Ch,4

"Ok, who wants coffee?"

Kirsten stood up from her hospital chair, looking at the her boys.

"No thanks honey," Sandy said with a smile. "Guys, you want anything?"

Ryan shook his head. "No thanks Kirsten."

Kirsten looked at Seth.

"Honey? Can I get you anything?"

He groaned.

"Yea you can get me the doctors...this is freaking ridiculous, its been almost an hour and they still haven't told us anything."

"They'll be here as soon as they are done examining her Seth...just be patient." Sandy placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I know you're upset...if someone did to your mom what happened to Summer...let's just say it wouldn't be pretty...but the doctors know what they are doing...I'm sure they'll be out here soon."

Seth tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come out.

"Here's the thing dad...you don't need to worry about this happening to mom because you would never let it happen to her...you would protect her like you're supposed to...like I should have protected Summer."

"Honey, it's not your fault," Kirsten said.

"YES IT IS!" Seth yelled angrily, jumping from his seat. "This is all my fault! I wasn't there and I should have been...Summer doesn't deserve this , any of this...how can this NOT be my fault?"

Kirsten started to cry.

Seth rolled his eyes.

"Great," he spat out. "Now I'm hurting you too? This has been one hell of a night..."

He turned to walk away.

"Where are you going?" Sandy yelled after him.

"I need some air!" he yelled back.

They watched him storm out of the ER, collapsing when he got outside.

"Should I go check on him?" Ryan asked.

"No...just give him some time..."Sandy turned to Kirsten.

"Come on honey," he said giving her a hug. "Let's go get that coffee."

She nodded, sniffling, and they walked off, leaving Ryan sitting there.

Just then, his cell phone rang.

Marissa.

"Christ," he whispered.

With everything that had happened, he had forgotten to call her.

He answered.

"Hello?"

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Uhh, not too much," Ryan said quietly. "I was just getting ready to call you?"

"Oh really?" she laughed. "And why is that?"

He took in a deep breath.

"I'm at the hospital Marissa."

She was silent for a moment.

"Are you ok? What happened? Did something happen to Kirsten? Sandy?"

"No," he interrupted her quickly. "There fine...it's not them."

"Well then what's wrong?" she demanded.

He closed his eyes.

"It's Summer...something terrible happened to Summer..."

Seth sat down on the sidewalk, the cool air hitting his face, calming him down.

He hated Newport all of his life. The people, the places...only two things about this town ever made him happy...

The breezy nights and Summer.

He reached into his wallet, pulling out a picture of them from the school carnival. He gently traced her face with his fingertips.

"Excuse me...are you Seth Cohen?"

Seth looked up to see two police officers standing in front of him.

"Yes," he answered, his mouth dry.

"I'm officer Williams...this is my partner, Officer Brody."

"We'd like to talk to you for a moment son," Brody said..

Seth stood up.

"I'm sorry, I really don't have time for this," he said looking inside the door. "My girlfriend is in there, I need to go check up on her..."

"Mr. Cohen, that's what we need to talk to you about."

He looked at them quizzically.

"Well...what do you want to know?"

Williams reached into his pocket, pulling out a picture.

"Do you know this man?"

Seth took it and looked at it.

"Yea...that's Summer's dad."

Seth looked at the picture.

"The man that attacked her...he knew her dad."

"How do you know?"

"Because she told me," Seth said. "She said that the man was asking for her dad before he attacked her.

The cops looked at each other.

"What are you guys not telling me?" Seth asked, trying to read their faces.

One of them coughed.

"Mr. Cohen..."

Seth didn't move.

"Just tell me what's going on," he pleaded.

Brody sighed.

"We got a call a few hours ago from a police station out in Texas..."

Seth nodded.

"Ok..."

"There's no easy way to say this," he mumbled.

"Mr. Roberts was found murdered Seth."

Seth blinked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Apparently, he had gotten himself into some trouble. From what we can piece together, he was having an affair with a young daughter of one of his clients...a very young daughter...when the man found out what was going on, he was furious. He sent people out after him...first to their house, where Summer was...and then to Texas."

Seth was speechless.

"I don't understand, "he began. "How could he be having an affair? He went to Texas with his wife..."

"His wife knew about the affair. She was leaving him actually. He gave her a nice chunk of money, they played the happy couple so no one would suspect anything...and when the right time came, she was going to leave him."

Seth wiped his eyes.

"Is she dead too?"

No...well, we don't know actually. No one can seem to find her."

Seth felt like he couldn't breath. This was all too much.

"We're going to need you to come down to the station with us later," Williams said. "We're going to need statements from everyone...but it can wait. I know this is a very difficult time for you."

Seth just nodded, to shocked to do anything else.

Brody handed him a card.

"If you find anything out...if Summer tells you anything, anything at all that might help us figure out who did this to her and her family, call us."

Seth took the card. His eyes were blurry as he watched the men walk away.

He didn't even remember walking back into the hospital. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of Sandy, Kirsten, and Ryan.

"Seth, you look like you've just seen a ghost." Kirsten exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

He just stood there unmoving.

"Son?" Sandy stood up.

Seth said nothing just grabbed onto Sandy as hard as he could. His sobs rang through the halls of the Er.

Sandy held him tightly.

"Everything's alright," he said reassuringly.

"No ,it's not," Seth choked out between sobs. "Summer's dad is dead."

Sandy pulled back surprised and looked into his sons watery eyes.

"What?"

"He was murdered."

Kirsten put her hand to her mouth. "Oh my god..."

"When did this happen?" Ryan asked.

Before Seth could answer, they were interrupted by the doctor.

"Excuse me," he said softly.

They all turned towards him.

"How is she?" Sandy asked.

"She's doing fine," the doctor said smiling. She's resting very comfortably right now.

"Can I go see her?" Seth asked.

"Not just yet...but soon."

He nodded.

"So she's really ok?" Ryan asked.

'Well...she's doing fine considering what she went through tonight...I did find something while I was examining her though."

No one said anything.

"Well...what is it?" Seth finally asked, breaking the silence.

The doctor looked at his chart.

"You might want to sit down..."