“Not specifically. But in our sessions, Elise was drawn to Keats because his poetry often articulates two conflicting ideas. For someone like Elise, whose life was trying to find balance between two behavioral poles, the poems had a profound personal message.”

Mahler looked down at his notebook. “Does the phrase ‘to take into the air my quiet breath’ have a special meaning? We found it written on her leg.”

Bittner sighed. “Elise often wrote messages to herself on her arms and legs. Because her world was spinning, she felt the need to remind herself of thoughts or ideas. In our sessions, she spoke about that particular line often. It’s from a poem where Keats talks about yearning for death. Elise was definitely drawn to suicidal thoughts. But she resisted them, through therapy and medications.”

Mahler could see sadness in the doctor’s eyes. He wondered how success was measured in a world where the patients didn’t have much of a chance. “Can you think why she would have written it now? Was she afraid of someone, or something?”

Bittner hesitated. “She was more fearful in recent sessions.”

“Fearful of what?”

“She wouldn’t say.”

“We have evidence indicating that, at the time of her death, the victim was in the presence of three adult males and participated in a street drug buy. Did she talk to you about her male friends or a boyfriend?”

“She talked about a lot of men in her sessions, but it wasn’t always clear if they were in her life now or in the past. I don’t feel comfortable with this subject. Anything I say could be misleading.”

Bittner looked at the forgotten pen in his hand. “Let me tell you what I do know. Lately, Elise talked about one thing over and over. It was something Keats wrote. Great artists, according to him, have a quality called negative capability, which allows them to live in uncertainties and doubt without searching for fact or reason. The purpose of poetry is not to work out the paradoxes but to accept the mystery. Elise’s fear was that, in coping with her BSD, she’d lose that artistic quality, which was the only thing about herself she really liked.”

“So, if she got better, she’d lose her art?”

“More or less. I’m not saying it was true. It’s just what Elise believed. Something or someone was definitely pushing her to the edge these last few weeks.”

“With all due respect, isn’t it a long way from pushing her to the edge to taking her life?”

“It’s not for me to say, Lieutenant,” Bittner said. “If she was abusing drugs, as you’ve implied, she might act out in a way that could be threatening to those around her—and at the same time make her more vulnerable.”

“But what’s that got to do with a murder investigation?”