As Bill drove down the road, he took a glance at his old teammate. He thought about the call he received earlier from Cyler about the case. Bill was surprised when Cyler agreed that he could help out. The younger agent then clarified it was only because he too had a hint Ralph would try and find Kevin himself, and wanted to protect his former teacher. So far they had tried the YMCA and the hotels had already been checked by the agency.
Bill then started to think about what had transpired during the day and frowned, recognizing a similarity between the two Hinkleys as far as the suit was concerned: especially in how Aidan who like Ralph before her, had a bad tendency to not wear the suit all the time. Shaking his head Bill realized it might not have made a difference this time around. For all they knew, Aidan could've been wearing it and her attacker hit her over the head from behind before she even could defend herself. From the idea Tony gave him about what she looked like, he just wished she had thought about wearing it today. Just thinking how close she came to being …
"All right, let's start from the beginning. Where would Kevin stay?" said Bill, clearing his thoughts about what could've been instead of what happened.
"Don't know. Last few times he's been here it's been varied: YMCA, hotel, even one time I heard he stayed in his car."
"That's real smart," said Bill sarcastically. "Not the best thing to do in LA at night."
"No it's not, and I wish he'd consider calling and crashing at our house when he's here. But, my son would rather sleep in a car than under the same roof with his dad."
"Yeah, at least now it doesn't have ninjas or people wanting ta give ya a lie detector test comin' ta visit all the time."
Ralph ignored the comment and continued. "Of course, I know he has a few friends still here in LA."
"OK, he has friends. Do you know who and where," said Bill.
"Not many. The only one that comes to mind is a guy named Jayson.."
"Do you have a last name?"
"Yeah it was Bates.. no Gates, Jayson Gates, I believe he has a bungalow near the beach."
"Which one?…"
"Huh?"
"Beach… which one? There quite a few in California in case you forgot, Santa Monica, Malibu, Long Beach…"
Ralph thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers when he remembered which one. "Ocean Park."
"All right, we'll go there first, but let me do the talkin'," said Bill as they continued to drive in silence. Every so often, Bill noticed Ralph would drum his fingers on the edge of the window sill on the door or his knee.
"Wouldja stop that Ralph? It's getting annoying," said Bill calmly, wanting Ralph to cool down. He knew that when Ralph started to do this, he was wanting to get some answers - and fast.
"I'm sorry Bill, it's just... the sooner we find Kevin the sooner we can settle this," said Ralph.
Bill could tell that the man was having trouble hiding his true feelings again. "How do you plan on settling it?" he asked. When Ralph didn't answer, Bill continued. "I see, punch first ask questions later 'cause he hurt Artie."
"Yeah, so?" Ralph said bluntly, remembering what shape Aidan was in at the mall.
The older man thought for a moment, and realizing he was doing this for a change, tried to reason with Ralph. "Listen, if you go and do what ya think he did to her, it's gonna get ya inta trouble. 'Sides if anyone has the right to punch someone's lights out it's her."
"First of all It's Kevin's fault she's there in the first place Bill. And secondly if you haven't noticed, Ade can't quite defend herself right now."
"And you plan to do that for her?"
"Yes," Ralph said firmly.
"OK, but let me ask you this. How do ya know he's the one who did this to her?"
"Because she said his name before she passed out again."
"That's all she said?" Bill said simply.
"Yeah, and that was over half an hour ago. But she identified him as her attacker."
Bill sighed, realizing this might not get a good reaction, but he was going to tell Ralph like it was. He pulled the car over and turned off the ignition.
Before Ralph could protest, Bill put a hand up. "Kid, I ain't gonna go any further until ya listen ta me. If you're gonna 'talk' to Kevin and all you have ta go on is Artie's mumbled word and your anger at what happened to her, I'm not gonna drive further. She was already out cold when ya found her and she could have been confused at your question."
"But she said it so clearly..."
"Kid, I've heard ya answer 'Pam' when I asked you 'how are you feeling' after you've been knocked out before, and that was in the suit," he said, giving a very brief chuckle at the memory. "So, it's possible you don't have everything in order."
"All right, maybe you're right... but it's still my fault if he's the one who did this, and I want to know why he was there… what he was thinking…" Ralph in frustration ran his hand through his hair then turned to look at Bill. " I could've taught him about being a man, and instead he beats her up," he said, and seeing Bill shake his head, Ralph clarified. "OK, potentially beat her up. I - Aidan wants him to be part of our lives again and he does. ..."
"Do you?" asked Bill abruptly, not missing Ralph's unknowing slip of the tongue.
Ralph was taken aback by the sudden comment. "Do I what?"
"Want the same thing as her - Kevin as part of your life again?" he said.
"Yeah, I do," Ralph said softly, squirming in his chair.
Bill put a hand on his friend and former teammate's shoulder. "Ralph, listen ta me. I trust Artie as much as you do, but I think you really need ta take into account that she came to briefly and gave you Kevin's name in her semi-conscious state. She probably didn't know what ya asked her. Don't screw up any chance ya've got with your son because ya misunderstood her. She wouldn't want that, and I know you and the Counselor don't want that either."
Ralph took a breath and let it out. Bill did have a good point, and he had been jumping to conclusions from the get go. "Huh… just like her too, reacting before thinking," he said, and Bill chuckled, mumbling about the similarity between godfather and goddaughter. "Funny Bill. She is getting better at not doing that. So are you going to still let me find him?"
"Yeah, so long as ya let me still do the talkin' first, so's he knows I'm gonna keep an eye on both of ya."
"OK, I agree," he said, then paused, thinking. "What if Aidan's right?"
Bill pondered Ralph's comment, and remembering what Tony said Aidan looked like, and made a choice. "Well, we'll get to the bottom of it, and if she was, I'll look away when you go punch Kevin's lights out," he said matter of factly.
"You're actually considering turning a blind eye to a potential case of assault?" asked Ralph, quite surprised at Bill's remark.
"Yeah, but it'll be just the one punch," he said. Based on Tony's sarcastic, but truthful, remark about the shirt on top of his description of what happened, he had to admit he wanted to punch Kevin's lights out too if he did hurt her.
Ralph continued, a bit sober. "Yeah, I can't blame him for everything since it's my fault too for not raising him."
Bill ran a hand over his face, frustrated. "Kid, don't blame yourself - blame the suit, the green guys, me - to a point, definitely that little rat ex-wife, but don't blame yourself, because if you were a bad father, Artie would probably be weird."
Ralph scoffed at Bill's comment. "Bill, you already say Ade's weird because of her dress sense."
"Yeah, but she doesn't dress all in black and have piercings everywhere, stays moody or flips ya the bird does she?"
"No, you're right," said Ralph as Bill started up the car again. Ralph continued. "Bill... thanks for being here to pummel all the possibilities in my head."
"You're welcome... just remember ta not do that literally ta Kevin until he's got a chance ta explain," said Bill wryly. Ralph chuckled and the two continued to drive to Jayson's house.
Once they arrived, the got out of the car, and Bill called Tony. Getting Tony's voicemail, Bill started to leave a message. "Yeah, Villacana it's Bill. We've got the location of where Kevin is. It's 1824 L..." he said, then paused.
Ralph looked at him oddly. "What's wrong? You get cut off?"
Bill shrugged as he looked at his phone. "Yeah... my battery went out. Damn cell phones, their batteries couldn't power up a gnat," he said. "So, ya ready ta talk ta Kevin and get this straightened out?"
"Not really, but we'd better find out to settle my curiosity."
"So long as ya don't kill the cat," said Bill. Nodding at what man meant, Ralph and Bill got out of the car and headed toward the bungalow. They'd know soon if Kevin was guilty or innocent. Ralph hoped for the latter, but with all the evidence, he knew that there was a chance Kevin was guilty.
