Characters: Jackson Gibbs, Ed Gantry

Setting: Pre-series, Stillwater, PA

Summary: How did the sheriff and Jackson both know where Gibbs was employed before talking with him on his return to Stillwater in season 6?

Reference: "Tell me about this investigator thing of yours. We haven't talked since you started it. . . . In fact, we haven't talked since the funeral." Jackson Gibbs, Heartland (6.04)

This Investigator Thing

Jackson Gibbs wiped down the counter in the Stillwater General Store. Business was slow midweek, giving him time to think. Right now he was thinking about his son. Since adolescence, Leroy had kept his own counsel and Jackson tried to respect that but the radio silence of the past few months was frustrating, to say the least.

Jackson had seen the set of Leroy's jaw at the funeral service. Then, he hadn't known whether to attribute it to held-in grief or barely expressed anger. Jackson felt he ought to be an expert at interpreting Leroy's minimal changes of expressions, but he sometimes thought Leroy actively worked at keeping their relationship like that of a parent to a sullen teenager. Jackson had decided to give Leroy some space for a couple weeks. Since then, every time Jackson called, he got the answering machine and never a return call. He was a fan of talking things out face to face, but he wasn't opposed to using indirect methods if that was all that was available to him. Maybe the small town nature of Stillwater and his own gregariousness could get him at least a one-sided link to his son.

The bell dinged when the door to the general store was pushed open by a young man in a tan uniform, just the person Jackson needed to talk to. He put down his cloth and stepped from behind the counter, greeting the man warmly, "Ed! How're things at the sheriff's office?"

"Pretty quiet mostly." Ed removed his hat and smoothed a hand over his head. "Say, any kids been in here buying soap and toilet paper?" he asked.

"Soap and toilet paper in the same order? Not recently that I recall. That usually happens closer to Halloween. Is that sort of mischief happening now?" Jackson asked the assistant sheriff.

"Yep, yep, you're right. No, no reports, just trying to be proactive a bit."

"Things too quiet, huh?"

Ed sighed, "I'm going a little stir-crazy, yeah."

Jackson gave Ed a measuring look, then rubbed his hand over his chin. "Say, Ed, here now, have a seat. You know my boy, Leroy, is going through a bit of a rough time just now-"

"Yeah, Jackson, I was real sorry to hear about his wife and little girl."

Jackson nodded. "Well, like you'd guess, he's taking it pretty hard and, well, he's kinda gone underground, at least from me. I've tried to give him time, but truth is, I'm starting to worry. I mean I know Leroy shuts himself off from people some, but I get no answer when I call or write . . ."

Ed considered it a sign of just how worried Jackson was that his talking tapered off so suddenly. Ed rubbed his index finger over his upper lip, giving himself a moment to decide if Jackson was indirectly asking him for help, unofficially in his official capacity, as it were. "We-e-ell, Jackson, you know, Leroy and I weren't that good of friends growing up," he offered, to keep the conversation going.

"Aw, Ed, that's more on Leroy than on you, I'm sure."

"Now, Jack, I can't let him take all the blame. We were both fool-enough, young hotheads."

"The point is you're not that fly-off-the-handle kid anymore. You have a position of responsibility and authority here. I was just kinda curious what you can find out, you know, about an old friend?"

"You think Leroy's in some trouble, legally speaking?"

"NO! No, no. I don't think he's gone that far off."

Ed rubbed his upper lip again. "We-e-ell, I guess I could send off some inquiries, but likely all I'll get is negative information. You know, that he hasn't come to the attention of the authorities, stuff like that. Without some justification, I can't push for more than that. You thought at all about hiring a PI?"

"Eh, that probably wouldn't go over too well with my son if he found out, but I just thought that maybe . . ."

Ed took pity on Jackson. "I'll see what I can find out without stirring things up too much, okay? Then you can decide where to go from there. Just don't expect too much, okay?"

"Thanks, Ed. It would ease my mind considerably."

Ed's walkie-talkie squawked, so he waved at Jackson as he brought the instrument up to his mouth and exited the store.

Jackson watched Ed get into his police cruiser. He gave a heavy sigh and turned to look around the store for what areas needed his attention. He found himself looking at Leroy's dress blues portrait that he'd proudly hung on the wall all those years before. He studied it, seeing both himself and Leroy's mother in his son's features, seeing the child he remembered on the verge of becoming a man. He addressed the portrait, "Son, if you were here, I'd tell you how sorry I am about your family, about Shannon and Kelly. I treasured them, too. I just hope that you'll remember you still have family here. Stillwater will always be your home. Please remember that."

Jackson fingered the frame around the portrait and frowned when he saw his finger come away with grime on it. The other photographs and frames hanging in the store were probably dusty, too. Jackson went to collect his cleaning supplies. A home was made in part from the memories it held and those memories should be kept and cared for, not left to gather dust. He needed to make sure his home was ready for his son's return. That, at least, was something Jackson could do.