‘Mary! Do sit down,’ he intoned.
Mary always liked how he sounded as if he was genuinely pleased to see her and how he made the offer of a chair sound like a special gift.
Dr Peterson flicked through another couple of pages.
‘Yes…’ he said to himself and then looked up. ‘Judy, Mary… Thank you for coming in at such short notice.’
He patted the pile of papers, as if worried that they’d get up and start barking if he didn’t keep them under control.
‘So…’ he said thoughtfully. ‘A nasty business. But let’s be clear about one thing. This will be investigated by the police, who’ll arrive later today. We must not go beyond our brief, we must not speculate. Understood?’
‘Of course, Dr Peterson,’ said Judy quickly.
Mary wondered what was the point of calling them into his office if they couldn’t say anything. But Dr Peterson was looking at her, so she had to reply.
‘Yes, I see,’ she said.
‘But,’ said Dr Peterson, ‘what we can do is make sure our documentation is in order.’ He patted the papers once more. ‘And then confirm the basic facts partly—I must confess—just for my benefit.’ He looked at them.
‘Certainly, Dr Peterson,’ said Judy.
Mary nodded.
‘So,’ began Dr Peterson, ‘we have—we had a patient, Mrs Kull—, Mrs Kush—
‘Kulischer,’ offered Judy.
‘Quite,’ said Dr Peterson. ‘A Mrs Kulischer, who died last night during the power-cut. She first came into contact with us when she was diagnosed with a terminal condition—a terminal condition, about-‘
He flicked through the pile of papers, but then looked at Judy.
‘Almost exactly two years ago,’ said Judy.
‘Precisely,’ said Dr Peterson. ‘So…’ He flicked through more papers. ‘She was then admitted to the hospice…’
Mary saw Judy getting ready to volunteer the information, but Dr Peterson found the right page in time.
‘…three weeks ago.’ He looked up and smiled at Judy. ‘And then—almost a textbook case. Heartbeat slows, day-by-day.’ He glanced at another page, screwing his eyes up to read it. ‘No signs of lung collapse, but I’d anticipated its commencement today.’ He tutted. ‘All very clear, very obvious. Her death was imminent, it’s certain. She had two, maybe three days left, at most. So why—’ He stopped reading and turned to both of them. ‘Why on earth would anyone…’
‘Is it certain she was suffocated?’ asked Mary.