Rachel Alexander 04 - Lady Vanishes

it too much stimulation for him? Too much change? Too much noise?”
    Venus straightened the books on her desk—a dictionary, some medical reference books, the PDR—standing between two bronze bookends, African heads atop long necks, one male, the other female.
    “He’s gotten violent a couple of times. Dr. Kagan took a risk accepting him here. But he always says, If not here, then where?
    “We can do it here. We have such a small population, only sixteen right now. Somewhere else, it would be like jail for him.” She shook her head. “Anyway, it’s only happened twice. But we can’t predict it. So you don’t want to take him out in public.”
    “Oh,” I said.
    “He’s been pretty stable on medication for several months, he’s sleeping through the night, he’s eating better, but I’d rather err on the side of caution. He would love some time with Dashiell, though.”
    “You mean he’ll interact with him?”
    “I didn’t say that, did I? I’ll be with you the first time. You’ll see for yourself what happens. And listen to me, Rachel, if he makes you uncomfortable, if anyone does, if you have any problem at all, tell me about it, talk to me. You’re not obliged to work with everyone. We’ll play it by ear, see what happens. Okay? Also, I don’t want you staying more than an hour and a half, tops. You’re going to get really stressed, and so will Dashiell. We took Lady for a run across the highway by the waterfront early in the morning so she could start her day clean, you know what I mean? Dashiell will need something like that, too, a way to blow off all that tension he’ll be absorbing. The same goes for you.”
    “I’ll go to the gym,” I told her. “That should help.” Venus nodded.
    “I wouldn’t trade this job for anyone’s,” she said very quietly, “but that doesn’t mean it’s easy, working here. It can get to you something awful if you don’t take care of yourself, ’cause but for the grace of God—”
    I put my hand on her hand to stop her. “This isn’t my first time working with a difficult population. But I hear you. And I appreciate what you’re saying.”
    “I’ll have you start with Charlotte, our youngest. Charlotte didn’t say much of anything until Lady came. She just used to ask for her parents, that’s all.”
    “Do they visit?”
    “You see a line at our door, Rachel?”
    I looked down at Dashiell.
    “Yeah, they visit. A couple of times a year. It tears them to shreds to see their daughter like that, all their dreams come to nothing, then they go home and try to live their lives for another five, six months before coming back. She’s their only child.” Venus shook her head. “Life’s not easy. But we have a dog visiting, and that’s going to make today a lot sweeter, isn’t it?” she asked Dashiell, leaning down and scratching his big head. “He’s registered, right?”
    I nodded. He was wearing his tag.
    “Funny noises, weird movements, they won’t bother him?”
    “Are you kidding? He lives in the Village.”
    “So he’s cool?”
    “Cool’s his middle name.”
    “Good.” She handed me a wad of paper towels. “He might get drooled on. You’ll want these.”
    I folded the towels a couple of times and stuffed them into the back pocket of my jeans.
    “Charlotte’s on the top floor, the southwest comer, best room in the house. Knock and then open. Almost no one responds to a knock, but Dr. Kagan feels it’s an important sign of respect to let them know someone is coming into the room.”
    Fine. I knew what to do with the kids, but what about what I was hired to do?
    “Venus, about Friday—”
    The phone rang, and she reached for it.
    “Yes, of course. Why don’t you tell me what the problem is.” She slid over a form and picked up a pen.
    No use hanging around. I could see this was going to be a long one.
    I took the stairs. I’d gotten in the habit of walking instead of using the elevator on a recent job. Dashiell ran ahead, waiting for me at each landing. When we got to five, he began to spin around with excitement. He always knew when he was wearing his therapy dog hat, and the chance to work filled him with ecstasy.
    I knocked twice on Charlotte’s door, waited, then walked in.
    She was sitting on the end of the bed, a soft doll on her lap, buttoning and unbuttoning its blue gingham dress. As soon as she smelled Dashiell, she dropped the doll. Arms moving stiffly up and down, Charlotte resembled an arthritic