"What do you mean she blames Buck?" Chimney asked in confusion. "Buck wouldn't hurt a fly and definitely not another human being!"
Nobody dared mention the hurt they suffered from him suing the department and Bobby; they knew that was completely different and half their faults.
"Mackey's death was ruled suicide." Athena stated. "But it was the reasons behind his death that she blamed on him." She looked around the group once again. She had already been given the information from the detective leading the case of the man's death; who had interviewed Elaine Mackey just that morning and had confessed everything her husband had been doing. "Chase Mackey owed a lot of money to a lot of people."
There was silence as everyone processed that tidbit of information. Maddie sat up straight in her chair; the grip on Eddie's and Chimney's hands tightening as her eyes widened. "He was using lawsuits to pay."
Bobby looked at his wife. "Chief Alonzo said the city offered Buck millions but he turned it down."
Athena nodded. "8.6 million to be exact."
"Jesus." Karen breathed as she leaned back in her chair. "He never would have had to work ever again."
"But that's not what he wanted." Maddie hiccupped. "He wanted his job back. He wanted his family back."
Through her tears Maddie could see the guilt splayed across the faces of the firefighters around her but at the moment she didn't want to dive into what that meant. She needed to focus on her brother until she had him home with her. She needed to keep herself together so that when he recovered - she had to believe he would because there was no alternative that he wouldn't - she could be there for him properly. She knew something had been wrong with her brother; not just the betrayal he told her he felt from Bobby and his friends that led him to the lawsuit; but after it was all said and done and he was back at work. She had tried to talk to him but he always seemed to be too busy.
Maddie had a feeling it had to do with Chimney and being invited to dinners with the two of them. It's why Maddie had tried the Buckley sibling lunches but he still seemed to always be too busy. She knew she should have pushed harder but she knew her brother would just shut down if she did; now she wishes she would have and dealt with that alternative to him now fighting for his life yet again.
Athena had also seen the flashes of guilt on the firefighters faces; on her husband's. Athena knew things were still rocky between them and Buck; she had tried to get Bobby to invite Buck over for dinner a week after he had returned to work once the lawsuit was over but Bobby had just told her Buck wasn't ready to sit down alone with them again. Athena had believed him; everything was still too raw and exposed. She was going to try again this weekend when the team had the three days off. She had had it all planned out. She was going to directly ask Buck to dinner herself knowing the boy couldn't say no to her face. She was going to use that to her advantage.
Now she wasn't sure she would get the chance to help fix things between her pseudo-son and husband.
"So let me get this straight," Hen spoke up. "Mackey owed money to some, I assume bad people, so he was using lawsuits he won to pay them off and Buck's lawsuit would have, what? Finished paying them off?"
"That's what Elaine told the detective this morning when they interviewed her." Athena nodded. "She said that her husband told her once they had the settlement money from Buck's suit they'd be able to finish paying them off and then disappear."
"And then Buck turned it down." Maddie deflated.
"Mackey was due to pay and didn't have the funds." Athena continued with a shake of her head.
"He took his own life before they could go after him." Harris spoke up from where he was standing; leaning against the wall towards the back of the room. "His wife blamed Buck for not taking the money that was going to help her husband get out of a situation that was his own fault."
"And leaving Elaine to finish paying back the money herself." Athena added. "She didn't see any other way apparently."
"She tried to kill my brother." Maddie hissed; getting angry. "The fault lies with Mackey not Buck. But Buck is the one paying the price now!"
"And Elaine Mackey is going to go away for a long time for attempted murder of a first responder."
"She better or I'm not going to be responsible for my actions." Maddie growled as she looked directly at Athena.
Silence reined as everyone finally settled down to wait. Bobby finally took a seat after Athena had said she needed to get back to the precinct; see if she could get any more information from Elaine Mackey about what kind of shady business her husband had gotten himself caught up in; about the people he owed money too. Nobody else was ready to leave just yet; they all wanted to wait until there was more news on Buck and his surgery. Eddie had left once with Bobby when he realized he needed to call Carla about Christopher. He was suppose to be home to relieve the woman. Carla had told him to stay and be there for Maddie and for Buck; she would take care of Christopher for the night.
They had returned to the waiting room just in time to find Anderson, Harris and Ramirez leaving to get everyone something to eat and drink from a café across the street. Harris took Bobby and Eddie's orders before following the two others down the hall. Reentering the waiting room Eddie fell back into his chair next to Maddie while Bobby sat down on his other side. Maddie scooped up Eddie's hand in hers once more and gave him a sad and tired smile when Eddie looked over at her. He was unable to smile back.
