“Oh, I suppose, in a way. I’m only spending afternoons at Lotty’s for a few days until her new nurse feels up to taking over full-time. But … I don’t know. You can do real nursing here. It’s not like most hospitals, where all you do is fill out forms and act like a grunt for the doctors. Here you’re working with patients, and I see so many different kinds of cases. At Lotty’s it’s mostly babies and old women—except when you come in with your body rearranged. Anyway, it’s only been two nights now but I’m loving it.”

She checked Mrs. Frizell’s bedding. “It’s good that you got her to say something else, another word. You should come more often: it might help her recovery.”

I rubbed the back of my neck. That sounded like one of those good deeds that make the angels in heaven cheer but prove a burden to the doer.

“Yeah, I could try to get over more.”

I explained the information I was after and why. “I don’t suppose you could think of a way to get her to talk about her bank.”

Carol looked cautiously down the hall to make sure no one was in earshot. “I might, Vic. Don’t get your hopes up, but I might come up with something. Now I’ve got to get back to the trauma unit. Walk you to the stairs?”

Once again the elevators were out of service. It was too much like my own office for me to complain. On the way downstairs I asked Carol whether she had a concrete plan in mind. “I’d like to find out about her money while she still has some.”

“What—you think those neighbors of yours are defrauding her? You got proof of it? Or you just don’t like them?” Carol’s tone was derisive.

I forgot that Carol had seen me showing my hackles at Todd Pichea and Vinnie. I flushed and stammered a bit as I tried to explain myself. “Maybe I am mounting a vendetta. It’s because of the dogs—it seemed to me the Picheas raced around to get guardianship rights just to put the dogs to sleep so that they could safeguard their property values. Maybe they were being altruistic. But I still don’t understand why they had to muscle in like that, kill the dogs before she’d even been away from home a week.”