'Jones, as in Charles L. Junior. Hotshot financier? The hospital's primary money manager?'
'Don't know him.'
'That's right-you don't read your newsletters. Well, as of eight months ago he's also chairman of the board. There was a big shake-up.'
'The budget?'
'What else. Anyway, here's the genealogy: Charles Junior's only son is Charles the Third-like royalty. He goes by Clip-Cassie's daddy. The mom is Cindy. The dead son was Chad Charles the Fourth.'
All Cs,' I said. 'Sounds like they like order.'
'Whatever. The main thing is, Cassie is Charles Junior's only gr''ndhild. Isn't that wonderful, Alex? Here I am with a potential Munchausen by proxy that could explode in everyone's face, and the patient's the only grandchild of the guy who took away the free coffee.'
We got up from the table and she said, 'If you don't mind, we can take the stairs up.'
'Morning aerobics? Sure.'
'You hit thirty-five,' she said, smoothing her dress and buttoning her white coat, 'and the old basal metabolism goes to hell. Got to work hard not to be lumpy. Plus, the elevators still move on Valium Standard Time.'
We walked toward the cafeteria's main exit. The tables were completely empty now. A brown-uniformed maintenance worker was wet-mopping the floor, and we had to step gingerly to maintain traction.
I said, 'The elevator I took to your office was converted to key lock.
Why the need for all the security?'
'The official line is crime prevention,' she said. 'Keeping all the street craziness out of here. Which to some extent is valid-there have been increased problems, mostly during the night shift. But can you remember a time when East Hollywood didn't get bad after dark?'
We reached the door. Another maintenance man was locking it and when he saw us, he gave a world-weary look and held it open for us.
Stephanie said, 'Reduced hours-another budget cut.'
Out in the hallway, things had gotten frantic. Doctors blew past in boisterous groups, filling the air with fast talk. Families traipsed through, wheeling doll-sized veteran journeyors to and from the ordeals wrought by science.
A silent crowd was assembled at the elevator doors, clumped like human droplets, waiting for any of three lifts that had settled simultaneously on the third floor. Waiting, always the waiting..
Stephanie moved through deftly, nodding at familiar faces but never stopping. I followed close behind, avoiding collision with I.V poles.
When we entered the basement stairwell, I said, 'What kind of crime problems have there been?'
'The usual, but more so,' she said, climbing. 'Car thefts, vandalism, purse snatchings. Some muggings out on Sunset. And a couple of nurses were assaulted in the parking lot across the street a few months ago.'
'Sexual assaults?' I said, taking two steps at a time in order to keep up.
'That was never made clear. Neither of them came back to talk about it. They were night-shift floats, not regular staff. What I heard was that they were beaten up pretty badly and had their purses stolen.
The police sent a community relations officer who gave us the usual personal safety lecture and admitted that, bottom line, there was little anyone could do to guarantee safety unless the hospital was turned into an armed camp. The women on the staff screamed a lot and the administration promised to have Security patrol more regularly.'
Any follow-through?'
'Guess so-you see more uniforms in the lots and there've been no attacks since then. But the protection came with a whole bunch of other stuff no one asked for. Robocops on campus, new badges, frequent hassles like the one you just went through. Personally, I think we played right into the administration's hands-gave them an excuse for exercising more control. And once they get it, they'll never relinquish it.'
