CHAPTER TEN

BEGINNING OF THE END

Athena was shocked to hear about what had been revealed while she was in the hospital. Emma found out that her mother had a lovechild with Brandon James when she was 16 years old and that it could possibly be Seth Branson – the English teacher. She caught Athena up on what Noah and Audrey found out—that his name used to be Seth Palmer, but his young girlfriend had been murdered and he disappeared and changed his name. The cops had gone to arrest him after Audrey and Noah found a bloody knife in his classroom, and found him with an assaulted Brooke in the school's Performing Arts Center.

"Hey, guys. It's Piper Shaw, with a special Halloween podcast of Autopsy of a Crime. So, in looking for a connection between the Lakewood murders past and present, I had to wonder about Brandon's mask. Turns out, it disappeared from county evidence last year, but was never reported. If I were Sheriff Hudson, I'd be looking into the chief suspect's whereabouts around the time the mask went missing. But even then, what's Seth Branson's, or rather Seth Palmer's, connection to Brandon James? Why become the monster behind the mask?"

Athena pulled out her ear buds from the backseat of Emma's car and decided to at least try to be a part of her conversation with Brooke. Emma had volunteered to take them both home from the hospital since Brooke had a big slice on her arm and didn't need to stay overnight and Diana had been called away to Lana's school for a conference with her teacher.

"I'm just really glad that you're okay," Emma was saying. "You must've been terrified."

"I was," Brooke drawled. "I can't believe that Seth could do any of those things."

"Brooke, he's not who we thought he was," Emma pointed out. "He is literally a different person."

"But that doesn't make everything about him a lie," she weakly replied.

"Sort of does," Athena finally contributed. "He lied about everything about him – including his ex girlfriend being murdered."

Emma sighed, "Why didn't you ever tell me?"

Brooke scoffed, "Because I knew you would get all judgey."

"Brooke, I am not judging you," Emma insisted. "After everything we've been through, I just want to make sure that you're actually seeing this clearly."

"Are you?" Brooke shot back. "'Cause after this guy went after Will, it seems like you just need to hold someone accountable."

"I do," Emma admitted. "But this isn't about me, this is about all of us."

"Why do I feel so alone?" Brooke asked, looking out the window.

"Brooke, you're not," Emma swore.

"My mom's in rehab, my dad's in prison, my ex... whatever-he-is is being held for murder," she sighed. "And now I have to stay at Jake's house with him and Will."

"You know, if they drive you crazy, you can always come and stay with me," Emma offered with a light smile.

Brooke chuckled, "I might actually hold you to that."

Emma dropped Brooke off at Jake's house and Athena jumped into the passenger's seat. They drove through Starbucks and Athena went with her to the Sheriff's station to stop in on her mother and figure out what was going on with Seth. They walked into the ME's office to see Maggie working on her computer. She looked up and smiled, "Hey! Athena, how are you feeling?"

"A bit of a twinge here and there," Athena shrugged. "I'm just glad I'm some sort of anomaly that throws a punch with her left hand."

Maggie smiled kindly, "You're able to flex without too much discomfort?"

Athena playfully narrowed her eyes and flexed her hand for demonstration, "I thought you worked on the dead?"

The older woman chuckled, "I still have a working knowledge of the living."

"Mom, I told her about who we think Seth really is," Emma cut in carefully. "Considering everything we know about her, we can trust her."

Maggie seemed shocked, "You know about Athena... about what happened?"

"I told her," Athena offered helpfully. "When we were at that hospital, we found the photo of Gretchen in High School. And the killer had been sending me presents too."

"Why didn't you tell any of us?" Maggie asked sternly. "This is important."

"I did, after the bowling alley," Athena dissuaded her. "I told the Sheriff and asked him to keep it under wraps. The point is, you can speak frankly in front of me."

Maggie sighed, "All right. I've ordered a DNA panel on Seth Branson... and a maternity test for me. But the results will take a few days."

"Mom, I need to talk to Branson," Emma blurted out.

Her mother instantly denied her, "No, we need to let Clark do his job."

"I can't wait," Emma insisted. "He's gathering evidence, deposing witnesses... I am a witness," she cut off, inhaling sharply. "If he did these things to hurt us... then he's gonna have a reaction when he sees me. I need to look in his eyes. I need to know."

Maggie sighed, "I'm assuming that you'd like to speak to him as well, Athena."

"Actually no," Athena replied, her face going steely. "If I'm in the same room with that bastard, I'm going to kill him and then you'll all have to put me on trial."

The Sheriff offered his desk chair for Athena to sit in while he and Maggie watched Emma's meeting with Branson over the security footage.

"Hello Emma," he sounded calm as he greeted her.

"Hi, Mr. Branson," she answered in a shaky voice, taking a seat at the other end of the table.

"What are you doing here?"

"You know what I'm doing here," her voice went to stone.

"No, I don't," he replied easily. "They won't even tell me if Brooke's okay."

"She's fine."

Branson was quiet for a moment before he spoke again, "I know they're saying a lot of terrible things... but I did not kill anyone. I did not abduct Will – I don't even know where that knife..." he stopped, taking a breath and putting his hands away. "I'm sorry, but my lawyer.. I... I can't talk about it."

"Mr. Branson..." she trailed off, scoffing at the name. "Whatever your name is... Okay, my friends are dead, my family has been targeted, one of my best friends has been targeted and mentally tortured, and you know why."

Branson sighed, "Actually, I don't, Emma." He leaned back, looking at the security camera, "What is this!? What, do you guys think I'm gonna have some sort of, like, breakdown and confess everything to one of my students?"

Back in the Sheriff's office, Clark sighed, "He's not going for it."

Maggie replied patiently, "Give them a minute."

Seth was looking at Emma again, with a twinge of anger, "Why are you letting him use you like this?"

"I asked to do this," Emma corrected him.

"Oh, really?" he raised his hands up, as far as he could with the hand cuffs attaching them to the table. "Well, I'm a captive audience. Clearly, you have something you want to say to me."

"Did you find out the truth about who you are?" Emma questioned him. "Is that why you came to Lakewood?"

"You mean why I changed my name?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's part of it."

"I can't talk about my past, Emma."

Emma took a breath, "What about my mother?"

He still seemed lost and confused, but calm, "What about her? She's... nice. You look a lot like her."

"You said that this ends with me," Emma quoted. "So, is it over?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Branson insisted calmly. "But considering that I'm stuck in here... I guess you'll find out soon enough."

Athena accompanied Emma to the coffee shop to bring Noah and Audrey up to speed on Branson's secret identity. Noah looked like he was going to shit his pants, "Oh, my God. Branson? Is your... Oh, my God!"

"Hey, can you just stop saying that and help me?" Emma asked, closing her laptop with the sonogram photo of her mother's first child.

"It's a lot to take in, Em," Audrey defended.

"Exactly," Noah agreed. "Your mom, who wears cardigans and drives an SUV... had a baby with Brandon James!"

"We got it," Athena cut in. "You don't have to let the whole coffee shop know too."

"The thing that I could never figure out was why this killer was focusing on my family," Emma explained. "But... I mean, if Mr. Branson is my family, then all of this makes sense."

"What about Athena?" Audrey pointed out, gesturing to the girl next to Emma. "Why target her too?"

"Maybe his psychotic mind was triggered when I said my name was different than the name on his roster," Athena shrugged. "All I care about is finding out if it's really him so that I can breathe."

Noah gestured to Emma, "What happened when you sat across from him? I want the fava-bean-by-fava-bean recap."

Emma shrugged, "Well, he played it cool. That's why I need to know for sure."

"Brandon's son..." Noah murmured to himself. He jolted, "Bran-son. He picked that name. That redefines 'hiding in plain sight.'"

"There's still no connection between Branson and Rachel," Audrey pointed out.

"Maybe we just haven't found it yet," Emma theorized.

"The news reports don't even mention her name when they talk about the victims," Audrey scowled. "It's like they forgot that her suicide was staged."

"The Sheriff hasn't forgotten," Athena leaned forward. "If Branson did it, once he's caught with no chance of getting out, he's going to take credit. That's what serial killers do, they want to be famous. So, if he doesn't get to finish his work, you can be sure he's going to put his name on anything he did so someone else doesn't. And for all we know, he didn't have anything against Rachel like he does against Emma and her mom. She was into the film stuff like you, she filmed your freak out the night Nina was killed. It's possible that she filmed something Branson didn't want anyone else seeing."

Noah grinned, "Bi-curious and the Virgin are on it!"

Piper walked in behind them, "And the crime world trembled."

Noah turned around, "Piper, hey! Wow. Uh... We..."

Audrey pulled on his arm, "Were just leaving."

"Right, yes," Noah agreed, following her around the couch. "And, you know, just for the record, totally not..."

"Stop talking," Audrey warned.

"... a virgin," he muttered, "okay."

Piper pumped her first in the air sarcastically, "Go get 'em."

"Hey, Piper," Emma greeted when they left.

"Hey," she responded, taking a seat on the couch just vacated. "So, it's the big day. You two must be relieved."

"That's one way to put it," Athena drawled.

"The killer's behind bars, life can go back to normal," Emma shrugged, more optimistic.

"It's huge," Piper muttered.

Emma furrowed her eyebrows, "Then why do you sound so disappointed?"

"A lead I was following up on didn't pan out the way I hoped it would," Piper answered with a sigh.

"What lead?" Athena asked.

"Cassie James, Brandon James' mom," Piper revealed. "She changed her name, but I traced her through her social security number. She's living right outside of Warren."

"Did you talk to her?" Emma asked, curious.

"Well, she rambled, mostly," Piper explained. "She's a little incoherent."

"Wasn't she pretty old when she even had Brandon?" Athena questioned. "How old is she now?"

Piper nodded, "She's getting up there. I was just hoping for an interview that would tie the past and the present murders together. But it was a long shot. I had to see for myself, you know?"

"Yeah, I know," Emma nodded. "I think we might be able to help each other out."

Emma, Piper and Athena sat on a couch across from a white haired aging woman – Cassie James. Piper spoke gently from next to Emma, "Emma would like to ask you about Brandon. Is that okay?"

The woman let out an angry sigh, "You're just gonna tell a monster story. That's all they wanna hear."

Emma shook her head, "No, no. I'm not a reporter. My mother was your neighbor. She was friends with Brandon. She told me that he was very nice to her."

Something dawned on the woman's face, "Brandon was my golden-years child. I was nearly 50 when I had him. Ed said the egg was old, and that's why he had his issues. And that boy suffered so." She sighed out longingly and sadly, "Your mom was... Daisy, the little blonde. Of course. Now, I see the resemblance, yes." She chuckled, "I saw you outside, trying to get up nerve to come in and talk to me."

"Talk about what?" Emma played along, knowing the old lady was getting confused.

"Oh, you know," she said. "I kept Brandon home to keep him safe. He met you and he begged me to let him get a job with the bowling alley. 'Cause you were sex. Walking and talking. He'd do anything for you." She grew sadder, "You got him killed."

Emma stammered, "I.. I didn't."

Cassie cried, "So much pain. Why did you take him from me? Why, Daisy?"

Emma stood up, shake in her voice, "I'm so sorry, we shouldn't have bothered you."

The old lady grew more senile as she sang, "Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer, true. Oh, he loved that song. He loved... and so did his boy. Loved that song."

Piper piqued, "Whose boy, Mrs. James?"

"Brandon's," she replied. "Brandon's son. He was here the other day. Just..."

"Brandon's son was here?" Athena finally spoke, leaning forward.

"Yes," the woman nodded. "He was so handsome."

"When was that?" Piper asked. "Do you remember his name?"

"Uh..." the woman searched for the name but it alluded her. "Steve?" She frowned and shook her head to herself, "No. Keith? No, no."

"Seth?" Piper asked.

"Yes, that's it," Cassie smiled. "Seth. That was it. Oh, he was so handsome. Just like an old-time movie star. And he wanted to know all about his daddy. He wanted to know all about Brandon. Yes, Daisy... Daisy..."

Emma was still in a shell of shock as Piper let them into her car and started driving, "That was real, right? She said that Seth is Brandon's son."

"Well, it's never gonna hold up in court, but yeah, that's..." Piper trailed off, a little shocked as well. "That's what she said."

Emma let out a small scoff of disbelief as they pulled up to her and Athena's homes, "Well, it's good enough for me." She paused, looking at Piper, "Thank you for doing this."

Piper nodded with a small smile, "Yeah. You deserve peace."

The girls said their goodbyes as Athena and Emma jumped out of the car. Emma seemed a bit excited as she gave Athena a tight hug, "Now, we can move on. It's over."

"The worst is behind us," Athena tentatively agreed, for some reason, not truly believing in it.

"Are you going to the Halloween dance?" Emma asked, still smiling.

Athena shrugged, making a face, "I don't know. Aren't High School dances lame in every state?"

"Well, I'm going," Emma said. "So are Noah and Audrey. It may not be a kegger but it's a chance to unwind and enjoy post-Branson time."

"I may dig out my costume from last year," Athena thawed to the idea. "But I can't guarantee I'll stay the whole night."

"That's okay," Emma told her. "I'm going to see if Kieran wants to go with me."

"So, you're sticking with him?" Athena asked, curious as to how that love triangle was shaking out.

Emma nodded, "I think so. I really do like him. I mean, after everything happened with Will, I know that I'll always care about him at least a little bit. But I need to move on, at least for myself. And Kieran deserves a fair chance."

"I agree," Athena smiled lightly. "I'll meet you there at – what, eight?"

"Sounds good," Emma said, walking towards her house. "See you tonight."

We're almost coming to a close, the big Halloween Dance next. Let me know what you think and how you think I'm going to mix up the ending.

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