Past Infractions
Chapter THREE-Memories of Yesterday
"This is a beautiful place." Seajae and Bosco had stopped at a little turn off by the beach.
"Yeah. I could learn to like it here." Bosco put his arm around his wife. Things shouldn't be this peaceful. He was here to pick up his father's body. He found out his ex-girlfriend had his baby sixteen years ago. And that his father had married her right after his mother died.
"So what.....are you going to do about Baily?"
"I guess I need to get to know him. I don't how Jordan will take things. She's taking the things with dad really bad."
"Do you think your dad knew?"
"How couldn't he. One look." Bosco stood up and looked at the setting sun. "I think he.....from what I got she sent me letters. I think dad intercepted them."
"I wouldn't think he would keep something like that from you."
"Seajae he beat the crap out of his wife and kids. You think not telling me I had a kid was beyond him?" She knew he needed to vent. Puting her arms around him she held him close.
"I guess I really don't know much about it. I know he hurt you bad enough to question your abilities to be a father." Kissing his cheek. "Tell me now. Tell me what he did?"
"I used to come home to ma crying. Her arms bruised. She said it was her fault." Seajae held him closer. "How could it be her fault. She did everything for him. Dinner was never warm enough. The house was never clean enough." Bosco wanted to stop. Tell Seajae that he couldn't face this now. But he knew he needed to get it out. "If she wasn't home he'd take it out on me. If I wasn't there Mikey got it."
"Oh baby.....I knew it was bad....but....."
"When I was twelve I started fighting back. But he was so much bigger then I was." Bosco pulled away and turned to look at his wife. He thought for sure he would see pity in her eyes but all he saw was the love she had for him. Her brown eyes filled with tears. "Ma wouldn't leave. No matter what he did. Then Mikey ran away. I was sixteen. He was thirteen. We had just talked the night before about running away. I didn't think he would. That's the first time he got high." Bosco looked down at the sand under his feet. "I found him in a crack house on State Street. Flying higer then a kite. Dad had beat the shit out of him. His face was black and blue. The little snot stuck up for himself and the old man knocked him on his ass."
"You don't have to tell me anymore. I think I can figure out the rest."
"No. You asked. So I drag Mikey's stoned ass home and Ma's sitting on the front stoop crying her eyes out. She takes one look at Mikey and there's a look in her eyes like I never saw before. It was like she finally realized that Anthony Boscorelli wasn't the man she married anymore. There was anger and pain and fear in eyes. She took Mikey in the house and told me to pack up our clothes and whatever else would fit in the car. She knew dad wouldn't show his face for a few days but she wanted to be safe. It took us four hours to clean out what we needed and we headed to my aunts in Broklyn."
"Did he find you?"
"He never tried I don't think. I know he could of came and shed a few tears and Ma would of been back with him in a second. But we didn't see him again till I came home after my stint in the Army. He just hung around the edges of things. Family dinners and stuff."
"You never told me he was at Angela's furneral."
"He came when you went out to do your little recon that day." Bosco looked back out at the ocean. "He told me he always loved us. He just couldn't get a handle on his temper. That he was raised with an iron fisted father and he was just doing what he learned to do." Taking in a deep breath of fresh ocean air he continued. "I told him that I wasn't going to be like him. That my wife and kids were so presiouse to me that I would never lay a hand on any of them. You know what he told me Seajae?" He turned around. There was a look in his eyes that she had never seen. It was one of pure hatedred.
"What?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"He told me that one day my pretty little wife was going to say something or do something to set me off and that was going to be the time that I raise my hand and put her in her place. That she would look at another man and the heat would start to boil. Or my son would looked at me with disrespect and without even thinking I'd find myself slaping the shit out of him." Bosco looked at Seajae. The stom in his eyes calming. "I told him if I ever raised a hand to my pretty little wife or one of my kids my pretty little wife would shoot my ass. He laughed and said I was pussy whipped. I shoved him agaist the wall and told him that if I he came near me or you and the kids ever again you'd kill him." Bosco smiled. He took a step forward and Seajae opened her arms. She kissed him. Her lips warm and welcoming.
"I love you Maurice Boscorelli. Don't ever forget that." Tears flowed down her cheeks. "You are so different from him baby. You'll never in a million years be like him."
"I know that now. But sometimes his words haunt me."
"He's gone now baby. His words or his hands will never hurt you again." She hugged her husband and shed more tears to the little boy who faught so hard to be the man he was today. Her cell phone was ringing when she finally let him go. "Yeah..." She said wiping the tears from her eyes. "Boscorelli." She looked at Bosco. He had taken a few steps down the beach.
"Seajae it's TC."
"Hey."
"How's Bosco?"
"I think he'll make it."
"Where are you?"
"About fifteen miles up the hiway."
"You been there for awhile?"
"Yeah, about an hour. Do you need the car?"
"No but I do need you back here."
"Something wrong?"
"Jordan Larson is dead."
"Oh God.....Baily?" Bosco's head snapped up at the metion of his new found son's name.
"He's ok. I guess she dropped him off at a friends house. I have one of my men picking him up now."
"Any idea...how?"
"One shot close range to the head. Just so you know you and Bosco....."
"I know. We'll meet you at Jordan's." She hung up. Bosco looked at her with wary eyes.
"What now."
"Jordan's dead."
"Shit." They walked to the jeep. Seajae stopped at looked at the ocean one more time. She thought of the little boy Bosco had once been and the man he grew up to be. "You ok?" Bosco asked her when she got into the Jeep.
"Yeah." But she wasn't sure if she would ever be ok until Bosco put his past behind him and let his future without his father's shadow to take it's corse.
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TC was waiting for them just beyond the yellow tape around the little clapboard house where Jordan lived with his father and his son. He came to them and motioned the office standing gaurd to let them though.
"Thanks for coming."
"Where else would we be? So what does it look like?"
"A hit. She answered the door and bang."
"I know the word out on the street when my dad left New York he owed alot of money to the Itanlian Mob."
"You think your safe?"
"They can't begin to know the world of hurt they would be in if they touched me and my family. They know that me and my father are not close. They would of hurt us before the hurt him if that was the case." Seajae looked at the scene. TC tuned and watched her as she absorbed every detail.
"Something jump out at you?"
"No but it never does now does it." She bent over and looked at Jordan's lifeless body. "We left her what.....two hours ago. The neighbor called it in?"
"Yeah." TC looked at his watch. "Yeah about forty five minutes ago." Seajae stood up.
"Where did she dropped of Baily?"
"At a mall between here and the mourge."
"The mourge is what five minutes from her. Given time to pull into the mall, tell her son to behave and get back here." Her mind was putting the time line together. "She's taken a shower and changed. Taken the polish off her nails."
"She did all that in an hour?"
"You said she was a dancer?" She looked at Bosco.
"Stripper most likely. She said she met dad in a club she worked at."
"Well even strippers have to make changes in a hurry. Sometimes make costume changes in a minutes notice. She was going someplace." Seajae pointed to the bag next to the door. "She dropped the bag next to the door when the door bell rang."
"Gym?"
"That's where every grieving wife goes in California?" Bosco looked at TC. Seajae reached into her purse and pulled out some gloves.
"May I?" She forgot she wasn't at home.
"Be my guest." Putting on the gloves she unzipped the bag. Opening it carefully she looked inside.
"Money, credit cards. A change of clothing. All be damned. She was going to the gym." She looked at TC.
"Who knew."
"Okay well I guess I should keep my opinions to myself."
"What are you thinking Seajae? I mean I know you know what your doing."
"I don't think this was a mob hit......I think if you probe a little farther into Anthony's death you might find out that it was more then a heart attack that killed him and check into some finacials. See if Jordan made any big withdrawls in the last month or so."
"You think Jordan had dad killed and whoever she hired came back for her."
"I think Jordan Larson was into something......something that got her killed."
"Your gut?"
"That and the money in the bag. The serial numbers coinside. She may of gone to a bank but even a bank doesn't always have new bills in numaric order." TC nodded.
"We'll get someone on that. Your good Detective."
"That's why I get paid the big bucks." A car pulled up. Baily got out. "You got this one Bosco?"
"Yeah." He headed to help his son deal with what just happened.
"What's going to happen to him?"
"I can see who's listed as his birth father. If it's Bosco you can take him. If it's blank we look for a will. Then we can do a DNA test. But I can pull a few strings. You can take him to your hotel with you tonight." TC watched as Bosco told Baily about his mother.
"He introduced himself as a Boscrelli so I'm sure we have some rights." Seajae looked down at Jordan one more time. "Call me if you find out anything."
"If the kid needs anything just go around back." TC went to talk to the medical examiner who was just pulling up. Seajae walked toward Baily and Bosco. She hoped father and son would connect.
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"Seajae?" Bosco came outside the hotel where Seajae was smoking.
"Yeah."
"I looked for you, you wern't in the room."
"How's Baily?"
"Scared. But he's tough."
"Just like his old man." Bosco came and put his hands on Seajae's shoulders.
"I asked alot from you today. Listening to the things Anthony did to us and finding out about Jordan and Baily."
"Another day in the lives of Team Boscorelli."
"We need to talk about some things." Bosco leaned closer and held her tight. "I want to take him home with us Seajae."
"I thought you would."
"But that's not what I need to talk to you about." He waited this long he should let it go but seeing Jordan and finding Baily made Bosco more determinded to put thier past behind them. Both thier pasts. "I want you to tell me what happened the day at the hospital when Tommy attacked you." He felt her stiffen up. "Don't Seajae. Don't hide behind the tough chick routine. You know I see right though that."
"I just got freaked. I never......I never let anyone get the best of me like that."
"You tell Elliot everything and you tell me nothing." Bosco took a step back and turned her to face him. "I need you to tell me what made you have the panic attack at the hospital that day? I know since then we've had some ups and downs and things that take up our time but it's bothered me." He looked at her intece brown eyes. "I feel like your holding back something."
"It's nothing Bosco. My child hood was nothing like yours. I had nice foster families boarding schools."
"Yeah. Well I got some news for you. I've seen the foster care system. It ain't the peachy scene you painted." Seajae knew he was right. No matter what the city the foster care system was a hit or miss system at best.
"If...if I tell you things will be different."
"How?"
"You'll feel differently about me."
"Seajae I've loved you since the day I met you. Nothing, no matter what you tell me is going to change the way I feel about you."
"I was raped when I was fourteen." She turned and looked out at the stars over the Ocean. She didn't want to see the pity in his eyes.
"Jesus Seajae. That's not something you hold in for twenty four years." He came up behind her. "Why didn't you ever tell me this before?"
"Why didn't you tell me about your dad till today?"
"Because it was to painful."
"Diddo." Bosco pulled her agaist his chest.
"I wish we were stronger before. Things might have been easier if we'd gotten this out in the open."
"You had no controle over your fate. I did."
"Seajae you were fourteen. You were as much a child as I was when my father hit me."
"I was stronger then that. I let him.......I could of pushed him away."
"But you learned that it's not the woman's fault, ever."
"He was my foster brother. He paid attention to me." Bosco held her close and closed his eyes. She had been a child. A child with no one to turn to.
"You know that doesn't mean anything. He used you. Used your trust agaist you." He knew her secret was painful and tonight they were going to put both thier past's behind them. Throw the bad memories in the ocean and forget them forever. "You and I will make it though this baby. We have so much to be thankful for and now......now we have a son."
"Bosco......I.......I'm never going to forget what he did to me. I thought I had but when Tommy straddled me and pressed agaist me I lost it. My mind raced back to that day when.....I got so scared and just wanted to run away."
"We don't need to be scared anymore baby. We got each other. No one can hurt us when we stick together. Not my father's memories not your memories of him."
"I went the same route that Mikey did. But I turned to alcohol. It was easy to hide in my room with a bottle. But I only fell back on it in the summer. It got me kicked out of three foster homes. By then I was seventeen and the bording school I went to offered a summer curriculum. I worked hard that summer and pulled a four point 0. Then the US Marshalls recuited me. But damn I was wild for those two summers. That was the only time I had to think. I thought of why he did it to me and blamed myself over and over."
"I wish I would of known."
"It never was an issue until Tommy attacked me. It was pushed so far in the back of my mind it was almost forgotten." Pulling a pack pf cigarette's out of her pocket she felt Bosco's hand wrap around hers.
"You don't need to fall back on these everytime the going get's tough."
"Better these then the Vodka.....not that I don't let that catch me now and then." Seajae looked at her husband. She had kept things from him to protect him, not to hide them from him. "I had a problem for a lot of years. You ask some people they would tell you I'm an alcoholic. But I know when to stop. And I know drinking my problems away was never the answer." She took a long drag of her cigarette. "That's what me and Elliot talk about. He knows as well as anyone that the Vodka route gets you nowhere but up a creek. He reminds me everyday of what I have and what can happen if I let it take over my life."
"You should be able to talk to me about those things."
"I tell you everything. I share everything with you. Things got rough when you got out of the hospital. You shut me out. I was scared and alone and he was there. He saved me from Tommy. He saw what loosing control did to me. So he pried and pushed till I told him." Bosco leaned agaist the railing of the belcony.
"You shared your problems between you and me with Elliot?"
"Oh come on Bosco like you don't tell Faith everytime I piss you off." She was smiling. He was mad at her for sharing things with a friend.
"Not everytime."
"Well neither do I. Go to Elliot that is. If I did I'd spend more time with him then you." Bosco laughed and pulled her close.
"Just don't hold anything back anymore Seajae. I know we both have things from our past that we can't always own up to."
"You got more kids running around I should know about?"
"Just the three I have with you." Baily came out of the room.
"Hey. You want to order pizza or something?"
"Sure. Are....are you guys going to take me to New York?"
"If that's what you want." Bosco looked at his son. "Is there someplace else you want to go? I never did ask you if your mom had any relitives."
"My grandma is in Albany. I only see her twice a year. I..... guess I could go live with her."
"Your welcome to come stay with us. Lt. Calloway was going to check into your birth certificate to see if I was named as your father."
"If your THE Maurice Boscorelli your name is on my birth certificate." Baily looked at his father. "She never told you about me?"
"No. I haven't seen her in seventeen years. She took off one morning for here and I never heard from her again." The boy looked so much like him it was scary. Seajae tuned and watched the sun set low over the ocean. She wanted this to work. Bosco needed it to work.
"I'm sure you don't have room for me."
"I'm sure we do. The girls share a room. We have a spare bedroom with your name on it. Seajae and I were going to take in foster kids for awhile then work got in the way." Bosco looked at the boy who's face was so like his own twenty years ago. "Do you want to come back with us?"
"I never had anyone but mom and Anthony when he came around. I'm not sure how.....if I'd fit in a big family."
"You'll get used to us. We are more then just me and your dad and the kids. We have friends that are so close they're just like family." Seajae looked at her watch. "You guys want that pizza?" Bosco looked at Baily.
"Sounds good. Suasage and musroom?"
"Sounds good. I'll be back." Seajae went back into the room.
"She's nice."
"Yeah. I like her." Bosco looked at his son. "I'm sorry about your mom Baily. She was a good woman."
"She was a stripper."
"It doesn't make her a bad person."
"I guess. It payed the bills." Baily looked at the night sky. " I wish she would of told you about me."
"I have a feeling she tried but Anthony intercepted."
"You mean she tried to tell you."
"My dad and I didn't get along very well. I never changed my adress after I joined the police acadamy. I have a feeling your mom might have sent something."
"I found out a few years ago that she was getting a check every month. Five sometimes six hundred dollars. She said they were from you. But once Anthony came to stay they stopped coming. Mom thought maybe you just gave up."
"Maybe because the man footing the bill was here. Was Anthony good to you?"
"He was ok. He didn't like when mom babied be or when she let me get away with stuff but he never even yelled at me." Baily looked at his father. "He wasn't that nice to you I take it?"
"What makes you think that?"
"The way you get quiet when his name is mentioned." The kid was smart. "He never hit me." Standing agaist the railing Baily looked far older then his seventeen years. "Looks like we have company." TC Calloway and another office came up the steps and down the hall.
"Hey." TC held out his hand.
"Hey." Bosco shook it.
"Bobby Cruz, one of my men." He introduced the man with him.
"Nice to meet you." Seajae came out of the room. "My wife Seajae."
"Seajae McBride?" Bobby looked at her.
"Boscorelli now.....Bobby Cruz....you finally wearing a real badge again?" She smiled
"I was young and stupid back then." Seajae smiled.
"I think we all were." She turned and saw the other three looking at her. "I taught a class on terroism once and we kinda got to know each other when I pulled him off a suspect. So what brings you guys here so late."
"I needed to talk to you guys."TC looked at Bosco and Seajae. Baily stood up.
"I'll wait in the room."
"Hey I saw a hoop down by the pool, you want to shoot some hoops." Bobby asked the boy.
"Yeah sure." The boy and the officer headed down the steps. TC looked at Seajae and Bosco.
"I got some paperwork back on Jordan. " He thew a file on the table between them. "She had about a quarter of a million in a checking account in her name. Nothing with Anthony's name on it." Bosco reached for the file. "There's a half a dozen New York numbers on her phone bill. Any of them look familier?"
"The preceint number. And the fire house. They were made last week."
"Maybe your dad trying to get ahold of you?"
"It was in the morning. We work third watch."
"No one ever left us a message." Bosco looked though the papers in the file. "This number is my ma's bar." Bosco looked at Seajae. "Someone was trying hard to find us without really finding us."
"Or they were trying to find out where we wern't." Seajae looked at TC.
"You mean either Jordan or Anthony was checking to see if or when you were working?"
"That's one reason. You said Anthony had our cards in his wallet. All mine have my cell phone number on it. If he wanted to get a hold of us my number was there."
"It looks like you guys are going to be here a little longer then you planned."
"Why does that not surprise me." Bosco thew the file on the table and stood up. "I'm going to call Sully and make sure the kids are okay." He headed toward the room.
"He's not happy."
"You think?" Seajae lit a cigarette. "He didn't want to come to begin with."
"Him and his father didn't get along?"
"That's an understatement." Seajae knew this was way harder then Bosco had wanted or imagian it would be. "I just hope we make it though with minimal damage." The pizza dilivery man cam up the steps and headed to the door of the room. "I can take it." She pulled some bills out of her pocket and gave them to the man. "Keep it." The man smiled and nodded.
"Thank you mam." He headed off and Seajae cought Baily's attention and motioned him up.
"You want us to stick around?"
"If you want pizza yeah." She smiled at TC. "We'll be ok. We always are." Baily came up and Seajae said her good byes to the two officers.
"Hey if you guys are around tomorrow my wife's having a barbaque. Your more then welcome to come." TC said as he started to go.
"Call us tomorrow." Seajae and Baily sat down. "Bosco was calling to check on the kids. He should be out in a minute."
"Is everything ok Seajae?"
"Yeah. How are you holding up?"
"Ok for finding my dad and loosing my mom on the same day." He took a slice of pizza. "How about you?"
"I'm doing fine. If you need to talk both your father and I are here for you Baily."
"I know. I'm glad you came to get Anthony. If you didn't you wouldn't of been her when....mom....you know."
"I know this is a lot to ask but do you know who might of wanted your mother......gone?"
"She has a file on her computer that I could never hack into. Maybe there's something in there."
"You hacked into your mothers computer files?" Baily smiled shepishly as he looked at his father standing in the door way.
"I just wanted to see if I could do it." Bosco sat next to his son. Seajae looked at them. So alike yet so different. "It was just her bank account. Nothing worth finding in there."
"It took Lt. Calloway all day to get a warrent for those and you could of gotten them?"
"No one asked." He shrugged. Bosco looked at Seajae. She smiled that way that made everything all ok. The kids were fine. They were doing ok and now they had Baily. It was time to put the past behind them. All the bad things were past them so he hoped. Taking a bite of his pizza Maurice Boscorelli said a small prayer for the days ahead to be quiet and peaceful. Because they didn't need any more tragedy in thier lives.
Chapter THREE-Memories of Yesterday
"This is a beautiful place." Seajae and Bosco had stopped at a little turn off by the beach.
"Yeah. I could learn to like it here." Bosco put his arm around his wife. Things shouldn't be this peaceful. He was here to pick up his father's body. He found out his ex-girlfriend had his baby sixteen years ago. And that his father had married her right after his mother died.
"So what.....are you going to do about Baily?"
"I guess I need to get to know him. I don't how Jordan will take things. She's taking the things with dad really bad."
"Do you think your dad knew?"
"How couldn't he. One look." Bosco stood up and looked at the setting sun. "I think he.....from what I got she sent me letters. I think dad intercepted them."
"I wouldn't think he would keep something like that from you."
"Seajae he beat the crap out of his wife and kids. You think not telling me I had a kid was beyond him?" She knew he needed to vent. Puting her arms around him she held him close.
"I guess I really don't know much about it. I know he hurt you bad enough to question your abilities to be a father." Kissing his cheek. "Tell me now. Tell me what he did?"
"I used to come home to ma crying. Her arms bruised. She said it was her fault." Seajae held him closer. "How could it be her fault. She did everything for him. Dinner was never warm enough. The house was never clean enough." Bosco wanted to stop. Tell Seajae that he couldn't face this now. But he knew he needed to get it out. "If she wasn't home he'd take it out on me. If I wasn't there Mikey got it."
"Oh baby.....I knew it was bad....but....."
"When I was twelve I started fighting back. But he was so much bigger then I was." Bosco pulled away and turned to look at his wife. He thought for sure he would see pity in her eyes but all he saw was the love she had for him. Her brown eyes filled with tears. "Ma wouldn't leave. No matter what he did. Then Mikey ran away. I was sixteen. He was thirteen. We had just talked the night before about running away. I didn't think he would. That's the first time he got high." Bosco looked down at the sand under his feet. "I found him in a crack house on State Street. Flying higer then a kite. Dad had beat the shit out of him. His face was black and blue. The little snot stuck up for himself and the old man knocked him on his ass."
"You don't have to tell me anymore. I think I can figure out the rest."
"No. You asked. So I drag Mikey's stoned ass home and Ma's sitting on the front stoop crying her eyes out. She takes one look at Mikey and there's a look in her eyes like I never saw before. It was like she finally realized that Anthony Boscorelli wasn't the man she married anymore. There was anger and pain and fear in eyes. She took Mikey in the house and told me to pack up our clothes and whatever else would fit in the car. She knew dad wouldn't show his face for a few days but she wanted to be safe. It took us four hours to clean out what we needed and we headed to my aunts in Broklyn."
"Did he find you?"
"He never tried I don't think. I know he could of came and shed a few tears and Ma would of been back with him in a second. But we didn't see him again till I came home after my stint in the Army. He just hung around the edges of things. Family dinners and stuff."
"You never told me he was at Angela's furneral."
"He came when you went out to do your little recon that day." Bosco looked back out at the ocean. "He told me he always loved us. He just couldn't get a handle on his temper. That he was raised with an iron fisted father and he was just doing what he learned to do." Taking in a deep breath of fresh ocean air he continued. "I told him that I wasn't going to be like him. That my wife and kids were so presiouse to me that I would never lay a hand on any of them. You know what he told me Seajae?" He turned around. There was a look in his eyes that she had never seen. It was one of pure hatedred.
"What?" She wasn't sure she wanted to know.
"He told me that one day my pretty little wife was going to say something or do something to set me off and that was going to be the time that I raise my hand and put her in her place. That she would look at another man and the heat would start to boil. Or my son would looked at me with disrespect and without even thinking I'd find myself slaping the shit out of him." Bosco looked at Seajae. The stom in his eyes calming. "I told him if I ever raised a hand to my pretty little wife or one of my kids my pretty little wife would shoot my ass. He laughed and said I was pussy whipped. I shoved him agaist the wall and told him that if I he came near me or you and the kids ever again you'd kill him." Bosco smiled. He took a step forward and Seajae opened her arms. She kissed him. Her lips warm and welcoming.
"I love you Maurice Boscorelli. Don't ever forget that." Tears flowed down her cheeks. "You are so different from him baby. You'll never in a million years be like him."
"I know that now. But sometimes his words haunt me."
"He's gone now baby. His words or his hands will never hurt you again." She hugged her husband and shed more tears to the little boy who faught so hard to be the man he was today. Her cell phone was ringing when she finally let him go. "Yeah..." She said wiping the tears from her eyes. "Boscorelli." She looked at Bosco. He had taken a few steps down the beach.
"Seajae it's TC."
"Hey."
"How's Bosco?"
"I think he'll make it."
"Where are you?"
"About fifteen miles up the hiway."
"You been there for awhile?"
"Yeah, about an hour. Do you need the car?"
"No but I do need you back here."
"Something wrong?"
"Jordan Larson is dead."
"Oh God.....Baily?" Bosco's head snapped up at the metion of his new found son's name.
"He's ok. I guess she dropped him off at a friends house. I have one of my men picking him up now."
"Any idea...how?"
"One shot close range to the head. Just so you know you and Bosco....."
"I know. We'll meet you at Jordan's." She hung up. Bosco looked at her with wary eyes.
"What now."
"Jordan's dead."
"Shit." They walked to the jeep. Seajae stopped at looked at the ocean one more time. She thought of the little boy Bosco had once been and the man he grew up to be. "You ok?" Bosco asked her when she got into the Jeep.
"Yeah." But she wasn't sure if she would ever be ok until Bosco put his past behind him and let his future without his father's shadow to take it's corse.
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TC was waiting for them just beyond the yellow tape around the little clapboard house where Jordan lived with his father and his son. He came to them and motioned the office standing gaurd to let them though.
"Thanks for coming."
"Where else would we be? So what does it look like?"
"A hit. She answered the door and bang."
"I know the word out on the street when my dad left New York he owed alot of money to the Itanlian Mob."
"You think your safe?"
"They can't begin to know the world of hurt they would be in if they touched me and my family. They know that me and my father are not close. They would of hurt us before the hurt him if that was the case." Seajae looked at the scene. TC tuned and watched her as she absorbed every detail.
"Something jump out at you?"
"No but it never does now does it." She bent over and looked at Jordan's lifeless body. "We left her what.....two hours ago. The neighbor called it in?"
"Yeah." TC looked at his watch. "Yeah about forty five minutes ago." Seajae stood up.
"Where did she dropped of Baily?"
"At a mall between here and the mourge."
"The mourge is what five minutes from her. Given time to pull into the mall, tell her son to behave and get back here." Her mind was putting the time line together. "She's taken a shower and changed. Taken the polish off her nails."
"She did all that in an hour?"
"You said she was a dancer?" She looked at Bosco.
"Stripper most likely. She said she met dad in a club she worked at."
"Well even strippers have to make changes in a hurry. Sometimes make costume changes in a minutes notice. She was going someplace." Seajae pointed to the bag next to the door. "She dropped the bag next to the door when the door bell rang."
"Gym?"
"That's where every grieving wife goes in California?" Bosco looked at TC. Seajae reached into her purse and pulled out some gloves.
"May I?" She forgot she wasn't at home.
"Be my guest." Putting on the gloves she unzipped the bag. Opening it carefully she looked inside.
"Money, credit cards. A change of clothing. All be damned. She was going to the gym." She looked at TC.
"Who knew."
"Okay well I guess I should keep my opinions to myself."
"What are you thinking Seajae? I mean I know you know what your doing."
"I don't think this was a mob hit......I think if you probe a little farther into Anthony's death you might find out that it was more then a heart attack that killed him and check into some finacials. See if Jordan made any big withdrawls in the last month or so."
"You think Jordan had dad killed and whoever she hired came back for her."
"I think Jordan Larson was into something......something that got her killed."
"Your gut?"
"That and the money in the bag. The serial numbers coinside. She may of gone to a bank but even a bank doesn't always have new bills in numaric order." TC nodded.
"We'll get someone on that. Your good Detective."
"That's why I get paid the big bucks." A car pulled up. Baily got out. "You got this one Bosco?"
"Yeah." He headed to help his son deal with what just happened.
"What's going to happen to him?"
"I can see who's listed as his birth father. If it's Bosco you can take him. If it's blank we look for a will. Then we can do a DNA test. But I can pull a few strings. You can take him to your hotel with you tonight." TC watched as Bosco told Baily about his mother.
"He introduced himself as a Boscrelli so I'm sure we have some rights." Seajae looked down at Jordan one more time. "Call me if you find out anything."
"If the kid needs anything just go around back." TC went to talk to the medical examiner who was just pulling up. Seajae walked toward Baily and Bosco. She hoped father and son would connect.
----------------------------
"Seajae?" Bosco came outside the hotel where Seajae was smoking.
"Yeah."
"I looked for you, you wern't in the room."
"How's Baily?"
"Scared. But he's tough."
"Just like his old man." Bosco came and put his hands on Seajae's shoulders.
"I asked alot from you today. Listening to the things Anthony did to us and finding out about Jordan and Baily."
"Another day in the lives of Team Boscorelli."
"We need to talk about some things." Bosco leaned closer and held her tight. "I want to take him home with us Seajae."
"I thought you would."
"But that's not what I need to talk to you about." He waited this long he should let it go but seeing Jordan and finding Baily made Bosco more determinded to put thier past behind them. Both thier pasts. "I want you to tell me what happened the day at the hospital when Tommy attacked you." He felt her stiffen up. "Don't Seajae. Don't hide behind the tough chick routine. You know I see right though that."
"I just got freaked. I never......I never let anyone get the best of me like that."
"You tell Elliot everything and you tell me nothing." Bosco took a step back and turned her to face him. "I need you to tell me what made you have the panic attack at the hospital that day? I know since then we've had some ups and downs and things that take up our time but it's bothered me." He looked at her intece brown eyes. "I feel like your holding back something."
"It's nothing Bosco. My child hood was nothing like yours. I had nice foster families boarding schools."
"Yeah. Well I got some news for you. I've seen the foster care system. It ain't the peachy scene you painted." Seajae knew he was right. No matter what the city the foster care system was a hit or miss system at best.
"If...if I tell you things will be different."
"How?"
"You'll feel differently about me."
"Seajae I've loved you since the day I met you. Nothing, no matter what you tell me is going to change the way I feel about you."
"I was raped when I was fourteen." She turned and looked out at the stars over the Ocean. She didn't want to see the pity in his eyes.
"Jesus Seajae. That's not something you hold in for twenty four years." He came up behind her. "Why didn't you ever tell me this before?"
"Why didn't you tell me about your dad till today?"
"Because it was to painful."
"Diddo." Bosco pulled her agaist his chest.
"I wish we were stronger before. Things might have been easier if we'd gotten this out in the open."
"You had no controle over your fate. I did."
"Seajae you were fourteen. You were as much a child as I was when my father hit me."
"I was stronger then that. I let him.......I could of pushed him away."
"But you learned that it's not the woman's fault, ever."
"He was my foster brother. He paid attention to me." Bosco held her close and closed his eyes. She had been a child. A child with no one to turn to.
"You know that doesn't mean anything. He used you. Used your trust agaist you." He knew her secret was painful and tonight they were going to put both thier past's behind them. Throw the bad memories in the ocean and forget them forever. "You and I will make it though this baby. We have so much to be thankful for and now......now we have a son."
"Bosco......I.......I'm never going to forget what he did to me. I thought I had but when Tommy straddled me and pressed agaist me I lost it. My mind raced back to that day when.....I got so scared and just wanted to run away."
"We don't need to be scared anymore baby. We got each other. No one can hurt us when we stick together. Not my father's memories not your memories of him."
"I went the same route that Mikey did. But I turned to alcohol. It was easy to hide in my room with a bottle. But I only fell back on it in the summer. It got me kicked out of three foster homes. By then I was seventeen and the bording school I went to offered a summer curriculum. I worked hard that summer and pulled a four point 0. Then the US Marshalls recuited me. But damn I was wild for those two summers. That was the only time I had to think. I thought of why he did it to me and blamed myself over and over."
"I wish I would of known."
"It never was an issue until Tommy attacked me. It was pushed so far in the back of my mind it was almost forgotten." Pulling a pack pf cigarette's out of her pocket she felt Bosco's hand wrap around hers.
"You don't need to fall back on these everytime the going get's tough."
"Better these then the Vodka.....not that I don't let that catch me now and then." Seajae looked at her husband. She had kept things from him to protect him, not to hide them from him. "I had a problem for a lot of years. You ask some people they would tell you I'm an alcoholic. But I know when to stop. And I know drinking my problems away was never the answer." She took a long drag of her cigarette. "That's what me and Elliot talk about. He knows as well as anyone that the Vodka route gets you nowhere but up a creek. He reminds me everyday of what I have and what can happen if I let it take over my life."
"You should be able to talk to me about those things."
"I tell you everything. I share everything with you. Things got rough when you got out of the hospital. You shut me out. I was scared and alone and he was there. He saved me from Tommy. He saw what loosing control did to me. So he pried and pushed till I told him." Bosco leaned agaist the railing of the belcony.
"You shared your problems between you and me with Elliot?"
"Oh come on Bosco like you don't tell Faith everytime I piss you off." She was smiling. He was mad at her for sharing things with a friend.
"Not everytime."
"Well neither do I. Go to Elliot that is. If I did I'd spend more time with him then you." Bosco laughed and pulled her close.
"Just don't hold anything back anymore Seajae. I know we both have things from our past that we can't always own up to."
"You got more kids running around I should know about?"
"Just the three I have with you." Baily came out of the room.
"Hey. You want to order pizza or something?"
"Sure. Are....are you guys going to take me to New York?"
"If that's what you want." Bosco looked at his son. "Is there someplace else you want to go? I never did ask you if your mom had any relitives."
"My grandma is in Albany. I only see her twice a year. I..... guess I could go live with her."
"Your welcome to come stay with us. Lt. Calloway was going to check into your birth certificate to see if I was named as your father."
"If your THE Maurice Boscorelli your name is on my birth certificate." Baily looked at his father. "She never told you about me?"
"No. I haven't seen her in seventeen years. She took off one morning for here and I never heard from her again." The boy looked so much like him it was scary. Seajae tuned and watched the sun set low over the ocean. She wanted this to work. Bosco needed it to work.
"I'm sure you don't have room for me."
"I'm sure we do. The girls share a room. We have a spare bedroom with your name on it. Seajae and I were going to take in foster kids for awhile then work got in the way." Bosco looked at the boy who's face was so like his own twenty years ago. "Do you want to come back with us?"
"I never had anyone but mom and Anthony when he came around. I'm not sure how.....if I'd fit in a big family."
"You'll get used to us. We are more then just me and your dad and the kids. We have friends that are so close they're just like family." Seajae looked at her watch. "You guys want that pizza?" Bosco looked at Baily.
"Sounds good. Suasage and musroom?"
"Sounds good. I'll be back." Seajae went back into the room.
"She's nice."
"Yeah. I like her." Bosco looked at his son. "I'm sorry about your mom Baily. She was a good woman."
"She was a stripper."
"It doesn't make her a bad person."
"I guess. It payed the bills." Baily looked at the night sky. " I wish she would of told you about me."
"I have a feeling she tried but Anthony intercepted."
"You mean she tried to tell you."
"My dad and I didn't get along very well. I never changed my adress after I joined the police acadamy. I have a feeling your mom might have sent something."
"I found out a few years ago that she was getting a check every month. Five sometimes six hundred dollars. She said they were from you. But once Anthony came to stay they stopped coming. Mom thought maybe you just gave up."
"Maybe because the man footing the bill was here. Was Anthony good to you?"
"He was ok. He didn't like when mom babied be or when she let me get away with stuff but he never even yelled at me." Baily looked at his father. "He wasn't that nice to you I take it?"
"What makes you think that?"
"The way you get quiet when his name is mentioned." The kid was smart. "He never hit me." Standing agaist the railing Baily looked far older then his seventeen years. "Looks like we have company." TC Calloway and another office came up the steps and down the hall.
"Hey." TC held out his hand.
"Hey." Bosco shook it.
"Bobby Cruz, one of my men." He introduced the man with him.
"Nice to meet you." Seajae came out of the room. "My wife Seajae."
"Seajae McBride?" Bobby looked at her.
"Boscorelli now.....Bobby Cruz....you finally wearing a real badge again?" She smiled
"I was young and stupid back then." Seajae smiled.
"I think we all were." She turned and saw the other three looking at her. "I taught a class on terroism once and we kinda got to know each other when I pulled him off a suspect. So what brings you guys here so late."
"I needed to talk to you guys."TC looked at Bosco and Seajae. Baily stood up.
"I'll wait in the room."
"Hey I saw a hoop down by the pool, you want to shoot some hoops." Bobby asked the boy.
"Yeah sure." The boy and the officer headed down the steps. TC looked at Seajae and Bosco.
"I got some paperwork back on Jordan. " He thew a file on the table between them. "She had about a quarter of a million in a checking account in her name. Nothing with Anthony's name on it." Bosco reached for the file. "There's a half a dozen New York numbers on her phone bill. Any of them look familier?"
"The preceint number. And the fire house. They were made last week."
"Maybe your dad trying to get ahold of you?"
"It was in the morning. We work third watch."
"No one ever left us a message." Bosco looked though the papers in the file. "This number is my ma's bar." Bosco looked at Seajae. "Someone was trying hard to find us without really finding us."
"Or they were trying to find out where we wern't." Seajae looked at TC.
"You mean either Jordan or Anthony was checking to see if or when you were working?"
"That's one reason. You said Anthony had our cards in his wallet. All mine have my cell phone number on it. If he wanted to get a hold of us my number was there."
"It looks like you guys are going to be here a little longer then you planned."
"Why does that not surprise me." Bosco thew the file on the table and stood up. "I'm going to call Sully and make sure the kids are okay." He headed toward the room.
"He's not happy."
"You think?" Seajae lit a cigarette. "He didn't want to come to begin with."
"Him and his father didn't get along?"
"That's an understatement." Seajae knew this was way harder then Bosco had wanted or imagian it would be. "I just hope we make it though with minimal damage." The pizza dilivery man cam up the steps and headed to the door of the room. "I can take it." She pulled some bills out of her pocket and gave them to the man. "Keep it." The man smiled and nodded.
"Thank you mam." He headed off and Seajae cought Baily's attention and motioned him up.
"You want us to stick around?"
"If you want pizza yeah." She smiled at TC. "We'll be ok. We always are." Baily came up and Seajae said her good byes to the two officers.
"Hey if you guys are around tomorrow my wife's having a barbaque. Your more then welcome to come." TC said as he started to go.
"Call us tomorrow." Seajae and Baily sat down. "Bosco was calling to check on the kids. He should be out in a minute."
"Is everything ok Seajae?"
"Yeah. How are you holding up?"
"Ok for finding my dad and loosing my mom on the same day." He took a slice of pizza. "How about you?"
"I'm doing fine. If you need to talk both your father and I are here for you Baily."
"I know. I'm glad you came to get Anthony. If you didn't you wouldn't of been her when....mom....you know."
"I know this is a lot to ask but do you know who might of wanted your mother......gone?"
"She has a file on her computer that I could never hack into. Maybe there's something in there."
"You hacked into your mothers computer files?" Baily smiled shepishly as he looked at his father standing in the door way.
"I just wanted to see if I could do it." Bosco sat next to his son. Seajae looked at them. So alike yet so different. "It was just her bank account. Nothing worth finding in there."
"It took Lt. Calloway all day to get a warrent for those and you could of gotten them?"
"No one asked." He shrugged. Bosco looked at Seajae. She smiled that way that made everything all ok. The kids were fine. They were doing ok and now they had Baily. It was time to put the past behind them. All the bad things were past them so he hoped. Taking a bite of his pizza Maurice Boscorelli said a small prayer for the days ahead to be quiet and peaceful. Because they didn't need any more tragedy in thier lives.