“For your sake. What if he’s in L.A. and found out you dated Rick?”
“All those months ago?”
I said, “Was he rational to begin with?”
“Oh, God,” said Cerillos. “Itcan’thappen again!”
Milo said, “How about this, Doctor. The moment we find out where he is, we’ll let you know. Most probably he’s nowhere near and you’ll be reassured. Because you have wondered, right?”
Slow head shake.
“I also promise you that he’ll never know we spoke to you, Doctor. Scout’s honor.”
“Scouts,” said Cerillos. “I was a Brownie.” She exhaled twice. “Tibor Halasz. With a ‘z’ at the end.”
Milo pulled out his phone.
She said, “What are you doing?”
“Just what I said.”
“Now? You can do that? On a phone?”
“Sure can.”
“Scary,” said Cerillos. “Orwellian.” She snatched up the stethoscope.
Milo worked, I waited, Cerillos opened a drawer and applied lip balm.
He said, “Here we go. Mr. Halasz moved to Illinois and got into more trouble. Aggravated assault four years ago, nine-year sentence in a state penitentiary starting a year ago.”
“He beat up another woman?”
“Doesn’t say, Doctor. In any event, he’s in no position to bother you.”
“Or to kill Rick,” said Cerillos, dropping her head, then looking up. “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
“So what else can you tell us about Rick?”
“There really isn’t much to tell. Simple guy.”
I said, “Into his basic needs.”
“Verybasic,” she said. “For him it was all about physicality. Which isn’t a problem if you don’t force it. And he didn’t. But at some point, if you’ve got a brain in your head, you want more. Like substantial conversation.”
“Rick didn’t supply that.”
“Never. Small talk and then…predictable, I suppose. I came to realize he did me a favor by not prolonging something that wouldn’t have gone anywhere. So I don’t resent him and I’d certainly have no reason to hurt him.”
She hung the stethoscope around her neck. “This is going to sound mean but after I got my head straight, he didn’t mean anything to me. I hadn’t thought about him at all until Agnes came in and told me why you were here. Now I do have to go.”
“Fair enough, Doctor. Here’s my card.”
Cerillos took it and scanned. “Homicide. What an ugly word.”
—
Back in the waiting room, we passed through a visual gauntlet. Nursing women shifted their babies away from us, others stared.
