“You know that better than anyone. Remember the
speech you used to give at fund raisers–the slide
show with all those pictures of cured kids? Let this
one go.”
He swiveled around and faced me, eyes blazing.
“As far as I’m Concerned that boy is alive. Until I
see his corpse I won’t believeotherwise.”
I tried to speak but he cut me off.
“I didn’t go into this field because of mawkish
sentimentality-no favorite cousin died of leukemia,
no grandpapa wasted away- of carcinoma. I
became an oncologist because medicine is the sci-ence–and
the art–of fighting death. And cancer is
death. From the first time, as a medical student,
when I viewed those monstrous, primitive, ew/t ceils
under the microscope, I was seized with that truism.
And I knew what my life’s-work would be.”
Beads of perspiration had collected on his high
dark forehead. The
roamed the cell.
“I won’t give up,” he said,
“Only the conquest of death, my friend, allows a
glimpse of immortality.”
He Was unreachable, caught up in his own fi’antic
vision of the world. Obsessive and quixotic and
denying what was most probable: Woody and Nona
were dead, buried somewhere in the shifting mulch
beneath the city.
“Let the police handle it, Raoul. My friend’s due
to come down here soon. He’ll check everything
Out.”
“The police,” he spat. “A lot of good they’ve
been. Bureaucratic pencil pushers. Mediocre minds
of hmited vision. e that stupid cowboy out there.
Why aren’t they here fight now—every day is crucial
for that little boy. They don’t care, Alex. To
them he’s just another statistic. But not to mci”
He folded his arms in ront of him, as if warding
off the indignity of confiinement, unaware of his
derelict appearance.
I’d long thought that a surfeit of sensitivity could
be a killing thing, too much insight malignant-in its
own right. The best survivors–there are studies
that show it—are those blessed with an inordinate
ability to deny. And keep on marching.
Raoul would mrch till he dropped.
I’d always considered him a touch manic. Perhaps
as manic at the core as Richard Moody, but
more generously endowed intellectually so that the
excess energy was channeled honorably. For the
good of society.
Now, tdo many failures had converged upon him:
the Swopes’ rejection of treatment, which, because
helived .his work, was seon as a rejection of him, an
atheismof the worst sort. The abduction of his
Patient–hurniliation and loss of control. And now,
death; the ultimate insult.
Failure had. made him irrational.
I couldn’t leave him there but didn’t know how
.to get him out.
Before either of us could speak, the gound of
approaching footsteps punctuated the silence. Hou-
ten peered into the cell, keys in hand.
“Ready, gentlemen ?”
“I’ve had no luck, Sheriff.”
The news deepened the worry lines around his
eyes.
ou re choosing to stay with us, Dr. Melendez-
Lynch?”
“Until I’ve found my patient.”
“Your patient isn’t here.”
“I don’t believe that.”
Houten’s mouth tightened and his eyebrows lowered.
“I’d like you out of there, Dr. Delaware.”
He turned a key, held the door barely open and
kept a watchful eye on Raoul as I slipped through.
“Good-bye, Alex,”-sald the oncologist with a martyr’s
solemnity.
Houten spoke to him in clipped cadence.
“If you think Prison is fun, sir, you’re going to
‘learn different. I promise you that. In the mean-
time, I’m getting you a lawyer.”
“I refuse legal services.”
“I’m getting you one anyway, Doctor. Whatever
happens to you is going to be by the book.”
He turned on his heel-and stomped away.
As we left the jail I caught a last glimpse of
Raoul behind the bars. There Wasn’t any good reason
for me to feel unfaithful, but I did.
16
HOUTEN MADE a phone call out of earshot, Ten
minutes later a man in shirtsleeves showed up and
the sheriff came forward to greet him.
“Thanks for coming on such short notice, Ezra.”
“Pleased to help, Shei’iff.” The man’s voice was
soft, modulated, and even.
He looked to be in his late forties, medium-sized
but sparely built, with a scholar’s stoop, Everything
about him was compact and neat. The smallish
head was covered with thin salt-and-pepper