'Yes, Sergeant.'
'Middle name?'
'Martin.' He looked at me quizzically, as if expecting a secret eye signal or other evidence of a camaraderie. I turned away.
Milo put the pad on his knee and scrawled.
'Guy Martin Mainwaring . . . okay . . and you're a psychiatrist, right?'
'That's correct.'
'Which means you charge ten bucks an hour more than Dr. Delaware here, right?'
Mainwaring's eyes narrowed with hostility as he looked at me again, unsure what game was being played but aware, suddenly, that I was on the other team. He kept silent.
'The accent's British, right?'
'English.'
'Where'd you go to school? In Britain?'
'I attended the University of Sussex,' the psychiatrist recited crisply. 'Upon earning my M.B. - '
'M.B.?'
'It's the English equivalent of the M.D. - '
'What does the B stand for?'
'Bachelor.'
'So you're a Bachelor of Medicine, not a doctor?'
The psychiatrist sighed.
'It's called that, Sergeant, but it's equivalent to an American medical doctorate.'
'Oh. I thought they called doctors Mister in Britain.'
'Nonsurgical physicians are addressed as Doctor, surgeons as Mister. One of our funny little traditions.'
'What do you use here in America?'
'M.D. To avoid the type of confusion you just experienced.' When Milo didn't say anything, he added: 'It's all quite legal, Sergeant.'
'Confusion is right. Probably be more simple if I just called you Guy, huh?'
Mainwaring bit down on the pipe and puffed furiously.
'You were telling me about what you did after you got your. . . M.B., Doctor.'
'I was awarded a residency at the Maudsley Hospital in London and was subsequently appointed to a lectureship there in the department of psychiatry.'
'What'd you teach?'
Mainwaring looked at the detective as if he were a dull child.
'Clinical psychiatry, Sergeant.'
'Anything in particular?'
'I instructed the house staff in comprehensive patient management. My specialty was the treatment of the major psychoses. The biochemical aspects of human behaviour.'
'Do any research?'
'Some. Sergeant, I really must ask - '
'I'm asking 'cause Dr. Delaware has done a lot of
research, and when he talks about it, I always find it interesting.'
'I'm sure you do.'
'So what was your research about?'
'The limbic system. It's a part of the lower brain that's related to emotional-
'How'd you study it - examine people's brains?'
'On occasion.'
'Live brains?'
'Cadavers.'
'That reminds me of something,' said Milo. 'There was this guy Cole; they executed him last year in Nevada; he used to go into sudden rages and strangle women. Killed anywhere from thirteen to thirty-five. After he was dead, some doctor lifted his brain in order to study it, see if he could find something to explain the guy's behaviour. That was awhile back, and I haven't heard if he found anything. Has it been written up in some medical journal?'
'I really wouldn't know.'
'What do you think? Could you look at a brain and say anything about criminal tendencies?'
'The origins of all behaviour are in the brain, Sergeant, but it's not quite as simple as merely looking - '
'So what did you do with those cadaver brains?'
'Do?'
'How'd you study them?'
'I conducted biochemical analyses on homogenized - '
'Under a microscope?'
'Yes. Actually my use of human brains was infrequent. My usual subjects were higher-level mammals - primates.'
'Monkeys?'
'Chimpanzees.'
'You figure there's a lot to learn about human brains from looking at monkey brains?'
'Within limits. In terms of cognitive function - thinking and reasoning - the chimpanzee brain is significantly more limited than its human counterpart. However - '
'But so are some people's brains, right? Limited.'
'Unfortunately that's true, Sergeant.'
Milo inspected his notes and closed the pad.
'So,' he said, 'you're quite an expert.'
Mainwaring looked down with forced modesty and polished his pipe with the edge of his sweater.
'One tries one's best.'
My friend swivelled toward me.
'You were right, Dr. D. He is the right person to talk to.' Back to Mainwaring.
'I'm here for a little medical education, Doctor. An expert consultation.'
'Regarding what?'
'Drugs. How they affect behaviour.'
Mainwaring tensed and glanced at me sharply.
'In relationship to the Cadmus case?' he asked.
'Possibly.'
'Then I'm afraid I can't be of much help, Sergeant. James Cadmus is my patient, and any information I have is privileged.'
Milo got up and walked over to the dining room table. He picked up the photo of the two children and examined it.
'Nice-looking kids.'
'Thank you.'
'The girl kind of looks like you.'
'Actually both of them resemble their mother. Sergeant, ordinarily I'd be pleased to help, but I have a staggering amount of work to do, so if- '
'Homework, huh?'
'Pardon me?'
'You took the day off to work at home.'
Mainwaring shrugged and smiled.
'Sometimes it's the only way to get through the paper work.'
'Who takes care of the patients when you're gone?'
'I have three excellent psychiatrists on my staff.'
Milo returned to the living room and sat down.
