Michael Malone - Weebly

And then Mrs. MacDermott told him what had
been done to Mrs. Haig. And then after he lied,
claiming to be the patient's legal counsel, they let him
see her for a minute. Rape. The vestal skin bruised.
Eyelids swollen, specks of dried blood in the smooth,
muted hair. Yes, sexual assault and battery, confirmed
the young woman doctor, a Dr. Deeds. Rape. He
backed away from the foot of the bed, back into the
hall. Then by rote he began to ask the physician where,
and when, and who, and how ask why? And as they
spoke he sensed as if against his skin the heat of Dr.
Deeds's growing hostility.
Certainly he imagined it, for how could Dr. Deeds
read and diagnose and judge his yet uncharted
response?
The friend, Mrs. MacDermott, sat on the couch,
legs crossed, cigarette in hand, Kleenex to her nose.
She had said she thought it was Maynard Henry! Had
Henry done it? That bitter young man suddenly
connected to his life; that man who had brought Judith
Haig to him, and whom she had sent him to defend.
That hard, innocent, threatened, and threatening man