“She get in the way?”
“No, just more of the same.” I told her about the scene with the nurse
and Chip. “Trying to get on his good side but it probably backfired.
He sees her as a shameless ass-kisser, though he does think she takes
good care of Cassie. And his analysis of why she resents me is
probably right-on: competing for the attentions of the VIP patient.”
Attention seeking, huh? There’s a bit of Munchausen symptomology.”
“Yup. In addition, she did visit the home. But only a couple of
times, a while back. So it still doesn’t seem likely she could have
caused anything. But let’s keep our eyes on her.”
“I already started, Alex. Asked around about her. The nursing office
thinks she’s tops. She gets consistently good ratings, no
complaints.
And as far as I can tell there’s been no unusual pattern of illness in
any of her patients. But my offer’s still open-she causes too much
hassle, she’s transferred.”
“Let me see if I can work things out with her. Cindy and Chip like
her.”
“Even though she’s an ass-kisser.”
“Even though. Incidentally, he feels that way about the entire
hospital. Doesn’t like getting special treatment.”
“In what way?”
“No specific complaints, and he made a point of saying he likes you.
He’s just got a general concern that something could be missed because
of who his father is. More than anything, he looks weary.
They both do.”
Aren’t we all,” she said. “So what’s your initial take on mama?”
“She wasn’t what I expected-neither of them was. They seem more
health-food restaurant than country club. And they’re also different
from each other. She’s very. . . I guess the best word for it is
basic. Unsophisticated. Especially for a honcho’s daughter-in-law. I
can see Chip growing up rich, but he’s not exactly corporate son.
“The earring?”
“The earring, his choice of profession, his general demeanor. He
talked about getting conformity shoved at him throughout childhood and
rebelling. Maybe marrying Cindy was part of it. There’s a twelve year
difference between them. Was she his student?”
“Could be, I don’t know. Is that relevant in terms of Munchausen?”
“Not really. I’m just getting my feet wet. In terms of a Munchausen
profile, it’s too early to tell much about her. She does toss some
jargon into her speech and she’s highly identified with Cassie-feels
the two of them have an almost telepathic link. The physical
resemblance between them is strong-Cassie’s like a miniature of her.
That could enhance the identification, I suppose.
“Meaning if Cindy hates herself she could be projecting it on to
Cassie?”
“It’s possible,” I said. “But I’m a long way off from
interpretation.
Did Chad also resemble her?”
“I saw him dead, Alex.” She covered her face, rubbed her eyes, looked
up. All I remember was that he was a pretty little boy. Gray, like
one of those cherub statues you put in a garden. Tell the truth, I
tried not to look at him.”
She picked up a demitasse cup, looked ready to throw it.
“God, what a nightmare. Carrying him down to the morgue.
The staff elevator was jammed. I was just standing around, holding
this bundle. Waiting. People passing right by me, gabbing-I wanted to
scream. Finally I walked over to the public elevators, rode down with
a bunch of other people. Patients, parents. Trying not to look at
them. So they wouldn’t know what I was carrying.”
We sat for a while. Then she said, “Espresso,” leaned over toward the
little black machine and turned it on. A red light glowed.
“Loaded and ready to go. Let’s caffeine our troubles away. Oh, let me
give you those references.”
She took a piece of paper from the desk and handed it to me. List
often articles.
“Thanks.”
“Notice anything else,” she said, “about Cindy?”
“No belle and the enc’ or dramatic attention seeking, so far. On the
contrary, she seemed very low-key. Chip did mention that the aunt who
raised her was a nurse, so we’ve got a possible early exposure to
health-related issues, on top of her being a respiratory tech. But
that’s really pretty thin, by itself. Her child-rearing skills seem