CHAPTER THIRTEEN #2
"What happened to him?" Claire asked. "I spoke to his boss. Your boss? I was told that he took a leave of absence and that he has a drinking problem. What can you tell us?"
"I don't know if I should be telling you anything," Dr. Benson said.
"We’re investigating a triple homicide," Claire told him. "I really don't want to have to wait for a warrant to get the information we need."
"We only want to rule him out of our enquiries, but seeing as we can't find him to talk with him, then we need as much information as you can give us. We only want to help him," Alison said.
Dr. Benson looked from one woman to the other.
"His drinking problem started because he diagnosed one of his patients as malingering, and that patient committed suicide while being held in custody.
" Dr. Benson took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose.
"It was a tough case, and the patient he was working with wasn’t the easiest to get on with, and Steven really gave it his all with that case, and it took a lot out of him.
In the end, he thought the guy was putting it on, and he concluded that he was fit enough to face trial.
A couple of days later, the guy was found dead in his cell. "
"You were still close to him at the time?" Alison asked.
"Yeah, this was about six months ago," Dr. Benson said.
"I looked at the file after the suicide, and everything was in order. I would have made the exact same decision as Steven, and there’s no way to tell now if he was right or wrong.
Maybe the guy just couldn't handle going to prison. Still, Steven blamed himself."
"That’s when the drinking problem started?" Alison asked.
"Yeah." The doctor rubbed his nose again. "We didn't notice it at first. We’ve gone out for drinks before after work, but he was never a part of that, and then he was. Then he was the last one at the bar. It didn't take long until he came in hungover, and then you could smell it on him. Carl, our boss, tried to help him. Gave him the benefit of the doubt, made allowances, transferred some of his files, but it was clear Steven wasn’t going to improve, so Carl told him in no uncertain terms that he should take a sabbatical. Steven didn’t really have a choice in the matter. None of us has heard anything from him since. That’s why I was thinking about going and checking in on him. "
"We went to his house, but there was no answer. It didn't look like anyone was in," Claire.
"I hope you are right," Dr. Benson said.
"If he’s not home, do you have any idea where he might have gone?" Claire asked.
"No," Dr. Benson admitted. "He doesn’t have any family in town, and I’m sure he’s driven any friends away by now. I don't know where he will be."
"Is there anything else you can tell us that might help?" Claire asked.
"I wish there was. I really hope you find him. Steven was a good doctor, and he can be one again, but he needs professional help. I think he’s too stubborn to get it."
"All right, thank you," Claire said.
The two women left the office and made their way back to the parking lot, stopping at the door when they saw the heavy snow falling.
"I think we’re here for the night," Claire said.
"He fits the profile more," Alison suggested. "He blames himself for the suicide. He believed he made a mistake in the diagnosis, and it came back to haunt him. That can do awful things to a person. If he blames himself for a patient’s death, then there’s no telling what it might drive him to do."
"Like killing his peers?" Claire asked.
"He wants to absolve himself. So, he looks to others who made a mistake, and he believes that if he can make an example out of them, then he can make amends.
With his downward spiral, I don't think he intends to go back to work.
He protects himself from making another mistake by not putting himself in a position to do it again.
And he stops others from making another mistake.
He sheds light on the justice system in the hope he can stop further mistakes. "
"You’re a part of that," Claire pointed out. "What’s your professional opinion? Should there be more investigations when things like this happen?"
"I honestly don't know," Alison admitted. "It’s a hard position, because the majority of decisions—ninety-nine percent of them—end well. And we can't count how many people are saved by our decisions because it’s expected, and there are no numbers to count. When things go bad, that’s when incidents are counted. I would bet that all three victims made decisions that saved far more people than were hurt. Maybe I should dig deeper into their careers, but I’m positive they have benefitted society on average, and it’s not even close.
I’ve made mistakes—I’ve made decisions that were good decisions but led to bad outcomes—and I’m still trying to come to terms with that.
We work in thankless jobs. I know your job is hard, but we can track your arrests, and we can see when the good far outweighs the bad.
We can't do that with my job. I only have to hope I’m doing the best I can. "
"It doesn’t hurt that you’ve caught multiple serial killers," Claire pointed out.
"It’s what keeps me going," Alison admitted. "That’s why I’m still here. We will get this guy."
"What if Dr. Laurent has gone off-grid and we don't find him?"
"There’s a chance of that," Alison admitted. "There’s also a chance that he might be exactly where I expect him to be."
"And where’s that?" Claire asked.
"Let’s start driving back toward his house before the snow gets too heavy. We need to check all the bars in the vicinity of his home. Let’s hope he’s unable to get up from his barstool rather than planning on who to kill next.