“Okay, just calm down. I can tell you’re already having a bad day, though it’s

still morning.” “Is my father okay?” Puller snapped. “Yes. And no.” Puller

closed his eyes and with a massive effort willed himself to remain calm. “Just

tell me.” “Your father got a phone call. I don’t know how it got to his room or

why it wasn’t screened out. I mean, the personnel at the hospital know his

condition.” “Who was the call from?’ “Lynda Demirjian.” “What!” barked Puller.

“Did my dad answer the phone? How could he?” “No one knows how he could, but

apparently he did.” “What did she say to him?” “Well, we couldn’t ask your

father that, of course. But we talked to Stan Demirjian. He told us. He didn’t

know that she was going to do that. But she told him afterwards what she’d

done.” “Wait a minute, why ask Stan? Why not just talk to his wife?” Puller

could hear Shireen let out a long breath. “Because she’s dead. She died right

after telling her husband about the call.” Puller put his head in one hand and

rocked back and forth on the bed. “And what did she say was my father’s reaction

to what she told him?” “He started screaming things at her. Unintelligible, or

so she said.

 

And then he hung up.” “Well, that’s great,” said Puller. “How did you find out?”

“I’m your father’s lawyer. I started my work. I called Stan Demirjian to get a

statement from him before I talked to his wife. That’s when he told me.” “And

how was Stan taking it?” “His wife had just died, so there’s that part of it;

the man was grieving. Plus he was sort of caught between a rock and a hard

place—his wife dead, the man she had accused of this terrible crime a person

Stan revered.” Yeah, I get being caught between a rock and a hard place, Puller

thought. “Did you tell my father’s doctors what happened?” “As soon as I got off