“I asked him if he remembered what he was doing before he woke up in the morgue, and he said he was talking to his daddy. When I asked what they were talking about, he changed the subject, and Doctor Terry wouldn’t let me push him. It was clear he didn’t want to talk about it anymore.”
Jesse leaned into the table, his lips puckered with deep thought. “Then it’s possible his dad was the last one to see him before someone beat the crap out of him. And if daddy’s the one who beat the crap out of him…maybe he doesn’t want to get him in trouble.”
Ellie’s heart quickened. She leaned into the table, just inches away from Jesse. “Or maybe someone didn’t beat the crap out of him. Maybe he was in a horrible wreck.”
Jesse’s eyes narrowed. Ellie could feel his warm breath on her face.
“But why dump him? Why not call for an ambulance?” he said.
Her heart beat so fast it throbbed in her throat. “I’ve got to find out Kenton’s connection to this kid.”
****
Ellie burst out of the elevator on the pediatric floor, sprinting toward Deveraux’s office. The door was open but the office was empty. She found one of the nurses and asked where he was.
The nurse glanced at her watch. “He’s probably at lunch. You might find him in the cafeteria.”
Ellie thanked her then turned and ran toward the stairs. She shoved the heavy door open then flew down the concrete steps to the first floor. She hurried to the cafeteria and found Deveraux at a table by himself, eating a too-healthy looking salad. Figures, she thought.
“I know what you’re going to say, but I have to talk to Johnny,” she blurted out as she slid into a chair across from him. She dug the picture out of her pocket and slid it across the table so he could see it. “He’s reaching out to me. Not Doctor Mertzer.”
Deveraux stared at the picture then started to speak, but Ellie cut him off. “This picture has meaning. It’s directly connected to the man in the picture I showed him earlier.”
Deveraux slightly shook his head. “The picture you showed him traumatized him. I can’t have—”
“And afterward, he drew this picture. For me, Marc. He’s telling me there is a connection.”
Again, Deveraux shook his head. “Then it’s up to you to find the connection.”
Ellie’s excitement threatened to turn to anger. “I can’t find the connection without his help. He drew the picture, Marc. He wants to help. He wants to tell me what happened.”
“And what if he shuts down again?”
“Each time I’ve questioned him, I’ve learned a little bit more. Piece by piece. If that’s how I have to get the information, I’m willing to take it like that, at his pace.” She jabbed her finger at the picture between them on the table. “This is a major piece. This is a breakthrough, Marc. I can’t not move on it.”
Deveraux sighed heavily then pushed his salad aside. “I want Doctor Mertzer present.”
Ellie bit her bottom lip. She wasn’t sure she should push any harder. Johnny was comfortable talking about everything under the sun with any number of people in the room, but when it came to what happened to him, Ellie knew she was the lone person with that honor. “What if I talk to him in the playroom with you and Doctor Mertzer watching from the one-way mirror?”
Deveraux lowered his brows and glared at her. “We’ve already discussed this.”
Ellie nodded. “But that was before he drew the picture. I’m not asking to take him off somewhere alone. You and Dr. Mertzer will be twenty feet away. Y’all can swoop in and rescue him at any time. Please, Marc. I know you want to find who did this to him as much as I do.”
Deveraux blew a defeated breath. “I’ll set it up. But I’m warning you—the first time I see him so much as flinch, I’m coming in there.”
Ellie nodded her agreement. “Fair enough.” She leaned into the table, perched on the edge of the plastic chair. Adrenaline was surging through her veins and she didn’t want to lose the momentum. “Can you set it up now?”
“She’s scheduled to see him later this afternoon. I’ll let you know what time.”
Ellie pulled her cell phone from her pocket and held it out in front of him. “Could she come now?”
He stared at the phone a moment then took it, shaking his head. “You’re very pushy.” He punched in a number then drummed his fingers on the table while he waited. A few seconds later, she answered. “Liz—it’s Marc. There’s been a new development in the Johnny Doe case. Detective Saunders would like to question him in the playroom, and I’d like for you to be on hand to observe.” He slightly nodded his head, said “uh-huh” a couple of times, grinned once. “As soon as possible.” He nodded again. “Yeah, I think she can live with that. See you then.” He closed the phone and handed it back to Ellie. “She’ll meet us at the playroom in thirty minutes. She’s eating lunch.” He glanced at his salad then smiled sarcastically at Ellie.
Ellie flushed and grinned sheepishly. “Thanks. You don’t know how much I really do appreciate this.” Ellie leaned further into the table. “In your professional opinion, could the injuries he came in with be consistent with injuries received in an automobile accident?”
Deveraux looked again at his salad then finally pushed it aside and sighed. “It’s hard to say. Remember, I didn’t actually see the injuries.”
Ellie spoke quietly, afraid Sara Jefferies and her recorder might be lurking behind the condiment rack. “But you saw the pictures.”
“You think this all might be explained by a car wreck?”
She sighed heavily and slowly pushed her fingers through her hair. “I don’t know. Even if he was involved in a wreck, it doesn’t explain how he got in that alley. Someone had to put him there.”
“What if whoever did it, did it out of love or remorse? Not out of meanness.”
Ellie raised her brows and stared at him. “They beat the crap out of him out of love? Sorry, doc, I’m not buying that.”
“Let me explain. What if what ever happened to him was an accident. And whoever-it-was took him to the alley because they didn’t know what else to do.”
Ellie shook her head. “He was dumped. If someone had felt the least bit of pity for him, they would have covered him with something. An old newspaper, a trash bag, anything they might have had on hand. And there was plenty of stuff lying around him to have covered him with. Besides, if they cared anything at all, why didn’t they bring him to the hospital to get him help?”
Deveraux thought about it for a moment then nodded his understanding. “We don’t always know what makes people do the things they do. It’s not up to us to judge, anyway.”
Ellie’s mouth turned upward in an evil grin. “You’re right—it’s up to a jury of their peers.”
Deveraux smiled. “That’s not exactly what I meant, but I suppose you’re right to a certain degree. But”—he lifted a finger and pointed it at her—”even they don’t have the final judgment.”
****
Ellie paced back and forth outside the playroom like a nervous cat, waiting for Dr. Mertzer to join them. Johnny was already in the room with Leon, smashing tiny cars into stacked blocks, laughing hysterically at their destruction. Ellie glanced at her watch and wanted to point out to Deveraux that Dr. Mertzer was five minutes late. But since they were doing her a favor, she thought perhaps she’d better not.
“She’ll be here,” Deveraux said and smiled.
Ellie nodded slightly and leaned against the glass, staring at the little boy on the other side. What was he going to tell her? How far would she get before he shut down again?
“Marc, sorry I’m late. Got tied up on a phone call.”
Ellie spun around to get her first look at Dr. Mertzer. She was a squatty woman with short chestnut-colored hair and glasses too big for her face. She was wearing an ankle length skirt and a boxy sweater, layers of colorful beads hanging around her thick neck.
Ellie wasn’t sure why she had expected a tall, leggy blonde in a power-suit
with waxed brows and shiny lips, but the real Dr. Mertzer looked a lot more kid-friendly than the imagined one.
Deveraux introduced her to Ellie. “Why don’t you show Doctor Mertzer the picture he drew for you?”
Ellie pulled the picture from her pocket and carefully unfolded it then handed it to Mertzer. “I had showed him a picture of a man we think may be connected to him, and that man was recently involved in a car accident involving a deer.”
Mertzer studied the drawing, slowly nodding her head as Ellie spoke. “And the picture of the man you showed him frightened him?”
“I don’t know if it frightened him, but there was a definite reaction.”
“He shut down,” Deveraux said. Ellie threw him a sideways glance, objecting to his choice of words.
“And he drew this after you showed him the picture?” Mertzer asked.
“Yes. Doctor Deveraux and I had left the room and a short while later a nurse brought it to me and said he wanted to give it to me.”
Mertzer handed the picture back to Ellie. “Concentrate on the drawing first. See if you can get him to discuss the meaning behind it. He’s obviously more comfortable talking about the accident than his relationship to the man in your picture, and if there is a connection, you’ll still get your answers.”
“And if he starts shutting down, you shut up.” Deveraux glowered at her with very threatening eyes.
Ellie returned the threat with a smirk then headed into the playroom.
“Hello, gorgeous!” Leon shouted and sprang up from the miniature chair, grabbed Ellie and spun her around in one of his impromptu dances.
Johnny laughed so hard his blue eyes watered.
“You like that, huh?” Leon said, laughing at Johnny.
Could he possibly like it a little less before I get dizzy? Ellie bowed out of a third spin then ruffled the little boy’s hair. “Hey, kiddo,” she said, nearly breathless.
“Did you come to play with us, too?”
“Well, actually I came to play with you, because Leon has to go back to work. Don’t you, Leon?”
Leon looked at her a moment, a puzzled look on his face. But then Leon always had a puzzled look on his face, so Ellie smiled and clarified. “I need some alone time with my favorite little guy. You don’t mind, do you, Leon?” She bobbed her head toward the door.
Leon had an ah-ha moment and followed with a high five with Johnny. “Yep, my break time’s over, so I’ll see you again this evening, sport.”
A twinge of disappointment shadowed the child’s face, driving a searing dagger straight through Ellie’s heart. She wondered how much disappointment this child had had in his life. And knowing she contributed to any amount of it broke her heart. She took a deep, slow breath. She had a job to do, and the sooner she found out who this child was and what had happened to him, the sooner he could begin to heal from the wounds no one could see.
She lowered herself into one of the tiny chairs. She could have choked on her own knees. She wondered how Leon managed to sit in the things. She picked up one of the small cars and turned it over and over in her hand. “So you and Leon were playing cars. Bet that was fun, huh?”
Johnny grinned a grin that totally divided his face into two different plains. “It was awesome! We built these castles with these blocks—see—and then rammed the cars into them like this.” He demonstrated the process and cackled at the flying blocks. Ellie ducked to avoid getting whopped in the face by a large red block.
“Too funny,” she said as she straightened up.
“I got a bunch that time. Count them.”
Ellie started counting the blocks then stopped. “There’s too many here to count by myself. You help me.”
He counted out three blocks then quickly stopped and handed her a green Mustang. “Your turn.”
“You have to tell me what comes after three first.” She smiled and held up one block, holding it above the pile of three.
He honestly tried, studying the block as if he were cramming for an exam.
“Four,” she mouthed silently.
“Four!” he shouted, smiling widely.
“Very good!” She dropped the block and held her hand up for a high five.
He slapped her hand then she took her turn and rammed the Mustang into a tower, causing a couple of the blocks to topple over.
Grinning, Johnny shook his head. “You’re still learnin’. Whoever knocks down the most blocks wins.”
“Oh. I see.” She grabbed the Mustang and slammed it into the remaining tower. “Better?”
He bobbed his head. “A little. It’s my turn now. Help me build another castle first.” He gathered the blocks and started the project. When they had several layers of colorful blocks locked into place, he picked a black Corvette and took out a corner of the foundation with one try. He sprang up from his chair, clapping, hooting, and hollering. “Did you see that?”
“I saw! You are very good at this.”
“Your turn now.” He handed her the green Mustang.
Ellie pursed her lips. “Let’s see, the object of the game is to knock down the most blocks, right?”
Johnny nodded. Ellie put the little car back in line with the others and started to take a heavy-duty pickup truck, but Johnny grabbed it first. “We don’t use this one,” he said quietly, his face suddenly serious. He shoved the truck to the side and handed her the Mustang.
“Oh. OK. The Mustang it is, then.” She rammed the little car into the same general location where Johnny had hit jackpot. A couple of blocks fell and Johnny shook his head again then swept the blocks over to Ellie’s side of the table. “Why can’t we use the truck?” she asked.
“We just can’t. I don’t like playing with it.”
Maybe the little box-shaped car in his drawing wasn’t a car at all. “I thought, from the picture you drew me, you liked trucks.”
He shook his head then smashed the Corvette into the tower. But he wasn’t laughing. He quietly swept his blocks onto his side of the table. “Your turn.”
“That was a truck in the picture, wasn’t it? And a…dog, maybe? Do you like dogs?”
He nodded quickly.
“So do I. I used to have a big ‘ol brown dog named Callie. Have you ever had a dog?”
“It wasn’t a dog. It was a deer.” They weren’t taking turns anymore. He rammed his car into what remained of the faltering tower.
“I didn’t see any people in the truck you drew for me. Were you in the truck in the picture?”
In one clean swipe, he cleared the table of the remaining blocks. Ellie jumped, startled at the sudden intensity of his action. She held her breath, glancing toward the window, waiting for Deveraux and Dr. Mertzer to come rushing into the room. Come on. Don’t shut down on me, Johnny. Not yet.
“You were in the truck when it wrecked, weren’t you?”
His eyes glittered with tears. “We hit a deer. We killed it.”
Ellie took the child into her arms and gently pushed his head onto her shoulder. “Shh. It’s OK. It wasn’t your fault. Accidents happen.” Who was we? Who was in that truck with him? She had a good idea it was Jerome Kenton.
Ellie sat the child on her lap and brushed away a spattering of tears. “Johnny—who was in the truck with you? Was it your mom and dad?”
She felt his little body tense. She didn’t want to push him, to traumatize him more than he had already been, but she needed answers to help him. “Johnny, tell me who was in the truck with you.”
He bolted from her lap, shaking free of her grasp. He moved away from her, moving to the other side of the room. She glanced at the window. Just one more minute. Please, one more minute. She moved after him, pressing him for an answer. “Johnny, were your mom and dad in the truck with you?”
He coward in the corner, shaking his head violently then burst out crying. “They aren’t my mom and dad!”
Ellie tried to calm her pounding heart. “Was it the man in the picture?”
Deveraux and Dr
. Mertzer burst through the door and rushed over to the corner but Ellie moved in and swooped the child up in her arms. She wrapped her arms tight around him as he sobbed onto her shoulder. She glanced at Deveraux. His usually warm eyes were blazing with anger. Ellie turned away, hating herself for putting the child through this.
“Was the man in the picture in the truck with you? Johnny, please, you have to tell me. Was it the man in the picture?”
Through the sobs, she felt the slightest bit of a nod. She finally let out a long, slow breath then quietly held up her hand to let Deveraux know it was over. She carried Johnny over to a rocking chair in the opposite corner and sat, coddling the child with as much comfort as she could offer.
Ellie remembered...
She tromped through the snow covering their long driveway and up the steep incline toward the parsonage. She heard the school bus pull away but didn’t turn around to wave to her friends. Or the ones she used to call friends. If they had been real friends, they wouldn’t have whispered and laughed at the rumors swirling around town about her dad and the church secretary, Peggy Clayton. She didn’t even know what half the rumors meant. All she knew was her father wasn’t preaching anymore, her mom cried all the time, and she just wanted to crawl in a hole and never come out. She choked back tears each time the kids at school pointed their fingers at her, their hands cupped around their mouths so she wouldn’t hear as they spread the horrible gossip.
She stomped the snow off her boots then went inside the house through the back door, stopping in the laundry room to remove her boot. She wiggled out of her heavy parka, stuffed her gloves in the pockets and hung it on the knob behind the door. The house smelled like warm brownies. Ellie stood in the laundry room a minute taking in the smell, wondering if what was supposed to be a pleasant smell brought other kids the same fear it brought her. She swallowed hard then joined her father in his office.
It was a small office, off the big dining room with the heavy drapes and rickety-old cabinet that held her mother’s china. It was drafty and cold and she couldn’t remember ever eating in the room. Her father’s office, though, was small and warm and clustered with piles of books and various Bibles and pictures of Jesus dying on the cross. The pictures gave her the heeby-jeebies. Not that she didn’t appreciate His sacrifice; she did. It was just seeing it on every wall.
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