“If there’s a scandal,” she said, “do I need to worry that Kay might discuss it on CNN? Could that be why Oscar gave us no choice about getting her here? He wants the news coverage?”
Benton stopped at the cashier’s desk to pay the bill.
When they were outside the cafeteria, he said, “She would never do that to you.”
“I had to ask.”
“Even if she were the type, she can’t do it,” Benton said as they walked toward the atrium. “She’s either his physician or she ends up your witness.”
“Not sure Oscar thought of all that when he demanded an audience with her, demanded she pay a house call,” Berger said. “Maybe he thought he was giving her some grand pre-interview.”
“I don’t know what the hell he thought, but I shouldn’t have talked her into it. I shouldn’t have let anybody talk her into it.”
“Now you’re sounding like a husband. And by anybody, you obviously mean me.”
He didn’t answer.
Her high heels clicked on polished granite.
“If and when Oscar’s charged,” she said, “it may turn out that what he’s telling Kay is the only information we ever get that might be remotely reliable. It’s good she’s examining him. Good for a number of reasons. We want him happy. We want him treated extremely well. We want him safe and everyone around him safe.” She put on her coat. “When Marino interviewed him over the phone, Oscar started throwing around the term hate crime. He said he was a little person, made that point repeatedly to Marino, who of course didn’t understand what a little person was. Had to ask him. Oscar, by now quite agitated, answered, ‘Fucking dwarf.’ Said that’s why he was being followed, targeted. It was a hate crime in progress. . . .”
Berger’s cell phone rang.
“Kay’s going to have to be told Marino’s here,” she added as she put on her wireless earpiece.
She listened for a moment, and anger touched her face.
“We’ll see about that,” she said. “This is completely unacceptable. . . . Did I expect it? Well, it’s become the pattern, now, hasn’t it, but I hoped . . . No, no, no. I can’t. Certainly not in this case . . . Well. I’d really rather not . . . Yes, she is, but due to certain circumstances, I hesitate . . . Indeed, I did. Who the hell hasn’t seen it?” She looked at Benton. “Then maybe you understand why I don’t want to do that . . . Uh-huh. I’m hearing you. I got it loud and clear the first time you said it. I suppose I could find out if she’s willing and get back with you. But I wouldn’t blame her for wanting to get the hell out of here, catch the last shuttle to Logan. . . .”
She ended the call.
They were outside the hospital now, on the sidewalk. It was almost four, and getting dark, and very cold, and their breath was as thick as smoke.
“Marino doesn’t mean to hurt people,” Benton felt compelled to say. “He didn’t mean what happened.”
“You’re saying he didn’t mean it when he raped Kay.” Matter-of-factly as she put on gray mirror-finished glasses that hid her eyes. “Or is what’s all over the Internet today untrue? I wish to hell you’d sent him to some office other than mine. He’s fully involved in this goddamn case, and there’s no way to keep the two of them apart indefinitely. You have to talk to her.”
“What’s in that gossip column gives a false impression.”
“A forensic linguist would have a field day with that statement. But I’ll take your word for it. What’s on the Internet’s a complete fabrication. Glad to hear it.”
She pulled on kid-leather gloves and turned up the collar of her shorn mink coat.
“I didn’t say it was completely untrue,” he replied.
He stared at the distant Empire State Building, lighted red and green for the holidays, a warning beacon flashing atop its spire to remind aircraft to stay clear. Berger placed her hand on his arm.
“Look,” she said in a gentler tone. “You should have told me the real reason Marino left Charleston, left Kay, is because of what he did to her. I’m going to work very hard at being understanding. I know what it must have done to you. Of all people, I should know.”
“I’ll fix it.”
“You won’t fix anything, Benton. What you’ll do is move forward. All of us have to move forward and be smart each step of the way.”
She removed her hand from his arm, and it felt like rejection.
“It’s astonishing you’d do anything to help him,” Berger added. “You’re quite the friend to him, I must admit. But if we’re talking motive? My guess? You hoped if you helped him, covered up for him, it would make what he did untrue. But now the world knows. You want to guess how many calls I’ve had today? About that goddamn column?”
“You should ask him. He was drunk. Don’t fire him.”
“Every rapist I’ve locked up was drunk or on drugs or both or it was consensual or she started it or it didn’t happen. I won’t fire him unless he brings it upon himself. I’ve decided this is Kay’s battle. Not yours. Not Lucy’s. Although I fear Lucy’s not likely to see it that way.”
“Kay’s dealt with it.”
Hands in her pockets to ward off the cold, Berger said, “Really. Then why this big to-do about her not knowing he works for me? Why the secret? I thought it was all about his walking off the job, decompensating because of you and Kay, because he was jealous—which has always been as obvious as the Empire State Building you seem fixated on. He decided it was time to let her go and clean up his act. Stupid me. I never called Kay to corroborate your story. I didn’t ask for references. Because I trusted you.”
“He’s tried. He’s tried harder than anyone I know. That should be obvious to you. You’re around him. You need to ask him about him. Let him tell you what he did,” Benton said.
“For the record, you lied to me.”
She was looking for a taxi.
“For the record, I didn’t lie. And he didn’t rape her.”
“Were you there?”
“She said it didn’t go that far. She never pressed charges. To her it’s a private matter. It’s not my place to talk about it with you or anyone. She didn’t even tell me at first. Yes, fair enough. Delusion, my head in the sand. Poor judgment, probably. But what was in the gossip column this morning is distorted. Go ahead and ask Marino. I assume he’s seen it. Or he will soon enough.”
“And Lucy? Just so I know what to expect.”
“She’s seen the column, of course,” he said. “She’s the one who called me about it.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t kill him on the spot, as much as she adores her Aunt Kay.”
“She almost did.”
“Good to know. Not so long ago, she would have. You owe me a favor.”
A taxi perilously swerved toward her and lurched to a halt.
“I need Kay to drop by the morgue tonight,” she said. “And you’re just the person to ask her.”
She climbed inside the taxi.
“The phone call I got a few minutes ago?” She looked up at him and said, “I need Kay to examine the body, if she’s willing. I’m afraid Dr. Lester’s playing her usual games with me. We’re tracking her down. She’s getting her ass back to the morgue asap and will cooperate if I have to call the goddamn mayor.”
She pulled the door shut. Benton stood on the sidewalk in the cold and watched Jaime Berger’s yellow taxi speed away, cutting off two other cars to a cacophony of angry honks.