Mark of Excellence

Chapter 3

“Noah, why don’t you pull up a chair?”  Casey glanced at Luke and then back up toward Noah, still standing next to their table at Al’s. 

“Thanks, guys.  I’d love to stay, but I’m picking up lunch for Mark and me.  I’m sure he’ll be starving after spending the morning playing parent.  It’s hard to believe a man who’s so energetic at work can get tired so easily just from changing a couple of diapers and heating a bottle.”

Luke nodded, but wouldn’t take no for an answer.  “We won’t keep you long.  I actually have a question for you and I’d like you to have a seat.”

“This sounds serious.  Did something happen between you and Reid?  I figured all the bumps in your road of marital bliss were long past.”

Biting his lip, Luke tried to grin, knowing these days Noah meant his words as a teasing poke rather than as the mean spirited dig they would have been in times past.  Sometimes Noah had the strangest sense of humor.  It was a good thing he didn’t try to earn his living as a comedy writer.  “Reid and I are fine, but this actually does have to do with Reid so would you please join us for just a couple of minutes.”

Noah appeared ill at ease, his eyes wandering around the room, seemingly not wanting to meet Luke’s eyes.  Luke was glad Noah was clearly beginning to realize something was truly wrong, although he was sure Noah wasn’t aware of how it might concern him.

Pulling a chair over from an empty table, Noah sat down and silently waited.

After a few tense seconds he looked from Luke to Casey.  “Is someone going to tell me what’s going on?  I came here in a very celebratory mood and am getting the idea there’s a reason I should move forward cautiously with my celebration.  Is this about Mark?  We’ve been great; at least I think we’ve been great.”

Luke rested his palms on the table.  “This isn’t about Mark, well at least not directly.  This is about the article in the medical journal.  The one you were so excited about.  Did you have anything to do with it?”

“Of course I did.  The writer wanted me to look at some documentary scripts he was working on regarding the medical field.”  Noah sat up straight in his chair.  “I asked how much research he’d done in the medical field and he didn’t have a very impressive resumé so I told him about the neurology wing at Memorial and my husband, who is currently its director.” 

Noah smiled innocently, still not catching on to the consequences of his actions.  “I mentioned that a quality article highlighting the Snyder Neurology Center might open the door for me to look at one of his scripts.”

“So you told this guy to write about the neuro wing, not Mark?”  Casey obviously wanted to make sure he and Luke were understanding everything accurately.

“Right!  Mark would certainly be a featured player in the article as he runs the wing, but it’s about the facility.” 

“Noah, have you read the article from beginning to end?”  Luke sat back in his chair, staring intently at Noah.

“I scanned it.  It looked good.  I figure I’ll give the guy’s script a look-see.”

“Maybe you should consider giving the article more than a quick scan.”  Luke willingly let an edge of annoyance enter his voice.

“Luke, I thought you’d be thrilled to get such great free publicity for Memorial.  After all, Reid is the Chief of Staff.”  Noah really did seem completely clueless.

“Reid who?”  Luke raised his voice enough for Noah to realize he was angry.

“What the hell are you talking about?”  Noah’s temper was rising too, as could be seen by the beads of sweat that had appeared on his brow.

Casey took over.  “Noah, get your lunch and go home.  Read the entire article from beginning to end.  Then tell us who works at Memorial besides Dr. Mark Jensen.”

“I don’t get it.  What are you talking about?”

Luke bowed his head slowly, taking a deep breath, and then raised it, looking directly at Noah.  “You don’t know now, but if you do as we ask, you will.  Oh, and Noah, who was in charge of checking the facts in the article before it went to print?” 

“I looked it over quickly, but the writer told me he would probably do some final editing before it actually went to print, you know, to tighten it up.”

Casey snorted.  “He definitely tightened it up.”

“Go home, Noah.”  Luke shook his head.  “And read.”

Noah stood and looked from Luke to Casey and back.  He was obviously confused.  Luke hoped Noah would find his way to seeing the ridiculous omissions in the article, but unfortunately remembering Noah’s history of self-centered behavior, he wondered if spelling it out would be the only way to get Noah to understand exactly how hugely he had screwed things up. 

[TBC]

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