The Children's Corner
Chapter 31
Not sure what will greet them, Rick and Kate cautiously enter Stuart Wigman's hospital room. The patient looks up at Rick in startled recognition. "I remember you. You were at the school. You – oh God! I almost hit your little girl. Is she all right?"
"She's fine," Rick assures the suddenly agitated man. "But what happened? Did you lose control of your car?"
Wigman presses his hand to his forehead. "The doctors said something about a fugue state. But I don't know what they meant. I was going to pick up my son. But the school looked different. It was like I was at the wrong place. I got confused or something."
"My daughter's teacher said your son hadn't been there in over a year. And it looked different because the school expanded the play area when it added new exploration tunnels," Rick explains.
"Mr. Wigman, do you know what year it is?" Kate asks.
"It's 2019."
"No, Sir," Kate replies gently. "It's 2021."
Wigman looks weirdly unconcerned. "That's strange."
"What could happen to make a man lose time like that?" Rick wonders as he and Kate return to their car.
Kate shrugs, shaking her head. "I don't know. We could ask Lanie. She's not a shrink, but she might be able to explain the medical aspects."
"Or perhaps we should consult someone in the specialty. You told me you saw a therapist."
I did, a psychiatrist, Doctor Burke. He does psych evals for the department, but I also saw him privately."
"Do you think he could help us understand why Wigman almost ran down our daughter?"
"I don't know," Kate admits. "But sometimes, he has evening slots open. So I can make us an appointment to ask."
"I can't speculate about a specific person. And it's unethical to diagnose a patient I haven't examined. Also, there are privacy issues," the resonant tones of Carver Burke explain.
Kate nods. "We understand that, Doctor. But hypothetically, what would cause someone to lose that much time?"
Burke motions Kate and Rick to comfortable chairs and takes a seat opposite them. "There are many physical conditions that affect memory, including tumors, injuries, and drug abuse. The physicians at the hospital would look for those. But it's possible that some traumatic event without physical damage could bring on the loss."
"What kind of traumatic event?" Rick queries.
"Overwhelming stress, such as war, natural disasters, or abuse, can cause a condition called dissociative amnesia. In that state, the patient needs to block out the memories to function."
"Are there pills or something for the memory loss?" Kate wonders.
"Unfortunately not. A treatment program must be carefully matched to the needs of the patient. But without knowing what happened, that would be difficult or impossible. And dissociative amnesia has a further complication. With memory loss caused by illness or injury, sufferers are desperate to remember the missing time. However, patients with dissociative amnesia are uninterested in recovering those memories."
"So someone else might have to dig into the past to find them?" Rick inquires.
"That's one possible scenario," Burke agrees.
"I know that look," Kate remarks as she and Rick leave Burke's office. "Stuart Wigman is a mystery you can't resist."
"Well, you heard Burke. Wigman fits dissociative amnesia to a T. He was upset that he nearly hit Lily, but not about losing over a year. That's not like the tropes writers use where someone is frantic to uncover their past. Stuart fascinates me. But I also feel sorry for him. Whatever triggered his state must have been pretty awful. And it must have happened since Bambi last saw him."
"If it's too awful for him to remember, then maybe you should leave it alone," Kate suggests.
"But the person in the path of his car the next time something confuses him might not be as lucky as Lily," Rick protests. "From what Burke told us, Wigman isn't likely to agree to treatment for his memory. And when the hospital lets him go, he's another accident waiting to happen."
"You may have a point," Kate concedes.
"The lab matched the prints on Taggart's envelope to Elise Truman!" Esposito crows. "We have a direct tie between her and the robbery at the warehouse."
"Right," Ryan agrees. "And whether she killed Evan Seegar herself or not, the attack took place during the commission of grand theft. So we have her for felony murder. And if one of her lackeys bashed Seegar on the head, how long do you think it will take for her to throw him under the bus?"
"Want to bet on the time?" Esposito offers. "Loser writes up our expense report for Montgomery."
"You're on. Shake on it?"
Esposito grimaces. "Yeah, but don't you dare do that Irish spit on your hand thing. That's just nasty."
The voices of Platinum Heights residents struggle for Rick's attention with the siren call of the Wigman enigma. Finally, after the writer downs a fresh cup of double-strength brew, they reach a compromise. He'll write Tamar and Cary one more chapter before starting his research into Stuart's history. Somewhere in there, he should fit in diaper duty, a call with Liz, and making dinner. Screw it! Lily's developed a strong appreciation for spring rolls. And Kate will attack almost anything that doesn't try to eat her first. He'll order Chinese.
Kate can feel the tension in Rick's shoulder muscles as she snuggles up, awaiting the twins' late-night feeding. "You've really been at it. Did you find out anything about Wigman?"
"The standard background check didn't come up with anything except former residences and lack of criminal record. But I checked the Ledger archives for any references to his name. I found an obit for his wife and son. My search hit the death notice because Stuart was mentioned as a survivor. I also dug up two stories from the Metro section. They indicated that Lydia and Casey Wigman both died in a hit-and-run in 2019. They were shopping in midtown for Stuart's birthday presents. Mother and son should have been safe in a crosswalk with the walk light. Still, a car ran the red, collided with them, and kept going. They were both D.O.A. at the hospital."
"There must have been traffic cam footage," Kate assumes. "Did the N.Y.P.D. arrest the driver?"
"No, and it was a Texas plate."
"That figures. Texas has the most traffic accidents of any state in the country."
"And who knows how many of them that guy caused? But according to a follow-up story, the New York cops could never find him. They put out a warrant for the man the plate was registered to in Texas. But nothing ever came of it."
"No wonder Stuart was so horrified that he might have hit Lily," Kate realizes. "Even if he consciously believes his son is still alive, the truth is buried in his brain somewhere."
"I don't blame him for blocking it. I wouldn't want to remember that either," Rick admits. "But something must have happened to him more recently, thrusting him back to 2019. Otherwise, he would have shown up at the school before this. I wonder if he witnessed another accident, something that brought back what happened to his wife and son."
"The city maintains a database of vehicle accident reports. Unfortunately, you'd have to know the details even to begin to find what Stuart might have seen."
"But the Ledger publishes reports too, or at least summaries. So it shouldn't be that hard to find a recent hit and run that could have retraumatized Stuart." Rick pushes out of bed. "I should have it before the boys wake up for their midnight snack."