The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  “I like it.”

  “Yeah, right.” She laughed.

  “So you’re doing something for Joe?” Elliott asked as he sat next to her. “What is it?”

  “Check this out, Elliott. Joe wanted me to do a profile of the mutilator plus a list of qualities about him or her.”

  “Can you do a profile?”

  “I did. I did pretty good too. Wanna see?” She began to lift the sheet of paper.

  “Yes. No.” He shook his head. “I’m not privileged yet to be part of the investigation. I’ll wait.”

  “Okay.” She shrugged.

  “Are you prepared for the game show tonight? Your hair may …”

  “I’ll let you in on a secret.” She winked. “The hair goes back to normal for tonight and yes, I’m prepared. I did my questions.”

  “It sounds like a lot of fun.”

  “Did you pull a number for a chance, Elliott?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I chose not to. On the outside chance my number was picked, I didn’t want to even remotely get someone other than you.”

  She smiled. “So, if it’s not the game, what are you doing in Beginnings today?”

  “I drove the Captain in for a meeting with his father.”

  “Why did Hal need you to drive?”

  “His foot was hurting him.”

  Ellen snickered. “That seems awfully lame. Was there another reason he wanted you in town?”

  “I believe Dr. Hayes, the other Dr. Hayes, had reason for me to be in town. He knew I wouldn’t make as special trip in.”

  “Did you see Dean?”

  Elliott’s eyes went from Ellen to outward. “Yes. I’m sure you know.”

  Ellen slowly shook her head. “Elliott, I didn’t even know he wanted to see you. Dean’s been keeping things from me.”

  “You’re my doctor.”

  “This had something to do with your health?” Ellen asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Fucker,” she grunted. “Why does he do that? Well I’ll be right back. I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.” She stood up. “Wait here.”

  “Ellen.” Elliott grabbed her wrist. “Can you not? Can you just talk to me for a minute? Please? I … I need to talk to you.”

  Ellen’s eyes met Elliott’s. They appeared more pleading than usual and his face was sadly stern. Everything about him screamed at her. “Let’s go somewhere else.” Saying no more, she manipulated her wrist from his hold and took Elliott’s hand.

  ***

  “It was pretty uneventful,” Hap told his story to Joe in his office, while Frank, Robbie and Hal listened. “Except for this here tattoo.” He opened his shirt.

  Joe winced. “Yeah, I see. Who did you hang out with the most?”

  “Forrest was whining about his toenails,” Hap said. “Then Josephine started griping about them eyebrows.”

  Joe questioned, “So you were with the two previous victims?”

  “Yep.” Hap nodded.

  “All night?”

  “Us old folks tend to hang together,” he explained. “I talked to others.”

  “Who all was there?” Joe asked. “Do you recall?”

  “Lots of people. There was a party for someone.”

  Joe rolled his eyes. “My son.”

  Hap snapped his fingers. “That’s right.” He reached over and gave a pat to Hal’s knee. “Happy Birthday, son.”

  Hal awkwardly smiled. “Thanks.”

  Joe continued, “So you go to the Hall, hang out, have a few …”

  “More than a few,” Hap corrected.

  “More than a few,” Joe said, “and you left at what time?”

  “Closing.”

  “Did you go straight home?”

  “I started to. Last thing I remember is passing Containment.”

  “What do you mean?” Joe asked.

  Hap spoke slowly as if they didn’t understand him. “I walked to Containment and that’s the last thing I remember. Next thing I know, I wake up in the clinic with the fill-in fruit nurse, Ben from Fabrics, saying, “Morning, Sweet Cheeks.”

  Robbie snickered.

  “Robert,” Joe warned. “Hap, did you remember getting hit on the head, feeling a pinch, or anything?”

  Hap shook his head. “Nope. Sorry. I went black.”

  Joe nodded. “Okay, thanks. That’ll be all. We’ll find you if we have any more questions.”

  “Thanks, Joe.” Hap stood up. “Really, the tattoo ain’t that bad. I don’t mind. I just wished it didn’t say ‘Sweet Cheeks’. It makes me feel like a tart.” He walked to the door. “Maybe I’ll get Bentley to finish it off by adding ‘but I’m not gay’.”

  “Hold on.” Joe stopped him. “Bentley? Our barber does tattoos?

  “Yeah, or rather he was supposed to start doing them next week,” Hap said. “Danny got the stuff for him. He was just going through what was good and tossing out what wasn’t.”

  “That’s very helpful, thanks,” Joe said.

  “Oh, one other thing, Joe.” Hap stalled at the open door. “You asked if I remember being hit or felt a pinch before I blacked out. Does it count if there was a smell I remember and a God awful bad taste in my mouth?” Hap smacked his lips together. “Goddamn, I can still taste it.”

  “That … that helps quite a bit. Thanks.”

  “Not a problem.” Hap left.

  Joe raised his eyes to his sons. “Are you boys thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “A chloroform of sorts,” Hal replied.

  “Exactly.” Joe nodded “Frank, head on down to the clinic and see if they tested for an inhalant. If not, see if they can test by the blood.”

  “If not,” Hal added, “a nasal swab of Hap’s nose will certainly tell if he inhaled something.”

  Joe agreed. “Good thinking. You’re right. There would be remnants. Got that, Frank?”

  Frank nodded. “Go to the clinic and see if they tested for inhalants like chloroform. If not, see if they can tell by blood if not …” He shrugged. “We get a nasal swab. Will that be difficult?”

  “Nah,” Joe said, “not at all. Get on that. Robbie, you head down to Bentley and check his tattoo equipment. See what he has, what he threw out, and what he did with it.”

  “Got it.” Robbie stood up. “Should I get a tattoo tool? It might help to do some handwriting comparisons once we have suspects.”

  Joe smiled. “Excellent idea. After all, our attacker did leave a fingerprint in the form of his or her handwriting. “

  Robbie moved toward Frank, “Come on, Frank. We’ll walk together.”

  Joe continued, “Boys meet back here in an hour and a half. Hal and I are heading to the locations that people last remember being. Oddly enough, both Forrest and Hap don’t recall making it past Containment.” He rose. “Hap was helpful. Hopefully, with his help, we can finally piece this thing together and get a grip on our suspect. Yes, Frank?” Joe asked when Frank raised his hand.

  “Then can I tell my story or what I saw.”

  “Then you can tell your story.”

  Frank clenched his fist with an excited ‘Yes’. “Come on Robbie.” He left in an up mood.

  Hal looked at his father after Frank’s reaction. “Frank’s story must be good.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Joe moved to the door. “I can only imagine.”

  Laughing at his father’s cynicism, Hal followed Joe, but he really did have to wonder about what Frank had to say. Yes, his father passed it off but Frank did come close to catching whoever it was. In Hal’s mind, knowing Frank, he probably saw the attacker and was just letting the investigation go on because it was something fun to do.

  ***

  “Why do I get the feeling that this is fun for you?” Dean asked Frank as they stood in the lab.

  “Dean, please. This is a serious investigation.”

  “Frank.”

  “Fine. I am having fun. Anyhow … was there?” Frank asked.

  “To be honest we didn�
��t check for something like that,” Dean replied, “only because I know of nothing in Beginnings that exists like that, but I can check the blood work. I doubt it would show if a chloroform type was used on Hap. A nasal swab would be your best bet.”

  Frank winced. “I was afraid of that. Is it difficult?”

  “No, not at all. It’s really easy.”

  “How is it done?”

  Dean opened a drawer and pulled out a package. “Take a swab, run it inside one nostril then take another swab and do the other.”

  Frank took the package and examined it. “Those are big swabs.”

  “They are treated.”

  “Cool.” He stuck it in his pocket. “Anyhow …” Frank froze.

  A laugh or yell was an option for later. However, at that second, Frank was suspended in a brief state of shock when with high precision and torpedo-like speed, a shoe sailed into the lab and smacked Dean in the head.

  Whap!

  Dean stumbled back.

  “Fuck,” Frank whispered then turned to see who made the throw.

  “You!” Ellen barged in. “You son of a bitch!”

  “Me?” Frank asked.

  “Did the shoe hit you, Frank?” Ellen asked. “No, him. Dean. Get the fuck up.”

  The corner of Frank’s mouth rose in a smile. “Oh, yeah! Fight!” He folded his arms and stepped back. For once he was saved or at least he felt that way. Ellen knew about Margaret’s pregnancy. “Want me to hold him for you, El?”

  Dean lifted himself up and clutched his head. “Don’t tell me you hit me with the …” He grunted and looked at his hand to check for blood. “What the hell did you hit me with?”

  Frank answered, “A shoe. El, did you throw that?”

  “Yes.”

  “Impressive.”

  “Frank!” Dean yelled. “Ellen!” He faced her. “What the hell is this all about?”

  “Did it hurt?” she asked.

  “Yes!”

  “Good because you stupid, asshole, arrogant, son of a bitch deserves much more.”

  “El,” Frank handed her the shoe. “Here, in case you need it again.”

  “Frank!” Dean blasted. “I don’t need your help.”

  “I may,” Ellen said.

  “You need me to beat him up for you?” Frank asked.

  “No.” Ellen shook her head then spoke eerily calm. “Frank, can I see your gun?”

  “Sure.” Frank lifted it and handed it to her.

  “Frank!” Dean yelled as he watched.

  “El!” Frank screamed.

  Dean shrieked as Ellen put the barrel directly to his forehead and pulled back the hammer.

  Ellen’s words were raspy. “I am so pissed at you right now.”

  “Ellen!” Frank yelled. “Put down the gun.”

  Ellen ignored Frank. “I am so pissed I could kill you.”

  Dean remained calm. His eyes lifted to Ellen. “Well, you know what they say, it’s gets easier and easier each time you pull that trigger. Ask Frank.”

  Frank shrugged then bobbed his head.

  “Are you …” Ellen pressed tighter. “Taunting me?”

  “El!” Frank blasted his loudest. “Put down the goddamn gun now!” He reached out and snatched it from her hand. “What the hell’s the matter with you?”

  Dean glared at Frank. “You grabbed a loaded gun from her hand when it was pressed to my head? You asshole!”

  “Hey!” Frank yelled. “I saved you! El!” He faced her. “What’s wrong with you? Do you want to shoot Dean in the head?”

  “Yes!”

  “You can’t!’

  “Then fine. You do it for me.”

  “No.” Frank shook his head in disgust. “You want me to beat him up, fine. You want me to throw him across the room, okay. Torture him, even better but I will not let you or even myself shoot him in the fuckin head all because he got Margaret Hadley pregnant.”

  Silence.

  Dean looked quickly at Frank but not as quickly as Ellen snatched Frank’s revolver.

  “Give me that.” She struggled.

  “No.”

  “How …” Dean stammered in shock. “How did you know?’

  At the same time, both Ellen and Frank said, “It’s true?”

  Dean closed his eyes.

  Ellen chuckled. “You’re even a bigger asshole than I thought. Frank, thank you for telling me.”

  “That’s not why you wanted to shoot him?” Frank asked.

  “No,” Ellen answered.

  “Then why did you put a loaded gun to his head?”

  “Because that’s what he did to Elliott Ryder.”

  After snapping a quick glance at Dean, Frank returned in shock to Ellen. “He put a gun to Elliott’s head?”

  “Metaphorically speaking, Frank.” Ellen stepped closer to Dean. “Elliott Ryder is my patient, not yours. It is my responsibility to give him results. Not yours. It is my duty to inform him of what will be done next. Not yours! When it comes to him, I am in charge. Not you! And it certainly isn’t your job to tell my patient, ‘You are out of remission. I’m sorry we’re out of options’. How dare you? How dare you put that in somebody’s head? Well you’re not all that, Dean, not lately. If I recall, you said the same thing to Joe. You made the same error with him.”

  “This is not an error,” Dean argued.

  “I don’t care!” Ellen screamed her loudest. “It is not your place to callously tell him he’s gonna die! I won’t give up on him. I won’t! Death is not an option for Elliott Ryder, not in my book.”

  “You’re being unrealistic.”

  “Then I’m being unrealistic but that’s my call for the good of my patient … not yours.” Ellen turned, stopped, and looked back at Dean. “If you ever make the call saying who lives and dies, prancing around here and playing the part of God, you’ll feel the part because I will crucify you.” Ellen stormed out.

  Dean slowly glanced up when he heard a soft snorting snicker come from Frank. “What?”

  Frank shook his head as he tried to hide the smile. “Prance. God. Good line. See ya’.” He hurried to the door. “El, wait up!”

  Alone. Physically and feeling the part, Dean was alone. Was he wrong? Dean didn’t know. Perhaps he took the wrong approach with Elliott. Perhaps he took the wrong route with everything. He was too medical—scientific. In every case, what’s done was done. There was nothing he could do. In every situation, he made his own bed and now had to lie in it. He had inadvertently begun a new phase, a new life.

  ***

  Just past the clinic, on the edge of the Joe Park, Hal stopped in his walk with his father.

  “Good Lord,” Hal said. “Isn’t this supposed to be a work day?” He shook his head. “First Jimmy laughs as he comes from the clinic, saying ‘ask Ellen’ and ‘I love Beginnings’ then Ellen storms out and Frank runs out chasing her.”

  “Just a guess, but I bet somehow Dean is connected to all three incidents.”

  “Is he all right?” Hal asked. “He seems different.”

  “My opinion.” Joe exhaled. “I think Dean is just changing. He spent so many years being the scientist in love and chasing Ellen that now he wants to be the scientist who finds himself.”

  “That’s really pathetic, you know.” Hal walked again.

  Joe shrugged. “Anyhow, where were we?”

  “Jess Boyens.”

  “What about him.”

  Hal stopped. “He wants to come home.”

  Visually and dramatically, Joe winced. “Shit. I forgot.”

  “You didn’t tell the community.”

  “I forgot.”

  “Father, you have to let the community know he can be trusted. He brought our brother back.”

  “I know, Hal. I will.”

  “When? I’d like to go back to Bowman and tell the man when he can return.”

  “Uh ….” Joe stammered in thought then brightly snapped his fingers. He pulled out his tablet, insidiously scribbled, and the
n ripped out the page. “Done.” He walked to the ‘Joe Board’ and after opening the glass, tacked up the note.

  “Are you not going the community a vote and explain what happened?”

  “Nope, that’ll do it. Let’s go.” One gave a swift pat to Hal’s back and walked off.

  Hal took a moment to read the note that said, ‘Jess Boyens is responsible for bringing Jimmy home. He’ll be back in Beginnings. Problem with it, see me. Joe.’

  Hal shrugged. “I guess that’ll do it.”

  ***

  It was everything but the physical that caused Frank to lose his breath. He had run further distances than from the clinic to Social Hall before but in that short span of a few feet, it hit him why he chased Ellen.

  He spotted the Social Hall door swinging closed and he guessed that was where she went. Taking a second to catch his breath, Frank opened the door and saw Ellen at the bar. She had a glass before her and a bottle in hand. He walked over and placed his hand on the bottle.

  “Can you not drink right now? Please.” he asked. “I’d like to talk to you and you drinking doesn’t help my addiction.”

  He expected a sarcastic comment or maybe a vent. What he didn’t expect was for her to fold, to turn her body into him, and crumble his arms.

  Frank embraced her. He wrapped his arms around her as tightly as they could go as she cradled into him, pushing herself against his chest as if she were trying to absorb into his body.

  “I wanna cry,” Ellen said softly. “I just want to break down and cry.”

  “Before I say, ‘go on’, can you tell me why? Is it because you’re mad at Dean? The pregnancy? Elliott?”

  Ellen lifted her head.

  “You can cry out of anger, El. You can cry about the pregnancy but can you not cry about Elliott?” Frank asked.

  “That’s cold.”

  Frank shook his head. “No, it’s wrong to cry over him. If you cry, you are admitting in your heart and in your mind that it’s over for him. Is it? Is it over for Elliott Ryder?”

  “No.”

  “Then why do you want to cry?”

  Ellen sighed out and stepped back. “I wasn’t expecting it?”

  “Okay.” Frank nodded. “Surprise can cause tears. Why else?”

  “I don’t know which way to go?”