Chapter 24: The Break Up

Julia lowered her gaze away from Benoit. She heard shoes cross the kitchen floor and a chair scrape across it as well. Benoit sat down with a groan and leaned forward, his elbows relaxing on his knees.

"Talk to me," Benoit said quietly.

Julia looked up at the members of the house and they quickly vacated the kitchen to give the couple more privacy. As the door shut, Julia eyed Benoit before looking away.

"Peter threatened to tell you about Alice if I didn't break up with you," Julia explained.

"Hmm," he said, removing his sunglasses. "Sweetheart," he sighed, "I think it is time you told me about Alice."

Julia shook her head. "I can't."

"Then Emily and Peter win. Do you want that?"

"Of course I don't," she huffed, giving him a disgusted look.

"Then how do we fix this problem?"

"I don't know." Julia sighed and buried her face in her hands. "I just know that I don't have the heart to tell you what I did."

"Then let Peter tell me. Julia, do you really think I am goin' to let something that happened so long ago come between us?" Benoit asked sadly.

Julia frowned, not looking at him. "Yes."

Julia felt her hands pried away from her face and she looked at him with tears threatening to fill her eyes. He merely stroked a strand of hair from her face and smiled. "Well I won't. Why won't you believe me?"

"It's not like I don't want to believe you, Benoit. I'm just not ready for you to know yet."

"Then what do I have to do to make you believe me?" he asked, sounding almost desperate.

"I don't know," she replied, sniffling and wiping her eyes. "I just don't know."

Benoit bowed his head and sighed. "Julia, please don't do this to us. We can work this out, I promise."

Julia wanted to believe him so much. There was possibly one thing he could do to make her believe, and that was if he said he loved her. Maybe then she'd be convinced, but she knew he wasn't in love with her. She gave him a sad look and cupped his face. "I don't know how we can work this out."

Benoit shut his eyes and kissed the palm of her hand. "We will figure out this dilemma, chickapen. Please don't leave me," he pleaded depressingly.

Hearing him talk like that broke Julia's heart tremendously. She hated doing this to them both. She hated Peter and Emily for causing this big rift between her and the man she loved. She wished she could get over her fear of him knowing about Alice, but she was too much of coward.

"I'm sorry, Benoit," was all she could say before getting up and walking to the kitchen door.

"Miss Drysdale, we need to talk," said Blanc.

"About what?" Miss Drysdale asked bitterly.

He took his glasses off and looked at her. "You know what."

She rolled her head away and scoffed. "Like I said, your personal life is none of my business."

Benoit made a quiet grubt as his eyes narrowed. He was dealing with a very stubborn woman and he wasn't sure how to feel about that. In a huff, he got out of the car, slammed the door shut, opened the back seat and crawled in just as Julia looked at him with a confused look. "Listen, you must let me explain-"

"You don't have to explain anything!" Miss Drysdale barked.

"Well, based on your aggression towards me, I think I do!" Benoit barked back.

A frown formed on her face. "Alright, fine. I'm mad at you. I admit that, but I have no right to be considering...I..." she stopped and went no further.

"Considerin' what?" he asked.

He needed to get her to admit what she was mad about. Maybe that would calm her down enough so that he could finally explain what she saw at the diner.

She unbuckled and faced him. "Considering I am a suspect in a murder case and you are the very person investigating that case, it'd be highly inappropriate if I..."

"If you what?"

"If I was upset with you for being with another woman," Julia said, sighing in contempt and leaning back in the seat.

Blanc chuckled. "She's not another woman, Miss Drysdale. She's my sister-in-law."

Miss Drysdale blinked a few times then looked at him. "What?"

Blanc leaned towards Julia. "That woman, Sarah, is my sister-in-law. She called me when I was with you to inform me that my brother was in a car accident and was taken to the hospital."

Julia blinked again. "...Oh. Is he okay?"

"He suffered a broken arm and a concussion but he'll be fine. I decided to treat Sarah to breakfast this mornin'. She'd had a rough go of it, you see."

He watched her face blush and he fought the urge to smirk at her. "...I suppose I owe you an apology, then," she said, looking away from him.

"That's alright," he said with a chuckle. "An apology is not necessary."

"It's not?"

"No, my dear, it is not."

A smile appeared on her face and their eyes met. Lord, she had such beautiful blue eyes. "So...what happened when I left the diner?"

"I tried to call you. Sarah asked me what was goin' on and...I explained everything to her."

She tilted her head to one side. "Explained what?"

"That I'm in love with you," Benoit thought before he took a deep breath. "I explained how you make me feel, Miss Drysdale."

"And how do I make you feel?" she asked, biting her lower lip.

"From the moment I saw you, I was enchanted. And for the two days I've known you, you have been on my mind a considerably large amount of time."

This was a fact.

Julia smiled a little. "Really?"

"Yes. Despite my better judgement of not fraternizing with suspects on a case, I have a very difficult time reining in my urges towards you."

This was definitely a fact as well.

Julia arched a brow and gave a sly grin. "What urges are we talking about here?"

Blanc chuckled deeply. "Well, I-" They were interrupted by sirens and they both looked behind them to see two paramedics leaving an ambulance. "Oh, Lord," Blanc said, getting out of the car.

"Oh shit," Miss Drysdale said. Benoit looked at the window and saw Marta giving CPR to someone

It was Fran, the housekeeper. What in the world?

The paramedics moved Marta out of the way and Benoit watched as Marta came out of the laundromat. Something was amiss with this whole thing. Why would the housekeeper be in an abandoned laundromat and how did Marta know she was there in the first place?

"Marta, what's wrong with Fran?" Julia asked.

"She overdosed on morphine. I never would have taken her for a user," Marta said.

Blanc looked between the two of then, a suspicious look on his face. "What exactly is happenin' here, Miss Cabrera? How did you happen upon Fran in an abandoned building?" Marta kept her mouth shut, not saying a word. Blanc frowned and looked at Julia. "Julia? Did you know about this?"

Julia lowered her face and started wringing her hands together, biting her lower lip.

She knew something about this, but he didn't want to believe it.

"...Julia? Talk to me," he said calmly.

"I can't," Miss Drysdale sniffled, looking up at Benoit with sa d, tearful eyes.

Blanc put his hands in his pockets with a disappointed look on his face. "I see..."

Suddenly the detective felt like he'd been duped by Miss Drysdale. Had she planned this all along? To distract him from solving the case by appealing to his heart? How could one even accomplish that? Was their connection even real or a figment of his own imagination?

"Detective, I'd like to go with Fran to the hospital," Marta said.

"That can be arranged, of course," Benoit said as he watched Miss Drysdale walk to the car.

Benoit sadly watched Julia exit the kitchen but he got up and chased after her. Obviously he wasn't going to let her go that easily.

"Julia," he said as he ran to keep the door from opening, placing a palm on it when she tried to move it. "Julia, please don't do this."

"My mind is made up, Benoit," she said, leaning her hands on the door.

Benoit was a patient man. He could wait her out and he knew it. "Then I will wait."

Julia gaped at him. "What?"

"I'm going to wait until you are ready to come back to me."

Her jaw dropped even more. "But...but why? Why would you do that?"

Benoit wanted to tell her how much he loved her but he didn't want to risk scaring her off. He didn't think she was ready to hear it.

"Because I am patient and you are worth the wait," he said matter-of-factly.

Soft, blue eyes gazed back at him and the woman he loved sighed deeply. "This could take a while."

Benoit frowned and caressed her cheek, rubbing his thumb along her lips. "I know. But I will wait for you anyway."

Julia looked so sad in that moment, yet completely touched by his devotion. That part he had been looking for. He leaned in and kissed her softly, vowing internally that he would do everything in his power to get Emily and Peter locked up for their crimes. Now it was a truly personal offense against him since they'd managed to drive his girlfriend off.

"Call me when you're ready, Julia. I'll be waiting," he said before opening the door and walking out of the kitchen.

As they were sitting in the hospital, Benoit kept glancing at Julia who would occasionally wring her hands together. It was her tell when she was nervous. He cleared his throat and leaned over to her.

"Miss Drysdale, I'd really appreciate it if you came clean with me," he muttered.

Her only response was to close her eyes and turn her head from his direction. Benoit frowned, knowing full well that she was part of Harlan's death. And this saddened him to a high degree.

His phone started ringing and he answered it.

"Detective Blanc," he said.

"Hey Benny, it's Elliot."

"Oh, Lieutenant Elliot. Have you any good news for me?"

"Not really. Ransom turned belly up on Marta and his sister."

Benoit internally cursed Ransom for betraying Julia. "Go on."

"Well, apparently Marta had accidentally given Harlan the wrong dosages of his medicine, then Harlan prevented her and Miss Drysdale from phoning an ambulance. Before slicing his thrist, he gave them specific instructions to which Miss Drysdale carried out. She climbed the trellis, put on her grandfather's robe and cap and went downstairs to fake Harlan being seen by Walt."

So, Miss Drysdale had climbed the trellis. Benoit felt like a real fool. He eyed Julia for a moment before speaking to Elliot again.

"I see. Mmhmm...alright, my friend. Thank you for the update," he said as he looked at the two women in their seats. They were holding hands which made him frown. Obviously they had made some sort of decision and he had a feeling it would not bode well for either of them.

"Do you want me to send some boys over to take them into custody?"

Benoit grimaced at the thought of Julia in handcuffs. "Uh, no need for that. I'll bring them in once we get word that the housekeeper is stable. It's still touch and go."

"Okay, we'll be waiting."

"Alright."

Benoit hung up the phone and gazed at Marta.

"Listen, this is over," she said as her leg bounced up and down. Benoit figured that was her tell for anxiety. "People are getting hurt...so we're gonna tell you the truth."

"Young Ransom just told Lieutenant Elliot everything, who just told me everything," Benoit explained as he glanced at Miss Drysdale.

"Good. Wait, I hope he didn't cover for us."

"Ha!" Julia laughed coldly. "Yeah right!"

"Did he tell you the real truth, about me switching the-"

"Yeah," Blanc sighed.

"And the disguise bit?"

"Yes."

"And the whole blackmail and-"

"Mmhmm."

"But why did Fran take my morphine? I mean, obviously she had swiped the bag from the house, but she didn't seem like a user to me, unless that's why she needed the blackmail money."

Benoit made a confused face. Why would the housekeeper take morphine when she was about to confront Marta? Strange...

"I don't know, it doesn't matter anyway. I...we have to tell the Thrombeys ourselves, I feel like we owe that to them."

"Yeah," Julia said. "I...I think we-"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Blanc said to them both.

Marta telling the Thrombeys was one thing, but Julia telling her family that she was in on the whole thing? He shuddered to think how they'd react to both of them.

"No, we have to do it. We need to do it," Julia said quickly.

"Julia-" Blanc said.

"No, it's settled. We're telling my family everything. Our minds are made up, Detective."

Benoit and Miss Drysdale looked at each other with meloncholic expressions. He wanted to be angry with her, but he couldn't find it in his heart to be angry with her. All she was truly guilty of was protecting her best friend and to be honest, he couldn't fault Miss Drysdale for that at all. She had a good, kind heart. He knew that to be true. When Julia looked away, he closed his eyes sadly. If only things had been different.

"I gave the doctors my number, so they'll call me if anything changes with Fran," Marta said.

"Alright, I'll round up the Thrombeys at the house, along with a police escort."

"For the arrest after," Marta said.

"You both can tell me your whole story on the drive over. I don't want any more surprises," he said, barely glaring at Miss Drysdale.

As they made their way out of the hospital and into the parking lot, Benoit kept his gaze on Julia. In all his years, he'd never felt so taken for a ride like he did now. She looked over her shoulder at him, looking apologetic. Was she truly sorry for any of this? For what he thought they had...going on between them?When they went to get into the car, Benoit reached out and gently grabbed Julia's arm. He had to know if it was real or not.

"Miss Drysdale, a word in private?" he asked.

"Okay," she said as she shifted her head to face him with a nod.

Benoit waited until Marta was in the car. "I understand why you took part in this, I do. But I must inquire...why couldn't you let me in on your secret?"

"To protect me friend, Detective Blanc."

"You should have told me," he said with very restrained anger in his voice.

"I know. But...it was an accident, Detective Blanc. She shouldn't have to go to jail for an accident."

"I couldn't agree more, but the law is the law, Miss Drysdale."

Julia nodded and sighed. "Any other questions?"

Now for the real question. Now for the answer he had to know.

"Was our...connection real to you at all, or were you just trying to prevent me from arriving at the terminus of the rainbow?"

Miss Drysdale's mouth dropped a little. "Yes, it was very real to me, Detective."

Benoit smirked at her. "Heh, I really want to believe you."

And for the most part, he did believe her. However, there was a small piece of him that felt insecure about her feelings towards him.

"I understand if you don't believe me but I'm telling the truth," Julia claimed.

While taking off his glasses to rub a smudge from the lens, he nodded. "Miss Drysdale, I have no further questions."

As Julia got in, Benoit walked to the passenger side, still confused. Something still felt off about this case. He seemingly had all the pieces and the donut had its donut hole, but still...it almost seemed too easy now. He couldn't help but feel there was anothet complication. For example, why would Fran make herself overdose on morphine just before her meeting with Marta? And why would Greatnana say she saw Ransom climb down the trellis?

This was certainly a conundrum indeed.

When Benoit left, Julia felt her knees give out and she slumped to the floor, pressing her forehead to the door. She began to cry quietly at her predicament? Why couldn't she just tell him the truth? Why did she have to be such a fucking coward?

"Fucking coward..." she said to herself, tears streaming down her face.

After a few moments, she got up, brushed her tears away and walked back to the table to finish her hot cocoa. A few minutes went by before Marta walked in.

"Julia?" she said with a frown. "What happened?"

Julia took a sip of her cocoa and sighed. "We broke up."

Just saying those words made Julia's heart break into a million pieces. It wasn't the end, according to him, but it still felt like the end of the world to her. How long could one man wait for a woman?

"But why?" Marta asked, walking over to Julia.

"Because I can't tell him about Alice. Not yet."

Marta's frown deepened. "No offense, but that's a bunch of horseshit."

Julia laughed sadly and sniffled. "I know. I'm a coward."

"You just seriously let that good man walk out of your life for good?!" Marta said loudly.

"He said he'd wait until I was ready to talk."

Marta scowled at Julia. "Julia, you're an idiot."

"I know," Julia said forlornly, looking inside her mug. "I'm a coward and an idiot."

Marta shook her head. "You need to go after him. Right now."

Julia shook her head. "I can't."

Marta got in Julia's face. "Call him right now and tell him to come back. Julia, you love him. Don't do this."

Julia shook her head and stood up. "My mind is made up."

Julia walked out of the kitchen, grabbed her suitcase, went up the stairs to her room and shut the door.

Julia was sitting in her classroom staring at the clock. It was almost three and god, she was so tired of listening to her stupid teacher explaining math. She hated math.

Julia heard a 'pst' and she turned her head to see Ransom trying to get her attention. He looked at the front of the class then threw a crumpled piece of paper at her. She caught it and opened it.

"Prank tonight at the party. You down?" the note read.

Julia quietly giggled and wrote something in response.

"Who is the target?" she wrote before crinkling up the note and tossing it back to Ransom.

Julia watched him write something down, look at the teacher, crumple it back up and threw it at her. Julia caught it once more and opened it.

"Whoever passes out first."

Julia covered her mouth and nodded to her brother as she suppressed a high pitched giggle.

The bell rang and Julia pocketed the note before grabbing her things and rushing out the classroom door. Ransom caught up to her and chuckled.

"So, I was thinking "The Human Burrito"," he said to her as she walked to her locker.

"Ooooh, good one. We should make a grocery store run before the party," she said as she opened her locker.

"Yeah, but I was thinking we could use dog shit as the refried beans."

Julia cackled before grabbing her phone and locking up. "Excellent choice, dear brother mine!"

They both walked down the hall to Ransom's locker, Ransom occasionally knocking people out of the way. This made Julia laugh all the more.

Once Ransom had all his things, they left the school and crossed the way through the parking lot to his Beemer. They got in and Ransom drove off to head to the grocery store.

The twins spent a good ten minutes grabbing whatever they could for their planned prank. Once they paid for all the stuff as well as a few snacks for themselves, Julia asked if they could stop at the auto parts store. She needed an oxygen sensor for her car.

"An oxygen sensor?" Ransom asked. "What's an oxygen sensor?"

"It monitors how much oxygen goes into the exhaust stream," Julia replied.

"Okay? Why do you need one?"

"Meh, the idling on my car has been off. It's stalled a few times while I've been driving it."

"Oh. Well, you're the expert."

They got to the auto parts store and Julia went inside quickly to greet one of the workers. "Hey Hector," she said. "You got any oxygen sensors for a '97 Honda CR-V?"

Hector, an older Latino man with graying hair smiled at her. "Go ahead and check in the back, kid," he said as he was dealing with other customers.

"Thanks," she said before heading to one of their computers to look up the part.

She typed in the information and found what section of the back aisles it was in then she went to go dig around for it. She went down one aisle and started searching the sections. When Julia found what she was looking for, she grabbed the box and headed back up front to purchase it.

"Thanks, Hector," she said as she bought the oxygen sensor.

"You're welcome, Miss Drysdale," Hector said with a smile before she left.

When the twins got home, they left the goodies in the trunk and went inside to do their own thing. Julia headed straight to the garage to work on her car. She put on her coveralls, put her hair in a bun, turned on the radio to some rock music and put her car on a jack.

After jacking up the car, she grabbed one of her big wrenches, the new oxygen sensor and her creeper. She laid on the creeper and rolled under the car. Julia began whistling to the tune "Enter Sandman" by Metallica that was playing on the radio, although she was horribly off key. As she put the wrench on the old oxygen sensor, the one she suspected was bad, Julia tried to get it off but it wouldn't budge.

"Gah, c'mon you son of a bitch!" she snarled.

She rotated around on her creeper and started kicking the wrench. It finally made the old oxygen sensor come loose. Just then her phone started ringing and she pulled it from her coveralls, pressing the answer button and putting it on speaker.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Hey Julia, it's Kelly."

"Oh hi Kelly, sup?"

"What are you doing?"

Julia grabbed a hold of the wrench and started working the old sensor off. "Just replacing a part on my car. Why?"

"Ugh, I'll never understand why you have such a weird hobby. You're a girl, for gosh sakes."

"So? There are plenty of female mechanics in the world and there should be more. What gives?"

"Fair enough. Are you and Ransom going to the party tonight?"

"Of course we are. Wouldn't miss it for the world," Julia grunted as the wrench fell off, making a high pitched clattering on the floor almost like a bell. "Ack, dammit."

"What was that?"

"I dropped my wrench. So what about the party?"

"I'm bringing Alice with. Do you think you could, you know, help keep an eye on her at the party with me?"

Julia paused as she was turning the old sensor loose. "Alice? You're bringing your 14-year-old sister to the party? Are you sure that's wise?"

"Yes, why wouldn't it be?"

"Well," Julia groaned as she yanked out the old sensor, examining it. Yep, it looked bad alright. "I dunno. She's a little young for partying yet, don't ya think?"

"No."

Julia sighed. "Alright, well, sure. I'll help keep an eye on her."

"Thanks. I'll see you later, darling!"

"You too, darling! Bye!"

The line clicked and Julia reached for the new oxygen sensor box to open it. Just then the garage door to the house opened and Julia watched her father's shoes walk across the floor.

"Julia?" he called out.

Julia got the new sensor out. "Uh huh?"

"Whatcha doin', kiddo?"

Julia sighed as she put the new oxygen sensor in and started screwing it in. "Working on the car."

"Oh yeah?" he asked, his feet now near Julia's knees. "You figure out what was wrong with it?"

"Hopefully," she said, grabbing the wrench and clasping it onto the new sensor. "Bad, uh, oxygen sensor."

"I see. Well, I hope that helps with the stalling."

"It should," Julia said as she started wrenching the new sensor on. "The old one looks pretty worn out."

Julia secured the sensor and pulled herself out from underneath the car with her wrench her phone and the old sensor, showing him the old one. "See?"

Richard grabbed it and whistled. "Yeah, that looks pretty bad."

Julia got up and kicked her creeper away before lowering the car jack. "Yeah, so what's up Pops?"

"Oh, just wanted to see what you were up to."

Julia tilted her head to one side and put her wrench away before pulling the car jack out. "Oh. Okay. Well, I'm gonna take the car out for a spin, see if uh, see if I fixed the problem."

"Sure thing, kiddo," he said, studying the old sensor in his fingers.

Julia eyed her father. Something was bothering him, it seemed. "You okay, Dad?"

"Hmm?" He lifted his head and smiled at her. "Of course. Uh, do you want this as a souvenir?"

Julia shook her head. "Naw, just toss it," she said, grabbing her keys and getting into the car. Her door creaked horribly and she cringed. "I need to put some WD-40 on this door," she said absentmindedly.

Julia turned the engine over and grinned. The car already sounded better. God, she loved being a mechanic.