Chapter 25

The house was quiet again after Danny, Erin and their families had headed home. They'd lounged around at the table with coffee and dessert much longer than they normally would have as they chewed the fat, sticking to current events and their upcoming work week and steering far away from football alliances after a second warning from Frank. But it had still allowed them some insight into who Jamie was and they all left with a desire to know more...and vice versa.

Jamie wandered around the living room, taking the time to look at all of the family photographs spread throughout the room. They represented four generations...five actually, once Jamie saw the early twentieth century sepia photograph of a police officer in full uniform. Jamie would bet his left arm that it was his great grandfather standing tall and proud on some New York City street. All of the photos had a story to tell and he hoped to one day know each and every one of them. But at this moment, he was focused on one photograph, the one of Joe staring back at him in his own NYPD uniform. Damned if they weren't right about their resemblance...even Jamie could see it.

Frank stepped up alongside Jamie and handed over a glass of scotch, his own eyes landing on the same photo.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. So, I'd call it a successful day, wouldn't you? You're brother and sister took it relatively easy on you today," he said with a grin, wondering about what Joe would have added to the conversation at dinner.

A burst of laughter erupted from deep within as Jamie gave his father an incredulous look. "You called that easy? Was that before or after Erin joined Danny in ganging up on my Bills?"

Frank smiled and turned back to his chair, letting out a sigh as he sat down. "Well, son, when it comes to passions like those, it's each man for him or herself."

"Thanks a lot," Jamie snorted and took a seat opposite of the older man.

Frank smiled again before it was replaced with a pensive expression. He had some serious matters to discuss with Jamie. He preferred that they be direct with him, but Frank didn't want to end the day on a sour note. "I thought we could talk for a few minutes now that everyone's gone. I hate to dampen what has otherwise been great day, but I want to update you on Sherry and what's happening with her."

Jamie stiffened at the mention of her name, but he nodded, appreciating that his father was keeping him apprised of the case. "Danny's back so I figured she's in the city too."

"Yes, she is. The detectives in Buffalo questioned her after they took her in. As you can imagine, she changed her tune once she was in interrogation," Frank shared.

"Let me guess, she's innocent...didn't have a thing to do with my kidnapping," Jamie said, not surprised in the least. According to Sherry, nothing was ever her fault and Jamie was really tired of it now.

"Yes," Frank nodded while he swirled the liquid in his glass. "Once she was done claiming her innocence, she asked for an attorney."

"Does she not realize what she said to me? That it's on tape?" Jamie felt the need to ask despite knowing how Sherry's mind worked.

Frank pursed his lips and left his questions unanswered. There was no way to understand how she could think people would believe that she was in any way innocent, but it wasn't like she was any different than the countless others who pleaded their innocence when they were anything but. "She'll be arraigned tomorrow and I have no doubt that she'll be remanded and remain in custody. Although I suspect that even if she was given bail, she wouldn't have anyway to post it."

"She has nothing to her name, never did. I was the one helping to support her after the welfare stopped coming in. It was why I couldn't go away for college. She said I couldn't leave her high and dry after she'd taken care of me. Then I left for the city and she still had me feeling like I owed her."

Frank pursed his lips to stop himself from saying anything about the woman that would only increase his ire. He took several breaths and forged on with the reasons for this talk. "Jamie, everything is going to start heating up. I've said it before, this is not something that we'll be able to keep quiet. We'll have to be ready for it when it comes."

"I know," Jamie replied, but he didn't know how to be ready for something like this.

"Erin's keeping an eye on everything from her end and keeping me posted. The DA will want to interview you at some point. You'll have to give a statement to attest to the authenticity and admissibility of the recorded confession. But aside from that..." Frank trailed off as he came to the more delicate issues.

"What?"

"Well, they'll want to know if she'd ever given you any reason to doubt who she was...if you ever suspected," Frank advised.

Jamie's brow furrowed at the notion. "No. If I ever even thought that she wasn't my mom, I wouldn't have sat on something like that. I mean, I always thought there was something wrong with her. Sometimes I just thought that there was something wrong with me...someone tells you you're worthless enough times, you start to believe it. Sherry said I was a mistake, but I didn't realize what she meant. I thought that she wasn't meant to be a mother, not that she wasn't mine."

"I understand," Frank replied before jumping to the next serious issue. "They'll be asking you about some other things too."

Jamie frowned in confusion.

"Right now she's facing a kidnapping charge here. The Buffalo DA is working with the Department of Social Services to see if they can charge her there with fraud for the assistance she sought."

"But that's not all, is it?" Jamie asked, feeling like the worst was yet to come.

"CPS and possibly the Buffalo PD will be catching a lot of flack for not realizing who you were during the instances that she was arrested for possession and then when she was investigated for neglect. With that comes the concern over whether there were other things they missed so they'll be asking questions about things," Frank paused hating to even think about this, "like physical or sexual abuse."

Jamie sat back, clutching his glass a little tighter at the implication. "What does it matter? It's not like they can do anything about that anyway," he remarked, clearly uncomfortable as he averted his eyes away from Frank.

Frank's stomach tightened at his son's body language, afraid of what it could mean. "You'll still be asked about what it was like growing up with her. I want you to be prepared for it, Jamie. I'll do what I can to make sure you're not blind-sided. If you're worried about what we might hear -"

"She never touched me," Jamie interrupted, wanting to dispel that idea quickly. "In any way. Sherry's a bad person, but she didn't do that...she wasn't interested in me in that way. And she was smart enough to know that with CPS sniffing around, she couldn't leave behind any visible evidence. Sherry preferred to keep me in line with verbal abuse rather than anything physical," he revealed.

"That didn't make it any easier, did it? Sometimes words that can leave behind a deeper scar," Frank bemoaned.

Jamie nodded.

"I'm so sorry, Jamie," Frank apologized. The thought that his son or any child could grow up in an environment like that pained him.

"For what? You didn't do anything," Jamie questioned.

"Sometimes that's what hurts the most as a father. I know it did for your mother."

Baker thumbed through the small stack of files in her lap until she found the one she needed and placed it on top of the commissioner's desk. "We have the finalists' essays for the Commissioner for a Day contest ready for your review," she advised before turning to the remaining appointments for the afternoon. "The chiefs are setting up now in the conference room to begin reviewing security needs for the Thanksgiving Day Parade."

Frank was signing the last of the reports Baker handed him when it hit him that they were nearing the end of the year, and one of the busiest times for the City and the Department. "Hard to believe we're already approaching the holidays. Another year has flown by but Thanksgiving is going to be much more meaningful this year," Frank commented. He looked forward to having Jamie filling a seat at the table. Dinner on Sunday had been better than expected and Frank and the rest of the family planned to make sure this year's Thanksgiving meal was extra special for him since they all suspected Sherry Riordan never bothered to make it so.

"Indeed, sir," Baker smiled, pleased that her boss had an added reason to be thankful this year. "And the mayor will be here at three for the press conference on the joint DEA bust," she finished.

The door to Frank's office opened unexpectedly and Garrett stepped in with a guarded look on his face. "I'm sorry to interrupt," he said.

"And yet you still do," Frank retorted but sensed that he wouldn't like whatever came out of Garret's mouth next.

"We've got a situation, Frank. It's out," he announced as he approached the desk. "Calls and emails just started flooding in wanting confirmation on whether Jamie's been found and reunited with you and the family."

Frank knew this was coming, it wasn't a surprise. But that wouldn't keep him from worrying about the crap show that was going to start, concerned more about how it would affect Jamie more than anyone else. "How?"

"Someone got their hands on the complaint from Riordan's arraignment this week. I ran up here as soon as I got the first call from the Post. Honestly, I'm surprised it took them this long," Garrett advised as the smartphone in his hand buzzed and he read the most recent incoming email. "Oh."

Frank frowned when his DCPI looked back up at him with some alarm. "What?"

"They know his name and that he's with the department," Garret answered.

Frank's jaw clenched simultaneously with his fists. "Baker, find out if he's on duty and get me his location," he ordered.

"Yes, sir," Baker complied and headed for her desk.

"How do you want to handle this, Frank? They're going to be all over you during the press conference."

"The press conference is on the joint operation," Frank reminded him as he stood up and headed to the window.

"Come on, Frank. They're like sharks in chummed waters when they get a hold of a story like this. And it's ten times worse because it involves you, you know that. You'll only be able to fend them off for so long. What do you want me to tell them?"

Nothing, Frank thought to himself. They deserved to deal with this privately but to think they'd be allowed that courtesy was pointless. He'd given up that right completely once he took the position of commissioner...this would be far worse than it had been 25 years ago when Jamie first went missing. "No comment for now. I need to let Jamie know first before he starts getting harassed."

"Sir?" Baker said when she returned.

"Where is he?" Frank inquired.

"He's not on duty today, sir. The desk sergeant said they've already had a few individuals come into the precinct to ask for Officer Riordan. He suspected that they were reporters of some type but they didn't say anything else."

Frank cursed the fact that this didn't happen when Jamie was with the family or on duty and with his training officer. He retrieved his cell phone from his desk and hit a newly-assigned speed dial button. His lips formed a tight line when the call went to voice mail and Frank left a short message asking Jamie to call him before trying another number.

"Hey, pop," Danny greeted.

Frank could tell he was in the car somewhere and prayed it was near Vinegar Hill. "Danny, are you in the city?"

"I'm heading back to the 5-4 from Queens after talking to a witness. Why? What's up?" Danny asked with worry after detecting the strain in his father's voice.

"I need you to head to your brother's place. The story's out and the media is already trying to track him down. He's not on duty and he isn't answering his phone."

"Crap," Danny growled. There was no need for him to ask what his father meant. "I'll take care of it, dad. I'm 30 minutes out," he assured him.

"Call me when you find him and take him back to the house. He'll be safer there."

"You got it."

Trouble's starting but the rest of the Reagans, familiar with unwanted media attention, will guide Jamie through it all and maybe see it as an opportunity to get to know him a little better.