Part 27
Monica greeted Alexis and V. Ardanowski as they came into the living room, and shook hands with Zander's mother, staring a second, as, Alexis noticed, was going to be inevitable with anyone who already knew Zander.
She asked them to sit down, and drew out a pad of paper, saying: "Your son is in good stable condition after an injury, nothing to worry about there. While I did the surgery, I noticed premature ventricular contractions, which can be a sign of a heart condition that is usually genetic. When I asked him for the routine family history, I got a brick wall. Mainly he resisted telling me or told me he didn't know anything. I really need to know, for his own good, yours and his father's family history for heart problems, and especially if there were any sudden deaths of relatively young people. Then his own history, records from the pediatrician. And a couple of fainting episodes he seemed to remember. Can you tell me about all that, Mrs. – sorry, what is it?"
She waved a hand, "Call me Oksana. My son – he has no problems. I don't remember the doctor's name, but I can find it. They only went there for a paper for the school that they could play a sport. He was the healthiest of children. In school every day. He played every sport. There were years he was just with his father. I don't know for sure about those, but never heard that it was any different."
"He told me he fainted a couple of times when he was a little kid."
"He must remember wrong; oh, maybe, once, in a church. We went to a wedding, it was hot, he had on a suit and tie. I think nobody realized he ate nothing. We took him outside, his father said, 'get him something to eat' and he was playing as always later the same day."
"Didn't seek any medical attention for that?"
"Any what?"
"Take him to the doctor?"
"No. He got back to normal really quick."
"Do you have other children?"
"One other son, much the same. He is 16."
"He's also healthy, then?"
"Yes."
"If you can get the doctor's name, and clear up the years with his father, but most importantly, is there anyone in your family with any heart problems?"
"Oh, my, they are far away – all in Russia."
"Well, they exist, don't they? Do you have any contact with them at all?"
"Yes, I will call and ask."
"It's sudden deaths, especially when young. Heart conditions."
"Yes. Sudden death. Heart conditions."
"Here," Monica handed her the pad of paper. "Plot the family tree. That's the best way."
Oksana took the pad, slowly, and stared at it for a minute. "But what's this surgery for?"
"He's fine now. A gunshot wound. Maybe you need to find out what he had been up to these last few years. But if you really want to help him, you'll attend to that first."
"Gunshot?" Oksana looked bewildered.
"It's getting late," V. said to Oksana, who was again looking at the blank pad of paper. "You've been traveling, too, I imagine, you're tired. You could start on that first thing in the morning, and it'll be much easier."
"Good idea," Alexis said. "Come back to my place."
Oksana stood up, "No, I don't want to bother you; I'll go to the hotel."
"We'll give you a ride, though."
"I've got to go to this hospital and see him, where is it?"
"That's got to wait," Monica said. "That pad is more important, if you really want to help him, as I said, and visiting hours are over, and he most emphatically doesn't even want to see you."
"I know. But he will be all right when I have seen him."
"He knows I tracked you down," Alexis said, "but I didn't realize you could be here, so soon, and really, he's been so against it all along, I really need more time to prepare him. He doesn't know you're here to be against seeing you. He just didn't want me to track you down."
"But we need this history," Monica added. "And his father. We need the same information from him."
"I'll find him," Oksana said.
Monica took the pad back and wrote on it. "Here's my number," she said, writing. "Call me when you learn anything."
"I will. Thank you, Ms., Mrs. Doctor."
They turned to go, and Edward Quartermaine came in just at that moment. "Alexis! Detective Ardanowski, always good to see you - and – oh, a relative of that deviant Zander Smith."
"Smith, who?" she asked. "Does he mean my son?"
"Never mind," Monica said. "Ignore him."
Edward shook his forefinger at Oksana. "If you had done your job right, young lady, we wouldn't have had all that trouble with that Svengali last year. I won't have any of his parents in this house."
"It's my house Edward, and I'll ask you to put a sock in it," said his daughter-in-law, firmly if not respectfully.
"Let's go," Alexis said.
"Right," said V, taking the arm of the staring Oksana, and leading her out behind Alexis.
