Chapter 2
Since she only had two weeks left to finish her paper, Nicky threw herself into her regular research. She could do that at night, easy enough. It was the interviews that would take the time. She wanted to talk to everyone in the family about Lauren. What they remembered, how they felt about her, if any of them ever thought she'd be such a big star. But it was going to take time to pull all of the information together and into the final version of the paper.
It was Tuesday night, and Erin had managed to get home at a reasonable time to have dinner with her daughter. They were indulging in take-out from Blue Dragon and were almost finished when Nicky carefully placed the digital recorder on the table. Erin raised an eyebrow suspiciously.
"And what is that for?" Erin knew the answer but asked anyway.
"C'mon, Mom. You know I'm going to interview everyone for my project. What? Are you worried that you're going to say something incriminating and I'll have it on tape?"
"No." Erin made a face at her daughter, but inside she cringed a little. Actually, I am a little afraid of that. Growing up, Erin had been one of Frank and Mary's more challenging children. Very independent and willful, she had pushed her boundaries hard and given her parents many sleepless nights. Many more than Nicky had ever given her.
Nicky turned the recorder on. "OK, so Mom, what do you remember most about Lauren?"
"The most? Well, she was pretty much always with Danny. They were close to inseparable. And if she wasn't with him she was doing something with music. Playing her guitar or the piano. She was ahead of me in school so we didn't have classes together… oh, wait, they did do a class one year where they experimented with mixing students from different grades. I think she spent most of her time scribbling song lyrics in her notebook margins."
"Did you guys hang out?" Nicky was hoping she'd say yes because that would add to the cool factor. She'd never really been one to want to "fit in," but she had to admit she enjoyed that the kids at school were already beside themselves knowing that her uncle had dated Lauren.
"I wouldn't say we hung out." Erin took another bite of fried rice before she continued. "I guess we hung out a little here when she was over to see Danny, but we had different circles of friends. Saw each other at a few parties, too."
"Parties? What kind of parties?" Nicky perked up.
"Not the kind you're thinking of," answered her mother. They really were the kinds of parties Nicky was imagining, but Erin would have allowed a bus to run over her foot before she would cop to going to any keggers as a teenager. That was not information Nicky needed to have until she was at least 30 years old.
"Mom?" Nicky pushed.
"Nicky?" Erin pushed back with a smile.
"Okay, fine. So what were Lauren and Uncle Danny like together?"
"They seemed good together. Really happy. As an adult I can see how your Grandpa and Grandma Mary were worried – they were a little extreme. But I guess that's how teenagers are, right?"
"Why didn't they stay together?"
Erin was quiet after that question. "I don't know for sure. Wanted different things, probably. But that's really something you'd have to ask your uncle about."
"Okay, thanks, Mom." Nicky turned off the recorder.
"That's it? I thought there would be more, Miss Investigative Reporter."
"You're just some color commentary," said Nicky. "Uncle Danny is the main interview. But I do have one other question."
"Shoot."
"The next time Lauren and the band come around on tour, can I go?"
"We'll talk," said her mother with a laugh.
On Friday, Nicky went to her grandfather's house after school. Since he was Police Commissioner, Frank had a brief charity event after work so Nicky had planned to interview her two uncles. They'd both promised to stop by Frank's house after they got off work. She also figured it would be a good chance to get Pops' perspective on everything.
"Hi Pops," she sad as she put her bag down and took her jacket off.
"Hi, Kiddo." Henry smiled at Nicky. "How was school today?"
"Pretty good. Got an A on my Chemistry test." Nicky grinned; she was pretty proud of that one. She pulled up an island stool and watched him for a second.
"That's my girl." He finished peeling the last two carrots and put the peeler down. "You look like you've got something on your mind…"
"So, what do you remember about Lauren Stone, Pops?"
He snorted, his good humor vanishing. "Remember? I prefer to forget her."
Nicky's smile faded a little. "What do you mean?"
"Trouble-maker and a tramp," announced Pops. "That's what I remember. She wasn't nearly good enough for Danny. Spent all her time playing that rock music of hers and not doing any studying. Just out causing trouble."
"Did you ever have to arrest her?"
He blustered for a minute. "Well, no. I wasn't a beat cop then, but I'm sure she got in her share of trouble!"
"Why do you say she's a tramp?"
"She behaved like one. The way she acted around your uncle? Shameless." He shook his head. "Danny's lucky she didn't get him into a lot of trouble if you know what I mean. That would have ruined his life for sure. I mean look at what happened to her."
"What do you mean, what happened to her? She's been hugely successful as a musician. One of these days she'll be in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame," said Nicky.
"I mean all the trouble. What did it take for her to get there? Drugs. Drinking. I'm not even going to discuss the sex…"
Nicky was just fine with that. The last thing she wanted was any kind of discussion about sex with her great-grandfather.
"You're making a lot of assumptions, Pops."
"Sometimes you just know something about a person," he barked back. "Don't tell me your research hasn't turned up that whole cocaine problem of hers. Wouldn't surprise me if she'd started putting that junk up her nose in high school."
Nicky couldn't deny the cocaine addiction. It was common knowledge that Lauren had nearly scuttled her career in the early days, and had done a fairly significant stretch in rehab. But by all accounts, she hadn't gotten involved in that until after she got to Los Angeles. Shortly after the drug comment, Nicky wrapped the interview up. It was impossible to get Pops to think about Lauren differently. His mind was made up, and nothing was going to change that.
Now she was really curious to hear what her Uncle Danny had to say.
An hour later, her Uncle Jamie arrived. The youngest of Frank's children, Jamie had gone to Harvard Law before deciding to go to the New York Police Academy.
"Hi, Uncle Jamie. Thanks for stopping over," she said.
"Sure thing, Nicky, but I probably don't have much to add…" Jamie replied.
"I just want to know what you remember about Lauren for my paper."
"Well, there's not much to tell," he said. "I was young when Danny and Lauren were going out. I was only about 6 or 7 years old. I'm pretty sure I was just a little pain in the butt for them. I do remember that, overall, Lauren was always nice to me." He shrugged. Not much else to say.
"Did you listen to any of her music?"
"Not back then. Once I got into high school and college, she was a lot more interesting," Jamie said with a laugh. "So, yes, I do listen to her music now. I have most of her stuff on my iPod."
Nicky smiled. "That's awesome! Thanks, Uncle Jamie."
"Have you talked to Danny yet?" Jamie was actually quite curious as to what Danny might say.
"Not yet, but he promised to stop by here after work and talk to me. I'm going to talk to Grandpa, too – if he's home early enough. I have to get the interviews wrapped up; I need to get the darn paper written!"
As if on cue, the kitchen door opened and Frank Reagan came home. He'd been at a charity dinner to raise money for a special arts program for some of the most needy schools in the city, and he was looking quite dashing in his tuxedo. The Mayor had specifically requested he be there and Frank had acquiesced this time. But he really didn't care for those types of affairs and excused himself as soon as he could.
"You're home early," said Henry.
"I had a conflict." Frank offered Nicky a smile. "I had an important date with my granddaughter that I couldn't miss. Give me a minute to change out of this monkey suit and I'll be right back." When he returned, Frank looked less like the Commissioner and more like Nicky's grandfather. He had on his favorite comfortable cardigan and settled into his favorite chair.
"I just have you and Danny left to talk to," said Nicky.
"Did you get good information from your other interviews?"
"Well, Mom was a little evasive. Jamie was little, and Pops clearly didn't like Lauren much at all."
"Ah." Frank pursed his lips slightly; it was a habit when he was considering something carefully. He wasn't necessarily surprised that Henry had been a difficult interview.
"So… what did you think of her, Grandpa?"
His answer was much more circumspect than Henry's had been. "Well, I always liked Lauren. Despite Pops' perspective on it, I always found her to be polite and respectful. I think a lot of people misunderstood her, assuming she was a troublemaker because she didn't always focus on school or have the typical plan of going to college. And while I might have liked to have seen her spend a little more time at her studies, it wasn't like she was wandering and aimless."
"What do you mean?"
"She had her music," answered Frank. "Lauren had a singular passion surrounding her music that I don't think I've ever seen in a teenager since then. She was driven, and if she wasn't studying books, she was studying her music."
"What was she like with Danny?"
Frank's eyebrows went up for a second. "They worried me sometimes, and they really worried your grandmother. Their relationship was very intense, sometimes your Grandma and I worried it was too much."
Frank went on to tell Nicky a few more stories, including one where Danny and Lauren tried to make dinner for Jamie one night and ended up burning the spaghetti. They told Frank and Mary that they'd gotten very distracted studying for final exams but Frank hadn't believed it for a minute: he was pretty sure it had been something else distracting the two young lovebirds. He also reminisced a little about them both going to the prom and how grown up Danny had looked to him in that moment.
Nicky finally ran out of questions for her grandfather, and she hoped Danny would get there soon.
Author's Note - Author's Note - Author's Note
Hi everyone - thanks for reading Chapter 1 and, now, Chapter 2! I appreciate the comments you've left so far and I'm looking forward to more!
