House
"Does the name Vincent Monroe mean anything to you? Or to Jude?" Karen asked, standing in Thea's living room with Sean after he welcomed in.
"No… never heard the name." Sean shook his head.
"Well we searched the house that Jude came from, that's who it belongs to. We asked around at some neighbours and they said he's been out of town for weeks now." Karen said.
"Who is he? Do you know anything about him?" Sean questioned.
"Yeah, he's in his late forties. He runs a pub downtown. Criminal record from when he was younger but… nothing much to say about him." Karen said, "We uh… we did find some things, though… in the house." She said, listening to footsteps coming down the stairs as she paused.
"Hey, I thought I heard your voice." Jude came into the living room. Her hair was tangled and tied back whilst she had a hoodie and some sweats on, the same clothes she'd been wearing for a few days.
"Hi, sweetie." Karen smiled, "Happy new year." She nodded.
"Happy new year." Jude nodded, not really taking in the fact it was a new year yet, "Have you found something?"
"Well not as much as we'd like to have, but we have found some things." Karen said, "I was just saying to Sean that the house you came from, it belongs to a forty seven year old man called Vincent Monroe. Does that name mean anything to you?"
"Never heard of him." Jude shook her head, wondering. Wondering was this the name of the man who attacked her. Was he really almost fifty? What did he look like? Does he have family? Was he alone? She had so many disturbing thoughts running through her mind.
"Ok well we asked around the neighbours and they said he's been out of town for weeks. They haven't seen him." Karen said, "But as far it goes, he is our suspect at the moment." She made clear as Jude nodded slowly.
"You said you found some things in the house." Sean said as Karen nodded.
"Yeah we found your underwear, Jude." Karen nodded, "But we took it in as evidence." She said as Jude nodded, "And we… also found some pictures." She said as Jude raised her eyebrows.
"Pictures of what?" Jude tilted her head as Sean ran his hand through his hair.
"Pictures of you, whilst you were being attacked." Karen said as Jude raised her eyebrows, not really believing such a thing, "We'll take them in as evidence but… no one will ever see them, I can assure you that." Karen nodded as Jude stood still, not saying anything. There really wasn't anything she could say at this point.
"Hypothetically, let's say this… Vincent guy is out of town, and has been out of town… who would it be then? Shouldn't we see who has access to his house? Call him up or track him down?"
"We're doing that." Karen nodded, looking over at Jude who wasn't saying much of anything, "And we're almost certain that this attack is entirely different from the others. It's a different nature. This seems… more evil than normal." She admitted.
"I want to see the pictures." Jude said as Karen looked at her.
"Jude." Sean shook his head.
"If anyone is seeing them, it's me." Jude said as Karen nodded.
"They're locked in evidence right now. If you sleep on it and still want to see them, you can come to the station and I'll let you see them." Karen said as Jude nodded.
"Ok." Jude nodded, wandering away out of the living room, in her own daydream.
"I really hope she changes her mind about seeing those pictures." Sean sighed as Karen nodded.
"Ultimately it's her decision." Karen nodded, "We're in the middle of contacting Vincent, we're also talking to the bar Jude was at, questioning them to see if there was anyone suspicious hanging around. Just covering all the bases."
"Yeah, sure." Sean said, "What's the chances it was this Vincent guy?"
"I can't say. If he's out of town like his neighbours said, probably wasn't him but we can't be sure." Karen said as Sean nodded, "I'll be in touch. I'll see myself out." She said as Sean nodded, watching her leave the room. She was a very simple and brief woman. All about business and doing her job to the best she could. Exactly someone they needed on their side right now.
Sean made his way out of the living room and into the kitchen where Jude was sitting at the table.
"I thought he'd be my age." Jude lifted her head, looking over at him.
"What?" Sean shook his head.
"The guy who did it." Jude said, "I never… I never even thought it would be someone old." She shook her head.
"Well Karen says they're treating him as a suspect but they won't know anything for sure until they find him and talk to him." Sean nodded, sitting down at the table across from her.
"Why would he take pictures?" Jude whispered, "And leave them for the police to find?"
"I… I don't know." Sean shook his head. A lot of the time, he didn't really know what to say to Jude. There wasn't much he could say to help or make it seem ok, and that was difficult.
"Wasn't it enough? To do what he did?" Jude shook her head, "Without taking pictures of me?"
"Jude, people like that are just… they're wrong. They're not human. They never will be. There's something very wrong with people like that-"
"And why did he choose me?" Jude questioned, "What'd I ever do to anyone?" She questioned. She'd had a lot of why me moments, but as she heard about the photographs, it was the biggest why me moment she'd ever felt.
"I… I don't know." Sean shook his head as Jude stood up, the kitchen chair tipping over as she did so, "Jude." He sighed with concern, standing up.
"No, just go." Jude nodded.
"I'm not going." Sean shook his head.
"Just go!" Jude yelled as Sean looked across at her, "Go." She said, beginning to cry as Sean shook his head, walking over to her.
"No. I'm not." Sean said, wrapping his arms around her as she cried into him loudly. She didn't think things could feel worse than they were… and yet, it felt like it was getting worse.
"Is he good?" Dominic asked as Thea shut their car door over after strapping baby James in his car carrier.
"Yeah, he's sleeping." She nodded, "Sean text earlier and said he'd spent the night with Jude." She said as Dominic nodded.
"Are we telling her about Jeremy?" Dominic asked.
"Of course we are." Thea said, "She deserves to know. He's going to the cops to tell them what happened anyway so… she'll find out one way or another."
"Hey, you forgot his hat." Punk said, walking out of the house with James' little beanie hat.
"Oh, yeah." Thea realised, taking the hat from him.
"You both look exhausted." Punk said, "Go home and try and get some sleep." He suggested.
"Sleep? What's that?" Thea shook her head.
"I'm serious." Punk said, "No more of this… we let the police do their job and we… we're there for Jude, that's our focus." He said as Thea nodded.
"What happened to taking fingers and toes?" Thea folded her arms.
"Maybe I'll just keep whatever plans I have to myself." Punk said.
"Or just don't do anything stupid." Thea suggested, "You're right… Jude needs us. And we've been giving her attacker more attention than her." She said as Punk nodded.
"Yeah, I know." Punk nodded, disappointed in himself more than anything, "Just get yourselves home safe and get some sleep. Get the little one in bed." He said as Thea nodded.
"We will." Thea nodded, wrapping her arms around him, giving him a hug as he kissed her head.
"You ok?" Punk whispered as Thea nodded, breaking away from the hug, drying her teary eyes. She just couldn't stop thinking about her sister and what she must have been going through.
"She's right." Dominic added, "Doing something stupid right now isn't worth it." He shook his head as Punk nodded.
"Yeah, I know." Punk nodded, patting him on the arm, "On you go, get out of here." He encouraged as Dominic nodded, getting into the car whilst Thea walked around, "Thea."
"Yeah?" Thea said.
"Just… tell me one thing." Punk nodded, walking closer to Thea, "The address that Jude came from." He said, "Because if it didn't have anything to do with Jeremy…. It's gotta belong to someone."
"Dad." Thea sighed tiredly.
"I'm just asking." Punk said defensively.
"I don't know the address. It's across from the park. And it's the house with the black door. The rest are white doors." Thea explained as Punk nodded slowly.
"Across from the park?" He asked curiously.
"Yeah." Thea said, "But don't…" She pointed her finger at him, "Don't you do anything. Or I'll be taking your fingers and toes." She warned as Punk put his hands up.
"Ok. I won't." Punk nodded, "If Jude is awake when you get home, tell her me and mom will come see her tomorrow. We'll spend the day with her."
"Ok." Thea said, "Goodnight." She nodded to him, getting into the car, closing the door over as Punk watched them drive away.
He made his way back into his house, calling up to his wife, "Ape! You wanna go for a walk?!" He called.
"It's too cold for this." AJ sighed, holding Punk's hand as she walked with him down the dark street.
"It's not far." Punk said.
"And what are you gonna do? Just stand outside and stare at it?" AJ questioned.
"No, I just… I just want to see it. We spent a lot of time in this area." He said.
"Yeah." AJ nodded to herself, "We did."
"Thea said it's the one with the black door, not white." Punk said.
"And it's across from the park?" AJ asked him as Punk nodded, "I… I don't even know if I want to see it." She sighed, "And I don't think you should either." She said, "You're not pulling anymore dumb shit. This isn't our job."
"I just want to see something." Punk said curiously.
"See what?" AJ shook her head, "It's a house, just like any other." She said, turning the corner as they began walking down the street of which the house was on, starting to notice something, "Wait a second…" AJ said as they both began to slow down, coming up to the house, "Is this…"
"Holy shit." Punk nodded to himself, looking across at the park and back to the house, which now had a black door as oppose to white back when he was nineteen.
"Is this the house that…" AJ gulped.
"I got arrested in this house when I was nineteen." Punk said.
"Yeah… this was the suppliers." AJ realised, "Rio always came here and I… that's the address I gave Hamilton to try and get him but… he got you instead." AJ said as Punk shook his head with confusion.
"What the fuck is going on here?" Punk spat angrily, "I know whose house this is… or… was."
"Brooks, what the hell you doing here?" Vincent opened up the door, expecting his friend Rio but instead getting Punk.
"Rio sent me in tonight instead." Nineteen year old Punk said, walking into the house. He was in a pretty big mess. Between losing his best friend and love of his life, practically cheating on her and finding out he was going to be a dad all in the one week… he knew his brain was pretty messed up, so he did what he knew best and went out to work. Or what he described as work.
"On your own?" Vincent chuckled, walking through to the living room as Punk followed.
"It appears so." Punk nodded, "What am I taking?" He asked.
"In the kitchen." Vincent nodded, walking through to the kitchen as Punk followed, "All in boxes this time, instead of the sandbags."
"Thank God for that." Punk shook his head, "Help me start loading up." He nodded, grabbing one of the boxes, walking through the living room, pausing when he saw cop cars pulling up outside, the blue flashing lights blinding, "Hey!" Punk yelled, "What the fuck is this?!"
"Huh?" Vincent walked out into the living room, "Shit." He panicked, "Fuck." He ran off out into the kitchen.
"Hey!" Punk yelled, listening as the front door was kicked in. He dropped the box he was holding, watching as the cops came in charging at him, forcing him against one of the walls.
"Well well well…" Hamilton smiled, watching as Punk was pinned against one of the walls face first as another cop cuffed him up, "Didn't expect you to be here." He said, seriously as it went over Punk's head, "Let's take a look in these boxes, shall we?" He hummed.
"Fuck you." Punk spat as he felt his head slammed against the wall.
The cops of course inspected all the boxes, knowing fine well what they were looking at.
"Get him in the car." Hamilton spat as Punk was dragged out of the house and into the car.