Reva pulled up in front of the farm and got out of the car. She walked to the door and knocked. "Cassie…" she said. "Cassie, I'm here…" She pounded on the door again, but still received no answer. She pulled her key out of her purse and fumbled with the lock before finally managing to get the door open. "Cassie…" she said. "Are you here?" She stood, frozen, as an eerie silence filled her ears. "Cassie…" she repeated again, before heading to the bedroom. She stood in the doorway, pushing it open slowly, the slight creaking noise that it made a welcome relief from the silence. She stepped into the room and flicked on the light switch, gasping at the sight in front of her. She felt sick, yet was compelled to step even closer. "Bud…" she said, her eyes filling with tears. "Cassie…" She felt herself go weak as she gazed upon their naked forms, covered in nothing but their own blood. She stumbled onto the floor, a sickening pain seeming to shoot through her at that very moment. She felt like her heart was going to stop beating, and suddenly it became very hard to breathe, and she fell unconscious onto the ground.
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"Cassie…" Sandy said as he walked into the farmhouse. "Cassie, are you here?"
Jeffrey followed him inside and headed immediately for the bedroom, the grisly sight striking him instantly. "Oh my God…" he muttered under his breath. "Oh my God, no… This can't be…" He turned his gaze to Reva, noticing that there were no apparent wounds on her, and kneeled down next to her, feeling her pulse. "She's alive…" he said, looking up at Sandy who had just walked into the room.
Sandy fell silent at the sight in front of him, his gaze fixed on it for a few seconds before he ran outside to throw up.
Jeffrey sighed and chased after him. "Sandy… Sandy, are you all right?" he asked.
Sandy looked up at him. His eyes wide and teary. His bottom lip quivering. "This is all my fault, Jeffrey! This is all my fault!"
"No, Sandy. Don't say that. It's not your fault. You know this… There's nothing you coulda done…"
"You wanted to come here, Jeffrey! We coulda stopped it! You wanted to come here, and I made you take me to Reva's, and now they're dead! They're both dead!"
"Sandy, you don't know that we coulda stopped anything! Until the autopsies come back… They could very well have been dead before we got here…"
"AND WHAT IF THEY WEREN'T JEFFREY? WHAT IF THEY WEREN'T?"
"Sandy, don't do this right now… OK… Don't blame yourself! You need to be there for Reva… She needs someone… You're all that she has…"
"I'm nothing, Jeffrey… I'm nothing… Her sister's dead because of me… Her husbands dead because of me… And I'm not even her son! How… How am I going to look her in the eye and tell her that, now? After all this happened because of me?"
"Sandy… You can't… You just… You just hafta… You hafta be there for her, OK Sandy? She needs you Sandy… Ok, so you can't just stand here blaming yourself, because it's not gonna do anyone any good, ok?"
"Jeffrey, it's gonna come out! They're gonna hafta question me, because I have information about this, and… And… And I can't tell them who did it without blowing my cover, and she's gonna find out… And she's gonna hate me… How am I gonna live with myself after that? You tell me, Jeffrey! You tell me how!"
"Sandy… Sandy, I… I can't answer that for you, ok? But… I'm gonna be here for you, ok? Every step of the way, I'm gonna be here… I'm not gonna let anything happen to you, ok?"
"It's not your job, Jeffrey… It's not your job to be here for me… Or to care about me… Or to help me…"
"Yes Sandy, it is! Don't you get it? I love you! I never stopped loving you! And I'm not gonna stop loving you, ok?"
"Why are you telling me this right now? I don't… I don't need… I don't need to be hearing this right now… OK, please… Please, just leave me alone, please…"
"Sandy, you know I can't do that… You know I hafta call the police, and get some back up out here, soon… Sandy, I thought that I would give you a few minutes…"
"Jeffrey, how am I gonna tell her? I can't do this, Jeffrey… I can't… I can't do that… I can't break her heart… I can't do that… Please…"
"Sandy, she needs you…"
"No… No she doesn't need me… She's gonna hate me…"
"Sandy… Sandy she loves you… And I know one thing from experience… Once you love Sandy Foster, you don't just stop…"
"I can't do this, Jeffrey!"
"Yes, Sandy… You are doing this because you have to do this, Sandy. She deserves to know why this happened…"
"How's she even gonna look at me, Jeffrey? She's gonna blame me… Or worse… She's gonna blame herself."
"No. No Sandy. There's only one person to blame for this. And that person is Jonathan Randall and we are going to catch him, but I need you… I need you to be strong Sandy… And I'm gonna need you to tell the police every single little detail of what you know. Ok, Sandy?"
Sandy nodded slightly.
"Now, she's gonna find out. And I would rather have you tell her than have her find out second hand. I'm sure you would too. So Sandy, I know that this is the worst time in the world to put this on her, but you don't have much of a choice, ok? Now, I… I can stay outside, call the police if you… If you wanna be alone with her Sandy, but I… I need to call them, ok?"
Sandy nodded again, wiping the tears from his eyes.
Jeffrey kissed him softly on the head. "You can do this Sandy." he whispered into his ear before pulling him into a tight embrace.
Sandy buried his head against Jeffrey's neck, the tears, by now, flowing freely down his face.
Jeffrey held him tighter as he could feel his body shaking against him. "Sandy…" he whispered. "Sandy please… You… You have to do this right now…"
Sandy pulled away from him. "I can't, Jeffrey…" he said weakly, looking up into his eyes.
Jeffrey moved his hand to wipe away Sandy's tears. "Please, baby…" he said, not even realizing what he'd just called him. "You have to do this, Sandy… It just can't wait…"
Sandy nodded slightly, hesitating only momentarily, before walking back into the house, leaving Jeffrey all alone outside.
Jeffrey sighed and sat down on the ground. He watched to make sure that Sandy couldn't see him before he started to cry. He held his head in his hands as the quiet sobs racked his body. How did this happen? Where did this all go so wrong? It had been a mistake… Letting a case get personal like this… But, then again… How could it not be? Cassie had become a close friend. Trusting him even, when few others would... And now she was dead. He had failed her. He had failed his friend. He had failed his job. And worst of all, he had failed Sandy, yet again. He knew how much Sandy was hurting right now, and that just made his own pain all the worse. He wiped his tears away and tried to get his emotions under control. He couldn't be the caring and feeling Jeffrey right now. He needed to be the strong and emotionless FBI Agent, stone cold in the wake of tragedy. That would be the only way to get this done. He pulled out his cell phone and stared at it blankly. He needed to be sure that he wouldn't break down again before he made the call.