“You’re fast developing a reputation as a troublemaker, Ms. Grazdani, and that will not look good on your résumé if it gets recorded. You are here, essentially, as a guest of the institution, and guests do not behave like this. If they do, they’re usually asked to leave. I gave you a couple of days to get over the tragic death of your mentor and that wasn’t supposed to be time for you to come in here and stir things up again.”

“But don’t you think these questions need to be answered?”

“No, I don’t, not if he doesn’t,” Bourse said, gesturing at the door.

Pia started to speak again, but the dean had had enough. “Have you shown any signs of a fever?”

“No.”

“Then get yourself back to your room. If I hear you’re causing any more trouble over this unfortunate affair, I will think seriously about rescinding your welcome here as a medical student. Which would be something of a tragedy for you, considering you only have a couple of months left before you graduate. And it would be a tragedy for us because we’d be admitting we made a mistake in taking you in the first place. I don’t think Dr. Springer will go to Dr. Groekest on his own, but he might. So be careful, young lady. You are now officially on very thin ice. I must not have made myself clear last time we spoke. Am I making myself clear now?”

“Yes,” said Pia. “Perfectly.”

Chapter 33.

33.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER
NEW YORK CITY
MARCH 24, 2011, 4:45 P.M.

For Pia, being in trouble was as natural as breathing in and out. She’d spent most of her life under some kind of probationary supervision undertaken by people who didn’t know her, care to know her, or understand her situation. Long ago, Pia had wondered how it was that she was the one who ended up in front of some panel or other. She never instigated the trouble, she was always reacting to someone older and more powerful trying to take advantage. Somehow that fact got lost in the paperwork. More often than not, it was only she who suffered the inquisition and the punishment that followed. For her, injustice belonged with pain on the same one-way street.