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Sherwood nodded blankly. ‘That’s correct. Yes.’ ‘Did you ever find it?’ ‘No.’ The detective looked at him quizzically. ‘Not yet.’
‘So maybe he was just climbing,’ Charlie said, pushing, ‘and just slipped. He always kept his laces undone. Maybe that’s what did it. Maybe he just lost his footing up there. That could be right, couldn’t it?’ His question had an air of desperation.
‘Look, we’re looking into everything,’ the detective said, ‘but we have to make a determination and given when he left the recuperation facility and the time of death, taking into account his state of mind and how long he was up there . . . I know how painful this all is. I know how tough it was not to have been notified for so long and to have seen the story on the news. Just know, we’re doing everything we can.’
Gabriella started to weep. She took a tissue out of her purse. ‘I want to see my son.’
‘I’m afraid that’s not possible right now. They’re finishing up the autopsy and toxicology findings. Anyway, the trauma was quite severe. There’s going to have to be a bit of reconstructive work done . . . Maybe in a couple of days.’
Gabriella put her hands in front of her face.
‘Look, I’m no psychiatrist,’ I said, a hand on Gabby’s shoulder, ‘but one of the things my brother and sister-in-law are trying to deal with is why Evan would have even been released from the county hospital and transferred to that facility in the first place, given that only a couple of days before he tried to purchase a weapon and had been removed from his home in a pretty violent state, put on suicide watch, and heavily sedated with a mood-altering antipsychotic. I’d like to talk to the doctor in charge of his case. I don’t understand how they could make a determination to just dump him back on the street.’
‘They didn’t dump him,’ the detective said. ‘They put him in a state-approved halfway house. Maybe not the best suited, as it turned out . . . I know where you’re heading. But I’ve looked at the doctor’s reports. He was deemed to be stable and mentally capable upon his release. He told them that he no longer harbored any desire to terminate his own life. He was over twenty-one. They’re only permitted to hold him against his will for a matter of days.’
‘This kid could have been a hazard to anyone,’ I said, ‘if he followed through on that weapon, not just to himself. You’re saying all you have to do is claim that you’re no longer suicidal and they can put you back on the street?’
‘Not can, Dr Erlich. They have a legal obligation t o do so. It’s the law. If they don’t feel like he’s an imminent threat. As I say, he’d stabilized. I didn’t want to say this myself, but apparently he’d informed them there he did not wish to return back home upon release. They process thirty or forty people a week through that ward. They found a bed for him at a smaller facility, where he’d receive proper attention . . .’ He turned back to Charlie and Gabriella. ‘I promise you, everyone is extremely sorry about what happened.
‘In the meantime,’ he said, placing a folder on the table, ‘I do have some things for you . . .’
He took out a large manila envelope and pushed it across the table. ‘Your son had these in his possession at the time . . .’
Charlie and Gabby’s eyes stretched wide.
There was a large baggie inside. I saw a couple of dollar bills and some loose change. A metal-link key chain with a single key attached. A crumpled candy wrapper. And something else . . .
Gabby pulled it out.
It looked like one of those cheap, plastic holograms that came from a Cracker Jack box. An eye – wide open if you looked at it straight on. Then it closed, in a kind of wink, when it was shifted the other way.
‘Evan was always picking up stupid stuff off the street.’ Charlie shook his head forlornly.
‘He went around collecting recycling,’ said Gabby, eyes glistening. ‘For the money. He would go through people’s things – their garbage. Bring things home. People’s shit. You wouldn’t believe what was important to my son . . .’
She picked up the baggie and held it like a cashmere cloth against her cheek. ‘I can feel him, my Evan. I know he didn’t kill himself. He would never do that to me . . .’
‘You have to look into that sneaker,’ Charlie said, his eyes fixed on Sherwood, as if it was the missing piece of a puzzle. He jabbed his finger. ‘That could be the key, the missing sneaker, right?’
‘I promise, I’ll do my best.’ The detective nodded obligingly. He stood up and caught my eye. ‘Got a second?’
I stood up across from him. ‘Of course.’
He went around and opened the door and walked me outside to the hallway. ‘Your brother said you’re a doctor?’
‘Vascular surgeon. At the Westchester Medical Center. In Valhalla.’
‘Vascular . . .’ He nodded thoughtfully. ‘You work on hearts?’
‘Veins, predominantly. Endovascular repairs. I keep the works flowing. Guess you could call me more of a plumber than a mechanic.’ I smiled.
Sherwood nodded. ‘I’m a liver recipient myself. Going on two years now. So far so good I guess. I’m still here.’
‘Good for you,’ I said. Liver transplants resulted either from cirrhosis from booze, or from hepatitis, the C kind, the killer, but something made me suspect the first.
‘Now all I got is this TMJ.’ He massaged his jaw. ‘Hurts like the devil whenever things get stirred up. In fact, I’m starting to feel it now . . . You say you’re from back in New York . . .’
‘Westchester.’ I nodded.
‘I got a cousin back there. Nyack.’
‘That’s across the river. In Rockland County.’
‘Well, wherever it is’ – the detective looked at me directly – ‘trust me, Dr Erlich, it’s a whole different world out here . . . Look, I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings – I’ve been doing this a long time, and I know how hard it is to hear – but this kid plainly wanted out of the game. You know what I’m saying, don’t you? He’d made statements that he wanted to end his own life. He claimed to the doctors that the gun he was looking to purchase was intended expressly for him. I shouldn’t go into this yet, but your nephew’s toxicology report came back. He was clean. Nothing in him at the time of his death – nada. Not even Seroquel, Doc. You catching what I mean . . .?’
I caught exactly what that meant. Evan hadn’t been on his meds.
That explained how he had managed to climb all the way up there. How he still would have had the urge to follow through with it.
It pretty much explained everything.
‘So how the hell did he manage to find his way all the way up there?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know.’ He sighed. ‘But I do know how the death certificate is going to read. Death by suicide.’ He reopened the door and looked at me before he headed back in. ‘What the hell else would the kid be doing up there in the first place?’
Chapter 9
After they left, Sherwood slipped back into the interrogation room, shutting the door.
He took out his cell and pressed the number for the hospital over at County, worriedly thumbing the edge of Evan Erlich’s file.
Stories like his happened every day out there. Gang executions, drug ODs. Runaways. They all had mothers who wept and didn’t understand. Suicide or accident? What did it really matter? The kid was dead. A tragedy was a tragedy. If it hadn’t ended like this, the next time – and there would have been a next time, Sherwood knew – he would have likely taken the mother and father out too.
His job was to try to make sense of the rotten outcomes. Just not too much sense.
Tomorrow, sure as sunrise, there’d be two more.
The hospital operator answered. Sherwood placed the phone to his ear. ‘Dr Derosa, please.’
He knew about tragedies. And not just on the job. He thought of his son, Kyle, more than twenty years ago, and his wife, Dorrie – almost two years now. He had this new liver. A gift. From a minister. Edward J. Knightly. Now he even peed righteous, Sherwood sometimes said with a laugh. This whole new chance at life. This new lease. What the hell was it even for?
How do you make sense of others’ tragedies when you can’t even figure out your own?
A voice came on the line. ‘Dr Derosa here.’
‘It’s Sherwood,’ he said, leaning back in the chair. ‘I’m calling about that Erlich kid. That jumper . . .’
‘Yeah . . .’ The doctor sighed, as if he didn’t need to be reminded. ‘We’re all really sorry about that one here. I got a call this morning from some relative of his. A doctor.’
‘And how did you handle it?’
‘How we always handle it, Don. You know we don’t put ourselves directly involved.’
‘Yeah, well maybe you want to get yourself a bit more directly involved. At least in this one.’
The psych ward doctor cleared his throat. ‘What do you mean?’
‘They want a look at his medical records. They’re right, of course. Funny, they want to know how the hell their son was dropkicked back on the street and a day later ended up dead. And you know what?’
‘What?’ The doctor sounded a little peeved.
‘I can’t say I really blame them on this one, Mitch. Just thought you’d want a heads-up.’
‘The kid was a ticking time bomb, Don. We do our best to stop ’em. This one went off.’
‘Well if I were you, Mitch, you might want to look at it again. That it’s all buttoned up.’
‘Buttoned up?’ The doctor’s tone now had an edge of irascibility to it.
‘Any loose ends . . .’ Sherwood stared at the file, at the copy of Evan’s medical records included there.
Ones the poor, grieving family would never see.
They didn’t need anyone tugging on loose ends here. Not the family; not some pushy outsider from New York. The problem with loose ends was, once pulled, you just never knew what would tumble out.
‘I think you know what I mean.’
Chapter 10
I tried the hospital again as soon as we got back to the apartment.
Again, no luck.
The doctor in charge, Derosa, still hadn’t called me back. Which was starting to piss me off, since several hours had passed, and it was professional courtesy to receive a reply. A secretary at his office said he was still at an outside consult.
Even a call to Brian, the mental health social worker there, went straight to his voice mail.
I was beginning to feel like a wall of silence was being erected, and the doctor and his staff were bricks in it.
Finally I got fed up. I was losing valuable time. I tried the nurse’s station at the psych ward. I got to a Janie Middleton, who identified herself as the chief nurse on the ward. ‘I’m told you wanted some information on Evan Erlich?’
‘Nurse Middleton’ – I softened my tone – ‘my name is Jay Erlich. I’m a surgeon in vascular medicine at the Westchester Medical Center back east in New York. Evan was my nephew . . .’
‘Oh,’ she said, betraying some nerves, ‘I assisted him while he was here. He seemed like a nice boy to me. We’re all so, so sorry for what took place . . .’
‘I appreciate that,’ I said. ‘Look, Janie, I know Doctor Derosa isn’t around . . .’
‘He’s –’ For a second I thought she was about to say He’s right here. Then she seemed to catch herself. ‘I was told he might not be back for the day, but the first step in any patient inquiry is to request the doctor’s report. The next of kin is entitled to it, of course . . .’
‘Of course.’ Everyone was hiding behind the damned report. I just wanted to speak to somebody . . .
‘Janie . . .’ I took a breath, trying to hide my frustration. ‘Are you a parent?’
‘Yes,’ she said, her reserve softening as well. ‘I am.’
‘Then you’ll understand. My brother and sister-in-law have just lost their only child. They want an answer.’
I took her through the events. How Evan went from being on suicide watch to being released, after just days. How he was placed in an unrestricted facility and a day later he was dead. ‘You can understand that. They’re feeling – they were making the responsible decision to put their son in the hands of the county when he got out of control. And no one’s giving them any information on how this happened.’
‘Of course I can understand,’ the nurse replied. ‘Look, just petition the medical records. Off the record . . . then the doctor has to officially respond to your questions. I honestly think that’s the best way.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I hope you understand what I’m saying . . .’
Was there some kind of cover-up going on? Was that why no one was willing to get on the phone with me? What was the hospital hiding?
‘I hear you,’ I said, sighing. ‘So how long does that generally take?’
‘Four or five business days, I think.’
‘Four or five days!’ I wouldn’t even be there then.
‘Ask for the medical reports,’ she said again. ‘That’s about the best I can say. We’re just all so sorry . . .’
Frustrated, I thanked her for her time.
‘See, now you’re starting to see what shits they are out here,’ my brother chortled, as if in vindication. ‘How no one lifts a finger for you if you’re poor. You’re just not used to that, little brother.’
‘I’m not done.’
I called the hospital one last time and asked for the head of the Psych Department, a Dr Emil Contreras. I explained to his assistant who I was. She told me Dr Contreras was at a conference in New Orleans and wouldn’t be back until Thursday.
Thursday I’d be going back home.
‘When he checks in, if you can please have him give me a call. It concerns Evan Erlich. It’s urgent.’
I left my cell number. I wanted to slam down the phone.
It was only two. And I wasn’t sure exactly what I had accomplished. ‘What’s next . . .?’
‘I think I need to see it,’ Gabby said.
‘See what?’
‘Where it happened.’
Charlie looked at her warily. ‘You’re sure?’
Detective Sherwood had given us detailed directions to the spot where they found Evan. Underneath the rock.
‘Yes. I have to see it.’ Gabriella nodded. ‘I have to see the place my son died.’
