“Ben. Ben Shepherd.”
“Are you a member of the family?”
“What? No, I’m a neighbor.”
“And what is your address?”
“16 Ashburn Court.”
Ben looked over at the girls. They were crying and looking at him. “Are you ok?” he asked gently and they nodded.
“Did- did you kill daddy?” Madison asked in a quiet voice.
“What?!? No, he drove away just now.” Ben gasped. “Can you look after your brother?” He then realized he had no memory of how he got into the house. That troubled him until he heard the sirens. “I can hear sirens.” he said to the 911 operator as he walked to the front door. He looked at the wreckage of the storm door on the driveway. Shards of glass and blood. Small white bits in the blood that looked like Chicklets. Ben looked blankly at the damage. Then he saw people on the street moving towards the house.
The police cruiser arrived first. Then a second and third. Ben told the 911 operator they were there and hung up.
“Sir, step outside please.” an officer said firmly. Ben stepped down onto the driveway as the officer’s partner approached.
“Just Ashley, Madison, Savannah and baby Joshua are inside. The husband just drove off moving fast.” Ben said then his muscles said enough. He sank to his knees and the policeman moved closer.
“Did you do this, sir?” the officer said pointing to the damaged door.
Ben looked at the door from his new angle and it looked so foreign. He shook his head. “I don’t think… I… don’t remember.”
The officer saw Ben was bleeding from his temple. “Sir, you’ve been hurt. Your head. Were you struck on your head?”
“I don’t remember.” he said as he touched the spot on his head. He pulled his fingers back and saw the blood. He froze looking at his fingers. Something about blood covered hands…
The ambulance arrived and the officer directed them inside. Tina rushed up the driveway to get to Ben but the cop intercepted her.
“Maam! You can’t be here. Please go back to the sidewalk.”
“I must go to Ben! He needs me! BEN!” she called out. She saw he was staring at the blood on his fingers. “BEN? Please! Something is wrong. I must go to him!” She pushed ineffectively at the cops arms.
The paramedics were coming out with Ashley on the gurney. Ben caught the motion and his head snapped to the right. From his angle he couldn’t see Ashley’s face. His mind took him back to the night Margaret Cosburn died. Her charred body wheeled out on a gurney covered by a blanket. The blood on his hands.
“NOOOOOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MRS. COSBURN!” Ben screamed then collapsed.
“BEN!” Tina screamed.
Ben woke up in a hospital bed. He looked around and didn’t recognize the room. Minimal furniture, none of the usual medical machinery, not even a get well card or a vase of flowers. The walls were painted a color he couldn’t even recognize. There overall impression hinted at a subtle sense of desperation in the room. Then he noticed the restraints pinning him to the bed. That was also new. He looked around and didn’t see a call button for the nurse. Not that he could reach it, he realized.
“HELLO?” Ben called out.
He heard approaching footsteps. Then he heard the door unlock. His eyebrows went up again. An orderly entered the room. He read Ben’s chart then nodded to Ben and left. The door locked and footsteps moved away.
Minutes later two sets of footsteps approached. Again the door unlocked and opened only this time it was the orderly and Dr. Granger. The orderly remained outside after he opened the door for the doctor.
“Oh thank god! A familiar face!” Ben exclaimed.
“Hello Ben. How are you feeling?”
“Fine. Why am I here and why am I in restraints?”
“Police orders. You had a psychotic break and evidence suggests you injured someone.” The doctor stated. Ben twitched when she mentioned him hurting someone. She took note of that.
“The police found pieces of someone’s teeth, a lot of them, and quite a bit of blood on the driveway. None of this was from you so it was determined that it belonged to Mr. Sturn. ‘He was inside the storm door then he was on the driveway.’ That’s a description the police received from a Mr. Barry Walker, a neighbor who was watching with binoculars from directly across the court. Do you remember confronting Mr. Sturn?” the doctor asked.
Ben thought back to the event. “I got home and talked with Tina, is she ok?” The doctor nodded. “She told me what happened when Sturn got home. I went to see if I could tell if Ashley was alright.” He frowned as something flashed by in his mind. “I rang the doorbell a few times until he showed up. I couldn’t see-” Ben stopped as the old man stood before him in the dark breathing hard, fists clenched, foul breath reeking of whiskey.
“Ben!”
“Sorry… what?” Ben blinked.
“Why did you stop just then? What did you remember?” the doctor pressed.
“Remember? Uh… I was in the driveway… then I was kneeling next to her but it wasn’t-” the crumpled and broken body of the sweet old woman who loved him was curled in a fetal position on the ground behind the picnic table. She wasn’t breathing!
“BEN!”
He jolted against his restraints and looked around frightened and confused. His memory had holes.
“Who is Mrs. Cosburn?” Dr. Granger asked.
Ben stared at the doctor blankly then his eyes rolled up and he was out.
She checked his pulse which was a little fast then she left.
Hannah sat with Dr. Granger and listened to the woman describe her meeting with Ben. “Damn! Something in his past really hurt him. How do we find out about this Mrs. Cosburn?”
The doctor looked grim. “I am assuming, hoping actually, that she was one of his foster parents. If she was then there may be records of what happened. I’ve got a call in to my contact at Child Health Services to see if I can get the records of Ben’s time in the system. The police are investigating from their side.”
“Can he have visitors?” Hannah asked.
Dr. Granger looked at the administrator. She knew Hannah had feelings for her patient but she trusted the woman’s concerned for his well-being was stronger.
“Yes, but the restraints stay on.” she said pinning Hannah with her gaze. The administrator nodded.
Ben woke up in the room again. He looked around but the doctor was no longer in the room. He went back to her questions. His mind shied away from something there. He found himself pulling at his restraints so he relaxed as best he could. Ben’s head was pounding from a headache. He called out to see if the orderly could get him some pain killers.
The wait this time was much longer but when he heard footsteps he could tell there was more than one coming. The door unlocked and Hannah came in. The relief to see her face was almost physical. He smiled and tears welled up but he blinked them away and took control of his emotions.
“Hi Ben.”
“Hi Hannah. I’m in your hospital? This doesn’t look like your hospital.” he said with a shaky voice.
“Psych ward. Oldest section in the building. It needs some updates.” Hannah nodded as she looked at him with sadness in her eyes.
“Is everyone ok?” he asked.
Hannah snorted. Ben’s in the hospital and he’s worried about the others. “Yes, Ben. They’re ok.”
“Ashley? Madison? Savannah? Joshua?”
“Ashley will be going home in a day or two. She has some broken ribs, a concussion, bruises over most of her body and three broken fingers on one hand. The girls are better. Bruises only. Madison needed a new cast. Joshua wasn’t hurt at all. When Ashley leaves she’ll be staying with Tina at your place. That’s where her daughters are now. Daphne’s taking care of Joshua.”
“Ashley’s husband?”
“Elija Ray Sturn is in the wind. He may be badly hurt. He lost teeth, skin, and blood on the driveway but he hasn’t shown up in any hospitals or walk-in-clinics. The police are hunting him. He was out on bail from attacking a prostitute-”
“-in Las Vegas. I know.” Ben finished.