One Strange Accident

by Kay Wyont

  “No, sir. If he wants to fill you in afterward, that’s up to him. But we need to talk to him alone. I’m afraid I need to insist,” Randy replied.

  “I’ll be fine, Dad. Just wait outside,” Ricky said.

  Once the parents reluctantly departed, the detectives moved the chairs closer to the bed. Then Randy started the interrogation.

  “Would you like us to call you Mr. Caldwell or Ricky?”

  “Neither. Call me Rick. Only my mom and dad call me Ricky. I hate it. Makes me feel like I’m twelve, although about now being twelve sounds pretty good.” Rick sighed, then turned a mournful face to Randy. “I’m in a lot of trouble, aren’t I?”

  “Afraid so, son. You want to tell us what happened?”

  “I wish I could. But I don’t know.”

  Beside him, Danny grunted. “You mean you can’t remember anything?”

  Randy shot his partner a warning glance. If Danny didn’t ease up, they ran the risk of spooking him.

  “No, I remember everything. I wish I didn’t. I just don’t know what happened.”

  “Maybe you’d better start at the beginning,” Randy said. “Why were you at Fiesta Texas?”

  “I was supposed to meet some friends, but I was running late. When I got there, I was driving around the lot trying to find an open spot. It was so busy. I remember seeing a couple of tour buses and a bunch of people standing around the buses, waiting for everybody to get off. I don’t know what happened. I guess I just...drove straight into the crowd.” Rick paused and closed his eyes. Tears streamed down his face.

  Randy handed Rick a tissue. “I know this is hard for you, son. What happened next?”

  “I remember bodies flying everywhere. I can’t get their faces out of my head.” Rick’s voice quivered. “It was horrible. The next thing I knew, I crashed into the bus. That’s all I know until I woke up here. I don’t know why I did that. It doesn’t make any sense.”

  Danny didn’t appear convinced. “Had you been drinking or doing drugs? Tell the truth. You know we’ll get your blood test back eventually.”

  “I know. I gave permission to release my blood work. I wasn’t drinking. A friend of mine was killed by a drunk driver, so that’s something I never do.”

  Danny scowled. “No drinking? That’s unusual for someone your age. You’re almost legal.”

  “That’s not what I meant. I drink occasionally. I just don’t do it if I know I’ll be driving, and never where I might be ticketed. Heck, I’m usually the designated driver when I go out with people who are of age. I do my drinking at home. Ironic, isn’t it? I don’t drink and drive because I don’t want to hurt someone or end up in jail, and then I do something like this.”

  “What about drugs?”

  Though his arms didn’t move, Rick picked nervously at the serviceable hospital blanket with his ragged fingernails. “I’ll admit...I smoke pot occasionally. But I haven’t had a joint in over a month. Please don’t tell my folks. If they found out, I’d never hear the end of it.”

  Randy cringed. That should be the least of your worries! “If you choose to tell your folks, that’s up to you. We won’t tell them.”

  Danny leaned forward and glared at Caldwell. “But, again, if you’re lying, it’ll come out on the blood test, so be straight with us.”

  “I’m not lying.” Rick’s fingers stilled and he looked Danny in the eye. “No alcohol, no drugs.”

  “Okay, so if you weren’t drinking or using drugs, then what happened?” Randy tried to keep the skepticism out of his own voice. Was the kid lying, or was he confused? Whichever, Randy wasn’t buying it. “What was going through your mind when you plowed into those people?”

  “I wish to God I knew. I’ve asked myself that same question about a million times. That was the first thing I thought of when I woke up in recovery, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it. I wish I could. Officers, you have to know I would never do something like that. Except...I did.”

  Rick choked back a sob, and Randy quickly changed the subject to give him a chance to compose himself. “I probably should have already asked this, but how are you feeling? You look pretty banged up, but I hear it could have been a lot worse.”

  “Yeah. Well, they have some pretty good painkillers here, so I’m not feeling much of anything.”

  “I understand you had surgery last night. What was that for?” Danny merged into Randy’s topic digression with familiar ease. The partners plied such techniques often during interrogations. Playing a friendly role reassured suspects, helping them feel comfortable enough to open up.

  “They operated on my leg.” Rick lifted a finger just high enough to point to the sling, as if it wasn’t obvious. “It got pretty smashed up, so they did some reconstruction. I’ve got a long pin or something in there now.”

  “Sorry to say, metal detectors could be your new nemeses. You might want to avoid air travel for a while.” Randy smiled at the young man.

  “We both know there’s not much danger of that. Don’t we, detective?”

  “Try not to worry about the future, son. Focus on healing for now, if you can.” Easy to say, hard to do. That’s all he’s worrying about. Not even a smile at my metal detector joke.

  “I just wish I knew why I did it. Maybe then I could come to grips with what happened. But I can’t. I honestly don’t know what came over me.”

  “Okay, let’s try this. What were you thinking at the exact moment you accelerated? That had to be a conscious act, unless your car malfunctioned. Do you remember thinking you needed to press down on the accelerator?” Randy studied Rick’s face, searching for any hint of deception.

  “That’s what’s so strange. I remember pushing down on the accelerator, but I don’t know why I did. I don’t remember thinking about anything.” Rick sighed and looked up at the ceiling. “I know some vehicles had sudden acceleration trouble in the past, but that problem got ironed out years ago. I learned about that in my mechanics class. Besides, those drivers said their cars just took off without them doing anything. If it was something like that, at least I’d know it wasn’t really my fault.” Rick dropped his chin and looked back and forth between the detectives, his eyes filling with hope. “Maybe that’s it. Maybe my foot followed the pedal down, and it just felt like I was pushing it. Will they check to see if it malfunctioned?”

  “They will. It’ll be hard since the car’s totaled, but they’ll look at everything. Just don’t get your hopes up, son.” Randy saw the hope disappear from Rick’s eyes.

  “Well, I do believe in miracles. I’ve been praying for one ever since I woke up.” A glimmer of a smile played across Rick’s lips. “Hey, I just remembered something!”

  “What’s that?” The timing of his remembrance was awfully convenient. Randy was leaning even closer to the idea that Rick was playing them.

  “When I was almost at the bus, I remember thinking ‘God, please make this car stop.’ Of course, it didn’t, but I do remember thinking that. I’d forgotten.”

  Nope, no deception. If it was, he’d come up with something to exonerate himself, not that. “There’s a chance your memory may come back in bits and pieces. Don’t try to force it. The more you force it, the harder it’ll be to recapture. Let it come naturally.”

  “That’s strange, though, don’t you think?” Rick appeared genuinely puzzled. “I remember being in the parking lot, seeing the bus across the way, turning towards it, pushing the accelerator...and then there’s a gap until it was too late. It’s almost like I dozed off for a minute and woke up, except I wasn’t tired. If I didn’t nod off, then why is there a memory gap? I know I would have stopped myself if I’d been thinking straight.”

  “Unfortunately, I can’t explain that. Maybe your doctor can. You might talk to him about it,” Randy suggested.

  “I wish I didn’t remember hitting those people. That’s the part I’d give anything to forget.” Rick turned away and closed his eyes.

  “Like I said, try not worry about
it too much. That’ll just make it worse. Concentrate on getting well. I think that’s all the questions we have for you today, but we’ll probably have more later.” Randy took a business card from his pocket and placed it on the bedside tray. “If you think of anything else or start remembering more, let us know. Okay?”

  “Okay. Thank you.” Rick turned soulful eyes back to Randy. “Will you answer a question before you go, Detective Monroe?”

  “If I can.”

  “How bad is it? Nobody will tell me, and I can’t stand not knowing. How many people did I hurt?”

  Randy paused, silently cursing whoever didn’t do their job and left him holding the bag. “Like I said, right now you should concentrate on getting well. There’ll be plenty of time later to get into the details.”

  “Tell me!” Rick insisted.

  “Well, it could have been worse, so try to keep that in mind,” Randy said, hedging.

  “That’s not an answer. Tell me! Please! I have a right to know.”

  Randy took a deep breath. The kid was right. He had to be straight with him. “There are seven people in the hospital. Two of those are in critical condition.”

  Rick’s eyes squeezed shut and his shoulders tensed, as if willing the tears not to start falling again. He let out a long sigh and then looked at Randy. “Thank God I didn’t kill anybody.” But Rick’s eyes searched Randy’s face which gave away the terrible truth. “I did, didn’t I? Someone died?”

  “I’m sorry, son,” Randy said, feeling genuinely sorry for the boy. “Three people died.”

  “Oh God!” A wail tore from his throat, followed by words that were indistinguishable amidst his cries.

  There was nothing Randy could say or do to console him, so he didn’t try. Instead, he patted him on his good leg in what he meant as an encouraging gesture. “We’ll send your parents back in now.”

  Rick was still sobbing when the detectives went back into the hallway where his parents were talking to Officer Jenkins.

  “We’re through with him, you can go back in,” Danny said.

  “Mr. and Mrs. Caldwell, he asked about the damage and I told him,” Randy said. “I wasn’t going to, but he insisted. I told him three people died. He’s taking it pretty hard.”

  Mrs. Caldwell rushed into the room, but her husband glared at Randy. “Why did you do that? We wanted to keep it from him. He’s upset enough.”

  “He said he had a right to know, sir. He’s a grown man, and I figured he was right,” Randy calmly replied. “Let me ask you a question. If it were you in there, would you want to know?”

  “Yes, I would, detective,” Mr. Caldwell grudgingly admitted. “I’d want to know.”

  “So would I, sir. Here’s my card.” Randy handed the distraught father one of his business cards. “I gave one to Rick, too. If you need anything, give us a call. If Rick remembers anything about the accident, let us know, please. And, a piece of fatherly advice...if you haven’t gotten a lawyer yet, do so. The sooner, the better.”

  “If he does remember anything, shouldn’t we just tell the lawyer?”

  “I know you want to protect your son, sir, and in your situation, I don’t blame you one bit. My son isn’t much older than yours, and I’d want to protect him, too. But if we’re going to find out what happened, we’ll need all the information we can get. It’s your decision whether you tell us or the lawyer. I give you my word we aren’t out to burn your son. We’re only out to find the truth.”

  “Thank you, detective.” Mr. Caldwell went back into his son’s room. The dejection in his demeanor was palpable.

  The three men watched through the glass windows of the room as the parents tried to console their son. Officer Jenkins finally broke the silence. “What do you guys think?”

  “I don’t know,” Randy replied. “You talked to him, Frank. What do you think?”

  “I didn’t talk to him very much, that’s not my job. But I did form an impression, whatever that’s worth.”

  “What is it, Frank? Every bit helps,” Danny said.

  “I think he’s just a scared, confused kid. He kept asking me if I knew why he did it. Of course, I had no idea, and I told him so. I didn’t get the impression he’s trying to get sympathy. He’s torn up about what happened. Something feels off about the whole thing. Maybe he was taking some of those street drugs that are causing kids to do all kinds of strange stuff. I just don’t know.”

  “We’ll find out for sure when the blood work comes back. He swears he wasn’t taking anything, and I believe him. If he had, he wouldn’t have signed consent for release. By the way, I totally agree with your assessment,” Randy said. Impressive! He picked up on what I did. Something’s rotten in Denmark.

  “And then there were three.” Danny turned to look at Caldwell one more time before turning back. “I’ll freely admit I first thought it was just an act, but I get a really strange vibe from this whole thing. He seems to me like a pretty good kid. And, unless he’s a talented actor, he’s going to have one heck of a hard time living with what he’s done. I sure don’t envy him. I almost hope it comes back as a vehicle malfunction of some sort.”

  “Well, I’m glad to know it’s not just me who thinks something’s off,” Jenkins said.

  “It’s not just you,” Randy assured him. “But do us all a favor. Keep those thoughts just between the three of us. Try to stay as impartial as you can in front of them, and under no circumstances should you tell Rick or his parents that something doesn’t seem right, or you feel sorry for him. If you do, you’re liable to find yourself testifying in court for the defense. That’s one of the worst things that can happen to a cop.”

  “Good point,” Frank agreed. “I won’t say anything. I sure don’t want to be on the stand.”

  “Give one of us a call if you hear anything we need to know. And let whoever’s going to relieve you know the same thing, okay?”

  After getting assurances from the officer that he’d keep his eyes and ears open, the detectives left the hospital. The drive back was quiet, each man lost in his own thoughts.

  THREE

  “What are you so engrossed in?” Danny yawned over his coffee. “What could possibly be so interesting this early in the morning? Please don’t tell me it’s another stupid article by Franklin. I don’t think I’m up to it.”

  Randy studied the paper in front of him. “No, it’s the report on Caldwell’s car. They finally finished it.”

  “It took them long enough. They’ve had it four days. What did they find?”

  “Nothing.”

  “It was a totaled mess, so it had to have been hard to examine. There’s a chance they might have missed something.”

  “I thought the same thing, so I called Carl over at the garage.”

  “Please tell me he said they could have missed something.”

  “Sorry. He said they used the CDR to get the DLC info from the ECM through the OBD2 for the EDR.” Randy nonchalantly flipped another page and kept reading. “Since they did all that, he’s pretty sure they didn’t miss anything.” Randy held the paper up to examine it, but not before he stole a glance at his partner’s dumbfounded expression.

  Danny stared at Randy. “You do know that I have no idea what you just said, don’t you?”

  “Funny, I thought you knew everything about everything. Well, except for the meaning of big words, but other than that, aren’t you supposed to be this great intellectual giant? And now you’re telling me you don’t know what I just said?” Randy didn’t bother looking up.

  “Well, I guess I’m not as smart as I think I am, because I have no clue what you’re talking about. You might as well be speaking Lithuanian.”

  No longer able to contain himself, Randy burst into laughter. “Don’t feel bad, neither do I. When I was talking to Carl, all I kept hearing was the teacher’s voice from those Peanuts cartoons. You know; that wah or waka waka sound. I don’t know what they call it, but it’s pretty much a bunch of gibberish.”


  “Did you by any chance get Carl to explain it to you, or were you afraid to admit you’re just as stupid as I am?”

  “At least I was smart enough to write it down so I could google it. I found a car forensics site for dummies, which is evidently where my knowledge level stands. From what I can understand, all cars built after 1996 have on-board diagnostic sensors tracking various details about the car and how it’s being driven. If the on-board system is damaged, there’s a tool they can use to pull the info another way. I think the only acronym we really need to know is EDR, Event Data Recorder, which is a black box type of device that captures the last five to twenty seconds prior to a crash. In this case, the EDR showed nothing other than Caldwell accelerating, which is consistent with his statement. El zippo on any malfunction.”

  “I had to listen to all that mumbo jumbo simply to find out they’re positive it wasn’t a mechanical failure? Why didn’t you just say that in the first place?”

  “Because that wouldn’t be any fun. Besides, misery loves company, and if I had to sit through Carl’s string of acronyms, then so do you.” Randy sighed and leaned back in his chair.

  “Basically, all that garbage means Rick’s not catching a break.”

  “Nope. Speaking of Rick, I promised the Caldwells I’d let them know the outcome of the vehicle forensics. You want to go to the hospital with me? They’ll probably be there. From what I understand, they’ve all but moved into his room.”

  “Why don’t you just call?”

  “I want to eyeball him again. Maybe this time I can figure out what’s off.”

  “Okay. How much longer will he be there?”

  “At least another week, and after that he’ll need rehab. I don’t know if they did a bedside charge yet or not. But unless he’s granted bail and his parents can pay it, Rick may not even be able to go to rehab.”

  “Sad. I don’t know why I feel sorry for this kid. He’s killed three people, after all.” Danny shook his head in disbelief.

  Randy frowned. “It’s four now. I got a call a little while ago. Sebastian Ryland died.”