Treating With Silence Chapter 9

According to the files, the person closest to Alicia is her aunt Margaret Lydia. After Alicia's mother died in a car accident, her aunt raised her. Alicia was also in the car when the accident happened, but she did not die. Such trauma must have had a great impact on the little girl. I hope Margaret Lydia will tell me the truth.

The only other person who knew the situation was Alicia's lawyer, Max Berenson. Max was Oliver Gabriel's brother. Because of this close relationship, he should be in a very good position to observe this marriage. As for whether he would tell the truth, that was another matter. As Alicia's psychotherapist, asking her family members about her situation without asking for permission in advance was at least unconventional. I had a vague feeling that Nicholas would not agree. I decided to do this behind his back to avoid being rejected by him.

Looking back now, it seems like my first professional transgression in treating Alicia...a bad precedent for what was to come. I should have stopped at the brink. But even then, I was already overwhelmed. As in Greek tragedy, in many ways, my fate was sealed.

I reached for the phone and dialed the number in Alicia's file for Max Berenson's office. After a few rings, someone answered.

"Elliott, Barrow & Beirenson." The man who answered the phone seemed to have a bad cold.

"Mr. Berenson, please."

"May I ask who is calling?"

"Max Faber, psychotherapist at the Grove Clinic. I was wondering if it would be possible to speak to Mr. Berenson about his sister-in-law."

There was a pause on the other end of the line, and then there was a response.

"Oh, I see. But Mr. Berenson will be out of the office for the rest of the week. He is meeting a client in Edinburgh. Please leave your phone number and I will have him contact you when he returns."

I gave my number and hung up.

I dialed the other number provided in the file - Alicia's aunt Margaret Lydia. The phone rang and the other party answered. An old lady's voice seemed a little breathless and extremely impatient.

"Hello, what's up?"

"Excuse me, are you Mrs. Ross?"

"who are you?"

"I'm calling regarding your niece, Ava Alicia. I'm her psychotherapist at -"

"Fcuk you," she said and hung up.

I couldn't help but frown.

This is not a good start.

I was desperate for a cigarette, and as soon as I stepped out of the Grove Clinic door, I searched eagerly in my coat pockets for a cigarette, but found none.

"What are you looking for?"

I turned around, and found Leo standing behind me. I hadn't heard anything, and was surprised to see him so close.

"I found this in the nurses' station," he grinned, handing me a pack of cigarettes. "It must have fallen out of your pocket."

"Thank you very much."

I took the cigarette, lit one, and then handed the pack to him. He shook his head.

"I don't smoke, at least not cigarettes." He laughed. "It seems you want a drink. Come on, it's my treat."

I was a bit undecided. Intuitively, I felt that I should refuse - I was not good at networking with colleagues, and I doubted that he and I would have much in common. But he might know Alicia's situation better than anyone else in the institute - and his opinions might be valuable.

"No problem," I said. "Great!"

We walked into the "Slaughter of the Lamb" bar near the station. The bar was dimly lit and a bit shabby, but it had a glorious past. There were some old men inside, halfway through their drinks, taking a nap. Leo ordered two beers and we sat down at a table inside.

Leo took a swig of beer and wiped his mouth with his hand.

"Well," he said, "tell me about her."

"Alicia?"

"Did you find anything?"

"I'm afraid I haven't found it yet."

Leo looked at me in confusion, then smiled and said, "She doesn't want you to find out? Yes, you're right. She's hiding herself."

"You were closer to her. I could tell."

"I have her under my special supervision. No one else knows her as well as I do, not even Professor Nicholas."

There was a certain amount of self-praise in his tone, and for some reason that turned me off...I wondered how much he knew about her, and was he just bragging?

"What do you think of her silence? What do you think it means?"

Leo shrugged. "I think it means she's not ready to speak yet. She won't speak until she's ready."

"What are you preparing for?"

"Prepare to face the truth, my friend."

"What do you mean by that?"

Leo tilted his head slightly, studying me, then asked me an unexpected question.

"Are you married, Max?"

I nodded: "It's over."

"Sure enough. I was married once myself. We came from Latvia. She wasn't like me, she couldn't adjust to the situation here. She didn't try hard, you know, she didn't learn English. Anyway, it wasn't... I wasn't happy - but I didn't want to admit it, I was deceiving myself..." He drained his glass and finished, "... and then I fell in love again."

"You don't mean your wife, do you?"

Leo smiled at first, then shook his head.

"No. It was a woman who lived very close to me. Very beautiful. I fell in love with her at first sight... I saw her on the street. It took me a long time to get up the courage to confess my love to her. I followed her... sometimes secretly watched her, but of course she didn't know. I would stand outside her house and watch, hoping that she would appear at the window." He laughed.