Vic visits Dr. Chigwell and seeks Humboldt’s help

V. I. Warshawski visits Dr. Curtis Chigwell and then seeks help from Gustav Humboldt while investigating whether medical and employment records could clarify the identity of Louisa Djiak’s child’s father. The two encounters yield sharply different responses: Chigwell denies having the records Warshawski describes, while Humboldt connects Xerxes to his company, explains why Warshawski’s inquiries have attracted suspicion, and offers to contact the doctor on her behalf.

The inquiry at Chigwell’s home

Warshawski arrives without an appointment and introduces herself to Clio Chigwell as a professional investigator seeking to speak with her brother. Clio says he had not told her to expect anyone. Warshawski explains her unannounced approach as a way of preventing people from having too much time to prepare their answers. The method is practical, but it immediately places her in a household where her arrival is treated as a possible sign of trouble.

Clio worries that her brother may be in legal difficulties and wants to know about them before they become worse. Warshawski corrects that impression: she is not aware of any legal trouble involving him and is trying to obtain information about people who once worked at the Xerxes plant in South Chicago. She tells Curtis Chigwell that she is both a lawyer and a private investigator, retained in connection with a lawsuit settlement that leaves money to Joey Pankowski’s estate. Pankowski died in 1985, and Louisa Djiak, who also worked at the plant, may have had a child whose father was Pankowski. Because Louisa is seriously ill and cannot give a clear answer, establishing the father could determine who else is entitled to part of the settlement.

Records refused

Chigwell says he has no recollection of the names Warshawski raises. She presses the specific point that he took blood samples and medical histories from Xerxes employees every spring for several years, suggesting that his records might help resolve the question. He cuts her off, angrily denies that he conducted such examinations, and orders her to leave, threatening to call the police. His response turns a request for records into a confrontation and closes off the most direct route to the information Warshawski sought.

Clio watches her brother leave and tells Warshawski that she will have to go as well. Outside that exchange, Warshawski remains convinced that Chigwell did perform the tests and is puzzled by how upset he became when she mentioned them. The visit therefore produces no medical history or confirmation about Louisa’s child; instead, his emphatic denial makes the existence and accessibility of the records more consequential to the investigation.

Humboldt’s connection to Xerxes

Warshawski’s next conversation is with Humboldt, who identifies South Chicago as the point where their interests intersect. She realizes that Xerxes is part of Humboldt Chemical, a connection she had not made because she had long thought of the plant as part of the landscape of her childhood. Humboldt explains that the company’s research expanded during World War II and that Xerxine, one of the 1,2-dichlorethanes, was among its discoveries. The conversation recasts the plant she is investigating as part of a major chemical company’s history and interests.

Humboldt also explains why his staff might have treated her approach cautiously. In 1979, he says, Joey Pankowski and Steve Ferraro were involved in attempted sabotage at the plant. The mixture was altered so that it produced highly unstable vapor and a residue that blocked flow pipes; Xerxes had to close three times for cleaning. Humboldt says the investigation took a year, after which Pankowski, Ferraro, and two other men were fired. They then sued the company for wrongful dismissal. Humboldt calls the affair a nightmare and acknowledges that his employees could have assumed Warshawski was acting for a lawyer trying to reopen it.

An offer of assistance

Humboldt says that Gordon Firth had assured him Warshawski’s inquiries were not connected to the workers’ lawsuit, and that reassurance led him to invite her and explain the episode. Warshawski tells him that her investigation is personal and unrelated to any suit involving the men. She does not disclose every part of the matter: she leaves out Gabriella, the babysitting, Caroline Djiak’s insistence, and the Djiak family’s anger. Instead, she gives Humboldt the relevant outline: Louisa is dying, Caroline wants to learn who her father is, and Louisa does not want to tell her.

Humboldt disapproves of Caroline’s refusal to respect her mother’s wishes, describing himself as European and old-fashioned, but he distinguishes that judgment from the question of whether he will help. If Warshawski is committed to the inquiry, he says, he is committed too. He agrees to call Chigwell, whom he expects will not want to speak with her directly, and says his secretary will provide information in a few days. His promise does not yet establish what the records contain, but it gives Warshawski a route back to the doctor after the direct appeal has failed. The episode thus moves from denial to a conditional opening: Chigwell refuses her, while Humboldt’s corporate access may make the same inquiry possible by another means.