by Ann Mullen
Cole came rushing back into the living room. “I just got a call from Sheriff Hudson. He said to be on the lookout for Brian Cherry. He just tried to kill Dr. Benjamin Beard. He’s armed and dangerous.”
“He’s coming up the walkway,” I said. “Should we let him in?”
“All the women and children go into the bedroom and lock the door. Let us handle this,” Cole said. He looked at me. “Where’s your gun?”
“It’s in the bedroom, why?”
“Get it and keep it close by your side just in case.”
I thought it was a little overkill, but I didn’t question Cole’s motives; instead, I hustled everyone together and headed to the bedroom. Even Athena, Thor and Spice followed us as if they knew there was eminent danger lurking outside on the front porch.
Cole stood by the front door and watched us until I closed the bedroom door. I locked the door and stood back. The kids and the dogs, along with Spice Cat, crawled up on my bed and huddled together.
We heard a loud banging on the front door and the voice of a man in the background. “Let me in,” he yelled. “I want my baby!”
Carrie began to cry.
“Don’t cry, sweetheart,” Abby said to Carrie, trying to console her. “There’s nothing to fear. We have four strong men out there to protect us. Nothing is going happen.”
“Why is someone trying to hurt us, Ant Jess?” Benny asked.
“No one is going to hurt us,” I said. “There’s a man out there who is upset and he needs to talk to the other men. The best thing we can do is stay in here and let them have their privacy.”
“I see,” Benny said. “It’s a guy thing, huh, Ant Jess?”
“That’s right, Benny.”
“Momma told me all about guy things. Maybe I should be out there. I’m a guy and they might need my help.”
“No, I think they have plenty of guys out there to handle any problem that might arise,” I smiled and said to him. “Besides, we need a strong guy in here to protect us.”
“You’re just saying that so I won’t go out there. I know you have a gun, Ant Jess. You don’t need me.”
“Yes, I do, Benny. We all need you to make us feel safe. See, even though I have a gun, nothing makes a woman feel safer than to have a man around. Isn’t that right, ladies?”
“It sure is,” Abby said. “I don’t know what I’d do without my Pete being around to protect me.”
“Where’s Pete now?” Benny asked.
“Ah, he’s out of town right now, but he’ll be home soon.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to protect you until he gets back, huh?”
“You’re absolutely right, Benny. You’re such a brave little boy.”
“I’m not little, I’m…”
A loud noise from the other room silenced Benny and startled the rest of us.
“What was that?” Mom asked. “I just put Maisy in her crib, but after that noise, she’s wide-awake.”
Maisy started to cry.
“Where’s her pacifier?” Claire asked.
I looked in the crib, picked up the blanket, and found it. “Here,” I said, handing it to Mom as fast as I could.
I was sure that Brian had come here to get his child. Even though he had just found out that Benjamin Beard was Maisy’s father, he still loved her and wasn’t about to give her up. He probably believed the paternity test was a fake and feared that now that Vicki was gone, the doctor would use this information to try to take his child from him. But why? If the doctor killed Vicki to shut her up, why would he now claim that he is the father? It could only hurt his career and destroy his marriage. Maybe he killed Vicki for another reason. Was it office rape? Maybe it had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted the child. The child might be a testament to the fact that he had done something like this before. Perhaps Vicki threatened to go public with the information. Could the good doctor have assaulted Vicki in his office and was now trying to cover it up. How can we be sure that there was ever an affair going on between them? And if his sick habit of raping his patients became public, others might come forward and testify to the fact that the doctor had done this to them. Are paternity tests 100% accurate? Perhaps the test wasn’t accurate, but the doctor believed it was.
Why would Benjamin Beard want to take Maisy away from Brian? Vicki was dead and their secret should’ve died with her, until that test fell into the wrong hands. One simple mistake made by an office girl was about to change the lives of so many. Actually, I was guessing at what was going through Brian’s mind and the doctor’s, but I knew that if it were me, I’d be upset at first, and then I’d question everything. I’d never settle for a piece of paper controlling my life. I should’ve been born in Missouri, because you have to show me everything. You have to prove it to me before I’d take anyone’s word about something so important. Maybe, Brian felt the same way. Perhaps the doctor wanted to get Maisy and send her away. If he was so determined to find out the child’s paternity, he obviously had something to hide. But what was it? Was Maisy the evidence that could put him away? Suddenly, it all became clear to me. I’d bet money on the fact that the doctor probably gave Vicki some kind of tranquilizer, had sex with her in his office, and she subsequently became pregnant. She probably had no idea what happened at the time. But he knew and when she discovered what he had done, she became a liability. That’s it! Vicki and Brian probably did have a good marriage until Benjamin Beard literally screwed that up with his sexual depravities. He was a morally corrupt sex pervert! And maybe I had strayed off the beaten path. My mind does have a tendency to wander. Still, my gut feeling told me I might be on to something. I would discuss this with Billy.
A loud thump snapped me out of my stupor.
“What was that? Are they fighting out there?” Isabel asked.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but we’re not leaving this room,” Sarah said. “Get your gun, Jesse. We might need it. I’ve been in a bad situation like this before, and I want us to be prepared.”
“You’re absolutely right,” I said, walking over to the dresser. I bent down and picked up my purse off the pile of duffle bags it had been sitting on and fished through it for my gun. I found the gun, removed it and stuffed it in my jeans.
“You look like one of those bad guys on TV,” Benny said. “They always stuff the gun in their pants. Aren’t they afraid it might go off and blow off their private parts?”
Everyone laughed.
“You know, Benny, I wondered about that myself.”
“Then maybe you should stuff it somewhere else.”
“Perhaps you’re right. Unfortunately, I have no place else to put it.”
“Stick it in the back. Then if it goes off, you’ll only blow off your butt.”
I broke out in an uncontrollable laugh.
“Hush,” Mom said. “I’m scared and you’re laughing.”
“Don’t be scared, Grandma,” Benny said. “I’ll protect you.”
We heard another loud crash.
“Thanks, sweetie, I know you will, but right now, the only thing I can think about is what’s going on out there. It sounds like they’re fighting.”
“I hope they don’t break anything of value,” Abby said.
“The only thing of real value we have in this house is each other,” I said. “Family is what really matters.”
“That’s so sweet,” Claire said. “I think I’m going to cry.”
“Don’t cry, Mommy,” Carrie said. “I’ll cry, too.”
Another loud noise echoed throughout the house.
“I can’t stand it any longer,” I said. “I’m going out there. It’s four against one. What could possibly be so hard about subduing one guy?”
“Now see here, Missy,” Mom said. “You are not leaving this room until they tell us we can. Look at you. You have a cast on your arm and you’re pregnant. You’re at a disadvantage.”
“But she has a gun, Grandma,” Benny said. “She can shoot him.”
> “Now see what you’ve done,” Claire said. “You’ve got Benny thinking it’s all right to shoot someone.”
“Cool it, Claire. He’s a smart kid. He knows it’s not all right to shoot someone unless you’re protecting your family. Don’t you, Benny?”
“Yeah,” he answered. “Just like that time you shot those two bad people.” He looked at his mother. “They broke into Ant Jess’s house and tried to hurt you Mama, remember?”
Claire started to cry. “See, Jesse. Kids remember those kinds of things.”
“That’s right, Claire, they do. And one day it might just save their life.”
“You’re crazy! What’s the matter with you, Jesse? You’re telling my son that it’s okay to kill someone. Have you lost your mind?”
“Wake up, Claire. Benny knows the difference between right and wrong. Don’t you, son?” He shook his head in agreement. “See, he knows not to hurt someone. He knows that guns are dangerous and should only be handled by someone with experience. He knows it’s not a toy, and he knows it’s not right to shoot someone unless it’s in self-defense.”
“That’s right. Self-defense, Mama,” Benny agreed. “Mama, I know that I’m never, ever supposed to touch a gun. Uncle Billy told me so. He said I had to be a man before I touch a gun.”
“Are you happy, now?” I asked her.
“I’m sorry, Jesse, but sometimes you worry me with the stuff you come up with. You don’t realize how impressionable young children are.”
“Jesse has a good head on her shoulders,” Abby said. “She knows a lot more than you think. She just has a strange way of showing it.”
“We all have our own idiosyncrasies,” Sarah added. “Take my husband, for example. He predicts the future, and most of the time he’s right.”
“Terrific,” Abby said as she clapped her hands together. “I guess that means she’s going to marry my son.” She hugged Claire. “Welcome to the family, dear.”
“Abby, I hate to break your heart, but I’m not going to marry your son. I must admit that he’s a wonderful guy. He’s good-looking, and he has a great sense of humor, but I’m engaged to Cole.”
“That’s never going to materialize, dear,” Abby replied. “I can see it in your eyes. You want to love Cole for whatever reason, but he’s not the man for you. The chief was right. You will not marry Cole. I feel it in my bones.”
“Oh, hush, Abby,” Isabel said. “You’re always feeling something in your bones. I’m surprised that they’re not worn out. You don’t know squat.”
We all laughed—even Abby did, too.
“I guess you could be right,” she said.
A twist of the door handle and a loud bang on the door silenced us.
I walked over to the door and put my ear to it. “Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s me, Jesse,” Frank said. “Can you come out for a minute, alone?”
I assured everyone in the room that I would be right back as soon as I checked out the situation and for them to sit tight. I opened the door, stepped into the hallway and then closed the door behind me. “What is it, Frank?” I asked as I walked to the end of the hallway and peeked around the corner. I saw a man covered in blood and handcuffed to a kitchen chair. The kitchen chair was handcuffed to a table leg.
“We had to subdue him,” Frank said. “He was out of control.”
“Let me go,” the man yelled. “You have no right to treat me like this.”
Flashbacks of my incarceration at the hands of a killer swirled through my head. I got a sickly feeling in my stomach and immediately drifted back to the time when I was hijacked by a teenager with a gun. I was then locked up in the bedroom of a dead girl whose father was seeking retaliation for her death, and I was the object of his revenge.
“Turn him loose,” I yelled. “You’ve tied him up like a criminal.”
“Get real,” Cole said, walking up to me. “You have no idea what this man has done. Look at him, Jesse. He’s got blood all over him.”
“Are you Brian?” I asked as I walked over to him.
“Yes, I am,” he said. “I came to pick up Maisy and they attacked me. I want my baby! Now let me go! She needs to be with her family… her father. I want to take my child home.”
“I don’t think we can let you do that,” I said. “What happened at the doctor’s house?”
“That’s none of your business.”
“It might not be any of my business, but I can assure you that you’ll have to tell your story to someone and it might as well be me. Maybe we can help you. Did you go over there with the intention of killing him?”
“I went over there to talk to him,” Brian said. “I got a fax from his office about Maisy.”
“And what did the fax tell you?” I already knew the answer, but I wanted to see if he would tell me the truth. Hopefully, he would.
“It was a copy of a paternity test.” Brian hung his head and tears started rolling down his cheeks. “It said that Maisy wasn’t my daughter. I couldn’t understand why the doctor would have a paternity test run to begin with. When I looked at the document closer I found out that it was Benjamin Beard’s DNA that was tested against Maisy’s. It wasn’t just a routine doctor’s signature—his name was listed as a match. I figured there’d been some sort of mistake, but I had to confront him. I wanted to know why his office would send me a fax telling me I wasn’t Maisy’s father. We got into an argument and that escalated into a fight. I picked up a vase and broke it over his head. When I heard sirens, I took off. I think I killed him.”
“He’s not dead,” Cole said. “That call I got at the dinner table was from Sheriff Hudson. He said that Dr. Beard was attacked and was taken to the hospital. He’s going to get a few stitches in his head, but other than that, he’s going to be all right.”
“He deserves to die for what he did!” Brian yelled. “He told me he had sex with my Vicki in his office. He said she was all over him, that she forced herself on him. He said that he didn’t have a choice, because she threatened to tell his wife that they were having an affair if he didn’t give her what she wanted. I knew it was a lie. Anyone who knows Vicki knows that she wouldn’t behave like that. That’s just plain crazy! The whole idea makes me sick. He said he didn’t know anything about a paternity test, but I had the paper in my hand, so he couldn’t deny the truth. Then it came to me like a bolt of lightning. Just before Vicki got pregnant we had a time where things weren’t so good in our marriage. Problems started the day she came home from a routine OB/GYN checkup at his office. She was withdrawn and irritable. I asked her what was wrong and she said there was nothing wrong. But I knew there was. For two weeks after that she barely talked to me. She wouldn’t let me touch her. She even slept in another room for a while. After about a month, she started coming around. She was back to her old self. Then we found out that she was pregnant. We were so happy. When that doctor said he had sex with Vicki, it was like a revelation that hit me. If he had sex with my wife, then he raped her! It all hit me at once and I wanted to kill him!”
“You realized that Beard raped your wife and you wanted to kill him,” I repeated what he had said. “That’s understandable.”
“He raped my wife, got her pregnant, and after the baby was born, he killed her. He killed my wife to shut her up and he’ll probably get away with it, but he won’t take my daughter.”
“The test showed that Dr. Beard is Maisy’s father. That’s a hard thing to accept.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “You were out of your mind with grief, Brian. You were justified in your actions.”
“I don’t think that’s going to cut it,” Frank said. “I’d say that Brian was temporarily insane when he went to Beard’s house. He flipped out when he got the fax and didn’t know what he was doing.”
“The fact still remains that Benjamin Beard is Maisy’s father. How can I live with that?” Brian was beside himself. The truth had finally hit home. “He raped my wife, killed her, and now he’s going to take my baby.”
“Oh, I doubt very seriously that’s going to happen,” I said, offering my support. “I’m going to call Russ Shank. He’ll know what to do. If Beard did this to your wife, he’s probably done it to other women. Once this hits the news…”
“No! You can’t drag Vicki’s name through the mud. I won’t have it!”
“Do you want this man to do to other women what he has done to your wife?” Chief Sam asked. “You must not let this happen. The one thing you can do for her is make this right. Honor your wife by putting the blame where it belongs.”
“That’s the thing to do,” Randy added. “I will help in your defense if you want me to. Just say the word and we’ll have you out on bond by tomorrow. I promise.”
Poor Brian looked so confused. He had lost his wife, found out that his child is not his own, and almost killed a man—all in the span of a few days. He needed help and support.
“Don’t you worry, Brian,” I said. “Billy and I will take care of your daughter for as long as you want us to.”
“What will I do if they don’t believe me?” he asked.
“The evidence will do the talking,” Frank said.
“We’ll get to the truth,” Randy assured him. “That paper you have says it all. The way I see it, the doctor probably forced your wife to have sex with him and when she became pregnant and had a baby, he got paranoid that he might be the father. That’s why he ran a paternity test because he knew that if he was the father, it would open up a can of worms and ruin his career. When the test came back that he was indeed the father, he probably believed that he had to get rid of her. A B&E would do the trick. He broke in and made it look like a robbery gone bad. He would do anything to keep his little secret from coming to light. If it got out that he was the father of one of his patient’s child, his career would be over. A person can do remarkably bad things when their livelihood is threatened. He might even think he had to get rid of Maisy, too. We’ll get Billy to dig into this man’s past and see if we can’t find others that he has done this to. Right now they’ll probably charge you with attempted murder. You need to turn yourself in. It’ll look better if you do. Then we’ll get to the bottom of this so that you can have your life back.”
