Chapter 39

The look on Mrs. Donovan’s face when she answered Dr. Bauer’s door told Lillian and Solomon several unsurprising things: first, that two were not expected, and second, that the appearance of a Negro on this doorstep was not a welcome sight, at least to Mrs. Donovan.

Lillian stepped over the threshold but when Solomon went to follow behind her, Mrs. Donovan held up her hand. “I’ll be askin’ the good doctor if the likes of you is invited in. And keep yer hat on down low so yer not lettin’ all the neighbors see ya. This here’s a respectable neighborhood.”

As she went to close the door, Solomon forced it open and produced a calling card. “Solomon Scott, Attorney. From the firm Scott and Knickerbocker, Fifth Avenue.” She squinted to see the fine print. Lillian knew that Solomon was counting on the fact that this woman couldn’t read very well, since Solomon’s card listed only him at his Brooklyn address.

Lillian cleared her throat. “I believe the good doctor is waiting for me. Please see us in.” She was relieved to hear that her voice did not betray the fear she felt.

With a scowl, Mrs. Donovan lead them to the study.

As they had discussed, Lillian entered first and was pleased to see Dr. Bauer’s look of smug satisfaction turn to confusion when he spied Solomon behind her. “Lillian, my invitation did not extend beyond yourself,” he said from his wing chair by the fire.

“Your invitation wasn’t so much of an invitation as a demand. But I take your point.” Lillian stood to one side of the fire as Solomon approached Dr. Bauer. “Solomon Scott, Attorney,” he said and sat down in the opposite chair that was clearly intended for Lillian. She looked down at the footstool and felt queasy but forced herself to direct her gaze to Dr. Bauer, who was clearly struggling to gain the upper hand.

He looked up at her. “If you think that some darky lawyer can help you, you are more naive than I had ever thought.”

“Dr. Bauer,” Solomon began in his most sonorous voice, and Lillian was satisfied to see that Dr. Bauer could not help but turn his eyes to Solomon. “I’m sure my presence in your study is unwelcome, so it will be in everyone’s best interest if I say my piece so we can be on our way.”

“Well, at least so you can be on your way.”

Solomon pressed on. “I am here not only as an attorney but also as a very good friend of a Mr. McKelway, the editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. I’m told you are familiar with the exposés that the Eagle likes to run, most recently the extremely popular series of pieces last year on Mary Dixon Jones.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to know,” Dr. Bauer said, “but for your medical edification, Dr. Jones was the first ever to perform a total hysterectomy just a few years ago, saving some poor woman from a uterine myoma. And yet the Eagle dug up a few families of her patients who were probably too far gone to save, and made a mint scaring people away from surgery.”

“Perhaps. But at least we can agree on the power of the press.”

Dr. Bauer settled back in his chair and made a steeple of his fingers. “Why yes, I suppose we can agree upon that. I hope our dear Lillian mentioned why I had brought up that example to her as a cautionary tale. It’s clear that the papers love a good juicy story about wrongful death at the hands of a medical professional.”

Lillian’s breath quickened at the thought of this, but she looked at Solomon who seemed unperturbed. “Indeed. But there are other juicy hospital stories out there.” Solomon picked a bit of fluff off the arm of the wing chair and let it float to the floor. Lillian counted two beats of her pounding heart before Solomon resumed. “Let me be specific. I think Mr. McKelway—St. Clair to his friends—would be interested in a story about what your hospital does with patients who are cured of their cancer but can’t go home. I think a lot of readers would pay a nickel to read about stroke victims being sent to the lunatic asylum on Blackwell’s.”

“Ah, but the woman in question never got a chance to make that journey, did she? Thanks to someone playing God,” he said snidely, glancing at Lillian.

“Mrs. Sokolova did not,” agreed Solomon, “but two other women in the past five years did manage the trip.”

The smile dropped from Dr. Bauer’s face. “That was before my involvement with this hospital.”

“True, but this series of stories isn’t about you. It’s about the New York Cancer Hospital. St. Clair told me how these stories go. First, it’s all the talk in Brooklyn. But if it’s about something with broad appeal, and especially if it’s about something in Manhattan, the story spreads to the papers there. Mr. Pulitzer at the New York World would almost certainly have interest.”

“I can easily disassociate myself from this hospital. These stories will give me the perfect excuse to go back full time to Presbyterian. They are no threat to me.”

As if Dr. Bauer had not spoken, Solomon continued. “Then, with interest in the New York Cancer Hospital peaking, the second series of stories will begin. The stories about a doctor there who had a certain… preference. A peculiar preference. And a habit of forcing this preference on young women, like poor 16-year-old Lillian Dolan.”

Dr. Bauer looked up at Lillian. “I’ve read your file, you are eighteen.”

“It’s a shame when the papers get the little details wrong,” said Solomon.

“The word of a ladder-climbing slut from nowhere will not be believed over a Columbia-trained surgeon. If this is the best you’ve got—”

“Of course, if it were just one girl, many readers would be skeptical. That’s just the first story. But the second one will be about a girl from Presbyterian.”

Lillian held her breath. She glanced at Solomon; his posture was relaxed but she could see a faint sheen of perspiration at his temple gleaming in the firelight. She hoped that Dr. Bauer could not see it, and could not hear her heart thumping against her breastbone.

Time seemed to stand still. The three of them were frozen in their poses, the only movement in the room the mantel clock insistent on counting the seconds in a relentless tempo. Lillian and Solomon had talked about this moment, how once they made their risky move they needed to let it sink in no matter how uncomfortable the silence was, but part of her had not believed it would come. From nowhere, she remembered practicing with outsized crutches on the stairs at the hospital, the vertiginous feeling in the moment when you aren’t sure if you will go forward as you want or tumble backwards down the stairwell and break your neck.

Finally, Dr. Bauer asked, “What exactly do you want?”

“You will forget your accusations against Lillian, which are without any evidence anyway. Lillian will leave the hospital with a good recommendation from the head nurse, which you will do nothing to jeopardize. That’s it.”

Dr. Bauer got up slowly and stood on the other side of the fireplace opposite Lillian. He leaned an elbow on the mantel. “You’ve been awfully quiet.”

“My lawyer represents me,” she said.

“He’s rather clever,” he said, as if Solomon were not in the room. “Especially for a Negro. But actually, I see your hand in this.”

“I don’t see how.”

“Oh, come now. Why did I take a shine to you in the first place? Your mind, Lillian. You are more clever than you know. I believe it was you that cooked up this strategy. I’m impressed.”

When they had first met, Lillian had not seen it. Later on, she glimpsed it, but now she could view it plainly. She remembered what Josephine had told her, about how some men know how to tell a homely girl that she’s pretty in a way that makes her loyal as a hound. She could see Dr. Bauer manipulating her now, seeing it as if she were a separate person standing nearby. It seemed instinctive to him, like a lion chasing a gazelle without knowing why. She saw herself as she was when she started at the hospital, so eager to be seen as clever, as worthy. Now his words seemed a cheap trick, like three-card Monte on the boardwalk.

She moved from the fireplace and positioned herself behind Solomon’s wing chair. “Do you agree to our terms?”

After several moments of silent tension that Lillian felt she could not bear, Dr. Bauer said, “Pfff,” waving a hand as he went over to his desk and sat down. “Your terms are fine with me. As if I had time to testify against a lowly staff member. Your threats of slander in the papers have nothing to do with it.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” said Solomon. He and Lillian walked to the door. “And by the way,” he added, “for your legal edification, it’s libel, not slander.”

Lillian hid her grin until they were clear of the study.