Conrad dropped his head into his hands. “I constantly relive this surgery. I ask myself, did I tie the knots too tightly, causing the sutures to break? Did I tie the knots too loosely, resulting in the bleed-out? Should I not have used glue to clog the needle holes at all? I just don’t know. And I never will.”
For the first time, Casey understood the enormity of the burden Conrad was carrying. To tell him that he’d done everything he could would be patronizing and useless. So she said the only sincere thing she could say. “I’m sorry you have to live with this. I’m also sorry we had to dredge it all up again.”
“Don’t be sorry.” Conrad raised his head. “You’re not dredging up anything that doesn’t haunt me every day. As for Nancy and her kids—I don’t know what to think. I used to have an intuitive feel for people. I seem to have lost that completely. So pursue this in any way you need to.” He gave them a quizzical look. “Is it time for another payment? I can have it wired directly to your account.”
“We’re fine,” Casey assured him. “Madeline paid us well.” She paused for a minute. “I have one more question to ask you before we go. It’s not a particularly comfortable one, but I have to ask it, anyway.”
“Go ahead.”
“What’s your relationship with Sharon Gilding?”
Conrad looked surprised, as if that was the last question he’d been expecting. “Relationship? Do you mean professional or personal?”
“Both.”
“Professionally, we respect each other’s expertise. Sharon is a brilliant neurosurgeon. Yes, I know she’s my competition for the job of chief of surgery. That seemed to bother her a lot more than it did me. She’s a very high achiever. I can’t fault her for that.”
“You didn’t answer the personal part.”
“Sharon isn’t my favorite person,” Conrad admitted. “She’s cold and self-centered. She’s short on compassion for her patients. We’ve argued about that. We have different styles.”
“But you aren’t or weren’t sleeping together?”
“What?” Conrad’s head shot up. “Absolutely not. Why would you think that?”
“We weren’t sure. Now we are.” Casey paused again. “What about Ronald Lexington? Was she sleeping with him?”
This time, Conrad squirmed a bit. “I don’t think so. But I don’t know.”
“Go on.” Casey knew there was more, and she wasn’t letting Conrad off the hook. “We need you to be totally candid with us.”
There was a hint of a pause. “This is an uncomfortable subject for me. But fine. In the interest of full disclosure, Ronald liked women, and they liked him. He made it no secret to me that he had extramarital affairs. Some of those were with hospital personnel, and some were with women he met elsewhere. He wasn’t particularly discreet, at least not to my way of thinking. I called him out on it more than once, especially when a few of his paramours’ hospital work suffered so much from the affairs with Ronald that they had to be fired. But he couldn’t help it—he charmed every attractive young female who walked through the hospital doors. I called it the Bill Clinton effect.”
“Can you give us any names?”
Conrad’s forehead creased as he thought for a moment. Then he gave a rueful shrug. “I wish I could. The truth is, I was obsessed with my work. I lived and breathed it. I can tell you minute details of any of my surgeries, but I can’t give you the names of half my patients, much less the names of Ronald’s lovers. In both cases, there were so many.” A wry smile. “That should tell you how vast his sexual adventures were.”
Marc made a disgus
ted sound.
“I understand your distaste for the situation,” Conrad responded. “It wasn’t one of Ronald’s finer qualities. But he was a good man and a good friend. So Doug and I put up with his weekly sexual updates, and focused on our weekly golf games.”
Doug Wilton. Casey remembered him well from the dedication ceremony.
“Doug spoke very highly of you,” she said. “As he did of Ronald. But in your case, he was pretty devastated that you might not come back. He respects you enormously as a surgeon.”
This time Conrad’s smile was genuine. “Doug is a great cardiologist and a great guy. We worked well together, and we were friends outside the hospital. I didn’t socialize much, since I spent most of my life in the O.R. But Doug, Ronald and I were pretty tight.”
Casey exchanged a quick glance with Marc. He understood. Her next job would be to talk to Janet. His would be to talk to Doug.
“One last question, and then we’ll let you get some rest,” she said. “Did Nancy Lexington know about her husband’s indiscretions?”
“Can I swear to it?” Conrad replied. “No. But Nancy is a very shrewd woman. She’d have to be very naive—which she’s not—to be totally unaware of Ronald’s sexual liaisons. When Madeline and I went out to dinner with them or socialized with them in any way, Nancy kept a tight watch on her husband. So I’d have to say yes, Nancy knew Ronald had a roving eye.”
“Thank you.” Casey rose. “We’ve tired you out enough. We’ll get back to work and let you lie down.”
“Did Ronald hit on Madeline?” Marc’s question came out of nowhere.