The vendor report arrived the next morning.
Nina sent me the summary, which said the 3:46 file was a calibration record and contained no patient sample data. There was no evidence that CH-14 had been rerun. The "repeat" worksheet had been created later, using the instrument's calibration status as supporting documentation. The worksheet itself did not show raw values, an operator signature, or a second sample accession.
I read the summary at my desk, then asked Nina whether there was enough evidence to withdraw the report.
"Yes," she said. "We're notifying Cedar Hollow that the negative result was not supported by a valid repeat. We'll recommend they treat the result as inconclusive until the retained sample is tested."
"Do we still have the sample?"
"We have enough material to attemp
