Chapter 3 - The Refill That Should Never Have Existed
The call came on a Tuesday morning.
I almost ignored it because I didn’t recognize the number.
“Mr. Mercer?”
“Yes.”
“This is Daniel from Fairmont Pharmacy. I’m reviewing closed patient records and need to confirm something regarding your late father.”
My stomach tightened.
“What?”
He asked whether Alistair had ever been prescribed a second potassium-affecting medication by an outside physician.
I said I had no idea.
Then he explained.
During an internal audit, the pharmacy noticed overlapping prescriptions from two providers during the final eight weeks of my father’s life.
Both drugs could alter electrolyte levels.
Not automatically dangerous.
But potentially serious if combined without proper monitoring.
One prescription came from Alistair’s cardiologist.
The other came through an urgent-care physician.
The refill authorization listed a household contact.
Lenora Mercer.
I went cold.
“She handled some of his medication.”
The pharmacist paused.
“Did she attend the urgent-care appointment?”
“I don’t know.”
That was the first crack.
I called Maris.
She became silent.
Then said:
“Your father never went to urgent care.”
“You’re sure?”
“I drove him to every appointment.”
“Could Lenora have taken him?”
“Dorian, he could barely stand some days. I would have known.”
That afternoon I requested every medical and pharmacy record I was legally entitled to obtain as estate representative.
Most were ordinary.
Then we found something stranger.
The urgent-care note described Alistair complaining of swelling and elevated blood pressure.
The signature authorizing the visit was electronic.
The phone number listed was Lenora’s.
But the patient ID scan attached to the chart was blurry.
And one line in the note read:
Family caregiver reports patient unavailable for direct medication review.
Unavailable.
Meaning whoever requested the prescription may have done much of the communication without my father being meaningfully involved.
That did not prove murder.
Not even close.
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But it proved someone had been managing medication outside the normal treatment plan.
And my wife’s name was attached.
