adass in Disguise

bChapter /b244

Saturday morning sunlight filtered through the grimy windones of a sundown apartment building in Princeton’s poorest neighborhood. I stood behind Walter Morrison and Philip Thornton as we climbed the creaking stairs to the fifth floor. The stairwell reeked of urine and bcheap /bdisinfectant.

Walter knocked on apartment 507. No answer. He knocked again, louder bthis /btime,

“Maybe no one’s home, Philip suggested, straightening his expensive suit jacket.

I reached past them and turned the doorknob. It wasn’t locked. The door swung open, revealing Ss kneeling beside a bfrail /bwoman in a narrow bed, cleaning what appeared to be vomit from her nightgown.

“I’m sorry.” Ss said without looking up, his voice t. “I’ll be at work in twenty minutes.”

He froze when he turned and bsaw /bus standing in the doorway. His eyes widened with recognition, then narrowed with something between anger and shame.

“Sorry,” Philip said bquickly/b. “The door v

wasn’t bproperly /bclosed. We should have knocked harder.”

The apartment was a single bedroom with a tiny living room and what looked blike /bba /bkitchte band /bbathroom so small you’d struggle to turn around in them. The walls were painted a dingy yellow that had bfaded /band peeled in ces. The sparse furniture was clearly secondhand, but meticulously clean. Deep knife marks scarred the front door from the Inside.

Despite the poverty, someone had tried to make the ce habitable. The floor was swept, the few dishes stacked neatly in a drying rack. bA /bnket and pillow on the living room couch suggested that’s where Ss slept, giving the bedroom to his mother.

b“/bDr. Morrison?” Ss’s mother asked bweakly /bfrom the bed, her voice a thread of sound,

Walter

stepped forward, medical bag in hand. “Mrs. Murphy.”

Ss’s jaw tightened as he took the soiled cloth to the tiny bathroom

sional efficiency. I watched from the doorway as he examined Mrs. Murphy, his

Walter moved to the bbedside/b, his manner shifting to professional expression growing more troubled with beach /bpassing minute.

“She worked two jobs when bshe /bbwas /byounger, Ss said from bbehind /bme, his voice low. “Factory during the day, cleaning offices at night. Her body started breaking down years ago.”

Walter nodded grimly. “And the kidney disease?”

“Two years

years ago. Medicare covers the dialysisb, /bbut…” Ss shrugged,

ed, the gesture conveying everything words couldn’t.

I studied Mrs. Murphy bmore /bcarefully. Early–fifties, probably, though she looked much older. Her body had been broken by hardbor and what looked like abuse–old scars visible on her arms, a badly healed fracture in her left bwrist/b.

“Your father?” I asked bquietly/b.

Ss ignored that question.

Walter finished his examination and turned to me. “Jadeb, /bcan you think of anything that might help? Something to ease her pain, perhaps extend her time?”

I nced at Ss, then back to Walter. “Everyone out,” I said. “I need a few minutes.”

Walter nodded and ushered everyone from the bedroom.

When we were alone, I pulled my small medical kit from my bag and selected a vial containing an experimental pain bmanagement /bpound I’d developed. It wasn’t FDA approved, but it worked better than anything on the market.

1 gently moved the nket baside and /bcarefully unbuttoned part of Mrs. Murphy’s nightgown, exposing a small area of her abdomen. After cleaning the spot, I injected thepound. “This will help with the pain,” I exined. “It targets nerve receptors without suppressing respiratory function.”

Within minutes, her breathing easedb, /band the tight lines around bher /beyes rxed.

“Better?” I basked/bb. /b

She nodded, looking at me with new interest. “Thank you. Are byou /ba doctor too?”

b“/bIn a way,” I repacked my kit. Til leave more medicine with your son.”

“Ss is a good boy,” she said, her voice stronger now that the pain had receded. “Always bhas /bbeen. Takes care of me, works so hard.” Her eyes filled with tears. “He deserves better than this life. Dealing with his father’s beatings, taking on so much responsibility at such a young age.”

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