Winston cleared his throat. “Yes, but we also take the opportunity to fully explain the event and response to the family—to answer their questions fully and hopefully reassure them that their loved one is being cared for by only the best and most thoroughly trained individuals at all times. Is there any possibility that you can come in today?”

“Yes, of course. I will come right now.”

“And,” Winston said, hesitating, “will you be bringing legal counsel with you?”

She could almost hear him wincing on the other end of the line.

“No,” Clare said, sighing. “I doubt that’s necessary.” She knew as well as anybody her mother’s physical capacity. She had been a cop for forty years. Coupled with her worsening confusion—“Do you know why she attacked the other woman?”

“Ah, a man, actually,” Winston corrected her. “And after interviewing the staff and other residents who were present when it occurred, I’m sorry to say we have been unable to identify a plausible antecedent. Several people did report that she was yelling and calling the other resident Jim. She seemed to believe that he was about to hurt someone named Eileen? I’m not sure if that helps, but we can certainly discuss it further when you—”

“I’ll be there as soon as I can,” Clare blurted and hung up her phone. Jesus Christ. Ella thought the man was Jim, her long-dead, abusive husband.

She rushed from her study and down the stairs. Her bare feet quick stepped on the cold marble as Charlie kept an excited pace beside her. “Simon!” she shouted, her voice echoing throughout the empty house before she remembered he had left on a flight for New York that morning. “Damn it!” Also, she realized it was Sunday and Henry had the day off. “Shit!”

She would have to drive herself. Which she could do, thanks to her mother’s insistence and homespun amateur behavior therapy two decades ago—but she still didn’t like to. “Shit, shit, shit,” she whispered to herself as she pulled the car key off the hook in the mudroom, slipped on a pair of sandals by the door, and snatched her purse off the bench.