The Bindlestiff Mystery

Mom Meets Ben

I wasn’t able to sneak out that night. My mom watched me to closely that night. But, the next day, she had to run some errands, so I hurried to talk to Ben while she was gone.
He sat at the edge of the water with his fishing pole.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hay is for horses,” he laughed.
I sat down beside him. “Having any luck?”
“Not so far. Nothing is biting today.”
We both sat quietly for a few minutes, and then I got the nerve to speak. “Ben, did you hurt her?”
“Nope, I didn’t touch that girl. I was going to help her find her way.”
“The cops are looking at you, you know?”
“I figured. I’ll be the scapegoat for sure.”
“Tell me again what happened, Ben, so I can help you.”
“I told you she was creeping up on my camp site, I spooked her. I felt bad when I saw it was a little girl, so I ran after her to help her find her way in the dark, but when I saw her was screaming, I don’t know, my mind went somewhere else.”
“Did you blackout and hurt her?”
“Nooo, I had a memory of me, running naked through the woods, and it scared me. I ran back here and crawled into my tent.”
“I believe you, Ben. How about you come to my house and take a shower, and I’ll lend you some of my dad’s clothes, so you can go to the police and just tell them what happened.”
“They won’t believe, boy.”
“You might have a better chance if you were clean shaven and had on some nicer clothes, and looked, you now, normal.”
“I can’t put you in that spot. Your mom would not like it one bit, and you know it. No one wants me around.”
“She’s gone for the whole day. She went with my grandma to see some relatives and they’re always gone all day.” I pleaded with him. “Come on, Ben, please. I’m trying to help you.”
“Okay, I can’t lie, it would feel nice to be clean and look respectable.”
We walked to my house. I had Ben stay back at the edge of the property to make sure Mom hadn’t come home early. She hadn’t, so I waved him over.
I gave him clothes, a razor and took his old clothes out back and put them in the burn pit. I made some lunch for the both of us, while he cleaned up.
I had just finished making lunch, when my mom’s car pulled in front of the house. My heart raced. Ben was still cleaning up.
I ran outside. “You’re home early!” I called out.
“Your grandma wasn’t feeling well, so we left early. How’s things here?”
“Fine, but Mom don’t get mad.”  I walked backward in front of her as she walked up to the porch. “But, I let Ben use our shower and he’s in there now.”
“Caleb! Oh dear God! That man could be dangerous, and he’s not sanitary, and…”
“Mom, it’s fine. You’ll see when you meet him.”
We walked in the door and Ben stood at the kitchen sink eating a sandwich. If I didn’t know it was him, I wouldn’t have recognized his face. He was younger than I’d thought.
My mom looked him. She stared at him like she’d just seen the transfiguration of Christ himself. She was visibly shaken. “Hi, I’m Sharon, and you are?”
“Ben,” he answered. “Nice to meet you.”
Mom practically ran to her room and shut the door behind her.
“I’ll be right back, Ben.” I ran after her.
She was down on her knees rummaging through a box in the closet, quickly looking through old photos. “It’s him, it’s Brookie.” She put a picture in my face.
I took it, and sure enough one of the guys in the photo could be Ben. “Who’s Brookie?”
“He was your uncle’s best friend.” Her hands were trembling. “He was supposed to be with him the night he died, but when Jimmy was found alone, we just figured he didn’t go, and didn’t make a connection.”
“Didn’t anyone think it was strange that he was missing?”
.” We thought he maybe ran way because his family couldn’t find him. Brookie and Jimmy were a lot like you and Mark, Jimmy kept Brookie out of trouble. He’d been in minor trouble with the law, and experiment with drugs, and Brookie had ran away before, so most people assumed he took off again.”

Mom got up off the floor. “Keep him here. I’m going to call Brookie’s sister, and she’ll know for sure if it’s him. He may know what happened that night.”
“Mom, he has amnesia, remember?”
“Yes, but maybe he can remember if he sees familiar people or places, like on television. Go, Caleb. Keep him here.

I did I she asked, and I kept Ben or Brookie, or whoever he was, in the kitchen with me, while we waited for Brookie’s sister to arrive.