The Rising
Page 21
Inside at the ER check-in, a young woman stood alone, leaning against the wall for support, her face conflicted with anxiety. She was quite pretty with blonde hair cut pixie style and ocean-colored eyes framed by just a touch of makeup. Her petite frame was hidden beneath a pair of baggy jeans and a loose-fitting sweater.
“Are you Ashley Garrett?” Ellie asked.
She looked from Ellie to Jesse then nodded. “You’re Detective Alvarez?” she asked, her voice shaking with emotion.
“Yes. And this is Detective Ellie Saunders.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ashley. We’d like to ask you a couple questions before we take you to Landon.”
She nodded quickly. “But he’s OK?”
Ellie smiled softly. “He’s fine. Why don’t we go upstairs where we can talk privately?”
The receptionist buzzed them through. They led Ashley through the Emergency Room and to the elevators. Ashley’s gaze darted back and forth to each person they passed, reminding Ellie of a tiny, confused mouse. “And you’re sure he’s OK?” she asked again in the elevator.
Ellie nodded. “He’s been thoroughly examined.”
“Then why is he here in the hospital?”
Ellie didn’t quite know how to explain that one. That one may have to wait until Ashley was sitting down. Jesse jumped in and offered a temporary explanation. “Standard procedure,” he said and smiled.
Ashley accepted it with a nod.
When they reached the fourth floor, tears spilled from Ashley’s eyes as she tenderly touched a mural. She gently ran her fingers over a painted teddy bear and cried.
Ellie approached the nurse’s station and told a nurse Deveraux had arranged for them to use the conference room.
“Oh, yeah, you’re Detective Saunders. Right this way.” She led them down a short hall then opened a door and showed them in. “Dr. Deveraux wanted me to let him know when y’all arrived.”
“Tell him to give me about thirty minutes and then he can join us.”
The nurse nodded then closed the door on her way out. The room was about the size of an average living room, split in half by a large table surrounded by mismatched office chairs. Medical journals, women’s magazines, and grocery-store tabloids were scattered on one end of the table.
Ellie pulled a chair out for Ashley then one for herself and sat beside her while Jesse took a seat on the other side of the table. Ellie pulled her chair closer to Ashley then reached in her pocket and took out the picture of Landon. There was no sense in putting the poor woman through a barrage of questions and the gory details of how he was found if Landon wasn’t her son. “I want you to look at a picture, and I understand Landon has grown, but I want you to tell me if you think there is a possibility this is your son.” She laid the picture on the table in front of Ashley.
There was little reaction. At first. Then Ashley slowly picked up the picture and held it as if it were a fragile piece of china. She gently ran her finger over the image of Landon, as if she could actually feel the softness of his hair, the smoothness of his skin. A tear fell from her eyes and splattered on the picture. She burst out crying and slammed the picture hard against her chest, cradling it as if it were the real thing, not just an image. “Oh thank You, God,” she sobbed over and over again. “Can I see him? Please, take me to him. Please? Oh thank You, God.”
Ellie fought back her own tears as each tear Ashley shed tugged at Ellie’s heart. “Of course, but we do need to go over a few things first, OK?”
Ashley quickly nodded and furiously wiped her face with her hands. “But he’s OK?”
Ellie softly smiled and nodded. “Yes. He’s fine, and you’ll get to see for yourself in just a few minutes.”
Tears streamed down Ashley’s face as her lips quivered with emotion.
Ellie’s heart was tied in knots, and the raw emotion radiating from Ashley tugged the knot tighter.
Ashley sniffled, then took a deep breath. “Where was he found?”
Ellie’s chest tightened. How was she going to tell this mother her six-year-old son was found dead in an alley—but now he was OK?
“Ashley,” Jesse said, “do you believe in miracles?”
She looked at Ellie then at Jesse. “I’ve prayed every day that wherever he was, he was safe. And that one day, I would find him.”
“Your son is truly a miracle,” Jesse said, his smile warm and sincere. “Landon was found in an alley. And when he was found, he was clinically dead.”
Her hand flew to her mouth. “But you said he was fine?”
“He is fine,” Ellie said. “He’s in perfect health. But, he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.”
Ashley sprung from the chair and moved away from Ellie, away from the table, pacing around the room. She was breathing so hard Ellie feared she was going to hyperventilate. Ellie got up quickly and moved toward her. “Ashley, I promise you, he’s in perfect health. We don’t know what happened, or how it happened, but Landon is alive, and that’s what matters right now. Look at the picture, Ashley—it was taken yesterday. He’s laughing, he’s smiling. He’s in perfect health.”
“What…what happened…to him?” she stuttered, backing herself into the corner.
“We think he may have been involved in a car accident, and rather than being brought to the hospital, whomever he was with…left him in the alley.”
Ashley stared from Ellie to Jesse, her face an open plain of emotion. “He was left to die in an alley?” With her back in the corner, she slowly slid down the wall, crumpling into a small knot, deep gut-wrenching sobs wracking her entire body. Ellie went to her and sat beside her, cradling her in her arms, stroking her hair. They sat like that for a while, Ellie fighting back her own tears. Finally, Ashley wiped at her face with the backs of her hands. “I prayed every day that whoever had him would love him and not hurt him,” she said, choking on her words. “How could they leave him like that? He must have been so scared.”
Ellie turned Ashley’s face toward her own. “None of that matters right now. What matters is he’s alive.”
Ashley nodded quickly, like she finally saw the bigger picture. “Please take me to him. I want to see him.”
Ellie stood and offered her hand to help Ashley up. Whatever questions she had, could wait. This mother needed to see her son.
There was a slight knock on the door and Deveraux gently pushed it open. Ellie smiled softy. “Ashley, this Dr. Marc Deveraux, chief of pediatrics. He’s been very involved in Landon’s care.”
Deveraux looked at Ashley with eyes so warm, Ellie fought to keep her own heart from melting. “You’re sure?”
“We’ll have to confirm with a DNA test,” Ellie said. “But, yes, it looks like it may be.”
“I’m very happy for you,” he said. “You have a very remarkable son.”
“Detective Saunders said he was…dead? When he was brought to the hospital, is that true?”
Deveraux looked at Jesse then Ellie and nodded. “Yes.”
“We can’t explain how or why,” said Ellie. “But he woke up in the morgue, and any trace of the accident had vanished.”
Ashley shook her head. “What do you mean, any trace of the accident?”
Deveraux propped himself on the edge of the table. “When he was brought in, he was bruised, bloody. He had suffered severe trauma.”
Ashley fell into the chair, tears rolling down her cheeks. “And he was…dead.”
Deveraux nodded. “Yes. He was clinically dead.”
“And he woke up in the morgue?” Her face was a collage of questions.
“Without any bruises or trauma or any memory of what happened to him,” Jesse said.
Ashley looked at each of them, her eyes still wet with tears. “If he doesn’t remember what happened, do you think he’ll remember me?” Her voice was soft, childlike.
“Ashley,” Jesse said, “Landon said the last thing he remembered before waking up was walking and talking with his dad.”
“We believe,” Jesse said, “in that time between when he was clinically dead and when he woke up, that he saw his dad in heaven.”
“We believe Landon had an after-life experience,” Deveraux said.
They believe, Ellie thought. She still wasn’t sure about the whole thing. She was reluctantly leaning that way, but it was something she would have to come to terms with herself, regardless of her dad’s or Jesse’s or Marc Deveraux’s beliefs.
Ashley stood and moved slowly around the room as if she were carefully navigating through a dense fog. “This is all so…hard to…understand.”
That’s an understatement. Ellie was used to dealing with facts, with everything black or white, no in-between. She was out of her comfort zone dealing with things that couldn’t be explained.
“Ashley, I need to prepare you for what to expect when we take you to Landon,” Deveraux said.
Ashley spun around and stared at Deveraux. “But you said he was fine…”
Deveraux smiled. “He is, physically. Mentally and emotionally, there appears to be some delays.”
She shook her head, confusion evident on her face. “What kind of delays?”
“We’ve estimated his age to be around six. Is that correct?”
She nodded. “He turned six in October.”
“Given that, he doesn’t necessarily have the maturity other children his age would have.”
Ashley shook her head. “I don’t understand. How mature is a six-year-old?”
Marc smiled, understanding her concerns. “Developmentally, he’s not where he should be for a child his age. For instance, he struggles to count to ten, he enjoys activities older toddlers might enjoy, and he sometimes confuses his colors.”
“He knew his colors. Andy used to color with him every night.”
“What Dr. Deveraux is saying is there doesn’t appear to be anything wrong that can’t be fixed,” Ellie said, wanting to reassure her. “We know he didn’t attend school. And if we’re right about his abductors, they kept him pretty isolated. He hasn’t been exposed to other children or given the opportunities to learn and develop like he should have been.”
“It’s pretty common with child abductions,” Jesse said. “The abductors are scared the more people who know about the child, the better the chance someone will find out.”
Tears streamed down her face again, and she brushed them away. “And you don’t think he was abused?”
“There’s no indication of physical or sexual abuse,” Marc said. “Mentally, there’s no real way to tell just from observing him. I do recommend that he continues to see a child psychologist for a little while. There may be things buried quite deep that a trained therapist can bring to the surface.”
“Ashley,” Ellie said, “can you tell me what happened the day Landon was abducted?”
Ashley took a deep breath then spoke in a soft voice. “We were at the grocery store. I had finished my shopping and put Landon in his car seat while I loaded the groceries in the trunk. When I got through, I went to put the cart back and there was this lady…an older lady…and she had fallen there at the front of the store. I stopped and helped her up and made sure she was OK then I helped her gather up the groceries that had spilled out of her bag. When I got back to the car…” Tears streamed down her face again. Her red-rimmed eyes were distant, staring at a vivid memory. “He was gone,” she whispered. “Even his car seat was gone.”
“Do you remember seeing anyone around the car, or even in the parking lot, that looked suspicious?”
Ashley shook her head then looked at Ellie then Jesse. “The police took all this information. We went over it and over it and over it, again and again and again. They never could come up with a suspect. They listed Landon with all the registries, and I was getting updates every day and then…it was like the interest just faded away.”
Ellie understood the frustration, but knew there came a time when you had done all you could do. Unfair as it seemed.
“Ashley, was your husband already deceased when Landon was abducted?”
She shook her head. “Andy was diagnosed with a brain tumor about six months before Landon was…taken. He lived a year and three months after Landon was kidnapped. The day it…happened…Andy was feeling good and wanted me to leave Landon at home with him. But I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him with him. Andy had just finished a round of chemo and sometimes it made him so sick. Maybe if I had left Landon….”
“Did the police find any fingerprints on your car?” Jesse asked.
Ashley nodded. “But they never could find a match.”
“Do you know if the police ever interviewed anyone of interest?”
“There were a couple of people, I think. Mostly the sex offenders in the area.” She shuddered.
“Did the police interview anyone else?” Jesse asked.
“I told them about this one guy. He kind of gave me the creeps, but I don’t know if they ever interviewed him or not.”
“What guy?” Ellie asked.
She half shrugged. “It was probably just my imagination, but there was this delivery guy that came by the office once a week to fill the vending machines in the break room. He was just…weird. He kind of flirted with me a couple times, and it gave me the creeps. Then I saw him a couple times at the grocery store, filling the machines outside, and he’d speak, say hello or something like that.”
“Was he there the day Landon was taken?”
Ashley shook her head. “I don’t remember seeing him. That’s why the police didn’t think too much about it, I suppose.”
Ellie pulled her cell phone from her pocket and scrolled to the picture of Jerome Kenton. She then turned the phone so Ashley could see. “Ashley, was this man the delivery driver?”
Ashley stared at the picture for a long moment then slowly nodded.
****
Deveraux escorted them down the hall toward the playroom. Before they reached the one-way mirror, he stopped and turned to Ashley. “He may not recognize you right off. I want you to be prepared for that, OK?”
Ashley quickly nodded then wrung her hands and wiped the moisture on her jeans. She batted away the tears clinging to her lashes then took a deep breath and stepped up to the mirror. As soon as she did, she gasped then nearly collapsed. Jesse moved quickly and caught her in his arms, holding her while she sobbed. “I never thought I’d ever see him again,” she said between deep, gasping sobs.
Landon was playing smash-up cars again with Leon, oblivious to the scene on the other side of the window. Ellie watched him a moment, wondering if all this miracle talk might be true. Even the medical examiner couldn’t explain why this child was alive. Whether or not it was a miracle he was alive, Ellie couldn’t deny it was a miracle they had been able to reunite him with his mother.
Ashley reached out and touched the glass with trembling fingertips. “Please,” she begged. “I want to hold him.”
Deveraux nodded then opened the door to the playroom and escorted them in. Ashley stood in the corner, trembling, tears pouring down her face, her hands cupped over her mouth. Leon stood and took a step away from the small table, apparently aware this wasn’t a good time for his usual antics.
The smile on Landon’s face disappeared as he stared at Ashley, then, all of a sudden his glacier-blue eyes reamed with tears. “Mom?”
Marc gently pushed the door open and followed her into the room. “Hey, sport,” he said.
Ashley ran toward him as he leapt from the chair and ran toward her. She swept him up in her arms, his arms wrapped tightly around her neck. “You came for me,” he sobbed, his cheek pressed hard against hers.
“So much for not recognizing her,” Jesse whispered.
“Shut up,” Ellie whispered back as she brushed away her own tears.
Ashley found her way to the rocking chai
r and cradled Landon in her arms, rocking him back and forth like a new mother rocking a baby. She alternated between cradling him fiercely and pulling away, gazing at him, lovingly touching his face, his ears, counting the fingers on his hands.
“I knew you’d find me,” he said, his arms wrapped tight around her neck.
“We’ll never be able to thank you enough,” Ashley said, turning to Ellie and Jesse. She brushed the hair out of Landon’s face and smothered him with kisses.
“Landon, I do have a few more questions to ask, if you feel up to it,” Ellie said hopefully.
He glanced at Deveraux then at his mom. Deveraux gave Ellie the evil eye then sighed. Ashley looked at Landon protectively. “Do you feel like answering some questions?”
He stared at Ellie then nodded and settled into his mother’s lap. Ellie took her phone out and flipped through the pictures to the one of Becky Kenton that Brady Mitchell had forwarded to her. “Landon, have you ever seen this woman before?” She turned the phone around and showed him the picture.
Landon nodded quickly and without fear. “That’s Becky.”
“How do you know Becky?”
“She lived with us in that house with the big stove.”
“She lived there with who? Who else lived there with you?” She already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear him say it.
He scooted down in his mom’s lap but showed no signs of shutting down like before. “Jerome. He’s her husband. She’s nice…but he’s not.”
Ellie knelt down beside the chair, eye-level with Landon. “Remember you told me the night of the accident, y’all hit a deer? Do you remember anything else about that night? Especially after the accident…anything at all.”
He burrowed a little deeper into Ashley’s lap and shook his head. “I remember Becky crying. She was screaming really loud.”
“Why was she screaming?”
“She was screaming ‘cause I was hurt.”
Ashley tightened her hold on him and closed her eyes. She rested her chin on the top of his head.
“You were hurt in the accident?” Ellie asked.