Anja looked at them curiously when Geoffrey mentioned their name which was not surprising, since she already knew the existence of the White Knight of Gaunnes, an organisation known to so few.
Geoffrey gestured to the others to take a seat at the small meeting table he had in his office. But before sitting down Geoffrey turned on the radio on his credenza. Geoffrey then looked carefully at the ‘team’ he had gathered. He saw curiosity not unease, on the faces of Morgana’s family and turned to them.
“Thank you all for coming. I believe my desk is bugged hence the radio. This meeting has nothing to do with Morgana directly but the problems plaguing this hospital. I don’t know who to trust in this town anymore, so I hoped to be able to bounce a few ideas off you.” Geoffrey noted their expressions, none of which showed they weren’t willing to listen. Surveying his new team, Geoffrey turned to Galeas. “Galeas would you like to summarise for your parents and Anja what you learned from Thornton yesterday about this hospital?”
Galeas was puzzled at how Dr Landgraab knew of that conversation between Thornton and himself. Galeas had wondered briefly yesterday if that waiting room was monitored since the guards disappeared so quickly. Now he had his answer, but he didn’t know why anyone would bother bugging a surgical waiting room. Nevertheless he said matter-of-factly, “Well it sounds to me like the hospital is in the throes of a hostile takeover. The takeover entity already has 51 % of the shares but appears to need more for its purposes. For the shares that it has not been able to acquire, the dividends have been reduced to nearly nothing, possibly hoping it can acquire the additional shares needed from cash strapped townie investors. The SEC can’t take any action at this point and may only be able to act when it is too late.”
“How would you suggest we deal with this?”
“Dr Landgraab, I’m a politician not a business man,” replied Galeas.
“I know that, but I want your gut feeling on this.”
“Well Dr Landgraab, first of all, I’d look for a white knight to buy out the shares of the cash strapped investors. Although I think that will be an uphill battle because usually a white knight has the approval of the Board, which I don’t think will happen in your case. Secondly, you need to put whatever resources you can get your hands on, into finding out the truth of the majority shareholder’s identity so the SEC can move against them before they wreck the reputation of this hospital and bankrupt the townspeople. Thirdly, you should investigate what town planning instruments could be used to circumvent a full acquisition of the hospital by unsavoury characters. For example, I know that a doctor cannot practice medicine if not of ‘good character’, so perhaps, the same criterion could be incorporated in a by-law or covenant to apply to anyone holding a majority share in a hospital?”
“Thank you Galeas, an excellent idea.”
“I appreciate your vote of confidence Dr Landgraab.
“Anja, would you care to share your findings on the incident which killed Ian Bowler and injured Morgana Wolff?”
“The autoclave was sabotaged. There is no question about that. The explosion was possibly meant to be bigger and perhaps kill more people or partially destroy the hospital. The police have taken over this investigation as it is a criminal matter. There is a flawed OH&S audit report which could ruin the hospital’s reputation and possibly involve it in a lengthy and expensive wrongful death suit. In line with what Galeas has just said, I would not rule out that these problems were linked.” Anja turned to look at the others, “I have holiday time owing to me so this morning I offered Dr Landgraab my services as a mechanical engineer to undertake a full audit of the hospital’s mechanical systems. In view of what I’m hearing, I now offer to stand as an expert witness to testify against Clark Sauer's OH&S report. If there’s anything else I can do, you have only to ask.”
“Thank you Anja.” Dr Landgraab looked across at Morgana’s father seated on his right.
“Mr duGaunnes, I understand from Morgana that you’re quite the strategist. How do you recommend that we approach this?”
Bors hesitated momentarily somewhat surprised that Morgana had thought anything of the kind. “Well Dr Landgraab, in any conflict you need to know your opponent as much as possible so you know what he’s capable of. As you appear to have an unknown opponent, you should try to figure out what their goal could be. If they do manage to squeeze out the other shareholders, will they own this hospital outright?
“Technically no, the land is owned by the state and leased to the Hospital Board. The land, therefore the state, theoretically owns any structure built upon it. But the lease is a perpetual lease and the owners of the majority shares would be able to dictate hospital policy, hire and fire staff, set prices and basically do what they want so long as they file the correct annual reports back to the state and pay the land tax. And all this they can already do now with their 51%, so it seems pointless to squeeze out the small shareholders.”
Bors pondered this for a moment. “Then perhaps you need to find out who stands to gain from such a course of action. Is there anywhere they are funnelling money to other than into their own pockets?”
Geoffrey thought for a moment, “Well, they have created far more surgical suites than this region could possibly need. From the design, fixtures and fittings to the new theatres, I’d say they plan to ramp up plastic surgery.” Geoffrey sighed. “Plastic surgery is such a specialised field. Sunset Valley is not Bridgeport, the need for plastic surgery is mostly limited to reconstructive surgery for post accident victims. Currently we don’t actually have any plastic surgeons on our regular staff but call in specialists from Bridgeport as needed.”
Valerie chipped in with her thoughts, “So other than film stars and accident victims, who else would need plastic surgery and in such volume to warrant that number of operating theatres?”
Galeas then speculated, “Since the criminal element in Sunset Valley is the share proxy, perhaps there is a need for criminals to change their looks. If they had a hospital under their control, they could come from all over to change their appearance.”
Anja interjected, “Yes! Of course! With facial recognition software now used in all the airports and transport hubs, the known petty criminals are being tracked by law enforcement agencies in the hope they’ll lead to the crime kingpins. If they change their appearance, the law will be back to square one.”
Geoffrey considered their opinions and turned again to Bors, “That is one possible scenario to explore. How would you suggest I start?”
“Dr Landgraab, I would suggest that if you feel you cannot go to the police, that you engage a trained investigator. You do understand that whoever you’re dealing with has caused one death. Logically more could follow given they were prepared to cause a larger explosion than they got. They will probably attempt something again and quite soon. Something is driving them to a flash point because they have already escalated their actions from merely squeezing the shareholders to sabotage. Until you know more about them, their motives and more importantly, their imperatives, you cannot attempt to predict or circumvent their actions.”
As Geoffrey pondered that piece of advice, he noticed that Valerie wore the ring of the royal house of Gaunnes while Bors wore none. That ring was always worn by the male. Galeas wore the same style of ring and he was certain the when Lancelot arrives, he will wear one too. Geoffrey knew that ring because as the second son, he too wore a copy of that ring. Bors was definitely a descendant from the Gaunnes royal family.
Geoffrey had looked into the steel blue eyes of Bors the Younger’s portrait dozens of times trying to get the measure of the man who was considered the most accomplished strategist of the Round Table. He believed he knew whose eyes he was looking into now.
Geoffrey wondered whether he should say what he’d been rehearsing, or leave it until he was more certain. Time was running out for the hospital. His opponents were ruthless: there was already one death, soon there would be more. His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of his beeper. Instinctively he looked at the readout. He was needed urgently in ICU.
“I’m sorry but you will have to excuse me. I am needed elsewhere. Before I go, I should warn you that all the areas of this hospital are monitored and any conversation you have in any room, other than my office, will end up in a report forwarded to the Hospital Board.”
“Dr Landgraab, when you have finished here, perhaps you would like to join us at Condor Museum Lofts for a late lunch?” asked Valerie.
“Thank you Valerie, but I also have a surgical list this afternoon. Perhaps we could make that dinner?”
“Dinner would be even better.”
“Thank you, I’d be delighted. My list should be finished by around 6:00 PM. Would 6:30 be suitable for dinner?”
“Yes, 6:30 is fine.”
“Then please excuse me for now, I must go. Security will show you all out if you need directions.”
Geoffrey Landgraab raced down to ICU where Dr Jolina thrust the test results into his hands. Scanning the document he asked worriedly, “You’ve double checked these readouts for both the cortex and the brain stem?”
“Triple checked and quadruple checked.”
“The corneal reflex?
“No response.”
“Oculo-vestibular reflex?”
“Minimal response.” replied a despondent Jamie. “Dr Landgraab, you do know that Morgana left a living will?”
“We still have another 48 hours before we can run a radionuclide blood flow test that would produce a valid result. So until then, we maintain the status quo.”
“Of course and in the meantime?” asked Jamie.
“No one goes in there but you and Agnes and me.”
“Okay, not a problem. How long is your surgical list this afternoon?
“It’s a short list today because we’ve had a few cancellations. I should finish around 18:00.
Jaimie thought for a moment. Her list today had been short too. “How about we do this in shifts? I’ve been on the go now for 36 hours and I’m knackered. I’ll call Agnes back in to relieve me here and you can relieve her at 22:00 and I’ll relieve you at 06:00 tomorrow.”
“That’ll work. Thanks Jamie. I appreciate your help.”
“No thanks required. She’s my friend too.”
Geoffrey Landgraab could not leave without taking one last look at Morgana. Jamie saw Geoffrey’s shoulder droop but the face he turned to her was resolute. “I’ll be back at 22:00 but have Agnes call me on my personal cell phone rather than the beeper if she needs assistance.” Geoffrey thought it was now way past the time to pray for miracles. Tonight after dinner with the duGaunnes, he intended to pursue his agenda. With his shoulders squared and with more purpose in his stride, Geoffrey left the ICU.
As Dr Landgraab’s soft footfalls died away, Jaime felt ashamed of her feelings: thankful that she was not the one who would have to tell Thornton and Morgana’s family that within 16-20 hours, Morgana could be brain dead.
