English (circa 1790) coffee table.
'Good morning, Counselor,' Giacomo said, walking to Payne with his hand extended. 'Thank you for receiving us on such short notice.'
'Hello, Armando,' Payne said, and took the hand.
Giacomo crossed to Mawson. He did not seem surprised to find him in Payne's office.
'It's always a pleasure to see you, Colonel,' he said. 'How nice to bump into you, so to speak, like this.'
'It's always a pleasure to see you, Armando,' Mawson said.
'Gentlemen, may I introduce Mr. Vincenzo Savarese?' Giacomo said.
Savarese was slight, and had very pale, almost translucent skin. His eyes were prominent and intelligent, and he was dressed in a conservative, nearly black single-breasted, vested suit.
This man is a thug, Payne thought, and if the stories are true, a murderer by his own hand when he was younger-and in many other ways a criminal. I don't want to forget that.
Savarese crossed first to Payne.
'I am in your debt, Mr. Payne, for receiving me under these circumstances.'
He put out his hand. Payne took it and was surprised at how fragile and soft it was.
Didn't I hear someplace that he is an accomplished violinist?
'Colonel Mawson and I were having a cup of coffee,' Payne said, gesturing toward the coffee table and the green leather furniture. 'May I offer you a cup?'
'Thank you, no,' Savarese said. 'I don't want to take any more of your and Colonel Mawson's time than I have to.'
'How may I be of service, Mr. Savarese?' Payne asked after Savarese had lowered himself gingerly onto the couch.
'I hope you will believe me that I would not have troubled you if it was not absolutely necessary,' Savarese said. 'May I get directly to the point?'
'Please do,' Payne said.
'I come to you as a father and grandfather who needs help he cannot get elsewhere for his daughter and granddaughter. '
'Go on,' Payne said.
'My daughter is grown, a married woman, married to… Her husband is Randolph Longwood, of Bala Cynwyd. Perhaps you are familiar with the name?'
'The builder?' Colonel Mawson asked.
'Yes, the builder. I think I should say that I have no business relationship of any kind with my son-in- law.'
'You know Randy Longwood, Brew,' Mawson said. 'He belongs to Rose Tree Hunt.'
'Of course,' Payne said, a little uncomfortably, and more than a little surprised that the identity of Longwood's father-in-law had escaped the Rose Tree Hunt Club Membership Committee. He had had trouble getting Colonel J. Dunlop Mawson past it, as they had had questions about the suitability for membership of a lawyer practicing criminal law.
'My daughter has a daughter,' Savarese went on, 'who has recently suffered some sort of emotional shock.'
Payne looked at him but said nothing.
'The nature of which we really don't know,' Savarese continued. 'Except that, whatever it was, it was quite severe. She is currently hospitalized at University Hospital. Her family physician had her admitted, and arranged for her to be attended by Dr. Aaron Stein.'
'Stein is a fine…'-Payne stopped himself just in time from saying 'psychiatrist'-'physician.'
'So I understand,' Savarese said. 'He has recommended that my granddaughter be seen by Dr. Payne.'
'Stein and my daughter are friends,' Payne offered. 'That's how I came to meet him.'
They are friends, Payne thought. But that's now. It used to be Humble Student sitting at the feet of the Master.
Stein was as old as he was. Amy had originally gone to University Hospital thrilled at the chance to work with him, to learn from him. They had-surprising the psychiatric fraternity; Stein had a reputation for holding most fellow psychiatrists as fools-become friends and ultimately colleagues, and Payne knew that Stein had even proposed a joint private practice to Amy, which she had declined, for reasons Payne had not understood.
'So he told my daughter,' Savarese said. 'But apparently, that friendship hasn't been enough to convince Dr. Payne to see my granddaughter.'
Stein sends Amy a patient and she turns her-which means Dr. Stein, her guru-down? That sounds a bit odd.
'I don't really see, Mr. Savarese, what this has to do with me,' Payne said.
I know damned well what it has to do with me. He wants me to go to Amy, who certainly had her reasons to refuse to see the granddaughter, and ask her to reconsider.
It's absolutely none of my business. Amy would first be amazed, and then, justifiably, more than a little annoyed that I was putting my nose into her practice. Particularly in a case like this.
Or is it my fault? Amelia Payne, M.D., Fellow of the American College of Psychiatry, is also Amy Payne, loving daughter of Brewster C. Payne, and has heard, time and time again, his opinions of organized crime and its practitioners. It is unlikely, but not impossible, that Amy turned down this girl either because of me, or because she doesn't want to get involved with anyone involved with the mob.
'My granddaughter is very ill, Mr. Payne,' Savarese said. 'Otherwise, I would not involve myself in this. Neither Dr. Seaburg, her family physician, nor Dr. Stein, is aware of our relationship. But I love her, and my daughter, and so, as one father to another, I am willing to beg for help for her.'
'You want me to speak to my daughter, is that it?'
'I am begging you to do so,' Savarese said simply.
Where are we? Amy has declined to see this girl for reasons that have nothing to do with me-he let me off the hook on that, when he said neither the family physician nor Dr. Stein knows he's the girl's grandfather-or with Savarese.
And the girl, obviously, should not be punished for the sins of the grandfather in any event. And in this case, he is the grandfather, not the Mafia don.
'Will you excuse me for a moment, please?' Payne said, and walked out of his office, past Mrs. Craig's desk, across the corridor and into Colonel J. Dunlop Mawson's office.
'I need the Colonel's office a moment, Janet,' he said to Mawson's secretary.
He went into Mawson's office, sat on his red leather couch, and pulled the telephone to him.
It took him nearly five minutes to get Amy on the line, and when she came on the line, there was worry and concern in her voice.
'Daddy? They said it was important?'
'Indulge me for a moment, Amy,' he said.
'I'm always afraid you're calling to tell me Matt got himself shot again,' she said, her relief evident in her voice.
'As far as I know, the only danger Matt faces at the moment is from the understandably irate father of the girl he took from Chad Nesbitt's birthday party and who has not called home since,' Payne said.
There was a short chuckle, and then-now with a tone of impatience in her voice-she asked: 'What's important, then, Daddy? I'm really up to my ass in work.'
'Did Dr. Stein send you a patient, a young woman, by the name of Longwood?'
'Aaron sends me a lot of patients, or tries to, but that name doesn't ring a bell. Why do you ask?'
'Aaron'? It wasn't that long ago when she reverentially called him 'Doctor Stein.'
And: We are no longer Daddy Dear and Daughter Darling. That was The Doctor putting A Nosy Lawyer in his place.
'Her grandfather is in my office,' Payne said.
'Wait a minute,' Amy said. 'Now I remember the name. Cynthia Longwood. A Bala Cynwyd maiden who had a traumatic experience with her boyfriend. I told Aaron, sorry, no, I have a lapful of really sick people. How did you get involved in this? Is her grandfather a client?'
