Ghost Not Forgotten

XXIII: Now

*banner by Paranoidpickle (Livejournal)

Bennet had wanted to get the journals out of Stanley's cellar that day, that's why he had to sneak into the backyard before coming inside, but Billy Beck had stopped him before he could leave the shed at the top of the hill.

In the few days following that horrible day, the cellar was searched and the cops found the journals in the oil drum just like Bennet told them they would.

From there the story spread like wildfire. Or so we had been told.

Bennet and I were only too glad to be holed up in the teeny police station for those first few days, away from the uproar. Since our town doctor was now dead, they brought in a doctor and nurse team from Kaysville – along with some policemen since Keplar's only had two volunteer cops and a sheriff – to patch up Bennet, me, and even Billy. I heard he came to not long after Bennet and I were whisked to the station. They patched him up and then cuffed him, holding him in the one cell Keplar's has, on the opposite side of the police station.

Neither Bennet nor I saw Billy, but apparently he was feeling pretty stupid for being duped by Stanley. And mad too, since it drove him to assault an officer of the law and, as far as he knew, might land him some jail time. Never mind he wouldn't be getting the money Stanley promised him.

But Bennet said he wouldn't press charges. It wasn't worth it. He just told Sheriff Johnny Usta to keep Billy in the cell for a few days and then let him go. The sheriff was all too willing. Johnny had never liked Billy Beck since he used to bully him all the time back in high school.

There's some karma for you.

Bennet had hoped to be out of town within a day or two so he wouldn't have to see Billy at all but wrapping up everything took longer than anyone thought it would. We spent the entirety of that first day and most of the next answering questions and reenacting every single second of the showdown with Stanley what seemed like a hundred times.

All the while Bennet spent most of his time on his phone, talking to his crew back in Atlanta (he had been living in Georgia since becoming a detective, I found out). It was the beginning of the third day of our lockdown when Bennet heard the news about Stanley's old partner, Dr. Harrimann.

I guess that in the week or so that Bennet had been back in Keplar's, Dr. Harrimann had been slapped with a bunch of charges – half of them I haven't even heard of – and on his way to trial and then, hopefully, jail.

Bennet and I were sitting on a wobbly bench in the police station, just waiting like we had been the last few days, tired and thrashed and antsy. One of the Keplar's cops kept trying to ask us more questions but Bennet's phone rang every five seconds, interrupting him, which I was glad for. I was so sick of answering the same damn questions over and over again.

When Bennet hung up with his partner for the final time – just hearing about Harrimann's charges – he let his head fall into my lap, burying his face in my legs and hugging my knees at the same time. His phone dropped to the floor with a crack.

"Oh God, Natty, it's done," he groaned, the relief and exhaustion in his voice broke my heart. "It took half my life, but it's finally done."

I rubbed my fingers through his hair, not realizing until then just how long he had been dealing with all of this. He had been torn up about his mother since he was fourteen. He had been wandering lost and confused since he was sixteen. He had lost half of his life to this, and now things were finally solved. Not better necessarily, but solved. All the questions were answered, now he would just have to deal with the answers he had been given. And I knew that wouldn't be easy. It wasn't easy for me, how could it be easy for him?