The Passenger by Jacqueline Druga (ebook reader ink .TXT) 📕

Grant trembled. “Please don’t tell me my son has passed.”

Gasping, Marge stepped back. “No, no. I’m sorry you took it that way.”

“Are you guys like a town council?” Grant asked. “What … what has my son done? He’s done something bad, hasn’t he?”

“Have a seat.” Russ indicated to the chair. “This is not a town council. More of a council of your son.”

“I don’t understand. Is he okay?”

Russ nodded. “He is. This is Doctor Jenner. He treated your son. And these two are Marge and Joe Baker, they treated your son with absolute kindness and were the ones who saved his life that night on the road.”

“He was the one in the accident?”

Russ nodded.

Grant glanced at Marge and Joe. “I can’t begin to thank you enough, all of you.”

Doctor Jenner leaned against the Chief’s desk. “While he only suffered minor bodily injuries, he did have a head injury and some swelling. Physically, he’s better. But he has memory loss.”

“Amnesia?” Grant asked.

“Yes. It’s coming back. Are you familiar with the term procedural memory?” Jenner questioned.

“I am. That’s like riding a bike.”

“Exactly. Things like that are coming fast for him. For example, the guitar,” Jenner said. “According to the Chief, he just picked it up and played it like a pro, not knowing why.”

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Grant said. “The guitar has been an extension of his body since he was twelve. It also wouldn’t surprise me if you told me he was gardening.”

Everyone looked at each other.

“He is,” Russ said. “Nice work, too.”

“Well, he gets that knack from his mom,” Grant replied. “He worked landscaping in the summer. Has he started baking yet?”

“Baking?” Marge asked with shock. “Chip bakes?”

“Chip?” Grant asked. “You call him Chip?”

Marge nodded. “We all do. That’s me, I called him Chip because I figured he has to be a chip off the block of someone. So, he bakes.”

“He makes amazing cookies.”

“What is his name?” Old Joe asked.

“Jonas. His name is Jonas,” Grant replied. “I … I don’t understand. Why not run his prints?”

“I wanted to,” said the Chief. “Would we have matched them?”

“Oh, yeah, Jonas has not been on a good path for the past few years. DUI, public drunkenness, a couple disorderly conducts,” Grant said. “Why didn’t you run them if you wanted to?”

Marge answered, “Chip wanted to wait until he got his memory back before he found out who he was. He wanted to remember instead of being told.”

Doc Jenner spoke up, “It’s not that we didn’t try to find out who he was. The fingerprints were going to be the last resort at the one month mark. The VIN on the car was a bust.”

Grant nodded. “He borrowed it from a guy named Teeter, and I don’t even want to know where he got it from. Teeter’s a dealer and in jail right now. You wouldn’t have had any idea who he was.” Grant sank back in the chair. “He dropped his wallet at the bar where he played his show. And I will need to go back there to thank the man who suggested I come here.”

“Have you been there?” Russ asked.

“I was just there,” Grant answered. “The state police weren’t giving me any answers. As a father I just needed to ask my questions. He wasn’t drunk, at least that’s what the bartender said. She told me he had two drinks. One earlier in the night and someone named Doug bought him one at the end.”

“Is this Doug a friend?” Russ asked.

Grant shook his head. “No. According to the bartender he was a friend of the guy Jonas fought with that night. Was buying him a drink, I guess to make amends.”

Hurriedly, Russ pulled out his tablet. “You said the guy’s name was Doug?” He wrote it down. “Would this bartender know how to find him?”

Grant stammered. “I guess. I think she said he was a regular.”

“Where is this bar?” questioned Russ.

“Outside of Persia, Iowa.”

Russ looked at Doctor Jenner. “Have your son call up the Iowa state police. I wonder if we can get this guy to admit it.”

“I don’t understand,” Grant said. “What’s going on?”

Doctor Jenner turned to Grant. “That last drink your son had … was spiked. Someone put a date rape or club drug into it.”

“Someone deliberately did this to my child?” Grant asked with emotions. “They had to know he was driving. They had to know.” He brought his hand to his face.

Marge rested her hand on Grant’s shoulder. “The Good Lord was watching out for him.”

“In fact,” Joe added. “He was riding in the car with him.”

Slowly, Grant lowered his hand. “Is my son saying Jesus was in the car with him?”

“Spoke and saw him.” Joe replied.

“Okay. Okay.” Russ stopped them. “We can discuss that later. And no, Marge, I’m not scoffing at your husband. I have a question to ask.” He walked over to his desk, opened the drawer and pulled out a piece of paper.

Marge, Old Joe and Jenner all groaned.

“For goodness sakes,” Jenner said. “Let that go.”

“I can’t. I have to know.” He handed the paper to Grant. “Do you recognize this?”

“Yep, it's my son’s guitar. He had it custom made,” Grant answered.

“Ha!” Russ gloated. “I knew it. Call it a hunch. I knew this was his and it’s stolen property.”

Grant shifted his eyes around to everyone. “Could this have something to do with the spiked drink?”

“We can find out.” Russ put the picture down. “For now, we need to take you to Chip.”

Doc Jenner interjected. “We need to not overwhelm him. Maybe Grant, Marge and Joe go over. We don’t know if he’ll remember right away when he sees his father. He may, he may not. He also may have some physical repercussions if it hits him too fast. Anything is possible.”

“And if he doesn’t remember his father?” Joe asked.

“Doesn’t mean he won’t in an hour or a few days,” Doc Jenner answered. “After steady exposure. I think for the first introduction, if Chip doesn’t remember his father, we don’t say anything. It