Raymond’s eyes roamed the room. It was as sumptuously appointed as Dr. Anderson’s, with original oils, deep burgundy-colored walls, and oriental carpets. The patients patiently waiting were all obviously well-to-do as evidenced by their clothes, bearing, and jewels.

As the minutes ticked by, Raymond found his irritation mounting. What was adding insult to injury at the moment was Dr. Levitz’s obvious success. It reminded Raymond of the absurdity of his own medical license being in legal limbo just because he’d gotten caught padding his Medicare claims. But here was Dr. Levitz working away in all this splendor with at least part of his receipts coming from taking care of a number of crime families. Obviously, it all represented dirty money. And on top of that Raymond was sure Levitz padded his Medicare claims. Hell, everybody did.

A nurse appeared and cleared her throat. Expectantly, Raymond moved to the edge of his seat. But the nurse called out another name. While the summoned patient got up, replaced his magazine, and disappeared into the bowels of the office, Raymond slouched back against the sofa and fumed. Being at the mercy of such people made Raymond long for financial security all the more. With this current “doubles” program he was so close. He couldn’t let the whole enterprise crumble for some stupid, unexpected, easily remedied reason.

It was three-fifteen when finally Raymond was ushered into Daniel Levitz’s inner sanctum. Levitz was a small, balding man with multiple nervous tics. He had a mustache but it was sparse and decidedly unmanly. Raymond had always wondered what it was about the man that apparently inspired confidence in so many patients.

“It’s been one of those days,” Daniel said by way of explanation. “I didn’t expect you to drop by.”

“I hadn’t planned on it myself,” Raymond said. “But when you didn’t return my calls, I didn’t think I had a choice.”

“Calls?” Daniel questioned. “I didn’t get any calls from you. I’ll have to have another talk with that receptionist of mine. Good help is so difficult to come by these days.”

Raymond was tempted to tell Daniel to cut the bull, but he resisted. After all, he was finally talking to the man, and turning the meeting into a confrontation wouldn’t solve anything. Besides, as irritating as Daniel Levitz could be, he was also Raymond’s most successful recruit. He had signed up twelve clients for the program as well as four doctors.

“What can I do for you?” Daniel asked. His head twitched several times in its usual and disconcerting way.

“First I want to thank you for helping out the other night,” Raymond said. “From the absolute pinnacles of power it was thought to be an emergency. Publicity at this point would have meant an end to the whole enterprise.”

“I was glad to be of service,” Daniel said. “And pleased that Mr. Vincent Dominick was willing to help out to preserve his investment.”

“Speaking of Mr. Dominick,” Raymond said. “He paid me an unexpected visit yesterday morning.”

“I hope on a cordial note,” Daniel said. He was quite familiar with Dominick’s career as well as his personality, and surmised that extortion would not be out of the question.

“Yes and no,” Raymond admitted. “He insisted on telling me details I didn’t want to know. Then he insisted on paying no tuition for two years.”

“It could have been worse,” Daniel said. “What does that mean to my percentage?”

“The percentage stays the same,” Raymond said. “It’s just that it becomes a percentage of nothing.”

“So, I help and then get penalized!” Daniel complained. “That’s hardly fair.”

Raymond paused. He’d not thought about Daniel’s loss of his cut of Dominick’s tuition, yet it was something that had to be faced. At present, Raymond was reluctant to upset the man.

“You have a valid point,” Raymond conceded. “Let’s say we’ll discuss it in the near future. At the moment, I have another concern. What’s the status of Cindy Carlson?”

Cindy Carlson was the sixteen-year-old daughter of Albright Carlson, the Wall Street junk-bond mogul. Daniel had recruited Albright and his daughter as clients. As a youngster the daughter had suffered from glomerulonephritis. The malady had worsened during the girl’s early teens to the point of kidney failure. Consequently, Daniel not only had the record number of clients, he also had the record number of harvests, two: Carlo Franconi and Cindy Carlson.

“She’s been doing fine,” Daniel said. “At least healthwise. Why do you ask?”

“This Franconi business has made me realize how vulnerable the enterprise is,” Raymond admitted. “I want to be sure there are no other possible loose ends.”

“Don’t worry about the Carlsons,” Daniel said. “They certainly aren’t going to cause us any trouble. They couldn’t be any more grateful. In fact, just last week Albright was talking about getting his wife out to the Bahamas to give a bone-marrow sample so she can become a client as well.”

“That’s encouraging,” Raymond said. “We can always use more clients. But it’s not the demand side of the enterprise that has me worried. Financially we couldn’t be doing any better. We’re ahead of all projections. It’s the unexpected that has me worried, like Franconi.”

Daniel nodded and then twitched. “There’s always uncertainty,” he said philosophically. “That’s life!”

“The lower the level of uncertainty, the better I’ll feel,” Raymond said. “When I asked you about Cindy Carlson’s status, you qualified your positive response as healthwise. Why?”

“Because she’s a basket case mentally,” Daniel said.

“How do you mean?” Raymond asked. Once again his pulse quickened.

“It’s hard to imagine a kid not being a bit crazy growing up with a father like Albright Carlson.” Daniel said. “Think about it. And then add the burden of a chronic illness. Whether that contributed to her obesity, I don’t know. The girl is quite overweight. That’s tough enough for anybody but especially so for a teen. The poor kid is understandably depressed.”

“How depressed?” Raymond asked.

“Depressed enough to attempt suicide on two occasions,” Daniel said. “And they weren’t just childish bids for attention. They were bona fide attempts, and the only reason she’s still with us is because she was discovered almost immediately and because she’d tried drugs the first time and hanging herself the second. If she’d had a gun she surely would have succeeded.”

Raymond groaned out loud.

“What’s the matter?” Daniel asked.

“All suicides are medical examiner cases,” Raymond said.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Daniel said.

“This is the kind of loose end I was referring to,” Raymond said. “Damn! Just our luck!”

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings,” Daniel said.

“It’s not your fault,” Raymond said. “The important thing is that we recognize it for what it is, and that we understand we can’t sit idly by and wait for catastrophe.”

“I don’t think we have much choice,” Daniel said.

“What about Vincent Dominick?” Raymond said. “He’s helped us once and with his own child ill, he has a vested interest in our program’s future.”

Dr. Daniel Levitz stared at Raymond. “Are you suggesting…?”

Raymond didn’t reply.

“This is where I draw the line,” Daniel said. He stood up. “I’m sorry, but I have a waiting-room full of patients.”

“Couldn’t you call Mr. Dominick and just ask?” Raymond said. He felt a wave of desperation wash over him.

“Absolutely not,” Daniel said. “I might take care of a number of criminally connected individuals, but I certainly don’t get involved with their business.”

“But you helped with Franconi,” Raymond complained.

“Franconi was a corpse on ice at the medical examiner’s office,” Daniel said.

“Then give me Mr. Dominick’s phone number,” Raymond said. “I’ll call him myself. And I’ll need the Carlsons’ address.”