"Yours, Katherine"

By Jen

(Beach house)

Scene opens with a picture of Katherine in Steve’s hands.

"You know dad, I’ve been thinking a lot about mom lately." Steve said, breaking the silence.

Mark turned to face his son, taken by surprise by Steve’s sudden comment because he had been having the same thought. "Really? Me too son." He answered.

"I can’t explain it but I miss her more than usual for some reason." He continued.

"I know what you mean." Mark answered, but before he could finish, the doorbell rang.

"I’ll get it." Mark volunteered, getting up to answer the door. When he opened it, there was nobody there, just a package with no return address. He brought it inside, and ripped open the letter on the front of the package. Mark almost fainted when he saw the contents of the envelope…

Dearest Mark,

I know that you’re probably not expecting this, and I hope you’ll listen closely to what I must tell you. I should have told you long ago about the information written in here. But, I didn’t want to worry you and the children. I didn’t want to take the risk of hurting you. Now that I am gone, I want you to know the truth because I could never face you to tell you myself. My apologies. Take care of Steve and Carol for me, for I miss them incredibly, as I do you as well. Thank you for being such a wonderful husband, and taking such good care of me. I hope I haven’t caused you too much pain.

Yours, Katherine

 

(Hospital)

"Mark what’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost!" Amanda asked.

"Pretty close. Look, Amanda, I hate to ask you this, but is there any way that you could cover for me for a few hours? I have some other business that’s kind of urgent."

"Sure, but will you tell me what’s going on, when you figure it out?"

"You bet, I just don’t think I’m in a very good state of mind to deal with patients."

"Ok, I hope you figure it out." With that, Amanda gave mark a quick pat on the back, and left.

Mark sat down to open the package. He hadn’t had the courage to in front of his son because he had no idea what could be in it. As he opened it, he was surprised to find a diary. He never knew Katherine kept a diary. What he didn’t know yet was that his wife was very good at keeping other secrets he never knew about.

He opened the diary to the first page. He assumed his wife would never have given the diary to him if she didn’t want him to read it, so he proceeded to try to make sense of what Katherine had implied in her letter.

Dear Diary, 4/16/85

I am starting this because I have to tell somebody, and I’m afraid I can’t tell Mark, Steve, or Carol. I never did tell my family that I had been married before. It just never came up. Mark and the children never asked. I’m relieved of that because I would not want to lie to them, but would have no choice. I don’t want them to find out about Michael. I don’t want to worry them. I have a feeling I am in trouble because of what he might do. But, as long as it just involves me and not Mark, or the kids, I will live. I lived through the marriage. I can live if he tries to hurt me again. Just my luck that he’s my new boss! I will write more later when I have more information. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions.

Yours, Katherine

Mark felt betrayed by his wife, but felt sorry for her because she had felt that she had to keep this from him. Then he realized, that his wife had known him well, and probably had done what seemed best to her. She had loved him, and was worried that he might have left her. He knew he would never have done that, but would have most likely gotten angry. "She was always two steps ahead of me." Mark thought to himself. He went on to the next entry.

Dear Diary, 9/3/85

A lot has happened since April. As it turns out, my predictions are right. Michael hit me but claims it was an accident, and he never meant to do it. Nothing ever changes with that man. I felt bad, but told Mark I ran into a door. It was a miracle I finally convinced him. I never had regrets about marrying a doctor before now. I don’t know what I would do if he found out. I hope Steve doesn’t find out either. He’d probably male a scene at the office trying to protect me. I can’t take the risk of Michael going after my family, so it’s best that I don’t agitate him further.

Yours, Katherine

Mark remembered that day in `85 when Katherine came home with the bruise on her cheek. He had no reason to believe that it had been a person who did that to her. Katherine did a good job of convincing him that it was an accident. As much as it hurt him, mark continued reading.

Dear Diary, 3/21/86

I don’t know how much longer I can take this. Michael has hit me numerous times. It’s getting harder to hide this from Mark and the kids. Steve’s getting worried about me. Mark is getting suspicious about my recent "Clumsy-ness". Just today he cut my arm with a piece of glass. It was the third time I have had to go to Community General to get it treated. It’s truly a miracle he hasn’t found out. It’s been incredible trying to keep my medical files away from him. I must admit, having him concerned about me is much better than the alternate! I really feel bad about this, but if I quit my job, Mark would get suspicious, and that probably wouldn’t stop Michael from still coming after me. I am starting to get scared, but I still can’t say anything. I’m glad I can write it all down.

Yours, Katherine

The entries that followed over the remainder of the pages had about the same contents as this one had. Mark had always thought of his wife as a courageous woman, but had no idea how much until now. He felt so guilty that she had to deal with this burden. He wanted to hold her right now, and reassure her that he was sorry for not finding out, and for making her keep this burden from him. How could he have missed this? He was angry with himself for not finding out, angry at Michael for doing all of this to her, and as much as he hated to admit it, was mad at Katherine for not telling him. He knew one thing for sure, if this Michael was still alive out there somewhere, he was going to pay.

 

Mark came out of his temporary trance when Jesse suddenly walked into his office.

"Hey, Mark, Amanda told me that you weren’t feeling too well." Jesse said, concerned.

"I got this package this morning, had no return address." Mark informed him.

"Who was it from? Why is it such a concern?" Jesse asked.

"It’s from Katherine." He answered.

"But I thought your wife…"

"She did Jesse, she died 10 years ago. I think she wrote the letter before she died. I’m not sure why the package came today, and who sent it."

"I’ll help you look into it!" Jesse offered.

"Thanks Jess. I have to go on rounds." Mark replied.

*****

Jesse pulled into the parking lot of the building that matched the address Steve pulled up for him. It was supposedly Katherine’s old office building, but looked like it was closed. Being a Sunday, Jesse wasn’t surprised. So, he started to head back to his car. Suddenly, a woman walked up to him and asked if she could help. Jesse told her about Katherine, and the strange package that had no return address, just a seal from this office. Then, the woman explained that she had been a friend of Katherine’s. The story that she told Jesse was incredible. When she finished, Jesse realized it had been her who sent the package. She was instructed to do so by Katherine. The only reason he hadn’t gotten it sooner, was because the woman didn’t find out where Mark was living, because he had moved right after his wife died. Jesse then, drove back to Community General to share his findings.

 

*****

(Hospital)

"Mark, you won’t believe what I found out!" Jesse said, running up to Mark when he found him.

Mark excused himself from his patient, and led the two of them to his office. There, Jesse told his friend about Michael Downing, Katherine’s ex-husband, "he had killed two other women he had also been married to. The only reason he didn’t kill Katherine was because she never told anybody about what he was doing to her. The woman had said that Michael had some problems, and craved power over people, especially women. He found no harm in physically injuring them. It was his mental sickness." Jesse told him.

"Did she say whether or not he was still alive?" Mark asked.

"She said, last she checked he was still alive, and doing his best to conceal his crimes. He had gone to jail prior marrying Katherine. He had just gotten out in `85 when he became her boss. He had pleaded insanity, so his sentence was reduced for the two murders. She doesn’t know where exactly he’s living, but last she checked he was somewhere in southern California." Jesse explained

"If he is alive, I am going to find him, if he pled insanity for the first one and gotten out, he should not have gotten out so easily on the other. I am going to make sure he gets his rightful punishment, for Katherine, and his other two victims." Mark stated.

 

(Lobby)

"Mark, I think you may want to see this." Amanda informed him while she and Jesse ran up to him, Jesse was holding a file.

"What is it?" he asked impatiently.

"We found Katherine’s ER records. She came in a total of eight times. Twice for mild concussions, once for a stabbing with a letter opener, once for stabbing from a pencil, twice for glass cuts, once for a sprained knee, and once for a broken wrist. She had a total of 32 stitches from the letter opener, pencil, and glass cuts."

"Let me see those." Mark requested. After taking a look, he slammed them, "I am going to get this guy." With that, he stormed off.

"I can’t believe that someone would put up with that kind of treatment." Amanda commented.

"I can’t believe someone would do that to another person, or three in this case." Jesse answered back

"I hope they find this guy and put him in prison where he belongs."

"Me too." Jesse agreed.

*****

 

(Beach house)

Mark walked in to find Steve looking through a photo album. He scanned the table to find his wife’s diary also lying open on the coffee table. He silently "Kicked" himself for leaving that for his son to find. "Steve, I never meant for you to find that."

Steve turned around, a tear running down his cheek. "How could Mom let him do that?"

"I don’t know Steve, I don’t know. I had no idea. She never told us, she just didn’t want to worry us." Mark replied.

"I know, I feel so bad, I could have stopped him." Steve then started to cry.

Mark went over to reassure his son, but started to cry himself instead.

A few minutes later, Amanda walked in to find Mark on the phone with the hospital, still misty, and Steve still crying over his mother’s picture in the albums. She went over to the couch and put her arm around Steve, who then responded by turning around to cry on her shoulder. She did her best to comfort him, but knew it wasn’t working very well. Steve tried to recover as mark got off the phone. He was embarrassed to have cried in front of Amanda, even though he had no reason to be, considering they had been friends for a long time. After all, he had been there for her many times, why should he be embarrassed?

"They just needed my opinion on a patient’s treatment. What did you find Amanda?" Mark asked

"We found out the location of Michael Downing. We looked up the patients at all of the psychiatry clinics in Southern California. We thought he might have been seeking help there. Jesse’s idea. Sure enough, he attends a local one in Venice." Amanda reported.

"I’ll set up for a team to arrest him next time he goes in. Did you get a picture of him?" Steve asked.

"Yes, the clinic he goes to keeps records including photographs of their patients. They emailed Jesse a copy, he gave it to me to bring to you because he had an emergency in the ER." Amanda replied

"Good, we’ll get on it first thing tomorrow." Steve stated.

 

 

 

 

(Venice psychiatry clinic)

Steve and his team were all prepared. Michael should have been coming anytime.

"We’ve been here for about 10 minutes. I hope he comes soon. My mom deserves her justice, as well as the other two women." Steve told his Jesse on his cell phone.

"Here he comes." One of the officers pointed out.

"Jess, I have to go, he’s coming." Steve concluded as he hung his phone back in his pocket.

As soon as he reached the door, Steve jumped on top of him, shouting, and hitting him.

"Steve, STOP!!!" Two other officers pulled Steve away from him. Then, they placed Downing under arrest, and led him away.

"Sloan"

Steve turned to see the Captain standing before him.

"If you can’t keep your personal feelings apart from your work and continue to create scenes like the one just displayed here, you are going to be suspended. Do you understand?" the captain warned.

"Yes sir." Steve answered meekly.

As they were driving home, Mark realized that he wasn’t entirely satisfied. He still felt guilty for what had happened to his wife. He was glad that the man who had caused her all of this pain was finally in jail.

*****

 

(Mark’s office at Com. Gen.)

Late after a shift, a few days after Michael Downing had been arrested, mark decided to check his email. He signed on. He only had one message, but it had no screen name and no title. He double clicked on it to find a letter typed in his wife’s handwriting.

Just then he could have sworn on his life he saw his wife standing over him through the reflection of his monitor. He then switched his attention to the letter.

 

Dearest Mark, 8/24/1999

I knew you would help me. Love forever.

Yours, Katherine