“You said no,” Josie said. “Why?”
He gave a heavy sigh and his gaze drifted over the tops of their heads. “Why? The question that has plagued me for nearly twenty years. Why? Because I was a drunk. I was lazy. I was stubborn, and I was a lecherous old fool. I didn’t want to help Lorelei with her patient because I had made a pass at her, and she’d turned me down. The truth is I was too wasted during that time in my life to remember much of it. It was a blur. She tried to find another psychiatrist to treat the patient, but before she could find anyone, he had carried out his attack.”
“How was that her fault?” Josie asked. “Her license was revoked. Her career was destroyed.”
Buckley sighed again. “It wasn’t her fault. It was just so egregious that the powers that be felt something had to be done. Even then, she was only to get a slap on the wrist. Then the boy’s father got involved. A man who had not even seen his son for ten years because he couldn’t handle his behaviors. This man gave up on his son, but when there was money to be had in suing our clinic, he was front and center. Made a cool million from our insurance policy. Lorelei’s license was just a casualty.”
“But not yours,” Noah said.
“No. Not mine. Lorelei could have taken me down with her, but she didn’t. Of course, I’ve spent a lifetime repaying that debt. Until today. Now I am free. So is Lorelei. Finally.”
Josie didn’t think that Emily would see it that way, but she didn’t say that. Instead, she turned the conversation toward the case, and finding out everything they could about Lorelei’s life and who had been in it. “Were you in touch with Lorelei through the entire process? The lawsuit and licensing hearings?”
“No. I didn’t hear from her until Rory was about six years old. He had been throwing tantrums. Severe tantrums. Destroying toys and anything he could get his hands on. He was spiteful. If she told him to brush his teeth, he might try to throw her hot coffee in her face. She could not manage him—not with a toddler in the house.”
Josie said, “The children’s father wasn’t involved?”
“No. She said he was a non-factor. He had shown some interest in Rory when he was an infant but once the difficulties started, he did not want to be involved. Very much like the father of her last patient, sadly. I don’t think that Lorelei wanted him involved anyway. She had serious trust issues when it came to men. Well, not only men, I suppose, but let’s say she trusted men least of all. She was the expert, she said, and she didn’t want another person there making decisions for her children.”
Noah asked, “She never told you anything about the father? His name? Anything at all?”
Buckley shook his head. “All she would say is that he was a mistake. That was it. I used to joke that he was clearly a mistake she liked to make over and over again. She didn’t appreciate that.”
“What happened when she called you about Rory?” Josie asked. “What did she want?”
He spread his hands. “Help. She had already evaluated him and thought he probably had oppositional defiant disorder. I went there and evaluated him. I agreed with her assessment, although I also suspected that he might have comorbidities like conduct disorder, autism, and ADHD, which made things much more complicated for him. One thing was for certain: he had uncontrollable aggression. Most of the time, these children with disorders that cause violent ideations don’t actually act on them. Sometimes they’ll destroy property but violence against other people is extremely rare, believe it or not. But Rory was not responding to Lorelei’s efforts. She wanted to medicate him. I do not typically medicate children that young.”
“So you didn’t?” Josie asked.
“I didn’t. I told her to keep working with him. She had been out of practice for some time. I made some recommendations based on studies I had read.”
“But that didn’t work,” said Noah.
Again, Buckley’s gaze went over their heads, as if he were looking into his past. He didn’t like what he saw. “No. It didn’t. I was back there within a year.”
“You prescribed medication,” Josie said. “Why?”
“Rory had injured his sister, Holly. Badly. He routinely beat her, shook her, pushed and pulled at her. He was out of control. Lorelei could not manage him.”
“What did you do?” Josie asked.
Buckley waved a hand toward the grounds all around them. “I brought him here. Got him stabilized. Worked with him until I felt it was safe for him to return to Lorelei’s care.”
“Lorelei just gave you her child?” Josie said.
“You must understand how desperate she was, how exhausted, and how frightened.”
Noah said, “Why didn’t she just have him admitted somewhere?”
“Because she knew what would happen to him. It would be a lifetime of him being in and out of institutions with no continuity of care. He would frequently be placed far away from her, because facilities equipped to deal with his range of issues are few and far between. Then, once he became a teenager, he would do or say something that would land him in the criminal justice system. That is where this story ends for children like Rory. Jail. They don’t get help. They don’t get care. At least, not into adulthood. There are not structures in place in this country to support these kids. Lorelei knew
