“What kind of role?”
“Should you choose to commit yourself to an extended course of psychological consultation- coordinating the management of Melissa’s emotional affairs in sync with Glenn’s and my stewardship of the financial aspects of her life, I’d be sure to see that your views were considered at all critical junctures. And well compensated.”
“Let me get this straight,” I said. “You’d like me to help you certify Melissa psychologically incapable of handling her own affairs so that a guardian can be appointed to manage her money.”
Anger winced.
“Wrong,” said Douse. “We don’t
“One thing you should be clear on, Doctor,” said Anger, “is that the money’s not Melissa’s yet. Not in a legal sense. She’d have a heck of a time getting hold of it before the process completes itself. And as Jim said, the wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly. The process will take a long time- months. Or even longer. In the meantime, her needs have to be met- the running of this household, salaries, repairs. Not to mention marshaling investments through a web of regulations. Things need to progress smoothly. As far as I can see, a guardian’s clearly the best way to go.”
“Who’d be the guardian? Don Ramp?”
Douse cleared his throat and shook his head.
“No,” he said. “That would contravene the spirit, if not the letter, of Arthur Dickinson’s will.”
“Who, then?”
More dead air. Footsteps thumped somewhere in the big house. A vacuum whined. The phone rang once.
“My firm,” said Douse, “has been of long service to this family. There’s a certain logic to seeing that continue.”
I said nothing. He unbuttoned his jacket, pulled out a small crocodile case, removed a white business card, and gave it to me gravely, as if it were something of value.
J. MADISON DOUSE, JR.
ATTORNEY AT LAW
WRESTING, DOUSE, AND COSNER
820 S. FLOWER STREET
LOS ANGELES, CA 90017
Douse said, “The founding partner was Chief Justice Douse.”
Leaving out the “my uncle” part. Confusing conspicuous discretion with class.
Anger blew it by saying, “Jim’s uncle.”
Douse cleared his throat without opening his mouth. The end result was a deep, bullish snort.
Anger hastened to repair: “The Douse and Dickinson families have been bonded by many years of implicit trust and goodwill. Arthur entrusted his affairs to Jim’s dad, back in the days when those affairs were even more complex than they are now. It’s in your patient’s best interests that she be taken care of by the best, Doctor.”
“Right now,” I said, “it’s in my patient’s best interests to marshal her emotional defenses in order to deal with losing her mother.”
“Exactly,” said Anger. “That’s exactly the reason Jim and I would like to see everything squared away as soon as possible.”
“The problem,” said Douse, “is one of procedural transfer- establishing continuity. Every step of the process as it currently operates was contingent upon Mrs. Ramp’s approval. Even though she had little to do in terms of a hands-on, day-to-day management role, legally- procedurally- we were required to interface with her. Now that she’s… no longer available, we’re obligated to-”
“Deal with her heir?” I said. “Must be a hell of an inconvenience.”
Douse buttoned his jacket and leaned forward. His forehead puckered and wrinkled and he sniffed like a tackle out for a quarterback. “I sense a… combativeness here, Dr. Delaware, that’s wholly unwarranted by the facts at hand.”
“Maybe,” I said. “Or maybe I just don’t like the idea of being asked to lie professionally. Even if your intentions
“That,” said Anger, coloring, “has nothing to do with-”
“Whatever,” I said. “The bottom line is, any decision to delegate management of Melissa’s money will have to be Melissa’s. And it will have to be voluntary.”
Douse pressed his fingertips together, withdrew them, repeated the gesture several times. It might have been a parody of applause. His eyes were steady and small.
He said, “Well, there’s obviously no need for you to assume the burden of assessment, Doctor. Given your reluctance.”
“What does that mean? Bring in the hired-gun expert witnesses?”
His face remained blank as he showed his cuff monogram and consulted a gold-and-rivet Cartier that looked much too small for his wrist.
“Nice meeting you, Doctor.” To Anger: “This clearly isn’t a good time to be visiting, Glenn. We’ll come back when she’s feeling more up to it.”
Anger nodded but he looked off-balance. None of his trophies had been for Overt Conflict.
Douse touched his elbow, and the two of them walked past me, heading for the entry. And came face-to-face with Melissa, who stepped out from behind a tall bookcase. Her hair was tied in a ponytail. She had on a black blouse over a knee-length khaki skirt, no stockings, black sandals. Something pink was clenched in her right hand- a balled tissue.
“Melissa,” said Anger, switching on a loan-denial sad-face. “I’m so sorry about your mother, hon. You know Mr. Douse.”
Douse held out his hand.
Melissa opened her palm and showed the tissue. Douse dropped his arm.
“Mr. Douse,” she said. “I know who you are, but we’ve never met, have we?”
“Sorry it has to be under these circumstances,” said the attorney.
“Yes. How kind of you to come. And on a Sunday.”
“Days don’t matter when it comes to something like this,” said Anger. “We came by to see how you were doing, but Dr. Delaware told us you were resting and we were just on our way out.”
“Mr. Douse,” she said, ignoring him and stepping closer to the attorney. “Mr. Douse, Mr. Douse. Please
After they were gone, she cried out in rage and collapsed against me, weeping.
Noel came running down the stairs, looking scared and confused and eager to comfort. He saw her pressed to my chest and stopped midway down the flight.
I motioned him forward with a small backward movement of my head.
He stepped very close to her and said, “Melissa?”
She kept crying, pushed her head into my sternum so hard it hurt. I patted her back. It seemed
