Chapter 82
S O NOW WE WERE INVESTIGATING the case for Mena Sunderland, too, in her memory ? at least that was what I told myself, that was my rationalization. This was for Maria Cross, and Mena Sunderland, and all the others.
For the next three days I worked closely with Sampson during the day and then went out on the street with him at night. Our night shift usually took place from ten until around two. We were part of the task force patrolling Georgetown and Foggy Bottom, areas where the rapist-killer had struck before. Emotions were running high, but no one wanted him more than I did.
Still, I was trying my best to keep the very tense investigation in some kind of perspective and control. Almost every night, I managed to have dinner with Nana and the kids. I checked in with Kayla Coles in North Carolina, and she sounded better. I also conducted half a dozen sessions with my patients, including Kim Stafford, who was coming to see me twice a week and maybe even making some progress. Her fiancée had never mentioned our “talk” to her.
My morning ritual included grabbing a coffee at the Starbucks, which was right in my building, or at the Au Bon Pain on the corner of Indiana and Sixth. The problem with Au Bon Pain was that I liked their pastries too much, so I had to stay clear of the place as much as I could.
Kim was my favorite patient. Therapists usually have favorites, no matter how much they rationalize that they don’t. “Remember, I told you that Jason wasn’t such a bad guy?” she said about fifteen minutes into our session one morning. I remembered, and I also recalled cleaning his clock pretty good at the station house where he worked.
“Well, he was pure, unadulterated garbage, Dr. Cross. I’ve figured that much out. Took me a lot longer than it should have.”
I nodded and waited for more to come. I knew exactly what I wanted to hear from her next.
“I moved out on him. I waited until he went to work, then I left. The truth? I’m scared to death. But I did what I had to do.”
She got up and went to the window, which looked out onto Judiciary Square. You could also see the US District Courthouse from my place.
“How long have you been married?” she asked, glancing at the ring I still wore on my left hand.
“I was married. I’m not anymore.” I told her a little about Maria, about what had happened more than ten years before ? the abridged version, the unsentimental one.
“I’m sorry,” she said when I was through. There were tears in her eyes, the last thing I’d wanted. That morning, we got through a couple of rough patches, made some progress. Then a strange thing happened ? she shook my hand before she left. “You’re a good person,” she said. “Good-bye, Dr. Cross.”
And I thought that I might have just lost a patient ? my first ? because I’d done a good job.