Death Benefit

46.

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER NEW YORK CITY MARCH 25, 2011, 3:54 P.M.

Unbeknownst to George Wilson, at the same time he was thinking about contacting the police, Pia was too. Not seriously, but it had crossed her mind. It was certainly true that if an investigation needed to be done, they were far more capable and could turn over rocks she couldn’t even approach. But then there was the issue of what she would tell them. Would she say that she’d picked up a few lonely alpha particles in a coffee cup and thought it was evidence of a grand conspiracy? Of course not. There was no doubt in her mind that she would not be taken seriously, which ultimately would increase her vulnerability rather than decrease it. The police would think she was crazy and probably call the dean, believing they were acting in her best interest. Of course, going to the police had another downside. They might be tempted to look her up in their computer, and even though bad stuff about her teenage years was not supposed to be there, it might be. No, she would not go to the police. Instead, as planned, she’d go to the OCME in a final attempt to figure out the affair. If that didn’t yield overwhelming evidence of wrongdoing, she’d give up, just as she’d told George.

When Pia had reached the street coming from the hospital cafeteria, her intention had been to head down to Broadway to take the subway downtown. But feeling the temperature and noticing that the rain had increased, she decided to take a quick detour back to the dorm for a better coat and an umbrella. She knew the subway would get her only so close to the OCME and that she’d end up walking. How far, she had no idea.

In the dorm she hesitated outside her door, just as she and George had done outside his earlier. Being attacked in her room the previous night made her paranoid. She didn’t know how the men had gotten into her room.

Repeating what she and George had done, after silently unlocking her door, she opened it suddenly, prepared to flee if needed. She also carefully checked her bathroom to make certain it was empty. It was.

With a warmer, rain-resistant coat and an umbrella, Pia set off on her way to the subway. She had put the Geiger counter in another shopping bag to make it easier to carry. She checked the time. It was almost four, so if she was going to make it to the OCME before it closed, she had to get moving.

Walking quickly in the darkening day, Pia passed the Black building. She went another fifty feet along West 168th Street when she saw two hospital security police up the street, walking toward her. She stopped. She couldn’t see them well in the fading light with mist rising off the pavement, but she could see their uniforms well enough. They were the same uniforms her attackers had worn the previous night. To make matters worse, they seemed approximately the same height and build.

Fighting the urge to flee, Pia stopped dead in her tracks. Ahead to her right was a porte cochere for the hospital. Pia considered racing to it and into the hospital where she could vanish into the crowds, but she’d hesitated too long. She’d have to pass the security guards before she got to the entrance.

She looked behind her and saw there were surprisingly few people on the street. She thought about dashing back to the Black building but thought that if the men wanted to catch her, they probably could before she got inside. Turning back around, she eyed the approaching guards. They seemed to be staring intently at her. She froze, suddenly remembering a similar scene imbued with the same fear and dread.

She was thirteen at the time and had been at the Hudson Valley Academy for Girls for maybe a year. The stress of constantly being on guard, the fear of being attacked at any time, wore on Pia. A couple of times she’d cracked and tried to run away from the school, and she did so again. This time she got lost and had to spend a harrowing moonless night in the woods surrounding the school grounds. The night wore on and on and hummed with threat. Pia tried and failed to make her way back to the academy in the hope of breaking back in before anyone realized she was gone.

Pia had spent the hours before dawn slumped against the trunk of a tree, dozing fitfully. She arose at first light and walked east toward the sun until she found herself on an unfamiliar street winding downhill. It was then that she saw two policemen in the middle distance. They were implacably and threateningly walking toward her, staring at her unblinkingly, silent like automatons. Pia froze, as if by standing as still as possible they might not see her. When they were within ten feet of her, they parted, one walking to her left, one to her right. Perhaps they hadn’t seen her! Perhaps they weren’t looking for her at all! But when the men came alongside her, they suddenly lunged at her, roughly grabbing an arm each. Once again she was a prisoner of the state, totally vulnerable.

Now the same feelings flooded Pia’s brain. The security guards were coming at her with the same silent intensity, drilling her with their beady eyes. Pia stood stock-still and closed her eyes. Just like the Eden Falls policemen, the men parted right in front of her and went on either side . . . and moved on. The man to her left brushed past her upper body, then turned and said something-was he apologizing or saying “Get out of the way,” or making a lewd remark? Pia didn’t know. She breathed out with relief, unaware that she’d been holding her breath.

Pia was embarrassed by the depth of her paranoia. She shivered and a chill ran down her spine. The unnerving episode had taken only seconds. She wiped perspiration from her forehead and then hurried on toward Broadway. By the time she passed the hospital entrance, her breathing and pulse were almost back to normal. On Broadway she relaxed further as there were significantly more people. She felt safer there-she was safer there. In the near distance loomed the subway entrance swallowing pedestrians like an insatiable monster. A gust of wind blew the umbrella she was holding almost out of her hand, and she fought with it for a moment to get it under control. Once she did, she closed it and hurried forward to the stairs.