No Greater Love - Eris Field Page 0,11
home.”
Pieter nodded and said grimly, “If she was married to a Dutchman, she would not have been sent to the camps.”
Janan took the exit off the thruway and headed toward the Cancer Hospital. “His aunt had a son, Michael, and that son had a son, Arnold Schoolhaver, Carl’s great-nephew. Arnold is an assistant professor of history at the University at Buffalo. A pompous, hateful man!” Janan pounded the steering wheel of the faithful Subaru. “Carl, kind, brave Carl who would help anyone, is terrified of him.”
“How long has this been going on?”
“That is what is so strange.” She thumped the steering wheel again. “Carl has lived here almost all his life and the nephew has been here at least three years, but it is only in the last couple of months that he has been coming to see Carl.”
“What has changed?”
Startled at the familiar clinical question, one of the first questions of a psychiatric evaluation, Janan swept a quick glance at his face and answered slowly, “After my adoptive father’s death last year, Carl seemed restless, discontented, and then, two months ago he heard that his mother’s sister had died. Since then, he has been almost obsessed about going back to Leiden and claiming his family home.” She hurried on, trying to convey the information that would help him understand, “It’s not only the house. He’s determined to get the benefits from his father’s insurance policies and to retrieve the money deposited in a Swiss bank. He feels that he must do that to keep faith with his father.”
“I see and you have surrounded him with people so that he’s never alone?”
“Yes. I changed the locks, too. Somehow Arnold had obtained a key. He no longer has a key, but he is a relative and I am not. I don’t know what he will do next.” She frowned. “I just don’t understand why he wants that power of attorney so badly. Carl receives social security and he has a retirement plan with the Erie County Medical Society but it is not a big one.” Her voice softened. “He was a family doctor who helped everyone who needed it.” She blushed with shame. “He still has a mortgage on the house. He refinanced it to help my parents pay for my college education. I am repaying him each month but the mortgage payments are still big.” She shook her head. “I owe him so much.”
“So do I.” Pieter’s voice was thick with self-reproach. “Carl was there for me as I went through my medical training. He was the one who advised me, who smoothed my path.” He paused and then began to speak hesitantly. “It was more than that.” He flushed. “Carl loved me like a son and I loved him as only a shunted aside, imperfect, middle brother can. He didn’t see that I lacked the charisma of Crispin, the easy charm of Dirk. He didn’t see my birthmark that makes everyone uncomfortable. He just saw me.”
Janan glanced quickly at him and said gently, “He wants to go home. He doesn’t talk about it very often but he yearns to go home, to Leiden, to that old house on the Rapenberg Canal.” Her words were thickened by the tears she held back. “He has tried to draw a picture of the house so that I can see where he lived but he can’t draw the details and it infuriates him.”
“Carl is the only one of the family to survive. The home should be his without any question,” Pieter said in a low voice, unaware that she had pulled into the driveway in front of the hospital.
“Oh, are we there all ready?” he asked as he surveyed the sprawling medical complex that made up the Roswell Park Cancer Institute. You don’t have to wait for me,” Pieter said stiffly. “I can take a taxi back.”
“Carl would be so hurt,” Janan explained softly. “He already feels terrible that he couldn’t come with you.” Stopping in front of the main entrance, she said, “I’ll let you out here and park.” She put a hand on his arm. “Wait for me . . . please.” When Pieter gave a curt nod, she took a quick breath and added, “Wait for me in the lobby. It’ll be warm there.”
Janan hurried back and, slightly out of breath, asked, “Where do you have to go?”
“To the Leukemia Care Center.” The words fell between them and for a moment they stared at each other.
“We go down this corridor,”