“What do you want from me?” Dr. Madison asked.
“We want you to tell us what happened here Saturday morning.”
“Nothing. I wasn’t even here Saturday morning. Office hours start at two.”
“What time did Eileen Glennon arrive?”
“I have no idea who Eileen Glennon is.”
“She’s the girl you operated on last Saturday,” Meyer said. “She’s the girl who dropped dead of a uterine hemorrhage in the park six blocks from here. That’s who she is, Dr. Madison.”
“I performed no operation last Saturday.”
“What time did she get here?”
“This is absurd, and a waste of time. If she wasn’t here, I’m certainly not going to say she was.”
“Did you know she was dead?”
“I didn’t even know she was alive. I’m sure she was a very nice little girl, but—”
“Why do you call her little, Dr. Madison?”
“What?”
“You just called her a nice little girl. Why?”
“I’m sure I don’t know. Wasn’t she a nice little girl?”
“Yeah, but how did you know?”
“How did I know what?” Dr. Madison said angrily.
“That she was only sixteen years old.”
“I didn’t, and I don’t. I never heard of Eileen Glennon until just a few moments ago.”
“Didn’t you read yesterday’s paper?”
“No. I rarely have time for anything but the professional journals.”
“When’s the last time you did read a newspaper, Dr. Madison?”
“I don’t remember. Wednesday, Thursday, I don’t remember. I just told you—”
“Then you didn’t know she was dead.”
“No. I told you that already. Are we finished now?”
“What time did you operate on her, Dr. Madison?”
“I didn’t. Nor do I see how you can possibly show that I did. You just told me the girl is dead. She can’t testify to having had an abortion, and—”
“Oh, she came here alone then, huh?”
“She didn’t come here at all. She’s dead, and that’s that. I never saw her or heard of her in my life.”
“Ever hear of Claire Townsend?” Carella snapped.
“What?”
He decided to take a chance. She had just told him she hadn’t seen a newspaper since the middle of last week, before Claire was killed. So, out of the blue, and knowing it was a wild gamble, he said, “Claire Townsend’s still alive. She told us she arranged an abortion for Eileen Glennon. With you, Dr. Madison. Now how about it?”
The room went silent.
“I think you’d better come downtown and discuss this with Claire personally, huh?” Meyer said.
“I didn’t think—”
“You didn’t think Claire would tell us, huh? Well, she did. Now how about it?”
“I had nothing to do with the girl’s death,” Dr. Madison said.
“No. Then who committed the abortion?”
“I had nothing to do with her death!”
“Where’d you perform the operation?”
“Here.”
“Saturday morning?”
“Yes.”
“What time?”
“She got here at ten.”
“And you operated when?”
“At about ten-fifteen.”
“Who assisted?”
“I don’t have to tell you that. There was a nurse and an anesthetist. I don’t have to tell you who they were.”
“An anesthetist? That’s a little unusual, isn’t it?”
“I’m not a butcher!” Dr. Madison said angrily. “I performed the kind of operation she could have got from a gynecologist in a hospital. I observed every rule of proper aseptic surgical technique.”
“Yeah, that’s very interesting,” Carella said, “since the girl had a septic infection in addition to the goddamn hemorrhage. What’d you use on her? A rusty hatpin?”
“Don’t you dare!” Dr. Madison shouted, and she rushed at Carella with her hand raised, the fist clenched in a hopelessly female attack, her eyes blazing. He caught her arm at the wrist and held her away from him, trembling and enraged.
“Now take it easy,” he said.
“Let go of me!”
“Take it easy.”
She pulled her wrist from his grasp. She rubbed the wrist with her left hand, glaring at Carella. “The girl had proper care,” she said. “She was under general anesthesia for the dilatation and curettage.”
“But she died,” Carella said.
“That wasn’t my fault! I told her to go directly to bed when she left here. Instead, she—”
“Instead she what?”
“She came back!”
“Here?”
“Yes, here.”
“When was this?”
“Saturday night. She told me Miss Townsend hadn’t met her where she was supposed to. She said she couldn’t go back home, and she begged me to take her in for the night.” Dr. Madison shook her head. “I couldn’t do that. I told her to go to a hospital. I gave her the name of a hospital. They would have treated her.” Dr. Madison shook her head again.
“She didn’t go to any hospital, Dr. Madison. She was probably too frightened.” He paused. “How sick was she when she came here Saturday night?”
“She didn’t seem ill. She only seemed confused.”
“Was she hemorrhaging?”
“Of course not! Do you think I’d have let her go if — I’m a doctor!”
“Yeah,” Carella said dryly. “Who happens to perform abortions on the side.”
“Have you ever carried an unwanted child?” Dr. Madison said slowly and evenly. “I have.”
“And that makes everything all right, does it?”
“I was trying to help that little girl. I was offering her escape from a situation she didn’t ask for.”
“You gave her escape, all right,” Meyer said.
“How much did you charge for her murder?” Carella said.
“I didn’t murder!”
“How much?”
“Fi... five hundred dollars.”
“Where would Eileen Glennon get five hundred dollars?”
“I... I don’t know. Miss Townsend gave me the money.”
“When did you and Claire arrange all this?”
“Two... two weeks ago.”
“How’d she get onto you?”
“A friend told her about me. Why don’t you ask her? Didn’t she tell you all this?”
Carella ignored the question. “How long was Eileen pregnant?” he asked.
“She was in her second month.”
“Then... since the beginning of September, would you say?”
“Yes, I would guess so.”
“All right, Dr. Madison, get your coat. You’re coming with us.”
Dr. Madison seemed suddenly confused. “My... my patients,” she said.
“You can forget all about your patients from now on,” Meyer said.
“Why? What did I do wrong? Try to save a little girl from unwanted misery? Is that so wrong?”
“Abortion is against the law. You knew that, Dr. Madison.”
“It shouldn’t be!”
“It is. We don’t write them, lady.”
“I was helping her!” Dr. Madison said. “I was only—”
“You killed her,” Meyer said.
But his voice lacked conviction, and he put the handcuffs on her wrists without another word.
The Grand Jury of Majesta, by this indictment, accuse the defendant, Alice Jean Madison, of the crime of abortion, in violation of Sections 2 and 80 of the Penal Law of this state, committed as follows: