Chapter 5 - MY ACCIDENT HAD BECOME HIS PAYDAY
The insurer hadn't paid Julian.
That mattered.
A claim was not money.
The company required medical certification and an assessment of long-term impairment.
My surgeons were optimistic that I would eventually walk again.
Julian apparently wasn't.
His claim described my injuries as “likely permanently disabling.”
No doctor had said that.
He had exaggerated my prognosis.
Why?
The obvious answer was money.
But Monica warned me not to build conclusions faster than evidence.
So we followed dates.
Policy purchased.
Fake prescriptions begin.
Business finances deteriorate.
Accident.
HELOC draw.
Disability claim.
The pattern frightened me.
Then something broke it.
The delivery van driver.
His insurance carrier provided preliminary crash information.
The driver admitted crossing the center line while reaching for a dropped phone.
Dashcam evidence supported it.
My accident had not been staged by Julian.
That mattered enormously.
Julian hadn't caused the van to hit me.
A horrible coincidence had occurred.
But he may have exploited it.
And I had zolpidem in my bloodstream.
That raised another question.
Had the drug contributed to my inability to avoid the van?
Traffic-camera footage showed something disturbing.
The van drifted across the center line.
I had approximately two seconds to react.
My SUV barely moved.
No sharp swerve.
No immediate braking until the final moment.
Maybe injuries would have happened anyway.
Maybe not.
Nobody could know.
I watched the footage once.
Never again.
Then the pharmacy completed its initial review.
The fake prescriptions had been transmitted electronically using Dr. Patel's credentials.
His login had been compromised.
The originating IP address traced to a medical billing company.
Not Julian.
The company employed dozens of people.
One employee had accessed Dr. Patel's profile improperly.
Name:
Melissa Grant.
I didn't know her.
Julian did.
She was his cousin.
I remembered her at our wedding.
Christmas twice.
A baby shower.
Not close family.
Close enough.
Monica contacted her attorney after the pharmacy referred the matter for investigation.
Melissa initially denied everything.
Then records showed she had looked up my information repeatedly.
Not only prescriptions.
Insurance eligibility.
Medical history.
My address.
My date of birth.
Why?
The answer arrived in a text she had sent Julian seven months earlier.
I found a way. But this is the last time I'm doing anything for you.
His response:
I only need her history to look consistent.
Consistent with what?
That was the question.
Then Melissa's attorney contacted Monica.
Melissa was willing to explain.
But only if Julian wasn't told she was cooperating.
May you like
Because according to Melissa, the sleeping pills had never been Julian's original idea.
They had been mine.
