Chapter 15
"Chris! Even if you're the biggest investor, you can't interfere with the hospital's normal operations!" Joanna reminded him.
If she didn't make the cut because she wasn't good enough for St. Mary's, fine—she could live with that. But there was no way in hell she was gonna lose this job because of Chris's BS attitude.
"Joanna, I'm not interfering with the hospital's normal operations. You're just not a good fit for the position. The hospital isn't a place for you to mess around! If you really want to work, you can go be a waitress at a restaurant!"
Joanna didn't want to argue with him. Ever since deciding on the divorce, she'd noticed that Chris was always stuck in his own thoughts and wouldn't listen to any explanations.
"Dr. Gordon, do you think the same way?"
Dr. Gordon was already worried that Joanna had not performed any surgeries in three years, and now that Chris disagreed with hiring her, he had a good excuse to turn her down.
"I'm sorry, Miss Jones. If Mr. Cooper doesn't accept you, then we can't offer you a position."
This answer was within Joanna's expectations. She picked up her bag and turned to leave.
Chris reminded her from behind, "Joanna, think carefully about what you should be doing right now! Don't let your stubbornness hurt your brother and your mom!"
Chris thought he'd made himself clear enough that Joanna should understand. And after failing to find a job today, she'd realize how hard it was to get one, and how easy she'd had it being a stay-at-home wife.
He figured he'd see Joanna back at the villa tonight.
"Let's go, Dr. Gordon. Don't let just anyone in for interviews from now on. Show me my grandfather's surgical plan. It'd be best to do the surgery today."
Chris came today because the doctor who could guarantee a 50% success rate was Dr. Gordon, and he'd already had St. Mary's Hospital prepare for the pre-surgery work yesterday.
Dr. Gordon accompanied Chris out and asked his assistant to clean up the office for him.
Before throwing Joanna's proposal into the trash, the assistant glanced at it.
With just that casual look, he froze completely.
"This... this isn't the case file I sent her yesterday."
The assistant checked his email and remembered that he'd been handling two case files yesterday and had accidentally sent Joanna David's case file as the interview question.
Having worked with Dr. Gordon for many years, he understood surgical plans and could clearly see that this plan was better than Dr. Gordon's.
He jogged over to find Dr. Gordon. "Dr. Gordon, I screwed up yesterday. I accidentally gave Joanna David's actual case instead of the interview question. Check out this plan, though. Remember that tricky issue we were stuck on yesterday? Her plan totally sidesteps that problem."
Dr. Gordon looked it over for a while, somewhat surprised. "If we follow this plan, we might be able to reduce the risk of complications to 30%!"
He immediately found Chris and told him about this, but Chris rejected it as soon as he heard.
"Dr. Gordon, you said yourself that this plan requires very high skills from the lead surgeon. Just looking at the results without thinking about the actual operation shows Joanna's all theory, no practice. This is gambling with my grandfather's leg, and there's no way I'm signing off on that."
In these three years, he'd never seen Joanna read any medical books, let alone perform a single surgery. How could she possibly know how to do one?
"Well... then we'll still use my plan." Dr. Gordon felt somewhat regretful, but still respected the patient's family's wishes.
Meanwhile, Joanna left and first sent Luke a message: [Sorry, the interview failed. The Coopers invest St. Mary's Hospital, and Chris won't allow them to hire me.]
There was no reply. He was probably busy.
Joanna was about to put away her phone when a call came in from someone she'd saved as Peter.
"Peter? Is there some new development in my brother's case?"
Peter sounded pumped. "Hell yeah! After the last hearing, I dug into the victim's family and found something huge. The night the guy died, five million bucks just showed up in their bank account out of nowhere. Combined with what your brother told us, that he didn't kill anyone, just got caught up in the fight, I'm thinking this is hush money from the real killer to keep the family quiet! Now we need to trace the source of that cash. I've got some ways to investigate, but that kind of evidence won't fly in court. So I need you to dig it out. And with the bar's security footage, your brother can definitely appeal!"
"Really?" This was great news! Joanna's disappointment from the failed interview vanished. "I'll go right now. Please send me their address!"
Peter gave a few more instructions before they hung up.
After receiving the address, Joanna immediately took a cab there.
The victim was named Allen, and his family included a younger brother and both parents. Joanna had seen them all during the previous court hearing.
But when Joanna arrived, she learned they'd already moved. Neighbors told her that the family had recently come into money and moved to a new apartment complex in the city center.
"Do you know where they moved to?" Joanna asked.
"You bet! When they moved out, they even told us to come check out their new place!"
Joanna slipped the person some money and got the family's new address. She immediately took a cab there. When Allen's parents opened the door and saw her, their faces immediately turned cold, and they tried to close the door.
Joanna quickly pressed against the door, even getting her hand pinched. Ignoring the pain, she said quickly, "I've got the bar surveillance footage! The person who killed your son wasn't my brother!"
Of course, Joanna was lying to them, but she'd already turned on the voice recorder in her bag before knocking.
Sure enough, their faces changed immediately when they heard her words!
"What do you want?" John, the deceased's father, stared nervously at Joanna.
"You're taking the killer's money and living the good life here, and you want to frame my brother for murder. Can you face your dead son?" Joanna demanded sternly.
"The kid's already gone! Cash is what matters now! We'll write up a forgiveness letter so your brother doesn't do hard time— that's the best we can do! I'm warning you, keep your damn mouth shut about the money, or I'll make you pay!" John's eyes went cold and threatening.