'For how long?'
'Six months.'
'Did she resent these sessions with you?'
'No. She was in pain, and believe me, mental disorders are as painful as your pain would be if you broke a leg. It's not the kind of pain you can take an aspirin for or rub away, and you can't take antibiotics to cure it, but the hurt is very real to those who are suffering.'
'How did she deal with her past?'
'She didn't. I never did really connect with her. The re-experiencing process is the most painful of all. It requires the individual to deal with their darkest side, examine motives and actions they'd rather forget.'
'And Rene resisted it?'
'Wasn't really interested. I strongly suspect she was sexually abused by her father although she never admitted that. She did tell me once that her father was physically and mentally abusive, but that was as far as she took it.'
'So she was uncooperative?'
'No, she was friendly and talkative, she just didn't want to deal with the past, and six months wasn't enough time to earn her trust.'
'You liked her, then?'
'I didn't dislike her. She was a patient I saw for three hours a week. We never got beyond her shielding, which is not uncommon at all.'
'Did you ever consider her dangerous?'
'No - well, to herself, perhaps, when she first came to me. She was verging on manic-depression, there's always a danger of suicide in depression cases. But I never considered her capable of purposely hurting someone else.'
'So you feel she was cured?'
'Let's just say we stopped the problem before it got too bad. She was never an inpatient, she just met with me for three hours a week and I had her on some antidepressant medication.'
'Worked at night, you say?' asked Vail.
He nodded. 'Five nights a week for four hours and eight hours on the weekends. She was the night housekeeping staff, cleaned the offices and meeting rooms.'
'So she would have had access to keys to the offices, for clean-up purposes?' said Vail.
'Uh-huh…'
'You say she was goin''t'school. Remember what she was studyin'?'
'Data processing. The wave of the future, she called it.'
'Where was that, here in Winthrop?' Vail asked.
Salzman chuckled. 'Obviously you've never seen Winthrop. It's about the size of your hand. She commuted to Shelbyville, about fifteen miles up the Indy highway. Drove an old Pontiac Firebird.'
'Do you know where she went when she left here?'
'Sorry. We lost track of her after she left. You might check with Jean in Personnel on the off-chance somebody asked for a reference.' Molly excused herself and went into her office. They could hear her talking to someone on the phone.
'One more thing,' said St Claire to Salzman. 'Did ya ever get any indication that Rene Hutchinson might have been psychotic, or have psychotic tendencies?'
'No, but that doesn't mean she wasn't. Psychopaths are consummate liars, among other things. She was aloof and could be very guarded at times. And she had mood swings, but then, who doesn't.'
'Anything else you can think of?'
'Well, no, not really. She was excellent with young people, particularly in the eight-to-fifteen age range. They seemed to relate to her, if that means anything.'
'Did she ever mention Aaron Stampler or a fella named Vulpes? Raymond Vulpes?' St Claire asked.
'Not that I recall.'
Vail gave Salzman his card. 'If you think of anything else, would you give me a call?' he asked.
Salzman lifted his glasses, propping them on his forehead as he
