Free Come Back To Me by Julia Barrett

himself to get some fluids into her. They were all lucky she hadn’t gone into renal failure.
    In a low voice, Debbie said, “Dr. Kent’s hospital privileges have been suspended, two orderlies were fired, and the nurse has been placed on leave of absence. The entire psychiatric department is under investigation by the hospital board.”
    James was relieved his complaint hadn’t been the only one filed. Both the charge nurse and Debbie backed him up with statements of their own, as did the nurse’s aide who’d helped the patient when she’d collapsed in the shower.
    James looked up as the door to the administrator’s office opened and Judge Franklin stepped out. His movements heavy, ponderous, the man dropped into the chair next to James. For a few moments he said nothing. At last he cleared his throat.
    “I’d like to thank you. I imagine as a medical student it must have been difficult for you to come forward. You might have endangered your career by speaking up.”
    James looked Judge Franklin in the eye. “What happened to your daughter was wrong. It shouldn’t have happened. I would have endangered my career if I didn’t speak up. I don’t think I would make a very good doctor if I looked the other way.”
    James wanted to ask the judge what he would do now, what would happen to his daughter, but he knew it really wasn’t any of his business.
    The judge said, “Cara’s refusing to see me.”
    “Is that so surprising?”
    Judge Franklin raised his eyebrows. “She’s my daughter.”
    “Well, that’s the point. She’s your daughter, yet you and your wife brought her here and gave her over into the care of Dr. Kent.”
    “How were we supposed to know this would happen?”
    “You didn’t know what would happen and you left her anyway.”
    Judge Franklin leaned on the arm of the chair and rubbed his forehead. “When I think of what those men did, what they could have done, it’s worse than . . .”
    “Worse than when she was raped by your law partner?”
    Judge Franklin’s head flew up. “How do you know about that? For Cara’s sake I went out of my way to keep it quiet.”
    James shrugged. “Things have a way of getting out. It’s a small town.”
    “I didn’t know what to do,” the judge said. “Maybe I was wrong to keep it quiet. Maybe I should have gotten Cara some help then. Tried to find out exactly what happened. But I didn’t want to know. I honestly didn’t want to know what he’d done to my daughter. I thought maybe, maybe we could all put it behind us. That it would be better for her if we never talked about it.”
    James wondered why the judge was telling him this. Perhaps the man found it easier to unburden himself to a stranger, a stranger who would be gone in another few months.
    “I’m at my wit’s end,” the judge said. “My wife won’t shut up about Cara, constantly going on about her, claiming she lies and manipulates everyone, yet I’ve never see any sign of it. At least I hadn’t until the other night. Cara’s always behaved respectfully towards me, but she’s quiet. She doesn’t talk much. She doesn’t confide in me, or in anyone for that matter. I have no idea what’s going on in that head of hers.” He paused for a moment. “She’s talented you know. The top student in her class, and she’s a wonderful artist. Last year a painting of hers was chosen to hang in the Capitol Rotunda in Washington D.C.”
    “Have you ever seen the painting?”
    Judge Franklin seemed to hesitate. “No,” he said, “I guess not. I’ve never seen it.”
    The older man and the younger man sat side by side in silence. James didn’t know what else to say. He wondered if the young woman would recover from this. To her, this must seem like one punishment added on top of the other. He imagined she felt completely alone, abandoned by the two people who were supposed to protect her—her mother and her father. What a lousy deal. He felt bad for her. From what her father