“Leave the kid alone,” someone finally said in exasperation. “The fellow’s dead. Let her rest.”

But they wouldn’t let her rest, even though she felt that, if she closed her eyes, she’d fall asleep right there, surrounded by all of them, detectives and the commissioner and some other coppers who sometimes interrupted to ask her a question. Fatty Bacon wasn’t one of them, though she glimpsed him in the hall with her mother, who was not allowed in the hospital room while the policemen were there.

There were doctors, too, almost as many doctors as policemen, and they all seemed perplexed and concerned about one thing, though it took them a long time to bring it up. When they did, Pin refused to answer until yet another doctor was called in, along with her mother. The doctor was named Dr. Bergman. He was not very old and wore a suit, not a white doctor’s coat, though he did have a stethoscope around his neck and carried a black leather medical bag.

“We know from your mother what you’ve been doing all summer,” he said to Pin gently. “But the police would like to hear it from you.”

“Why?” She sat up straight in the hospital bed. “You haven’t even given us the reward! Why do you even have to know, it’s none of your damned business!”

A man came back into the room then, the police commissioner, Deneen. A big white man, older, with small, mean eyes like a sow’s. He pushed aside Dr. Bergman, placed his hands on the bed’s metal rails, and stared down at Pin.

“We’ve had enough of this nonsense, young lady.” He raised his voice loud enough for everyone in the hall to hear. “A great deal of effort has been put into making sure you’re safe. It’s time for you to cooperate. What is your Christian name?”

“Pin.”

His face reddened. She’d seen men who struck their children: Commissioner Deneen looked like one of them as he bellowed, “You’re not going to leave this room or see another person, not even your mother, until you tell me your Christian name.”

Pin glared at him but said nothing. She stared at the closed door to her hospital room. Through its window she could see her mother’s small face, gazing at her with mingled pity and fear and anger as she nodded and frantically mouthed the words Tell him, tell him!

Pin stared in disbelief until her mother turned away, her face in the window replaced by that of a policeman.