What If I

Part 4: Anything But

Once more, Helen Sharpe finds herself sitting in the small gray interrogation room of the New York City Police Station. She feels responsible, even though she didn't physically do anything. Some how they got ahold of her key card, but how? She wasn't physically near them- was she? It's so late, she can hardly remember. She's been sitting here for over 3 hours waiting for someone to come and get her side of the story. Finally, Detective Shapiro- the same man who interrogated her for the heroin den incident comes in.

"Dr. Sharpe, why am I almost not surprised to see you here?" The beefy cop walks over and places a coffee in front of her and she just stares at it. "Ya know, for someone of your influence, you'd think you'd be more careful."

"I didn't do this. I know they stole my key card...I just don't know how or when." Helen answers honestly and Shapiro sits down and kicks his feet up on the table and leans back in his chair.

"Well then let's go through the motions of the day."

"Alright, I got up at 5:45- got dressed. Ate breakfast at home- and left for work."

"Did you go anywhere in between your home and work?"

"No, I went straight to work. I was supposed to work half a day, but they decided on me doing a double shift." Helen says and Shapiro jots down some notes.

"Who's they?"

"Valentina Castro- the Chair of Oncology." She says politely.

"Your old position."

"Yes." The young bald caucasian man writes a few more things down and makes a gesture for her to proceed. "I entered the damn roughly around 7:10, punched in at 7:15 and went to my office."

"Did you talk to anyone during that time?"

"I'm sure I said good morning to a few people but no, I didn't stop and chat. I like to keep my head down and do my work." Putting the notepad down, Shapiro stops leaning back in the chair and removes his feet from the table.

"What happened next?"

"I did my routine. Check on patients, do exams, biopsy tests, blood test analysis and so forth."

"At what time were you supposed to be done?"

"4:30. Valentina approached me in the hall just before that and informed me I was to stay." He can sense her distaste and continues to aggravate her.

"Did that make you angry?"

"I bit, but I did what was ordered of me."

"Then what happened?"

"I went to my office and took a call."

"From who?"

"Dr. Max Goodwin."

"He wasn't working today was he?"

"No, it was his day off. I merely called him to thank him for a card."

"How long were you on the phone with him- roughly."

"I don't know, probably 15 minutes." Helen sighs and leans back in her chair. The cool metal pressing through her thing blouse.

"That's a long time to thank someone for a card."

"My people find it rude to just end a conversation after one sentence." Shapiro sits forward and makes a note before leaning back again.

"What next?"

"I left my office roughly around 4:55 and went did my rounds again with patients before heading up to the Palliative Care Center."