* * *
Ten minutes later, in the corridor, Laura dried her eyes with a couple of Kleenexes and blew her nose.
Dan Haldane paced back and forth. His shoes squeaked on the highly polished tiles. From the expression on the detective’s face, Laura guessed that he was trying to work off some of his anger over what had happened to Melanie.
Maybe some cops cared more than she thought. This one, anyway.
Dr. Pantangello said, ‘I want to keep Melanie here at least until tomorrow afternoon. For observation.’
‘Of course,’ Laura said.
‘When she’s released from the hospital, she’ll need psychiatric care.’
Laura nodded.
‘What I was wondering … well, you don’t intend to treat her yourself, do you?’
Laura tucked the sodden tissues in one coat pocket. ‘You think it would be better for a third party, an uninvolved therapist, to work with her.’
‘Yes.’
‘Well, Doctor, I can understand why you feel that way, and in most cases I would agree with you. But not this time.’
‘Usually, it’s a bad idea for a therapist to treat one of his own children. As her mother, you’re almost certainly going to be more demanding of your own daughter than you would be of an ordinary patient. And, excuse me, but it may even be possible that the parent is part of the problem in the first place.’
‘Yes. You’re right. Usually. But not this time. I didn’t do this to my little girl. I had no part in it. I am virtually as much a stranger to her as any other therapist would be, but I can give her more time, more care, more attention than anyone else. With another doctor, she’d be just another patient. But with me, she’ll be my only patient. I’ll take leave of absence from Saint Mark’s. I’ll shift my private patients to some colleagues for a few weeks or even months. I won’t expect fast progress from her because I’ll have all the time in the world. Melanie is going to get all of me, everything I have to offer as a doctor, as a psychiatrist, and all the love I have to offer as a mother.’
Pantangello seemed on the verge of issuing another warning or offering more advice, but he decided against it. ‘Well … good luck.’
‘Thank you.’
When the physician had gone, leaving Laura and Haldane alone in the silent, antiseptic-scented corridor, the detective said, ‘It’s a big job.’
‘I can handle it.’
‘I’m sure you can.’
‘She’ll get well.’
‘I hope she does.’
At the nurses’ station, at the end of the hall, a muffled phone rang twice.
Haldane said, ‘I’ve sent for a uniformed officer. Just in case Melanie witnessed the murders, in case someone might be looking for her, I thought it was a good idea to post a guard. Until tomorrow afternoon, anyway.’
‘Thank you, Lieutenant.’
‘You aren’t staying here, are you?’
‘Yes. Of course. Where else?’
‘Not long, I hope.’
‘A few hours.’
‘You need your rest, Doctor McCaffrey.’
‘Melanie needs me more. I couldn’t sleep anyway.’
He said, ‘But if she’s coming home tomorrow, won’t you have to get things ready for her?’
Laura blinked. ‘Oh. I hadn’t thought about that. I’ll have to prepare a bedroom. She can’t sleep in a crib any longer.’
‘Better go home,’ he said gently.
‘In a little while,’ she agreed. ‘But not to sleep. I can’t sleep. I’ll leave her alone here just long enough to get the house ready for her homecoming.’
‘I hate to bring it up, but I’d like to get blood samples from you and Melanie.’
The request puzzled her. ‘Why?’
He hesitated. ‘Well, with samples of your blood, your husband’s, and the girl’s, we can pretty much pin down for sure whether she’s your daughter.’
‘No need for that.’
‘It’s the easiest way—’
‘I said, there’s no need for that,’ she told him irritably. ‘She’s Melanie. She’s my little girl. I know it.’
‘I know how you feel,’ he said sympathetically. ‘I understand. I’m sure she is your daughter. But since you haven’t seen her in six years, six years in which she’s changed a great deal, and since she can’t speak for herself, we’re going to need some proof, not just your instincts, or the juvenile court is going to put her in the state’s custody. You don’t want that, do you?’