“Did she have any friends?”
“Not that I saw.”
“A love interest?”
“None that I’ve seen. Look, I’m not going to lie. I’ve only been there a year and I have my hands full running the place, you won’t believe the organizational mess I inherited. From someone like Pocan, actually. But we don’t have that many residents—eighteen at last count—so I do have opportunity to observe and Lynne wasnotproblematic in any way. That’s why I can’t believe she’d harm anyone, let alone her mother. That’s just a crazy notion.”
I said, “She’s been there for decades.”
“Most of the residents have. That should indicate the caliber of the services we provide.”
Milo said, “Despite issues caused by your predecessor.”
“Those,” said Pamela Buttons, “were organizational. Even he was okay when it came to providing service. The problem was…but that’s not your concern.”
“Where does the funding come from?”
“Inheritance and trust funds, private insurance, and whatever supplements Medicare and Medicaid and other agencies provide. Okay, I’ll tell you the problem I had to deal with: inadequate billing forservices rendered. Invoices were never sent and deadlines passed. I’ve just gotten on top of it.”
“Who owns the place?”
“We’re a nonprofit corporation set up by three charitable family trusts fifty-five years ago. The Steins, the DuBuques, and the Landermans. Wealthy families with DD children wanting to help the less fortunate. They’ve funded all kinds of things—cultural, artistic, medical. Our endowment is a drop in their bucket.”
I said, “Is there anyone on your staff who could tell us more about Lynne?”
“I guess David. In addition to handling front desk, he’s our exercise coach and music teacher and popular with the residents.”
“Including Lynne?”
“I’d have no reason to exclude her from that appraisal.”
I have no clue but don’t feel like sayingso.
Milo said, “What’s David’s last name, please.”
“David Le Gallee.”
He had her spell it. “Thanks. So how much contact did you have with Lynne’s mother?”
“I’ve never met her, only spoke to her once. It was shortly after I arrived. The state had cut back on payments and while the trusts were solvent, lower interest rates cut into our income. So the families’ co-pays rose. Nothing extreme, a couple of percentages, and I had the fun job of notifying everyone. When I tried to email Ms. Matthias, there was no address in the file, so I called.”
Sighing, as if use of the telephone required self-sacrifice. “I informed her, she said she’d send a check for a year’s worth of the overage. Which she did.”
I said, “Brief conversation.”
“She didn’t come across as someone who liked to talk. Kind of icy, actually. Which I guess fits with her never visiting.”
“That’s not typical.”
“Some residents have no living family but those with relatives often do receive visits. But it didn’t seem to be a problem for Lynne. Atleast from what I saw. Maybe because she could visit her mom whenever she wanted.”
“No complaints about being alone.”
“No complaints about anything. And I don’t believe it was just because of her speech limitations.”
“She had difficulty talking?”
“She slurs pretty bad, is hard to understand. Maybe that’s why she doesn’t try to talk much. Or she just doesn’t like it. Her mother wasn’t exactly chatty.”
