For 412 Mornings, a 17-Year-Old Boy Paid for the Same Nurse’s Coffee, Then One Morning He Disappeared

The first envelope was from the medical center’s patient accounts office: an “Estimate of Patient Responsibility” for Elijah Thibodeau. ICU care was running about $13,800 a day. He’d been there four days, and there was a line for “Self-Pay Balance.”

“He doesn’t have insurance?” I asked.

Bernadette shook her head. “He was on MaineCare when Danielle was alive. That’s the state insurance for kids. But when he came to live with me, there was some paperwork. I didn’t understand it. They sent a letter saying his coverage ended.” She wiped her eyes. “I meant to fix it. I just didn’t know how.”

The second envelope was worse. It came from a collection agency in Portland called Coastal Recovery Services. They were demanding $31,240.17 for “the outstanding medical balance of Danielle M. Thibodeau, deceased.” It was addressed to Bernadette, and it said: “As next of kin, you may be responsible for this obligation. Failure to respond may result in further collection action.”

“They’ve been calling me for two years,” Bernadette said. “Every week. Eli told me not to answer, but I worry. He’s been paying them fifty dollars a month out of his lumberyard money so they’ll stop calling.”

My hands went cold.

“Bernadette, did Danielle leave anything when she died? A house? A bank account?”

“She rented a trailer in Hermon. She had about four hundred dollars in the bank and her car. That’s all.” She hesitated. “And a little life insurance policy through Walmart. Twenty-five thousand dollars. The probate court put it in a special account for Eli. Nobody can touch it until he’s eighteen. A lawyer helped me set it up for free, through Pine Tree Legal.”

The third envelope was the one that made me want to throw something.

It came from an insurance company called Granite State Mutual and was addressed to “The Guardian of Elijah Thibodeau.” Inside was a two-page letter and a single-page form titled “Full and Final Release of All Claims.”

The letter said that Granite State Mutual insured a commercial delivery truck owned by North Woods Freight LLC of Old Town, Maine. It said the truck had been “involved in” the accident on Route 9 on Monday night. It offered “$15,000 as a full and final settlement of any and all claims arising from the incident, in exchange for a signed release,” and it said the offer would expire in ten days.

At the bottom of the release form, there was a line for Bernadette’s signature.

“A man from the insurance company called yesterday,” Bernadette said. “Very nice. He said fifteen thousand dollars would help with the hospital bills. He said I should sign it quick, before the offer ran out.” She looked at me with frightened eyes. “Should I sign it? Fifteen thousand dollars is so much money.”

I looked at the form, then at the hospital estimate showing $13,800 a day.

“Bernadette,” I said, “don’t sign anything. Not one thing. Not until we talk to a lawyer.”

The police accident report came out the following Wednesday. Joanne’s friend in the ER, a nurse whose husband was a Maine State Police trooper, helped Bernadette request a copy. It cost $10.

The report was six pages long, and I read it at Bernadette’s kitchen table in Brewer on a cold gray afternoon while she made tourtière, the meat pie her mother taught her to make in Van Buren up in the County.

Monday night, 9:47 p.m., Route 9 near the Hermon town line. Road conditions: snow-covered with patches of black ice. Vehicle 1: a 2009 Honda Civic, green, driven by Elijah Thibodeau, age 17, eastbound. Vehicle 2: a 2021 Freightliner box truck owned by North Woods Freight LLC, westbound.

Then I read the trooper’s narrative, written in that flat, careful police way.

“Witness statement from driver of Vehicle 3 (traveling behind Vehicle 2) indicates Vehicle 2 was traveling at approximately 55 mph in a posted 45 mph zone at time of incident, under snow and ice conditions. Witness observed driver of Vehicle 2 looking down at a handheld device immediately prior to the vehicle crossing the center line. Vehicle 2 crossed into eastbound lane. Vehicle 1 swerved to avoid head-on collision, lost traction on ice, left roadway, and struck a utility pole. Driver of Vehicle 2 did not stop at scene. Vehicle 2 was located 2.3 miles west at North Woods Freight terminal. Driver cited for failure to stop and render aid, speed greater than reasonable and prudent, and use of handheld device while operating a commercial motor vehicle.”

I put the report down.