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“If they can’t be de-escalated, we buzz for help. Then it’s restraints and chemical time.”
Her stomach clenched. A dim memory bloomed. She’d been four or five, and her family had rented a house on the beach. Reese was in bed for the evening when the fighting started. She’d climbed out to peek from her door to see her parents in the living room, furniture overturned, with their arms wrapped around Ben, trying to hold him immobile. Her brother had been red-faced, screaming and fighting like a wounded animal. She didn’t remember much else, but she recalled the terror of seeing him out of control, her mother’s tears, and her dad with his hair awry, wild-eyed and frustrated.
“Sounds frightening,” she said flatly.
He shrugged. “It’s not boring there, that’s for sure. My point is, your brother had his moments, but when I first started working, I didn’t see him lose it often. But then something changed. It happened more and more and then a few years ago I came to work one day and he was gone.”
“Gone?”
“From his ward. I heard he was sick and in the hospital a long time. After that he got himself annexed.” He inhaled from the pen again and exhaled with his next words. “Most of the wardsare in the front half of the main building. Then there’s a couple detached structures for admin. Kitchen and community areas are more in the center. There’s an area that was added on at the back in the last twenty years or so. When patients need more one-on-one care, their rooms are moved there.”
“And that’s where he’s still at.”
“Ain’t come home yet, has he?” Seeing the answer on her face, he went on. “I work all over, except the annex. Haven’t seen him since. I asked around yesterday. He’s not causing any trouble there, rumor has it.” His shoulders bounced. “Must be doing him good.”
Maybe that would explain the increase in Ben’s hospital expenses in the last few years, Reese mused. “Why don’t you ever work in there?”
“Wish I could. I hear there’s a pay bump because the patients are more volatile. But they keep the same staff in the annex because they try to limit the number of people those patients come in contact with.”
She thought of the different therapies listed on the trustee’s reports. Music. Drama. Art. Animal-assisted support. In addition to various psychotherapies she’d seen listed but knew little about. “I heard that Ben was very involved in a Bible group.”
Kervin choked on the smoke he’d just inhaled. “That figures. Yeah, it all makes sense now.”
He was being unnecessarily cryptic. “What makes sense?”
“We get a few Bible bangers in there, spreading the good word.” A sneer was present in his voice. “There’s one gal who’s there quite a bit. Only been coming around the last few years, but she acts like she runs the place. Real churchy, but she’s a pushy bitch.”
She thought of the name Camry had given her—the person who’d registered to be Ben’s conservator. “I’m told that Lorna Eckworth serves in that capacity.”
He froze in the act of lifting the pen to his mouth. “You know her? That’s who I’m talking about.”
Reese shook her head. “No. Someone mentioned her name to me.”
“Well, steer clear. She’s nosy as hell, and always throwing her weight around. Like she’s got any pull there. She tries to tell the employees what to do. Doesn’t pull that shit with the nurses and doctors. Butter don’t melt in her mouth when they’re around.” He puffed on the pen furiously. “If you’d gotten here earlier, you could’ve seen her in action. I told her to shove off, because I was meeting someone. She was pissed.”
Comprehension dawned slowly. “That woman creating a scene at your table this morning?”
“Yeah! Did you catch some of that? I eat breakfast here most days. I’ve seen her here before. Think she lives close.” He gave a mock shudder. “Not exactly great for the digestion. Today she came over to my table and started giving me hell. Said she heard I was asking about patients yesterday and went on and on about the sin of gossip, and threatened to report me to administration.” He made a sound of disgust. “I told her where to shove her self-righteous shit. She was unhappy.”
“She looked it,” Reese murmured, her mind racing. She’d pulled up a picture of Eckworth yesterday while researching her, but this morning, she’d seen the woman only from the back and hadn’t recognized her. She didn’t know what the details meant, but she stored the information away to share with Camry. Maybe there was a way they could use it.
“What do you know about Dr. Sedgewick?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Seems okay. I don’t see her around much, especially since she took on more administrative dutiesafter budget cuts a few years ago.” Kervin pulled out the case for the pen and put it away. “I’m gonna have to go. If I can find out anything else, I’ll text you. Same terms as today.”
Of course he would. Reese figured he thought he’d hit the gravy train and would tap it for as long as he was able. “What’s the place like? Is it nice?”
He shoved away from the side of the car. “Pay’s not bad, but not enough to live on. I also do janitorial work at Rolling Acres Crematorium and Aquamation. You know it?”
She shook her head.
“It’s in Escondido. Without two jobs, I wouldn’t even be able to make rent. TL’s nice and all. They do field trips sometimes, for the patients that earn privileges. And there’s a dozen or more acres. A few manmade lakes. One is stocked with fish, so there’s fishing, which Ben enjoyed. Got some woods on one side that are showy in the fall. Place has quite a history, though. I’ll tell you ’bout it sometime.”
“No time like the present.”
He required little persuasion. “Back in the day it was a state mental institution. Some bad shit went on back then in hospitals like that. They just locked people up and threw away the key. When the state closed them all down, some private company bought it and razed the old place. But there are passages underneath from the old cellar that connect the hospital to the outbuildings. I’ve been down there. Creepy as fuck.”
He lowered his voice as if confiding a secret. “People say it’s haunted. I saw a wall with chains hanging from it, like maybe the state hospital kept patients there, or something.”