Castle on the Edge (3 page)

The four of us then proceeded down the corridor, turned left, walked past several rooms to the end of the hall where the administrative office was. The office itself was partitioned, as it was shared by both Mary and Miss Hathaway; we entered on Miss Hathaway’s side to the right. She asked us to sit down. I knew what was on Mary’s mind and what she was about to ask Miss Hathaway…because if she didn’t, I would have.

“Miss Hathaway, are you aware of the new patient that Doctor Calloway admitted last night?”

“New patient. Admitted last night?” she bellowed with surprise.

“Yes. Doctor Calloway told us he, ‘personally’ brought in a new patient last night.”

“I’m most certainly not aware of it, Nurse Holden. Why didn’t he tell me? I should have known about this at least six weeks ago. He didn’t tell me. Nobody told me. Nobody told me anything.” she said, trying to control her reaction.

“It’s not your fault, Miss Hathaway. Mary and I didn’t know about it either, not until about an hour ago; that is, when Doctor Calloway told us,” I said.

Doctor Lederer said, “Yes, Doctor Calloway apparently admitted the ‘mystery’ patient sometime last night, in secret.” Then he looked at me and said, “Alex, do you think it was before or after we got here?”

“I don’t know, Doctor Lederer, I don’t know. I’m not sure how he brought this patient in either…unless he used his own car, or a taxi. Ordinarily, our policy is to use the staff vehicle for transporting and admitting patients…or any official hospital business for that matter. So I don’t know. The car is still in San Francisco. I don’t even know where the patient is. None of us do.”

“Well, I’m sure Doctor Calloway will tell us everything, including the patient’s name, and the reason for the cryptic entry. I mean, I can’t imagine he would treat this person on his own without the assistance of the hospital staff…the thought of that is utterly absurd,” Doctor Lederer said with an air of superiority.

“Yes, it certainly would be,” I responded.

Then Miss Hathaway said, “Well, I hope he tells me soon so I can start the paper work.”

Then Mary assured Miss Hathaway, “I didn’t mean to imply that you knew about this and deliberately didn’t tell, or that you weren’t doing your job; if I did give that impression, I apologize. It’s just that we’re all so surprised Doctor Calloway didn’t say anything to any of us about it.”

I also chimed in by saying to Miss Hathaway, “Not only that, but we don’t know if the patient is a man or a woman or what the nature of the condition is. What’s more, we don’t even know where this patient is. None of us knows anything about this individual. We only know that he or she is somewhere in this building.

Because Doctor Calloway told Mary, me, and Doctor Lederer that he’d brought him, or her, to our Castle retreat last night. He didn’t say what time it was either. He was very secretive. All he said this morning was that he was going to orientate our new patient while we introduce Doctor Lederer to you, the rest of the staff, and to our six known residents. I expect him to orientate us about the new arrival when we meet him in his office at eleven.”

“I hope so,” Miss Hathaway said.

Then Mary looked at her watch and said, “It’s already ten fifteen, Doctor Ramsey. You’ve got to take Doctor Lederer around now to introduce him to our on-duty staff and all six of our guests if you can, as well as show him the interior of the Castle. Who knows? You and Doctor Lederer might stumble upon the whereabouts of the ‘shadow’ patient during your tour through the Castle. Remember, you only have forty-five minutes because we’re to meet Doctor Calloway in his office at eleven. I have some patient progress reports I have to review with Miss Hathaway so I’ll meet you and Doctor Lederer at Doctor Calloway’s office at eleven o’clock sharp, okay?”

“See you then, Mary,” I said.

I could see Doctor Lederer’s intense concentration on every word, Miss Hathaway, and I were exchanging, and the way he was looking at our facial expressions and bodily movements. I felt he was suspicious of a ruse. Whether he suspected any of us, Doctor Calloway, or the whole lot of us, for that matter, I didn’t know, but he suspected ‘something.’

Since my time was limited, I thought I’d take Doctor Lederer to the fourth floor first and work down to the ground floor. The tour would terminate there and the fact that Doctor Calloway’s office was on the first level also, would be convenient.

“As you know, this building has four stories, and there are four rooms up here. Two we use for therapy and treatment; one is a sitting room and the other is for staff conferences. The patients are housed on the second and third floors only,” I told Doctor Lederer as I showed him each one.

“Alex, you said you currently have six patients…and now the phantom makes seven. How many patients is the Castle equipped to handle?” Doctor Lederer asked as we were making our way back down to the third floor.

“We can hold a total of ten at a time. This is a private facility so it isn’t very big and we don’t have a large staff, but we’re well equipped with the latest technology. We have five residence rooms on both the second and third floors. We ought to be able to locate our sub rosa patient in one of the rooms not assigned to any of our six patients. Currently, we have Miss Hopkins and Mister Morgan on the second floor, both of whom you will meet when we get there. Mister Strutmire, Mister Lipton, Miss Gould, and Mister Duncan are on this floor.”

As we stepped out of the elevator, Doctor Lederer said, “Most likely Doctor Calloway has the patient on the second floor because there are four vacant rooms whereas there’s only two on this one, yes, Alex?”

“I can’t say, Doctor Lederer, because as of yet, I don’t know the reason for the admittance. I can only say we’ll both find out together. We normally put patients who don’t have hobby pastimes, or may require more therapy such as a more complex medication regimen for example, on the third floor because it is closer to the fourth floor treatment rooms. So it’s a question of proximity and convenience, you see.”

“Of course, Alex,” he said, as I knocked on Mister Strutmire’s door.

Mister Strutmire opened the door. He had a newspaper in his hand. He was fifty-five years old, short and portly, clean-shaven with a shiny bald pate and a horseshoe gray fringe around his head. He took off a pair of round horn-rimmed glasses, then looked at Doctor Lederer and me in an agitated manner. He didn’t say a word.

“Good morning Professor Strutmire” I said. “This is Doctor Franz Lederer from Zurich, Switzerland. He’s visiting with us in order to observe the operations and care at our facility.”

“Everyone around here is always observing,” he tersely responded. “Anyway, how do you do Doctor…Lederer, is it?” he said, while putting his glasses back on.

“Yes, Lederer, Doctor Franz Lederer. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Professor Strutmire.”

“Well, I suppose you gentlemen would like to come in,” he said in a rather annoyed way.

“No, not now because we really don’t have much time. I wanted you to meet Doctor Lederer,” I replied.

“Well, I’ve met him. So now, if you will excuse me, I’ll go back to reading my paper…as I was doing before I was interrupted,” he barked back. Then he pulled off his glasses again and slammed the door in our faces.

As we proceeded to Mister Lipton’s room, I sheepishly said to Doctor Lederer: “I apologize for Mister Strutmire’s rudeness. As you can see he has a problem with public relations.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, Alex,” Doctor Lederer said as he made a sweeping motion with his right hand, “he wouldn’t even be here, if he didn’t have a problem in the first place.”

As I was about to knock on Mister Lipton’s door, Nurse Jenkins came by with a sedative for him. I introduced her to Doctor Lederer and we entered the room. Mister Lipton was sitting on his high-back leather chair with his arms resting in his lap. His far-off stare gave the impression he was completely oblivious to our presence. Nurse Jenkins got his attention by calling his name at which point he then looked at her, took the sedative and swallowed it with water. After she left the room, I proceeded to offer salutations and introduce Doctor Lederer to Mister Lipton.

“Good morning, Mister Lipton, how are you feeling today?”

Mister Lipton slowly looked up, gazed at me and quietly said in a monotonous tone, “The same, everyday is the same.”

“I would like to introduce you to Doctor Franz Lederer. He will be staying with us a couple of days. He would like to meet you.

“Who would like to meet me?” he said lethargically.

“Doctor Lederer. This is Doctor Lederer from Zurich, Switzerland. One of his specialties is treating your type of condition. He’ll be able to help you,” I said sympathetically.

He looked up at Doctor Lederer without saying anything and the doctor said, “How do you do, Mister Lipton, I understand you’re a writer?”

“A writer? Oh, yes, I’m a writer…I write short stories and novels. I’ve had nine novels published, you know…though I haven’t had anything published for a while, about a year, I think.” Then he started to drift off with a numb stare.

Doctor Lederer looked at him sympathetically and said with a soothing voice, “Well, Mister Lipton, we’ll help you get back on your feet.” Then he turned to me and affirmed, “Won’t we, Doctor Ramsey?”

“Of course, Doctor Lederer,” I replied reassuringly. Then, putting my arm on Mister Lipton’s shoulder, I went on to say, “In fact, Mister Lipton has been making good progress since he’s been with us these past six months. For the first three months he was unable to sit at his desk at all, let alone write. Now, he can not only sit at his desk but is able to type at his typewriter, for half an hour a day, and with good concentration too.”

Then Mister Lipton came out of his glazed gaze, looked up at me, then turned to Doctor Lederer and said with a slight enthusiasm, “I’m working on a novel now. See the pages on the left corner of the desk, over there…left of the typewriter?”

“Why yes, Mister Lipton, I do. I would like very much to read it. What is the novel about?”

“It’s a roman `a clef, you know, in which actual persons or places are depicted in fictional guise; in this case about a writer who, even though successful, suffers from melancholia and alcoholism and voluntarily enters a hospital for treatment.

“I see. I’m sure it will be a great success and an inspiration to others, Mister Lipton, because it’s written from the very essence of the author’s soul.” Doctor Lederer said, with a feeling of true empathy.

I looked at my watch and motioned to Doctor Lederer that we should leave.

We said our good-byes to Mister Lipton and moved on down the hall to Miss Gould’s room. Her door was half open…enough so I could peer in. She was fully dressed, reclining on top of her bed with her head propped up on three pillows reading a book.

“Hello, Miss Gould. Can we come in for a minute?” I called to her from the door.

She looked up, put the book to her side and replied, “Who is it?”

“Doctor Ramsey,” I answered, “I have Doctor Franz Lederer with me. He would like to meet you. Can we come in for a minute?”

“Oh, yes. Please, come in,” she said, motioning with her hand. “Please come in and sit down.”

There were two chairs set up against the wall. Doctor Lederer and I each took one to sit across from her bed.

Miss Gould sat up on the bed, put her feet on the floor and said, “I hope you gentlemen are comfortable.”

I responded by replying, “Oh this is fine, Miss Gould. I’d like to introduce you to our visiting physician Doctor Franz Lederer. He has come all the way from Zurich, in Switzerland.”

“Good morning and how do you do, Doctor Lederer. Welcome to the United States.” She said in a formal way,

“How do you do, Miss Gould. I…eh…understand you are an instructor from a Boston finishing school,” Doctor Lederer said quizzically.

“Oh yes, a very exclusive finishing school, Doctor Lederer. Our girls come from the cream of Boston society’s families. You see, the problem is…many, if not most of our girls, haven’t received proper guidance at home, because their parents are too busy to be with them most of the time. You know, off traveling or conducting lucrative business deals, having cocktail parties and what not. So they turn their dear ones over to our school and expect us to create another generation of icons for high society. Many of these girls are wild and incorrigible and the parents want us, of course, to make ‘ladies’ out of them. When they go home on their vacations and holidays, the parents blame us, the teachers, for not distilling grace and poise in their little darlings. As a result of the stress and pressure, I became overwhelmed and collapsed while giving an English lesson in class; therefore, I took a sabbatical and came out here for rest and therapy, you see. I don’t mean to prattle on, gentlemen, I’m sorry.”

Doctor Lederer responded by saying with a smile, “That’s all right, Miss Gould, you’ll soon be fit as a fiddle and back in the saddle. Only this time, you will be pulling in the reins on the little beasts.”

“You’re too kind, Doctor Lederer. I’m looking forward to meeting you again while you’re here,” she said with a feeling of ease.

I thanked Miss Gould for giving us a moment of her time. We proceeded to get up and leave and Doctor Lederer then offered his hand to her.

We arrived at the door of Mister Duncan and I knocked. When he opened the door, I introduced him to Doctor Lederer.