“Sometimes it’s good for kids to take some time to think about what happened before they come in.”
“I think fast,” she said. “And there’s other stuff I didn’t say yet.”
“You really want to come in tomorrow?”
“I want to get better.”
“All right then, I can see you tomorrow at five. If Jacob can bring you.”
“He will,” she said. “He wants me to get better, too.”
I saw her out through the separate exit and spotted Dutchy walking down the hall, a paper bag in one hand. When he saw us he frowned and looked at his watch.
Melissa said, “We’re coming back to him at five tomorrow, Jacob.”
Dutchy raised his eyebrows and said, “I believe I’m right on time, Doctor.”
“You are,” I said. “I was just showing Melissa the separate exit.”
“So other kids won’t see me or know who I am,” she said. “It’s privacy.”
“I see,” said Dutchy, looking up and down the hall. “I brought you something, young lady. To tide you over until dinner.” The top half of the bag was accordion-folded neatly. He opened it with his fingertips and drew out an oatmeal cookie.
Melissa squealed, took it from him, and prepared to bite into it.
Dutchy cleared his throat.
Melissa held the cookie mid-air. “Thank you, Jacob.”
“You’re quite welcome, young lady.”
She turned to me. “Would you like some, Dr. Delaware?”
“No, thank you, Melissa.” Sounding to myself like a charm school candidate.
She licked her lips and went to work on the cookie.
I said, “I’d like to talk to you for a moment, Mr. Dutchy.”
He glanced at his watch again. “The freeway… the longer we wait…”
I said, “Some things came up during the session. Important things.”
He said, “Really, it’s quite-”
I forced a patient grin and said, “If I’m to do my job, I’m going to need help, Mr. Dutchy.”
From the look on his face, I might have passed wind at an embassy dinner. He cleared his throat again and said, “One moment, Melissa,” and walked several feet down the corridor. Melissa, her mouth full of cookie, followed him with her eyes.
I smiled at her, said, “We’ll just be one second, hon,” and joined him.
He looked up and down the hall and folded his arms across his chest. “What is it, Doctor?”
From a foot away, he was shaven clean as palmar flesh, smelling of bay rum and fresh laundry.
I said, “She talked about what happened to her mother. Some person named Mikoksi.”
He flinched. “Really, sir, it’s not my place.”
“This is important, Mr. Dutchy. It’s obviously relevant to her fears.”
“It’s best that her mother-”
“True. The problem is I’ve left several messages with her mother that haven’t been returned. Normally, I wouldn’t even see a child without direct parental participation. But Melissa obviously needs help. Lots of help. I can provide that help but I need information.”
He chewed his cheek so long and hard I was afraid he’d gnaw through it. Down the hall, Melissa was munching and staring at us.
He said, “Whatever happened was before the child’s time.”
“Chronologically, maybe. But not psychologically.”
He stared at me for a long moment. A hint of moisture appeared in the corner of his right eye, no bigger than the diamond on a budget engagement ring. He blinked and made it disappear. “Really, this is quite awkward. I’m an employee…”
I said, “All right. I don’t want to put you in a difficult position. But please deliver the message that someone needs to talk to me as soon as possible.”
Melissa scuffed her feet. The cookie was gone. Dutchy gave her a grave but oddly tender look.
I said, “I do want to see her tomorrow at five.”
He nodded, took a step closer, so that we were almost touching, and whispered in my ear: “She pronounces it Mikoksi but the damned villain’s name was Mc
Lowering his head and pushing it forward, like a turtle peeking out of its shell. Waiting for a reaction.
Expecting me to know something…
I said, “Doesn’t ring any bells.”
The head drew back. “Were you living in Los Angeles ten years ago, Doctor?”
I nodded.
“It was in the papers.”
“I was in school. Concentrating on my textbooks.”
“March of 1969,” he said. “March third.” A pained look crossed his face. “This is- That’s all I can say right now, Doctor. Perhaps some other time.”
“All right,” I said. “See you tomorrow.”
“Five it is.” He let out his breath and drew himself up. Tugging at his lapels, he cleared his throat. “Getting back to the present, I trust everything proceeded as planned today.”
“Everything went fine.”
Melissa was coming our way. The white satin sash had come loose and hung from a single loop, scraping the floor. Dutchy rushed over and tied it, brushed crumbs from her dress, braced her shoulders, and told her to stand up straight, young lady, a curved spine simply wouldn’t do.
She smiled up at him.
They held hands as they left the building.
I saw another patient a few minutes later, managed to put the cello and the piccolo out of my mind for three quarters of an hour. Leaving the office at seven, I took a five-minute drive to the Beverly Hills Library. The reading room was crowded with retirees checking out the final stock quotations and teenagers doing their homework or faking it. By seven-fifteen I was sitting at a microfilm viewer with a March ’69 spool of the
ACTRESS THE VICTIM OF ACID ATTACK
(HOLLYWOOD) A quiet hillside neighborhood above Hollywood Boulevard was the scene of a grisly early- morning assault upon a former fashion model currently under contract to Apex Motion Picture Studios, that left neighbors of the victim horror-struck and wondering why.
Regina Marie Paddock, 23, 2103 Beachwood Drive, Apartment 2, was awakened at home by her doorbell at 4:30 A.M., by a man claiming to be a Western Union messenger.
When she opened the door, the man brandished a bottle and flung its contents in her face. She collapsed screaming and the assailant, described as a male Negro, five eleven to six two, 190-200 pounds, escaped on foot.
The victim was taken to Hollywood Presbyterian Hospital where she was treated for third-degree facial burns. A hospital spokesman described her condition as “serious, but stable. She’s in no mortal danger but is in considerable pain, having sustained extensive tissue damage to the left side of her face. Miraculously, her eyes were unaffected.”
