down on the couch, she bluntly said, “Just to get something straight, I’m only here because Mr. Delaney is insisting that I talk to you.”
“Don’t you mean Detective Delaney?” Dr. Pendell questioned as he went to sit down in his armchair.
Ellen grinned before saying, “He’s my boyfriend’s dad, so to me that trumps his police rank. But sure, I’ll call him Detective Delaney for your benefit.”
“Okay,” Dr. Pendell began in an unreadable tone. “Detective Delaney had informed me that in self-defense and to save Karla Harman, you and two others—Harris Bradley and Karla’s sister Jessica—had killed Karla and Jessica’s grandfather.”
“True,” Ellen said simply.
“Detective Delaney tells me that the details of how the act was committed were declared classified; however, I would like to hear about your feelings about what had happened.”
“Before, during or after?” Ellen questioned.
“All three if they’re different.”
“Okay,” Ellen began before taking a breath. “Before, my only thoughts were on surviving. As far as my feelings… being scared was the only feeling that I can think of having. During the act, my thoughts and feelings were the same, and after the act, I felt relieved that we had survived and bothered that I had helped to take a life.”
“Are you still bothered by it?” Dr. Pendell asked.
Ellen slightly nodded before saying, “I am. I keep trying to think of ways… or scenarios that we would have survived the incident without anyone dying. I can’t though. I strongly feel that if Jessica, Harris and I didn’t kill Karla and Jessica’s grandfather, that their grandfather would’ve killed us.”
“How are you sleeping at night?” Dr. Pendell asked.
Ellen gave Dr. Pendell a confused look before saying in an uncertain tone, “Okay.”
“Any nightmares over your ordeal, or are you having problems getting to sleep?”
Ellen took a breath before saying, “During the first two nights afterwards, I did have problems getting to sleep, but I’m getting to sleep easier now. And I did have a couple of disturbing dreams. One I’m certain was related to the ordeal.”
“What were your dreams about?”
“I really don’t remember enough of them to discuss them,” Ellen lied while trying to sound convincing.
With an unreadable expression across his face, Dr. Pendell made a notation within his notebook.
“Your brother Michael and sister-in-law Tanya were killed last month in an auto accident.” Ellen stared slightly resentfully at him as he continued with, “I would like to hear about your feelings on that as well.”
Ellen’s eyes teared up as she said, “I miss them. I miss my mom too and there hasn’t been a day that had gone by that I haven’t thought of them.”
While going off his notes Dr. Pendell questioned, “You had lost your mom back in June from a brain tumor, correct?”
Ellen wiped the tears from her eyes while saying, “Correct.”
“How did you feel when you learned of your mother’s tumor?”
Ellen thought for a second before saying, “Blown away.”
“Can you describe your reaction to the news?” Dr. Pendell requested.
“My mom had broken the news to me at the doctor’s office and in front of the doctor,” Ellen said as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away with her fingers as she continued with, “I had definitely wanted a second opinion, but my mom assured me that the current doctor was actually the third doctor who she had seen about her condition. He was a specialist, in fact.”
“There are tissues on either side of you.”
Ellen looked towards the box to the right of her, and after a short hesitation, she reached for it. After grabbing it, she took a couple of tissues from it and then set the box next to her on the couch.
As Ellen wiped the tears away with the tissues, Dr. Pendell asked, “What was your reaction when you learned that the doctor at the time was the third doctor who had examined your mom?”
“I wanted my mom to see even another doctor, but my mom explained to me that seeing another doctor would be a waste of time and money. She was dying and ten different doctors’ opinions weren’t going to change that. Once I had accepted that another doctor’s opinion would be a waste of time, I cried for a good ten minutes in my mom’s arms. The doctor just sat there and allowed it without saying a word. Finally the doctor told my mom and me that he had another patient coming in. By that time, I had pretty much cried myself out, and when we left, we went home. After we got home, we watched home movies. Three of my brothers and my sister had died before I was born and I had learned a lot about them that day.”
“Detective Delaney had told me about the tragic accident that took their lives.”
“My dad’s dad was killed in that accident too,” Ellen added.
“Okay,” Dr. Pendell said while making a notation. “What are your feelings about what had happened?”
Ellen took a breath before saying, “Cheated and pissed off.”
“According to Detective Delaney, your dad was trying to evade the law at the time of the accident that had killed your siblings and grandfather.”
“Yes,” Ellen said simply.
“What are your feelings on that?”
“Pissed off,” Ellen replied.
“Pissed off at what? The cops who were chasing your dad or…?”
“I’m pissed off at my dad,” Ellen interrupted. “He should’ve known better than to have listened to that psychic.”
“Your dad was trying to outrun the law because he was instructed to do so by a psychic?” Dr. Pendell asked in a confused tone.
Ellen shook her head before saying, “A psychic had told my dad that his kids were in mortal danger if his kids would remain in the house that they were living in at the time. My grandpa was with my dad at the time of the psychic’s warning, and when my dad and grandpa had warned my mom, my mom thought that they both had lost their minds. According to my dad, he was desperate to keep his kids safe, and so he kidnapped his kids in an attempt to do so. And as you apparently know, it had backfired on him.”
“And you believe that your dad should’ve known better than to have been taken in by a fraud?” Dr. Pendell questioned.
“Oh, the psychic wasn’t a fraud,” Ellen assured him, “and the vision that he saw was genuine…”
“I’m confused,” Dr. Pendell interrupted. “If you believe that the psychic wasn’t a fraud and his vision was genuine, then why do you believe that your dad had made a mistake by listening to him?”
Ellen
