Slow, sad nod.
I said, “How close was their relationship?”
“Teacher and student close. Harvey admired Andres, though he thought he was a little. .. authoritarian.”
“Authoritarian in what way?”
“Dogmatic–when he was convinced he was right. Harvey thought it ironic, since Andres had fought so hard against the Nazis. .. wrote so passionately for democracy. .. yet his personal style could be so…”
“Dictatorial?”
“At times. But Harvey still admired him. For who he was, what he’d done.
Saving those French children from the Vichy government, his work on child development. And he was a good teacher. Once in a while I sat in on seminars.
Andres holding court –like a don. He could talk for hours and keep you interested. .. lots of jokes. Tying everything in with punchlines. Sometimes he brought children in from the wards. He had a gift–they opened up to him.”
“What about Katarina?” I said. “Harvey told me she sat in, too.”
“She did. .. just a child, herself–a teenager, but she spoke up as if she was a peer. And now she’s. .. and those other people–how can this be!”
“Sometimes authoritarianism can go too far,” I said.
Her cheeks shook. Then her mouth turned up in a tiny, disturbing smile. “Yes, I suppose nothing’s what it seems, is it? Patients have been telling me that for thirty years and I’ve been nodding and saying, yes, I know. .. I really didn’t know. ..”
“Did you ever go back into Harvey’s files? To try to figure which patient had upset him?”
Long stare. Guilty nod.
“He kept tapes,” she said. “He didn’t like writing–arthritis– so he taped. I wouldn’t let the police listen to them. .. protecting the patients. But later, I began playing them for myself. .. I gave myself an excuse. For their own good–I was responsible for them, until they found another permanent therapist. Had to call them, to notify them. .. so I needed to know them.”
Downcast eyes. “Flimsy. .. I listened anyway. Months of sessions, Harvey’s voice. .. sometimes I couldn’t stand it. But there was nothing that would have disillusioned him. All his patients were like old friends. He hadn’t taken on any new ones for two years.”
“None at all?”
She shook her head. “Harvey was an old-fashioned analyst. The couch, free association, long-term, intensive work. The same fifteen people, three to five times a week.”
“Even an old patient might have told him something disillusioning.”
“No,” she said, “there was nothing like that in any of the sessions.
And none of his old patients brought him to harm. They all loved him.”
“What did you do with the tapes?”
Rather than answer, she said, “He was gentle, accepting. He helped those people. They were all crushed.”
“Did you pick any of them up as patients?”
“No. .. I was in no shape to work. Not for a long time. Even my own patients. ..” She attempted another shrug. “Things fell apart for a while. .. so many people let down. That’s why I didn’t pursue his death. For my kids and for his patients–his extended family. For me. I couldn’t have us dragged through the slime. Do you understand?”
“Of course.” I asked her again what she’d done with the tapes.
“I destroyed them,” she said, as if hearing the question for the first time.
“Smashed the cassettes with a hammer. .. one by one… what a mess. .. threw it all away.” She smiled. “Catharsis?”
I said, “Did Harvey attend any conventions just before his death? Any psychiatric meetings or seminars on child welfare?”
“No. Why?”
“Because professional meetings may set the killer off. Two of the other therapists were murdered at conventions. And the de Bosch symposium where I met Harvey may have triggered the killings in the first place.”
“No,” she said. “No, he didn’t attend anything. He’d sworn off conventions.
Sworn off academia. Gave up his appointment at NYU so he could concentrate on his patients and his family and getting in shape–his father had died young of a heart attack. Harvey had reached that age, confronted his own mortality. He was starting to work out. Trimming the fat from his diet and his life– that’s a quote…. He said he wanted to be around for me and the kids for a long, long time.”