“She keeps moaning his name. I thought maybe he was her husband, maybe a kid. But her dog?” The head nurse pursed her lips and shook her head. “She’s not in good shape—she doesn’t answer questions and that dog’s name is about all she’s said since they brought her in. They couldn’t get any relative’s name out of her on Monday night—the docs finally had to sign her consent form for her. We tried finding a Bruce Frizell in the city and suburbs—if it’s a dog, that explains why we didn’t have any luck. If he’s dead, she’s not going to hold up too well. I’d rather not tell her until I’m sure she’s strong enough to survive.”

“I want to talk to her, Nelle,” Steve said. “Try to make an evaluation. One of our babies was there for the attorney hearing on Thursday, but I’d like to make up my own mind.”

McDowell threw up her hands. “Be my guest, Steve. And take the detective with you—I’ve got no problem with that. But don’t go doing anything to put her in a frenzy. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re shorthanded in this ward.”

She pulled out a chart with Frizell written along the side. “One thing maybe you can tell me—why the rush to get her a guardian? The times we’ve needed one appointed in here it’s taken us months of rigamarole just to get to court. But Thursday morning there’s a guardian ad litem as big as life, talking to the lady without a by-your-leave. I got security up, and they pulled him away until we hustled someone from the psych team in, along with that kid from your office”—she nodded at Steve—“but it made me plenty mad.”

I shook my head. “I don’t understand it myself, except I know Pichea was itching to get rid of those dogs. I talked to her son myself on Monday night. He lives in California and had about as much interest in what was happening to his mother as I do in my cockroaches. I expect when Pichea called him he was ecstatic at being able to make Mrs. Frizell someone else’s problem.”

McDowell shook her head. “We get people in here with all kinds of problems, but I don’t ever remember a patient whose family wanted to dump her off on strangers before.… Mrs. Frizell’s down in the ward, third partition from the end. Let me know what you think, Steve.”